Why Fix Your PC?

With the price of new PCs dropping precipitously every year, why would anybody consider having their PC repaired? Such declining prices give rise to the attitude that one should purchase a new PC when your old PC is infested with viruses and spyware. However, be aware that many times advertised prices are for basic PCs and added options easily drive the final price much higher.

As a nerd that repairs PCs, the declining price of new PCs makes my job difficult because people are reluctant to pay for PC repairs. Even flat rate pricing regardless of the time required to repair the PC, permitting customers to buy replacement parts at the cheapest price they can find, and charging no minimum for on-site service and billing in 15 minute increments still leaves people feeling that PC repairs are very costly. After all the 15-year-old kid down the street is a PC genius that only charges 10 bucks an hour to fix your PC. He can probably have it up and running in an hour or two at most.

So why fix your old PC? There are several reasons including the important data stored on your PC that you wish to preserve, that most PCs can serve people well doing what they need done for up to 10 years, PCs need a thorough cleaning every one to two years, and most importantly when your PC is repaired you are being trained on what you need to do to maintain it and keep it running properly. As a nerd the PC repair time is minimal but the customer education time is about 80% of the job.

Most customers do not know how to effectively use their PC. This is not an issue for them until the PC breaks down. Then they need to know what caused it to break. How did the spyware or the virus get into their PC especially if they had professional grade Norton or McAfee security software? The simple answer here is that the bad software was inadvertently invited into the PC. Once it got beyond the installed security software, there was no easy removal or detection. When bad software gets into a PC it is not immediately evident. It sometimes takes years for the bad software to eventually make the PC malfunction to the extent that the owner needs it repaired.

As a nerd that repairs hundreds of PCs each year, I see all different types of bad software. I understand how the software operates and the things that can be done to Windows that will save data on the PC being repaired. Even when a disk drive fails, the chance of recovering the data and restoring Windows exactly as it was before the failure is about 90% provided you understand everything that can be done to recover the data and Windows. One time I had to turn a disk drive upside down and have a fan blow cool air on it so it would function long enough to create an image of the drive. What is the chance of a 15-year-old kid down the street knowing to do this?

As a nerd I know the software and hardware tools that work effectively to repair a PC. Even with the best tools virus removal and PC repairs often require several hours to complete because the PC that is being repaired only runs so fast. As a nerd at the PC was lightning fast, I could probably complete all repairs in an hour. Unfortunately all PCs don't run as fast.

So fixing your PC should make it last several more years, save your important data, educate you on what to do to keep it running smoothly, and cost something less than buying a brand-new PC. PC troubles, who you going to call? Not Ghost Busters, the kid down the street, or the circus freak geeks, but a Dr. Seuss nerd!