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Bin Laden is dead. Doubt that he ever existed but who's the new enemy now?
Someone from North Korea, Iran or maybe Aliens?

 

Lol, then where are you?

 

Anyone phones claiming to be from Microsoft or whoever, ask for a number to call them back. If it's legit, they'll give you a landline you can check up on.

 

Bin Laden's a weird figure for sure. But why do you doubt his existence? Anything else but conspiracy theories?

North Korea and Iran are old enemies and I'm okay with that. Their idea of a country is as anti-human as it could possibly get.

 

Microsoft never call unless you open a support ticket with them. Thats why I was so skeptical. If he has the audacity to call back. fffffffff

 

Just because they've told us he's buried at sea, doesn't mean he is buried at sea.

 

He's sleepin wi da fishes

 

Well wherever he is this doesn't really have much of an impact on anything.

Sure it looks good on the Obama Administration and families of 9/11 victims may consider this some kind of justice but Al Qaeda and terrorism are an idea, you can't kill an idea.

We haven't exactly over thrown a regime by removing him, he was as good as gone anyway.

Terrorists don't need one guy to remind them to blow themselves up on a bus.

 

Precisely. Even as an MCP working for Microsoft Partners, I never had phone calls.

If you want to be an IT Technician, there are two things to learn from this:

1. There are lots of scammers in India at the moment, calling people from whatever source (maybe the phone book). Don't be surprised, know they're a scam, and inform your customers of this.
2. If you want to earn money from selling and repairing computers, for fuck's sake BUY THE LEGITIMATE FUCKING SOFTWARE! There is no excuse for someone making money out of repairing computers to be using pirated software. Set an example, for fuck's sake!

When I worked in shops, there were several people who were competitors to us. Some of them were shops, some of them were just back room bandits. Some were friends, some were not. However, we often saw or talked to a lot of them, and they'd often ask us questions. Likewise, we'd sometimes ask questions. There's nothing wrong with that - as long as it was a decent enough question, it wouldn't affect our judgement of each other. Sometimes they'd come to you with a question and you'd think "hmm, basic networking. He obviously didn't bother going to college or even reading up on TCP/IP principles" and yes, that might give you a bit of satisfaction - a one-up, if you like. Of course, it's an industry where you can't learn everything from theory, you have to learn from doing - and that means asking questions, too. Nothing wrong with that.

However, had one of them come to me saying "I just had a call from Windows saying I have an infected PC - what should I do?!" I would have laughed them out of my shop. If they'd stayed long enough for my answer, it would have been "don't be such a fucking noob!"

Yes, you need theory to do the job. If you don't have that, go to college first. Then there's the experience, of course that only comes from doing and asking questions. There's also common sense, though. If someone can't make a simple common sense decision, they have no place in IT.

 

Cyantist firstly tell them you use Unix.

Secondly, if someone pretends to be M$ etc tell them to fuck off.

Thirdly if M$ rings tell them to fuck off.

Chances are they are cold calling people stupid enough to click through to the link on their site to infect them and rob them.

 

Everything I sell is legitimate. All the windows licenses come from OEM machines I've owned in the past or obtained. I still have the sticker from one of my first machines. Circa 2002. 7 is on my list of things to get and it's the first OS I've ever considered buying. I just couldn't bare Vista anymore running like piss constantly and wanted to test 7. As soon as I have spare money I'm buying my own legitimate copy.

 

I had a call like this back in November at 3am!!! Asking me if I wanted to become a beta tester for the iPhone 5. They said they could ship one to me straight away if I provided some details!!!

Because I was in a nightclub I had a really hard time hearing what was going on, when I told them I couldn't hear them they thought I was commenting on the indian accent and accused me of being racist in a really angry tone.

Naturally I told them to fuck off.

Unfortunately my work put's me in the public domain quite a lot and I get all sorts of calls/emails.

 

hehe Cyantist don't worry about retro breaking your balls.

My take it on it is this: the eventual aim is to have legalised software, but if you can't afford to do it now, make sure you cough up and do it later, preferably sooner rather than later but as and when you can do.

It doesn't help that Vista is shit and then they charge you again for 7 to give you what Vista *should* have been. Oh yeah and now Windows 8 is around the corner too. It's all bullshit, XP lasted a good 5 years, there is no need for an OS to need replacing every 2.5 years when patches are possible - Bill Gates knew this but now they have a nw bunch of dickheads running the show who want to get rich too.

 

Microsoft is becoming the new Sega of the 90's.

Making too many versions and revisions, they're just gonna confuse and piss people off.

 

Sounds like a scam to me. But then again I'm a power user when it comes to computers, so perhaps it would be significantly harder to convince me of a problem, than someone else.

 

I agree. Windows 2000/XP works just fine (For Windows anyways). All these paid upgrades suck. I mean, in the Linux world for some distros you can get new releases like every 6 months. But then again, you get them for free so who cares? But for Windows, no one is going to shell out $100+ each time for a small upgrade.

 

Firstly, you should be COMPLETELY legit. If you were to take your MS exams then you could be entitled to free software, anyway. If you're running a business and using software for business, be it a computer repair business or a sound recording studio, buy the fucking software! Would you go and steal tools because you need them but can't afford them? Do the business properly - register as a business, make a business plan, get a bank loan.

Secondly, I'm sorry to tell you that you are NOT selling legitimately. If you read the Microsoft licenses, they may not be transferred from one machine to another NO MATTER WHAT. Taking OEM licenses from a decommisioned machine and selling it on a new machine is against Microsoft's terms and technically illegal. You should be purchasing new OEM copies to resell machines.

 

I essentially agree with everything you're saying, but this is, and will forever remain, an inaccurate and misleading analogy. You know exactly what I mean so I won't waste either of our time further.

Also, honestly, while he's just doing stuff for friends/family/acquaintances, maybe making a little cash on the side while he's still at school, I think a licence transfer is fine from a moral perspective (and far in excess of what most people bother to do in that situation). That's just me, though.

 

What's a machine? If I replace the CPU, is it still the same machine? Motherboard? HDD? What if bring my HDD to a new motherboard, CPU and RAM?

 

Not at all. Photoshop is a tool to a photographer, is it not? Without it, they couldn't edit images. They make money by using it, as it makes their pictures look nicer. And yet a lot of photographers used pirated copies, despite charging hundreds for a session with pictures. Would they steal a camera or a lens?

Likewise, Cubase is a tool to a recording studio or a bedroom DJ, right? Again, a lot of them choose not to buy a legitimate copy. Would they go out and steal a mixing desk?

Windows is just as much a tool - and one that can be replaced freely by Linux should you not be able to afford (or want) to buy Windows. You can still go online, download drivers for a customer's Windows PC, put them on a pen drive etc. That said, a laptop is a very handy tool for a technician who works on location, they're very cheap nowadays and even come with Windows. In fact, you could go to Carphone Warehouse or Phones 4 U, get a contract for a mobile phone that you'll need for when customers call you asking for their computers to be fixed, and get a free laptop with it. There's really no excuse.

I essentially agree with a license transfer when it's someone's PC that you're binning and building them a new one, ensuring that the old one isn't used at all (despite Microsoft insisting you can't do that). However, when it comes to refurbishing old PCs and selling them on, then you should do it by the book. Use whatever OS came with them where there's a sticker - that's fine. If there's no sticker, stick Linux on it or cough up the money.