I want to start a computer repair business. Need some ideas?

October 4, 2009

I know how to fix computers and have some of the tools and parts I need. Does anyone know what software Geek Squad or other professional use to diagnostic computer for performance and virus removal? What other tools they use?

Thank you,

Big problems with MS Office 2007?

October 1, 2009

I have been using Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus for nearly a year now. I’ve always been able to run every aspect of Office without fail. I haven’t changed any hardware or significant software changes in that time, but within the last few days, it has quit working. Whenever I try to start Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, or Outlook, I get an error message saying that there isn’t enough memory or disk space to run those programs. I can run every other program on my computer without problem. I have twice ran the Microsoft Office Diagnostic tool, and it says there is no problem with my system. My anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-malware tools can’t find anything. If I contact Microsoft about the problem, their free troubleshooting help doesn’t apply to me. They want to charge me just to CHAT with someone who may or may not be able to help me. I don’t know what to do to fix this, but I don’t want to pay them money. Please, can anyone offer any suggestions?
Canadian Bacon’s answer fails. The processes that are currently running on my PC aren’t taking enough memory to cause a problem.

Geek Squad Repair issues?

September 30, 2009

A year ago, my daughter saved her own money to but a lap top computer.
We bought it, and an extended service contract from Best Buys.

It proved to be a lemon, and after several repairs (motherboard, hard drive, etc) they replaced it with another computer of a different make.

I paid for another extended contract…but when this machine had issues, they are trying to pawn it off on "software problems"—not covered and want to charge nearly 200 bucks to fix it.

Everyone who’s heard of the problem think the issue is power/ hardware related. While we were waiting to have the puter serviced, every customer was told the same thing "If the issue is spyware, it’s not covered…"

I think they are simply trying to weasel out of the contract, and "software" is just an excuse. Has anyone else had a similar experience with Geek Squad? It also took them 11 days to run a simple diagnostic. That’s absurd. So is paying 25 percent of the price of a product not even a year old.
My daughter says the screen goes black at random. She also said that re-booting doesn’t always bring it back.

She has a Toshiba laptop, and twice in the last year we had to replace the power cord. The first one used to get so hot it could almost burn your skin, but the latest doesn’t do that.

We use Avast and Ad Aware for anti-virus.

This doesn’t sound like any virus I have ever heard of. Opinions?
Even worse…when we retrieved the laptop, they tried to get me to sign a form that said it "had been repaired to my satisfaction.

THEN we found two new icons on the computer, one for a direct internet connection none of us had ever used, or heard, and the other for files equal odd.

Wonder what the boys do on their breaks?

What field in computers is best for me?

September 28, 2009

ok I am having trouble figuring out what computer field is best for me? Here’s what i’d like to do:

– computer repair (hardware repair, replacement, installation, and software install/useage, ect) similar to that of a technical support specialist/computer repair specialist
– networking
– problem solving/diagnostic work (cleaning out viruses, finding out why something isn’t working, ect.)
– security (making sure systems are secure, ect)

Personally I like repairing computers and the problem solving…but i didn’t like the sound of a computer repair specialist or comp. technician due to the low salary compared to other computer careers. I wasn’t sure if an IT specialist would exactly cover the majority of this.

Plz help me!! What computer career would be good for me!

Has anyone used CarMD, a device which can tell you what the check-engine light being on means?

September 27, 2009

This device is meant to plug into your car in a port where your mechanic would plug in his 00 diagnostic machine to figure out what is wrong with your car for you. I did some online customer reviews for it, and some people love it and others had a lot of problems with the software (after you plug the device into your car, you then upload the data into your computer and then get a reading as to what the problem is).

Seeing as I am still somewhat new to my area and don’t yet have a mechanic (I’ve been lucky to not need one, yet! knock on wood), and seeing as I don’t know incredibly much about cars beyond changing the oil filter (and what I hear on Car Talk, haha), I was thinking this would be a good investment at 0 for the device so that I can get an assessment of any problems before I was to bring the car into a shop.

Does anyone have any opinions on CarMD?

Thanks!