Asking for me by name, the caller identified herself as “Barney.” And who are you with, Barney? No one, just Barney, she replied, going silent. My assistant and right hand, a young woman who goes by the name of Seed, repeated the question just to be sure she had heard correctly and got the same response. Standoff. Faced with this […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: News, Announcements, and Anecdotes
Industry news, announcements, and first-person stories from the business
An Open Letter to Lisa G.
Dear Lisa: I just became aware of your negative review of Computer Medic on Yelp. Thank you, I think, for your feedback. It is neither necessary nor appropriate to respond to every critique, but you have made some pretty damaging claims that more or less demand a rebuttal. This will follow shortly. In my original version of this post I […]
Continue readingCity of Austin Sticks it to Small Business. Again
I was sitting at my desk not too long ago, front door open to catch the breeze, when I noticed a car pull up outside, bearing the label “Corix Utility Services.” Shortly a mousy little man emerged from the vehicle holding a leaflet. He wore a strange expression, seemed to have trouble expressing himself, and had nervous, darting eyes. I […]
Continue readingCNET Joins the Dark Side
CNET, once THE place to go for news, information and good, trustworthy content, is now a tainted brand.
Continue readingBad Business
Because almost everyone has a computer these days, and because almost every computer breaks sooner or later, my customers tend to be a microcosm of Austin society. I see people of every age, every race, every profession, and every income level. I also see people of every ethical disposition, including, just often enough to be considered anomalous, people who clearly […]
Continue readingMicrosoft Takes a Mulligan with Windows 8.1
With Windows 8, Microsoft pretty much reinvented the wheel. This is not, generally speaking, a good thing.
Continue readingNew Internet Scam Goes Retro
For several years now we have witnessed a parade of increasingly sophisticated scams involving various types of malicious software. In prior cases the software was typically spread anonymously, rapidly, through thousands of automated servers or through the use of suberfuge. But as the skill and the reach of the attacks has increased, so has the sophistication of the countermeasures deployed […]
Continue readingFBI Virus Wreaking Havoc across US
The warning, delivered under an official-looking Federal Bureau of Investigation logo, goes something like this: Warning: Your PC is blocked for one of the reasons specified below. You have been violating Copyright and Related Rights law (Video, Music, Software) and illegally using or distributing copyright content, thus infringing Article I, Section B, Clause 8, also known as the Copyright of […]
Continue readingThe Good and the Bad of Customer Service
In this business you often have to deal with the customer service departments of hardware and software manufacturers. The experience can be easy and pleasant, frustrating and difficult to the point of enraging, or anything in between. After a while you get a pretty good idea of what kind of company you are dealing with based on their customer service. […]
Continue readingOn the Care and Feeding of Digital Devices
A woman came into the shop the other day, obviously frustrated, even upset. She had two laptop computers that weren’t working. Both were older machines. One simply would not start, and the other had, apparently, a broken DC connector (the device that carries power into the laptop from an AC adapter.) One computer appeared to have a failed mainboard, making […]
Continue readingSecurity 2010 Continues to Wreak Havoc
Since January, the Internet has been bombarded with the latest iteration of the Security 2010 scareware, with fresh outbreaks coming every few days. This blog has written previously about it. This malware is the latest generation of a family of rogue software known by many names going back to at least 2006. The basic MO remains the same: On startup […]
Continue readingMissed Callings
The phone message, left by by an obviously irritated male caller, was brief and to the point: “The only way to get through to you is to send a (bleeping) message because you’re never around to answer the (bleeping) phone. Well forget it–I’m going to take my business somewhere else.” The tone of voice was borderline hostile with hints of […]
Continue readingNew Twist in Security 2010 Outbreak
Lately, we’ve been seeing a great deal of the Security 2010 malware, the subject of an earlier post. It comes in a number of different flavors but is, so far, removable without major disruption in most cases. It continues to surprise, though, with its clever little wrinkles. We recently encountered two separate cases of Security 2010 that were, apparently, successfully […]
Continue readingA Matter of Personal Responsibility
A few days ago I received a phone call from a young man who said that his Mac laptop was damaged and could I possibly fix it. I said, yes, probably, but needed to know a bit more about the problem before committing. It turns out that he had carelessly dropped the laptop from a height, severely damaging the case. […]
Continue readingMajor Malware Outbreak
Over the last few weeks, we have seen a major outbreak of a type of malware known commonly as Security 2010. In our experience, the speed of this outbreak’s spread and it’s tremendous reach are unprecedented. For maximum impact, the authors of this pestware have been releasing updated versions every few days to stay ahead of the common database-driven anti-malware […]
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