A tribute to MajorGeeks. How MG has changed your life? Share your story!

Hi all!

I don't think a "thanks a bunch, guys!" it's enough to thank the Major Geek founders, helpers, staff, volunteers, and members.

So it occurred to me that perhaps sharing some personal stories on how important Major Geeks has been in my life (..and still has) I could show a more sincere appreciation and hopefully I could even motivate others to share their own stories about how important this site has been for their personal or professional lives. So let me start!


It's been a long time since I came here for the first time.

So many ages ago that I don't even remember exactly when but I am pretty sure that it was around summer/fall of 2004!

Yes, I can't believe is almost 10 years of trusting, reading and following MajorGeeks!

Back then I was infected with one of the most annoying and adamant virus/malwares. Alas, I don't remember its name. I mean, I don't even remember my username from that era (otherwise I'd search in my old posts!).

Anyway, trying to get rid of the problem I ended up here, then read tons of threads and posts, and eventually solved my problem in a couple of days.

This experience taught me lot about self-security, cleaning procedures, safety measures and so on to a point that when I moved to the US (December 2004) I had enough confidence to help other people out. So a friend of a friend had a very slow computer. I fixed it basically based on what I learned from Major Geeks. He paid me back the favour not only with a bicycle (yes!) but also with his long term friendship. To be honest I wasn't expecting to receive nothing in return but I thought that if he was willing to offer me his bike perhaps I could launch a successful career in slow computer repair! So I prepared myself a toolkit and printed and delivered a bunch of flyers in homes around my area but, alas, didn't get any call but it was fun!

But nevertheless I have helped a lot of people since then repairing their slow computers expecting nothing in return (perhaps like a hobby). I have 'saved' the lives of so many friends and/or acquaintances, and I have gained a lot of respect and appreciation for that. But, then again, I think the credit goes to MajorGeeks.

So in summary, my sincere admiration and respect to the people behind MajorGeeks that helped us in the past, still help us today and hopefully they will still help us in the future for our surfing mistakes, gaffes, and looking/downloading for porn collateral damages!

Long live Major Geeks!

R.


P.S. Share your story!

 

I first joined (mostly lurked) MG in March, 2002, after a running gunbattle with the most-honorable Kodo-San in some online gaming. We became friends and confidants online and he referred me here for some help upgrading and speeding up my computer for gaming. I met AbbySue through an old shared friend, Cappy, also a gamer.
I have hung around for the past 11+ years mostly lurking, reading hilarious posts and occasionally visiting the malware forum for help for friends and family computer problems.
Being a retired OB-Gyn, I got into the technical end of stuff and love reading the faults and fixes and goofy things you techs (real computer geeks) run into in your day to day goings on.

Told AbbySue many years ago that it was fortuitous that neither of us was single at the same time..........ha ha ha. Long time crush.

Had to give up the online gaming.........got too much in the way of my golf game.

Miss knocking heads with Kodo but lurk to try to catch him on.

Major Geeks really helped me keep my computer running smoothly and for that, I am immensely grateful.

All the best, guys. Keep up the good work.
:wave

 

I don't remember what brought me to MGs but i thought that the site was a well moderated and interesting place to hang out.
Thing have changed over the years mostly for the better (some things i miss).
Many of our earlier members have moved on to other things and a few of the well regarded members have passed on but that comes to us all eventually.

I was a custom PC builder and learned a lot here i also hope that i have helped a few with their hardware problems,as of late i tend to lurk in the background because there came a time when my advice and answers were incorrect due to me having memory problems so i now enjoy reading the posts and hearing the news.

I kick the PC to life every morning and automatically open two tabs,one is MGs and the other are the local newspapers they both stay on all day and i pop in and out of them both.

So a heartfelt congratulations to Tim and Jim who make it work so well and the mods who keep it working smoothly.

 

I am not really a full-blown geek, but...I am a stay-home Mom. We have never been cutting edge techie, but back in the day we were the first people in our social circle to have a PC at home. We were playing LORD on a BBS when the other players started vanishing to this new thing called The Web, never to return.

As such, we were also some of the first people to experience problems with both software and hardware.

Over the next few years, we found trips to professionals to be not only expensive, but frustrating and ineffective. For the sake of brevity, I'll spare the details, but the last time we went to a shop we were without our computer for a month. After several angry phone calls.....when we went to pick it up, the machine they gave us was not even ours. To make it right, the owner gave us a PC he had built, right off the sales floor. I made him give me a Firewire, since my old one had one. (Note I had no idea what it was for, but dang it, I knew I had one!)

The new machine came with a bunch of malware preinstalled. We were getting pop-ups and toolbars, and the machine was running so slow it was virtually unusable. I took it back to the shop, and the guy scanned the drive and accused us of downloading a bunch of porn and music.

I'm not totally naive to the ways of men, but I looked at the list of stuff that was buried on the drive and then told the tech, "I know it's pointless to deny there's a chance that my husband would ever download naked women, but I know there's no freaking way he downloaded Aerosmith and Bon Jovi."

I think what happened was probably that the guy who built the PC didn't wipe the drive adequately when he installed it, but that was just the end for us. The next time we got an infection, I started searching for DIY solutions, and landed here.

ChasLang was so patient and gracious with me that I still consider him to be something more than human.

This place has saved me so much time and money over the years that it's just incredible to me that the whole internet doesn't hang out here. And I've learned so much that these days I think I could actually build my own PC if I decided to.

Some of you younger people might take this information-sharing stuff for granted, but for some of us who predate the internet, it is an amazing phenomenon to behold.

 

Dunno.

Been around a while though. Started with 3dfiles, then tweakfiles, then here...

Known Tim and Jim for a good while.

 

I don't know that I would call it life-changing, exactly, but I came here when a friend I was moderating with at another (now defunct) tech site told me I should come (Grubblebump). Hung about for a bit, then made friends with G.T., ending up staying the weekend at his house one year on my way home from Biloxi and going to Graceland with him. I made a few other friends here, some of whom are still here, some of whom are not. A few I'm friends with on Facebook, but those are the ones who no longer come here for whatever reason.

Mostly I hang in the Lounge...I do enough work at other sites in the tech areas I just don't feel like dealing with it here.

It occurs to me that the two best friends I had here have since passed away. RIP, gentlemen!

 

I've been here for over a quarter of my life now, came here by accident tryna solve a problem.

It's one of the few forums I've really got to know and I talk to some of the members outside the forum, mostly though I like tryna solve computer faults using only text, some people like Sudoku I like the Majorgeeks.

I should have been banned long ago I can be an argumentative jerk when I want to be, so my trubute goes to Tim and Jim as well for not banning me

 

In my case I would. Haha.
I joined here in early 2011, mainly out of chance. I've always been intrigued by computers and technology, but never knew much about it until i met one of my best friend's in 5th grade he was a computer genius (my words) and he taught me a lot, decided that I wanted to work on them in some way shape or form as a career, so went did the computer courses through high school etc. But then came around the end of my junior year and I was seriously debating on whether I had made the right choice. Long story short, did some talking with friends/family, and was going to pursue something else. (Electronics) but as I was cursing the net January 20, 2011 (day after my 19th birthday) I went out on a whim and Googled computer support forms, after about an hour of searching I found MajorGeeks under a related search. Liked the layout, did some reading and the answers that were given were both informative and professional. So I joined up and started asking questions, and helping when and were I could. I'm not as active as I have been in the past but I'm always checking in.

 

It's been a few years, but I do remember that I tripped over this site while looking for some good diagnostic tools years ago.

I got my first very own PC back in 2001, with a Socket 423 (yeah, I know, but it was the first P4), some RIMM memory, and Windows Me. Thanks to that edition of Windows, I found out just how useless "tech support" could be! It came to the "if you want something done right" point, so there went me getting back into "the game". I added a graphics card to use the TV as a cloned display for games and movies, and a sound card for good measure. I think I technically had one of the first "Media Center" PCs! I actually still have that case, which my current build now resides in. I had been out of computers for a while after I left high school, and had gone on to get an AST in the electrical field (residential, commercial, industrial, PLCs and Solid State). Over time I began helping friends and neighbors, and I started collecting and sometimes refurbishing e-waste for people who needed a PC but didn't have the extra coin. I often found basic tools for hardware diagnostics via manufacturers, and learned ALOT from e-waste! BUT, this was, and still is the greatest resource I have ever come across and I will always say it would have been great to find it sooner. The malware forum has become an invaluable resource, because it's just impossible to deal with, or find every rot bit of code a no good hacker spits out all by your lonesome. There are millions of computers, and only one of each of us. And yes, it bears mentioning there are good hackers who watch over things like e-voting. There is such a thing as good hackers!

The site reaffirmed my belief in open source, and open information. It helped to maintain my reasoning that everything in this world did not have to be capitalized upon. The sharing of knowledge and information is far more noble than making a quick buck, and there are some awful "techs" out there who prey on people who are not as knowledgeable. It feels really good to help people, and to know that there is such a vast knowledgebase regarding malware out here in cyberspace. A special thanks goes out to Tim and Jim for keeping this site up, doing the work to attract great talent, and investing the time, resources, and hardware to get the job done.

:major

 

I just stumbled across a link for MG when I was trying to sort out whatever it was that wasn't working right on my pc. I've come back oodles of times (not always logging in, I have to say!!) and have recommended you guys to countless people.

I've always found you lot to be patient for those of us who can't always speaka-de-tecki-talk and I totally trust the info you give. One day, I hope to have the £ to buy one of ya MG t-shirts so if folks say to me "Who's that?" I can say "The Best Teckie Help Forum EVER!"

This is the first time I've 'properly' posted on here (way too timid normally), perhaps my ID should be GreyMouse!

Thankyou guys for ALL the help and advice you've given me :clap

 

More or less the same. I've lived and breathed P.C.'s since before they were even released. Oh yeah, I had the Altar as well. rolleyes. I think I'm member # 16, or something, here.

Before a lot of your times, but, check this out.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/08/28/the-first-pc-from-1965/

BTW:- I was only a kid then, too. I'm ood, but not that old, LoL!.