Mr. Black has been engaged in the high tech industry from 2004 holding marketing, sales and retention functions in the Internet and Telecommunications industries. In addition, Nicholas is an information and communications technology (ICT) researcher in Tel Aviv University.
“Eighty percent of respondents reported that it takes at least half a day to a day to clean, re-image, and restore PCs affected by malware“, this claim by GreenBorder Technologies has been released today and is, indeed, in keeping with Reimage research. Their main claim is that if only a business is prepared for such disasters much time would be saved.
Reimage’s premise is much simpler: We don’t need preparation. The Reimage technology is initiated on an ad hoc basis. For future reference, if you haven’t invested in a system allowing to rollback the old system image, you should try using Reimage and cut down that annoying process to a 22 minute, one click solution.
Another type of rollback. Reimage does it differently.
Here’s the link to the article, it’s well worth a read.
Reimage has a new pricing plan, 10 repairs for $139. Read more here.
We have thought long and hard how to keep providing value to PC repair professionals and not lose money doing so. This new pricing plan, we hope, seems to address both these points.
We also threw in several features:
Integrated AVG anti-virus
An increase in the scope of repair
We hope you find this new pricing plan appealing and, as always, are intrested in hearing your thoughts, opinions and comments in our customer feedback portal.
We had a lot of fun with this experiment. We went to all the nastiest sites and engaged in the most dubious on-line activities. A few days on, the PC ground to halt with so many nasty viruses, trojans, malware and corruption that we thought the time was right to initiate the experiment. Pitching Reimage against multiple anti viruses, registry cleaners and spyware removal programs, here are the results:
Advice on PC repair
Save yourself the hassle of buying software that will fall short in repairing your PC. The products reviewed below have been tested, trying to repair the same operating system (VMware) using different solutions. This example of a dysfunctional computer offers a clunky user experience, slower than usual boot and user will find surfing the Internet difficult.
Here are the symptoms of the dysfunctional PC we tested:
The malicious process in the PC
Missing control panel
Can’t open the task manager
Can’t open the registry
Homepage can’t be changed
We generally found that the reviewed tools fall into three main categories: junk, nice-to-have and even superb. If there’s a tool you want to see reviewed, please let us know and we’ll buy it and add it to the reviews here.
We used a two month old image and ran the anti viruses too see if they are updated and can fix the problem.
The PC problems in detail
Difficulties in repairing an Operating System due to system maintenance tools being disabled, such as task manager.
Viruses distract user from reaching his target in browsing through promoting other websites that he did not want to reach via Google search or pretending to be an Internet security software that causes user to install more malicious content.
Malware running in the background hogs CPU Process time, slowing down the entire computer.
Invisible programs running in taskbar (stealth IRC program that logs into chat rooms in IRC environment and try to steal information out of other users).
A hacker deleted the CPL (control panel list) files which control the control panel list such as display properties and language settings.
Hacker removed program files entries in the Registry that destroy a user’s ability to access programs via the start menu.
Summary of Testing
In essence, we have seen that all Anti Virus programs completely failed to install, the registry cleaning applications had no effect what-so-ever on a severely infected PC and that SpyBot made some, limited, progress at removing spyware yet falling short in a PC repair.
Category: Autonomic Fix
Reimage: Near Perfection!
Time to use – 19 minutes (22:00 – 22:19)
Software Usage
Instant repair starts via going to www.reimage.com and initiating a free scan. A small file is downloaded into the browser and the repair process begins (22:01). The repair is charted through the web browser and describes the process taking place in easy to understand terms, while providing detailed technical information below.
First the software analyzes (22:08) and then it moves in to make a repair based on its findings. The “fix” part was concluded two minutes later (22:10). At this point you are asked to reboot the system and it is up and running, after a small post startup screen update in the form of a blue screen. A web page is brought up at this point saying “finalizing repair, please wait” and a list of applications that you many not want to erase is presented. It allows you to UNDO the repair if your not happy with the result.
Result
The old wallpaper is present, which I can change
I can change the homepage of the web browser
All the icons are visible in the control panel
There are no malicious processes running in the background
There are still viruses in the system, but isolated and inactive (they recommend running an anti-virus as a garbage collector).
The machine is as good as new!
Category: Anti Spyware
SpyBot: Superficial Success
Time to use – 57 minutes (20:33 – 21:30)
Software Usage
Spybot immediately cleans out about 1,000 temp files.
Ask me for a registry backup and prompts a question regarding which server to use for downloading updates. I select ifwd.org (USA) I click ok at 20:36. Then I am prompted to download multiple updates that I can choose and I am requested to re-apply immunization after the update.
I click exit and am admitted to the main menu for the first time. (20:38), I click check for problems and the system starts a scan.
A 36 minute scan is completed (21:26).
The system says that some errors couldn’t be fixed entirely and it will require a reboot to finalize the repair. It reports that 40 problems were fixed and that 2 could not.
System is rebooted. Asks to delete 239 temp files (21:30) and software launches again.
Result
• All viruses are gone.
• Cant’ change the wallpaper, task manager or see most of the control panel.
• A few viruses still present.
• MIRC still active.
• Original wallpaper is restored but can’t be changed.
Category: Registry Cleaner
CCleanup: Or CCmuckup?
Time to use – 8 minutes (19:04 – 19:12)
Software Usage
4.68MB of cleaning required.
24 Registry issues, clicking scan immediately after revealed 12 more problems, another time 2 more.
Computer rebooted in normal mode at 19:09 , booted up at 19:10.
Initiating an easy install for RegMechanic, during the setup process you will be asked if you want to install Google toolbar as well.
Setup takes a minute. RegMechanic checks for updates. The scan in completed in a few seconds and instantly recognizes 102 faults with the registry.
I also choose the optimize option on the system and defrag it, this launches the standard windows defrag utility. I give it a miss as it is simply a quick launch option for a Windows utility and unrelated to RegMechanic.
I go for the “analyze and compact” option, the process is completed in a few seconds and reports that the registry has been compressed by 13% saving 1.59MB from a total 12MB.
Additionally, before starting, my system health was reported as LOW.
I now restart the system, after playing around with the various functions (20:28).
Last Monday it suddenly struck me: Technology (really) creates antagonism. New technologies that emerge and sweep aside old practices are initially resisted and eventually, unavoidably, adopted. In business theory it’s called the product life cycle, where 2.5% of the potential market are deemed “early adopters” and love the new tech. Eventually the rest of the market follows (defined in biz theory as Laggards).
Ned Ludd in Action
The most interesting case of this is, of course, “King” Ludd the fictitious leader of the Luddite movement that objected to the
“new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers“.
The Luddite movement resorted to sabotage and grew so strong during the 19th century that it even clashed with, but was eventually routed by, the British Army. Progress won, tears were shed, and humanity marched on.
This is a major issue for any new technology – how do we reel in the “early adopters” and route the Luddites? It’s a challenge, no doubt. The key, of course, to avoid massive resistance, is by not antagonizing anyone but by directly improving people’s lives.
Let’s meet Hal the IT administrator, I came across this amusing YouTube video from Symantec a while ago. The video makes a great point of a real professional who suffers the pain of having to go through a manual repair process of a server.
Hal illustrates a real pain, he hates this part of his job and would love to have it automated. Sure he does, right? Wrong! Over the past months (and particularly since Reimage’s version 1182) I have heard from countless PC repair professionals that Reimage: (a) makes their PC software repair process so much easier (b) saves them time (c) gets the job done, while in the past they would have reinstalled the OS, erasing all data and applications. “Oh” I keep asking, “when can we expect you guys to to subscribe then?”, “don’t know” is not an uncommon reply. Amazingly, many won’t subscribe, despite admitting to Reimage’s benefits. One technician said: “The better you guys get, the more inclined my boss will be to fire me“.
So that’s what it boils down to: exposing inefficiency in the system. It’s true, Reimage does not have a 100% run rate (nor does it plan to), but this runs deeper. It is, in essence, a conflict between the modern and the pre-modern (a concept odd to apply to Software repair, but valid none-the-less). It actually deals with the PC repair industry’s (in) ability to look boldly ahead and realize that from now on it is the job of machines to repair their kin and that humans, in this occasion, are irrelevant.
Rise of The Machines. Not.
This, however, does not in anyway mark the end of the PC repair profession. Far from it. Indeed, PC repair professionals will always have the important challange of setting up networks, troubleshooting, repairing hardware and most importantly providing the priceless human interaction we all cannot live without. Customers will always pay more for a professional to help them with descisions, dillemas, problems and queries. Reimage fits this vision perfectly. We repair the software while you, the PC repair professional, do so with your own logo keeping your customer unaware of any third party application. Everyone wins.
The Fix – Reimage’s newsletter for November 2008 is out!
What’s new:
Increase in Repair Scope – Reimage is now more thorough in its repair approach and offers, since version 1182 (3rd of October), an unprecedented quality of repair.
Anti-Virus Integrated – Reimage now employs AVG Anti-Virus to clean up the viruses effecting the operating system.Coming next: remove viruses, in one click, not only from the operating system but from the hard-drive as well.
PC Repair Reports in all Subscription Accounts – View, within your account, an automatically generated report of your customers’ PC, serving as a dashboard to track your Reimage usage.
$20 for Me? Why Thank You! – Refer a friend promotion – tell someone about Reimage, if they make a purchase, you get $20. Refer a friend, now!
Nerds on Site are in The House! – Nerds on site has become our latest partner in spreading Reimage’s automated PC repair technology across the globe.
