Find a PC repair company you can trust

An undercover reporter, from Sky News, did a report on some local PC repair shops. It was shocking what they actaully found.

When you need your PC or Mac repaired, find someone you can trust. Make sure you backup your data. Do not leave "any" banknig or security information on your laptop.

We've all heard stories of rogue builders and other tradesmen. What follows is what actually happened to the reporters laptop.

A simple fault was created on the laptop; the single memory chip was dislodged (this can happen when carrying the laptop, transit, vibrations in the car etc). The laptop was loaded with some spyware, to help us monitor exactly what they are doing to the laptop.

Laptop Revival in Hammersmith, London, offered a free diagnosis. Yet the spy software revealed something quite worrying. The boot log shows that the engineer found the loose memory and clicked it back in. Simple, but...

He then started to browse through the personal data on the hard drive. A folder marked "Private" is opened and he viewed the holiday snaps, including all the "bikini" snaps. He stared at the pictures and even stopped his mate who looked also. You see the spyware monitored exactly what he's doing, plus another bit of spyware had activated the web camera - we recorded visually who did what.

He then phoned the reporter. He told her that the motherboard is faulty, it usually costs £130, but he would do it for £100. She said she'd think about it.

It got worse. A few hours later another engineer booted up the machine and searched the harddrive. He found the login details to the reporter's Facebook and Hotmail accounts. He laughed while he copied them over to a USB flash drive. He then copied over the bikini photos. He then discovered the bank account login details, and tried to login! He failed because they were fake. Laptop Revival declined to comment.

Similar things happened at several other shops.