Four Things You’re Doing That Piss Off Your IT Guy
I decided to make a short rant of the things that PISS ME OFF when dealing with repair jobs in my small business repairing computers. I tried to make these suggestions as simple as possible, but if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message- my inbox is always open. Let’s get started.
- Putting tape on your webcam.
Stop doing this. Seriously, stop it. You’re not doing anything of consequence. First of all, if you’re being spied on by some secret agent, you’re already screwed by fact that you own a cellphone and you type things. Your cellphone is already a tracking device- and a much better one than your laptop. It’s already been proven that the FBI can break into iPhone’s, and we’ve known for years that Android is full of security holes. Add in the fact that you take constant selfies, have an always-on GPS, and a list of everyone that you talk to- it’s the perfect target.
Not to mention, of the majority of surveillance that is obtained on your computer, whether for malicious purposes or for government/criminal court, is collected via keyloggers. Nobody wants to sit for hours listening to the output of your microphone and webcam in the hope that you’ll unwittingly whisper your social security number at it. Anyone this serious would have already gotten a warrant/broken in your home and tapped your phones. If you’re really paranoid, just disable the devices in the device manager. That said, if you own a Macbook, or really any other modern laptop, you REALLY have no need to do this. If you take a look at the schematic for basically every webcam produced in the last five years, there is next to no way to disable the light indicator coming on when your webcam is activated. If someone is spying on you, you’ll know. And if they care enough to rip the connection off that little circuit, or are willing to spend insane amount of time and money to find an exploit in software it’s probably easier to kill/arrest you.
2. On buying new computers.
You get what you pay for. Please, for the love of all that is sacred, stop buying the cheapest laptops they can find at Best Buy, and expecting 4–6 years of productive use out of it. Actually, stop buying computers from Best Buy in general. Go to Costco. They even extend the manufacturers warranty for free. If the machine you’re looking at has a Core i3/AMD A6 processor or even lower end, less than 4gb of RAM, or a 5400rpm hard disk, skip it completely. If you want to go cheap, you’re honestly better off going on eBay and buying a business-refurbished unit, like a Thinkpad T420, X220, or pretty much any of the Dell Latitude lineup, upgraded with an Solid State Drive. These are reliable machines that are used by Fortune 500 companies and upgraded every couple of years or so. The older models will have enough grunt for most users.
One of the key features you should be looking for is a Solid State Drive, or SSD. These use the same kind of storage technology that’s in your phone, which is much faster than a traditional spinning hard disk. They’re slightly more expensive, but worth in terms of performance per dollar.
Another key feature- aluminum, or other metal chassis, or a plastic chassis with a metal rollcage. It’s just like buying a car- you want a strong foundation. Even the most careful user will eventually test the durability of their machines, and the stronger the chassis is, the less components we’re going to have to replace.
3. On buying Apple computers
If you’re considering an iMac or a Macbook, this part is for you. If you want an iMac, make sure you get one with a Fusion Drive or Flash Storage. I don’t care what the people at Apple tell you about getting the iMac with the base 1TB HDD. It’s a shitty 5400RPM laptop drive, and you’re wasting your money. Fusion Drive will be the lower end solution, but it does offer more storage. The flash storage option will be the fastest, but also the most expensive.
If you’re buying a Macbook Pro, don’t get the one with the CD drive. It’s a rebadged 2012 model that they’re selling as new. The disk is slow, the memory is slow, and the CPU is outdated, and the display is garbage. I don’t recommend this in it’s stock configuration to anyone that isn’t into masochism; you’re going to need to upgrade the memory, disk, and reinstall the OS with TRIM enabled to even make it even barely up to snuff with today’s MacBook Pros.
4. On liquid damage
If you spilled something on your machine, just stop. Do not put it in rice (this is only good for phones that can’t get little bits of rice stuck in them), and definitely do not try and power it on. Do not plug it in. If by some miracle, it’s still running, save your work and shut it off. If possible, remove the battery- if you have to unscrew something to do that, just leave it alone. Call a pro immediately so they can get it into a clean room and start repairing the damage. I recently had a customer that spilled bleach on her Macbook Pro, and had plugged it in and tried to power it on. Electricity only accelerates corrosion and damage. It took me almost three weeks and 15 hours to get it running again with the extensive damage the board had suffered. Please, just don’t risk it.
Anyway, I hope y’all enjoyed my short rant. I’ll probably come up with more things that annoy me- just give me a week or two.
If you want to make fun of my opinions, or want to send me pictures of your cat, or just want to ask me more questions- my email is john@ctcomputerassociates.com