"Mike S." <littleboyblu87@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1179727948.471935.270060@z24g2000prd.googlegr oups.com...
>A few weeks ago a relative was having a problem with their computer -
> it was extremely slow. I ran several different spyware, rootkit and
> virus scans using different programs. I ran them in normal and safe
> mode and all results showed that the computer was clean. HijackThis
> showed that a file that was a trojan, so I removed it. I also removed
> all programs that were associated with spyware.
>
> The slowness problem still persisted so I thought maybe it wasn't a
> spyware problem. The CPU usage was at 4% and System Idle Process was
> at 99. Everything looked normal, there were no odd processes running,
> the hard disk and memory tested ok.
>
> The relative took the computer in to be repaired and the tech said it
> was full of spyware and viruses and reformatted it.
>
>
> How is it possible that I ran several different spyware and virus
> scans (using reputable programs) and nothing showed up? And the tech
> claims he found spyware? Does it sound like he was lying?
>
> If he was lying then I'd like to find out. I'd hate for my relatives
> to take their computer someplace where the employees are dishonest. It
> looks like the computer was reformatted but I'm thinking that maybe he
> couldn't figure out the problem and decided to just reformat it and
> then blame spyware.
>
> I'd really like to hear opinions on this matter.
>
It's a matter of simple economics.
When you worked on the computer, how many hours did you spend diagnosing,
testing, etc.?
For a business, it's not feasible to spend that kind of time on a problem,
then attempt to charge the customer for the time spent.
If a business did that ("We diagnosed the problem and repaired it. That will
be $400 for 10 hours labor."), the typical customer would be outraged and
tell everybody who would listen what a rip-off the XYZ Computer Repair is.
If XYZ gave the customer an up front estimate of $400, how many computers
would be left for repair? Alternatively, formatting the hard drive, then
reinstalling the OS takes an hour? "Your computer is infested with malware.
It will cost you $75 to have your drive cleaned and your OS reinstalled."
It's not that he couldn't figure it out, it's that it's not economically
feasible for the shop to spend the time. The reformat approach also
minimizes the probability that something gets left unfixed, causing the
unhappy customer to reappear demanding the job be redone gratis.