Community computer clinic services 100-plus machines
Forsyth Tech photo
Forsyth Technical Community College’s Computer Technology students workedon multiple computers simultaneously to keep up with demand during the college’sfirst-ever free community Computer Diagnostic Clinic on March 18.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Forsyth Technical Community College’s first-ever Computer Diagnostic Clinic that was held earlier in March is being called a huge success. In the five hours the free clinic was open, more than 100 people brought their PCs, Macs and laptops to the Technology Building on the college’s Main Campus.
Nearly 40 computer technology faculty and students diagnosed and fixed problems, including minor repairs, virus and spam removal and file system clean up.
“This event exceeded our expectations – we were bombarded,” said Deanne Wesley, department chair, iTEC Davis Center and instructor, Information System Security. “People were lined up at our door before we opened and came from as far away as Hickory, Pilot Mountain and Mt. Airy to participate. We’re definitely going to offer this clinic again.”
Gerald Kearns, program coordinator, Computer Information Technology, said, “The most popular problem we addressed was virus removal. In fact, one student worked on a computer that contained 3,221 viruses! Another student found an ‘underground’ website on a family computer where you can buy illegal credit cards. We informed the family immediately –they had no idea it was there.”
On average, students and faculty spent 20 to 30 minutes on each computer. While computers were being serviced, Forsyth Tech faculty held mini workshops for participants, addressing topics such as password recovery, how to create a mobile app and how to create Avatars.
“One participant told me, ‘We got free computer repair and we learned something while we were here – it doesn’t get better than that!,’” Wesley said. “Many participants told us our customer service was impeccable. We are so proud of our students for how hard they worked. It was a perfect learning environment for them to practice their skills.”
As a result of the popularity of this first computer clinic, the college has decided to offer two clinics per year—in the spring and fall. A fall 2016 date has not yet been set.
