QOTD: Are You Always Fixing PCs for Others?

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Been a tech for about 10 years now and at first the "gift" seemed like a blessing. Now it's looking more like a curse as far as family and friends are concerned, but I must say that my hobby turned in to one hell of an opportunity for career advancement! Most of my family and friends have learned either to not call me, or to start paying for sh*t lol. I value my free-time ^.^
 
I've been asked to fix computers outside of my job as a Computer Technician. Both friends and family come to me for troubleshooting software and hardware issues. I guess it's ok for me from time to time. But when it's with issues that I've fixed in the past and advised them on how to prevent it from happening again, that is what bothers me. Another annoyance is when there are people that think they know what they're doing and try to tell you how to fix it, when they're the ones that broke it in the first place.
 
Mostly by family members and it's usually viruses... There could be a HUGE pop up that says "DO NOT CLICK YES, IF YOU DO, YOU WILL DEFINATLY GET A VIRUS" and guess what... they do, and the worst part? when you're fixing their machine, they hover around and try to tell YOU how to fix it! i should start charging!!! THANK YOU! DRIVE THRU!!!
 
Mostly by family members and it's usually viruses... There could be a HUGE pop up that says "DO NOT CLICK YES, IF YOU DO, YOU WILL DEFINATLY GET A VIRUS" and guess what... they do, and the worst part? when you're fixing their machine, they hover around and try to tell YOU how to fix it! i should start charging!!! THANK YOU! DRIVE THRU!!!
 
tss.. fix virusses, or worm filled computers; fix a broken harddrive!..
Seldomly I get the opportunity to advise buying a new pc!
They all expect me to fix it!
The best fix ever was just adding some RAM.
The worst ... I'll not even mention!
But it is close to losing 3 days of your time, to in the end fry the computer totally,because it was never maintained or taken care of.
If you're good with people,or can use your mounth,it's easy to make people understand it's their fault.
But many ask you to fix their pc's for free,when it's almost unfixable, and if anything happens,and you return it in a worse state then before they will want to sue you...

Like that time when I received a broken pc,powered it up, and the processor literally exploded! Turned out the guy had overclocked it above it's limits and wanted me to fix it;but by then the damage was already done!
 
worst part is those windows licences. Some people don't have a licence,just bought their pc with windows pre-installed on the HD,and expect you to get another licence key for free,or "just copy of your windows",like things go that easy!

I long time ago refused to share/posses illegal material,so I tell them I only have one licence for Windows (both XP and vista CD/DVD I once bought), and I'm using it.
As soon as they understand they need to pay nearly 200+ dollars for a new OS, they start thinking of buying a new pc altogether!
 
Well, I'm a computer science major at an engineering school, especially last year when I lived in an apartment. People seemed to learn very fast that I was the go to guy. Girls love to pretend to have a reason to talk to you before they drop the question "oh yeah and by the way... my laptop speakers arent working".

Oh well... The longer I take to install sound card drivers the more often they stop by my room to see if I've "figured" it out yet 😛
 
My friend who use MacBook has run to nearest Apple Store to get his laptop fixed twice in last 6 months. Once was the adapter connector breakage, and the other was harddrive failure (Hitachi BTW). The Apple adapter really cost him a fortune. When it breaks, it just dies. There is no way you can wiggle the wire and try to use it until replacement arrives, because Apple Inc. designed that thing to snap so that suc-, nah-uh, customers, yes, customers, need to rush to Apple Store to get a brand new one for $60.
 
I don't get asked as often as I would have thought. Maybe my coworkers are afraid of me 😉 but it usually seems to be something different each time.
 
[citation][nom]MISRy[/nom]Always. $95/hr portal to portal. You'd be surprised how many people will cut a check and not bother to ask what ESO means. (Equipment Superior to Operator)[/citation]
or PEBCAK (problem exists between chair and keyboard)
 
... it iz my job and hobby... but, as time goes by, me need even power of tha (i)phone to get some peace'n'quiet... on tha other hand... as long there iz gonna be computers, i gonna have something to do und get payed for...
 
I discriminate on who I help and what I fix. I have 800 co-workers so I have a pretty large pool of people that ask for help. If I like you, maybe. If I don't, forget it. If the machine is past its normal life span, not happening. If I don't think you'll be willing to pay a fair price without bitching, no doing a damned thing for you. If you are willing to help everyone, people will take advantage of you... you have to draw the line somewhere. My day job pays the bills... anything I make off of you is just gravy.
 
Well besides it being my job, I'll go into a classroom and fix the class pc and while doing so the other teachers usually ask if i could fix their laptop or desktop. My bro always ask me to fix his, and countless times friends and family have asked me, i do it to save them the 40 bucks they would end up spending a computer store would charge.
 
I found myself repairing windows all the time for friends and coworkers, etc... I started a small business based on that fact. The Shuttle computers I built and sold never broke physically, but software was 99% of the problems. Last year it drove me over the edge and I switched to Mac. So far the hardware failures with Mac are greater in number than software problems by about 10 to one.
 
I'm 55, back in 1978 I spent a week soldering the boards for my first PC. With the exception of laptops (and a barebones Shuttle box) I've never actually bought a PC, I've always rolled my own from parts. So amoungst my friends and collegues I'm sort of the original nerd.

By the 90s, when it came time for my friends to buy a PC they generally came to me for help, I'd give them a parts list and I built the box for them. After the second dozen or so, I got smart. I'd invite the prospective owner over for an afternoon or evening, sit them down at the table full of parts and talking them through the process. This single action has made life a whole lot easier. Once a person has actually built a PC their less intimdated by the process and/or less likely to call you up the next time they have a problem. A few have even gone on to do Tech support for a living.


 
Yes, I am someone who fixes PC's all the time. I was waiting for this question to arise. I also had a good feeling there would be PLENTY of people responsing to this question. Another fear. One day, our technically savvy minds will no longer be needed.. or wait, maybe we will just consistantly advance, technologically speaking.. so that everyone else who needed help, will still need help and will still seem just as hopeless as they always did. Right? Anyway, where can I get that shirt?
 
I'm 55, back in 1978 I spent a week soldering the boards for my first PC. With the exception of laptops (and a barebones Shuttle box) I've never actually bought a PC, I've always rolled my own from parts. So amoungst my friends and collegues I'm sort of the original nerd.

By the 90s, when it came time for my friends to buy a PC they generally came to me for help, I'd give them a parts list and I built the box for them. After the second dozen or so, I got smart. I'd invite the prospective owner over for an afternoon or evening, sit them down at the table full of parts and talking them through the process. This single action has made life a whole lot easier. Once a person has actually built a PC their less intimdated by the process and/or less likely to call you up the next time they have a problem. A few have even gone on to do Tech support for a living.
 
I enjoy it too, but it started happening so often that I had to do a rate hike and make good $ doing it now. Vast majority of problems I encounter are viruses, typically so bad that I have to do complete reinstalls because even if I remove the obvious candidates I don't have faith the machine is completely clean.

Also typical hardware upgrades like adding more RAM to older laptops really help.

Rarely do I have problems which are unfixable, most recent such example was a dead hard drive. It wasn't reporting errors but HDD problem became apperent after running great off a live linux oS disk for hours w/o crashes.
 
I use to fix them all the time it was always: "my computer's slow can you speed it up", "I think I got a virus can you check it out", "can you upgrade my laptop", "can you install this software for me", "how do you reinstall windows?" i've stopped doing it for free that's for sure and when they hear I charge the requests just stopped...
 
The most common problem I face is crapware. In all of its forms.

One of the most enjoyable things I like to do is go to the electronics stores and listen to the advice that the store employees are giving customers. It is typically way off. Especially at stores like Wal-Mart, target, and K-mart. I worked at one of these stores in college and the two brightest computer experts working at the store were not in the electronics department. It is a crying shame!
 
Screw tech support, my time is more valuable than what people are willing to pay. That said, back when I was still interested in wasting my time I made it a rule to build computers for people rather than look at whatever packard bell crapper box they happened to inherit from an uncle that hated them. You would be surprised at how much easier it is to troubleshoot something when you know exactly what parts are in the system and which software you installed vs. what they put on there.

Usually people just don't think when they try to install software. Installing AVG will prompt to install the google browser bar for instance. Their eyes just glaze over and they click right through like retards. You mention something like NOD32 and their only question is, "should I be running that too?"

 
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