Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.
A. I do a lot of hard drive data recovery. Most people don't realize the importance of backing up their irreplaceable photos, videos, and music files until they lose all of it. Depending on the damage done, I can usually re-construct some or all of the lost files using industry-best software tools and forensic techniques.
I also do a lot of virus removal, system clean-up and optimization, and general hardware troubleshooting.
On the web side of things, I've been working mostly with local musicians to put together the site features they need in an affordable way.
Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. For computer services, find someone trustworthy. A lot of shops have some high school student working in the back room for a low hourly wage, who doesn't have any inhibitions about snooping through your files and making his own copies of anything interesting. I've also heard a lot of stories involving providers who didn't do a thorough job, or who (probably intentionally) broke something else in the process.
Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?
A. I take pride in my work, and with 10+ years experience in computer repair, upgrades, and maintenance, I can easily outperform under-qualified employees at big chain stores.
In design and programming, I like to be methodical and strategic, taking the time to plan and properly implement every important detail. I'm continually focused on learning the latest and most effective techniques, so that I can provide solutions which will remain ahead of the curve even in a rapidly evolving industry.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. I love solving interesting problems and helping people take full advantage of today's technology to improve their lives.
Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A. I get a lot of "I have X antivirus installed, but I think it expired. Do I need to resubscribe to that to get the updated version?"
Currently my best advice is to uninstall any paid antivirus software and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials, which is completely free and impressively high-quality. It updates itself automatically and almost never requires any user intervention to do its job.