A one-hour “Technology Tune Up” and Larry cleaned up the problem I called him about in the first place, was able to convey all of the technical information about what he was doing in plain English, and worked to make things right with my computer.

I was walking to the garage to get to my car when one of my neighbors turned and said to me, “If you ever need someone to look after your computer, Larry is your man.” Well, that was a pretty remarkable coincidence, because I was getting a pop-up message from Norton about PasswordRevealer. As Larry handed me his business card, he explained that if it was an alert, Norton was doing its job and protecting my computer. But it showed up several times a day, so when I happened to see him later that same day, I asked if he could stop by to take a look.

Within an hour, Larry came to my home, looked over some of the computer settings, commented that the speed of the web pages was slow, and that there appeared to be a problem with “malware.” He described it as rogue software that found its way past Norton Internet Security onto my PC and was trying to encourage other bad software to join it.

He rebooted my computer, and explained that his “Technology Tune Up” would take about an hour. It would eliminate any malware in my PC – and that the cost of this service was free. I was very impressed by that.

Larry then installed some software to scan my computer. While it was running, he explained that there are a few things that my very old computer could use. The first was an increase in the amount of memory. He said that while it wouldn’t turn it into a new computer, it would give it a bit of a boost when it came to opening programs like Internet Explorer. He showed me that there were three options for new memory. One was very inexpensive; one was moderate, while the third was very expensive. He saw my hesitation and immediately said that given the age of the computer – and the likelihood that I would get a new one soon – I’d be wasting my money on the high end. How many computer technicians would tell you not to spend money?

The scan finished and found, and then eliminated, several nasty pieces of malware. Afterwards, Larry took a quick inventory of the software programs installed on my computer and working together, we found several that could be removed.

Then he checked my Norton Internet Security. As he did, he turned around and looked over his glasses at me. When I asked him what was wrong, he explained that my program was from 2005! Larry patiently described his approach to using Norton – and that while he encourages customers to renew the subscription to the antivirus definitions every year; he believes that the engine (the base product) should be replaced every two or three years. As it turned out, I had a whole year of subscription for the definitions available on my account.

Well, I agreed to get the new memory and Larry said he would contact Norton to see what could be done about my subscription. He then started a final, more thorough, scan and said he would be back in an hour, when it finished.

When he came back, he told me that he had ordered the new memory and it would arrive in a few days. He also told me that he had chatted with a Norton representative and had arranged for a new license to the 2010 product for free!

His final scan found one last piece of malware on my computer and after he cleaned it, he told me he was concerned about the slow Internet speed. Larry went to a web site and conducted a test. He showed me the results that displayed the download and upload speed for my Verizon DSL connection. When I showed him a recent bill, he pointed out that my plan was 3.0 download and .760 upload. I was getting half of that!

Imagine, a one-hour “Technology Tune Up” and he cleaned up the problem I called him about in the first place, was able to convey all of the technical information about what he was doing – and why – in plain English, so that I could understand, and worked to make things right with my computer.

During his follow-up visit to install the new memory, he called Verizon to find out what the problem was, and to see if I could get a refund for the service I wasn’t receiving. Verizon said their records were only for 1.5 download, but Larry insisted the plan I was paying for was for 3.0. Verizon was only able to issue a credit for 5 months, but was successful in getting them to increase my speed to what I was paying for.

Unfortunately, some things don’t always work out on the first try. It turned out that there was still some virus-like program on my computer that Norton found a few days later, but couldn’t remove. I called Larry and told him about it. He came back and ran another set of utilities to identify and eliminate this last problem. After he was finished, two follow-up scans came back clean.

So, here it is about two weeks later and I’ve saved almost $90 on Norton software and got back $50 from Verizon – all because a neighbor told me that Larry was the computer guy you want to call when you have a problem. In addition, the hour he spent eliminating that last virus was covered by his 100% guarantee; there was no charge for that. The savings in software and services that he arranged for me paid for half of his bill – which included the first free hour’s “Technology Tune Up.” And how many computer technicians do you know who offer a free anything?

You can now add my name to the raving fan base for Heliotropic Systems and the work that Larry Kahm does.

Ruth Anne Bloom
Fort Lee, New Jersey