About

My name is Dale Powell and I am the “Spyware Prevention Guy” and primary contributor to this website. I am a retired U.S. Navy Electronics Technician that ultimately evolved into a very experienced PC Technician.

After specializing in component-level repair of Naval HF/UHF Transceivers, Shipboard Satellite Communications and Digital Data Information Exchange Systems for nearly 2 decades, I got seriously interested in computers as a hobby. After the military, I went to work as a Test Technician in the Broadcast Division at Pinnacle Systems in Silicon Valley in 2000. Virtually all of Pinnacle’s equipment was computer based, so I was able to sharpen my computer skills and got formally certified with CompTIA. While most computer hardware troubleshooting these days entails glorified card-swapping, at Pinnacle, I used my Navy training to perform component level” repair and testing of Pinnacle’s Broadcast Digital Video Switcher, which consisted of 2 networked, Windows based special purpose computers. The price tag on one of these high-ticket gadgets could buy you a “couple hundred” average priced laptops at today’s prices. Of course I would not have been able to perform such repairs without Pinnacle’s deep-pockets since each workbench had to be equipped with tens-of-thousands of dollars of electronic test equipment. Many of these systems went on to be used in the live production of videos for groups such as Aerosmith and Tim McGraw, while others were used in TV Stations and Colleges.

Eventually, I got out of the game in Silicon Valley and moved my family to Hawaii. It was here in 2003 that I began to freelance as an IT Subcontractor, driving around the island of Oahu fixing every type of computer problem under the sun at peoples homes and small businesses. My military electronic troubleshooting background has never failed me and accelerated my experience to that of a seasoned PC Technician in one-third the time, which enabled me to open-up a full-service Computer Repair Shop in Waipahu in 2005.

What Did I Learn are the Root of Most People’s Computer Woes?

Since then, after personally repairing thousands and thousands of computers, I can say that the biggest problem people have with their computers are with virus and malicious software infections.  Sadly for many people, they often wait too long before they decide to get their sick computer professionally repaired and they just keep using it until it virtually becomes unusable or even suffers a hardware failure such as bad hard drive.

People get sold on buying a variety of programs they are told will protect them from these threats, but the cold truth is that there is no such product that exists and probably never will. Sure they help, but they tend to give people a false sense of security and they surf the internet with impunity. I think most people are finally figuring out that just because you have Norton or McAfee that you are still at risk. I get asked all the time about what can be done. There is no 5 minute lecture that I can give you. The usual tips you hear and read about are the “minimum requirements” for internet safety. The rest can be handled with a few freeware programs and more education or street smarts. This is where the SpywarePreventionGuy comes in.

Good News!

It is our goal to gradually educate you to prevent these problems all-together. We are preparing bite-size lessons tailored to 3 main learning methods to train you how to keep you computer from getting infected, as well as all the hassles that go along with having to get it repaired. So stay tuned for more content about spyware prevention.

1. Demonstration (online)
2. Audio (online)
3. Plain ‘ole Text

We hope you take advantage of our training, it has worked for us and I know it can work for you if you take the time to implement the powerful techniques we will show you.  Happy Computing…

Dale Powell
the spywarepreventionguy.com

If you swim with sharks, bring a dolphin…