Scott Larson Consulting

There is still a Flash vulnerability out in the wild that can cause you to inadvertently click and install software that could damage your computer or at the very least serve up advertisements that you don't need and cause your computer's performance to degrade.

Flash is a piece of software that runs on most computers these days to play movies or videos from places like youtube.com or cnn.com.

The last couple of years I have experienced a significant drop in the quality of laptops from name brand providers such as Sony, HP, and Gateway. A number of laptops have hit my bench with built in problems ranging from poor manufacturing to cheap, low performing parts that either break down or cause significantly increased response times when attempting to use the computer normally. I do my best to address these issues, as such I still feel bad when I have to tell a client that the Laptop they have purchased is suffering from problems related to physical defects, or poor craftsmanship/quality of components. The results of these defects usually become apparent a year after the warranty has expired, resulting in total disappointment on my part and the client as well.

Reports are starting to circulate after the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 that users are experiencing various issues ranging from involuntary reboots to lockups with the operating system after upgrading. Currently Microsoft is making this update optional. In June or July, the plan on making it part of the automated update process. I'm recommending that people do not upgrade to service pack 3 until the bugs have been worked out.

A couple of reports have been circulating in the national news media about Computer Repair Technicians and there inability to do their jobs. This has proved what I have been saying for awhile now. Only a small group of Techs , like 10% of the total people employed in this field have enough experience to really be able to do the work that we do confidently and with competence. I have been doing this line of work for over 10 years now, and not once have a ever mis-diagnosed a hardware problem.