Yikes, good thing I didn't bend any rules on this one....

[sld72382]

Got a call yesterday which was your typical malware call:

Infested, and to top it off an expired antivirus. Well when I say this woman was infested I really mean infested. She even had "the best offers" on her PC!

Well the issue is that whenever I would go into normal mode, the computer would blue screen with what seemed like a different stop error every time. Let me tell you, I tried everything to get it stable but no go.

I finally told her she needed to format and reload Windows. She agreed, and said she'll call back to do it.

Well, she called back alright.

Turns out, she was a friend of one of the retail store support company's corporate honchos. She decided to not want to format and decided to call a sup, then call the floor manager and tell her "she didn't agree with my solution."

This was a bit of conversation with that sup:

Sup: Remember this call? *Shows me the notes.*

Me: Yeah, she's hosed. She needs to reload Windows.

Sup: Yeah well she's a friend of one of (support company's) corporate honchos and she said she thinks you gave up and just told her she needs to format to get out of more troubleshooting and she doesn't want to do it, and said that's not an acceptable solution.

And that, I asked:

Me: Do you agree she needs to reload?

Sup: Yes.

Me: Then if she doesn't want to format, tell her to enjoy her paperweight...

And with that, I walked away and went back to my desk.

[clowninasack]

Sounds like "Antivirus XP 2008" (it goes under several other names too) that we get a lot in our store. It sets the screensaver to display fake bluescreens, then a fake reboot, then goes back to the desktop. It also stops the mouse/keyboard from getting rid of the screensaver! I've found that you can remove it pretty easily by booting in safe mode and running MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. It doesn't work 100% of the time so I sometimes have to fall back on my old SDFix/SmitFraudFix combo, but it works a good percentage and is a lot faster. Even then sometimes it modifies a bunch of Group Policy settings which are almost impossible to get rid of on XP Home, and it's easier to wipe it.

[sld72382]

Sounds like "Antivirus XP 2008" (it goes under several other names too) that we get a lot in our store. It sets the screensaver to display fake bluescreens, then a fake reboot, then goes back to the desktop. It also stops the mouse/keyboard from getting rid of the screensaver! I've found that you can remove it pretty easily by booting in safe mode and running MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. It doesn't work 100% of the time so I sometimes have to fall back on my old SDFix/SmitFraudFix combo, but it works a good percentage and is a lot faster. Even then sometimes it modifies a bunch of Group Policy settings which are almost impossible to get rid of on XP Home, and it's easier to wipe it.

Nah, this wasn't the fake blue screen. This was a real stop error from Micro$oft.

As far as Smitfraudfix I'd love to use it but due to it not being on our allowed software list, that's not possible.

[draggar]

I've learned to love looking at dump files and then pointing out what caused the blue screen and what the user did to cause it.

[sld72382]

Well here's an update to it.

I come in for OT today and one of the chat techs is assigned to this case.

I look at his screen as he's running a scan in safe mode that I know is not going to work. Here's the meat of what was said:

SLD: Me.
CT: Chat tech.

SLD: What the solution here?

CT: She needs to format and reload.

SLD: Then why are you running that bullshit scan?

CT: The floor manager told me to run at least 1 virus scan even if it doesn't do crap to make it look like we did just one more step.

SLD: So in other words, she's wasting both your's and the client's time and treating you both like idiots?

CT: Yeah, basically.

[otakuneko]

Is she at least paying for that "extra step?"

[earl colby pottinger]

Paying

Is she at least paying for that "extra step?"

I hope so myself. It is amazing how fast a customer spending their own money will change their tune about *HOW YOU MUST* repair once you point out the hourly rate and how much it will cost to do it their way vs your way.

[sld72382]

Yeah, once a client pays their flat fee they get a 30 day warranty.