When Sky News launched an undercover investigation into PC repair shops, it turned to PC Pro readers for help with identifying rogue traders. As a result, Sky’s cameras caught technicians scouring through private photos, stealing passwords and over-charging for basic repairs. Here is what they found

How many technicians does it take to fix a laptop? Just one, but if you know where to find him, please let us know.

We’d heard there were serious problems with computer repair shops: faults misdiagnosed, overcharging for work and data deleted. So we put them to the test in order to find out why customers were getting such a raw deal and who the culprits were.

The exercise was simple. Create a simple fault on a laptop, load it with spy software, take it into several repair shops, then sit back and see what happened. Would they arrive at the same diagnosis and charge us a fair price to fix it?

First, Sky News engineers installed professional spy software on a new laptop. Spector Pro was programmed to load on start-up and silently record every ‘event’ that took place. If the mouse was moved, a folder opened or a file looked at, we would know about it. Every event would also trigger a screen snapshot to be taken.

We also installed Digiwatcher. This devious little tool auto-runs on start-up and quietly tells any connected webcam to secretly film whoever is at the machine. The process is invisible and the video file is hidden on the hard drive and password protected.

We then filled the hard drive with the sort of data anyone might have on their PC: holiday photos, curriculum vitae, MP3s, Word documents and log-in details. Our laptop now looked just like any other.

To create the fault, we simply loosened one of the memory chips so Windows wouldn’t load. To get things working again, one needs only push the chip back into the slot and reboot the machine. Any half-way competent engineers should fix it in minutes.

All we needed now was our targets. We teamed up with PC Pro readers to track down shops with the worst reputation and took our laptop into be repaired. We expected poor customer service, but nothing prepared us for the first shop we visited.

Snooping on holiday snaps

Laptop Revival in Hammersmith initially offered us a free diagnosis when we dropped our laptop off. Yet the spy software later revealed something extraordinary. The webcam shows that almost immediately the technician discovers our loose memory chip and clicks it back into position [based on recorded boot and shut down times]. The machine is rebooted and the problem solved.

Yet he then begins browsing through our hard drive. A folder marked ‘Private’ is opened and he flicks through our researcher’s holiday photographs, including intimate snaps of her wearing a bikini. He stares at picture after picture, stopping only to show them to colleagues.

He then picks up the phone and calls our researcher. He tells her our motherboard is faulty and will need to be replaced. Usually it costs £130 but he’ll do it for £100. We tell him we’ll think about it and call him tomorrow.

After more snooping, he logs off. But a few hours later, another technician boots our machine. He also begins searching our hard drive until he finds log-in details for our Facebook and Hotmail accounts. With a cackle he removes a memory stick from around his neck, plugs it in and then copies them across.

He also discovers our holiday photos and copies those of our researcher in her bikini. The spy software takes a snapshot of the files on his memory stick. One is called “MAMMA JAMMAS” (urban slang for females with large breasts). It contains more holiday snaps of girls in their bikinis.

Most worryingly, when he discovers log-in details for our online bank account, he logs onto the bank’s website and attempts to break into the account. He only fails because the details we created were false.

Laptop Revival declined to comment when confronted by Sky’s cameras.

Covering up

There were similar problems with Digitech in Putney. Although its staff fixed our fault, they also spent a while snooping. The webcam reveals the technician takes a quick look over his shoulder, before flicking through our holiday pictures. He then attempts to clean up what he’s done by deleting the Recent Documents folder. Digitech later told Sky that it was looking at the photos to test the memory.

There were also difficulties with PC World in Brentford. The technician triumphantly diagnosed a faulty motherboard and insisted we needed a new one. We were told unless we paid £230 in advance, we couldn’t have it repaired. We agreed. But when we collected the laptop and got it home, we discovered only a memory chip had been replaced and not the motherboard.

PC World said the technician “should not have made an assumption about the cause of the fault of the laptop” and offered to refund £200 of the repair fee.

Bungled repairs

Meanwhile, at Evnova Computers in Barbican the loose memory chip was also spotted and fixed. But the company also told us we needed a new motherboard. We declined the offer and collected our laptop. When we examined it, we discovered technicians had soldered the memory bus pins together to recreate the original fault. Evnova later claimed it believed we were from a rival repair company.

We also had issues with Micro Anvika on London’s Tottenham Court Road. It seems the company fixed our laptop then called us to claim it needed to examine the machine to find the fault. We were charged £145. All this for a loose memory chip. Micro Anvika later told us we should only have been charged £95.

Only one shop performed flawlessly. Pix 4 in Shepherds Bush took its time to carefully examine our machine while we waited. The staff promptly discovered the loose chip, popped it back into place and told us with a smile there would be no charge.

Prepare for repairs

So a word of warning. Always back up sensitive data and remove it from your laptop before taking it to be repaired (if you can). Clear the cache of log-in details and passwords and always get more than one quote.

And bear in mind technicians often place all objects in the world into one of two categories: things that need to be fixed and things that will need to be fixed after they’ve had a few minutes to play with them.

I get asked by lots of new techs about the tools and supplies I carry with me to complete the variety of service calls I run each day.

I have decided to post a list of must have tools for any technician wanting to run service calls.  Having the right tools for the job makes life much easier and makes you a more efficient technician.

Below is what I carry in my service vehicle.

-Screwdrivers - various sizes and types (phillips, flat, big, small, short, long).  A quality set of screwdrivers is a must!

-Nut Drivers – Metric & Standard.

-Security Bit Set  – Torx, Slotted, Hex – Metric & Standard.

-Torx & Hex Key Set – Metric & Standard.

-Pliers – Needle Nose, Cutting Pliers & Nippers.

-Socket & Ratchet Set – Metric & Standard.

-Open & Boxed Wrenches – Metric & Standard.

-Digital Volt/Ohm Meter.

-ATX Power Supply Tester.

-USB Flash Drive.

-Antivirus & Spyware removal software.

-CD-R Discs.

-Laptop- XP Pro, Ethernet & Serial Ports.

-RJ45 & RJ11 Crimp Tool.

-Wire Stripper.

-66 / 110 Punchdown Tool.

-Cat5 / Cat6 Cable Tester.

-Fish Tape & Fish Stix.

-Step Ladder – 6″ & 12″.

-Cordless Drill.

-Drill Bits – Various Metal & Wood Spade.

-Rechargeable Mini Vac.

-Toner Vac.

-Electrical & Duct Tape.

-Various Screws - Case Screws, Sheetrock Screws, Etc.

-Cat5 Cable Spool.

-RJ45, RJ11, RJ22 Crimp Terminals.

-RJ45 & RJ11 Keystone Jacks.

-Surface Mount Boxes & Keystone Faceplates

-Waterproof  Wire Connectors.

-50″ Extension Cord

-Label Maker

-Sharpie Marker

-Cleaning Wipes

These tools should help you complete almost any IT related service call you can imagine from virus removal to data cabling.

Let’s hear what tools you carry  in your tech tool kit?

Help is on the way for solution providers and resellers looking to tap into grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. Ingram Micro has expanded its partnership with The Grants Office to generate leads for solution providers and coach them through the grant submission process.

Looking for advice on how to tap into the grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package?

Ingram Micro has expanded its partnership with The Grants Office, a company that specializes in identifying grants and creating grant submissions, in an effort to help resellers and solution providers get a piece of the stimulus pie.

The stimulus package calls for anywhere from $60 billion to $80 billion of IT spend, according to Bob Laclede, vice president of business development at Ingram Micro U.S.

“Sixty percent of those IT stimulus dollars are through line item budgets, and 40 percent are through the grants process,” Laclede says. In the grants process, federal agencies—Health and Human Services, for example—set up rules for how grant money will be awarded. Then those who are eligible apply for the grants.

“If the solution provider can get in and help the end user figure out what they want to buy, craft the solutions and maybe wrap some services in there—and then help with the grant request—the solution provider has a better chance of winning,” Laclede says.

Solution providers pay a fee of $2,500 to participate in the program. In exchange they get a list of leads—Ingram Micro customers whose technology purchasing needs are mapped against the Grant Office’s database of technology grant eligibility and sources of funds. Then The Grants Office can help coach the solution provider through the grant process, serving as a kind of a help desk for grant writing and submission, says Laclede.

The $2,500 fee, charged on a per sales representative seat/team basis, is also eligible to be rebated to the solution provider as deals are fulfilled through Ingram Micro. Once a sales representative is engaged in the process, he or she works with a firewalled representative within The Grants Office to prevent any conflicts between VARs that may be going after the same deals.

Laclede says Ingram Micro has piloted the program with two solution providers so far, and many more are looking to participate. Ingram Micro is looking to formally launch the program in July, and Laclede warns that the grant process can take anywhere from three to six months.

Ingram Micro has previously partnered with The Grants Office for help with some of its initiatives aimed at the education market in the form of the eRate program. The new program is exclusive to Ingram Micro, says Laclede.

Business-technology consumers are slashing IT spending. Companies are laying off workers by the thousands. And economists, finally declaring the U.S. is in a recession, are forecasting a down year for 2009. Amid all this bad news, solution providers are finding a silver lining in the economic storm clouds.

While IT solution providers may be seeing their business customers push out payments or delay deals, they are taking the now-confirmed recession in stride.

“It’s not like we are in the auto industry facing bankruptcy,” says Ken Lamneck, Tech Data’s president of the Americas, speaking about business and the current economy. “Our partners serve SMBs, and we are modeling low- to mid-single-digit growth for 2009—say 4 percent to 8 percent. As you go to the enterprise, there will be less than that.”

And IT solution providers attending IT distributor Tech Data’s recent TechSelect event in Washington, D.C., admit that signs of a down economy are evident, but are taking a wait-and-see approach to business. They say it’s like a “storm watch.”

“People are paying a little slower than in the past,” says Angela O’Donnell, managing director of New York-based W. O’Donnell Consulting, which specializes in the publishing industry.

“And they are a lot more cautious with spending,” says Jonathan Register, vice president of operations at Raleigh, N.C.-based Alphanumeric Systems, a solution provider that specializes in government customers.

IT solution providers that have shifted their business to a managed services or SAAS (software-as-a-service) model say business has remained steady. “We’ve put ourselves in a better place,” says Sam Ruggeri, president of Advanced Vision Technology Group in Hauppauge, N.Y.  “We haven’t seen renewals tail off.”

“We are looking at pitching managed services to smaller businesses,” says O’Donnell. “They are cutting back on IT staff and talking to us about how to fill the gap.”

“We are seeing the government extending refresh cycles from three to five years on the state level,” says Stephen Ale, chief operating officer at Fairfax, Va.-based Richards Computer, which also specializes in the government markets.

But projects are another matter, according to Ruggeri. And other solution providers agree.

“More projects are being put on hold,” says Debra Candido, vice president of administration at Manhattan Information Systems. “I feel like we are in a storm watch.  Is the storm going to hit us? Or is it not going to hit us?”

But as projects are deferred and the same old equipment must continue to be productive, Ale says that Richards Computer has noticed a pick up in its break/fix business.

And as the “storm watch” continues, these solution providers are implementing strategies to weather whatever comes ashore.

“We are doing tons of partnering,” says Ruggeri.

“We sent people to a customer training workshop,” says Ale. “Customers are going to be in a terrible mood. We don’t want to get pulled down with them.”

“The last recession we didn’t invest in training or new products, and that was a mistake,” says Candido.

But even with threatening clouds overhead, solution providers still see some bright spots.

“There are two clients I have that still have budget money they need to spend this year,” Ruggeri says. “I am cautiously optimistic.”

For the fourth consecutive quarter PC Desktop Repair sees highest volume of work orders;  Enterprises are using OnForce in creative ways to optimize efficiencies

BOSTON – July 13, 2009 – OnForce, the trusted online marketplace and national network of thousands of technology service technicians, today released the OnForce Services Marketplace Index (OSMI) for the second quarter of 2009. Based on more than 70,000 service events this quarter across North America, the OSMI provides a comprehensive analysis of key spending trends in information technology (IT) and consumer electronic (CE) services. Key findings this quarter show that spending in the break-fix sector from diagnose and repair to parts swap remained at a consistent high with Q1 2009, accounting for 63 percent of all work orders. In addition, OnForce saw enterprises utilize the platform more extensively to handle longer term projects in order to maximize efficiency.

In terms of highest volume categories, PC Desktop ranked first for highest work order volume for the fourth straight quarter in a row (accounting for nearly one third of all jobs.) Of this, three quarters were break-fix related work. Other high volume work categories for the quarter included TV/Video and Network, which accounted for 19 percent and 13 percent of all work orders respectively.

Check out the entire report here: http://www.onforce.com/OSMI/Q209