what i have come to realize while fixing brother's girlfriend's computer

[plinden]

Pfft - even if you have a computer that's been well looked after, it can be a nightmare.

When I installed SP2 on my Dell, with registry errors (apparently a common problem with Dells), corrupted accounts and finally two attempts to wipe and reinstall (the first install got into some kind of error->failed install->automatic reboot cycle, with no way out short of pulling the power lead) it took me two days.

 

[jbernie]

Tell them to stop surfing porn sites to start with. Too many people going to too many untrusted websites and saying YES PLEASE to anything that comes up.

As to fixing it, the best fix is really to just wipe it and start over, as that doesn't seem to be the best option... it is many hours of hard work. What dotdotdot said is about the simplist way to do it.

First question when fixing: do you have anything on this computer that you need saved?

First statement: Treat your OS disks like they are $100 bills, they are worth a lot when it comes to fixing the stuff you broke.

Good luck! $50 total aint worth it but it is better than doing it for free... of the days of fixing printers at 2 or 3am in the morning to make sure someones assignment was ready to be handed in on time. Those were the days!

JB

free anti virus check: http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

 

[Clix Pix]

I can't believe how incredibly ugly PC laptops are now in comparison to Apple's.

Amen to that! Back in October, the first time i walked into the Apple store to see what kind of new machine a friend had just bought, I looked at everything: iMacs, PMs, iBooks, PBs, and thought, "gee, aren't they pretty?" I stared at the simplicity of the PB and then took a stab at figuring out the strange new OS. Left the store thinking about how pretty the new iMac is and how sleekly elegant the PBs are.... A couple days later I was back at the same shopping center and, gee, found myself in the Apple store again -- just wanted another look. A day or so after that, I was in Microcenter and by this time I was already beginning to think in terms of possibly adding a Mac to my own life, but was still very much on the fence. I walked around the store's display of their PC desktops. Ehhh...boring. Then I took a stroll over to the section where they have all their notebook computers. I looked at a few of them for a minute and thought, "gads, aren't they ugly!" and frowned at the stickers gummed all over them and the buttons and gewgaws. I immediately turned away and headed to the section in the store where they have their Apple stuff. Sat down at a sleek PB and bllissfully undisturbed by anyone, played with the strange new OS until all of a sudden it didn't seem all that strange any more and I was beginning to realize that it was quite an elegantly simple way to work on a computer.....

I think it was the next day when the announcement of the Rev C iMac was made and my first, gut-level thought was, "but I really like the Rev B, I want one of those!" That did it..... I headed out to the Apple store and snagged me a Rev B iMac. Figured that this was a good introduction to the Mac and that if I didn't like it, well....

Yeah, well, I liked it so much -- LOVED it so much -- that not long afterward I found myself ordering a shiny, sleek PB.... When I'm traveling I want a Mac with me. I'm hooked. Totally, completely hooked....

Yeah, those PC notebooks are ugly as sin, and to top it off they're burdened with Windoze....

OTB

 

[kainjow]

Tell them to stop surfing porn sites to start with. Too many people going to too many untrusted websites and saying YES PLEASE to anything that comes up.

I agree. A few of my friends visit p0rn sites and other crap, and they end up with so much spyware/adware, it's ridiculous.

First statement: Treat your OS disks like they are $100 bills, they are worth a lot when it comes to fixing the stuff you broke.

I can't get some of my friends to understand this. They should be treated more like gold coins. Windows CDs, in my opinion, are almost more valuable then the hardware itself.

When I'm fixing PCs, I first and foremost run msconfig and remove almost all startup items. Then reboot, run AVG, etc. Reinstalling is the last option in my book. You're not really fixing it. I like to fix them the "real" way and learn how to do it without resorting to reformatting. However, if I was running my own pc repair company, I would almost always reformat since it's a huge time saver. But I'm curious and like to figure out how to actually fix the problems

 

[yojitani]

Love this thread. I'm in the same position - family and friend tech guy - and no matter how hard I try no one will buy a mac. I think the sentiment some of you are expressing is spot on: If you buy a PC again, I won't fix it for you. Unfortunately, before my wife got a chance to try out a mac she decided to spend $2,500 on a Toshiba POS laptop. The thing died just after warranty and we've been trying to get it repaired ever since. Funny thing is that once it died she started using OSX on an old hand-me-down imac DV (tangerine!) and now wants to fix the toshiba, flog it on ebay, and get a mac. Finally!

At any rate, I keep my old copy of XP Pro for emergencies like the one described at the beginning of this thread.

My little sister is another story - about to go to Dell hell... oh well

YOJ

 

[yellow]

Microsoft should be commended by employing so many people to deal with these kinds of issues...

 

[jbernie]

However, if I was running my own pc repair company, I would almost always reformat since it's a huge time saver. But I'm curious and like to figure out how to actually fix the problems

I love finding out why things don't work, but there is a need to balance time spent being curious and time spent actually fixing I think in this case for the limited payment and the not so unique problem the less time being curious the better.

 

[Les Kern]

Been there, done that. But no longer. If it can't pass my 15-minute rule it gets reformatted. Period. Life's too damn short for THAT crap. Don't have backups? I cry not.
Long live Apple, and may Windows users reap their just rewards while I laugh my way to productivity.

 

[Les Kern]

My sentiments exactly.

As for me... this way I have got my dad, my mum and my grandma to switch, just by telling them they'd have to look somewhere else for tech support.

Smart.
I spent 2 DAYS on my 80-year old step dad's pile of junk but brand spanking new HP. TWO DAYS. Fixed it, two weeks later it was hosed again. Thankfully I live 700 miles from home. SO, SO LUCKY. (Contradiction from above, you say? How could I have refused help? At work it's a different story... and not my family) My brother in law told him he should get a PC and not a Mac. No matter that I have 20 years of experience.... But will my brother in law go up and help him? OF COURSE NOT! Just HAD to be the smart one and send yet another kind person reeling into digital hell.
Moral: If you see an idiot trying to convince ANYONE to buy a PC, beat them to death with a hammer.

 

[ATD]

I just don't help people with their PCs any more... ever.

And I take particular pleasure from refusing to help people who once asked me what kind of computer to get and pooh-poohed getting a Mac.

Seriously, helping people like that is making a rod for your own back.

I'm not trying to be mean, but Jesus, I've got better things to do than rescue people who've ignored my advice.

Good ones!

 

[g^3]

I guess I've been one of the lucky ones. My mom uses a PC that I built while in highschool and there have been absolutley no problems since I left home, which was 4yrs ago. The PC has MS 2000 on it and not XP, are they no longer making spyware and viruses for this OS or are we incredibly lucky.

btw she uses a superlight Toshiba laptop for work, I wish Apple would make one of those superlight lappys without an optical drive, on the go I wouldn't mind not having an optical drive.

 

[Megatron]

I guess I've been one of the lucky ones. My mom uses a PC that I built while in highschool and there have been absolutley no problems since I left home, which was 4yrs ago.

I think that scenario is more common than this thread makes it out to be.

Running windows is not an immediate guarentee that you will get viruses and spyware. Many people run windows just fine with no problems.

 

[deputy_doofy]

I agree with this whole thread. People in my work always bug me about what's wrong with their "home computer."
1) It's Windows.
2) How do I know the problem? That's like calling your mechanic and saying: What's wrong with my car? The check engine light in on? C'mon, you see that light all the time. Just tell me the problem... and how to fix it.

It's just a regular occurence. I have offered to assist people to some extent, but I'm not a very patient person. The way I see it is this:
Laugh all you want at the fact that I bought a Mac. My Mac, 5 years later, will still be running faster than your 6GHz dual-core Dell, that uses all its resources to run its viruses and spyware as fast as possible.

Man, now you got me in rant mode...

Moral: If you see an idiot trying to convince ANYONE to buy a PC, beat them to death with a hammer.

Hee hee.

Long live Apple, and may Windows users reap their just rewards while I laugh my way to productivity.

Exactly!

 

[Diatribe]

Smart.
I spent 2 DAYS on my 80-year old step dad's pile of junk but brand spanking new HP. TWO DAYS. Fixed it, two weeks later it was hosed again. Thankfully I live 700 miles from home. SO, SO LUCKY. (Contradiction from above, you say? How could I have refused help? At work it's a different story... and not my family) My brother in law told him he should get a PC and not a Mac. No matter that I have 20 years of experience.... But will my brother in law go up and help him? OF COURSE NOT! Just HAD to be the smart one and send yet another kind person reeling into digital hell.
Moral: If you see an idiot trying to convince ANYONE to buy a PC, beat them to death with a hammer.

Yeah, I just got really tired of fixing stuff for other people, especially when I was in college. So I tell everyone that if they get a Mac I'll help them but not anymore with the Windows piece of junk, at least not without taking money for it... works like a charm. I'd never help people that refused my help when I told them to get a Mac but suddenly want it when there are problems with Windows... I can feel your pain.
And yes... just beat them with a baseball bat, force helps

 

[nbs2]

...Then I took a stroll over to the section where they have all their notebook computers. I looked at a few of them for a minute and thought, "gads, aren't they ugly!" and frowned at the stickers gummed all over them and the buttons and gewgaws. I immediately turned away and headed to the section in the store where they have their Apple stuff. Sat down at a sleek PB and bllissfully undisturbed by anyone, played with the strange new OS until all of a sudden it didn't seem all that strange any more and I was beginning to realize that it was quite an elegantly simple way to work on a computer.....
Yeah, those PC notebooks are ugly as sin, and to top it off they're burdened with Windoze....

That echos a lot of my feelings, only I was lucky enough to have roommates at the time with PBs, so I had my own little Apple Store at home. After the way I lambasted Macs when we first met, I'm impressed they let me play with their computers.

By the way, gewgaw will now enter my permanent vocabulary. That is just a cool word, especially with the mysterious origins and all.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I recently put XP SP2 on a cobbled together Dell Precision PIII 500....everything went pretty well by Windows standards, but it was a pain in the butt to make the bios happy with all the drives I threw in it (using both the SCSI and IDE busses for a DVD-R and a couple smallish HDs), and installing a Belkin WiFi card was not the best experience of my life.

I have totally avoided the internet, even activated by phone. I got the Wifi so I can use my LaserJet that lives in another room. I runs pretty good now that I have averything together.

All in all, it was a PITA even though I did everything by the book.

 

[Clix Pix]

Running windows is not an immediate guarentee that you will get viruses and spyware. Many people run windows just fine with no problems.

Very true.... Common sense and up-to-date virus scan programs can keep a Windoze machine relatively safe. I have only had one incident of a virus in all the years that I used Windoze machines. I always look at the subject headers of emails, I always look at the names of attached files. If something looks suspicious, I don't open it. I've been known to write an email to someone and ask them if they had just sent me an email with such-and-such an attachment. One time a friend sent an email in which the subject header sounded suspicious and totally unlike her but in fact it was an OK, legit email and the attachment was OK, too, but I wasn't taking chances on opening it until I had verified things with her.

The one incident I had was when I tried to use an old WIN 95 laptop, forgetting that virus protection was no longer supported on that machine. I had just turned it on and instead of doing what I'd planned, looking for a particular file, decided to just quickly check my email while I had it on. Fortunately the thing was not connected to my network, I had to dial up for an internet connection. I was in the midst of reading something in email when suddenly I was bombarded with all of these emails notifying me that my email could not be sent, etc.... I thought, "huh? WHAT email? I haven't written or sent anything!" THEN the light dawned. Oh, the machine had just become infested with a virus of some sort! I was able to clean it out with Trend Micro, thankfully, realizing that I would no longer be able to use that machine on the internet. Fortunately, because it was such an old machine, most of the email addresses in the addressbook were no longer valid anyway, and of course those whose addresses were valid had virus scanning programs. This was two or three years ago.

Common sense does go a long way, though, in protecting one's Windows computer, because of course even the best virus scan programs can't always immediately snag a new virus before it's begun to proliferate.

OTB

 

[w_parietti22]

Yeah... I have simalar problems with my family's PC.... Its got some sort of virus that you cant delete unless you clear the HD... also, we have a bunch of data on there that will take ages to back up....

 

[Applespider]

I guess I've been one of the lucky ones. My mom uses a PC that I built while in highschool and there have been absolutley no problems since I left home, which was 4yrs ago.

You sure she's still using it as much? 18 months ago, I'd have said the same thing about my mother's PC. She'd had it 3 years or so, Win 98SE. I'd put virus updaters etc on it for her and as far as I knew, she had no problems (aside from not being great at remembering to update the virus protection!)

Then, I was home for a more extended visit and noticed that she barely used the PC. Just went on and sent a couple of emails every few days at most. Why wasn't she using it more? Ah well, because it was slow, and weird things sometimes popped up and it was more trouble than it was worth. It was quicker to pick up the phone etc.

Now she has an iBook with a wireless network which she uses every day.

And yes, it is possible to keep a Windows system free of viruses and spyware. The trouble is that the majority of consumers don't know how to; I read an article earlier today which suggested that 70% of them don't bother since the odd pop-up doesn't really worry them. Apparently most of them also don't know about keyloggers or that their personal information could be being shared.

 

[emmawu]

I have made it my mission in life to be Windows illiterate. My family complains about viruses and spyware all the time and spends hours updating their security systems. They continue to say Macs are toys. What can I say, I like playing with toys, especially when they work all the time.

 

[yojitani]

Running windows is not an immediate guarentee that you will get viruses and spyware. Many people run windows just fine with no problems.

No, but it is a guarantee that you'll waste hours and hours (days even) taking care of viruses and spyware, installing network cards, connecting to a network (or getting the machine to recognise the mac on the network ), repairing the registry, etc.

I dropped windoze because I was tired of fixing the computer. XP was certainly better, but still required way too much maintenence. The problem is that when it's running fine - great - but when something goes wrong, forget the rest of the day. The longest I've spent fixing or setting up something on my mac is about 60 mins - and that was because I didn't follow the instructions.

 

[mrzeve]

Most windows problems come from peoples own use and sheer ignorance of what they are doing.

Ive had my windows laptop (which gets used alot for coding) for about 2 years now and to this day have not had a virus or any spyware. People are to lazy to update definitions, turn their firewalls on (or download one) and just be plain smart.

My Dell 1.6ghz P4 runs faster then almost every 2.0+ghz w/ 1gig of ram machine I use at offices or at peoples houses. Its really sad

But yeah my family would always call me and make me go fix their computers. So I got really tired and sick of it and everyone is using a Mac now (about 5 converts so far).

And whenever there was a problem I would never try "solving" it, I would just format the drive and reinstall and get the updates. I mean, what do I look like, someone whos not lazy?

 

[Thomas Veil]

Running windows is not an immediate guarentee that you will get viruses and spyware. Many people run windows just fine with no problems.

Yeah, and I know how they do it: they just don't connect to the internet!