Remote Personal Computer (PC)
Repair Services

New services are now offered that promise to fix your PC instantly using Internet access. These provide the promise of instant PC repair whenever troubles arise. At DialANerd we provide remote PC repair service, but we find that there are some limitations. This means that you should use common sense before paying monthly for a remote PC repair service.

Remote services depend upon the remote service technician being able to install a small program on your PC that invites in the remote service technician into the PC. This is secure because once service is complete, the connection is removed. After removal, the remote technician cannot access the PC without a new user invitation. The link is secure while the work is taking place because communication is encrypted. A repair invitation is emailed to you at the PC to be repaired. You accept this invitation which established the remote access connection.

The first limitation of remote PC repair is that a solid high speed Internet connection is required. So if your Internet is down, remote repair service will not work. Often I on the Telephone walk users through the steps needed to fix their high speed Internet access.

Because the remote technician views the display of the PC being fixed, can download programs needed to clean up the PC, run software, reboot the PC (if needed), and perform other tasks as though they were sitting at the PC in the users home, a mountain of data (screen images) is transmitted across the high speed link. Dial-up links would make the repair process exceedingly slow if not impossible to complete. This means that PCs using Telephone Dial-up connections cannot be effectively serviced.

The PC must be operating for the service to be performed. When a disk drive fails, the PC does not boot. Sometimes a PC fails to boot because the disk is corrupted, but not damaged. In either case the PC cannot permit remote access so remote access service is ineffective. We diagnose disk drive failures over the phone. If the disk contains important data, we try to recover it inexpensively by using special PC tools. Our success rate is around 90%. However, such data recovery and disk replacement cannot be done remotely.

Sometimes when a PC is severely corrupted, Windows itself is damaged. In this case a Windows reinstallation is needed to rectify the problem. We do this with a technique that saves the user’s data. A blind reinstallation of Windows can wipe the PC clean. Josh the DialANerd point person for remote PC repair had one such case that ended up in him traveling to Philadelphia because Windows was so corrupted. In this case it is better having (or being) a local business providing remote PC repair service rather than one in another state. Consequently, sometimes remote PC repair service can only tell you that your PC is so corrupted that Windows itself must be repaired.

What a remote PC repair person can do is to scan a PC for Viruses with several virus and spyware scanning programs, look at the folders and remove bad software (it takes lots of experience removing viruses to be able to spot bad software folders), clean up the Windows Registry, install missing hardware drivers (but not the hardware), and fix email and other application problems. The knowledge of the person performing the repair is critical to its success. A low level technician located overseas is not likely to do a good job. Also having someone that can come by in the event of a repair being beyond the scope of remote access repair is essential as well.