----- Original Message ----- From: "Thane Sherrington" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "The Hardware List" <hardware@hardwaregroup.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 8:50 AM Subject: RE: [H] Disposable computers
I was just wondering about the average time it takes you. I find it takes at least four hours to thoroughly scan for viruses and spyware. More if there is hardware corruption, or if the machine is slow or has a ton of files on it.
It sounds like you are another believer in formatting Drive C (No big deal if the data has been copied elsewhere such as to another partition or drive etc.) and reinstalling Windows in a way far superior to the way the name brand manufacturers install it. This is not tied only to the business methods of my computer repair shop. We power users routinely did this with new name brand computers 10 years ago, before we had easy access to custom built computers. It was common knowledge among us that when you get a name brand computer home, you format and reinstall. If you had no Windows CD you borrowed from a friend and used your own Product Key, where applicable.
I charge $20.00 extra on a $40.00 format job when I copy a customer's data to preserve it. I use to copy their whole C Drive but that much data is simply too much to saddle them with later. Now I just copy all they have in their My Documents folder, Favorites folder and I extract their .dbx and .wab (messages and address book) files from their Outlook Express Store folder. I copy other folders they identify as having valuable data in them.
I compare a format and reinstall job vs. fixing Windows to patching a problem instead of fixing it with new parts etc. Can those who repair Windows truthfully say they have gotten out all of the crud and that it will run as well as a format job and new install of Windows will run? A true programmer might can fix Windows this well. Most repair technicians can't.
We were discussing time consumed. It takes about an hour to copy date, partition and format and reinstall Windows. Then I have another 2 hours of updating and installing the selected free software that I have found to be beneficial. I tweak the results and Ghost myself a verbatim copy onto 1 of 10 partitions on an 80 GB data storage hard drive I keep for that purpose. If need be within a few months, for $20.00 I will Ghost that data back to the customer's C Drive. This comes in handy when they mess it up again soon. Note that with a Ghost job you do not have to format or erase first. Ghost even changes the file system if need be. Example: You can Ghost a NTFS source to a FAT 32 target and the results are a NTFS partition that works. Copy Speed? I have copied faster than 2500 MB (twenty five hundred megabytes) per minute with Ghost outside of the Windows environment. Try getting past even 1000 MB per minute within Windows.
Your letters in this thread drive my point home that the cost per year for buying and operating one of my computers for 5 years is far less than any other procurement and repair method I have heard of. The $800.00 spent on a $600.00 computer in one letter proves this. Worst case scenario with my system would have been $1000.00 ($800.00 for the computer and $200.00 for the repairs if the customer was a total disaster to software.
My worst customers come in about once a month or so for the twenty dollar Ghost over C. At times it is more feasible to format and reinstall. It depends on how many updates have been released since that original Ghost clone was made etc. After about 5 or 6 months and after having spent from $100.00 to $200.00 on these C drive restorations, they either learn or quit. I do not hear from them again.
And, no, I do not create and give them Restore CD's or DVD's. I give them their Microsoft OEM Windows Kit (sealed as I use a CD of mine to install Windows XP). If they mess up, they need to come see me so they will get the benefit of all updates and tweaks etc. I have received and learned since last time they where here.
Chuck
