Virus Protection plan $19.95?!?! :p

[Ritalin Kid]

I went to apply for a job at the local Staples and as I walked by the main desk in the computers section I noticed a little promo for a Staples "Virus Protection Plan" for only $19.95 which came with a disk for PcCillin Virus protection software and a slogan that says, "If a virus ever harms your computer we'll fix it for free!"... does this sound like a crock or what??

I've never used virus protection software and never plan to seeing how it takes up system resources, just kept a good eye on my e-mail attachments and watched what I opened.. I think I only got one virus and I gave it to myself on accident by playing around with it and that was nothing the fret about.. It just seems to me alot of the virus protection software industry feeds off the fear of those uneducated about computer viruses and how to approach them..

[daveleau]

Until recently I worked for Staples (I just left the company) and i would like to clarify that they do not try to go and find a way to clean the system before doing a reformat. That is all they do. They will reformat the drive for you...

Dave

[madfish]

roflol, what a racket, maybe I should start something like that up, lol, I've gotten real good at reformating hdd's.. Madfish

[Imperion1]

My local CompUSA does the same thing. I started asking questions and they couldn't or wouldn't answer.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

That's great until they get a comp that's had it BIOS wiped by a virus, or perhaps modems blown, Hardware virii can exsist and believe they do, and it is possible to damage a bios by changing one bit. don't think 19.95 will cover the costs of replacing hardware, or even the cost of low leveling a HD because the virus blew out the MBR. But then again you don't see too many well written virii anymore, they are just SPAM now, email virii that spread themselves and don't really do too much damage, but throw in an old one and see what they say about blown parts and a quick reload of software doesn't work. =]

[sharder8]

Two thoughts on this thread.

#1 If you buy PC-cillin 2000 on-line, it's $29.95. www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?SP=10023&PN=1&V1=257237&xid=16269&DSP=&CUR=840&CACHE_ID=0 (http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?SP=10023&PN=1&V1=257237&xid=16269&DSP=&CUR=840&CACHE_ID=0)

So by buying it through Staples, you save $10.

#2 On installation of the CD, it's set to automatically up-date. Chances are, that you'll catch any virii that comes in. Hence the offer to clean your machine of any virii that gets through is basically a joke.

I'm currently helping out the Tech Center at my local Staples, and the couple machines I've cleaned, weren't serious, but I cleaned them properly before I reloaded. However, not all Techs or Stores do things the way I do. One of the Techs I work with does just as daveleau stated. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif To me, that is the difference between a good, customer oriented Tech and a Tech wannabe.

Harder

P.S. I've had to straighten out several machines he's messed up as well as step in and "take over" when he gets in a bind and doesn't know what to do! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif Also, two of the sales reps are Tech wannabe's and I've had to fix some of their mess up's as well! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif