Think twice about that iPad.

Hello everyone-

We’ve seen it far too often; we receive an iDevice (like an iPad, iPod or iPhone) come in for a repair or diagnosis only to find this screen upon boot up:

This is a screen shot from an iPhone that was deliberately erased by it’s owner; presumably because it was lost or stolen. As you can see, only the original owner with the original email address and password can active it.

This feature is a security measure in the newest releases of the iOS on Apple devices, and it is working…and before giving away or selling your iOS device, be sure to erase your content and settings (in Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings). When you erase your content, Find My iPhone and Activation Lock are also turned off.

If you hand over your phone to another person (especially if you sell it over the internet and ship it to them) but DON’T erase your content, you can still do it remotely. If your phone is “lost” and you don’t want a potential stranger to access your data, you can erase and “deactivate” the phone leaving it worthless to the new owner as shown above.

We know what this means when we see this upon boot up at our service lab; typically customers buy a phone second hand not knowing whether the phone has been deactivated and it usually ends up bad for the new purchaser.

Buyer beware: if you purchase a used phone and it’s running iOS7 or greater, make sure that the device has been removed from the original purchaser’s accounts or you may end up with an expensive paperweight or in the worst case a stolen device. No one wants that.

Anyway, I thought that this was worth talking about as we’ve seen too many customers end up sour about their purchase. I’ll also remind you that if it sounds good to be true, it probably is – but you already knew that!

Alrighty- have a great weekend and I may see you at our Mission location tomorrow as we are performing several upgrades to the tech area in the morning. Stop by and say hi!!

Take care, Ryan

What’s a virus? My Mac seems fine.

Hello friends-

I’ve been working with Mac desktops and laptops for many years now. In fact, my first Mac was a Mac SE (I actually had 4 of them to test floppy disk drives if you can imagine that) and have just fallen in love with the Macintosh line of computers ever since. I’ve owned just about every type of Mac system imaginable but I’ll admit that there were some lemons in there.

I currently use a 27″ iMac on my desk at my office and I carry a 13″ MacBook Air at home or when I travel.

I’m happy to report that in the 20 + years that I’ve been working with Macs- I’ve never gotten a virus in my software. Well, not one that I’ve ever noticed anyway.

I periodically read an informative blog (Macvirus) to see what others say about the security of the Mac, it’s operating system and what potential “holes” there are in the system…but there’s no denying that with all of the surfing on the internet that I’ve done, had I owned a Windows machine I would have most certainly had to upgrade my spyware/bloatware/antivirus/malware/whateverware software to keep me protected.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not bashing on Windows or any of the versions of Microsoft software. We use them everyday here at my business (Fedex systems for example); but the security and lack of possible viruses on the Mac operating system is enjoyable. We get computers in for virus removals every day here at Mission Repair – but the are NEVER Macs.

So without too much more discussion, you might want to take a look at a Mac for your home computer if you’re living with a clunky Windows system that can never seem to beat the virus. Take it from me, this is not a fantasy world that I’m living in, it’s reality. I just thought that I’d talk about it for a minute because I take the fact for granted- that I don’t have to think about virus issues on my systems.

If you’ve got a Mac virus, I’d like to hear about it…comment below!

Take care, Ryan

Fusion Drive Upgrades on Mac Laptops? Only at Mission Repair.

Hello everyone, it’s an exciting day here at Mission Repair, and we’re happy to bring you our brand new service for Mac Laptops that are in need of an amazing upgrade!

fu·sion

/ˈfyo͞oZHən/

Noun

The process or result of joining two or more thing together to form a single entity.

So what is a Mission Repair Fusion Drive Upgrade?

Our all new Fusion Drive Upgrade is the right way to upgrade your Mac Laptop. Fusion Drive is a breakthrough concept that combines the high storage capacity of a traditional hard drive with the high performance of flash storage. With Fusion Drive in your Mac Laptop, disk-intensive tasks — from booting up to launching apps to importing photos — are faster and more efficient. That’s because frequently used items are kept at the ready on speedy flash storage, while infrequently accessed items go to the hard drive. The file transfers take place in the background, so you won’t even notice. As the system learns how you work, Fusion Drive makes your Mac experience even better.

Q: I like the idea of an SSD in my computer. What model Solid State Drive do you install?

A: We love it too! We only use tried and tested components. In particular, we will install a 120GB Other World Computing Mercury Electra 6G SSD drive into your Fusion Drive Upgrade!

Q: What will happen to my data?

A: The short answer is nothing! The long answer is that we will make a clone of your data as it sits onto a temporary drive. We will then install the SSD drive with a custom drive mounting bracket, remove your optical drive (which you can have us install into an external enclosure if you’d like) and connect it to your existing hard disk drive. Our technicians will work their magic by creating the Fusion Drive and then reinstall your data and software. You’ll get your laptop back working as it did when it arrived. Just a lot faster and both drives work seamlessly together.

Q: What if I want to upgrade my hard drive at the same time?

A: Of course, this may be a perfect time to have your mass storage drive upgraded but it’s not necessary Just choose from the available options when checking out, and we’ll always send your original drive back to you. It’s yours, right?!?

Q:  Will it work in my machine?

A:  There are a few limitations.  Basically, we can upgrade any 13″ MacBook Unibody or 13″, 15″, 17″ MacBook Pro (not with Retina display) that is running OS 10.8 or higher.  We will remove your optical drive to make room for the new solid state drive but if you have any questions, please give us a call at 866-638-8402 before ordering!

So another first from Mission Repair, just as you’d expect. Again, give us a call if you have any questions, but we’re performing upgrades as we speak and customers are in love with their new found performance.

Take care, Ryan

The company picnic was a great time. We have some leftover pulled pork if you’re interested ;-)

Hello everyone, it’s been a heck of a Monday here at Mission Repair.

We had our company picnic this weekend and it was a blast. Most of our employees showed up for a fantastic catered BBQ dinner and coolers full of liquid refreshments. In addition, we held 7 events to keep the energy up. A fun one to watch was the “Tug O’ War” competition. We elected 2 team captains who then picked their teams from the willing employees and away they went. Yes that’s me with the whistle refereeing the “Tug”:

One of the other events was an individual hula hoop competition. Here’s Jake with a sampling of his skills. Yes, he’s going to come and ask me to remove this video from the Internet, but I’m not going to 😉

Overall it was an amazing day and we had a huge turnout of almost 50 people. The weather was perfect and it’s always a great time when you can get out of the office and get to know your fellow co-workers on a personal level. I know that I have personally grown from this experience; and maybe I learned just a little too much 😉

OK back to business, it’s 5:26pm and I still have a few hours of work left to accomplish. It’s crunch time and I have to get to work. Even though when I look at these video it feels like I’m back at the lake!

Take care, Ryan

13″ Macbook Repair? Yes, We Still Do That!

Hello M:R Nation –

The original Macbook is a timeless pieces of art. Its design and simplicity has paved the way for what you see today. It was well before it’s time and it show. When it first arrived in early 2006 and we started to offer services for it, I never envisioned receiving them on a daily basis for repair 7 years later. This truly shows you how timeless it really is. In a world of bigger, better and newer, the Macbook has stood the test of time and has continually provided enough power, speed and longevity to appease us technology crazed human being.

This is why we love Apple. The products they produce are so great, that people use them for years! I personally use a Blueberry iMac G3 for my Oregon Trail addiction and to keep track of my personal finances ;-). While that was a joke, it is not far fetched. The iMac G3 that I have in my office is running OSX 10.2 and still offers a good amount of computing fun. The original Macbook is no different. I would be comfortable running the entire business on it.

So, with that being said. What services do we currently offer for the Macbook? The same services we offered 7 years ago! Take a look at what those are below:

Yep, that is a big ol’ long list of services indeed. We offer each of these services with the care and speed that you expect. So please, keep those Macbooks up and running! There is no need to give up on them just yet.

Cheers, Troy