ScottyExpress.com usage report for December 2011:
Total for month of December 2011 – 437,477!
Wow, thats a lot of hits!
January 15th, 2012Follow me on Twitter!
January 15th, 2012Follow me on twitter @ScottyPierce
People keep “Flagging” my Craigslist posts.
November 28th, 2011I love Craigslist. When my job went away four years ago, they were a salvation. What does a computer geek do when he’s unemployed…..well I started my own business, and it has worked out for me pretty well so far!
Craigslist allows me to advertise for free to people all over the Miami Valley and beyond. I’ve had people call me from California, New York, Arizona, Florida. Most are looking to get a friend or a loved ones computer fixed, and they want to check out who they are sending them to first. I’ve also fixed some of their computers remotely as well.
Here lately though, the service has been causing me headaches. I’m not the only unemployed computer geek in Dayton that has hung out his own shingle and found the wonders of Craigslist, so there is a lot of competition. Craigslist offers the users of their service to do self policing of the site, which is a good thing, keeps spam and such off the site. This also can lead to people flagging legitimate posts to help weed out the competition. This has been happening to me more and more frequently over the past several months. Not much I can do about it other than repost the and whine about it here!
Trouble Connecting to ThePiratebay.org
May 23rd, 2011I have been having multiple problems reaching my favorite website, ThePiratebay.org over the past few days. I kept on checking DownOrNot’s site (http://www.downornot.com) and it said the Bay was up and running, so I was perplexed. Turns out it was a DNS issue, mainly the DNS servers AT&T uses, not sure if that is intentional or not on AT&T’s part, but it really doesn’t matter. Switched my DNS to Googles public DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) on my router and my problems were solved. Hope this helps anyone else out there having the same issue! 
Random Post:
Flash Devices are an increasing threat
August 30th, 2010
Be extremely careful of your flash drives. On Aug 26th, Computerworld cited a report that said that 25% of all new worms are designed to propagate using flash devices. This means that the next time you let your buddy plug in her digital camera or mp3 player, you could be loading more than pictures or songs on your PC. Avast, the free antivirus program ScottyExpress recommends, does a great job protecting your computer from these threats.
If you are infected with a worm or any other malware, we have the best service and best prices in Dayton and the Miami Valley. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to fix your computer in no time!
Call or email us and set up an appointment today!
(937) 520-8937
scottyexpress@gmail.com
Thank you for your business!
Apple not immune from malware as new virus emerges.
May 2nd, 2011A new computer virus that specifically targets Apple Mac computers has been identified. It is a spoof of the popular MacDefender program and is in the “ScareWare” category of computer pests. The program nags the user that their computer is infected and strongly urges them to pay a fee via credit card to have the virus removed. Just like Windows viruses in the ScareWare category, your computer isn’t really infected with anything other than the program that is warning of the infection.
As always, never give these popups any of your personal information, and NEVER NEVER EVER give them your credit card number. ScottyExpress is Dayton’s and the Miami Valley’s most affordable, reliable, and quickest virus removal and computer repair service. We have been in business for several years and are listed with the Better Business Bureau. Give us a call today at (937) 520-8937 and your computer will be up and running as good as new in no time!
Cold Fusion making a comback
April 25th, 2011An Italian is making claims that he has developed a cold fusion 12.5 kilowatt device that runs on on 600 watts of input. The device is small enough to run on a tabletop, and is supposedly going to be available on the market in approximately three months. There are also plans for a 1.5 megawatt power plant in the region using several of these devices run in tandem.
Claims of cold fusion have been derided by mainstream scientists for over a decade, beginning with the claims of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons in 1989 after their results were not easily replicated by other physicists. The issue has never really died, as noted by a 60 Minutes story on the subject in 2009. DARPA and the US Navy have also been reported to be working on the subject. There are many in the scientific community who hold claims of cold fusion in the same regard as they do of claims of perpetual motion machines. Only time will tell if this is a viable technology, but I’m not holding breath for a Back to the Future like “Mr. Fusion” machine.
Nasty New Computer Viruses
April 20th, 2011Window Fix Disk Virus, or malware, is a pretty interesting virus that we have been seeing more and more of lately here at ScottyExpress Computer Services. Not only does it give you annoying messages that your computer is infected and that you need to send them money to remove it, it also hides most of the files and programs on your computer, making it nearly useless.
This virus is very hard to remove, and it takes several steps to do so lest it comes back and reinfects your machine all over again. Of course, here at ScottyExpress, we can wipe it out for you for a mere $20.00. If you are infected with this virus, give us a call.
ScottyExpress is Dayton’s and the Miami Valley’s most affordable, reliable, and quickest virus removal and computer repair service. We have been in business for several years and are listed with the Better Business Bureau. Give us a call today at (937) 520-8937 and your computer will be up and running as good as new in no time!
ScottyExpress now does data recovery!
March 10th, 2011Thats right, instead of sending your hard drive to some lab half way across the country and being charged hundreds of dollars, we can now recover your precious pictures, office documents, videos, etc, right here in Dayton! We can recover your files even if your hard drive has been formatted in most cases!
Flat fee of $50 for this service, plus media costs. If there is no recovery of data, there is no fee, so please give us a try before you spend hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars unnecessarily!
Call us today at 937.520.8937 and get your data back now!
Our Pricing and our Pledge to You.
February 25th, 2011The Geek Squad, Staples, and Office Depot all charge $200 to remove a virus from your PC. That is if you bring it in to them. If you want them to come to you, they charge nearly $300. Now, I understand they have more overhead than I do, you know, the big box stores, the cutesy cars and uniforms, salaries, advertising, etc. Still, for the life of me I cannot understand how they get any business at those highly inflated prices. It takes no more than a few minutes of actual work to remove a virus, Trojan, or root kit from your computer, and they want to charge you $200. If you want to pay for their VW Bugs, go right ahead, call the Geek Squad. If you want your computer fixed in a fast and friendly manner, you can’t do better than ScottyExpress, even for ten times the money.
It isn’t that they are better than we are, I for one will guarantee you that me and my staff are far more qualified than the kids they have working on your computer. They aren’t any faster than we are, most if not all our services are completed the same day, usually within an hour or so (try to get your computer fixed that fast there). They definitely aren’t more friendly than we are either, I know all my customers by name and consider them friends as well as clients.
So please, support locally owned businesses like mine, and give us a try. We promise you won’t regret it for a second, and your pocketbook will thank you!
Sincerely,
Scott T. Pierce (Scotty)
Owner, ScottyExpress Computer Services
scottyexpress@gmail.com
Remove Internet Defender Malware
February 24th, 2011Internet Defender is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Security Defender. When Internet Defender is installed onto a computer it will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once started it will perform a fake scan of your computer and then state that there are numerous infections present. If you attempt to remove any of these so-called infections with the program it will state that it is unable to do so until you purchase it. As none of the infection files actually exist on your computer, please disregard these scan results and do not purchase the program.
See our malware removal instructions to get rid of this, or if you live in Dayton, OH or anywhere else in the Miami Valley, give us a call and we will do it for you.
937.520.8937
(Description and Image from www.bleepingcomputer.com)
Security Inspector 2010 Malware
November 15th, 2010Security Inspector 2010 is a rogue anti-spyware program that is installed via malware without your permission or knowledge. Once it is installed it will be configured to start whenever you login to Windows. Once started it will scan your computer, and when finished, state that you computer has numerous computer infections. It will not, though, allow you to remove any of these so-called infections until you first purchase the program. As the detected infections are all fake, you should not purchase the program.
See our malware removal instructions to get rid of this, or if you live in Dayton, OH or anywhere else in the Miami Valley, give us a call and we will do it for you.
937.520.8937
(Description and Image from www.bleepingcomputer.com)
Remove Ultra Defragger Malware
November 15th, 2010Ultra Defragger is a fake computer defragmenter and optimization program that hijacks your computer and does not allow you to run any executables. Ultra Defragger pretends to be a computer error repair and optimization program that scans your hard drives and memory for problems. When installed Ultra Defragger will be configured to start automatically when you login to Windows. Once started, it will display numerous error messages when you attempt to launch programs or delete files. It will then prompt you to scan your computer with the program, which will state that there are a variety of errors that it cannot fix until you purchase the program. If you attempt to use the so-called defragment tool it will state that it needs to run in Safe Mode and will then show a fake Safe Mode background. As this program is a scam do not be scared into purchasing the program when you see its alerts.
See our malware removal instructions to get rid of this, or if you live in Dayton, OH or anywhere else in the Miami Valley, give us a call and we will do it for you.
937.520.8937
(Description and Image from www.bleepingcomputer.com)
Are you serious? $19.99 to repair my computer?
November 14th, 2010Yes we are! It really is an industry secret, but if you know what you are doing, most computer repairs aren’t that difficult and don’t take a lot of time to do. I could charge you $75 or more to remove a virus, reset your password, or replace a piece of hardware like most other places do, but I don’t have to.
We are a full service shop, and can handle any job you throw at us. I can promise you there is no one in the Miami Valley that is more competent troubleshooting and repairing your computer than we are. Give us a try, your computer will be back up and running, and your pocketbook will be happy that you did!
Remove HDD Defragmenter Malware
November 2nd, 2010HDD Defragmenter is a fake computer defragmenter and optimization program that hijacks your computer and does not allow you to run any executables. HDD Defragmenter pretends to be a computer error repair and optimization program that scans your hard drives and memory for problems. When installed HDD Defragmenter will be configured to start automatically when you login to Windows. Once started, it will display numerous error messages when you attempt to launch programs or delete files. It will then prompt you to scan your computer with the program, which will state that there are a variety of errors that it cannot fix until you purchase the program. If you attempt to use the so-called Defragmenter it will state that it needs to run in Safe Mode and will then show a fake Safe Mode background. This program is a scam, do not be scared into purchasing the program when you see its alerts.
See our malware removal instructions to get rid of this, or if you live in Dayton, OH or anywhere else in the Miami Valley, give us a call and we will do it for you.
937.520.8937
(Description and Image from www.bleepingcomputer.com)
Yes, even the computer repair guy gets stupid sometimes.
May 14th, 2012I was checking my email tonight, and I got an email that looked like it was from Facebook claiming that I had a new comment on one of my posts. Without even thinking about it, I clicked on it, and there was a login screen for Facebook. So I logged in. Took me about two seconds to realize I had just given some hacker my password to Facebook. In a panic, I opened a new browser window, logged into Facebook, and immediately changed my password. Then I changed my Google password as well, just to be safe.
Catastrophe avoided. In my defense, I receive well over two hundred emails every day, and I had consumed more than one adult beverages. But if I fall for it, even in a drunken haze, thought everyone should be aware that stuff like that is out there.
Scotty
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