having to keep 'fixing friends PC, would you??
Discussion
This winds me up just reading it as I have exactly the same problems.
It's amazing how many people assume that to fix a PC problem only takes a few minutes as I very rarely ever get offered any money for the countless hours I spend removing viruses and adware/spyware etc.
The I.T. profession seems to be the only profession though where this happens. If you were mechanic and someone asked you to have a quick look at their dodgy brakes, they would always assume that you would charge them to do it, but fix their PC and you don't even get a Bottle of Vino for your troubles.
As suggested I would rebuild the PC, Ghost it and put it on a bootable CD so that they can rebuild it themeselves if they f
k it up again!
>> Edited by midgster on Tuesday 21st December 16:27
It's amazing how many people assume that to fix a PC problem only takes a few minutes as I very rarely ever get offered any money for the countless hours I spend removing viruses and adware/spyware etc.
The I.T. profession seems to be the only profession though where this happens. If you were mechanic and someone asked you to have a quick look at their dodgy brakes, they would always assume that you would charge them to do it, but fix their PC and you don't even get a Bottle of Vino for your troubles.
As suggested I would rebuild the PC, Ghost it and put it on a bootable CD so that they can rebuild it themeselves if they f
k it up again! >> Edited by midgster on Tuesday 21st December 16:27
LOL,, cheers very much guys, it is really comforting to know that I'm not the only one! They are picking up their PC tomorrow, and I WIL NOT be touching it again, to give you some idea of what I did for them at the price, here's the spec;
Asus A7N8X motherboard
XP 2500+ Barton CPU, clock to XP3200+ speed, in sync with memory. plus coolermaster variable CPU cooler
2x256MB of DDR400 memory
Radeon 9600 graphics card with 256MB of memory
80GB Maxtor HDD@ 7200 rpm with 8MB cache
400W PSU, fans etc
Good case
Soundblaster sound card
5.1 Creative speakers
Keyboard/mouse
17" monitor
Windows XP OS
plus countless 'goodies' for software so they wouldn't need anything else,
I even loaded a couple of games on it for them to borrow, when Chan asked for them back the other night, they seemed peeved about it,, they've had them almost a bloody year!!
I testbenched the PC for a good few days before I handed it over to them, tested every program, even got very good benchmark scores (testing for the PC's stability)
Now, how much would it have cost them for such a service anywhere else, and 3 major callouts for problems of their own doing???
Asus A7N8X motherboard
XP 2500+ Barton CPU, clock to XP3200+ speed, in sync with memory. plus coolermaster variable CPU cooler
2x256MB of DDR400 memory
Radeon 9600 graphics card with 256MB of memory
80GB Maxtor HDD@ 7200 rpm with 8MB cache
400W PSU, fans etc
Good case
Soundblaster sound card
5.1 Creative speakers
Keyboard/mouse
17" monitor
Windows XP OS
plus countless 'goodies' for software so they wouldn't need anything else,
I even loaded a couple of games on it for them to borrow, when Chan asked for them back the other night, they seemed peeved about it,, they've had them almost a bloody year!!
I testbenched the PC for a good few days before I handed it over to them, tested every program, even got very good benchmark scores (testing for the PC's stability)
Now, how much would it have cost them for such a service anywhere else, and 3 major callouts for problems of their own doing???
GregE240 said:
Ah, the classic "rod for your own back" syndrome.
I do sympathise. I've tried to distance myself from neighbours who asked for help with their PCs, just can't be arsed anymore. Whatever you do isn't good enough, or it breaks again. Its like painting the Forth Bridge but without the vistas or the fresh air.
I agree WHOLE-HEARTEDLY, mate! I stopped doing the firends/family/neighbors thing after my next door neighbor just couldn't get it through his thick skull that a 4 year old Celeron-600 based processor with 64mb of PC100 RAM and a 10gb hard drive will
NOT RUN A MOVIE EDITING PROGRAM!. (HE TRIED TO LOAD THE PROGRAM AND USE IT 3 TIMES FFS). ...still, I got two bottle of Stoli out of it as a fee, but enough is enough!
ErnestM
make the perants the Admin or even yourself as admin with password protection.
Stick a Internet Nanny on the browser with password protection.
Hey presto, he cant visit porn sites.
With added bonus of a firewall (Zonealarm's pretty good)
Stick some free software like footprints (which removes history of sites from the visiting sites browser software)
Back it all up behind a hundred passwords set to you as Admin.
Stick PC Anywhere on it then if it ever goes terribly wrong, Dial in change settings in your Admin section...jobs a goodun.
£25 please
Tav
Stick a Internet Nanny on the browser with password protection.
Hey presto, he cant visit porn sites.
With added bonus of a firewall (Zonealarm's pretty good)
Stick some free software like footprints (which removes history of sites from the visiting sites browser software)
Back it all up behind a hundred passwords set to you as Admin.
Stick PC Anywhere on it then if it ever goes terribly wrong, Dial in change settings in your Admin section...jobs a goodun.
£25 please
Tav
midgster said:
This winds me up just reading it as I have exactly the same problems.
It's amazing how many people assume that to fix a PC problem only takes a few minutes as I very rarely ever get offered any money for the countless hours I spend removing viruses and adware/spyware etc.
The I.T. profession seems to be the only profession though where this happens. If you were mechanic and someone asked you to have a quick look at their dodgy brakes, they would always assume that you would charge them to do it, but fix their PC and you don't even get a Bottle of Vino for your troubles.
As suggested I would rebuild the PC, Ghost it and put it on a bootable CD so that they can rebuild it themeselves if they f
>> Edited by midgster on Tuesday 21st December 16:27
What he said.
It winds me up even more that the OS and most software is almost always pirated.
I find the solution has been to get them to purchase a Macintosh. The support calls just seem to plummet afterwards
I had a similar problem when I sold a PC to a work colleague once. I liked the guy, and he needed a PC for his sone for college, and for his wife to use for home working. I put together a stonking spec PC for him, and loaded in up with pukka "office" software.
I had it back several times because game X wouldn't work, game Y wouldn't work etc. This was after I had made sure the intended use was not gaming. This was fairly early windows days, and a lot of "top spec" games back then were DOS only and required boot disks, expanded memory, et al.
I lost my rag in the end, after paying a home visit to configure yet another bloody boot disk for yet another bloody start trek game and getting haragued for supplying a PC that "wasn't compatible". Some people just don't appreciate when they are being done a favour, and are born whingers. I walked away, refused to provide any further support - they paid cut price, they get cut down service.
Chances are dumping a "customer" like this won't do you any long term harm - pretty well everyone will know they are a bunch of whinging tossers anyway and take no notic when they slag you off.
I had it back several times because game X wouldn't work, game Y wouldn't work etc. This was after I had made sure the intended use was not gaming. This was fairly early windows days, and a lot of "top spec" games back then were DOS only and required boot disks, expanded memory, et al.
I lost my rag in the end, after paying a home visit to configure yet another bloody boot disk for yet another bloody start trek game and getting haragued for supplying a PC that "wasn't compatible". Some people just don't appreciate when they are being done a favour, and are born whingers. I walked away, refused to provide any further support - they paid cut price, they get cut down service.
Chances are dumping a "customer" like this won't do you any long term harm - pretty well everyone will know they are a bunch of whinging tossers anyway and take no notic when they slag you off.
ing all the way to the pub.... Surely you know that if you fix / supply anything technical for mates you must personally underwrite a lifetime warranty with 24hr call out?
Extracate yourself by telling them you can't fix it(swallow your pride), too difficult etc and they need to go to a real specialist - PC World or someone in the yellow pages.
I have the reverse problem. A friend of mine sorts out my PC and network but flatly refuses to take any money, despit my trying to put cash in his pocket.
pp
Extracate yourself by telling them you can't fix it(swallow your pride), too difficult etc and they need to go to a real specialist - PC World or someone in the yellow pages.
I have the reverse problem. A friend of mine sorts out my PC and network but flatly refuses to take any money, despit my trying to put cash in his pocket.
pp
My Dad buys a new computer every couple of years, but he installs just about everything included on magazine cover disks. Whenever I'm at my parents' place (only a few times a year), I get asked to check why his PC is running so slowly. There are always 20+ icons in the system tray. The desktop is absolutely littered with shortcuts, including dead ones from applications whose folders he has deleted without runnign the uninstall app. I'm going to install SP2 this christmas and set it to auto-update, as well as making sure his AV updates twice a week and scans twice a week at night.
He only ever uses it for web, family tree programme, simple spreadsheets and a card game, but claims he needs a state of the art machine. I've told him he could do all that on his last PC but one, a 400 MHz PII, but no, he has "complicated spreadsheets" to run that "take a lot of processing power and memory" - keeping a running bank balance
.
He only ever uses it for web, family tree programme, simple spreadsheets and a card game, but claims he needs a state of the art machine. I've told him he could do all that on his last PC but one, a 400 MHz PII, but no, he has "complicated spreadsheets" to run that "take a lot of processing power and memory" - keeping a running bank balance
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