A customer contacted me about an issue with their computer. It was only displaying in 4 & 8 bit colors. When I received the computer I saw that they had no antivirus and no spyware protection. I installed both (AVG free edition and Malwarebytes) and saw hundreds of infections. In addition, several critical windows processes/services had been disabled from the infection. After removing all the issues I reenabled the windows services that were disabled and began updating the computer to the latest revision. The customer originally came in with a burnt out lcd screen and computer running really slow and will leave with a computer that is running like it just came from the store.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Showing posts with label hijack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hijack. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Computers, Desktops & Laptops Oh my...
This week has been an interesting week already. I will be working on a desktop computer that is a Compaq Presario this week that keeps randomly shutting down. Sounds like an overheating problem since it is shutting off after a couple of hours of running every time. Also have a Dell Studio laptop in the pipeline that will need a screen replaced. This one's a little unique in that it has a HD LCD on it which tends to be a little pricier than normal.
Last week I picked up a couple of laptops that both had a bad DC power connector. The first was a HP that also needs a new screen, battery and the customer also wanted a memory upgrade. The other laptop had a hard drive going bad in it so data recovery was needed too. Disassembly of those types of laptops are always fun as there's a lot of electronics crammed into a little space. The last one I picked up last week was an acer that had picked up a virus. I was able to use my favorite tool, CCleaner, to help clean that laptop up. From the same customer location I picked up an SD card that was accidently formatted and had vaction videos from Disneyland on it. I really enjoyed being able to drop off a DVD that had the recovered videos and making another customer extremely happy about getting their data back.
Last week was a busy week and this one doesn't look like it's going to slow down at all. Looking forward to a couple of screen replacements and another power connector replacement.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Last week I picked up a couple of laptops that both had a bad DC power connector. The first was a HP that also needs a new screen, battery and the customer also wanted a memory upgrade. The other laptop had a hard drive going bad in it so data recovery was needed too. Disassembly of those types of laptops are always fun as there's a lot of electronics crammed into a little space. The last one I picked up last week was an acer that had picked up a virus. I was able to use my favorite tool, CCleaner, to help clean that laptop up. From the same customer location I picked up an SD card that was accidently formatted and had vaction videos from Disneyland on it. I really enjoyed being able to drop off a DVD that had the recovered videos and making another customer extremely happy about getting their data back.
Last week was a busy week and this one doesn't look like it's going to slow down at all. Looking forward to a couple of screen replacements and another power connector replacement.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hijacked Computer & Bad Hard Drive
Had a client yesterday that had laptop and desktop issues. Both computers were Dell machines. The laptop had been hijacked by an application that had installed itself and prevented the user from doing anything after booting into windows. This is the 3rd customer that I've seen have this problem this week. The program stated that the computer was infected and that 30+ infections were found and if you did anything it shuts down the application you try to access. It's a front for getting your credit card number and doing even worse damage than was done to the laptop so be very careful if you have this. Each computer behaved a little differently and took different measures to remove the application.
The desktop was a no brainer. I used a USB stick that had an operating system(Ubuntu) loaded on it and was able to make sure all the hardware worked. When trying to install an operating system on the hard drive though, the hard drive just spun and made no progress. After further testing in my office it was verified the hard drive went bad.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
The desktop was a no brainer. I used a USB stick that had an operating system(Ubuntu) loaded on it and was able to make sure all the hardware worked. When trying to install an operating system on the hard drive though, the hard drive just spun and made no progress. After further testing in my office it was verified the hard drive went bad.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Thursday, June 11, 2009
3 laptops
Recently had a customer come all the way from Mansfield with 3 laptops that he needed assistance with. 2 of the laptops are HP DV6000 models that have different problems with them. His exact words were "found you on the net - was looking for the Toshiba laptop warranty repair place off polaris but you seem well recommended", pretty cool.
The third laptop is a Toshiba and has some problems with overheating.
1 HP has an issue with the power button, still trying to narrow that one down. The other has problems getting past POST(Power On Self Test). Will be looking at that one soon.
Had 2 customers recently have a pop up on their screen when booting into Windows that says they have some virus on their computer and that it is being removed/quarantined/locked down by an antivirus program that they did not install after the Windows splash screen disappears.
The first computer I saw this on had Windows Vista and was salvaged after opening task manager, killing the process, uninstalling a program that had installed itself and rolling back Vista to a month before the attack.
The second computer had XP Home and was not so lucky. Task manager was inaccessible thanks to the attack and the program hid itself when booting into safe mode. On top of that, the Add/Remove programs was disabled. Probably could've targeted specific points and eliminated the problem but it would've taken much more time and labor doing this approach rather than backing up the data(scanning backed up data for infections of course) and blasting the operating system.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
The third laptop is a Toshiba and has some problems with overheating.
1 HP has an issue with the power button, still trying to narrow that one down. The other has problems getting past POST(Power On Self Test). Will be looking at that one soon.
Had 2 customers recently have a pop up on their screen when booting into Windows that says they have some virus on their computer and that it is being removed/quarantined/locked down by an antivirus program that they did not install after the Windows splash screen disappears.
The first computer I saw this on had Windows Vista and was salvaged after opening task manager, killing the process, uninstalling a program that had installed itself and rolling back Vista to a month before the attack.
The second computer had XP Home and was not so lucky. Task manager was inaccessible thanks to the attack and the program hid itself when booting into safe mode. On top of that, the Add/Remove programs was disabled. Probably could've targeted specific points and eliminated the problem but it would've taken much more time and labor doing this approach rather than backing up the data(scanning backed up data for infections of course) and blasting the operating system.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Vundo Virus & DC Power Connector
A previous client contacted me about a problem they were having with a DC power connector. The connector had been fixed previously and something had happened where it was damaged again. The computer was an Acer Aspire and they're generally pretty easy to dismantle. The DC power connector was on a separate circuit board so disconnecting it after the motherboard was exposed was a cinch. The real cost in repairing a DC power connector is not really the part, but in the attention to detail while dismantling the laptop. There are many screws that are not the same, many wires that have to be routed a certain way and reconnected on reassembly. In addition, the person repairing your computer has to be aware of any electrostatic discharge as this may cause problems on your motherboard. Also consider the removal of the bad power connector. This takes careful desoldering techniques so no traces are damaged in the process. Finally, there has to be adequate solder joints when putting the new power connector in and careful attention is necessary so the new connector does not overheat and melt and you start all over again. So when you see the pin on your laptop power connector is loose and you wonder why you're dishing out some serious cash for this repair, keep in mind all that has to be done to do this. Most other places around Columbus are asking for way higher than what I charge. I'm not looking to get rich, don't get me wrong because that would be nice, I'm just trying to make a living and I enjoy working computers.
Another laptop I received was infected with the vundo virus. It's been attacking quite a few computers lately including my server at home. You can attempt to take care of this yourself or you can have me do it. Right now, because I'm seeing so many with this problem I'm offering a $65 flat rate for it if you have it until April 31st. If you want to try yourself, please go to "http://forums.techguy.org/malware-removal-hijackthis-logs/406823-solved-trojan-vundo-virus.html" and follow the instructions carefully. I take no liability for any lost data or for your laptop getting worse from a performance point of view. If the problem is being caused by some other problem, I'll let you know that too and give an estimate on costs. To give you an idea on costs for viruses, I have never charged more than $300 for the fix and most virus removals have fallen in the average of $130-195.
That's all for now, enjoy and hope you can find a solution for your problem on this blog or with my services.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Another laptop I received was infected with the vundo virus. It's been attacking quite a few computers lately including my server at home. You can attempt to take care of this yourself or you can have me do it. Right now, because I'm seeing so many with this problem I'm offering a $65 flat rate for it if you have it until April 31st. If you want to try yourself, please go to "http://forums.techguy.org/malware-removal-hijackthis-logs/406823-solved-trojan-vundo-virus.html" and follow the instructions carefully. I take no liability for any lost data or for your laptop getting worse from a performance point of view. If the problem is being caused by some other problem, I'll let you know that too and give an estimate on costs. To give you an idea on costs for viruses, I have never charged more than $300 for the fix and most virus removals have fallen in the average of $130-195.
That's all for now, enjoy and hope you can find a solution for your problem on this blog or with my services.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
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