What should you know before considering a pc technician position?

[dubsdj]

google, that's the best friend of any IT expert that I know of

I also found that writing a support call desk web page was helpful so instead of getting phone calls with ppl who don't know what they are talking about, they had to log a call on the online web page.

then I can just see the calls appear and look at them and it's often a lot easier to think of a solution to the issue.

[herbalist]

I'm not a PC technician per se, but I've been servicing PCs out of my home for several years. I can't say for certain if the problems I'm brought are typical of what others get or not, but the majority of my first time clients bring me badly infected PCs. The most common complaints are crashing, constant popups, and generally slow or unresponsive PCs. The most common infections are adware/malware and trojans. I'd estimate that this is 75% of my business or more.

The typical PC I see has an outdated AV and has been infected for some time. More than half the time, the owner doesn't have or can't find the restore CDs that came with the PC. It's a family PC in a home where the kids have installed some P2P app, often Kazaa and all the garbage that comes with it. Porn software turns up on many of them. About half the time, the parents have no idea what's been installed. When that situation arises, your people skills will matter more than your technical skills, especially when the "who installed it?" question gets asked. I've found that the kids will clear the browsers history and sometimes the cookies to hide the evidence, but they almost never think of the index.dat files or internet explorer's hidden folders.

The typical user or client doesn't realize that they (or someone else in their house) is usually the cause of the problem. It's amazing how many still think spyware only exists in the movies. About 3 years ago, I was asked to look at a PC with a bad popup problem. I expected the usual adware, which was present. In addition, I found a keylogger that had just been installed that day. This person had just started doing their banking online. The bank used a single password login back then. To make the story short, we contacted the bank at the same time the owner of the keylogger was accessing their account. The typical user is not going to realize that installing a certain music sharing program, a toolbar, or some animated cursor is where the problem started. Most have the attitude that these things won't happen to them because they have nothing on their PC that someone else would want. They also don't understand that their PC is valuable to a botnet herder or their address book is valuable to a spammer, not to mention identity theft. "Common sense" is about 5 years behind reality when it comes to PCs.

Classroom studies and courses are good for understanding the PCs themselves and the operating systems, but they're rarely up to date with the threats and malware presently circulating or the newer security-ware. Malware removal and prevention is a big part of PC servicing, especially if your clients are typical home users. I'd suggest spending some time at a forum that specializes in malware removal or taking one of the malware removal classes available at different forums, then consider volunteering there for a while. It'll help you to become proficient with the tools, using them against modern malware on real systems. You'll get to know the enemy that will be responsible for a lot of your business and be better able to deal with it without resorting to reformatting and losing the customers data. In the process, you'll get to know the newest security-ware. Many of the new security apps like sandboxes, HIPS, etc. are very effective, but not in the hands of the average user. You'll be better able equip them with more effective security packages than the average big-name security suite and do it for much less than the suite would cost. In addition to having more satisfied customers, the next time you see that PC, it will be much easier to deal with. This may sound overly simplified, but modern malware can be very difficult to deal with. I've always tried to make reformatting a last resort so that the customer or myself doesn't have to install everything over again and their data is preserved.

Windows comes with many useful tools already installed. Most everything else you'd need is available online, usually for little or no cost. Sysinternals was already mentioned. For serious malware removal, Hijack This is invaluable. There's also specialized tools for specific infections. If you're going to work for a company on their own PCs, a knowledge of basic networking and system policy configuration will also be needed. A smaller percentage of your work will be harware related. Unless you're upgrading a lot of PCs for a business, it'll be a small percentage in comparison. Viruses, trojans, adware, and malware, most of it a direct result of the users decisions, will be responsible for the majority of the PCs you service, at least that's how it's been for me.

Rick

Edited November 12, 2007 by herbalist

[Idontwantspam]

For the malware cases, I would advise having a big (~250-500 GB) external USB hard drive lying around. Copy all their precious files off their computer onto the external drive. Format their computer, reinstall windows (or if it's a different OS, use that), and install some good antivirus software onto it. Plug in the hard drive. Scan the whole entire thing, and clean out any infected files. Then, reformat and reinstall the OS. Do the virus scan a second time. Format the computer once more and do one last reinstall, then restore their now hopefully clean files. Then, format the external HD a couple of times to make sure it doesn't harm any other computers if there's any lingering stuff.

Of course, this would all take quite a while, and I've never done it myself, it's just a suggestion.

[puntoMX]

Then, format the external HD a couple of times to make sure it doesn't harm any other computers if there's any lingering stuff.

Zero fill would be better, after a format there will be still the complete info on it, except the first part of the drive .

[Idontwantspam]

Whatever... as I said, I've never done this, and I'm not a tech either. But good suggestion. Better yet, sell them the drive and if anything comes back, then they can pay you more money to fix it again! just kidding...

[herbalist]

For the malware cases, I would advise having a big (~250-500 GB) external USB hard drive lying around. Copy all their precious files off their computer onto the external drive. Format their computer, reinstall windows (or if it's a different OS, use that), and install some good antivirus software onto it. Plug in the hard drive. Scan the whole entire thing, and clean out any infected files. Then, reformat and reinstall the OS. Do the virus scan a second time. Format the computer once more and do one last reinstall, then restore their now hopefully clean files.

The problem with this method would be the things that don't get saved. Files in My Documents or My Pictures are easy enough, but what about things that may be saved elsewhere or under an unexpected name? Their address book? Their passwords? A password program? Their settings (color, cursor, sound, etc)? Purchased or ISP supplied software? Records stored by financial software? Printer drivers? Internet settings? Unless you're very thorough and know what to look for, a lot of hard to replace data could be lost. I'd rather not take that chance. So far, I've had to reformat a clients PC only once. Initially, they named just a couple of things they needed saved. The more I questioned them, the more things they remembered that I couldn't have replaced. When you need to go this route, question the customer extensively and name specific items they might not think of.

In addition to saving their data and reinstalling an OS, there's all the patches and updates that have to be installed, both Microsofts and ones from the vendor. If it's an older system, there's a lot of updating. IMO, it's more work and more time consuming to reformat than it is to clean the PC. Besides, it's good for business when the customer sees that preserving his data is important to you.

On those rare occasions that I have to wipe a drive, D-ban is my tool of choice.

Rick

[jaclaz]

If I may, the requirements to make a great PC technician are just the same needed in any career, you need to be:

intelligent

curious

hard working

able to deal with customers

and, finally:

expert in the specific field

I am afraid that NO course or Certificate will ever be able to give you any of the above features if you are missing them, the only thing they can provide is a base knowledge from which you have to start building your own experience.

I have met "uneducated" people that made great technicians and people that thought that having being "certificated" would alllow them to say and do whatever they wanted while being paid big bucks per hour, rather obviously the latter ones didn't last long.

jaclaz

[foolios]

Thanks for all the input.

@Rick,

I am amazed at how successful you have been saving a pc without having to restore it.

It does seem that a full reinstall can be quite time consuming because of the updates and possibly extra software that has to be added: antivirus, spyware, customer specific, etc. Then there's the matter updating that and then possibly doing some more tweaking.

But doesn't removing virus, etc. infestations take a lot more time? I guess in some cases, we can let some software do the work. But what about those cases when the software can't.

For example, there's a system that has explore®(sp?) errors, dll errors, file missing or corrupt errors; won't that be time consuming, or more so?

What do you do when you run into errors on the system?

Thanks so much for going into so much depth with the replies, I appreciate them very much.

[herbalist]

But doesn't removing virus, etc. infestations take a lot more time? I guess in some cases, we can let some software do the work. But what about those cases when the software can't.

It really depends on what and/or how much is infecting the system. At times, using an online AV or installing a free AV will do the job. Sometimes the AV will identify the malware but can't remove it. Knowing what exactly it is that you're trying to remove is half the battle. After that, it's looking up the removal procedure and downloading any specialized tools that may be needed. Many of the AV vendors and malware removal sites make the tools and removal procedures freely available. Sysinfo is another site with very useful info, including a large list of startup entries, much of it for malware.

With some malware, removal is as simple as killing the process and deleting the file and its autostart entry. At other times, you can have a major fight on your hands, like a CWS infection. Some malware is very good at defending itself, to the point of attacking the removal tools.

For example, there's a system that has explore®(sp?) errors, dll errors, file missing or corrupt errors; won't that be time consuming, or more so?

What do you do when you run into errors on the system?

Windows has several tools built in that can make the job much easier. Windows files that are missing or corrupted can be replaced with new copies from the cabinet files. The System File Checker can fix many such problems. So can the system restore. There's a few sites with a big selection of DLLs, drivers, etc to download if the one you need isn't in the cabinet files. The tools at Sysinternals are lifesavers when dealing with system problems. There's so many utilities, tools and resources available for repairing, troubleshooting, and malware removal, I couldn't begin to list them, but this one is very useful and links to much more.

Rick

[Ludwig Von Cookie Koopa]

All you really need is exprience using and repairing a computer on your own. Most cases is the _____ is ______ and the question is has it ever occured to you and what did you do slove the problem. Alot of these repairmen lie and say some sorta reason to jack up ther price.

Just think of the main reason why people would call a person to deal with a computer. Most people tend to use backup discs like idiots going threw reinstallation. I do know that you will be using the tools of a cable guy and phone repair man sometimes. My father would get paid 100+ dollars just to install Windows 95 back then and another guy who was going to teach programming just hung around to repair the printer.

What I hate is that being a repairman of any sort people might find reasons not to pay you. Like for example my father almost did not get paid the fact the customers daughter said he called her a deragortory name, then they said to this guy he never did any real work at all after they spent there time there, and another person wanted there money back after watching him just switch two plugs around.

Still try advert yourself and repair the neighbors computer for less the price then the a higher repair man. It is no diffrent then fixing air cnditioners in most cases. All you have to do is put yourself in the same senario as the job.

[cluberti]

At this point in life, I never, NEVER do a job for family. Ever. Or close friends, for that matter.

Business and friends/family do not mix, and they can call the Dell support reps in India and get the support they paid for when they bought that $399 gem . It sounds harsh, but you know what? They accept it and move on (especially after I throw down the "you wouldn't ask a pilot to fly you around on his day off - why is my free time different?" - that one REALLY worked well).