Extending Your User Base: Computer Repair

Story: How Linux Users Should React in a Windows WorldTotal Replies: 5
Author Content
jezuch

Jan 28, 2008
4:44 AM EDT
This is supposed to be an advantage of being "multi-lingual" in OS space. Yeah. If you want a glass of water, open the floodgates - you'll get much more drinking"opportunity" this way!
Sander_Marechal

Jan 28, 2008
6:32 AM EDT
Hehe. This is exactly why I always clain *not* to know Windows. So I can avoid repairing everyone's broken boxes.

It's not an outright lie though. I haven't seriously used Windows since Win98. But although WinXP and Vista are different from Win98 I can still find my way around them pretty well, and I still know a lot more about Windows than the average office drone.

The usualy way if fixing Windows problems still is "Reboot. Not fixed? uninstall and reinstall application. Not fixed? Uninstall and reinstall Windows." This hasn't changed since Windows 1.21 (I still have that one on two 5.25" floppies).
ColonelPanik

Jan 28, 2008
8:09 AM EDT
If you find a solution and become attached to it, the solution may become your next problem.

hkwint

Jan 28, 2008
8:29 AM EDT
Quoting:The usualy way if fixing Windows problems


You missed something, Windows has support these days! That means, whenever there is something that is broke, there is always some 'free/shareware tool' to fix it. Like Regcleaner, Windows Washer, Anti Spybot SD and so on. You download the demo-version which installs extra crap you don't need, and in no time half of your OS is full of software to manage the other half. If the half that manages the other half needs to be fixed, there's normally some app that does just that. Until the 30 days are over, than there's a problem - but none which Astalavista.box.sk can't fix, though it does introduce new problems. So new apps are needed to move the crap Astalavista puts on your box. After that, run anti-Spyware, anti-virus, BSO-Deamon, probably some root-kit detector these days, remove everything from the software list you don't need, look at the task manager to identify tasks you don't know and search for them on the net; kill if necessary, and you should be save.

Oh, I miss using Windows! Just spending 70% of the time to keep it running for the other 30% of the time.
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 28, 2008
9:57 AM EDT
Here's the problem with fixing people's Windows boxes: They usually don't have anything backed up, and if you did manage to get their user files backed up, do you spend countless hours trying to figure out what's horribly f'd up, or do you just do a reinstall of Windows?

And the reinstall is complicated by the fact that everybody's running pirated software to which they don't have the discs, and they'll lose their beloved MS Office that they shadowed for free from some friend or other ... not to mention Photoshop and all the rest of the junk they got the same way.
tuxchick

Jan 28, 2008
11:28 AM EDT
Wow, the cynicism is thick enough to cut into quivering squares like some kind of repulsive, smelly Jello. Talk about seeing the glass half-empty. Well, ok, 95% empty. But that's still 5% filled!

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