How can we protect ourselfs from the people/companys that proport to be "computer fix-it"people?

I'm starting to wonder if Best Buy intentionally tries to rip people off.

I do not have anything good to say about Best Buy warranties, and I have way too many bad examples (I have finally decided to never buy an extended warranty from them)

My Acer netbook warranty from Best Buy is a joke. They couldn't even get me a new AC adapter when ours went bad (in a couple months). I called Acer directly and they shipped one out immediately (for free).

A couple months ago, my sister bought a computer from Best Buy, and took their recommendation on anti virus software. They set it up for her. They "highly" recommended some program I've never even heard of...anyway, only a few weeks later her computer was infected with a ton of viruses. Best Buy of course fixed it, but charged her to do so, and blamed her.

When Best Buy were under obligation to replace a power supply in a desktop of mine, they kept my computer for nearly 2 months. I was renting another computer thinking I would have gotten mine back in a few days, or a week at most. I could have bought a new computer... grrr...

Plenty of other bad examples about Best Buy are available upon request. I would actually love to know if anyone has had good experiences with them.

To answer your question, I have used AOL services since the early 90s, and trust them 100%. All of my security tools - McAfee - are provided by them (for free - I do not pay for any AOL service). I can do computer check ups with them too. For a second opinion, if I'm concerned about anything, I trust Microsoft, and will run a Microsoft malicious software remover tool, but McAfee has done very well for several years.

Its hard to know who to trust. People spout out names of this program and that....who knows which is safe, right? That's why I stick with who is familiar to me.

Something called Anti virus 360 tried to infect my computer just yesterday - its a trojan! Mcaffee caught it, but it looks like a company trying to protect you from malicious software.

Best bet in my opinion, stick with the well known names, and when you find something that works for you - don't jump when people say oh try this because its so much better.

I agree with the first 2 posts; DIY if you can.

It seems to be a Corporate world wide mentality, to prey on the unfortunate folks who only want a piece of equipment to work.

They build a falsified reputation through advertising, and then provide trash, rubbish and non-functional services or devices, and bury their victims with senseless paperwork, meaningless guarantees or other outright lies while padding their bank accounts.

Mistrust of the 'new world order' grows by the second...

Learn about computers.

get smart. know what components cost. know how to run basic repair services. you can do most of the things yourself. most problems are quick fixes.