Before computers were found in nearly every home in America, they were household tools of play and learning for Georgetown resident Frank Glover. He now makes his living fixing them for other people.
"Not to brag, but there's not much about computers I don't know," he said. "I eat, sleep and breathe this. It's basically been spoon-fed to me."
Frank Glover says he can fix just about anything electronic at his new Geek Monkey repair shop in Ooltewah.He started "tinkering ... tak[ing] things apart and break[ing] them" at age 10 when he got a Commodore 64. In high school he started doing computer repair work. By the time he was a senior he was "so versed in it," more so than his computer programming teacher, that he taught the class, he said.
"Apparently [Mom] had the foresight to see that computers were going to be the way of the world; that everybody was going to have them," said Glover, who has now spent more than 18 years in business in the computer field. "My mother actually remortgaged the house just to get me an Apple IIGS one time."
Although he eventually "blew up" that computer, he has learned from his mistakes and from ITT Tech, where he got his degree in the late '90s. The service work he does for customers at his new Geek Monkey repair shop in Ooltewah is covered by a 90-day warranty, as are all the parts and components he sells.
"Lots of components in a computer have equal parts in a car. Just like a car they need maintenance, especially considering their environment," he said. "If you don't maintenance that periodically, it's a ticking time bomb until it quits."
Glover recommends laptops be serviced every month. Excessive slowness is an indicator that something more than just routine maintenance is needed, he said.
"The latest thing now is not so much what people call a virus anymore," he explained of the likely cause behind computer lagging. "What they do now is called botnet - they highjack your computer without your knowledge. It takes a little energy from all these computers to try and do something bigger and usually nefarious."
The software Glover uses to pinpoint such problems is updated hourly and "always up to date with whatever the latest and greatest is." Customers can track the status of their items' repairs through his website in real time. In addition to laptops and computers, Glover "can fix most all consumer electronics," from iPods to Segways to electronic signs.
"I can spend all day working on your computer and if I can't fix it, I won't charge you," he said, adding that he can clean out about 99 percent of viruses ... "but as always, there's no guarantee, because something new comes out as soon as you walk out the door."
He also doesn't charge an estimation fee for looking at computers in the first place.