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Why free?  You shouldn’t have to pay for something that is so easy!

Hunter Greene may just be the closest thing to a country doctor. House calls are his bread and butter. But he’s no white-frocked MD with black bag and stethoscope in hand.

Rather, Greene’s world is filled with PCs and Macs and what ails them — infected hard drives, frazzled memory caches and virus-laden networks.

As the owner of the Williamstown-based Brainspiral Technologies, Greene has carved out a computer support and repair niche in Northern Berkshire County — a niche he believes dearly needed to be filled.

In his estimation there are few people who do house calls on computer or network repair issues in Williamstown, although calls to several computer repair services listed in the Berkshire telephone directory uncvovered several who do.

“Certainly not anyone who is devoting 100 percent to it,” he qualified.

To date Greene has more than 300 clients — with a fifth of those professors at Williams College, from which Greene graduated in 2001.

His clients range from teenagers to octogenarians. He also services network accounts for the Lanesborough and Hancock Elementary school system, as well as the Richmond Consolidated School district.

To hear Greene talk about what he does is to realize that he loves the house calls, if only because of the personal interaction they afford.

Since computers are clunky and not easily transported, most repairs take place at a client’s home. And because the repairs are often tricky and cannot be pigeonholed into a time frame, Greene only promises that he will be on time for his first call of the day.

Thereafter, all bets are off, and chances are he may be knocking on one of his client’s doors at mealtime.

“I tend to schedule appointments during meals with the eager anticipation of being invited to eat,” said Greene, with a naughty glint in his eye.

Although he admitted that his entrances into the many houses in Williamstown at mealtime are purely accidental, he confessed that many customers go out of their way to feed him.

“I have clients right now that invite me to dinner whether or not their computers need fixing,” he said, adding the quality of that food is almost always high.

How does a repairman ingratiate himself into the role of dinner guest?

“I have a lot of patience,” said Greene, who is so fond of his own computers that he has given them names like “Heidi” and “Hilda” and “Gwendolyn.” (And those are three of the 20 that he has sitting under his office desk.)

And, he added, “I’m quite personable and easy to get along with.”

More important, he listens to his clients.

Greene’s bedside manner has inspired such loyalty among his clientele that he has been flown to London twice by a former local customer to do computer and network installation and repair.

Running a computer and network repair company, as well as veering into Web site and graphic design is not the most obvious course for a classics major at Williams.

» If you need help SERVICES: Hunter Greene’s Brainspiral Technologies offers troubleshooting services for Apple Macintosh and Windows/PC as well as computer training, Web site creation, Web site hosting and Ebay auction management.

RATES: Average $55 an hour for residential customers; $65 to $100 an hour for corporate/educational customers.

CONTACT: Brainspiral Technologies; Box 709, Williamstown 01267. Tel. (413) 458-5755; Web site: www.brainspiral.com; e-mail: help@brainspiral.com.

OTHER RESOURCES:

But after working in the college’s Information Technology Department as a student, Greene became aware of two things that were to bode well for his business.

The first was his realization that professors have personal computer-repair issues that could not be serviced by the college, and second, that starting a computer and network repair business required little overhead — in Greene’s estimation close to zero.

And since he is a local — he grew up in Hancock and graduated from Mount Greylock Regional High School — he was already familiar with the community.

Among the most common reasons for a house visit is to treat a computer virus. For that, Greene has one age group to thank: Teenagers.

Teens, more than more than any other demographic, he said, are likely to download music, photos and movies. Embedded in those downloads are the dreaded spyware software that can turn a computer’s hard drive from a swift whir to a turtle-like crawl.

Greene cautions his clients on the hazards of downloads from peer-to-peer sites like Kazaa and e-mule. They invariably include hidden advertising software that will sit in a computer and do things like change the home page, create unwanted pop-ups or track every Web site visited.

He advises using open-source software like Aries Galaxy.

“Open-source software tends to be clean,” he said.

All told, the computer and network repair business is one that can overwhelm, he said.

“It’s very exhausting.” said Greene, who leaves his house early in the morning and finishes his rounds well into the evening.

Although doing such work has led him to feel he’s part of the community, he is looking to evolve his business into Web site and graphic design.

“Building Web sites is something I enjoy, it’s a great exercise for the mind,” Greene said.

And with the infiltration of Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” (the retailer’s computer-repair service arm), into the county, Greene thinks diversification is a wise move for him.

As a result it may very well be that Greene’s presence will become more and more scarce at the dinner tables and computer rooms of Williamstown.

This time, it seems, it may be he who offers the dinnertime invitations.

Photo: Hunter Greene maintains the computers at the Richmond Consolidated School as part of his routine of house calls. In photos below, he is installing updated computers in the school’s computer lab. Photos by Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff

WILLIAMSTOWN — The debate over whether to extend the town water main down Cold Spring Road has gone online, as the town prepares for a second special town meeting on the contentious issue Dec. 2. Residents with Internet access can use their time between Thanksgiving meals and holiday shopping to visit several Web sites that have popped up this past week with reams of primary source documents about the issue, along with a site to post comments on the issue.
Over the weekend, the town put online a page of files related to the project, after it was suggested at a recent Selectmen’s meeting that voters needed access to more information.

While the town site focuses on official documents, another one that went online yesterday morning includes opinions and comments from other sources as well. The site was set up by Bill Densmore, and is the product of a group of about 10 people called Williamstown Citizens for Informed Decisions.

Densmore described his group as “a fact-gathering group with a point of view,” which he said was “skepticism about the need for the water line and some lingering concerns about the process by which it has been advanced, and about its potential effect on the pace of development in South Williamstown.”

He said he is intrigued by the “process of discovery” the community is going through, and the way the debate has captured the town’s attention, with implications for matters as varied as education, health care, zoning, the environment, tourism and business.

“It wraps everything up into one decision,” he said. “And that’s why it is not an easy decision to make.”

Elsewhere in cyberspace, resident David Langston over the weekend created a community discussion forum on the water line. It includes relevant documents, as well as opportunities for users to post comments and pose questions. Langston is serving as site moderator, and it is being hosted by Williamstown-based Brainspiral Technologies, a computer services business run by Hunter Greene.

“With a second town meeting in front of us, I thought it might be useful to collect as many of the basic documents and attendant arguments in one place online so that people could look them up and offer opinions and ask further questions,” Langston wrote in the site’s welcome message.

The site is organized around major topics of the debate, and he admits it is being done “in a hurry and in our spare time,” so some relevant materials may not appear right away.

“The water line question is complex, and it has a number of interested parties and moving parts,” Langston wrote. “So if what you see here does not match your view of events, please be patient because we are building this boat while we sail it.”

Panel discussion on TV

Meanwhile, part of the discussion will be televised. Densmore and resident Daniel O’Connor have organized a live panel discussion on the issue for Monday, Nov. 29, on WilliNet, the local access channel. Viewers will be able to e-mail or phone in questions on the issue, which will last an hour and be rebroadcast several times before the meeting.

Former Town Moderator William Dudley will serve as panel moderator. The panel will include Tim Kaiser, Ralph Bradburd, Donald Dubendorf, Andy Hogeland and Thomas Jorling.

On the Web: town of Williamstown, at www.williamstown.net/csrwl.htm.

Williamstown Citizens for Informed Decisions, at www.newshare.com/williamstown

David Langston’s online forum, at http://forums.brainspiral.com

Christopher Marcisz can be reached at cmarcisz@berkshireeagle.com or at (413) 664-4995.

WILLIAMSTOWN – Hunter Greene, a recent Williams College graduate, has launched Brainspiral Technologies, a technical support company for home and business computer users. Brainspiral offers a wide array of computer services including hardware and software troubleshooting, network setups, website development and technical training. The company supports Macintosh and Windows platforms, as well as other server-grade systems.
Greene began Brainspiral after working for four years as a Williams College student technology consultant, where he was employed by the college to provide technical support for students in need.

Greene also worked for several summers as an intern in the Williams College network and systems department, where he received training in network installations, management and maintenance. He has provided home support to Williams College faculty and staff members for the past five years.

The company aims to fill a void in the community for in-home services. Greene makes house calls to the communities of the Northern Berkshires at no additional charge.

More information about the company’s offerings can be found on their Website: http://www.brainspiral.com. For additional information: phone at (413) 458-5755 or write help@brainspiral.com.