So I am sitting here going through the steps that it takes to not only diagnose but also repair the problems that I am faced with when servicing a computer with a known virus problem.
As with any virus, it is one thing to remove the bug itself, but it is another to know whether or not you go it all, or what damage was now caused from said virus.
Typically if I were to start by building a system from scratch, the hard drive would be partitioned so that there was a backup partition which would then house the 'clean' image of the completely set up computer system. This 'clean' image would be clean simply because other then being online the internet to get all the windows and other updates, the system would have no actual internet time. The antivirus would have been installed BEFORE any internet activity was given to the computer therefore the 'clean' image would always be a 'go-to' image in the worst case scenario. As you use your computer, typically on a monthly basis or even more often if you so choose, you could create a new drive image of the current situation you have. This way, if you did have a major melt down, you could then simply go back to that time. This is where drive image technology has truly started to shine, especially with the larger hard drives of more recent times, whereas with a program like Norton's Goback, it can truly take you back to when things were working correctly simply because those files are still there!
Now, when I start the process of removing viruses and realize that after the virus has been removed, that new installations of certain files or other strange happenings are cause for alarm. It is the time that it takes to install something, reboot the computer and try it again, only to see that you are not making progress and have to return to an earlier method of repair. In this case, resort back to reinstalling. The first step I will usually take is to attempt a windows 'repair' whereas I am reinstalling the operating system over top of the old one, in hopes that this will repair the system files that have become corrupt or removed due to spyware/virus activities. When this fails, and remember a repair will typically take an hour to complete, you are now back to square one. That is, so long as you still have access to the original data, you want to be sure it is safely backed up. (this seems to be something most people forget how important it is until they lose it).
Now, starting from scratch will typically take about 4 hours to complete as this windows installation then requires antivirus installation then all of the windows updates are necessary, and then the restoration of backed up data must take place. This is where you can truly run in to trouble by simply reintroducing the problem! It can happen, by simply restoring all of your backed up files, such as 'my documents' which had been used for downloading files such as from programs like 'Limewire' or 'Kazaa' which are sure to have downloader trojans included. But you may ask, wouldn't these be scanned by active antivirus during the saving? Yes, but when you are creating a disk image, you are compressing these files therefore you are not really using them the way they were intended. It is therefore not until you restore them, that they are now 'in the open' again for any such program to scan through the directory for said 'bugger file' and shazam, you have a virus again! This is what is known as active script and this is what can kill you every time, that is why it is important to have some sort of file management to your computer system. My documents is there for you to save YOUR DOCUMENTS.. Not the stuff you download from the internet, not the install files for a game you copied from a friend, this is where you should be saving YOUR FILES.. Granted the My music folder falls in to this category therefore you could argue that when you are saving music, should you not save it somewhere else? For this I would say Yes, but where I typically would be saving it on a system that has more then one user, is to the 'ALL USERS' documents/my music folder. True, this is still found in 'MY DOCUMENTS' but not YOUR documents, and is located in : system\all users\all users documents\ therefore you do have the ability to keep it separate from your own account.
So where am I going with all of this? The simple fact that it is time and that is all, it is time spent rebuilding the system. Nothing more to it then that. So when (a client) says that it would probably be better to just buy a new computer, they are referring to what they would be paying the person to fix the old computer and how much they could have put that towards a new computer. So true, I say, but wait, are you overlooking a few things? Such as your new computer will not have any sort of antivirus, other then the free one that works for 3 months. Not to mention all of the other 'data' that you have saved over the life of the existing computer.. Is this not worth anything and aren't you going to want to transfer this to the new and improved computer? I say this because it becomes quite frustrating for the guy that is sitting there taking all careful measures to save the existing data and then repair the computer only to find that the only thing of importance seemed to be getting the computer back without paying what it would cost to buy an entirely new box. So what does the guy do that is fixing the computer? This would be me by the way. They 'cap' the amount that they will charge to the customer therefore knowing that the customer will be at ease knowing they will not have to go get a bank loan to fix their old box, and will end up with something they should be quite happy with, considering they were using it up until the virus took hold. Now, in the case of 'upgrading' versus purchasing something new.. That too brings up the one question as to what do you plan on doing with the old data? Is it not important? I guess this is the sort of thing that is quite easily overlooked when it simply boils down to 'how much' and unfortunately this is the way it is in todays society of mass production. It is quite often cheaper to just replace then repair and that is the case for most ink jet machines when you run out of ink. The purchase of colour and black ink can run you close to $100, which is what it costs for an Epson CX4600 all-in-one machine for example.
Again, where am I going with this? Well the fact that you must put a price on something, you try to be fair and when you have the ability to decide what you will charge for something as in the case of owning your own business or in my case, simply working for myself. Just how much 'money' should you charge, based on the amount of 'time' that you are going to be putting in to the project? That is something that not one person can tell me for sure, since each and every job will come with different sets of circumstances. In my case, I choose to come up with a dollar amount that would be considered an 'hourly wage' however by then placing a cap on this, that pretty much throws out the dollar/hour and becomes a simple case of 'good service' versus bad service. The bad service is always when the customer ends up getting very upset and that is typically because they feel they have paid too much for the service that they ended up getting. This is of course something that you can't seem to do anything about when it comes to trying everything to please said customer! The more 'time' you spend, the more irate some will get, so where is the winning solution for this? That would be in the communication! Communication is the key and regardless of having to explain what has already been done to the computer, the bottom line is 'when will it be fixed and for how much?" since we all know you can go out and buy a computer for around $795 these days that gives the service tech very little room to play with.. In my case, it is 7 hours! That is what would be considered the break point of when you start thinking of purchasing new parts if not the entire unit. I know this because this is how long it would take to basically built a computer from scratch as is the case for me on many occasion.
In closing, as I know I can rant about many things.. This being nothing more then communication skills at work, trying to explain what you are getting when you sign up for the repair job. In knowing that your system might be infected by a virus, or regardless of what the problem is, the current situation of your computer does not allow you to use it correctly therefore giving you the alternative to get it repaired or go out and buy a new one, remember that if you have absolutely anything at all that you wanted to keep on the old computer, you are going to need service work.. And that is where you can get screwed and tattooed.. Or you can let me help! Selling myself? Absolutely.. After what I see myself go through in dealing with computer issues, and knowing the countless hours I GIVE away to any and all that know me.. Don't go thinking you are going to get it done better for any price.. I know this, and I can stake my reputation on it! If you are reading this and haven't already visited my TIPS page or SOFTWARE/SUPPORT page where you can learn how to OPTIMIZE and keep your system free and clear of most bugs, please do!
