Tucson Computer Laptop Repair | Saguaro PC Tech
Tucson Computer and Laptop Repair Service for 14 Years
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Have you been hit by a ransomware attack yet? If not, you’re lucky.
Ransomware damage has jumped from $300 million in 2015 to an estimate $5 billion in 2017. This includes the amount of the ransoms paid, plus the costs of downtime and lost productivity.
Ransomware is a type of program that infects a computer and blocks a user from accessing their data until the user pays a ransom. [Read more…]
Virus Threats and Malware Threats – Know the Real StoryVirus threats and malware are subject to so many myths and misconceptions, that it’s hard for anybody to know what to think. Here are a few of the most common myths about Viruses, Trojans and other Malware, along with some tips from a computer repair shop.
Myth 1: I am Fully Protected from Viruses Because I Have an Antivirus Program on My PC
Many people ask us how they can get a virus when they have Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee or some other Antivirus or Internet Security program installed on their computer.
The answer is that NOTHNG is 100 percent effective against virus threats and malware. If Hackers can break into government computers with their sophisticated security programs, they can certainly break into your PC. Being too confident in your security software can lead to a virus repair job. [Read more…]
Over the past few months, our Computer Repair shop in Tucson has had had dozens of customers come to us with virus infections after having called an alleged technical support site for companies like HP, Microsoft, Dell and even Intuit (Quicken and Quick Books).
The support person got the customer to allow them to make a remote connection so they could diagnose their computer. Invariably, they would scare the customer and tell them their computer was in bad shape with spyware and virus infections, Windows problems and hard drive issues. They would tell them that these were the real source of their problems and that they could fix them. Then they gave them a ridiculous price, often $200 – $300 to repair their computers. Gee, we do it for only $130. [Read more…]
Everyone loves free apps, especially Android users (phones and tablets). While most of these apps are legitimate, the number of free Android apps that are actually malware keeps increasing. Android users are more at risk than iPhone and iPad users because the the Android market is much more open than Apple’s. This means more choices, but also more risk.
Local Computer Repair Service shops always beat out Big Box store service. Unfortunately, people often pick big name businesses, thinking big means better. Unfortunately, when it comes to computer repair service, or most any other type of service, the opposite is true.
Why? Because these stores are just that…. Stores! They are retail stores, not computer repair shops. Their business is to sell you stuff, not to fix stuff. These big stores add “repair services” as a side business, but it’s main goal is to support their retail sales, in other words, to sell you stuff! [Read more…]
Where can you get quality computer repair service in Tucson? Who can do a virus removal & repair that will last? You may ask, “who can fix my computer that I can trust”? Can they do laptop screen repairs? What about MAC and MacBook repair? Android repair? Will they guarantee their work?
Before I toot my own horn, I will say there are around six well established computer repair shops here in town. These businesses have been around eight years or more, and have good reputations (BBB members). [Read more…]
FBI virus removal jobs keep coming to our shop. Will this annoying thing ever go away?
I hate to say it, but the only reason it’s still around is because people are falling for this scam!
Of course, the customers we see, are the ones that don’t fall for it and come to us to remove it. I should mention that along with the main scam, it installs all kinds of other spyware as well.
This is actually typical of most viruses. They bring their friends along! That’s why when we do a virus removal, we don’t stop when the offending virus is removed. We do further analysis and cleanups as well. We use no less than four different scanning and removal tools, as well as some manual work.
A new Malware Virus is hitting peoples and businesses’ Facebook Pages!
If your page is suddenly crowded with ads, even in your timeline, you got the “Iminent” malware infection. You will notice their logo on the ads, like in the attached photo.
It will install to every browser on your PC! Your antivirus software won’t remove it, because it’s not technically a virus. It’s more like those toolbars that sneak in when you’re downloading something else. It won’t hurt your PC, but it will annoy you and make your Facebook page almost unreadable.How do I know? It happened to me!
It also puts in buttons on the ads do download other things, and I don’t know if those might hurt. The one that made me most suspicious was one telling me I had to download a “special player” to see a video. That’s a dead giveaway to more potential viruses.
To remove it, you must go into the “Add-ons” or “Extensions” area of your web browser and disable it. Then you must uninstall it from your PC. I then recommend running a Registry Cleaner, like CCleaner or Glary Utilities. Here’s the steps to remove it from the different browsers. [Read more…]
Yes folks, they’re back. Just in time for the holidays! Virus and spyware/malware activity has been very low over the past three months, but it’s picked back up again.
This new crop of virus and spyware infections looks a lot like their predecessors. They disguise themselves as a security program or pc utility program, just like the other scareware programs we’ve seen.
Again, these are fake programs where the culprits try to get you to buy their “program”. Don’t fall for the trick. However, once these infections get in, they disable many of your computer’s functions, including internet access.
What makes these new infections so nasty is that they often plant files in your hard drive’s boot sector or partition. This is a part of the hard drive you can’t see, but it controls the most basic startup processes. In some cases, when you clean these out, it renders the whole boot sector useless and you can no longer boot into Windows.
Your data is not affected, but if this happens, you need to wipe the drive clean and reinstall Windows. We had one such case this week. Of course, we were able to save the data before wiping the drive, so the customer was okay in the end.
If you get one of these spyware or virus infections, we can help. Visit our Saguaro PC Tech Website and Blog to learn more about the subject.
We just got a machine in with a VERY NASTY new virus. We’ve never seen anything like it before. It throws up fake program called “Windows 7 Recovery”, and displays a warning telling you that a system recovery operation has failed. It hides all your desktop icons making you think you just lost all your programs and data.
If that’s not enough, it then tells you that either your hard drive, your memory, or both have experienced a critical failure. Geez…. talk about overkill! Of course, then they tell you that you can buy their “magic” software that will fix all of that. Wow, must be some program! Of course, this is all fake and you must not fall for this scam!
Good News! It’s just another virus and we have just succeeded in removing it using our usual virus repair methods. So don’t worry if you get this. Your PC is okay and your data is in tact. If you get this nasty virus, we can help you and get you back up and running pretty quickly.
For more information, please visit our Saguaro PC Tech website. We’re always here to help.
An absolute pleasure to do business with. Very competitive pricing, good people, and quick complete service...
