beware computer "repair'

[JDRock]

...a friend of mine HEAVILY into blogging anti nwo/gubbermint articles had some light malware on her laptop. SO, she brought it back to best-buy for a quick fix......nothing out of the ordinary, UNTIL she recieved her laptop bacK, COMPLETE WITH A NEW HARD DRIVE! she screamed bloody murder for her old one which apparently was ...uhh...' ..."LOST" all efforts to locate it were in vain. Thats right.... her personal info was stolen under the guise of "repair" and presumably/ probably turned over to the nsa.
Back up your info and NEVER let your hard drive out of your direct control.
just sayin...

[Dogman]

Stupid is , is what stupid does!

Using the internet and does not know how, or to ask how, to remove the slight malware? Taking her machine in, so complete strangers have access to her files?

Ignorant can be cured, stupidity can not!

Hope your friend is in the ignorant and not stupid side.

[Shorty Harris]

Moral of the story?

Nobody's hands but your own should EVER be able to have unsupervised contact with anything of value to you.....Learn to do whatever needs to be done yourself, or leave it be, Or live with your ignorance.

[Joe King]

Yep. At the least, anytime you take your computer to one of those places, expect to have all your pics looked at and possibly copied and/or all existing data lost. I mean, what do think those guys do for entertainment? lol

[Ponce]

I am lucky in that my lap top repair lady likes me and even if there are 20 comps on the shelf for repair she always takes care of me right away..........went to see her last month and for some reason her boobs looked bigger and rounded and I said "hey honey are you gaining weight or what? your boobs looks bigger" and she says "I had a boob job"......I said "really?" and then reached over to feel them hahahahhahaahah she looked around to make sure that no one was looking and smiled at me :)

[JDRock]

We all know this goes on. What the real story here is, the blatant bald faced open in plain sight turning over of private info to the gov.......the story here is not one of stupidity (she did so cause it was under warranty), but one of ; HOW did "they " know who she was....and WHO demanded the hard drive? The repair room had a disposal bin dating back MONTHS...all of it was accounted for but hers...

[Joe King]

We all know this goes on. What the real story here is, the blatant bald faced open in plain sight turning over of private info to the gov.......the story here is not one of stupidity (she did so cause it was under warranty), but one of ; HOW did "they " know who she was....and WHO demanded the hard drive? The repair room had a disposal bin dating back MONTHS...all of it was accounted for but hers...
Ok, I'll bite. How does she "know" that's what happened? For all you know, the idiot at the store dropped it and they put a new one in.

Also, how does she know it is in fact a new hard drive? I've seen many times where people have taken their PCs to those places for warranty work only to have the PC "restored" to its original state when new, because they ran a restore disc to reinstall the OS rather than taking the time necessary to scan for and try to fix any number of unknown virus' trojans and malware on their dime.
ie if they're not making any real $ off the deal, they're going to do whatever is fastest and easiest to get the PC back to clean and they're not concerned in the least about preserving your personal data.

[JDRock]

joe, they ADMITTED they "replaced" the drive. The real show happened after the client demamnded the old one back. A search began that involved uppity ups from corporate headquarters......because of the legal implications. Someone WANTED that particular hard drive.
there was a bin as i said chock FULL of old parts hard drives etc....only hers was missing.

[Dogman]

She wouldn't live in Florida maybe?

Edit: Not referring to our "K".

[JDRock]

no.......

[chad]

geek squad does all of the repair work at best buy. line 2 of the geek squad customer agreement states that they have the right to replace any part that they deem defective WITHOUT CONTACTING THE CUSTOMER. they won't do any repair work unless the customer signs the agreement. so, what your friend did was not read the agreement, signed it, and is now upset because geek squad did what they said they were going to do and what she agreed they could do. next time she should read shit before she signs it.

[JDRock]

geek squad does all of the repair work at best buy. line 2 of the geek squad customer agreement states that they have the right to replace any part that they deem defective WITHOUT CONTACTING THE CUSTOMER. they won't do any repair work unless the customer signs the agreement. so, what your friend did was not read the agreement, signed it, and is now upset because geek squad did what they said they were going to do and what she agreed they could do. next time she should read shit before she signs it.
i know....but WHERE in the hell IS the part??? unless they evaporate....your in the buisness chad, do they normally throw out peoples old hard drives when replacing them???

[chad]

i never threw them away for at least 6 months or so. sometimes people would come back and want them. that's bullshit they they don't have it. what they probably did with it is ship it off to a recycling place, that's what the one here does with them (and that's what i do with them).

[chad]

a good way to keep track of if people are f-ing with your hard drive is to go in to the bios (f2 at startup on most systems). look on the drives menu or the main screen, the hard drive will be listed along with a unique serial number. write it down. you can always go back in to the bios and see if the number has "changed."

[JDRock]

i never threw them away for at least 6 months or so. sometimes people would come back and want them. that's bullshit they they don't have it. what they probably did with it is ship it off to a recycling place, that's what the one here does with them (and that's what i do with them).


there were a BUNCH od hd's and parts in the bin, ONLY hers was "missing" that to me rules out recycling..

[Joe King]

joe, they ADMITTED they "replaced" the drive. The real show happened after the client demamnded the old one back. A search began that involved uppity ups from corporate headquarters......because of the legal implications. Someone WANTED that particular hard drive.
there was a bin as i said chock FULL of old parts hard drives etc....only hers was missing.
Ok. If they told her they did, then I guess they did.

One other question. How would they go about identifying her drive in a pile of drives? Assuming they had a bunch of all the same size, the only way you could really tell would be to install each one and look for data on it that ID's the owner.
I just kinda question the whole "turn over to the gov" angle because if the tech didn't see anything obviously illegal, {ie kiddie pron or the like} it's doubtful the tech did anything of the kind or even knew her from Adam.
You need to remember that many of the techs that work in those places are fumbling bumbling idiots looking for the easiest/quickest way to do their job.

How long did they have it? Did they do all repairs in-house? Or did they send it back to the mfg? I've seen where they've sent PCs back to the mfg for seemingly simple repairs only to have it come back with everything wiped and restored.
Also, if she was on some kind of list that would require the store to turn over her data, the easiest way to do so while remaining undetected would have been for them to clone the drive and turn over the copy. That way there's no suspicion on the customers part, as they received back all the exact hardware they brought in and they walk away fat dumb and happy.
ie it avoids messy situations like you describe where a pissed off customer is asking about their old parts.

[chad]

could also be an employee stole it. if it's a popular model, somebody may have lifted it out of the bin. the best buy here doesn't even keep track of what's in the recycle bin (they gave me some cd drives for gateway nx860s once). i admit though, that is odd.

[Dogman]

could also be an employee stole it. if it's a popular model, somebody may have lifted it out of the bin. the best buy here doesn't even keep track of what's in the recycle bin (they gave me some cd drives for gateway nx860s once). i admit though, that is odd. If you ever have a stack of hard drives on your table and they are all the same, unless you mark or record the serial no. there is no dam way to visually tell one from the other, you have to hook them up and boot to see what is what about them.

[JDRock]

im playing the gov angle only because i KNOW what she writes....and the absurdity of "losing' it ...as chad states, in post # 13

[Joe King]

im playing the gov angle only because i KNOW what she writes....and the absurdity of "losing' it ...as chad states, in post # 13What he said is that it probably got recycled. Personally, I take 'em apart for the magnets and then chunk 'em.

[chad]

take them to the range. if you hit the spindle dead center they will blow up like a bomb. it's awesome.

[Dogman]

What he said is that it probably got recycled. Personally, I take 'em apart for the magnets and then chunk 'em. I love those magnets!! The only sad part is they are so dam brittle, they break if you look at them sideways!

[horseshoe3]

They don't have the SN on a decal on the outside of the HD?

How would they verify it for warranty if it wouldn't spin up? You could return any old piece of the same model and get warranty on it.

[palani]

Had to laugh at a TV program a couple weeks ago. An online dating service was raided by cops. They had a big red "emergency stop" type button mounted on the wall and one guy took a stab at pressing it but was stopped by the cops. Supposedly it went to some degaussing coils mounted above the hard drives and pressing the button would destroy all data beyond retrieval.

When the cops were done and had gotten the information they wanted the button got "accidentally" pressed by them when they left to disrupt the dating service business (a savy outfit would backup their data multiple times during the day in some other location to keep this from being a problem).

Actually having a degaussing setup above a hard drive is not really that bad of an idea. I don't know of too many computers actually have room for one of these coils though.

[Twisted Titan]

Try and get work done at a small reliable comp store.

They are hard to find but they do exist

[madfranks]

Try and get work done at a small reliable comp store.

They are hard to find but they do exist

Exactly. I'm lucky that one of my buds owns his own little computer repair shop business, and if I needed repair, that's who I'd call. I'd never, ever turn my computer over to random strangers working for a big corp. I don't want strangers looking at pics of my kids or work files on my machine.

[vacuum]

My laptop once had a hardware problem and stopped working. It was still under warranty, so what I did was bought a new 2.5" hard drive and sent it in with the laptop to be repaired. I received the laptop back working with a fresh OEM image on it. Switched back hard drives and saved the other one as a backup.

For malware problems, I don't really see how taking it in to someone can be that helpful. Just google your symptoms and run the appropriate malware removal tools. If those don't work you may have to reformat, but in that case, what are the odds the repair guys will be more successful?

[madfranks]

I am lucky in that my lap top repair lady likes me and even if there are 20 comps on the shelf for repair she always takes care of me right away..........went to see her last month and for some reason her boobs looked bigger and rounded and I said "hey honey are you gaining weight or what? your boobs looks bigger" and she says "I had a boob job"......I said "really?" and then reached over to feel them hahahahhahaahah she looked around to make sure that no one was looking and smiled at me :)

Really Ponce, did you do this?

[Joe King]

They don't have the SN on a decal on the outside of the HD?

How would they verify it for warranty if it wouldn't spin up? You could return any old piece of the same model and get warranty on it.Just a guess, but if they're doing warranty service for HP or whoever the case may be, the drive itself may not get returned to HP if the "authorized service center" knows they pulled it out of a PC with a warranty and the seal wasn't broken on it. ie it obviously came from the factory and it costs $ to ship broken parts that your trusted repair guy verified as defective. So they may not want it back, just the paperwork.


And Madfranks is right. Find a local someone you feel you can trust. Although anyone with access to your PC can see what you've got if they want to. Having someone you trust is key. Either that, or keep any sensitive data on a thumb drive or external harddrive that you can keep physical posession of when your PC is not in your posession.

[Buddha]

Yep, not too smart to take a comp loaded with all that potentially damning info to a place with a bunch of teenagers/twenty somthings and their bald 30 something, "my life is shit so I get over on other people" boss. Not trying to be an asshole but if one knows so much about whats going on why would they leave it in the hands of these people? Their entire day is spent going through peoples hard drives looking for nude shots and the like.

There is really nothing they can do with malware. Like Vacuum said you google the symptoms, run scans, try to isolate the file, and if that doesn't work you reformat. Gotta find a local independent repair shop for any more than that if you can't do it yourself, and they are around. Alot of times they will do the work right in front of you.

[crimethink]

FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/fbi-used-best-buys-geek-squad-to-increase-secret-public-surveillance-7950030

Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs.

[Joshua01]

The Peek Squad!
FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/fbi-used-best-buys-geek-squad-to-increase-secret-public-surveillance-7950030

Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs.

[ximmy]

FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/fbi-used-best-buys-geek-squad-to-increase-secret-public-surveillance-7950030

Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs.

Gotta hand this to you crimethink... you can make a beneficial post when you try.

[StreetsOfGold]

Really Ponce, did you do this?

I can guarantee you that this post will not be responded to by the person to whom it was addressed.

[crimethink]

Gotta hand this to you crimethink... you can make a beneficial post when you try.

At least 2/3rds of my posts are inarguably beneficial. :)

The others are just typical forum banter. Locker room talk. :D

[crimethink]

So, what to do to prevent this:

1) repair the computer yourself;
2) buy a new computer and either securely erase and/or destroy the old hard drive, then give the machine away;
3) have a techie you can trust with your liberty and your life repair the computer;
4) pull the hard drive before giving it to a non-trustworthy repair/recon shop.

[monty]

FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/fbi-used-best-buys-geek-squad-to-increase-secret-public-surveillance-7950030

Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs.


This same information was posted several months ago. I am not sure if it was on this forum. It may have been in an email list sent out by a former co-worker who now repairs computers.

[crimethink]

This same information was posted several months ago. I am not sure if it was on this forum. It may have been in an email list sent out by a former co-worker who now repairs computers.

Sadly, the vast majority won't heed this...they simply don't care. We here, do. But then, some of us here, maybe even most, can repair our own machines. There isn't a machine I'm not afraid to take apart. :D

[Cebu_4_2]

Upbuilt my machine and had the balls to attempt the wifes PC. Recommendations are to not do these simultaneously. Mine runs fine, wifes runs fine but the little quirks are impending and needing attention constantly. Can't even see Freds nakid Friday night Dancing routine on GSUS yet.

[Jewboo]

http://img.bbystatic.com/BestBuy_US/store/rtb/experience/gsp-services/large/images/primary/gs-247-primary.jpg
hand me that FBI thumbdrive Tyrone




Geek Squad were paid $500 for each "find" on a customer's computer...incentive to plant the kiddy porn themselves then report it to the FBI for the $500 reward.

[Hitch]

Geek Squad were paid $500 for each "find" on a customer's computer...incentive to plant the kiddy porn themselves then report it to the FBI for the $500 reward.[/SIZE]

Are we sure that this is true? I don't doubt it, but it would be nice if it was confirmed as true.