When you are in a hole… STOP DIGGING!
We see it several times a week. Customers attempt to repair computer issues themselves and they are basically doing open heart surgery for a broken arm. They have misdiagnosed the problem and supplied the wrong solution!
Today a customer came in asking if we were familiar with the Zygot Worm and removal for same; because “I have it”. “It’s messed with all my mail contacts, spammed everyone I know and now my mail is all ending up in the trash!” The customer continues on to say, “I’ve been working on getting rid of this for a week and I can’t seem to do it.”
You’ve been doing open heart surgery for a week now and your leg is still broken you say? And now your heart is also not operating correctly either? Hummm
What was a very simple problem initially has now turned into multiple problems because people – you can do a lot of damage working the wrong problem for a full week! Not only that, but I haven’t met anyone yet that can actually describe the full journey that took place in that last week in such a way that we can unravel the problem quickly.
Me: So what steps did you take to resolve the wrong problem?
Customer: I don’t know, I read a bunch of stuff on the internet and tried that, then I called AOL but I think they were scammers, and I let them on my computer and they did some stuff, then I got into the Registry of the computer (now that is like Brain Surgery there!) and changed a couple of settings (out of about 2,000 options)
Can you fix this fast and cheap?
NO
I could have fixed it fast and cheap when it was a broken arm. Now it’s a broken arm and something is wrong with the heart and also the brain and I have no idea what and neither do you. Not only that, but whatever is wrong with the brain and the heart is not a natural thing, it’s man made – so that just opens the door for more possibilities!
Let me tell you straight – there are more bad answers in the DIY Google searching of answers than there are good answers. If you don’t know what the terms are, you can’t possibly be fixing the right thing! If I told you that you needed new tires because your car doesn’t start, you wouldn’t believe me. Yet I see people do similar things – swear that this is broken when it’s really that.
So unless you really understand computers, understand what a bad web site looks like, know enough to stay away from phony Microsoft and phony AOL and phony HP and all the rest – stop trying to fix it yourself!
And – if you have data you value and no backup – please do yourself a favor and save yourself a lot of money and stop the repair immediately and see a professional, even if it’s not us.
Failing hard drives give very little warning if any and precious time can be wasted fixing the wrong item and not prioritizing the data recovery part of the job.
We are proud to report we have NEVER lost data in 11 years of business. (that was viable when it came into the shop. ) But we have saved a lot!