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5 things to watch out for when getting your computer repaired

Posted by South City Computer

There are alot of computer repair scams and scammers looking for their next unsuspecting victim. Craigslist and Google searches can return results claiming to be computer repair businesses, but how can you be sure? Often when people become desperate from their computer being broken, they will make irrational decisions that end up costing them big time headaches, money, and possibly their computer. When getting your computer repaired, how can you be sure that you are not going to be scammed out of money or worst yet, have your computer stolen from you?

The following is a short list of helpful questions you should ask a computer repair business and yourself before handing over your computer and/or money.

What is the average computer repair turn around time?
Some of the big-box store computer repair services can take several weeks to months for simple computer repairs that should only take a few days. Ask the computer repair business about how long their average computer repair turn around is based on your particular issue or one that is similar. If the time is over several weeks, this may be an unreasonable length of time for an average computer repair. How long can you really be without your computer? If the repair is going to take several weeks, ask the next question.

Will your computer be sent off to another place to be serviced?
Does this computer repair business perform the computer repairs on-site, or will they ship your computer to a third-party vendor in another city, state or country for the actual computer repair service. Are you comfortable with your computer data leaving the country where different computing laws and ethics apply? Does the middle man computer service company have the ability to dictate information to the third party company on your behalf, or will they have issues when important information needs to be passed to the computer repair technician. If they will be shipping the computer repair off then what turn around time should you expect (as it could be a very long turn around).

Does this computer repair business have a store location?
Many computer repair businesses claim they will only come to your house to service your computer. Before trying in-home computer service, insist to bring your computer into an actual store for repair service and support. If after a while you feel you have an established and trustworthy relationship, you can request in-home service and support. Be suspicious and leery if you end up having a “technician” come to your house instead of you being able to go to their commercial store. This may not be a real computer repair business at all, and in a worst case, could be a scam to steal your computer and money from you. Seriously, listen to this story:

“I thought I was saving a bundle by having who I thought was a laid off computer professional come to my house. I saw his advertisement on craigslist.org and he said he could fix any computer problem for fifty dollars cash! He came to my house, I gave him the twenty dollars and he said that he needed to take my computer back to his “lab.” That’s the last I ever saw my computer and he never returned any of my emails.”

Is the price TOO cheap?
Everybody loves getting a great deal. However, watchout for deals that seem TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Craigslist for instance is full of these deals. A low price could mean you are going to get mediocre, at best, computer service. Don’t forget you only get what you pay for, and you don’t ever get what you don’t pay for. In order for you to receive top notch computer repair service from IT professionals running a business with overhead, you should expect to pay a reasonable price for those services based on complexity of the computer issue at hand.

Is this computer repair service reputable in the local community?
Who told me about this business? Have I heard my neighbor or friend speak highly? Does this business have positive reviews on the Internet? If it has none, then maybe nobody has been a raving happy customer, and could offer a bit of insight for you about the experience you are going to have. However if the business has a ton of reviews, keep in mind that some of the reviews on the Internet can be fake, so look for real people posting real reviews. If you notice a low ranking, don’t just take the reviewers word, see if the business responded in a professional manner that explains their position, and remember to not rely solely on reviews and ratings as these review services allow anyone to post reviews and rating even if they were never a customer at all. If possible ask around your local community to talk to anybody who has used computer services, and if they were satisfied with the price and service they received. Also see if the computer repair business is involved with or donates to any local neighborhood groups, business groups, and/or charities. Reputable businesses build their reputation and earn business by participating in their community.

These questions are also helpful to the many people that feel that they do not know enough computer technical lingo and have a limited knowledge when it comes to their computer and therefore worry they may not be able to communicate with a computer repair technician to get the help they need. They may worry that they will not know how to answer questions and voice their concerns and needs in a manner that a computer technician will understand in order to assist them with their computer repair service needs. This is a very understandable feeling, so instead of being hooked on only the technical aspect of computer repair service, you can ask the following non-technical questions, to try to provide you insight on how this computer repair business will treat you during the computer repair relationship.

How to choose a computer technician

Posted by South City Computer

Choosing the right computer technician for your tech support needs can be a challenging and daunting task. That is why it is important to have computer tech support you can rely on when it really matters! We have some of the best and brightest computer technicians in St. Louis MO available to assist you with your small/home office, tradeshow, conventions, corporate IT, and institutional IT support needs.

Let us assist you with any of the following services:

  • IT Network Support
  • Remote and On-Site IT support
  • Medical IT Services and EMR support
  • Office Server Support
  • Email Server Support
  • Cisco, Lynksys, Netgear or AT&T router setup and support
  • Charter network services and management
  • Computer Technical Support
  • Computer Virus/Malware Monitoring and support services
  • Computer IT Help
  • On-Site IT Services for tradeshows, conventions, and corporate meetings
  • On-Site IT Service for corporate retreats
  • Audio/Visual Support
  • On-Site network management

Consider a South City Computer Support Technician today for your IT support and service needs.

FAKE EMAIL & VIRUS ALERT: Important – New Outlook Settings

Posted by South City Computer

I received a rather official looking company email today informing me of “New Outlook Settings” from the “Administrator”.

Further inspecting this email I open it and found the following message with an attachment (Outlook.zip):

"Please carefully read the attached instructions before updating settings.

This file either contains encrypted master password, used to encrypt other files. Key archival has been implemented, in order to decrypt the file please use the following password: PaSdIaoQ

This e-mail and / or any attachment(s) is intended solely for the above-mentioned recipient(s) and it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in error, please notify us immediately at helpdesk@******.com and delete the e-mail. You must not copy it, distribute it, disclose it or take any action in reliance on it. "

This sounds very technical right!? It must be a real email right? Unfortunately this is a fake email intended for an unsuspecting computer user to open the Outlook.zip attachment to install a virus or backdoor onto their computer. Many emails circulate the Internet claiming to be something that they are not, and in fact are computer viruses waiting for an unsuspecting victim to open the attachment and install the virus onto the vicitims computers.

I looked at the actual email header file and noticed the first line Return-Path was set to fraud@a**p.com and the email originated from an Indian broadband company that provides “Prepaid Postpaid Mobile Services”. That is definately not the company email server at all.

Here is the email header:

"Return-Path: 
X-Original-To: myuser@*******.com
Delivered-To: myuser@*******.com
Received: from ABTS-North-Dynamic-***.***.***.***.a**********d.in (unknown [*.*.*.*])
	by mail.********.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 93E0CDCB4D4
	for ; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:20:37 -0600 (CST)
Received: from outlook530.*******.com (*.*.*.*) by *******.com (*.*.*.*) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 9GGUFI93; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:15:39 +0530
Received: from outlook5199.*******.com (*.*.*.*) by smtp.*******.com (*.*.*.*) with Microsoft SMTP Server id ******; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:15:39 +0530
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:15:39 +0530
From: "Administrator 
Message-ID: 
To: 
Subject: Important - New Outlook Settings
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
Content-Type: application/zip; name="Outlook.zip"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Outlook.zip""

This email appears to look very important, technical, and official and could be easily mistaken as an important company email or important email service providor email, however is SPAM with a virus attachment and should NOT be opened.

If you receive this email or a similiar email, do not download or open the attachment.

If you opened this email by accident, you should bring your computer into South City Computer, or to a local computer repair store near you today for a full computer virus scan and removal or computer restore services.

ALERT: Craigslist In-Home Computer Repair Scam

Posted by South City Computer

Watch out for a new computer repair scam going around on Craigslist. The scammer posts a basic ad on craigslist; “In-Home PC Repair for ONLY $20.00 cash! Call today XXX-XXX-XXXX”. Most folks would jump at a deal so good! The number is usually a Google number. When the PC tech shows up to the victims house, after spending a few minutes on the computer, recommends that the computer goes in for service, and that the victim’s computer will need to come with them. The customer will pay the initial fee, and the computer is taken out of the victims home. It is hard to say what happens after that to the victims computer, but basically the victim never sees their computer, or the PC repair tech ever again.

The computer is most likely pawned off, and the scammer has made off with the profits from the stolen computer and also $20.00 in cash. Now the scammer may be able to aquire passwords to bank accounts, email accounts, and has an idea of the layout of the victims house and possibly knowledge of other expensive electronics the victim owns, and could possibly come back when the victim is not around to do even more damage.

Don’t be foolish when it comes to your computer repair needs. Don’t fall for the “In-Home Computer Repair Guy” scam. Beware of “Computer Repair Businesses” that can only offer in-home services, that cannot offer a real commercial location in which to take the computer in for repair. Next time bring your computer into South City Computer or a local computer repair store in your area.

Need Help Choosing the Right Computer For You?

Posted by South City Computer

As a technical support provider at South City Computer in the St. Louis area, people often come to us asking for help choosing the right computer. This is definitely something we can help you with, but there are a few important things that we need to know from you.

Decide what do you plan to do with it?
Do you use it just for the web, or do you do more? What kind of things do you do on the web? Do you watch videos? Upload videos? Are there special services like Netflix that you use? Outside of the web, do you have any programs that you use often? It is important to remember that as commonplace as a particular application, such as Microsoft Word, seems, it will not run on all computers. If you can come up with a list of every application you use, it would greatly help your IT provider.

Business or Pleasure?
If you are planning to use this computer to connect to your employer’s system, it’s important that we know. Many employers have special requirements regarding what kind of systems can be used on their networks.

Make a List of All Your Devices
This includes printers, webcams, microphones, external storage, and anything else that plugs into your computer. Due to the increasing popularity of operating systems other than Windows and Mac OS X, not all computers will be compatible with all devices. In order to make sure that your new computer will work with all your existing devices, we need to know the manufacturer of each device, and the model.

CDs and DVDs
CD/DVD drives are shrinking in popularity. Let us know whether you plan to listen to music or import CDs, watch movies from DVDs, or write your own content to a blank CD or DVD.

Form Factor
Because tablets, ultra-thin laptops, and other non-standard computers are becoming more and more popular, you have a much better chance of getting everything you need in whatever shape you want. Because of this, it should be up to you to decide whether you have a preference for one form factor over another. Just remember, preference often comes with price.

Speaking of price…
The general rule of thumb is the less you pay for a computer, the less it can do. Now, this is not necessarily a reasont to just go out and buy a very expensive computer. That’s where we can help you. Our job becomes taking all of the things that you say you need the computer to do, and finding a computer that will do all that, but not so much more that it becomes impractically expensive. Also important to consider is the price of your previous computer. If you paid $500 for a computer before, Google’s cheapest Chromebook will not have the same capabilities.

Ask questions
Don’t let us tell you what to do – let us help you decide what to do. If you think that what we are thinking is wrong, let us know, it can help us get an even better idea of what you need. If you don’t know what devices you have, or what you need to do with your computer, talk to us, and we will help you figure it out.

The most important rule
Just because it works on your current computer doesn’t mean it will work on your new one. We can tell you, though, if it will work on your new one, so make sure not to leave us in the dark about anything that the computer needs to be capable of.

What you should do if liquid spills into your laptop computer

Posted by South City Computer

There’s nothing better than coffee and computing in the morning (if you ask me). However I recently learned, “the hard way”, that coffee and computers do NOT directly mix well. I accidentally spilled my cup of coffee into the keyboard of my laptop computer. Water, coffee, tea, soda, and other liquids can be VERY DAMAGING to laptop computers.

Often people will have a drink next to their computer for ease of staying hydrated during a long computer session. While this is a convenient indulgence, it also is risky behavior. If you are like me, you are bound to bump the desk/table or drink container to the point of it spilling all over the place, and most likely into your laptop computer. Unless you have a tough-book or a waterproof computer this will cause serious damage.

What you should do if you spill liquid into your laptop computer:

  1. LEAVE THE COMPUTER OPEN, DO NOT CLOSE THE SCREEN. In order to avoid damaging any other hardware on the computer (such as the screen). Leave the computer in the open position.
  2. UNPLUG IT RIGHT NOW!!!!! First things first, just stop the electricity from traveling to the computer. But be careful not to get electrocuted. Your life is worth more than your iTunes collection, or your work documents.
  3. POP OUT THE BATTERY!!!! Hurry!!! cut off all electricity from the computer. Most likely you will have to tip the computer over to accomplish this, be careful to not damage the screen since you should leave the computer in the open position. It is a fact of nature that electricity and water do not mix at all. The computer is bound to malfunction due to the liquid touching the motherboard.
  4. TIP THE OPEN COMPUTER OVER SO THE SCREEN AND KEYBOARD FACE DOWN, if you haven’t already while removing the battery. Be sure the computer is in the open position so that the excess liquid can drain out the way it came in. The most important thing to do to try to salvage the computer is to get the computer completely dry again.
  5. Take out the hard drive. Most likely the hard drive is still dry, but to avoid any moisture damage take it out while you have the computer turned over. Even if the computer is shot, the data may still be intact on the hard drive. After you get the hard drive popped out, go ahead and put the hard drive into a dry paper bag or container and completely cover the hard drive with dry rice. DO NOT PLUG YOUR HARDRIVE INTO ANY OTHER COMPUTER FOR AT LEAST 72 HOURS OR LONGER IF YOU CAN WAIT.
  6. Let the laptop dry out completely. Leave the computer unplugged from the wall and the battery out in the open position for at least 72 hours. I would even recommend longer just to be sure. If you are savvy with your computer hardware, you may even want to take the keyboard off the computer in order to open up the computer so it may dry out faster. However this is probably a job better left to the professionals at South City Computer since we have the tools and expertise to take apart most laptop computers including Apple Mac computers.

At this point it is probably best to have a computer technician at South City Computer diagnose the computer to determine if it the laptop can be salvage, and also determine if the data on the hardrive can be salvaged.

Most importantly don’t beat yourself up! Accidents happen it is a fact of life. Just stay calm and cool since the ultimate outcome of the computer is unknown until the South City Computer technician can diagnose the state of the laptop computer.

Thanks so much for your help

Posted by South City Computer

From the moment I stepped in the door to when the technician finished, your staff has been courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt. I especially appreciate your patience with a writer who’s not very technically minded! Thanks so much for your help.

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