Reader Recommendation Request: Computer house call?

December 3, 2007 at 9:31 pm | In Reader recommendations | 32 Comments

Provided the weather calms down, we’ve got several WSB Reader Recommendation Requests to get out to you – tonight we start with this one from Chris:

My home computer is not working…mysterious colors flashing on the screen, no access to the desktop … anyone know a good computer technician that does home visits?

32 Comments

  1. Sorry, not home visits, but Quidnoc (sp?) in the heart of the Junction has nursed 3 of my computers – even doing a few small jobs for free. They have saved a crashed hard drive for me – which is usually the death of a computer.

    Comment by jrd — 9:50 pm December 3, 2007 #

  2. Yeah. Colored lights. That Windows Vista is one helluva product.

    Comment by Aidan Hadley — 9:52 pm December 3, 2007 #

  3. Hi Chris,

    I would be more than happy to take a look at your computer. I am an Independent contractor for Nerds on Site, and part of the west Seattle community, and chamber of commerce. Please feel free to give me a call – 206.577.1080 or 1-877-MYNERDS! You can also check us out online at http://www.nerdsonsite.com

    Comment by David Parker — 10:21 pm December 3, 2007 #

  4. That’s Quid Nunc in the Junction. Good people. They’ll ask you to bring it in, but if you can’t/don’t want to do that, they’d be a good source for the name of a mobile technician. They’ll sometimes give advice over the phone if you’re at the stupid question level. Don’t ask me how I know this.

    Comment by Katherine — 10:26 pm December 3, 2007 #

  5. Ask for Chuck at Quidnunc. I bet he can help you!

    Comment by Ronald D Zuber — 10:41 pm December 3, 2007 #

  6. We had good luck with the Geek Squad (out of the Southcenter Best Buy). I didn’t know about Nerds on Site though – thanks for the info David!

    Comment by GenHillOne — 7:00 am December 4, 2007 #

  7. Quidnunc makes house calls- it is less expensive if you bring your tower to them, though.

    Comment by JenV — 7:41 am December 4, 2007 #

  8. Rob Shiras is the way to go. PC Mobile 206 932 6555

    Comment by L McNulty — 9:50 am December 4, 2007 #

  9. I do housecalls in WS. Send me an email and I can probably tell ya what the basic problem is.

    Most people have spyware issues that finally overwhelm them.

    You can download several free versions of anti spyware and antivirus programs. If you cannot get to some of these sites, that can be a clue that you have one of the more dangerous polymorphic viruses.

    The list at
    http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-features.htm#rec
    are recommended, free and tested by thousands of people.

    The main page
    http://www.spywarewarrior.com/
    has lengths to a wealth of information on threats to your computer.

    For free antivirus, try AVG at http://free.grisoft.com/

    Remember, no one is immune and many of the newer malware and spywares can install surreptitiously just by following a google link or misspelling a known site.

    Comment by Ken Davis — 9:59 am December 4, 2007 #

  10. Hands down I would recommend TouchTech Systems. They are now located in the heart of the Junction – between Capers and Jan’s Beauty Supply. Call Brian at 425.227.5310 for terrific & efficient service. He has been wonderful to work with and has helped me tremendously – crisis mode or just regular stuff, he’s your guy.

    Comment by jtw — 11:06 am December 4, 2007 #

  11. I love my Macs.

    Comment by grr — 11:36 am December 4, 2007 #

  12. The guys at Touchtech helped me out and were very easy to work work. Quick turn-around too.

    I can solve all your problems myself though…..get a Mac!

    Comment by Joe — 11:37 am December 4, 2007 #

  13. http://www.touchtechsystems.com/

    Oops. Here’s their web-site.

    Comment by Joe — 11:38 am December 4, 2007 #

  14. the Nerdsonsite website is cool. Reminds me of the Nerd Herd from NBC’s “Chuck”!! :)

    and, I’ll second the Quid Nunc recomendation. Bill and his crew are top notch.

    and I still love my Macs.

    :)

    Comment by grr — 11:38 am December 4, 2007 #

  15. I fix computers free or for donations for members of the Democratic party.

    Email:
    Ken at ken-davis.net

    I have pc’s. macs and several flavors of unix. The Sparcs are retired due to age.

    Comment by Ken Davis — 1:35 pm December 4, 2007 #

  16. Brian Presser at TouchTech is the best!! He is in downtown West Seattle and I believe he will make a house call.
    Brian Presser
    TouchTech Systems, Inc.
    Multimedia Specialists &
    Apple & Xerox Authorized Value Added Reseller
    425-227-5310 x101
    http://www.touchtechsystems.com

    Comment by DEM — 2:19 pm December 4, 2007 #

  17. grr:
    I love my Mac, also.
    And all of my kids love their Macs.
    I brung ‘em up good!

    Comment by Jo — 3:11 pm December 4, 2007 #

  18. Thanks to all who have replied. I now have several sources to discuss this issue with.

    And thanks to WSB for providing this service.

    Comment by Chris — 5:00 pm December 4, 2007 #

  19. semi on topic…
    GRR or anyone? I have been a pc user at work for years so had to learn it on the fly… tried a used ibook, small, rectangle, white, laptop with OSX … I have a heck of a time running it … Does anyone know where would be a good place to offer it for trade for a pc laptop? There are so many horror stories about Craigslist any more, I’m leery of using them anymore… This has MS office for Mac, built in wireless etc … not the fastest in the world but would like to trade for something similar .. but can’t figure out where to post it… thanks for any suggestions!! cleat

    Comment by cleat — 6:08 pm December 4, 2007 #

  20. cleat..it all depends on how old/what model that iBook is…if it’s, as I suspect, an older g3 model, it’s really not worth..Probably makes a great email/web/kitchen machine if you’ve got broadband.

    switching from PC to Mac is always interesting..but both the newest Mac OS (Leopard) and Vista have soo much in common..it’s a non-issue. And, the Apple Store in UVillage has plenty of free training….maybe you could go hang there for an hour or two, watch some of the training, and relieve your Mac concerns….and..the Newest MacBooks, etc..let you partition part of the disk as a Windows Partition. I have some financial software that only runs on Windows, so I use it just for that…Pretty much any thing else you need, there’s a Mac version available.

    and, I second your Craigslist concerns.

    Comment by grr — 6:40 pm December 4, 2007 #

  21. What’s the model of the ibook? I might have something to trade.

    Also if your looking for a good price on a used laptop, when ever you see something on craigslist from
    http://computers.interconnection.org/retail/index.htm
    you know it is tested and any profit will be going to a good cause.

    I also find good prices on Mac parts there. It is kinda hard to find and hard to park, but it is a funky old Seattle type enterprise.

    Comment by Ken in West Seattle — 7:43 pm December 4, 2007 #

  22. Post the model of the ibook. I might have something to trade.

    Also note this local non profit often sells stuff on Craigslist and they are reputable. Located near Fremont and they run a funky refurb/recycle shop as well as shipping cheap pc’s and macs to non profits all over the world.
    I have bought laptops, macs and pc’s as well as parts from them and been very satisfied.

    http://computers.interconnection.org/retail/index.htm

    Comment by Ken in West Seattle — 7:55 pm December 4, 2007 #

  23. I agree with the comment about Rob Shiras, PC Mobile Help. Rob is knowlegeable, reasonable and has great customer service!

    Comment by Jim & Sandy Guenther — 8:01 pm December 4, 2007 #

  24. geez I hate to be such an idiot .. the ibook is at the farm… I’ll have to get the model # this weekend … It’s small, white, has cdrom drive, wireless built in, a usb, a usb2, firewire port and I can’t tell you much more w/o getting it out of the case and looking … Are we allowed to note our email here? If so, cleat101@comcast.net is mine .. I’ll get back to ya… and thanks for the info on possible places to look into…. Yes … I’ve had it just for email when traveling … and with comcast it’s OK but not overly speedy… As always… thanks for being willing to share info!!! cleat

    Comment by cleat — 9:05 pm December 4, 2007 #

  25. Cleat..when you get the ibook..just click on the little apple in the upper right corner, then click on ‘about this Mac’. That’ll give ya all the info you need.

    Comment by grr — 10:06 pm December 4, 2007 #

  26. We sell new and refurbished direct from Apple. Every now and then we are asked from a client to put the word out looking for a pre owned Mac. Let me know what you have and I’ll post it to our waiting list.

    Talk to you soon.

    Comment by B@TT — 9:32 am December 5, 2007 #

  27. Hi I had my partner look it up today .. I had not seen the post to “click on the apple” tip from grr, (Thanks!!) but opened the battery compartment and found: Model M6497 24DVC copy write 2001 apple computer … which when I Google M6497 is also called Apple iBook G3 (M6497) Mac Notebook. It has case and software discs…. My purpose in having a laptop is mostly for email and Word docs, Excel spreadsheets and internet when traveling … I have a tower at home for main computing needs… so guess I’d like to have availability of wireless connection … or at least the place to put it… Pretty basic … If my brain were younger and could adapt to the apple commands better it would surely do the trick .. but because I use Windows xp all the time, I just can’t keep track!!!
    Thanks to all for the help and info!!! cleat

    Comment by cleat — 7:05 pm December 5, 2007 #

  28. A “Rave” for Brian and TouchTech Systems. His immediate help and service on our laptop was invaluable. Really a great addition to West Seattle.

    Comment by Jan's Beauty Supply — 1:02 pm December 7, 2007 #

  29. We have obviously done a poor job of letting people know we do house calls. We DO encourage people to bring their computers to the shop as it is usually less expensive, but we have many home and business customers who regularly ask us for on-site visits.

    Comment by Bill Hibler — 12:24 pm December 20, 2007 #

  30. bill,
    You have to tell folks who you are, phone number and address, you are comment 29, and most folks won’t know what you are referring to.

    Comment by Les — 12:12 am December 27, 2007 #

  31. Thanks for all the great recommendations for PC Mobile Help! Our main phone number is 206-686-8682. Please correct your phone books. We have hundreds of satisfied West Seattle customers. Please see our web site for On-Site Computer Solutions: http://www.pcmobilehelp.com.
    Rob Shiras, President, PC Mobile, Inc.

    Comment by Rob Shiras — 7:38 am February 22, 2008 #

  32. You can also check out http://www.computerwhisperer-nw.com I deal with mostly macs and pro film & design software, but also know quite a deal of windows systems and troubleshooting. Thanks!

    Comment by Nick — 2:50 pm March 5, 2008 #

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