This has been bugging me

[zebest]

Puff,

I don't mind haters, let me clarify, I don't touch any systems, I have employees that work for me. I have owned this business for over 8 years and have learned over time win win situations for the customers and us. If you would like to post comments in a more adult manner I would be happy to help you be more successful

 

[ATTech]

The only reason you reformat 90% of the computer that come in with a virus problem is because you either don't know what you're doing, you're lazy or you are in a hurry and just want to make a quick buck.

My guess is that it's probably a combination of all three.

Who cares? Who cares if a shop prefers to reformat rather than delving deep into a computer that can have more than just a simple rogue program? If the customer is happy with the repair, then so what?

I still don't understand all the animosity towards shops that prefer to reformat, rather than repair. Please, enlighten me. Do you assume that most client's prefer it to be repaired? If that's the case, then you have nothing to worry about, because they'll stop going to the places that do this, especially the smaller shops.

If I can set-up a PXE server that can back-up data and settings, reimage the computer and install most, if not all the applications back onto their computer with only 2 minutes of my time, what's the problem?

 

[ATTech]

Puff,

I don't mind haters, let me clarify, I don't touch any systems, I have employees that work for me. I have owned this business for over 8 years and have learned over time win win situations for the customers and us. If you would like to post comments in a more adult manner I would be happy to help you be more successful

I think it's some sort of deep seeded hatred for big box companies who prefer this method combined with some a high sense of pride.

 

[Puff]

Puff,

I don't mind haters, let me clarify, I don't touch any systems, I have employees that work for me. I have owned this business for over 8 years and have learned over time win win situations for the customers and us. If you would like to post comments in a more adult manner I would be happy to help you be more successful

No, it's a win/lose. You win by not having to hire techs that actually know something. You probably pay them $10 and hour. You also win by selling them a reinstall, data backup, printer install....etc. Then you sell em an AV solution because you make money on it...let me guess...you probably sell them McAfee.

Your customer loses because instead of paying someone to fix the problem they paid someone to do work they probably didn't need to have done.

You can call me a hater or whatever you want but I've been doing this for a very long time and have never had to reformat 90% of the machines that I've seen infected with malware...not even close to that many.

 

[zebest]

Puff,

Sounds like you need a vacation =). We don't sell Mcafee for your information. I am just posting what I have done and what I use to do. I use to remove viruses and spend countless hours doing this. Now most the time we reformat and simply get happy customers. If you don't believe me, please come sit your ass down here for a day.

 

[Puff]

Puff,

Sounds like you need a vacation =). We don't sell Mcafee for your information. I am just posting what I have done and what I use to do. I use to remove viruses and spend countless hours doing this. Now most the time we reformat and simply get happy customers. If you don't believe me, please come sit your ass down here for a day.

My vacation is at the end of the month but it's going to more work than vacation.

I just don't see how you N&P 90% of the time and have happy customers.

How much do your customers spend on average for your "virus removal" and which AV do you install?

 

[zebest]

$90.00 to $120.00 for virus removal, we sell AVG 2 year license.

 

[zebest]

We charge a flat $100.00 for a reformat no backup, and a flat $160.00 for a reformat and data backup excluding programs. Programs are an additional $30.00 per half hour.

 

[ajc196]

I see a format/reload as a last resort. I've gotten very used to my methods and can do them both very quickly and very effectively. I'm an in-shop tech and my average turnaround is 1.5-2 days for a machine, usually working on around 6-10 at a time. Depending on how the OS performs after all cleanup/repair I can possibly do, I'll decide if reloading is the only option to bring the system to peak performance and to a reliable state.

It's basically a judgment call. If I feel a reload is in someone's best interest, I will go over a reload with the customer and let them know what it entails, and then we discuss software/etc that they will need to either bring to me or reinstall. Otherwise, I feel very confident in my removal and repair skills to the point where I feel most machines don't need a reload. (Though some do)

 

[Hercomputers]

Puff,

Sounds like you need a vacation =). We don't sell Mcafee for your information. I am just posting what I have done and what I use to do. I use to remove viruses and spend countless hours doing this. Now most the time we reformat and simply get happy customers. If you don't believe me, please come sit your ass down here for a day.

Whoa, Guys, come on now.....

No disrespect to you, Zebest but I see you're new here on TN and with a limited amount of posts and you're already coming off in a very negative way. Not cool or professional at all. I'm already noticing already of pattern of boasting, bragging, what you've done, owned, accomplished and it really (again) is coming off negatively and like you're elevating yourself instead of what you originally said before about posting adult comments - now with this last comment, who's being the adult? This forum is about helping and sharing from one computer repair professional to another.

Renee

 

[ComputerClinic]

There is no reason a virus removal should take anyone longer than 1 hour. If it's easier for you to N&P that just means you need to learn how to do manual removal. Scanners should not be your primary tool, but rather part of the tune up process after the removal has been performed. Virus removals are easy money. I can typically remove an infection in less than 20 minutes and then start the tune up process. I'm not exaggerating or bragging, just pointing out that you are missing out on a huge money maker. Learn how to disinfect a computer without the help of a single scanner and it'll be worth your while.

 

[ATTech]

Whoa, Guys, come on now.....

No disrespect to you, Zebest but I see you're new here on TN and with a limited amount of posts and you're already coming off in a very negative way. Not cool or professional at all. I'm already noticing already of pattern of boasting, bragging, what you've done, owned, accomplished and it really (again) is coming off negatively and like you're elevating yourself instead of what you originally said before about posting adult comments - now with this last comment, who's being the adult? This forum is about helping and sharing from one computer repair professional to another.

Renee

In all fairness, it wasn't unprovoked.

 

[basic]

Whoa, Guys, come on now.....

No disrespect to you, Zebest but I see you're new here on TN and with a limited amount of posts and you're already coming off in a very negative way. Not cool or professional at all. I'm already noticing already of pattern of boasting, bragging, what you've done, owned, accomplished and it really (again) is coming off negatively and like you're elevating yourself instead of what you originally said before about posting adult comments - now with this last comment, who's being the adult? This forum is about helping and sharing from one computer repair professional to another.

Renee

In all fairness....he was "attacked" first.

 

[trapped]

To get back to the original subject. I had five systems yesterday infected with AV Security Suite. Three onsite and two in the shop. The quickest was forty minutes. The longest about 2 hours. The longest one got reinfected so I had to go back and spend about thirty minutes today getting rid of the last bits. I got a call from another regular tonight and was able to talk him through it over the phone. That took about 15 minutes and I left him to remove the remnants because he was in a hurry. In my experience N&P would have taken much longer especially onsite.

 

[ATTech]

There is no reason a virus removal should take anyone longer than 1 hour.

Actually there are plenty of reasons. Here are a few:

• Not all Malware is MyWebSearch
• Programmers intentionally make it difficult to remove and easy to reinfect
• Not everyone is running i7's
• Not everyone has a 20GB drive

Exaggerations aside, it's pretty ignorant to assume that all malware can be cleaned up in 1 hour or less.

 

[ajc196]

Actually there are plenty of reasons. Here are a few:

Exaggerations aside, it's pretty ignorant to assume that all malware can be cleaned up in 1 hour or less.

Same here, just because a single scan says "all good" does not necessarily mean you're clean.

For example, a machine came in the other day with about 6 different rouges. Step 1 was my Avast BART scan. It grabbed abunch of junk. Then I ran ComboFix and it took care of the rogues. Then I did my first round of MBAM/SAS/SpyBot/Stinger/AWC/Dr. Web. Lots of traces were leftover that those scans grabbed. Then I don't feel comfortable until I can rerun those scans and see either nothing or just negligible adware that can be simply removed. ...then I have to go through updating apps to plug security holes (browsers, Adobe, Java, Flash, etc), then check for any OS quirks, do Windows Updates, test device functionality, bla bla bla. Not to mention the time it takes for the inital Acronis backup and hardware diagnostics our check-in plan also covers.

Yea, I could spend 10 minutes running only ComboFix and the customer would see no difference, but that's why we are who we are: TECHS. We know better, so we go the extra mile to clean up what we know is there, regardless of whether it is transparent or not to the end user. I pride myself in being thorough, so when I can do that while still being relatively fast (for in-shop rather than onsite), then I feel great at the end of the day.

 

[basic]

Same here, just because a single scan says "all good" does not necessarily mean you're clean.

For example, a machine came in the other day with about 6 different rouges. Step 1 was my Avast BART scan. It grabbed abunch of junk. Then I ran ComboFix and it took care of the rogues. Then I did my first round of MBAM/SAS/SpyBot/Stinger/AWC/Dr. Web. Lots of traces were leftover that those scans grabbed. Then I don't feel comfortable until I can rerun those scans and see either nothing or just negligible adware that can be simply removed. ...then I have to go through updating apps to plug security holes (browsers, Adobe, Java, Flash, etc), then check for any OS quirks, do Windows Updates, test device functionality, bla bla bla. Not to mention the time it takes for the inital Acronis backup and hardware diagnostics our check-in plan also covers.

Yea, I could spend 10 minutes running only ComboFix and the customer would see no difference, but that's why we are who we are: TECHS. We know better, so we go the extra mile to clean up what we know is there, regardless of whether it is transparent or not to the end user. I pride myself in being thorough, so when I can do that while still being relatively fast (for in-shop rather than onsite), then I feel great at the end of the day.

Well what NYJimbo and the others are saying that it shouldn't take that long to clean infections because you won't rely on scanners and just constantly re-running them. At that point you are almost relying too much on scanners and not enough on hands-on skills of removing and monitoring infections.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Very true. People go through this "We have to reformat your drive" repair nonsense all the time. Last week a lady emailed me for a DC jack job and this was her initial communication:

Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 21:07:35 EDT
From: XXXXXXXXXXX@aol.com
To: Laptops@XXXXXXXXXX.com
Subject: broken DC jack on laptop
----------------------------------------

I have a broken DC jack on my laptop.
What are the chances that you would have to replace the motherboard?
I ask this because I really can't afford to lose all of the information I have on my computer yet again.
I have such bad luck with computers it's ridiculous.
Please e mail me back at xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@aol.com
Thanks xxxxxxxxxx

Turns out that the last two repairs she had ended up repairing the actual issue AFTER the techs reformatted her hard drive without warning.

Sorry for the big quote but it's a very good point. But we (not just the non N&P'ers) can turn it to our advantage. Most customers have probably heard stories about PC World, GS, etc wiping their hdd's and losing all their info. So we can use this as a really good selling point, say on a website:

"We won't lose any of your information, ever! We know how important your photos, music, emails & documents are."


(btw what is the opposite of Nuke & Pave? Find & Sweep?)

 

[ajc196]

We may just be attacking the issue differently... I can address the prominent issues in a timely manner like you say without relying on scanners much. But when I have a 6-10 day buffer (our cheapest check-in's turnaround limit) and it usually takes me only 2 days, I just let the scans run wild since I have all the time in the world, so what could it hurt... I do the manual picking before, during, and after said scans.

Either way, format/reloads are rarely needed.

And zebest, one other note about that. There's also the deal with other devices, wireless setup, etc. There's lots of "set it and forget it" stuff that customers will forget over time, such as passwords, printer setups, nit-picky settings, etc. Out of curiousity, you do go through a step-by-step explanation of a reload with a customer before doing it, right? I learned very early on that people don't like it when their stuff is just gone, no questions asked. Very unhappy people indeed.

 

[ComputerClinic]

Actually there are plenty of reasons. Here are a few:

• Not all Malware is MyWebSearch
• Programmers intentionally make it difficult to remove and easy to reinfect
• Not everyone is running i7's
• Not everyone has a 20GB drive

Exaggerations aside, it's pretty ignorant to assume that all malware can be cleaned up in 1 hour or less.

1) Did I say all Malware is MyWebSearch? I removed a rootkit today in less than 1 hour...

2) Malware IS difficult to remove within Windows, but I use a WinPE CD and manually remove registry entries and delete files. Not too difficult if you know what you're doing...and the malware isn't running when you boot up with a CD so it can't really get in your way.

3) Again...did I say everyone is running i7's? Calling me ignorant and then putting words in my mouth...

Don't be offended just because you can't remove infections with you method as quick as I can with mine. I may not have as much experience as some people here but I have removed plenty of infections over the last year in less than one hour and absolutely NOBODY has returned their computer to me for disinfection a second time.