Lady wants to pay me $50 to remove msblast from her comp

[matthew13l]

This lady my mom works with got msblast a couple days ago. I talked to her on the phone and told her how to get the removal tool, download and run grisoft's free avg virus scanner, and how to download and run zone alarm firewall. Well today, my mom called me and said that Renee (lady with msblast) couldn't get her computer into a shop to get fixed, so she's going to pay me $50 if I can fix it. My mom's bringing the computer (just the tower) over tonight. If everything goes relatively smooth, I'm not going to charge her. I'd feel like I'm taking advantage of someone's computer illiteracy. But it made me think... there's probably thousands of people like Renee who have msblast and are taking their computers to techs right now and paying good money to have it removed. It's just like owning a car. The people who do know how to fix it will fix it themselves, and the people who don't know how to fix it will take their car to a shop and pay good money to have it fixed.

[Billforce]

HMMM, it appears to me that the American Medical Association has been doing this for decades, NO?

[the xenon]

take the money dude its simple curtisy she is saving on u anyhow computer shop would have charged her more:)

[Aznmask]

If you want be nice.. dont take the $$. If it really hard to fix.. or take up so many hour then take the $$.

[the xenon]

oh come on its $50 u can save up on ur new video card!!!

[sm8000]

Originally posted by matthew13l
I talked to her on the phone and told her how to get the removal tool, download and run grisoft's free avg virus scanner, and how to download and run zone alarm firewall.

If you do all of that for her, you've earned $50.

[genesound]

Fifty bucks, huh? So, that means you'll spend what, 1 hour?

Careful, once you've accepted money, it becomes your headache from now on, unless you lay down some ground rules. Sometimes I'd rather work for free :D

[matthew13l]

I'm thinking about accepting that whole $50 now. I've been working on that comp for 3 1/2 hours now, and I'll probably be working on it for 1 more hour. She attached a note to the computer's case that said "thank you bla bla bla my son jason formatted and re-installed windows to get rid of the virus and it was working ok, but he called me at work today and said nero wouldnt load and the computer was locking up constantly. He said the virus was still in the system restore file or something like that, i don't know, i dont know anything about this kind of stuff. What I'd like you to do is completely eliminate the virus and format the hard drive and re-install windows xp. thank you bla bla bla".

so, i hooked up an old monitor, keyboard and mouse, booted up the comp, and it went into windows. The computer was moving extremely slow. It's an athlon 1.3ghz with 256mb ram. it froze up completely after loading all the startup items, so i restarted it, and this time it didn't freeze but it was acting up and having random slow-downs. i took a quick peek at the hard drive to find a kazaa "my shared folder" with a serial number for black ice firewall, norton antivirus, and some other program. gee I wonder if her son downloads pirated software?:rolleyes: so i got fed up with the computer being all slow and i attempted to format it, but it wouldnt boot from the xp cd (yeah i changed the bios settings and the cd-rom drive works in windows). So I tried using my xp boot disks (floppies) but the floppy drive doesn't work. I opened the case (after turning it off:)) inspected cable connections, flipped the cable over which just made the floppy LED stay solid when the computer powered up, so I flipped it back over again, unplugged and plugged the floppy power cable back in, nothing worked. the floppy wouldnt work in windows either. it was recognized, but it wouldnt work. the LED wouldnt even come on if I tried to access the floppy drive. So I tried the CD again. I had to try probably 10 times until it just magically worked and booted from the cd (dont ask). the cd is in perfect condition. I deleted the partition, created a partition, formatted, installed windows, and all is well. The original partition was fat32. I'm assuming that the original xp install was an upgrade from win98 or winME. So I did an ntfs format. Now I'm on MY computer downloading zonealarm, avg virus scanner, and spybot to burn to a cd and install it on freeze (i named the lady's computer "freeze" cuz that's all it was doing before the format LOL). I'm not even gonna think about hooking that computer up to my cable connection for windows update until I install zonealarm off the cd i'm about to burn. Oh yeah, another problem, I just noticed a few minutes ago that microsoft's website seems to be down. Wasn't msblast supposed to jam the windows update center on august 16th?? It's only the 15th. Maybe the virus lived in a different time zone:D.

So, I suppose I deserve that $50 now. I thought this would be a simple process of downloading the msblast removal tool and being done in 20 minutes. But uh, that changed pretty dang quick. I should charge her extra for how freakin loud her computer is. The crappy little aluminum cpu hsf is louder than my volcano 7+ on high speed and makes a horrible wrenching noise when it turns off.

Ya know, for the $50 she's gonna pay me, she could've replaced her 40gb hard drive with a new one.

[Swordfish]

ya naw..if i were in your place. I wouldn't think so many times.

Lets just put it this way....don't do charity work. If you know somethin and really like helpin others and if it happenned to be your closest friend, and you are also in a situation where you can't ask money or take it then atleast ask this person to give you free meals like a some pepsi or coke. You know you won't feel bad either.

Come on you need some pocket money....thats ofcourse if you are in college or higher school or somethin.

50$ thats some money for such a small job.:r :D :t

[matthew13l]

Originally posted by Swordfish
ya naw..if i were in your place. I wouldn't think so many times.

Lets just put it this way....don't do charity work. If you know somethin and really like helpin others and if it happenned to be your closest friend, and you are also in a situation where you can't ask money or take it then atleast ask this person to give you free meals like a some pepsi or coke. You know you won't feel bad either.

Come on you need some pocket money....thats ofcourse if you are in college or higher school or somethin.

50$ thats some money for such a small job.:r :D :t

Well the small job I thought it would be turned out to last from 10pm until the current time of 4:02am. I am sick of hearing this computer's fans and will be glad to get back on my computer.

Thanks for your input:). I already decided to take the $50 about an hour ago while I was sitting at this computer waiting for it to download/install every windows update available. I think I'm gonna pack this baby up now so my mom can return it.

oh btw, i'm just about 16 years old and I can't have a real job yet, so $50 is a semi-large amount of money for me to have at one time.

[genesound]

Well since you're 15, it's your mom's friend, and mom set this up, it isn't gonna help to complain, and like you said $50 is pretty cool. However, you ended up spending basicly a whole workday, and you might not be done yet. That funky hardware situation may come back on you, and you may find yourself on the phone a few times, if not many.

The reason she couldn't get it in the shop was prolly everyone is doin the same thing right now, and it would've cost much more at the shop and taken far longer. That was prolly the best $50 she ever spent, I just hope she knows it and doesn't try to lever you into fixin every little thing from now on for that one fee is what I'm sayin :t

[comp_nut]

put it in your wallet and smile:D



:t

[herosrest]

Offer her a service contract. ;)

[Swordfish]

Originally posted by herosrest
Offer her a service contract. ;)

like those scandisk and defrag thingy on a weekly basis. or like a annual maintenance contract(amc).sure will help ya.:t

[gjimene2]

for a format and install of windows xp (activated) I charge $50. Adding drivers, and applications are extra. To one client I charge $100 to re-install the os, drivers and a couple of apps with a dust bunny removal. All profit since I used my compressor :D

[comp_nut]

Originally posted by gjimene2
for a format and install of windows xp (activated) I charge $50. Adding drivers, and applications are extra. To one client I charge $100 to re-install the os, drivers and a couple of apps with a dust bunny removal. All profit since I used my compressor :D


put me in your will:D

[gjimene2]

lmao.

Over here people pay good, especially to good services. I hate it when some techs do some repairs and then comp gets fudged again for the same thing.


I eliminated a client's computer headaches easely. Her friends would get on it, since she was logged in as the administrator, they got full priviledges, and downloaded everything they could think of. I've never seen a comp full of viruses and spy ware to the point it wanted to get shot on the cpu, lol.


I did her a favor, Formated, re-installed XP, set an account for her as an admin, her son with net nanny installed since he's only 14, and a guest account on where they could just browse the web and nothing more. Setup NIS 2002, and made sure that the comp was working fine. Took me about an hour and a half, bs'ed for two and a half hours, one hour of "testing". Then handed her a bill of $350. She called me up for me to fix another comp the same way, it's been over a year since I did this job for her, and she swears her comp doesn't crash and is runing like if it was build yesterday :)



Matthew, go ahead and feel free to take the $50. What you are doing is worth it. Keep at it, and learn more as you go in this line of work, and you'll be a successful businessman in no time :t

[bushmaster]

Don't be a bit suprised if she hasn't already asked a PC repair shop to look at it and found out how much it cost's in the real world. Let's see 4.5 hours where I am in a shop would cost $337.50 hmmmmm.

P.S. I love blaster because as much as it is so simple to rid yourself of if you follow the instructions laid out by symantec on their site for their removal tool, people just don't like to read or don't understand how to follow them. I personally have gotten and made over 20 house and business calls this past few days to rid folks of blaster, and in most cases while I was there they asked me to look at other problems because simply their PC's were just bogged down and not running as fast as they used to.

During the next couple of weeks I'm moving down to my ladies place in middletown ny (a much more populated area) and I'm already getting refferals down there and calls that I have to go on this weekend. Down in that area most are charging $75 an hr min. for house calls and more for commercial calls. So when I tell them $65 hr. they are overjoyed.

Take the $$$$ dude.

[genesound]

That's what i'm talkin about :D

[Aznmask]

Originally posted by genesound
Fifty bucks, huh? So, that means you'll spend what, 1 hour?

Careful, once you've accepted money, it becomes your headache from now on, unless you lay down some ground rules. Sometimes I'd rather work for free :D

I work for free .. now i end up ppl call me once their pc have problem... so TAKE THE MONEY NO HEADACHE!!

[genesound]

Yeah, well, when it's free, sometimes "I can't make it just now", or just plain say no. I also tend to leave town a lot :D

My position, if you've read this whole thread, is more like I'd rather do it for free than for a measley $50. I don't relish getting involved in someone's questionable hardware and hard drive contents and the liabilities involved and the possibly of unknown time spent for a lousy $50. And you'll notice I made that statement you're refering to before matthew13l found funky hardware and whacked out spyware and kazaa bs!

If I'm doing someone a favor and I find a fubar floppy and CD as matthew13l did, I don't feel bad saying I can't or won't waste my time trying to fix the virus without fixing/replacing it.

Of course, having said all this, yes I've been down this whole road and fixed computers for free and even donated mobos and other parts, and for certain friends I'd happilly do it again. That's what friends are for!

For me, if I'm gonna accept money for something and expose myself to the liabilities it implies (support, stuff doesn't work, where's my stuff I can't live without) it needs to be real money!

[crossedup]

take the $50, let her know of any stipulations attached and do a kick **** job. Get another $50 later when something else happens ( and it will ) and some great word of mouth advertising.

Been doing similar thing myself for last couple years. I have no official training or degrees so i have just been charging $30 flat fee plus parts just to get the experience. Been to busy to get em all done at times with no advertising whatsoever.

In next couple weeks advertising will start and the fee is going up as well. With gjimene on this one, seperate fees for seperate stuff. Used to include windows installs in the $30, that stopped a couple months ago, that can be longest part of the process, for the newer o/s anyway.

Give it a go, you might have made a career choice.

[genesound]

Hey crossedup, way to go! Get those fees up and good luck. I'm more of an hourly guy, but do what suits ya. Just don't cut yourself short, and don't be too quick to take advantage of anybody or their situation. :t

[crossedup]

I believe taking advantage of people and charging high prices for fixes is why so many people have pc's that dont work right but they deal with it anyway because they dont want to go to a shop.

I understand that they have overhead and no other income so thay have to charge more and anything i do will not hurt thier business in any way because the people they cater to are the very ones that look them up, they wouldnt use me anyway.

I have another 50 hr+ job a week, everybody likes extra money and something to fall back on if the "real" job goes away.

Besides, get paid to do something you love to do? What could be better.

Brings happiness. Money cant buy "real" happiness. Real happiness will eventually bring you money, in your work anyway.:D

You like to do it, youll most likely do it right. You get paid to do and dont like it, youll do it to get it done as soon as possible and go home.

[genesound]

The point I'm trying to subtly make is please try not to undercut the people you're getting advice from ;)

[crossedup]

Wouldnt dream of it, i look forward to the day when i have the overhead and the people who are willing to pay for it. :D

Sysopt was one of the best things ive ever run across. I browse a few other forums but 90% of the time im here. I ask for help as little as possible and try to give out as much as i can.

My experience is more limited than some but i cant count the times ive pulled my hair out only to figure out the problem and am more than happy to pass that along if possible.

I hear ya on the cut yourself short, been telling myself for a year and a half " Its an investment ". Starting to think ive invested enough. :D

[comp_nut]

I believe taking advantage of people and charging high prices for fixes is why so many people have pc's that dont work right but they deal with it anyway because they dont want to go to a shop


what exacty does that mean,you take advantage of ppl:(
or am i reading wrong

[gjimene2]

you're right comp nut. If people over charge alot, they will just throw it away, and get a new one :eek:

[genesound]

Over charge? What is that anyway? You think $50 for a guy to spend most of a day is reasonable?

"Want your computer fixed? Just go down under the pier, he's the third cardboard shack on the left! Might want to keep an eye on your stuff and a firm hand on your tire iron!" :eek:

BTW, I'm not really in this biz, just thinkin about it. The accepted rate in my biz is closer to that amount per hour if not more. :rolleyes:

And so what if they do get a new computer? Good for them, but they'll soon screw it up too.

There seems a prevalent attitude that the hardware is tangible, so it has value, but the service and software are questionable! Wake up folks! The software IS the computer and it ALWAYS has required maintenance! Especially since Windows came about :D The hardware is and always has been the cheap part!

Don't be afraid to charge more than a pittance for service, but of course don't over charge as you won't get any work :t

[memot]

just get the money:t

[matthew13l]

Well I got the cash. The lady told my mom that she wasn't sure if $50 would be enough.:x:D

Now all I need is some word of mouth going around.

[crossedup]

Way to go!!! Keep on top of it. Tell everyone you know about it.

Word of mouth can be like a snowball on a hill. :D :t

[genesound]

Cool, a few more of those and you've got a new computer! :t