Final chance for SAS Pro

I like to help people and save them money.  When I get the chance to share a special offer I jump on it.  However there has been a very slow response to my Super AntiSpyware Pro lifetime license and time is honestly running out.  I was really hoping for a big response so I could order extra and be able to sell it longer.

So for the next 1 1/4 day I am going to offer it for $24.95 just for the license number (you download it), $28.95 for it on CD, and $30.95 on CD for International orders.

Super AntiSpyware offers the best real time protection against spyware, malware, etc.  It normally sells for $39 on their site so you are getting some great savings!!  It detects and removes pretty much any infection you may run into and offers many other helpful options/tools.  Check out their website if you need more information, http://www.superantispyware.com/, and then come back here and place an order.
If you have any questions prior to ordering, please feel free to email me.

UBCD4Win Podcast Interview

I mentioned earlier this week that I was contacted a few weeks ago to do an interview about UBCD4Win.  It has been quite a while since I have done an interview but luckily this one wasn’t live so I was not too nervous.  I do regret that I did not mention several things that I wanted to but we did cover quite a bit.  It was also nice to give Steve a good XP repair tip also, I’m sure his listeners will love that tip also.  We talked for over 1 1/2 hours and it was a lot of fun.  I really hope that I get the chance to participate in another interview or show with him.  Like I had mentioned before his pod-casts are quite informative.  His hard work inspires me to want to start doing shows, video’s, or possibly write an ebook or two.

The podcast is now available so please go over and listen to it:
http://www.podnutz.com

I encourage you to at least listen to 1 or 2 of his other pod-casts but I am at least sure you will listen to “mine.”  Please feel free to post any comments here or even email me.  Thanks for listening!!

Super AntiSpyware special offer

I have talked about repairing laptops and motherboards on this blog several times now.  Those services are a few of the things I plan to offer on my Burrows Solutions website, which I still have not found time to create.  I plan to move my UBCD and UBCD4Win ordering options over to that site also when I get it online.  However on occasion I would like to offer other software also, which brings us to this post.

Super AntiSpyware Pro lifetime licenses are available on their site right now for $39.95.  That is a pretty good price for software that offers great protection against spyware, malware, etc.  However I am able to offer that same license for only $26.95!!  Awesome savings on software that offers great protection for your computer(s).  If you would like your copy on CD I will gladly do that for $32.95.  I have not had time to setup “buy now” buttons yet but will soon.  If you are interested or have any questions please email me by clicking the little envelope icon at the top of this site.  If you need multiple licenses I can provide even more of a discount, just email me.  This is a limited time offer so please contact me as soon as possible.

Horrible Virut.ce virus

I spoke of a really nasty virus I ran into on 2 customers computers a few weeks back, and now I have found it again!!  Man, I really hate this virus….it is hell!  If you do some scans on a system and find the “virut.ce” virus, be prepared to backup data.  Cleaning this monster up is very difficult and I’m sure it can be done if you know you have it.  On the first two systems I saw Virut.ce on, I didn’t know anything about it and accidentally told Kaspersky to delete some files.  On 95% of the systems I clean up you are usually ok will just deleting anything you find.  However with this virus you actually have to disinfect the files because this virus infects many Windows and other programs files.  So on the first two systems I was pretty much forced to backup the data and do a clean install, with this 3rd system I think I’m in the same boat.  This time it’s not my fault though.  The message from the customer on the work order states “cleaning up viruses and then couldn’t boot into Windows.”  So I’m assuming that we are already missing some important files because this customer and their AV software did not do the right thing when attempting to clean up the system.  You also know you are in a world of trouble when the first scan you do is AV software (Kaspersky in my case) find 130+ threats and/or infections!!  In most cases the AV software I use only reports maybe 5-30 problems.

Anyways, just wanted to get the message out to forewarn all of you and to clarify my previous information on this.  I now know the name of it and you do too, so have fun trying to get rid of it!!  Just have your UBCD4Win disc ready with some type of Kaspersky on it, either a copy you own or the free removal tool that they provide.  I’ll let you guys know next week if I am successful with this system or not.

Thank you and Interview news

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to be a Beta Tester.  We have selected our 10 and we are all set.  A few beta’s have been released in the past several days and some other mistakes have been found, so testing is going good!!  With these new testers I feel much better about all the new stuff we are putting in this release.

I wanted to also finally take the time to mention a new Interview I am doing for a podcast this Wednesday.  It should become available some time next week.  A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Steve from http://podnutz.com and he asked if I wanted to do a 1 hour show/interview with him.  I of course accepted.  He has some pretty interesting pod-casts on his site and they are very informative.  I haven’t found the time to listen to all of them but I plan to.  So please check out his site and listen to some of his pod-casts, you’ll be glad you did.  Just from listening to 10 minutes of one of his daily pod-casts and talking to him on the phone I’ve already picked up 2 great tricks I can’t wait to try out at my shop.  Stay tuned here or there, we both will announce when the show/interview is available for your listening pleasure.

Want to beta test UBCD4Win 3.50??

Beta testing has been going a little slow so I think we need a little help so we can get this new version released soon.  If you will have some free time over the next few weeks and think you are qualified to beta test, contact me.  Send me an email explaining why you feel that you should be a beta tester.  This will be first come, first serve.  The first 10 qualified individuals that contact me will be allowed to beta test the new version with us.  So if you have the free time and want to help out, send me an email!

Conartists and frauds

I don’t like posting such negative things, but it’s been bad lately so I just have to discuss this growing problem.
I’ve been contacted and posts have been made in the UBCD4Win forum many times in the past where people ask us for support after buying UBCD4Win from eBay or other similar sources.  One of my first questions is always, “Why did you pay for free software.”  Followed by, “Have you contacted the seller for support?”  The thing that really bothers me is the fact that someone else has made money for OUR work, but then we have to provide the support for free?  I usually assume that the buyer didn’t know any better and as long as they are polite, I still do try to help them.  In the last few weeks I have been contacted several times and it really bothers me.  However, the email I received yesterday really has me wondering what is going on??!!!  I was contacted by an individual that bought a used laptop from someone.  When he boots the laptop it boots into UBCD4Win?  This person only wants the laptop to have a REAL XP install and is asking for some help.  I just do not understand why there are sellers out there like this?  How on earth can you think it’s OK to sell someone a laptop without a “real” OS installed on it?  I just hope I can somehow help this person.

Like I said before, I don’t like making negative posts but I am truly disgusted.  5 years ago when I started UBCD4Win I knew people would try to take the credit for our work and try to make money without really doing any work.  I just never expected it to get this bad.  I wish people weren’t so greedy and uncaring, it makes me sick.  Oh well, what can I do.

If you are one of the unfortunate individuals to be ripped off on eBay, feel free to contact me and I will try to help you as much as possible.  I encourage you to please let me know about any illegal or fraudulent auctions because I can turn them into eBay and have them removed.  I just have to know for a fact that it’s my work though or I could possibly get into trouble.

UBCD4Win update, comments, and a pattern??

Most of what I’m posting today really is about user comments, again!!  I love the comments, however I saw one thing today that I’d really not like to see.  First I want to say that I allow ALL comments no matter what a person says, I strongly believe in free speech.  So even if you make comment that just says, “hey Ben is the biggest jerk in the world!”  I will approve it!  Luckily that hasn’t happened yet.  However a user posted a comment that was a direct question asking how to use DIXML.  This blog is not here to answer those types of comments/questions, that’s why we’ve had a forum up for UBCD4Win since it’s inception.  So please, do not ask usability questions about UBCD4Win, UBDVD, or anything else here.  We have support forums for that.

Now for the big news, what several people have been asking.  When is a new release of UBCD4Win going to come out??  I will announce that right now we have a rough Alpha out.  It should become a beta later this week and hopefully we can get that tested pretty quickly.  I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep so I won’t give a date.  At the moment I am extremely busy at work and at home so I’m honestly surprised that I even got that Alpha out!  I was hoping for a “5 year anniversary” release, but I don’t think that will give us enough time to beta test it.  I will mention also that this will be a 3.50 release.  We have some good stuff going into this release, good enough to jump from 3.22 to 3.50!

I’m noticing a pattern here.  I almost didn’t post anything because I didn’t want to break it.  It’s just strange to look at it.  Basically if you look at the calendar you will notice I have been posting on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Until now I hadn’t posted on a Wednesday and still haven’t posted on Thursday or Friday.  I’m sorry, that’s just stupid.  I just seem to notice those stupid little things?

Finally, I wanted to do another plug on my laptop repairs.  It just excites me that someone actually read a few pages here on the blog, noticed the repair comments, and wanted me to repair a laptop for them.  Yesterday I received the laptop and right after work I jumped right on it.  After a few hours (several distractions) I plugged it in and we were good to go!!  Then thanks to ups.com I printed a label and the delivery guy for our shop picked it up this morning.  I don’t use UPS much but my boss has always printed his own labels at work, today was the first time for me to play with it for myself.  It was nice to not have to have my wife run it out for me.  So please think of me if you know of any laptop that needs a dc repair.  I think my rates are reasonable.

Reader comments

I’m happy to see that I/UBCD4Win is popular enough for this blog to get occasional comments.  Of course I would like more comments, but I’m happy with what I’ve received so far.  I will try my best to either post a comment to the other, or in this case make a blog post about them.

Magic Jack.  I greatly appreciate the comment left that explains some problems a user had with Magic Jack.  I want to use this blog to discuss problems I see and discuss other things I’m not sure of in hopes that you readers will help me out with it.  Sometimes too though, I’ve just gotta have a little fun and post something goofy.  To the point, thanks for your sharing your experiences with Magic Jack with us.  I think most intelligent people read reviews and really take them at their worth.  As an example, eBay feedback.  I take the time to actually read the negative feedback left for some sellers.  About half the time, it’s honestly “dumb” buyers that didn’t read the auction description or their expectations are set way too high.  But hey, sellers with 100% feedback have attempted to rip me off!  Anyways, the comments left about Magic Jack sound really good.  You can read review after review and still not really get the full picture.  When you have an individual that has installed 8-12 of the devices over a period of time, that information is “gold.”  I would heed your warnings but with the 30 day guarantee, I have to at least give it a try.  With your warning though, I will fully scrutinize the device and service!!  If I’m not happy after 30 days, I will return it.  However I do worry that they could possibly have their service setup so that after 30 days they drop your service to a sub-standard one?  Maybe that’s just my paranoia kicking in?  I’m a little crazy like that!  Thanks again for your experiences with the service, I will soon be posting my experiences.

Soldering.  I have several thoughts on this one.  I even thought about doing a video on the subject, but I’m really not a pro!  I then did a Google search on the subject and found several good video’s so I figure what would be the point of me creating one?  The first thing you need to do is become slightly educated on the subject.  The video’s I link to later in this post offer great information.  You don’t really have to do much or spend much, just read or watch the basics first.  My second tip on the subject is to just do it!  Find a broken or old board and have at it!  The only way you are going to get good at it is with practice.  You of course do NOT want to give it your first shot on a motherboard you just spent $200 on, or especially on a customer’s computer!!  You do not have to spend a lot on equipment, really.  I honestly went to Radio Shack and bought a >$10 iron!  A desoldering iron is a great investment.  There are many types, but I decided to get the one I saw yet again at Radio Shack.  I think it was $12.95?  It is basically a soldering iron with a hollow tip, so you heat the solder and then suck it up….all with the same tool.  It has worked pretty well so far.  To get started, you really only need to spend about $30 on equipment and supplies.  The “cheap” ones provide the right temperature for working on electrical boards so don’t think you are being cheap.  I personally will purchase another set of the “cheap” ones to get this business started with, but then will probably buy a more expensive set.  That is just me though, the $90 digital soldering iron probably isn’t necessary?  But if it’s a job that I’m making money on, I have to have the best!

Video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLfXXRfRIzY
These video’s do teach you the basics, however there are a few other tips that I have found and I really think I’m going to have to do my own video very soon to try and help you out more.

Capacitor supplier.  Honestly I have not found a “perfect” one yet.  I’ve found a few on eBay but none of them seem to stock all the capacitors I need.  I’ve contacted several suppliers trying to find the “perfect” one, but haven’t yet.  For the video card capacitors, I found the cheapest person on eBay and it worked out for me.  There is another supplier on eBay that has many of the capacitors I need for motherboard repair but they still do not have everything I need, but I think I’m going to place an order with them real soon.  Same goes for a good DC jack supplier.  Thanks for your kind comments, I hope this has helped, and I really hope I find the time to make my own video to try and help you more.

How many phone numbers do you need??

Many many moons ago most of us only had a home phone, if we were even able to pay for just that.  Things have changed and evolved a lot over the last 20 years and especially the last 10.  I still remember my first cell phone, it was a big clunky Motorola.  Man it was big, it sucked, and was expensive.  I wasn’t good with my money back then so I did not have that phone for long.  VOIP and other internet based phones have been around for a little while now and have really helped individuals save money.  However most of those services suck!  This really isn’t a history lesson on phone service, and if it was I would probably get an F if someone were to grade this article.  My point right now is something that I hadn’t really realized until a few nights ago and I will get to that in a second.

I gave up my “real” home phone several years ago and moved the number to a local ISP that provides VOIP service.  It was only $17 a month so I was happy that I wasn’t paying AT&T $60 a month anymore!!  However the service was really bad.  Echoing, missing calls, etc., plagued the service and the wife finally complained enough so I cancelled the service.  The only other local option is a digital phone from Time Warner cable, but I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the service.  So for the past several months we have been living with just our cell phones and it has worked out pretty well.  Until of course my oldest got a girlfriend!  So I’m debating on trying out Magic Jack, I’ll get to that in a second.  Friday night I was reminded of an old friend, Skype.  I hadn’t used it in several years but my account was still there and I pulled out the headset I had bought back then to use with it.  I looked at their pricing and though that $60 a year was a pretty good price for another phone line.  I need one anyways for Burrows Solutions, so that is perfect.  I made my payments and started to play with it yesterday.  I’ve only made 3 or 4 calls so far and am satisfied with the service so far.  The calls sound good on both ends and I feel important because I’m wearing the cool headset again.

So Saturday while I was at work I thought man, I need to try something to help with the kids using too many minutes on their cell phones.  I thought of Magic Jack again.  I’ve heard good things about it so maybe I do need to do their 30 day trial?  When I have an extra $40-$50 to spend I think I’m going to give it a shot.  I think the kids will think it’s pretty cool too.  The really nice thing is there is little risk with the Magic Jack since they give you a 30 day trial, the first year costs $40 or $50, and the future years should only be $19.95 a year.

In conclusion, how many phone numbers do you need?  Well for my family it is 5 cell phones, 1 Skype phone for Burrows Solutions, and a Magic Jack phone for the kids.  I will keep you all updated on how well the services are working for us over the next few months.