YOUR QUESTION: When will you begin work on my computer? Immediately! NOT in a few days, as with
according to reports.
YOUR QUESTION: How long will it take you to service my computer? It takes a minimum of 4 hours of actual bench time to fix "mildly" infected computers with very little data to scan (50 GB or less). If you require a data backup (in addition to repair) then this takes additional time. Double that time if you need to migrate that same data back to a new installation of Windows. Add 1 to 2 FedEx or UPS working days if parts must be ordered. Compare this turn around time with the "other guys".
Any place that spends only an hour or two of actual bench time for virus removal is cutting corners at YOUR RISK! All too often "rootkit" viruses go undetected by repair techs who simply run 1 virus scan and declare the computer "fixed" if there are no outward signs of viruses or declare that Windows must be reinstalled after little effort to repair the system. PCR uses exhaustive processes to remove viruses.
YOUR QUESTION: In more technical detail what exactly do you do to remove viruses? Often a computer won't even boot to the desktop, or the virus disables everything. This often requires use of a special offline registry editing CD to manually delete virus startup entries and to repair common registry damage caused by viruses. Sometimes an "offline" manual search for system file inconsistencies is used.
Depending on symptoms, PCR may use as many as 15 or more different software tools to remove all types of malware (including viruses, rootkits, spyware, and adware). No anti-virus software is 100% perfect. Most only catch about 90% to 95% of viruses. PCR has even tested software that supposedly caught and removed certain rootkit viruses, but upon reboot, the virus was still present.
PCR also uses special analysis tools to manually search hidden processes (which are not found under Microsoft's system configuration -- AKA "msconfig"), as well as tools to evaluate dynamic link library files, image hijacks, startup services, scheduled tasks, hidden network activity and more. If the actual virus installation file still resides in your "downloads" folder, PCR may even test installing it on another "test PC" record where the virus installs its files and what changes it makes. Lastly PCR tests your computer's behavior and performance to be sure that there are no more signs of viruses.
Once cured of malware infection and damage, PCR will also perform a simple tune-up, including upgrade to latest Windows service pack and updates, verify that your computer is fully protected to prevent re-infection, and provide report on what work was performed.
YOUR QUESTION: How in the world can you tell if a virus is still present when antivirus software misses it and there are no outwardly signs of viruses such as fake alerts or browser redirects? PCR removes viruses with a very high degree of certainty using various software tools and techniques. Among other methods, special analysis software programs such as AutoRuns, Process Explorer, GMER, TCP View and others can be used to reveal hidden processes. Browser hijacking is the most tell tale sign that a machine is still infected. Another common sign is strange network activity, such as the computer attempting to connect to Internet locations in Europe on its own. The methods of eradicating viruses are constantly changing. It's a game of Spy VS Spy.
YOUR QUESTION: What is the most 100% effective way of cleaning a computer of viruses? Reinstalling Windows is the only way to be 100% sure. Unfortunately for some customers this is too much of a disruption if they have certain settings to reconfigure as described on the previous page.
YOUR QUESTION: I have been running updated, real-time antivirus software, yet my computer still became infected. Why??? Understand that even when your computer is protected with up-to-date antivirus software, newer viruses are constantly being propagated. It takes time for these new viruses to be indentified, for a patch (fix) to be written, for the consumer to download the patch to their virus database so that their computer is protected. As previously stated, no anti-virus software is 100% effective or is guaranteed to be 100% effective.
Being proactive about avoiding viruses is just as important as running current, real-time antivirus software on your computer. The new method of choice used by the "bad guys" (who write and propagate viruses) is called "human engineering". It's gotten too difficult to breach the Windows operating system so they instead trick you (the user) into clicking the wrong button that installs a virus.
BEWARE: Other repair stores have very tight profit margins and are driven to fix computers as quickly as possible because their employees are "on the clock". If they can't fix it with very minimal effort, they will charge you an EXTRA $100 to recover and migrate your data (documents, MP3's, etc) AND charge you an EXTRA (usually $100) just to reinstall Windows. So what began as a $199.99 virus cleaning with the "other guys", eventually can turn into a $299.99 charge! And that doesn't even include data migration (if you have critical data to migrate).
YOUR QUESTION: Will you have to reinstall Windows in order to repair my computer? Most virus infections can be remedied without reinstalling Windows, but some viruses are more insidious and some combinations of viruses may cause unforeseen virus removal results, which may render the existing installation of Windows unbootable or otherwise "damaged beyond repair". Then it becomes necessary to reinstall Windows.
Note that there are less repair options available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, as well as for 64-bit systems. So there is a higher probability that your Windows XP machine can be repaired without having to reinstall Windows.
The end result of reinstalling Windows is that your computer should run as fast as it did when it was brand new. The downside is that certain changes you made to your computer will be lost.
YOUR QUESTION: Should I proceed straight to a reinstallation of Windows rather than having you "repair" my existing system? The answer depends largely on the health of your hard drive and/or how much of a "disruption" it might be to reinstall your extra programs, peripheral hardware and to reconfigure your personal settings (all described on the previous page). Over time the Windows "registry" may become cluttered and/or possibly damaged from viruses and cause performance problems. Some computer users try using registry cleaners, but experts have concluded that registry cleaners can cause more harm than good. Registry cleaners are usually used selectively (not deleting everything it finds) or as a last resort. The better solution to fix a damaged registry is Windows reinstallation.
If you have absolutely no personal data to migrate (such as MP3's, Word documents, personal emails, personal browser settings, etc), no programs to reinstall (PhotoShop, Quicken, Microsoft Money, TurboTax, etc) or you at least have all of your original discs, and no settings to reconfigure (such as Carbonite backup schedule, configuration of shared computers on a network, etc) then reinstalling Windows may actually be hands down the very best route for you. After reinstalling Windows your computer should run as fast as it did when it was brand new, if not faster.
YOUR QUESTION: I have not backed up my critical data (documents, photos, mp3's, movies). Should I have it backed up? What are the risks? The risk is that hard drives eventually fail and can fail at any time. Some "lemons" fail in the first 2 years. After that, statistically there's an 8% annual failure rate. If there is ANY sign that a hard drive is failing, then you REALLY need to create a safety backup. If your hard drive stops working due to physical failure, the cost to recover data at recovery labs typically ranges from $1,500 to $3,000. Accordingly experts say that you should have at least one, but hopefully two backups of your critical data.
YOUR QUESTION: I have not backed up my critical "secure data" (including encrypted data, Internet Explorer form field data and passwords). Should I back it up or even create a clone of my hard drive? What are the risks? If you have "secure data" on your computer, such as Internet Explorer passwords or encrypted files, this data can only be recovered off of a computer that "boots" to the desktop under the user account or administrator that is privileged to access the data. This article explains it nicely. Viruses such as Virut may render a computer unbootable. So if your computer is infected with a virus, and you have "secure data" that has NOT been properly backed up, then your data is in eminent danger of being lost forever. Assuming that viruses are now preventing the export of your certificate or cryptographic key, then the best precaution is to create a clone of your C drive. This way if the first attempt to repair your system fails, new approaches to repair your system can be taken until your computer hopefully becomes healthy enough to fully repair or at least export your certificate or cryptographic key.
YOUR QUESTION: What are "local" email programs? These are simply email software programs (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Sea Monkey) which are physically installed on your computer. With local email programs, one can store old email data (inbox, sent, trash, drafts, etc) right on their home computer. This contrasts with services like Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, G Mail which store email data on a remote computer on the world wide web.
It is important to note that after reinstalling Windows, your old saved "local" email data (inbox, sent, etc) will NOT magically reappear until you "import" this local email data. Essentially you have to "tell" local email programs where to "look" for the data. This process is a bit complicated for the average computer user. PCR can "import" your local email data individually at a cost of only $20.00 per program (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird). So migrating your raw data is only half the battle when it comes to "local" email and browser data migration.
YOUR QUESTION: Do you provide official support for AOL's browser / interface? No. AOL's problematic browser / interface is obsolete. Those who still use it will find that it's slow to launch, it displays advertisements, it often freezes up, and it's slow to exit. You should completely uninstall AOL and instead use Firefox or Internet Explorer. There is no need to use AOL's bloated interface even if you subscribe to AOL as your ISP. If you have an AOL email address, you can access your email with ANY other browser at mail.aol.com. You can also set AOL to be your home page with ANY other browser.
NOTE: Neither Palisades Computer Repair nor it’s repair tech will be legally liable for any loss, alteration or corruption of data, nor any loss of time, business, anticipatory profits, or special or consequential damages by accepting any item for data recovery, and/or repair / alteration / enhancement. Customer is fully responsible to backup any important data, software, settings, information and/or files on their computer, and to remove any media (such as CD's, DVD's and memory cards) from their product.
BELOW: Examples of an orphan "image hijacks" that were left behind after cleaning a computer with several different antivirus software and attempting registry fixes. This computer's "task manager" (Control + Alt + Delete) was non-functional until manually searching for and fixing the problem. This is just one of many examples of Windows system damage that typically results after recovering from a virus infection...
BELOW: More damage left behind by a virus after running virus scans to clean a computer. Often viruses attack "file associations" so that programs and / or basic Windows functions such as control panel shortcut items (including "security center") cannot be launched. Not to worry - In most cases this is Windows registry damage that is repairable.
BELOW: Viruses usually disable legitimate anti-virus programs from working, and even prevent installation of legitimate anti-virus programs such as Microsoft Security Essentials.
BELOW: Viruses, a failed Windows update, or other anomaly may damage the Windows operating system. In this case the basic function of creating a restore point continued to fail even after trying many repair techniques and fixes.
