Sadly, stories like these seem to be all too common.

I was called out to a small company, as they seemed to be having ongoing computer problems.

Once on site, i would see the XP PC errors like:

• Invalid file structure.
• Applications suddenly shut down, displaying various error messages.
• Windows explorer would just freeze.

A scan with malwarebytes, can’t complete without some kind of lock-up.

While the scans are running, i ask a few more questions, and find that computerdrive.com.au have tried twice to fix the problem.

Initially, they scanned the drive for infections, fixed corrupted files, did various updates. The second time, they imaged the drive to a new drive. Once problems continued, the customer asked if they know what the problem is, and they admitted they didn’t know what was wrong, and could only suggest a new computer.

Back to the PC, i decided to eliminate any hardware problems.

I ran a simple RAM test, and everything seemed ok until the test did a block move… then the test gave an error. A few more tests showed that only 1 of the 2 RAM sticks was consistently faulty.

I replaced the RAM, and after a few more tests, i found no more problems.

Of course, i wonder why another computer company doesn’t have the tools to diagnose a problem that should be relatively easy to find… But then, in the last 4 years, I’ve seen many companies shut down after a year or two, and others just take any opportunity to milk customers who know little about computers.

Oddly, customers are also to blame… I’ve heard many of my own customers say (almost as soon as i walk in the door), that they know nothing about computers.

To the unscrupulous operator, its like saying: “please rip me off”.