Blue screen......OF DEATH!

[registerednerd]

No offense, and I'm sure there are exceptions (and from what I see on Wiichat, you're probably one of them), but Geek Squad certainly doesn't have a very good reputation.

http://consumerist.com/tag/geek-squad/

Certainly Dell has issues too... with their consumer line at least (Dimension & Inspiron). Tech support for those will be a nightmare. That's why I never refer people to those lines, and tell everyone to buy the "business" lines (Optiplex and Latitude). Not only are the computers built better out of better parts, but you get an entirely different level of tech support. And it's good. Worth the little extra up-front. First time you ever need tech support, you'll be glad you paid more for an Optiplex/Latitude.

Try to find sources other than the consumerist, they do nothing but bash on Best Buy and Geek Squad (more than anyone else).
http://video.knbc.com/player/?id=212629
try this one on for size.

[Ads]

[Chewy]

My friend had his computer checked by geek squad because it was running insanely slow and they just told him that it was because he was running two anti-virus programs at once. Then they were asking for about $150 just to uninstall one of them. It wasn't even the actual problem.

If my computer ever starts having problems I'm definitely not gonna go to them.

[Bigred]

My friend had his computer checked by geek squad because it was running insanely slow and they just told him that it was because he was running two anti-virus programs at once. Then they were asking for about $150 just to uninstall one of them. It wasn't even the actual problem.

If my computer ever starts having problems I'm definitely not gonna go to them.

I really dislike the people that work for technician companies. (NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE!!!) I find them, for the most part, to be overconfident people that think they know everything.

[Barbz911]

I work for Geek Squad, I see the BSOD every day of my life. PS, totally call 1.800.GEEK.SQUAD before Dell, we speak much better english

i never thought of calling geek squad =]
you guys are gunna be the next guys I call for technical solutions cause im sick of wasting time saying "WHAT?" or "Did you say C for Cot or D for Dot???" etc.

btw, to fix it, all you need to do is put the reinstallation of windows disk in (the one that says with windows already installed) and follow the on screen instructions

[sremick]

btw, to fix it, all you need to do is put the reinstallation of windows disk in (the one that says with windows already installed) and follow the on screen instructions

Not always. Some CDs that come with new computers aren't Windows install discs, but instead are "recovery discs". If you run one of those, it takes your computer back to the state it was when you took it out of the box, and you lose all your data.

Many cheapo computers these days don't even include any sort of disc whatsoever, recovery or otherwise. eMachines, for example, put it on a "recovery partition" which is prone to failure and flat-out not working when you go to depend on it.

Plus, even if you have a Windows install disc, not all BSODs are easily fixed that way. Certainly not hardware issues (hard drive failures being common) but there are other things that can get in the way too (like if your hard drive needs SATA drivers to even install Windows).

Reminds me of that commercial where the doctor is trying to talk the patient through doing surgery on himself over the phone.

[registerednerd]

^^ Truth. I both hate and love the restore disc. I hate it A: because you can't repair from it, and B: when a PC does come with an OS disc, many users confuse it with a restore disc, and try to use it as such in the event of a problem. They then find themselves up a creek when they find themselves without any drivers. As for the recovery partition, it has very limited use (mainly for repairing drivers.... that's about it), however, every brand that I have seen thus far that don't have discs, but do have a partition have an option to burn a copy of the partition onto discs. I love it because the user can realistically do a restore themselves (just because you can doesn't mean just anyone can, we get a lot of customers that are intimidated by the power button)

My friend had his computer checked by geek squad because it was running insanely slow and they just told him that it was because he was running two anti-virus programs at once. Then they were asking for about $150 just to uninstall one of them. It wasn't even the actual problem.

If my computer ever starts having problems I'm definitely not gonna go to them.

It sounds like your problem was not the antivirus, but viruses themselves ($140 is the price tag for virus removal under warrantee), if it were just the combination of the two antiviruses (which is a bad idea also), it would be $29, or if you got a really nice agent, $10