Virus Removal/PC Tune-Up Process

tech_24 said:
I just opened my store provide myself with added room for repairs and adding the sales end of it. Business was ran out of my home for the past 5 years. Staples essentially loses money on every tuneup (Whatever wage the tech performing the tuneup is being paid), however they are relying on the tech upgrade factor (Which is a much higher success rate then Best Buy) to make their money. and i figure my cost as $0 because i dont have to pay anyone to do the repair as i have no employees
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So when did earning $7000 a week happen? From home? Or did the money suddenly come in as soon as the shop opened? Are you not paying any rent, electricity or taxes? How many jobs do you do a week?
 
I thought with the business model you have you should be giving us advice not the other way round :rolleyes:

I'm out of this now before I say something I shouldn't :)

Oh before I go where is the website?
 
How do you figure 2 hours a computer, most of the process is unattended. so lets say i get 20 computers in in one day. i hook 10 into 1 kvm, 10 into the other. initiate scans on each computer (roughly 5 mins) then walk away for 1-2 hours then proceed with what needs to be done next. Using scripts to automate majority of the process helps as well. My tuneups are all a 1 click script for the most part. so at 20 computers in 1 day with an average of $48-$72/repair, that is an average of $840 to $1440 a day in repairs (Not including the upgrade installs). Assuming all 20 machines came in at the same time i could understand not being able to accomplish the 24-hour timeframe alone, but have 2 other partners to handle more if needed
 
Well as far as the previous question, no i have no rent, i own the building. The higher revenue started coming in after opening the business due to increased exposure. More people are more likely to walk into a store and check it out then my house. And the business is located in a high traffic shopping area whereas my house is located in the suburbs/residential area
 
Billion dollar corporations seek insight and advice on a regular basis and ways to better their processes as every process has flaws. I thought this site was created for that exact reason, so where is the crime being committed in seeking advice and insight for the processes i run in my store. This website would be empty if not for these types of questions am i not correct?
 
I did actually bought it from a friend who was using the building for storage so he gave it to me quite cheap and just went and put some money into repairs, fixtures, etc. and it has worked out quite nice. Of course there are alot of things i would like to do but it all takes time. Opened the store August 1st this year and have been putting all profits back into the store to further my inventory variety, advertising, promotions, etc.
 
Finally got a professional logo done and Signage for the store (was just using window lettering before), next i would like to have a professional website done as my web design skills are very much lacking...never really delved into the whole web design thing
 
tech_24 said:
Billion dollar corporations seek insight and advice on a regular basis and ways to better their processes as every process has flaws. I thought this site was created for that exact reason, so where is the crime being committed in seeking advice and insight for the processes i run in my store. This website would be empty if not for these types of questions am i not correct?
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You are correct. But if you're going to state that X is your process and then when it's criticised come back and say that actually it isn't your process afterall, then it's a touch pointless. Would you not agree?

I would say the flaws in the malware process (as you've stated it) are chiefly that it will miss many rootkits, MBR infections and allow the odd infection that uses say task scheduling to reinstall from a website to reinfect.

I would say the problems with the tuneup are that it doesn't contain defragging or disk testing or log analysis (to see if there is a real problem causing the slowdowns), that turning off all startups except AV will impact printers, scanners, webcams, IP phones and the like, that reg cleaning doesn't really do anything (although we all still do it of course!).

Anyway it sounds like you will be able to provide a lot of useful info on the "mass production" type of methods and scripting etc? I think that will be very handy for people here.
 
I understand your point and apologize for not being thorough , should haved added etc. at the end. just wanted to put the gist of the process out there and get ideas as to what software others may be using such as i use auslogic for defrags while others my find jkdefrag or defraggler more efficient and y
 
tech_24 said:
Well as far as the previous question, no i have no rent, i own the building. The higher revenue started coming in after opening the business due to increased exposure. More people are more likely to walk into a store and check it out then my house. And the business is located in a high traffic shopping area whereas my house is located in the suburbs/residential area
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Just had a quick look. Your town has about twenty thousand population, give or take a bit. That means, in three months you will have cycled through the entire population, presuming each of them owns a computer, and that your competition (of which there is a fair amount) gets no business at all.

You may own the building, but you still have to pay taxes and utilities, etc. Further, I would presume you and your partners take a salary.

How much of that revenue comes from the cell phone business?

I live in a similar demographic area (including the larger towns a quarter to half hour away), and have owned a shop employing three to five people for the last sixteen years. Given that we have survived and prospered for that length of time, I think I'm smart enough to snag seven thousand a week if it were there for the taking as simply as you imply. I owned a different business prior to this in a much larger area for about ten years.

I bring all this up simply to say that nothing about your story adds up.

Rick
 
tech_24 said:
I understand your point and apologize for not being thorough , should haved added etc. at the end. just wanted to put the gist of the process out there and get ideas as to what software others may be using such as i use auslogic for defrags while others my find jkdefrag or defraggler more efficient and y
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It's cool. You just sounded a bit like one of the Craigslist BS artists that show up and vanish after a week.

I'd add TDSSKiller and Gmer to the process to cover most of the rootkits and maybe mbr.exe to look for mbr infections.

I'm really interested to hear about the move from home to shop and how you worked that. were you charging such low prices from home and if so how did that work given that you can't really do that many jobs in day due to doing pickups or onsite etc

What sort of $ where you doing at home and was that the money you used to get the shop or did you have the capital from somewhere else?
 
I have always charged $24/repair mobile, at home i just didnt really advertise and did it as more of a side job. word of mouth referrals started flying in and just made it impossible to keep up with the work. I then looked towards friends to help with the workload and would let them keep the money from the repairs they performed. I was juggling work, extra-curriculars, just wanted a side job. Well i saved up what i made over the course of the years and decided to buy a store so i would be able to cut work out of the equation and be able to tackle the demand
 
Two days ago I did a virus removal and a tune-up for my mom's friend.
My mom wanted me to cut down my normal fee because she's a good family friend.... She said $30?? I said $40 :C ....
My normal rate is $65 for this.


Here's my point: I won't even do virus removal on a computer for less than $40 and that's
just for special family friends and some family members (a few family members I'd do it for free).

I would NOT do virus removal for anyone for $24. Why? Because it's not worth it!


I live in a town of about 5000 and 7 miles away is a town of about 12,000. The closest big city
is Green Bay, Wisconsin, which is about 2 hours 40 minutes away.

I have nearly no operating expenses/overhead. I pay no taxes to Uncle Sam. I live at home with my mom
and she pays the bills (*I'm a college student*). I only have to pay my car insurance.

So, I don't understand why someone with a retail shop who has plenty of operating expenses and has
plenty of bills to pay would want to charge a very very small $24 fee. Undercutting the competition's
rates to attract new customers is alright, but extreme undercutting is highly unnecessary.

If you provide good customer service and you do good work, then there is no GOOD reason to charge such a small free.
Customers will still come to you if you charge in line with your competitors! You could be working less and making more $.




EDIT: AHHH AHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH - Sam Kinison
 
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So I don't understand why someone with a retail shop who has plenty of operating expenses and has
plenty of bills to pay would want to charge a very very small $24 fee. Undercutting the competition's
rates to attract new customers is alright, but extreme undercutting is highly unnecessary.
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+1. hidden text thats white
 
I have to call BS.

This guy is an end user. I have read all his other posts and he always starts out will quoting his prices. Like he has something to prove. He is trying to make us all look like over prices fools. He does not own a shop and he does not fix computers for $24. At best he is a staples or best buy "SALES PERSON" I mean ""TECH"" that gets side jobs off of craigslist.

You would think at $7000 a month he could afford at least his own domain name.
 
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