Without a doubt, the biggest problem I witness when dealing with computer problems is the simple fact that little or no communication prior to there being a problem, had been done. This is why I have always said, "The moment you suspect there is a problem or a pop up prompting you to do something or update this or that, just cancel and let me know".. just simply (and blindly) choosing to do whatever you happen to see on the screen is ludicrous. With so many malicious properties out there, most of which will have pop ups that look just like the real windows prompt, forcing you to click on it is not an option.. but it is! If you can't close the program normally then do the Microsoft three finger salute-which is the CTRL-ALT-DEL key.. This should bring up the program manager window which you can then choose TASK MANAGER and kill/end the task that is causing problems.. in most cases, it is your web browser. Note, this includes those malicious websites you end up landing on that won't let you do anything but click OK-WHICH YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO!. Once you have closed the task you are most likely good to go.. but that is when you should be contacting me with a report of the 'weirdness you just experienced'. Although restarting the computer is also an option, I don't recommend it in the case of a malicious attack because there is a good change some malicious items have been planted in the start up process which will launch in the background upon restart. Therefore if I can get to it BEFORE the computer is restarted then I can typically save a lot of time!
Now for the rant--I am sick and tired of people constantly blaming the 'updates' as the problem. So many times I hear this, "could the problems be due to the recent updates that were done?" or "could this problem be because windows 10 has been installed?" and the kicker.. "It was working fine before you worked on it!" OMG are you kidding me? Yes, I worked on it..updated and cleaned the many issues that were causing your computer to run at a snails pace and remove the many malicious items that were "calling home" to the mothership of all malware servers (in some cases).. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how some computers are when I work on them.. but to blatantly say the problem was because of me directly working on the computer is asinine! It's like, what am I here for, to purposely screw up your computer? No of course not.. my mentality when it comes to working on any computer is that I treat it like it was my own.. I want it performing to it optimal abilities, clean and clear from malicious items and other programs that are running in the background that do not need to be.
When I work on a computer it is either because I have been asked to repair a problem, or I have received notice of issues through my IT console that warns me of any red flag issues such as windows updates, antivirus definitions out of date and/or virus detected. Obviously the more frequently I work on a computer the less work there is to be done, and that means your computer is functioning the way it should be more often. My analogy here is to treat me like your pool cleaner or house cleaning person... why should you have a place looking and functioning perfectly for that 1 day the cleaning staff come and then wait 2 or 3 months to get it cleaned again? Obviously when they come to clean more frequently, there is less to be done so the time they spend there is a lot less (time is money and who wants to spend money?!) It works the same for computer maintenance. I might connect to a computer once ever 3 or 4 weeks but spend less than 15 minutes on it. Whereas I might connect to another computer once every 2 or 3 months and will end up spending an hour or more, due to all the maintenance that needs to be done. In the end, the person that has me connect less frequently ends up paying more.. so which method would you choose?
So how long has it been since your last computer maintenance service call? What are you waiting for? Contact me to get it working right!
..i'm out.. drop the mic!
