Customers

[Buck]

Typical. I assembled an office system for a customer a few months back. Basic, simple system: GA-K8VM800M, SDA3000, 512MB of RAM, plus the other necessities. I installed OpenOffice, NOD32, Ad-Aware, Thunderbird, and Firefox, plus provided instructions on not using IE, Outlook Express or Outlook. Everything was good. So, last weekend I get a complaint: ‘we couldn’t do some Photoshop work for some flyers; the system would freeze’. Okay, I think, let’s see what is going on. My customer says, my son is visiting, and he’s a computer guy (first flag). He says I need 256 MB more of RAM since the existing 256 MB isn’t enough. I think again, I only sold 256 MB for Windows XP? Well, okay. But still the system shouldn’t freeze up like they say. Maybe a video card will help, since the onboard stuff is a bit meager. So, I order 256 MB memory and a Gigabyte FX5200 video card. I arrive to install the stuff. Bingo! (I should’ve checked my previous work order (dummy)). She has 512 MB of RAM, the son just made an assumption, he didn’t check! I install the video card. While doing the driver install, an advertisement popped up (second flag). So, I ran Ad-Aware – many offenses found. As the spyware was being hit by Ad-Aware, NOD32 popped up with several kill windows. I noticed they were in the Temporary Internet Files (third flag). Someone has been abusing IE. Plus I see that Yahoo IM and MSN IM are being used (they were not there originally). So, the son installed all this stuff and uses IE, not Firefox. Phooey, he screwed up the system! I cleaned everything up and all is fine. Stupid me, I fell for the ‘he knows what he’s doing’ trick.

 

[Mercutio]

I pretty much play by the "no one is compentent unless I know they are" standard. If I assume that other people are idiots, I'm usually right. It helps a lot to take that particular position.

 

[Handruin]

Did you get to bill them for your time? How did the conversation go when you explained the problem? How do you handle these type of situations?

Do you think it's worth installing the microsoft anti-spyware to have it running in the background? I know it isn't the best anti-spyware out there, but it might help against some these problems.

 

[Buck]

Did you get to bill them for your time? How did the conversation go when you explained the problem? How do you handle these type of situations?

Do you think it's worth installing the microsoft anti-spyware to have it running in the background? I know it isn't the best anti-spyware out there, but it might help against some these problems.

I billed them for the hardware and warned them about the spyware. They fed me a late evening snack, and I left. I essentially talked with the son alone, and tactfully showed him his stupidity. I told him about Ad-Aware, installed and instructed how to use Spybot, and installed and instructed him about Spyware Blaster. He's smart enough to play with those programs, see the importance of them, and make sure they're always up to date. He is currently putting together his own system, which needs new hardware that I'm in the process of selling him. As soon as he has that machine up and running, he won't be messing with is mom's machine.

MS Antispyware is as useless as a tit on a bull. Spybot's immunization and Spyware Blaster are far superior.

I also warned him about McAfee and Norton junk. I also gave some tips about IE and Opera. Currently he's out of work and likes to use the computer, so he has the time to figure things out (he obviously had the time to mess things up, but I think he won't do that again; mom was not happy).

 

[Buck]

I pretty much play by the "no one is compentent unless I know they are" standard. If I assume that other people are idiots, I'm usually right. It helps a lot to take that particular position.

I won't assume that they're all idiots, but I should've recognized the situation beforehand. Nonetheless, her son is reasonably smart at learning these things, so I think now that he's gone through a bit of training, things will be much better.

 

[P5-133XL]

Warning people about such, in my opinion, does not accomplish anything. Basicly, once the system is in their control then they do whatever they are going to do. There will always be someone, with access, that is used to doing things their own way and ignores your advise. Then there are the people that claim to know something and then strive to improve he system. If you support a system, you either need to charge them appropiately, so that it is in their best interest to keep their system clean or install policies that limit their ability to effect the machine.

 

[CougTek]

I hope you told "son" that next time you get a call from his mom or him for a screwed up system and that you find that it's because he didn't follow your advices, you'll charge him for your time.

 

[Buck]

I hope you told "son" that next time you get a call from his mom or him for a screwed up system and that you find that it's because he didn't follow your advices, you'll charge him for your time.

. . . as I was tapping the Louisville Slugger in my hand.

 

[Tannin]

I usually do the first cleanup free of charge if they bought the system from me. But there is no way I'll do it on-site. They haul it into the shop or I'm too busy to look at it.

I think you are wise to have handled the situation the way you did, Buck.

 

[LunarMist]

So I must be a fricking moron, using IE, Nortron and Outlook, eh? I'm still waiting for the virus or spywares, but nothing yet.

 

[Mercutio]

Well, we were trying to be polite...

 

[Tannin]

But you don't hang out in chat rooms, sleazy pron sites, on-line casinos, or crack sites. At least I don'rt think you hang out in chat rooms, sleazy pron sites, on-line casinos, and crack sites.

 

[Tannin]

Warning people about such, in my opinion, does not accomplish anything. Basicly, once the system is in their control then they do whatever they are going to do. There will always be someone, with access, that is used to doing things their own way and ignores your advise. Then there are the people that claim to know something and then strive to improve he system. If you support a system, you either need to charge them appropiately, so that it is in their best interest to keep their system clean or install policies that limit their ability to effect the machine.

Rare for me to disagree with Mark, but on this matter I do. People do learn from you if you take the time to explain things. I think it's vital to explain clearly and simply, but not gloss over stuff too thinly. It's an art. I make a point of teaching people how not to get reinfeted. Allied with the fact that I've just swiped $75 off their credit card, the 15 Minute Security 101 Talk really does work. Not all the time, not 100%, but it makes a real difference to 8 out of 10 people so far as reinfection frequemcy goes. If they come back, I repeat the dose. Sooner or later, it sinks in.

(Ballarat, by the way, probably has one of the lowest Internet Explorer market penetrations in the country, with lots of Mozilla, Firefox and now Opera users. I think I can claim a good deal of the credit for this.)

 

[i]

(Ballarat, by the way, probably has one of the lowest Internet Explorer market penetrations in the country, with lots of Mozilla, Firefox and now Opera users. I think I can claim a good deal of the credit for this.)

 

[LunarMist]

But you don't hang out in chat rooms, sleazy pron sites, on-line casinos, or crack sites. At least I don'rt think you hang out in chat rooms, sleazy pron sites, on-line casinos, and crack sites.

No, I only participititate in four online forums, and this is the most radical one. I never download andy spam e-mail. I frequesnty restore the disk image and make a new one immediately after changing anything and before going onloin.

What is the difference between sleazy porn and any other kind?

 

[Tea]

Sleazy porn has pop-upz everywhere that you can't close.

(Ahem. I mean pop-up windows in your browser. Don't anybody think I waz thinking about anything else, such az things I wouldn't understand at my age.)

 

[Tannin]

Actually, It's never occurred to me to think of this forum as "radical" before. It's an interesting concept.

 

[Mercutio]

I visit crack sites. I look at all kinds of porn (although, to be fair, I mostly prefer art nudes). And I don't have AV software on any of my computers.

 

[LunarMist]

Well, "most radical" is a relative term. And "radical" in SoCal also has a non-political connotation. There were too many years in Santa Monica and Malibu I guess.

 

[P5-133XL]

Warning people about such, in my opinion, does not accomplish anything. Basicly, once the system is in their control then they do whatever they are going to do. There will always be someone, with access, that is used to doing things their own way and ignores your advise. Then there are the people that claim to know something and then strive to improve he system. If you support a system, you either need to charge them appropiately, so that it is in their best interest to keep their system clean or install policies that limit their ability to effect the machine.

Rare for me to disagree with Mark, but on this matter I do. People do learn from you if you take the time to explain things. I think it's vital to explain clearly and simply, but not gloss over stuff too thinly. It's an art. I make a point of teaching people how not to get reinfeted. Allied with the fact that I've just swiped $75 off their credit card, the 15 Minute Security 101 Talk really does work. Not all the time, not 100%, but it makes a real difference to 8 out of 10 people so far as reinfection frequemcy goes. If they come back, I repeat the dose. Sooner or later, it sinks in.

(Ballarat, by the way, probably has one of the lowest Internet Explorer market penetrations in the country, with lots of Mozilla, Firefox and now Opera users. I think I can claim a good deal of the credit for this.)

Think of me as an evil person that got really tired of repeating myself to deaf ears. Take my brother (Please), I've built him a system every 2 years for a good 10 years and every month, to 6-months I have to re-do it and every time I give him a long lecture. It doesn't do any good. I don't charge him and all he does is take advantage.

I've gotten to the point, with him, that On every system I build for him, Include a backup of my original install. I no longer even bother wasting my time to clean up his problems. I simply Fdisk, reinstall the OS and restore from backup. If he looses stuff, too bad...

For true paying clients, I really don't get to react as ruthlessly. I still find that the best prevention is the pocket book, and that lectures have a limited, but not worthess, value. I'm just tired of it all.

 

[CougTek]

No, I only participititate in four online forums, and this is the most radical one. I never download andy spam e-mail. I frequesnty restore the disk image and make a new one immediately after changing anything and before going onloin.

Eric? I knew I would eventually find out who Lunarmist is.

 

[Santilli]

Well, I think I posted the kid that took me an hour to remove the spyware, after he tried to download music on my computer at school.

I gave him the installs for Adaware, etc. anti-virus stuff, and it took him HOURS just to check, and remove, the crap he'd put on his home computer.

Surprise, it started working again :roll:

After he had to spend the hours of time to remove the crap, he realized what he had done to my computer. I told him if he did it again, I was going to just bill him for current, average computer time, for repairs, just as if he had destroyed school property, like a desk, etc.

That worked...GREAT kid, just head strong...Also 6'6", quick as a cat, and super strong, at 260...



gs

 

[Mercutio]

Mark, that kind of shit is exactly why I make my sysprep discs.

Doug, did you try the ones I sent to you yet? I'm kind of curious to know if my nvidia disc works on that nforce3 board...

 

[Handruin]

I tried it, but ended up reformatting and instailling my own legit copy because I wasn't able to get the built-in ethernet to work no matter what I tried.

I tried removing the old drver and even tried deleting the device but it wouldn't let me. Updating the nforce drivers didn't help either. On a clean install of XP, I was able to install the drivers and then it worked fine. Other than that, your sysprep worked fine.

 

[Adcadet]

No, I only participititate in four online forums, and this is the most radical one. I never download andy spam e-mail. I frequesnty restore the disk image and make a new one immediately after changing anything and before going onloin.

I don't think all my emails are spam!