starting a business clearing computers of virus's

Bob Z

Would it be feasible to start a business clearing virus's of people computers? i wouldnt be able to do it full time as there wqouldnt be enough demand but occaisionally. Has anyone here tried it?

B00MSTICK

I would expect any PC/Laptop repair place to be able to remove viruses so there is really no gap in the market for them as far as I can see unless you have some USP?

If you want to advertise in your locality and do it privately for a bit of cash though then go for it, like you said it would only be a part time thing but no harm in it.

Best of luck

Bob Z

B00MSTICK wrote: »

I would expect any PC/Laptop repair place to be able to remove viruses so there is really no gap in the market for them as far as I can see unless you have some USP?

If you want to advertise in your locality and do it privately for a bit of cash though then go for it, like you said it would only be a part time thing but no harm in it.

Best of luck

My friends are always asking me to fix their computers. Another friend makes some money on it even though he doesnt advertise. Also i dont think pc/laptop repair shops do a good job of fixing PCs sometimes

JonathanAnon

So let me get this straight.... Somebody gives you the PC, having self diagnosed the computer as being infected with viruses (as opposed to having issues with spyware/malware/adware, hardware issues, software issues etc etc.)... and then you remove the viruses only ?

I dont think this would be practical.. If you are going to offer a service, you should offer a full PC repair service, and not try to categorize the issues that you can and can not fix..

In my experience, people give me a PC that isnt working, I give it back to them fixed.. simple as that. The lesser the ambiguity there is in the service the offer, the more opportunity there is for the customer to complain.

Bob Z

JonathanAnon wrote: »

So let me get this straight.... Somebody gives you the PC, having self diagnosed the computer as being infected with viruses (as opposed to having issues with spyware/malware/adware, hardware issues, software issues etc etc.)... and then you remove the viruses only ?

I dont think this would be practical.. If you are going to offer a service, you should offer a full PC repair service, and not try to categorize the issues that you can and can not fix..

In my experience, people give me a PC that isnt working, I give it back to them fixed.. simple as that. The lesser the ambiguity there is in the service the offer, the more opportunity there is for the customer to complain.

People have given me computers to fix and most of the time i can fix them. However i dont how good i am i have did courses in it. For example someone wants me to find out why there no sound on their computer. Which i may or may not be able to fix

I know only scanning for for virus's might sound a bit stupid but a lot of people seem to mess up their computers that way to the exetent that they unusable

corkcomp

B00MSTICK wrote: »

I would expect any PC/Laptop repair place to be able to remove viruses so there is really no gap in the market for them as far as I can see unless you have some USP?

If you want to advertise in your locality and do it privately for a bit of cash though then go for it, like you said it would only be a part time thing but no harm in it.

Best of luck

there is definately a gap of sorts in the market for technicians to call to peoples houses for purpose of virus removal.. I try to avoid except in cases of friends / family and most techies i know are the same

Bob Z

corkcomp wrote: »

there is definately a gap of sorts in the market for technicians to call to peoples houses for purpose of virus removal.. I try to avoid except in cases of friends / family and most techies i know are the same

Why avoid it?

corkcomp

Bob Z wrote: »

Why avoid it?

personally I avoid it because I have limited hours to devote to nixers so Id prefer to do something more challenging plus it can be very time consuming work and not many home users will be happy to pay for a few hours labour @ industry going rates:D

JonathanAnon

Bob Z wrote: »

People have given me computers to fix and most of the time i can fix them. However i dont how good i am i have did courses in it. For example someone wants me to find out why there no sound on their computer. Which i may or may not be able to fix

I think if you're gonna bother with it, you need to get the confidence you need to fix the PC. With PCs it's a lot more to do with experience than doing courses, unless the course is a practical course like one of those Fás courses... I have four MCPs (the microsoft exams) and they are effectively worthless in fixing problems that actually occur. Microsoft dont expect their software to blue screen / fatal exception / etc, therefore there is no mention of these errors in any of the MCP books... great ehh? Most useless courses I have ever done...

Like I said above, if you could bring up your skill levels and offer a more all encompassing service it would make more sense.. The fact that you are expecting the user to know that the issue is caused by a virus before calling you is a big achilles heal in what you are proposing... Also, the fact that you may not even be able to boot in to a PC when it's given to you... in this situation do you i) give it back saying that you only fix viruses or ii) have a go at it anyway and charge them more ?

Gone Drinking

You won't get many calls from people saying "my anti virus says there's a trojan on the pc, can you remove it?"

You'll get calls saying "my pc won't boot" or "my internet isn't working" or "i keep getting a blue screen".. all of which are usually caused by viruses corrupting stuff over time.

People don't usually care about the problem till its made shtie of the pc to an extent where they can't use it anymore. Thats what people will ask you to fix.

ronkmonster

Bob Z wrote: »

Would it be feasible to start a business clearing virus's of people computers? i wouldnt be able to do it full time as there wqouldnt be enough demand but occaisionally. Has anyone here tried it?

I do this where I work for businesses and home users. It's only really feasible if they drop it to you and leave it with you for a few days. That way you can start a scan and go off do something else. If you do home service, you'll probably be spending a lot of time waiting for scans to complete and not knowing if it'll actually fix it.

Cuddlesworth

Bob Z wrote: »

Why avoid it?

Because you will get more business from word of mouth then any other source. The problem with this method of generating work is that you can't piss anybody off. And the problem with that is, if you fix a virus, or a hardware fault every single issue afterwords becomes your problem because you either broke it or didn't fix it. You will receive calls at 2 am asking why the internet isn't working. Calls at 1pm asking why the mouse isn't working.

Charge for every call and you are a rip off and not worth it.

Charge for some calls and they question why you did the last one free.

Charge for nothing and make no money.


Most will work for friends or family because they can at the end of the day tell them the problem lies between the keyboard and the chair and to stop ****ing calling.

Bob Z

I can hear what you ate all saying but I have sorted out computers for a lot of friends who messed them up. Maybe though it would be different if they had to pay for it....

So what kind of course could I do? Is there any I could learn in about a week?

EL_Loco

main problem with any computer repair business is that if you are to charge a rate high enough to sustain yourself, you'll be driving people away to people doing nixers.

Everyone knows someone "good at computers" who they can fallback on if they don't like your prices.

ronkmonster

And there are some places that do no fix no fee.

ricman

YOU,LL have to be able to build a pc,replace any component ,ie alot of people use a pc for years with no backup at all.one day they turn on the pc and windows doesnt load because the hardrive is dead,or almost dead.
First thing is do a fas course ,how to start a business .IT takes you thru thru,the basics ,ie tax,registration for vat etc.I do not think you can run a business ,on get rid of your virus,s , most people just know my pcs crashing or slowing down ,they do not know what a virus is.
Every 2 weeks theres a post here, my hard drive is crashing,my pc died, how do i recover my files,photos,etc

JonathanAnon

ricman wrote: »

First thing is do a fas course ,how to start a business .IT takes you thru thru,the basics ,ie tax,registration for vat etc.I do not think you can run a business ,on get rid of your virus,s , most people just know my pcs crashing or slowing down ,they do not know what a virus is.

Yeah, my friend did a Fás course and it was very practical... hard drives, RAM, boards, installing windows, partitioning drives etc etc. Also, looking at the posting here is good for learning.. that's the reason I come on here, and I've picked up on a few better ways of doing things which I've incorporated in to my own work. Other than that it's just experience and learning good troubleshooting...