Jumpshot autofixes common PC issues, liberates you from tech support

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
Staff

Tired of being your family's volunteer tech support hotline? A new Kickstarter project could lift some of the burden off your shoulders by making it stupidly easy for inexperienced PC users to perform common maintenance and repairs.

Described as a "fully automated solution for solving PC frustration," Jumpshot can eradicate bloatware, viruses and other nasties, optimize software security and performance, analyze a storage drive and delete unwanted data, examine hardware to detect failing parts, identify unsecure Wi-Fi connections, measure Internet bandwidth and more.

The goal is to make things as hands-off as possible. There's nothing to install or uninstall. The software runs in a custom Linux environment outside Windows and although you can boot into it manually, the creators tout a "patent-pending" solution that makes a one-time modification to Windows' bootloader allowing a machine to enter Jumpshot upon rebooting without touching the BIOS.

From there, Jumpshot loads the necessary drivers, connects to the Internet for an engine update and starts working its voodoo. It could be a misunderstanding, but a diagram on Kickstarter seems to suggest the Linux environment will include a Web browser to keep you occupied during the cleaning. Once the process is complete, the application offers an easy-to-follow report and reboots into Windows.

The creators aren't sure how to sell the final product, as the software can run from the Web or off local media, making various distribution methods possible. They want your feedback on how to charge for Jumpshot as a service. For now, if you pledge enough, you'll get an early access download as well as a preconfigured novelty USB drive such as Sir Jeffrey, who dons a monocle and a top hat, Officer Pete and a ninja named Kobayashi. Other characters and their roles are listed on Kickstarter and some of them are being used as pledge rewards on shirts, stickers and tattoos.

As of writing, 209 backers have pledged $11,316, covering nearly half of the project's $25,000 goal with 58 days to go. Pledging $5 gets you the aforementioned stickers and tattoos, $25 adds a t-shirt, $30 gets you an 8GB USB drive of your choosing and early access to the software before the device ships, and $50 upgrades you to a 32GB drive. Spend $10,000 and you'll get five of each 32GB USB stick (15 sticks), five of each shirt (10 shirts), your own Jumpshot character, top credit on the company's site and a night on the town with the founders if you're near Austin, Texas.

If the project is successful, the developers have various ideas for new features, depending on what customers want:

  • Rate my setup: How does your hardware stack up to the average? How about your network speed? Would you like a suggestion on a small hardware upgrade that could go a long way?
  • Software updates: Locating the proper updates can be a pain and typically require multiple reboots. We can handle this automatically during sedation (I.e. upgrading browser plugins, Window patches, etc.).
  • Network insights: What devices are on your network? Is your neighbor on your WiFi? Want us to automatically tune your WiFi router for maximum performance?
  • Social network protection: Privacy policies change regularly on Facebook, etc. and can be confusing. Want us to manage this for you?

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screw that, many techies makes alot of money from this simple tasks. its an application that is going to have an impact on all technicians if successful . its not that the market will die, just that the amount of techies a company will hire will be less, because they only work on mid-big problems. and lets face it the tech support market is quite over crowded already.

small problems have their merits.

and I know we have similar tools already, but common users dont know how to use them. so they call a techie and in the end of they day, the techie gets a meal and so does the person who called tech support.

then again I am in programming, not going to impact me. but I know many people will be impacted by this nonetheless.
 
Working in the field my whole life, I don't "dread" being the family IT guy, because I know what I'm doing, and I also know that I'm saving them from wasting their time going to WeakSquad and wasting $200 for them to look at their computer. What's this program? Another waste of their money. "Delete unwanted files" and what happens when one of those deleted files was actually wanted? Microsoft failed at nearly every "auto troubleshooter" that they came out with...yet this company that is only calling for $25,000 of funding thinks they can save the world? It'll be nothing more than a hype amongst the same business owners and computer users who think they're decision overall will save them time and money.

Okay, say they somehow DO make the software work (Highly doubt that, IMO); as implied by a previous commenter, the job market impact for entry level technicians will drop like a rock. At what point do we stop letting a small group of greedy people create products that massacre the job market while filling the pockets of only a few.

They might as well be bought out and have the concept thrown away by the government to save them self the unemployment impact (Again...if successful).

& To comment the person that said the "Tech support market is overcrowded" no, the uncertified and improperly trained mass of people who call themselves tech support is overcrowded. Many techs are simply the employee that "inherited" the role. Don't get me wrong though, some are very knowledgeable even without a minute of proper educating in the field, but I work support for over 10 mid-size businesses, totalling over 300 people.

They should just implement the software for Macs only(Insert Apple Fan-boy Rebuttal Here), that way I'm not stuck with the ramifications of it's actions.
 
Working in the field my whole life, I don't "dread" being the family IT guy, because I know what I'm doing, and I also know that I'm saving them from wasting their time going to WeakSquad and wasting $200 for them to look at their computer. What's this program? Another waste of their money. "Delete unwanted files" and what happens when one of those deleted files was actually wanted? Microsoft failed at nearly every "auto troubleshooter" that they came out with...yet this company that is only calling for $25,000 of funding thinks they can save the world? It'll be nothing more than a hype amongst the same business owners and computer users who think they're decision overall will save them time and money.

Okay, say they somehow DO make the software work (Highly doubt that, IMO); as implied by a previous commenter, the job market impact for entry level technicians will drop like a rock. At what point do we stop letting a small group of greedy people create products that massacre the job market while filling the pockets of only a few.

They might as well be bought out and have the concept thrown away by the government to save them self the unemployment impact (Again...if successful).

& To comment the person that said the "Tech support market is overcrowded" no, the uncertified and improperly trained mass of people who call themselves tech support is overcrowded. Many techs are simply the employee that "inherited" the role. Don't get me wrong though, some are very knowledgeable even without a minute of proper educating in the field, but I work support for over 10 mid-size businesses, totalling over 300 people.

They should just implement the software for Macs only(Insert Apple Fan-boy Rebuttal Here), that way I'm not stuck with the ramifications of it's actions.

No offense, but your post sounds as if a global crisis is going to come about because of this software. It's probably not that serious or your posts makes you seem like you're taking it too serious.

I don't see how this software will work and work well without potentially screwing things up at least a bit. So many variables to look at. Besides that, this isn't the first time someone has tried to make an all in one fix it solution for PC's.
 
Sounds great for box A using windows B service pack C. But fixing all problems on all systems on all hardware setups?

I'm doubtful.

Most IT professionals have mental checklists which perhaps can be sorted through with this software, but how many times do we have to answer that question "Was this the solution to your Problem?" with a NO, before we can get to the YES.
 
This is old news. Microsoft and PC manufactures are already including several automated services that will restore your computer to a working state. These tools are also easily implemented and understood by even the most novice user, e.g., my Dad.

The most effective repair tool is one, IMO, which will restore the original image and save the data to a restore folder, "c:\mybackup.$date."


Windows 7 has a great restore/repair utility. Even Walmart many years ago selling the infamous, the name is eluding me, but it has a very nice PC restore tool that works like a charm.

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The only people that should be worried should be those crooks that turn something simple into a total computer overhaul because of an uneducated customer. They have a special place for those guys anyway...Best Buy.
 
[LEFT]*Same user that posted the irregularly long reply*[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Your post is similar to your name my good sir! [/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I mentioned the huge doubt of success, an opinion of what would happen if it did succeed, how if it did indeed displace a good 10,000 entry-level techs out of a job over the lifespan of it's implementation; the government would technically lose money through unemployment. [/LEFT]
 
Good for them, if their product is good I hope they make a boatload of money. As a tech though, I'm not concerned about a piece of software replacing me at all. If you're nervous about that, you need to sharpen up your skills in salesmanship.

As someone else mentioned, most auto-troubleshooters are garbage, but I've seen a few that were on the right track. Time will tell which type this program is.
 
No offense, but your post sounds as if a global crisis is going to come about because of this software. It's probably not that serious or your posts makes you seem like you're taking it too serious.

I don't see how this software will work and work well without potentially screwing things up at least a bit. So many variables to look at. Besides that, this isn't the first time someone has tried to make an all in one fix it solution for PC's.

I remember a product waaayy back in the 90's called "oil change" by cyber-something or other that said it could do this. If I had not purchased that product, I wouldn't be the Tech I am today. It screwed my system every time I used it!
 
Dont see how this will be any diffrent to ausloigics, norton system works ect. Most of which have a " One button repair" feature anyway.
 
Doing a little research, seems to me that some differences from current products include:

- Cloud based
- Both founders seem to have credibility. Googling them yielded that both have worked high level security jobs with the DOD, MIT, 3com and so on.
- Local company (for me, but Austin pride has to county for something!)

I'm skeptical but curious to try it.
 
[FONT=Helvetica]Quote: "At what point do we stop letting a small group of greedy people create products that massacre the job market while filling the pockets of only a few."[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]This is the one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read on the entire internet.[/FONT]
 
''Oh please don't invent the tire, the cartwheel repairers will be out of work'' <= Invalid argument.
 
There's no way this things going to replace a Tech. This is about as good as running a random viruse scanner on your computer. Unless this thing can do a fresh install of an OS it isn't going to be replacing anyone anytime soon.
 
I see more damage than good coming of this program. There have been many of these so-called "system optimizers" over the years, and they more often than not cause problems rather than fix them.
 
At what point do we stop letting a small group of greedy people create products that massacre the job market while filling the pockets of only a few.

They might as well be bought out and have the concept thrown away by the government to save them self the unemployment impact (Again...if successful).

Every job becomes obsolete. I doubt this is the program that makes entry level tech support obsolete, but eventually there will be one. That's a good thing. My grandfather worked on mechanical cash registers his whole life. It's a great thing that we now have much better computerized cash registers. The Highway system made passenger trains less useful. EVERY freaking advancement humankind has ever made left someone without a job. Deal with it.
 
I see job security.:)
All the clients that use this will need a real tech to fix their now broken computer.
I expect his tool suite to work as good as all of the other registry and duplicate file cleaners already on the market.
 
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