Some people and their computers... [Archive]

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Kuikorosu

10-20-2003, 05:57 PM

I had to do some computer work for someone's grandmother, and her computer was a total disaster. Not physically, but the sort of disaster that rises when someone has three instant messengers pop up, and whose computer is so addled with crap that it runs at a crawl.

I'm thinking of offering to clean out her computer out for $40. I don't know how she lives with it. Argh. <img src=smilies/eek13.gif>

She wants one thing fixed, but that's hard to do because there's so much that's fundamentally wrong with it.


<hr>
<DSP_> if i ever have sex with an anime dweeb
<DSP_> she's getting it in the butt
<DSP_> for sure

thegodofhellfire

10-20-2003, 06:23 PM

> I'm thinking of offering to clean out her computer out for
> $40. I don't know how she lives with it. Argh.

Haha, $40? It's only about 2 hours actual work, although admittedly there might be a good bit of updating, etc to do, which might be a few hours downloading. But still, if you think you can make that much, well done. If only I'd thought to charge my dear old Dad that every time I had to clean it up. Typical conversation:

Me: "Hi Dad, how's it going?"

Dad: "Great! I just got this really smart program. It's this monkey who reads my emails out and stuff. It's called Bonzi Buddy or something."

Me: (cry)

fairykiller

10-20-2003, 06:40 PM

> Dad: "Great! I just got this really smart program. It's this
> monkey who reads my emails out and stuff. It's called Bonzi
> Buddy or something."

<img src=smilies/laff.gif>

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/sfa/lld_logo02.jpg

Kuikorosu

10-20-2003, 06:53 PM

> Haha, $40? It's only about 2 hours actual work, although
> admittedly there might be a good bit of updating

Try "a never updated, spyware and probably virus infested hole with hordes of redundant and suspicious programs running."

She has never installed a single driver update, or an MS critical update. Furthermore, her virus scanner is completely outdated. Just to accentuate her computer skills, she just switched back from Verizon DSL to AOL dial-up, because "she didn't want to pay the 34.99 a month for it." Despite the fact that it's a mere $15 more.

Her 1.1 ghz computer feels like it runs around 300 - 500 mhz. <img src=smilies/eek13.gif>


<hr>
<DSP_> if i ever have sex with an anime dweeb
<DSP_> she's getting it in the butt
<DSP_> for sure

thegodofhellfire

10-20-2003, 07:07 PM

Good GOD, the humanity!

Call me lazy, but I'd just back all vital documents, etc, and go for a clean install. Or are you going to try to machete that crap out of there?

Kuikorosu

10-20-2003, 07:15 PM

> Call me lazy, but I'd just back all vital documents, etc,
> and go for a clean install. Or are you going to try to
> machete that crap out of there?

I'd probably start out by installing those critical updates and driver updates that she's already missed. Then I'd run an updated Ad-Aware, then I'd uninstall her outdated Norton antivirus and install AVG, and scan for viruses.

After that, I'd use a handy tool called Xsetup to tweak and slash out any programs that I don't want to run with the computer, and see how it goes from there.


<hr>
<DSP_> if i ever have sex with an anime dweeb
<DSP_> she's getting it in the butt
<DSP_> for sure

thegodofhellfire

10-20-2003, 07:22 PM

> After that, I'd use a handy tool called Xsetup to tweak and
> slash out any programs that I don't want to run with the
> computer, and see how it goes from there.

Xsetup? Never heard of it. Sounds like it could be of some use, though. Might look it up at some point.

But speaking more generally about messy computers, you know what I hate seeing? MP3s with non-standardised names. Can't stand it. My PC's so neat, in terms of directory organisation. I'm like that dude in Sleeping With The Enemy. It's really quite freaky.

mFC

10-20-2003, 07:22 PM

whenever i fix someones computer, almost always a reformat... the stuff they do that messes the whole dealie up isn't worth the extra effort imo. most of the time they're alright with it, caught up in the desparation to have a working machine.

Chris

I made a sound
and it faded
/personal/mfc.gif

Kuikorosu

10-20-2003, 08:45 PM

> Xsetup? Never heard of it. Sounds like it could be of some
> use, though. Might look it up at some point.

You can get it http://www.xteq.com/here</a>. It's freeware.

> My PC's so neat, in terms of directory organisation.

Yeah, I'm like that too. I HATE it when things try to install to the root of my drive, instead of installing to X:\Program Files\Whatever. It makes it look very ugly, and hurts the overall organization.

edit - Changed the forward slashes to backslashes in the directory. Linux habits DO die hard.

<hr>
<DSP_> if i ever have sex with an anime dweeb
<DSP_> she's getting it in the butt
<DSP_> for sure
Edited by Kuikorosu on 10/20/03 04:48 PM.