[Melissa]

they are probably wearing ear peices lol

tbh I havent had to deal with them much they normally seem okay to me but I think they bluff alot... I dont have teh guts for this but Im sure Chantelle has caught them out a few times....

Although you see what they offer you? 100 to install your router ! :-s..

[saunby]

I agree with Pho, Ive been into our store a few times to go and speak to the tech guys there about various things, upgrading my RAM, firefox problems etc and every time I have been dealt with by friendly and helpful guys, I wouldnt go anywhere else tbh..

[Fazz]

i did try that, but i didnt have a clue what they were goin on about, so i just walked out...

[Squall]

its either your not willing to listen or you dont wanna fix it.. or you dont really care.. dont no :S but thats the impression your giving me :S

and pcworld... dear god.. lol im sure there is a mplex close to you guys somewhere.. think pc world is good try there

[saunby]

Yeah Blade does actually have a bit of a point there Fazz.

Its not doing your comp any good to keep having to restart it etc etc.

If you get lost by what anyone tells you then I would say your only option is to actually take the computer into PC World and pay for it to be sorted out, if you really really dont want to spend money doing that then go in, tell the guy you have no clue about computers and you are lost by instructions very easily and ask him if he could write down a set of instructions that are easy to understand so that you can take it home and try different things.

[Chantelle]

Sorry I know I have a bit of a ya know... lets say I have had bad history with the tech guys. lol so i have a biased opinion of them and well I dont think they have much merit in the way of proper tech knowledge, more like just whizzes..

Not personally been afected ultimateley mind... I have known on 2 seperate occasions in 2 seperate stroes they end up ripping people off, one my grandad..

And maybe not their knowledge as such but I think they fob people off alot with technical jargon.. often which I have found is wrong... I correct them

I even seen them try and advise people that getting Norton Internet security was a good investment. Thats a cardinal sin! lol

Anyway.. I think blades got a point..

personally I think your better off looking at a local PC vendor or pc shop.. I think your likeley to get a much more sincere response and it will probably be cheaper...

Plus of course they do the job day in day out..

Although for free you can offer to try what we said? if we put out the steps for you its simple.

[Fazz]

i cant take it 2 a pc shop, coz i kinda have no money at the mo, and i threw the reite away, lol, i will probs ask tech people 2 tell me what 2 do,, lol

[Melissa]

hmm while I wouldnt take anything they said as gospel as such I think your being slightly harsh there Chan, I mean you do realise these guys are probably just teh front end first level of support for basic and small things.... I assume anyway since i not dealtt with them. They are consumer based.. They dont need high qualified network gurus in there.. They probably have a service cenetr fro bigger problems???? i dunno.

Although did someone say they wouldnt go else where? lol

Now that IS mental!! well if your purchasing something it is... they are horrendously expensive.

So my advice is... go there by all means... IF you need spare parts say cheers see you later and come back here and we can show you what to get..

[Melissa]

i cant take it 2 a pc shop, coz i kinda have no money at the mo, and i threw the reite away, lol, i will probs ask tech people 2 tell me what 2 do,, lol

... what?

I think I know what the problem is... your keyboard keys are in the wrong order!!

[Phoenix]

Yeah well for the record, I work in PcWorld part time. Not because I need the money but because I want something to do and most of all because I enjoy it. Its also somewhere I can develop my knowledge at a young age. I've learnt alot from the TechGuys I work with and they've always been helpful.

As for them not knowing anything, I think thats a bit below the belt which is what caught my attention and the reason I decided to post.

I think what alot of people don't realise is that you don't need an advanced level of knowledge to solve 90% of computer problems. As long as you have the knowledge sufficent enough to get the job done then why does it matter? The majority of the time you follow simple troubleshooting steps until you find the source of the problem. To be honest i'm sure any of you agree that if you had the time and you put the effort in- using the internet as your ally you could easily fix any problem with your computer. The reason why people like the TechGuys are in business is because people simply don't have the time, nor want the hassle of reparing their own computer- they'd much rather have someone else do it.

As for the advising people to purchase Norton, just so you know DSG the company that backs Pcworld, dixons, currys etc have a contract with Symantec. Also on occasions staff get bonuses if they sell a certain product. Yes this may not be ethnically correct and fair to the customer, but everyones human, if someone said to you i'll give you a £2 bonus for every copy of Norton you sell in a month your hardly going to turn it down. That isn't actually a real example, i'm just trying to help you understand my point.

Last but not least, as for the prices. Yes, I admit they are high. But Pcworld are a multi-million pound retailer so obviously the prices are going to be high, maybe not unreasonable, but yes high. Imagine buying a new car, lets say a Ford. If you bought a new Ford Estate from a Ford Retailer, your likely to pay more then if you bought a new Ford Estate from an independant showroom situated in your high-street.

I agree with you that, if you find a independant computer repair shop or techiction you will probably pay less to get the problem fixed, but then again people don't want the hassle so its much easier to pop into Pcworld.

I hope i've managed to englighten a few facts and cleared that up for the most part.

Andy~

[Chantelle]

I am not suggesting they need to be qualified engineers.. i just think well have found that they seem to go a certain level of well

Lets say I seen them trail off in the wrong direction, take a badly calculated guess and re supplied the system lost all the data as they said teh hard drive was broke when it wasnt, and actually supplied it without half the drivers on

and they charge for this..

Then fob that person off with a load of lies about this being broke etc etc..

as I said prior to this this is one of two simialr cases

What do you want me to say?

These people paid alot of money and got poor service.. I fixed the problem in the end

I am just saying to you how I have found them to be.. I apologise again if I was a bit general sweeping but thats just how I found them all to be..

I'd also hate for someone to fall into that trap. Perhaps it wouldnt be the case for him. I just dont like the way they have treated people I know in the past.

I am sorry if you do not like this.

[Melissa]

i thought it was a touch harsh but then again reading that i can prob understand why.

If I had seen that id have beena bit angry..

Although:

"As for the advising people to purchase Norton, just so you know DSG the company that backs Pcworld, dixons, currys etc have a contract with Symantec. Also on occasions staff get bonuses if they sell a certain product. Yes this may not be ethnically correct and fair to the customer, but everyones human, if someone said to you i'll give you a £2 bonus for every copy of Norton you sell in a month your hardly going to turn it down. That isn't actually a real example, i'm just trying to help you understand my point.
"


IMHO thats pretty bad news.. Do they actually do that..??

I mean as soon as tech becomes commision based, its all about the money and not the consumer!!

Does PC world use Mastercare ?? I knwo currys did

They are a bunch of pirates!

They done me over!!

[Squall]

I remember going to pc world once. maplins is another place to avoid also.. cheap stuff but still not very good. anyway pcworld, i think it was to check out there prices and graphics cards. and i do remember asking one of the tech guys for the specs on a graphics card... he lifted the box up and read what was on the back to me....the specs where listed on the front o.O (the box was behind him and i didnt even see it untill he turned around and got it)

Went into mplex.. the only graphics card they got was 7600GT at the time (around my price range) asked him the specs and he told them to me within 5 seconds of me asking. told me that they could be good for certain games and that the graphics card was not the best in some aspects but a very nice card none the less.

have to say the comparison between currys/pcworld and my usual mplex tech shop...is huge. mplex will be cheaper of corse. they allways are. but the advice if your stuck etc (even have nice set of forums for a small company) and great customer service. even though im hardly ever stuck.. been taking computers apart for a long time now but still.. nice ot no that fi you ask you get the right answer.

they wouldnt dare advise me on norton antivirus.. i wouldnt even suggest that to my worst enemy..

[Phoenix]

I am not suggesting they need to be qualified engineers.. i just think well have found that they seem to go a certain level of well

Lets say I seen them trail off in the wrong direction, take a badly calculated guess and re supplied the system lost all the data as they said teh hard drive was broke when it wasnt, and actually supplied it without half the drivers on

and they charge for this..

Then fob that person off with a load of lies about this being broke etc etc..

as I said prior to this this is one of two simialr cases

What do you want me to say?

These people paid alot of money and got poor service.. I fixed the problem in the end

I am just saying to you how I have found them to be.. I apologise again if I was a bit general sweeping but thats just how I found them all to be..

I'd also hate for someone to fall into that trap. Perhaps it wouldnt be the case for him. I just dont like the way they have treated people I know in the past.

I am sorry if you do not like this.

Chan, sorry if you took my response the wrong way. I'm just trying to state my experience from working with him on a constant basis. Everyones entitled to their own opinion.

Obviously like every business people make mistakes. I chose not too long ago to get my Dads laptop fixed with an indpendantly run business, they said it would take about 2 weeks to get the part and install it. 2 months later and they make up excuses about it being difficult to get the part, I did a google search and found it within minutes. Lastly when I eventually did get it back £300 out of pocket for a new graphics card. Yes it did work for about a month with no problems, but now we are having exactly the same problem with the laptop now and we are unable to use it.

@Mel: There are similar schemes in place Yes. The TechGuys like all PcWorld staff aren't payed on commission BUT staff incentives and bonuses are common. Yes I agree with you, its not fair. But as I said, the majority of people aren't going to turn down the extra money.

@Blade: You obviously found a particularly lazy tech. I sold a customer a graphics card the other day. I think it was a Nvidia Geforce 8600 (Don't quote me on that). He asked me for the specs and I printed him out the specs from our own reporting as well as the specs direct from Nvidia. I then game him a brief overview of what the graphics card was capable of handling. But thats me- I can't say another member of staff would have done the same. You'd have even caught me printing out a map and directions to our local 02 store in the high street because some Czech lorry driver needed to get a new E-top up card because he'd broken his

Andy~

[Melissa]

Yea, sounds like there is a few rouge traders about!!

Although yeah, I definateley dont like the bonus scheme idea if they sell stuff..

Maybe your rigt it is down to the individuals.. They did say to my geandad to get a new hard drive and he wamted more meory .. the drive was actually fine.. but to do it all and trasnfer was like £300 they said.. That guy was a pirate..

Sometimes I think you can only trust the people you know... bit like MOT.

Although I am surprised you say maplins is cheap Blade... I remember a few months ago looking for a 15metre patch cable for a lad at work... maplins are like £20 or there abouts as was Pc world.... I got one for about £4... and i got some phone adapters for ip phones there for work... £7 each... later foudn them online for about £3... still wasnt my money lol

[saunby]

Well this is going completely off topic tbh....

Fazz's computer is totally f-ed if you ask me and he needs it sorting out, so unless anyone wants to eloborate a lot on their suggestions and in an easy to read way so he can try to sort it out I guess he has to go and ask the tech guys what they think.

[Squall]

if i was to elaborate anymore id be giving directions on how to click the mouse button and use the keybord. ...to be fair though i might not have detailed it as well as i could have but its still quite detailed and discriptive on what to do.

but what the hell ... 3 minutes here to do this: CLICK IMAGES WITH DOTS AROUND THEM!!



pretty simple. hit start button and then run.

then type in msconfig as shown in the pic.



Now from there you can see that services tab is circled and that hide microsoft servcies is circled. hit hide the micro services and take off some services that you recognise.. pretty straight forward also.



Now go to startup tab and take all the stuff thats not needed on there. like msn.. printer.. scanner.. all that crap



Hit ok and hit restart... welldone

[Melissa]

make sure you don't disable anything relating to anti virus or firewall!!

if in doubt list everything here which appears on the list, we can work out what is what

also do that with the processes from task manager.. which you can get right clocking on task bar and selecting task manager then processes tab.

Although Saunby I think you have to appreciate with doubt he hasnt made it clear where he is haveing trouble and he is very unclear with his posts which I dont mean to be rude look really badly written.. Not trying to be nasty, I just cannot understand him.

Now I know its gone off trail and she was a bit grumpy about stuff ( which I think she explained elsewhere on teh forum not that it shoudl make a difference).. but if its not easy to understand she did spend a whiel composing an answer for him to try and has on many many occasions offered to ellaborate..

Same for Blade he has made efforts particulary to solve the problem.

I mean I know I am only a trainee but I can help too! and I can follow these instructions through,.,

Plus this advice is free while its not hands on it is not bad..


But people have to meet us half way..

[Phoenix]

Well this is going completely off topic tbh....

Fazz's computer is totally f-ed if you ask me and he needs it sorting out, so unless anyone wants to eloborate a lot on their suggestions and in an easy to read way so he can try to sort it out I guess he has to go and ask the tech guys what they think.

To be honest Matt, Fazz doesn't seem to care what happens. He's come here for advice, gotten it and has basically decided that our advice is too complicated and he is just going to put up with the constant restarts. Sorry, but theres only a certain point where people do actually have to help themselves- unless he wants step by step instuctions in which case not many of us have the time to sort that out. Also you've listed the alternatives such as taking it into PcWorld and hes decided against that, so to be honest is it surpising this has gone off topic..

[Kenshin]

tbh andy.. i wud hav dismissed most of this stuff.. exept blades last post.. it was all wayyy to complicated for me to even begin to understand

[Phoenix]

tbh andy.. i wud hav dismissed most of this stuff.. exept blades last post.. it was all wayyy to complicated for me to even begin to understand

If you put the time and effort into understanding it isn't difficult. For example, basic HTML - right click on any web-page and click view source. Its full of tags aka <td> <tr> <br> <p> <body>. If you don't understand HTML then to you its just going to look like a massive bulk of words and your gonna say "I can't understand that". Now if I put some effort in- lets start by entering in google "learning HTML" and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button to bring the first result in the search back. You should find yourself on this page:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

You have pages and pages of easy to use step by step tutorials right there in front of you. You'll soon find that "massive bulk of words" soon starts to make sense.

-

Blade said it in the 2nd page of this topic:

its either your not willing to listen or you dont wanna fix it.. or you dont really care.. dont no :S but thats the impression your giving me :S

Thats the exact same feeling i'm getting from this topic. Also, an alternative has been offered if you can't be bothered to help yourself to understand and thats by taking to a PC repair shop. I don't know what more we can do. To be honest all the advice is being dismissed, at least thats the feeling i'm getting.

[Melissa]

It isnt easy to know what people do and do not know... I mean you can be over the top and sound patronising...

so firstly I think list out the intrsuctions which they did... now they may not have been

"how to fix your computer for a complete learner"

but they are probably on the right line to fixing the PC..

To write a detailed report like balde did for chantelles diagnostic could have taken hours and coudl have been overkill

and by the sounds of it he cannot be botehred anyway.

[Chantelle]

If it helped, I would be happy to write an essay which could be used to feed through and fix the problem..

Although as one of you gus said above, I dont want to ever sound patronising so I basically start off with a rough idea of what the problem could be and give a few ideas of where to start looking...

If something confuses you just ask and we can drill down into it further.

See things like say "BIOS".. alot of people know about them these days so I dont initially go into masses of detail as I dont want to patronise people or write pages unessecerely ( << word I cannot spell in 25 years).