I was asked to pop over to a new clients house this afternoon – they had had a competitor out who had ‘tried’ to fix the issues
Mainly these were connectivity issues; email and Internet. Something I see all the time…

Off I popped across this fair city of Leeds to distant climes.

As usual I introduced myself – we hadn’t met before and I’m nothing if not polite – and let the client(s husband and wife) explain the issues.

Internet Explorer would crash and ‘Search for a solution’ that never came…
It took me about 2 minutes to fix that one (and the client was VERY surprised!).

Outlook would fail sending email with a SMTP error…
That  one took a little longer, about 20 minutes (it was a little convoluted because of the interaction with the virus protection).

Whilst doing this I noticed that there was some spy-ware installed and a little house keeping needed
So I cleaned the systems, installed a couple of FREE applications, taught them how to use them, and left happy clients with speedy systems.

My new client had a rant about the other guys service – £300 bill and the systems were not fixed, but were WORSE than when they came!
There are  some real cowboys doing this job.

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Our next door office had a problem (it’s a continuation of the kids issue from the other day).
He WAS running the McAfee protection products ~ It WAS up to date ~ it WAS a recent version.

There were lots of Internet connection and browsing issues, one of which meant that ANY website he went to, redirected to a dodgy search website. This effectively killed any browsing to websites (including the ones I needed to get the cleaning tools required to fix the little blighter)

Remove the offending issues with some funky tools and a lot of knowledge.
Remove McAfee, having let the infections in it was deemed ‘useless’ (not by me I hasten to add ~ though I did agree )
Install a GOOD protection package.
Run a scan and get rid of the problems…

Now, after the initial scan, 10 problems pop up. That is 10 problems McAfee missed.
Not good at all…
As a side effect, his PC now starts up and runs MUCH quicker.

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By the way…

We got final confirmation for our ‘Train to Gain’ funding this morning ~ we are currently at 100% success rate for getting this for our clients

Also, in a most amusing situation, apparently our buildings fire alarm went off today (someone mistook the alarm trigger for a light switch ). Whilst waiting out of the front of the building, ALL the people in ALL the companies (except the people who had actually set off the alarm ) watched a car parked on the bus stop outside our office GET A PARKING TICKET!!
Most amusing…

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I have, over the years, developed a sense of what’s to come…
It’s a gift which most of us of a technical intent would evolve after many a consultation with clients experiencing any difficulties with their PCs.
Call it a sense of precognition if you will…
Sometimes, in a lesser experienced engineer, it takes the addition of certain, well known, tools to enhance the perpection but it’s definately there…
It starts with a little tingling in the nose, and before you know it, WHAM, a vision of long hours of painful ‘Blue/Green bar watching’.
Amazingly it seems to happen MOST often when in discussion with a client about:

• Why his/her PC is running INCREDIBLY slowly.
• Why his/her PC can no longer connect to the Internet.
• Why his/her PC randomly show popup adverts even though they have ‘protection’.
• Why his/her PC seems to show an amazing amount of porn.
• Why his/her PC causes untold errors across multiple applications.

This followed by the revelation that ‘the kids’ have been using it..!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THE KNOW UNIVERSE THAT KILLS PCS FASTER THAT A SPEEDING CHILD!!!

They seem to have NO KNOWLEDGE of viruses, spyware or BASIC thought processes when it comes to online security and safety.

Take my advice and save yourself £££s – DO NOT let you kiddywinkles ‘play’ with your works PCs, unless you would like to introduce yourselves to a SAD freaky geeky like me! :evil:

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I’m going to have a day off tomorrow – off to the seaside and to see a show…
So it’s my bedtime

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Remember this:
Phorm
I posted on it AGES ago (12^th March 2008 to be exact!)

It’s the targeted advertising system that several of the larger ISPs (Internet Service Providers) were going to be forcing on their customers.
This seems to have caused an outcry from the European Commision, even going so far as to say:

the UK need to look again at its online privacy laws.

Oh dear.
This comes on the back of the legislation requiring the ISPs to save email data for ALL of the customers. Apparently this is to combat terrorism by ascertaining a pattern of behaviour from the emails sent, a disputed theory considering that the ISPs are only [supposed to] storing the email headers – the details of where the email has come from and where it’s going to.

It seems from a simple look around the technical articles on the Internet, that the UK is seriously behind in the laws governing the use of online systems…

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Today I was the proverbial fly & had the proverbial blue bum!

I popped over to see a client who’s PC was running slowly (those of you who have read the eZines know where this is headed) – the dreaded spyware again..
Mundo searching and cleaning transpired.
The PC was positioned in a fairy cool room and, having been extremely busy and not eating properly, I got so cold..!
It was like being at home with the boiler broken again
Cleaning done I returned to the office – to be net with several phone calls.
Fixed 2 more clients stuff (one remote and one on my test desk), and a third was left with the diagnostics running.

Busy busy busy!!
(In this climate, this is a good thing! :) )

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