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Huming - an IT tech called me a novice because I sometimes format computers

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I am actually so angry I am on the verge of picking up the phone and telling me what I think. It is one thing I am starting to hate about my industry, it is full of self rightious *** who think each job is a big technical excercise not about the client.

I simply stated that I sometimes it is easier to format a computer rather than spend hours trying to remove hidden root kits. He then accuses me of being a novice if I can't repair the computer every time without formating. He said I should put novice on all my advertising.

Now I run a business, I have to give the best value service to a customer, if its an important business customer with lots of specialised apps I will never format it. I will remove the viruses even if it takes me ten hours and I loose money on it. If the owner is casual user as a lot of my customers are and has no real apps other than they office which they have the CD for, and it has a root kit then providing I clone the drive first what is the issue with formating it providing I have had a go at manual removal first?

What really hurt me about his comments is I actually pride myself in realy formating it. I always pride myself on providing the best service for the customer, the outcome which gives them for the most benefit at the smallest cost. I don't pride myself on being an arrogant little geek.

I actually format a computer on about 5% of virus removal cases. What hurts is I know the big chains just format the damn thing even if its just a pop up add which can be removed in 2 minutes by editing the registery and deleting a few files.

This has now spoilt my day, a day before my grandmas funeral. I am actually upset.
 
The IT Tech is clearly inexperienced. The ability to remove malware is useful professionally, but ultimately pointless in a a market where time is money and access to a machine is critical. As you correctly point out, customer satisfaction is of far greater importance than providing a demonstration of your "l33t" technical skills which they will not fully appreciate anyway!

I would also suggest that the Tech in question has never worked at a medium or large company where such a practice is standard; rebuilding a faulty PC to a standard, corporate image.
 
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Agree. In fact I reformat every 6 months or so. Clears out all the caggage and the machine runs much sweeter after.
 
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In the real world (at least in the hosting world), if you get a root kit, you reformat. If something has full control of your system, all bets are off as to what has been compromised and it's safest to restore from backups.

Of course, blloyd's points are perfectly valid in business where time is money. Clearly the IT tech is not a pragmatist and puts no value on the time taken itself.
 
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Yep I have a method of doing this works quite well. The trick is to always scan the old data before copying it back.

It just hurts to call me a novice when I have a computing degree (which covered a very wide scope, which is very handy in this job) and aiming for my MCSA by the end of the year.

I've also been running my company since pretty much the day I joined this site.

Thanks people you've made me feel a bit better :) I admit I do lack knowledge in certain areas (servers for example) and that is why I am studying hard now and I shy away from anything other than peer to peer networks. I know a lot about TCP/IP but not enough about servers to do it as a job it is why I avoid them.
 
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Normaly I wouldn't but I am studying hard for my Microsoft certs (in the quest for knowledge more than the bit of paper at the end of it) and I have my grandmas funeral tomorrow so probably not in the best emotional state. That comment just tipped me over the edge.

I now feel happier, must be a reason why I hung around this site for so damn long! I usualy join forums and leave after a few weeks. I think the one in question is going to be one, just too many egos which you don't really get much of here.
 
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Hi there,

This guy is an idiot, I work for a national IT Support company and our techies will format an infected machine as long as there is an adequate backup for us to restore from.

Time is money as they say and I would rather spend a couple of hours rebuilding a machine from scratch than spend days trying to remove viruses from it.

Don't worry about him, you have more important things to worry about at the moment:(
 
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You are doing the right thing, in fact you shouldn't even bother trying to remove the rootkit, just get the data, check the data is ok, get the trusted software and reinstall. If you can reimage the reinstall, mores the better

For a good book on rootkits and malware there is The Rootkit Arsenal, and Malicious Cryptography.
 
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Thanks I shall stop visiting that site, it really dosn't do my confidence anygood :). The MCDST course (self taught on a £26 book) is very interesting because it tells you how things are done in a corperate environment something I know nothing at all about.
 
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If you want to understand computer security from an effective standpoint then it is OpenBSD.

That project has it nailed very well, and if you read around the mailing lists and forums, don't bother to post until you have read a lot, and then even then don't bother until you have double checked your thinking, you will start to see the correct lines of security, and the balancing act of it.

Even the negative stuff is handled well, in as much as OpenBSD should be criticised because it lags behind, that is a cost of security, and there are no absolutes or silver bullets beyond good process.

Secure Architectures with OpenBSD is a good book on OpenBSD.
 
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What's the matter with ya JD, you have managed to rattle one of your competitors and the best he could do was to throw a silly insult at ya!!

You should be grinning from ear to ear and trying to think of ways to rattle him some more. Really p*ss the fella off, get under his skin. Look at his business, how does he operate, how does he get his work, what marketing does he do, how mush does he charge. Use your anger young Jedi, focus and 'ave him!!

Good for you.
 
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He lives over 250 miles away from me so he isn't a competitor as such. One of my main competitors I go out clubbing with :p

We help each other out, mind you we both do operate in other parts of the city :).
 
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Not my mate. The bloke that made the comments was on another internet forum, I don't know him :).
 
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Reformatting PCs takes us 5mins to do (Custom Images) . The important thing is user data not the OS!

Removing a virus or malware can take hours

Weighing both factors which one is more efficent ?

I would rather get the user up running in 5-10mins then wait couple of hours for a virus or malware scanner to remove the dirt.

You are in the right, his not looking at the bigger picture.
 
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I'm assuming, without reading this whole thread, the person who made the initial comment probably works in the Public sector or suchlike?

He certainly knows little about running a Computer Repair shop, because if we spent the hours it would take to completely remove some viruses, we'd be very quickly out of business.

Ceco above me ^^ has hit the nail firmly on the head.... its not the OS, its the DATA which is important to the client !!
 
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In a corporate enviroment you would always try to remove but at the end of the day the quickest and easyest way of sorting it is to re-image the machine only takes a couple of mins and your done. So I try to remove if it is going to take two long then it gets blatted.

Hope you pass your exam and good studying, but I have found that time on the job also gets you a lot as well as the exams.
 
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I use Ubuntu as well, I think it is a better operating system than Windows Vista/7 but for my main PC I am using Vista because too much stuff does not work under Wine.

The bloke in question runs an IT support business the same as mine. I think too many people have forgotton they are running a business to make money but instead are trying to run a big technical experiment.
 
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I'm confused i red the first line

I am actually so angry I am on the verge of picking up the phone and telling me what I think
 
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