Computer Services & Repair

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Lately I am doing a lot of laptop rebuilds involving broken hinges, cracked LCD panels, cracked/broken chassis, CD/DVD ROM replacement, cooling fan and motherboard replacement. Also, I have been experimenting with Linux as a viable replacement for Windows and Mac operating systems because of its stability, compatibility, and NO-cost to acquire. Libre Office is capable of reliably handling all of the Microsoft Office 2010 file formats as well and it is also free to acquire and use.

Q. Describe three recent jobs you've completed.

A. Thee most recent jobs completed are laptops. #1 A laptop required a complete tear-down to the chassis to access the motherboard. The DC power connector itself was a poor design and would break the solder points on the motherboard when the AC adapter cord was moved. The problem was solved by stabilizing the connector on the board with epoxy after re-soldering the connections. #2 was a virus scan/clean. Sometimes the damage from malware can leave a trail of irreversible damage in its wake after a cleaning that can lead to the re-formatting of a system. This one was repaired by simply reinstalling a service pack from the Windows Update web site. #3 Is an experiment by request of the client to get rid of Windows Vista from a laptop. Although there are no published drivers for his laptop for Windows 7 or Windows XP I tried them regardless and used a special utility to search out compatible drivers from source hardware manufacturers across the internet. The results were largely successful except for the sound and WiFi for which no drivers were found either way. Linux was the next attempt and although it worked beautifully the sound drivers were still not yet to be found. Alas, Windows Vista was reinstalled and the client informed of the bad news.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I endeavor to be thorough. Fixing a software issue isn't the whole job unless the cause of the problem, and the condition of the system as a whole, is considered. Also, I hear stories about how another tech came to fix something and didn't leave until the desktop and start menu were organized or some program installed and left on without the clients permission that ultimately caused a different problem. I do have a number of utilities at my disposal and I discuss the ones I feel would benefit a given computer and operating system. I uninstall the software I use when I am done unless it's something the client agrees to and I don't have a licensing issue. I definitely do not reorganize a clients desktop because I now how upset I would be if someone did that to me.