madwizard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 I'm no expert but I find some things really funny when it comes to customers and their computers. This lady came in today and told me that she had a number of virus's on her computer and that this guy, living next to her, told her that the virus ruined her hard drive and that to fix her computer she needed to replace the hard drive. Oh, and she has win\xp - home. So this guy goes and takes her 80 gig hard drive and replaces it with a, get this, 6 gig, and yes, puts xp on it. I sill cannot believe it. To top it off he used a chopped up hacked version. This poor woman. After I explained what he had done she started smoking at the seams.. So now she has to go out and buy a new copy of xp cause the recovery console for her computer was on the 80 gig and the guy no longer lives there & get a new hard drive that has plenty of gig's. The xp license sticker ? I looked and yeah, he took it off her computer and told her it was no longer good because it was tied to the hard drive and would not work on any other hard drive. So here she is with a computer that is only two years old and has had her hard drive riped off along with the license code for xp. Thought my day was bad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 one word... typical. thoug it is true there are a small number of viri out there that CAN damage hardware. some will spin up the hard drive at max rpms for extended periods of time, others shut down thermal controlled fans (if controlled by the bios), and others corrupted the bios. though all of these are very rare and quickly figured out by Norton and others, they DO exist. I myself have been hit by the one that shut off fans. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madwizard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 one word... typical.thoug it is true there are a small number of viri out there that CAN damage hardware. some will spin up the hard drive at max rpms for extended periods of time, others shut down thermal controlled fans (if controlled by the bios), and others corrupted the bios. though all of these are very rare and quickly figured out by Norton and others, they DO exist. I myself have been hit by the one that shut off fans. First for me. Though I like to test out the hd first to see if it's bad. Though this lady just took someones word without testing it out. Myself, I have never got a virus like that, just a typical trojan visus and one a virus that was nasty but did not damage anything other than having to swipe and reload. Am learning something new all the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 wow, that sucks. It's a shame that there are people in this world that prey on the elderly like that. We just found out my grandmother was recently ripped off by an auto mechanic...she never even told us she had to get work done. $400 for tune-up...and he told her it was required to pass inspection (complete BS). He may have even ruined some other crap, but I don't know the details yet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madwizard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 wow, that sucks. It's a shame that there are people in this world that prey on the elderly like that. We just found out my grandmother was recently ripped off by an auto mechanic...she never even told us she had to get work done. $400 for tune-up...and he told her it was required to pass inspection (complete BS). He may have even ruined some other crap, but I don't know the details yet. Well, like Bigred said, there are some forms of a virus that can damage a system, but this Lady never got to have it tested first which is a shame. she just went on what someone told her and in my mind she got played on. Yeah, a shame.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotdamojo06 Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 it is a shame that people will do that to other people expecially over a windows xp cd code what has the world come down to? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 yes, it's common. some shops are even known for this kind of crap. as far as a hardware killing virus... it hit my beloved opteron 248 (socket 940) that was one of the first AMD chips I'd seen crack the 3ghz mark without a problem. killed that chip and left a great socket 940 board useless for a long time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotdamojo06 Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 Thats a bunch of crap that people will do that...and that sucks about the hardware killing virus hit your comp, what did it damage? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire_storm Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 Thats to bad that she got taken advantage of like that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kash Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 Think of it this way, the guy just did the inevitable. If she had taken her PC to the Geek Squad or some other repair place, she would have been just as badly taken advantage of. They would diagnose the problem as a bad hard drive or some such nonsense and charge her for it because she doesn't know any better. On top of that, they would probably get her to buy some sort of service plan. And the worst part about this? She wouldn't feel like she was scammed because she took her PC to a "reputable" venue. <_< It's impossible to become technically literate in every aspect of your life that involves some sort of repairs. You can't become a car mechanic, PC repair guru, landscaper, and a handyman at the same time. That's what specialties are for. The unfortunate reality is that there will not only be scam artists, but reputable businesses that take advantage of customers who don't know any better. We just have to learn how to do our own research and not let ourselves be taken advantage of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotdamojo06 Posted January 26, 2007 Posted January 26, 2007 This reminds me of the time that I went to Belle Tire with a coupon for 49.99 break change per axle...they told me that that would work, however I need to get new everything on my breaks and i needed new shocks and struts and new tires...blah, i asked how much it would cost for everything that they said i needed and they wanted 1300. I was confused by this because just 2.5 months before this i bought the car from a good dealership... then i took the car to Nothwest Tire and Service and they said all i needed were new break pads and shoes, tire rotation, and something else, cant remember what it was, but the total came to only 250 after going to ceramic break pads in the front...I was happy about that... I hate that businesses also pratice being scam artists... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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