too fast?

Thanks for the clarification and the update. The earlier posts were aimed in that direction! I just wanted to highlight that SOMETIMES speed IS an issue!

It seems that you were unfortunate to end up dealing with either an 'enthusiastic, but ill-informed' amateur or a downright 'dishonest' trader. These sort of people need stringing up by the testicles with piano-wire because they do give the rest of us honest, hardworking and reputable people a bad reputation. It only takes a few encounters with peple like this for some companies to end up with a permenantly 'tainted' impression of the industry as a whole.

'There is always one rotten apple to spoil the barrel'

Reverting form SE to FE.....you definitely got shafted. If you EVER send out a computer and are not sure it will come back the same...do what I do to check for rogue techs...

Use an ultraviolet marker and sign your initials and the date on all the drives, mobo, memory and components. If the machine comes back 'iffy', compare what's been billed against what's come back. If parts have been changed or replaced, insist that the 'old' parts are returned with the computer, and DON'T end up in THEIR toolbox! If you have been charged for new parts, you have paid for them but YOU still OWN the old ones!

Wave your IR lamp over the computer and the parts. You will soon tell if you are being 'screwed'.

I knew a shop once that blamed all ills on faulty memory and would inevitably charge for a new stick of good memory. When I did some undercover investigation work on the shop for my local Trading Standards office, I sent four friends in over three weeks with various computers all marked in this way and it was funny to see just how many parts they had back with each others initials on the parts and how often one stick of memory got circulated between machines, having been charged for a new one because the old one was faulty!

If they are prepared to take it out for repair they can't have any form of Data Protection Policy in place particuarly as you have already mentioned that it is ud=sed to recieve e-mail so it only goes to assume that it also sends e-mail out and there fore must have an addres book in it with all the vital company contacts not to mention all of those incoming e-mails and what they contain.

I can remember a very small one man opperation that was taken to the cleaners doing the same thing as when it was taken in for repair someone cloned his HDD data and sold off all his business contacts to an opersisition company along with all of his quotes and because he sold insurance all of his current contracts and their current prices. The company who obtained this information then went about calling all of his clients and undercut his quotes and current contracts.

Now if this can happen to one person it only stands to reason that if you work for a larger company the risks are far greater and the posibility of Data thieft has a far greater impact and damages than it would for a home user who only plays games.

What I would be thinking here is that this computer has been dileberetly supplied this way so that there is a regular income from it for repairs and possibly a regular source of data to sell to any interested person particuarly if you are of the opinion that the original unit wasn't the one returned after the "Repair."

Just to show how important data protection actually is over here the South AUstralian Government sold off a lot of computers and any that held sensitive information had their drives wiped and where reloaded bu tthe others which didn't do anything important just had their data removed and where then sold on. One that came from a nonsecure place eventually ended up in the hands of a 12 year old kid who found an active address book still intact well no big deal except that it had the Premiers {read that for any US people here as Govener} personal e-mail address on it as well as many others all directly connected with the then Government. This kid took to sending e-mails to the then Premier asking for money.

It only took 3 months to find out what was going on and I would be surprised if the investigation didn't cost far more than was ever made from selling these computers in the first place. But what made it even better was that because of the age of the child no action could be brought against him and he didn't even know who the Premier was he was only going through the addres book asking for money to be sent to him. No direct amounts or any details of how to transfer this money just asking for money {Like any 12 year old doesn't have enough money and would refuse more right!}

But that is just one excelent example of what is on computers Hard Drives even on computers that aren't considered as doing anythng that requires any form of security. Just think how many home computers are sold with their data intact and the possibility of someone gaining access to the original owners personal details Identy or even their banking information and here I mean getting the money not tracking how it is spread around by the original owner. I can remember where a house was sold buy someone who stole the owners identy and this was only found out when the new owners rolled up with the moving truck.

But it was a legal sale as a person who sold the house had all the proper documentation. We are only now begining to start to put in place Identy protection laws and from past experience it will take many years for them to become water tight and protect the inconent parties. But in the mean time we are all in a legal limbo.

We don't need to add business data into this mess as well.

I have a KVM line Cat5 line-driver and operate it 'remotely' from another desk, in another office, in the building next door. Don't you just LOVE Extron interfacing products (keyboard, mouse and monitor plugged into a little box the size of a cigarette packet...similar box connected to PC. One Cat5 cable between the two!!! Up to 1.5km between monitor and PC and still use 1280 x1040 resolution!!!! YEEEEE-HARRRRRRRR!)

You think I WANT to be anywhere near it when she lets rip?!!! No sir-ee!!

Actually, if you want the truth, I can't be bothered to walk down the stairs, out of one door in another door and up another set of stairs, just to see how the thing is doing....that is NOT how us techies do things, is it!!!! Why walk 100 yards four or five times a day when you can spend $100 on a solution and save your excercise for the coffee machine and jogging the 8 miles to and from the office!!

I say he is one of three things:

1 - A complete technopeasant, your lucky he was able to turn it on

2 - A shonk who wants more business from you when it all goes pear shaped again

3 - A shonk who has already infected the computer with a virus/spyware that the "un-updated" version of the antivirus software does not detect, and is making money or otherwise compromising the computer.

We have almost 1000 win98 computers with Plus and we are diligent in keeping them up to date with antivirus software (we can force it at will).

That along with a proactive email gateway and using Lotus Notes instead of Outlook has worked well for us so far.

Stu

Even Paronoid people can be right some times. But this is not a case of paronioa but more like a case of self preservation as anyone silly enough to believe this drivel desivers what they get.

Now what have we had this year so far Slammer, Blaster just those two alone would have taken the entire network down and given someone a hell of a lot of work that would have all been totally unnecessary in the first place if some connon sence had been applied.

The sooner that this person can be got rid of the better as this person is not only comprising the computer in question but attempting to comprise the entire network.

But then again perhaps he actually works for some opporsisition company and is only trying to put your business out of business so that his prefered customer will get more business.

But, you shouldn't need it!

If you start from scratch, and only load genuine licenced copies of the software, you shouldn't have any major problems. Windows Update should take care of any OS bugs and patches, and if you are using licenced copies of your software, then the software companies SHOULD be able to assist with genuine problems.

I would make ONE recommendation however. Before you start, do a comprehensive audit of every system. Remove the lid, and make sure you write down ALL the hardware information. Get the exact make and model of the graphics card, sound card, modem, network cards etc, and precise motherboard information if you have on-board devices. Make sure that you have all the correct drivers to hand before you start. I personally burn a CD with a folder for each machine in our network, and copy drivers for each machine into the appropriate folder. That way if there's ever a problem, I have any necessary drivers on one disk easily to hand. Modem or network drivers are ESSENTIAL. Graphics and sound drivers CAN be downloaded from the internet later if required, but you CAN'T connect to the internet if the modem or network cards don't work!

Having prepared your drivers, back up any data you require and then start from scratch with each machine. Do one machine at a time and make sure it is up to speed before moving on to the next. After installing the OS, GET YOUR ANTI-VIRUS ON THERE! You may have to disable it temporarily when installing MS Office.

I read a post last week that pointed to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that states that W98 can / does have problems with CPUs faster than 2GHz.

Chas