Quick Computer Services

12/15/2021

WE HAVE EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

From now until Christmas, included with each of our off-lease Dell E6420 Business-Class laptops with 120GB SSDs, 8GBs RAM, Windows 10 and Quicktools ($349) WE WILL ALSO INCLUDE:

-Official Dell Port Replicator! - Adds tons more USB ports and options for monitor output
-A FULL install of Microsoft Office 2016 Professional - The whole shebang with Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Powerpoint and Outlook

OVER $300 OF VALUE!

Mention MIKES CHRISTMAS SPECIAL when you buy!

07/16/2021

Leave your Fork Stealing Goblins at the Door

As written by Matt.

Let’s talk about Bob. Bob’s name has been changed for soon-to-be obvious reasons.

Bob is what I refer to as a Fork Stealing Goblin, which is the kindest way of describing a customer who acts… well, like a Fork Stealing Goblin.

You see a lot of goblins in the retail industry, especially in the tech support side of retail like us. We get all kinds of customers who abandon all reason and morality and sometimes even intelligence. Fully grown adults who suddenly descend into childish fits of rage when told something they don’t like to hear.

There is this unspoken law that we in the retail or repair industry are supposed to just take whatever the customer throws at us in stoic stride because we are ‘professionals’.

I find myself asking today… why?

And I couldn’t really find an answer to why I should let a customer’s stupidity just slide.

I AM a professional and I am an adult, so I’m to do the responsible adult thing, and publicly shame them on Facebook.

Now back to Bob.

Bob seemed like a nice enough person when he first came in. He needed something simple, just some data moved from a couple of broken whatsits into a thing-a-ma-jig. Easy stuff and easily done by one of my coworkers over the week.

But Fork Stealing Goblins can only hide their true nature for so long. His normal human façade quickly fell apart when he came in, apparently offended by how we did the job for him.

One of his broken whatsits turned out to work just fine while the other had a proprietary interface that will require tools to get into that we simply don’t have.

Now, I don’t mean to be a species-est but goblins just don’t have a large enough brain to understand this, or why he had to pay us for the time we spent doing the job.

“If it was just working I could have just done it myself!”

This is where I made the mistake of trying to explain what we did and what we could not do because I was raised in a reasonable culture and grew up believing people can be reason with.

Apparently, I was wrong.

When we told Bob that he would have to take his broken whatsit to a specialist he didn’t like that. When my coworker mentioned that we don’t know their rates, Bob chose to take this as some sort of slight and called him ‘condescending’.

I don’t have the energy to argue with a Fork Stealing Goblin, nor find out if he would fling his poo at us, I just thanked him for his time and let him walk away.

So, what is the point of this story?

We are here to fix computers, not drama. We are reasonable people and will work with you to fix problems that might arise. You don’t need to bring an attitude or offense to make us help you.

So please leave your Fork Stealing Goblins at Door.

Because Bob is banned from our store now.

01/03/2019

Why do we like Malwarebytes over similar software?

As written by Matt.
The Answer is Cost, Simplicity, and Usefulness

1. Cost.

Malwarebytes comes in two flavors. A free on-demand anti-malware scanner, or a $40 per year always-on anti-malware scanner.

2. Simplicity.

Other software will hook you in with it's free version, then goad you to upgrade to it's slightly better version for a 'low' monthly fee, and then sell you driver updater, registry cleaners, etc etc each for a little fee.

Once more they will even add 'ask' tool bars to your web browser and other bloatware that at best, slows down your computer, at worst will create other vulnerabilities to your computer.

Most of the time the add on's will work more against your computer than for it.

When you download Malwarebytes, you get only Malwarebytes, period.

3. Usefulness

When working in conjunction with your computers built in Anti-virus, Malwarebytes delivers a one-two punch to malware with out getting in the way of the everyday use of your computer.

It just... works. Which is why we like it.

12/21/2018

Phanteks Enthoo Exotic Gaming PC RTX 2070 9th Gen 6 Core Intel CPU NVMe SSD for sale on Ebay.

This is an Exotic Custom Built PC Made for gaming and VR ready.

Phanteks Enthoo chassis. EVGA GeForce RTX 2070. This is an Exotic Custom Built PC Made for gaming and VR ready. Each part has a manufacturer warranty. | eBay!

11/08/2018

SCAMMERS ARE OUT THERE!

Don't be scared - be aware!

NEVER LET SOMEBODY YOU DON'T KNOW REMOTE IN TO FIX YOUR PC!

There are professional overseas tech support impersonators operating daily. They may say they are from Google, they may say they are from Microsoft or even a little company you've never heard of. They WILL employ scare tactics like telling you your PC will break if you even stop talking to them. What they want is to empty your bank account!

Like a smooth-talking con man with his foot in your door, these people will tell you ANYTHING to gain remote access to your PC, wasting your TIME and MONEY and carelessly putting your DATA AT RISK.

Got a screen that popped up on your PC telling you to call Microsoft? SCAM! PRESS CTRL+SHIFT+ESC AND END TASK ON THAT WEB BROWSER!

Did you get a random phone call from "Microsoft" telling you how badly your PC is infected? SCAM! BLOCK THAT NUMBER! DON'T EVEN WASTE YOUR TIME!

Things to watch for:

- They claim you are "hacked"
- They want to remote in right away and show you "all the things wrong with your PC"
- Claims to represent a major tech giant
- Calls or pop-ups with error messages and phone numbers out of the blue
- Noisy phone centers employing overseas, semi-fluent English speakers with fake given names like "John Doe" "Abraham Lincoln" "Daniel Craig"
- Extremely hostile prices in the hundreds to thousands of dollars for tech support
-Wants to charge you $$$ for yearly service plans and hardware that DO NOTHING to help your PC!

09/20/2018

Using Virtual Reality for the First Time

Written by Matt

Hello all! This is Matt, the New Guy. I guess you can call me a millennial. I'm a little old for the title, and while I do love technology, I'm not the type to have his nose buried in the latest smart phone, and you will never hear me calling my computer a 'rig', gaming or other wise.

I grew up in Wyoming. I wasn't wealthy enough to afford the 3 hour drive to the nearest Apple store, or go shopping for phones anywhere besides Amazon or the local Verizon store. For me, technology was something more pragmatic. It served a purpose and anything beyond that was a luxury.

But even though I was a little late to what ever tech curve was hot at the time (I remember fondly the flip phone I had through high school and the two times it survived being washed... and fixed with a toaster oven) I still love technology, and I am a huge fan of sci fi.

So for me there is no greater merging of the two than Virtual Reality.

Watching something you only fantasized about become a reality is... well, imagine seeing flying cars become a real thing. Imagine someone inventing a a usable light saber, or jet pack.

Or like watching the live stream of a car sailing through space and knowing that this is. A. Real. Thing.

It's like watching Star Wars for the first time. There is no way to describe the pure giddy feeling of life being breathed into your inner child.

It is also the only way to describe the feeling of trying Virtual Reality for the first time.

Today at the shop I was able to play around with a few VR games while learning to demo the goggles we have for sale.

And here is where I struggle to put into words what it was like to experience something new and amazing and have it actually live up to my expectations.

The technology is amazingly precise, and detailed. Even in the most cartoon environments, I actually felt like I stepped into a whole other world.

I launched arrows at barbarian stick figures with real world accuracy, and even got a workout from it.

I repaired robots with moving parts.

I flew a space ship like a paper air plane while dodging alien plasma fire.

It... really was like watching Star Wars for the first time again.

What I like about it most though, is that anyone can enjoy this. I can see my parents enjoying this as well as little kids. There is something just... universally enjoyable about VR.

It is also a little soul crushing when you see the price of a VR system though. Even the 'cheapo' brand stuff is as expensive as a gaming console.

But there is hope for those of us who live pay check by pay check, that as the technology grows and becomes more refined, the price tag may drop so anyone and everyone can join.

Like cell phones.

Who knows what new gadget they will have by then to make it even better.

~Matt

06/13/2018

Need a replacement desktop? We have an affordable Windows 10 machine for sale. This computer has a Core I5 processor, 8 GB's of RAM, and a 160 GB Solid State Drive. A very nice case that can be upgraded later on. Give us a call if you are interested.

05/10/2018

Are you on a budget? Need a new desktop? No problem!

Not only are our hand-assembled, custom desktops beautiful, they are affordable. We have machines in-shop ready to take home today under $899.99!

05/08/2018

https://gizmodo.com/uhh-google-assistant-impersonating-a-human-is-scary-as-1825861987

We are rapidly approaching a point where you will not be able to tell if the voice on the other end of the phone is a real human. AI assistants scheduling appointments is only the beginning. Are you prepared?

You can always find real tech humans in your local Quick Computer store!

Google could soon have a feature that lets your phone impersonate people—because consumer-facing artificial intelligence isn’t terrifying enough. Called Duplex, it’s intended to make people’s lives easier by handling standard phone calls that are necessary, but not especially personal.

05/08/2018

Something NEW, check it out (if you can)

Google has released a public Android P beta that gives you a taste of its many new features.

05/07/2018

Now this looks pretty cool. Would be a nice upgrade to your soundbar...so long as your sound bar isn't one of those spendy Bose bars.

JBL’s next audio product has deep Google integration

05/03/2018

I have always been interested in alternative payment methods like this. I have use Google Pay on my phone from time to time and its pretty neat! If I forget my wallet on a trip to Walgreen's, I am OK if I have my phone. Is it safe though? I am sure there are people that have a way to hack this method of payment but I have yet to see any reports about this becoming a major problem. I have used it enough to where I am comfortable with it. Try it out, you might just like it too.

Google Pay isn't just for your phone -- it's now available on the web.