As an experienced field tech at A+ Mobile PC Doctors, I have a lot of experience surrounding the topic of virus removal (now more frequently referred to as malware: malicious software), especially in our Boston computer repair shop, in the field in eastern MA especially in the greater Boston area since that is where we have been headquartered since 2002 and doing remote desktop support to remove malware from both home and business level computer users.

Virus Removal

We get calls daily at our Boston computer repair shop regarding computer viruses from troubled individuals that want to know what they can do to remove the virus(es) and spyware, or better put, malware (malicious software) from their computer. Our initial reaction is always to ensure their immediate security, so we ask them questions like:

“Is your machine powered on and are you connected to the internet?”

–>We ask this to ensure that the virus is not transmitting their personal data back to its host (the hacker that wrote the malware application). If so, we ask them to at least disable their internet connection by unplugging their Ethernet cable from either their PC or the Router, and if, god forbid, they are still using dial-up, then disconnect the phone line from their PC. This precautionary action will terminate their connection to the internet and cease any possible communication between the virus/malware and their host.

“What are you running for security software? If yes, is it a free version or paid version, and is your license current?” (e.g. anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, etc. software such as AVG, Norton, Avast, Panda, McAfee, CA, etc.)

–> This helps us determine how badly their machine is infected. Let’s face it, none of these security software are infallible, but we try to put our best foot forward when protecting our networks, data and PC’s. If they tell us that they are not running any security software or it has expired, we know, right off the bat, that the machine is swimming with many viruses.

“Are you able to get online?”

–> This helps us determine whether or not a remote session would even be possible, or do we need to physically possess the computer to conduct a proper virus removal. It also helps us determine how badly the viruses have infiltrated the computer.

Computer Virus Removal

A PROPER virus removal….hmm…that brings me to the theme of this blog post. Every kid out there with a screw driver and a computer that thinks they know even a little about computer repair, is on the web advertising his or her services (mostly on Craigslist.com and Google/Yahoo & Bing Maps since it is free to advertise there) claiming that they are some kind of expert.

• They undercut the market since they do not have any company overhead such as insurance payments and in many cases personal and/or commercial rent/utilities, etc.
• They don’t have any technical certifications and/or very little field experience beyond their own PC’s
• Most of which are still in high school or just barely graduated (if they graduated at all), and even more have zero college or formal education, and definitely no technical training.
• They don’t carry any sort of insurance, so when they botch the job and lose all your data you as a consumer have zero recourse.
• Most importantly: They don’t truly understand Virus Removal and how to do it correctly!

Buyer's Beware

We as a company are constantly interviewing technicians and looking for the best of the best technicians. As such, we have a pretty steady flow of resumes coming in through our recruitment email. I personally review each and every one of these resumes - most of which get tossed out. Occasionally we do receive resumes that look promising and merit at least an initial investigatory phone call - which I myself place. When conducting these initial interview calls, we begin to drill down on the technical aspects of computer repair and networking as a start to begin to judge what the candidates’ true technical knowledge and experience are, and one of the first topics we discuss is virus removal.

10 times out of 10, the candidate will state that they really understand virus removal and it is no problem for them. Then, as the conversation continues, and we ask them to walk us through a typical virus removal process and we discover about 9.5 times out of 10 that the candidate really doesn’t get how to do a simple, or a complex (or thorough) virus removal. It is not as simple as most people think. Typically unless someone has been trained by a technician who really knows what they are doing, they themselves really don’t know the proper tools to use, or how to use them correctly (e.g. the anti-virus software that really work, how to effectively use a hard drive adapter kit so you don’t boot into windows but can read the drive and run virus scans, how to use Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Networking effectively to ensure success, etc.)

Even more importantly, most don’t get that we first and foremost have to be concerned with any sensitive data on the customer’s hard drive as a priority to recover, and then worry about the virus removal process. For most customers the data on their hard drive is a priority. As such, we always prioritize the data recovery and include questions surrounding this topic in our list of questions when we are “getting our arms around” the problem initially.

Lastly, most techs out there will only run one (or perhaps) two anti-virus applications on a computer, find some viruses, remove them, and then think they are all done - when in fact, they have only removed a minority of the malware on the hard drive and most likely still have some remnants of the malware, which are most likely to return in some fashion. These are the techs that will tell you they can do a virus removal in an hour or two. To truly do a thorough cleaning of a hard drive the proper way, you must run at least 4+ applications on your hard drive - which brings me back to the point that to do a proper virus removal takes anywhere from at least 3 hours, to as long as 24 hours depending on the depth of infection, how many files are on the hard drive and how powerful the machine is from a hardware standpoint.

We also recommend running a registry cleaner software such as RegCure to help optimize your PC’s performance and cut down on possible registry errors.

Feel free to call us to answer any questions you have - no obligation for free advice: 1-866-417-3945. It is our goal to help you achieve the peace of mind over your computer system, and the computer repair services company that assists you with your home or business IT infrastructure.

Technology to Relax...

As computer technicians, one of the most common questions we are asked is: “Should I fix my laptop computer, or am I better off just buying a new laptop?”. This is when we put on our IT consultant hat, and take up the position as if the computer in mention were our own - in fact, this is how we are trained from day one within our company to handle every computer repair job. After all, that truly is the fairest approach and leaves our customers with the best, and most trusting sentiment at the end of the day, especially since it is authentic.

Fixing Laptops

In many cases Laptop repair is worth it, especially if the computer is less than 3 years old and the initial cost was over $600. In addition, one has to consider several other matters when considering replacing one’s laptop rather than repairing it. For example:

• What is the current state of the damaged computer? Can it even boot into Windows so that we can pull off all the licenses of the loaded software for re-installation purposes? If not, then you are looking at purchasing all new software outside of your Windows operating system (unless you keep meticulous files with all your software4 license keys printed out and/or have the original installation CD’s. which only about 2% of the population keeps records like this according to our experience).
• Will you be able to re-use your copy of MS Office (e.g. MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Power Point, MS Access, etc.)?
• If you can re-use your MS Office license, is it a version that is worth continuing to use or is it time to upgrade (e.g. from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007 or above?)
• Will you be able to re-install your paid version security software (e.g. Norton, AVG, McAfee, etc.)?
• Is there any other paid software on your computer that you want to keep without having to repurchase (e.g. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe, CAD, etc.)?
• Are there files on your computer you need to recover?
• Are the files you are looking to move over (data transfer) from your old computer to a new computer) in need of a cleaning as to not carry and computer viruses over with them (such is the nature of viruses, they will spread from drive to drive)?
• And lastly for now, do you like your computer, or has it been a lemon?

Generally for laptop computers older than 5 - 6 years, it does make sense to purchase a new laptop rather than invest in prolonging the life of your old one. Remember, that computers are somewhat like cars in the sense that eventually parts are going to break.

The laptop buyers market can be intimidating and the prices change rapidly as new technology comes out. It’s always best to talk to a computer technicians about what you need to get out of your new system and where to find the best deal. In general, within a price margin the competition doesn’t vary as much as you might think. So if you are trying to find a laptop between $500-$1000 don’t get hung up on the numbers - think about what you want to hold in your hands.

Screen Size / Weight - Laptop computers vary from tiny netbooks to monster workstations

Keyboard Layout - Always demo your laptop before you buy it to see if the keyboard fits your hands - think about whether you need a numeric keypad or not, and if you do know they come as USB attachments.

Speakers - You may have a stereo for home entertainment and headphones for on the go - but good speakers make or break a laptop for a lot of people.

Gaming Capabilities - If you are a gamer you definitely want a high quality video card, most likely a larger LCD screen, a powerful processor and plenty of RAM (random access memory).

If you are thinking about a high-end laptop over $1000 there are a lot more options to consider - including getting a Mac (sadly its impossible to get a Mac laptop on a budget). Before you make a serious investment get in touch with a professional to ensure you purchase your personal ideal laptop.

If you have questions about upgrading your laptop, purchasing a new laptop and what it would take to move your files over cleanly as to not infect your new laptop computer - and/or if you are just looking for an honest answer and advice about purchasing a new computer, please feel free to give us a call (617-723-1986) or stop by our Boston computer repair shop and speak with one of our many Boston based computer repair technicians and we would be happy to assist you.

A vital step in Laptop Repair concerning Data Recovery, Migration or Maintenance is having a solution in place before a critical situation arises. At our Boston Computer Repair shop we have all the tools and experience to recover your important data from a failed hard drive or crashed system in most cases. However, for the inevitable times where a hard drive has catastrophically failed and Data Recovery is impossible it is vital to have a secure backup solution in place.

Your Data is Irreplaceable

There are many reliable data backup solutions on the market for Desktop and Laptop PC users, as well as more complex data maintenance systems for enterprise level customers using server racks or computer-farms.

I personally use and recommend an external hard drive of at least 1 Terabyte configured to automatically back up your entire system. It is important to make sure your Laptop Hard Drive is large enough to store all of your files without spilling over onto the external - as the essence of backup is to keep two complete and separate copies of everything in case one of the drives fails.

USB or Firewire External Hard Drive

For most users this one hardware and software solution will be everything you need to secure your data and prepare to migrate to a new system in the event of an upgrade or a crash. However, there are a number of other ways to back up your data in case you need to have it on-the-go or access it over the internet. In another post I will review flash-based storage, cloud-based storage and RAID backup solutions for businesses.

The idea of outsourcing your IT department usually scares a lot of people, first and foremost those that work in your IT department. This is for a good reason. IT outsourcing does cut overhead costs substantially when done correctly, which ultimately could threaten some of your IT staff’s jobs.

As a small IT services company, or sometimes referred to as a Boston computer repair & networking company, we have many clients both large and small that choose to utilize our Boston based service technicians on a part time basis for projects and/or multi-site management. An example of when this may be fitting for a company is when there is not a daily need for an on-site computer technician to be available to troubleshoot and repair every-day problems, especially when running in an environment using Citrix or cloud computing - which allows for most repairs to be done remotely (for example out of a company’s headquarters), but needs more of a break-fix / on-site troubleshooting and repair technician type of a local resource. And without having to endure the increasingly over-bearing travel costs of flying in a representative (and the time it takes for one to travel via plane) or having a “regional” rep travel half a day or more to get to one of their sites. We also see many times that the old expression “when it rains it ours” holds very true in IT in the sense that many times in multiple locations many things go wrong at the same time or within a day of each other, and for our clients knowing that they have a resource such as ourselves with multiple techs in every coverage area, we are able to handle the workload.

Another example would be for project type work such as regional upgrades, or data center migrations, management and/or build-outs for data centers. In these instances it also proves to be more cost effective to outsource your IT staffing on a temporary basis to another company that has the computer repair technicians already on staff and ready to staff your project with very short notice for shorter or longer-term projects rather than hiring new employees, having to insure them, and then when the project finishes having to either terminate them (possibly leaving bad blood in your wake) or keeping them on staff increasing your overhead when you perhaps do not have enough work for them.

These are just two small instances that allow larger companies to focus on bigger picture items and move their company forward while relying on cost-effect computer service solutions by using IT outsourcing.

Words from an experienced Boston computer repair IT services technician. Not a Geek!

If you have any questions for our Boston computer repair service and networking tech support team, we would be happy to discuss how our IT staffing and IT outsourcing solutions can work for you and your company to deliver a positive ROI by majorly cutting down on your overhead without cutting back on your IT infrastructure. Give us a call at 617-723-1986.

Also, you could head to our Boston Computer Repair & Networking, Virus Removal page on Thumbtack.com, a company that promotes local services. We have found Thumbtack.com to be a reputable site and advocate what they are doing to deliver quality content to the general public.

Boston computer repair companies are a dime a dozen here in the technology mecca that is Boston. Think all computer repair companies are the same? Think again. That’s just like saying every auto repair shop offers the same quality service you can trust. That being said, here are a few reasons why A+ Mobile PC Doctors takes the cake when it comes to quality Boston computer repair services you can trust.

Onsite computer repair. WE come to YOU. Whether it’s your home or your office, we are a rare thing in the Boston computer repair market because we offer convenient onsite computer repair.

Remote computer repair. If it can be done without physically handling your computer, we will be glad to do it! Give us a call at 1-617-723-1986 to discuss the possibility of a convenient remote access computer repair service.

Insured technicians. All of our technicians are insured by The Hartford. From the moment your laptop or desktop computer leaves your sight, you can rest assured that it is in good hands.

We are a team. A+ Mobile PC Doctors is a team of certified, experienced computer repair technicians.   Wouldn’t you rather trust us than that guy that fixes computers out of his mother’s basement?

Location, location, location. Business often choose us to accomplish their business networking services because we operate in several different states across the US. So if your business operates within Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, or Wisconsin, give us a call at 1-617-723-1986 about your needs today!