I want it out of my house...NOW! (1 Viewer)

DadsDream

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"My dad can fix it!"

Whoo-boy, here we go again...Daughter #4's boyfriend's mother's computer was running very slowly. Typical mass produced Wal Mart Compaq.

First up, SpyBot...1,600+ entries. You name it, she had it.

Next up, antivirus, or rather, lack of antivirus of any kind...make a note for her.

Next up, Windows Update...only running SP 1, not SP2...tried to update...invalid Volume License Agreement copy of XP Pro...tags on the machine say XP Home. Nice.

Next up, with a 40GB HD showing 34 GB of freespace, the files are 90% fragmented. How in the heck is this thing even running? What the...oh..I see the pattern. Several massive swaths of data got deleted, leaving bits and pieces of files scattered everywhere.

Not sure what swap-meet, garage sale or fly-by-night bargain discount car trunk she got this thing from. All I know is I called my daughter and said I want it out of my house...NOW!
 
LOL, you mean you can't fix that? ;)
 
IMO you should reformat it and install Umbuntu on it. That'll teach her a real lesson :D
 
I visited my cousins house last fall. I offered my assistance to clean up their HD. My uncle said it was running slow.

The HD was maxed out with mostly songs downloaded from limewire.

No anti-virus or spybot running. I AVG'd it and found several trojans. The scan took hours. They wanted to know what they could do for the future. "keep your girls off the computer"
 
people make a lot of money cleaning up problems like that. its probably the easiest (but most time consuming) thing that ive ever done when i fix computers on the side.

the amount of time it takes to clean a registry, malware, virii, fragments, etc. drives me insane though. i always start to lose patience and just bring the machine home and let it run while i do other things. unless the customer is a hot chick.
 
people make a lot of money cleaning up problems like that. its probably the easiest (but most time consuming) thing that ive ever done when i fix computers on the side.

the amount of time it takes to clean a registry, malware, virii, fragments, etc. drives me insane though. i always start to lose patience and just bring the machine home and let it run while i do other things. unless the customer is a hot chick.


I make some money doing that, but I break it down to two choices for my customers. I can spend all day cleaning their systems, or I can back up all thier data and just use the restore disks. A lot of times there are system errors other then just virii and spyware, as in when people try using windows restore points. It often makes more sense just to restore using the disks.
 
I make some money doing that, but I break it down to two choices for my customers. I can spend all day cleaning their systems, or I can back up all thier data and just use the restore disks. A lot of times there are system errors other then just virii and spyware, as in when people try using windows restore points. It often makes more sense just to restore using the disks.

yeah, same here. i usually back up data too, but sometimes customers dont want me to (kinda like when i do mechanic work and i say "i might as well change this rear seal while i am changing the clutch" and they say no, and call me 2 months later cause the seal is leaking)
 
I've run across the fly-by-night "computer expert" guy who did this before. His solution for everything is to wipe the drive and install XP Pro from a bootleg copy which he hasn't paid for.

He did this to a computer belonging to one of my co-workers. My co-worker's wife then came in and turned on Automatic Updates.

Yup, after a little while, sure enough, the dreaded Microsoft popups started.

"Please sign in to Windows Genuine Advantage."

Next came an Activation Key Notice and countdown.

After the countdown expired, he couldn't get past the splash screen without a notice that he was running a bogus copy and to contact Microsoft immediately.

He ended up following my instructions to order the restore discs and start over...exactly what he should have done in the first place.
 
I've run across the fly-by-night "computer expert" guy who did this before. His solution for everything is to wipe the drive and install XP Pro from a bootleg copy which he hasn't paid for.

He did this to a computer belonging to one of my co-workers. My co-worker's wife then came in and turned on Automatic Updates.

Yup, after a little while, sure enough, the dreaded Microsoft popups started.

"Please sign in to Windows Genuine Advantage."

Next came an Activation Key Notice and countdown.

After the countdown expired, he couldn't get past the splash screen without a notice that he was running a bogus copy and to contact Microsoft immediately.

He ended up following my instructions to order the restore discs and start over...exactly what he should have done in the first place.

there's the problem right there. you seem to pretty apt with a computer, forget the hired help and just use restore discs to do it yourself.
 
there's the problem right there. you seem to pretty apt with a computer, forget the hired help and just use restore discs to do it yourself.

I am apt. That's why people come crying to me after some idiot has completely screwed up their system. :ezbill:
 
I am apt. That's why people come crying to me after some idiot has completely screwed up their system. :ezbill:

oooh, i gotcha. they do the same to me. if im not getting calls to fix a PC, its a call to fix their car. i refuse both these days, i make too much money at my real job to spend my small amount of spare time "helpin a brother out"
 
I've gotten to the point I don't even tell people I know anything about computers.
I remember reading an article sometime ago that started off...."The average computer user is dumb as a brick", and after a brief moonlighting job at Office Depot an few years back I belive that with all my heart.
People just seem absolutely dumb founded that you can download a program of the internet for free and fix things........ yet they can find the latest slut-videos. Amazing. Copy and paste just blows their mind.
I try to explain to them, all it takes is a little effort, and their computer experience could be so much less frustrating.
 

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