ah, your good with 'computers' aren't you?
Discussion
Narcisus said:
When you have fixed the machine the person then thinks they are entitled to 24/7 support free of charge indefinitely even if it was just a favour.
Ah, the old "ever since you..." argument, a good way of persuading me not to even have a go.I also get the "anything with a plug" and have long since given up trying to explain how just because I've worked in IT for many years, that doesn't mean I can figure out why your TV programme won't start recording on a recorder I've never used before. (As you can see, it's been a while since anyone asked.)
Edited by droopsnoot on Tuesday 10th December 09:56
mikeiow said:
..... I hate a work Lenovo I have with a passion.....
...........
That turned into the best insurance ever when my son had a friend round who knocked a glass of water all over his Mac.
Just days from handing in his dissertation.
We raced down the next morning (3 hr drive), restored his time machine disk to the “spare”: managed to get the last bits from his via USB which spluttered briefly to life (with all manner of screen display streaks and error messages!).......so by noon that day he was where he had been at 6pm the previous, at the time of The Incident™
If that had been a Lenovo ThinkPad it would have been fine............
That turned into the best insurance ever when my son had a friend round who knocked a glass of water all over his Mac.
Just days from handing in his dissertation.
We raced down the next morning (3 hr drive), restored his time machine disk to the “spare”: managed to get the last bits from his via USB which spluttered briefly to life (with all manner of screen display streaks and error messages!).......so by noon that day he was where he had been at 6pm the previous, at the time of The Incident™
To use the example of the plumber mentioned earlier.
If the plumber turns up to help fix a problem, I'd wager most people feel inclined/want to offer something in return due to the 'work' of the plumber looking tangible (tools, materials, physically tinkering).
Yet when it comes to fixing tech stuff (mainly software) for others, no one wants to offer any reward. It's as though all they see is a tapping of keys and your working knowledge just isn't valued in the same way.
On another note, I have given my folks apple laptops and ipads and it's the best thing I ever did. It's very rare they need my help, the whole "it just works" mantra keeps them out of trouble.
If the plumber turns up to help fix a problem, I'd wager most people feel inclined/want to offer something in return due to the 'work' of the plumber looking tangible (tools, materials, physically tinkering).
Yet when it comes to fixing tech stuff (mainly software) for others, no one wants to offer any reward. It's as though all they see is a tapping of keys and your working knowledge just isn't valued in the same way.
On another note, I have given my folks apple laptops and ipads and it's the best thing I ever did. It's very rare they need my help, the whole "it just works" mantra keeps them out of trouble.
JaredVannett said:
On another note, I have given my folks apple laptops and ipads and it's the best thing I ever did. It's very rare they need my help, the whole "it just works" mantra keeps them out of trouble.
My brother is very good with electronics; he designs 'things' that work. He's helped out an old neighbour who has constant problems with a laptop on its last open. The chap only uses it for surfing, email and a bit of correspondence. I gave him a 'spare' ssd, rather small but fast. It worked after a fashion for a while but two successive updates to Windows has pushed it to its limits. I suggested Linux. The old boy hasn't been back. My brother reckons that it is either because both the computer and he have given up or it's working fine.Many years ago, I had a cull of "friends". Those "friends" were people who you never heard from at any time other than when they had a problem that needed fixing for them, but were always inexplicably busy if the opposite could have happened. These days, I can count on the fingers of one hand the people I would take on such jobs for.
For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was one chap in particular, for whom computers were an enthusiastic hobby. Not much skill, lots of enthusiasm.
It started with a classic "my PC seems slow, what could it be?" First answer "virus scan it from a boot CD, go here and download this". But no. You see, he was A Hobbyist. A Tinkerer. A Timewaster.
Over the next 3 months or so, he proceeded to swap cards from slot to slot, swapped memory about between machines, changed cables, fiddled with random BIOS settings, all the while telling me that he thought it was "better but not right", asking me what I thought, endless speculation - and me telling him put everything back as it was, and start with a check\cleanup of the OS.
Several months on, I visited for the weekend. The PC had not been mentioned for a few weeks, but after a while the inevitable "oh, while you're here, do you think you could take a look?"
So, I did. And I started by downloading a boot CD and scanning the OS.
7 HOURS LATER I had finished cleaning up the absolute cesspit of assorted infections, and returned most of the oddball config to something sane. (his enthusiasm had of course not extended to backing anything up)
As I mentioned at the time "to you this is a fun hobby, to me it's just more work."
For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was one chap in particular, for whom computers were an enthusiastic hobby. Not much skill, lots of enthusiasm.
It started with a classic "my PC seems slow, what could it be?" First answer "virus scan it from a boot CD, go here and download this". But no. You see, he was A Hobbyist. A Tinkerer. A Timewaster.
Over the next 3 months or so, he proceeded to swap cards from slot to slot, swapped memory about between machines, changed cables, fiddled with random BIOS settings, all the while telling me that he thought it was "better but not right", asking me what I thought, endless speculation - and me telling him put everything back as it was, and start with a check\cleanup of the OS.
Several months on, I visited for the weekend. The PC had not been mentioned for a few weeks, but after a while the inevitable "oh, while you're here, do you think you could take a look?"
So, I did. And I started by downloading a boot CD and scanning the OS.
7 HOURS LATER I had finished cleaning up the absolute cesspit of assorted infections, and returned most of the oddball config to something sane. (his enthusiasm had of course not extended to backing anything up)
As I mentioned at the time "to you this is a fun hobby, to me it's just more work."
I've worked in development for years. Not so much now but was often asked if I could "knock up a web site for someone". I used say sure, my day rate is £600, give me a spec and I will give you a quote.
f
king glad when the likes of Wordpress and Wix appeared and these noobs could knock their own stty websites up.
f
king glad when the likes of Wordpress and Wix appeared and these noobs could knock their own stty websites up.Not done of this for a while, as a bit of background I am a qualified SQL Server and Oracle DBA and I work for a multinational company, previously I was the global Database lead for a similar company, I get paid fairly well and never touch hardware.
In the past I have been asked to look at all sorts of shonky old st, my wifes mate brought her pc that I built for her some years earlier, the monitor, printer and every piece of associated crap as it was slow. Well of course it was slow it was ten years old.
Spent ages sorting a neighbours pc's and network out, he is a builder, think I got a bottle of wine for my efforts, he fitted a loft hatch for me last week £480 !
Latest was a favour for a mate, felt sorry for him as he has had a rough time and I don't thinkhe his short of cash as he spends probably £200 a week on booze but he seemed keen on me fixing his ancient HP laptop, 2 gb of ram, very dusty, win 7 and the worlds slowest hard disk not helped by years of use and downloads. So decided to go to town on it, removed loads of crap, turned off various graphics stuff, cancelled start programs, added 2 gb of ram and fitted an SSD, the transformation was immense and he was very happy. I said I didn't want paying but he got me some cans of beer,
Trouble is, another lad in the boozer wants his looking at, ten year old Sony now on my desk which seems to be half laptop, half fan heater, had it in bits, cleaned it, new thermal paste, cleaned the filthy outside, windows updates applied, start programs trimmed and its still slow. BIN THE fkER AND BUY A NEW ONE !!!!
Did my brother in laws, lost internet, spent ages tracing ancient phone lines and replacing, rooting in the pubes and toenail clippings under his desk, avoiding the supect tissues, gets back ont he net, barely looks up and says a half hearted thanks and off I go.
I don't even like looking after my own IT kit, anyone elses, no thanks, some of them are health hazards, at least run a cloth over them, I wan to help but I suspect most could be used to clone the owner never mind just the disk.
At work rates, my time on this manky Sony would be about £100 by now, three times what the bin fodder is worth !
Worst one is when my mother in law rings, usually after a couple of G and T's and is trying to copy and paste something, I feel like Father Ted explaining Small vs Far Away...We crack it, then three days later she has forgotten and rings back.....
Never ever build pcs, did it like twenty years ago, sold a couple, and you don't make much, like £40 to £80, then you then get support calls for the rest of eternity, not because its broken but because they don't know how to do line spacing in Word or have lost a file, got rung on Christmas day once by a bloke I built one for in a grotty pub in Runcorn, it was every day for months, had never had a pc before.
In the past I have been asked to look at all sorts of shonky old s
t, my wifes mate brought her pc that I built for her some years earlier, the monitor, printer and every piece of associated crap as it was slow. Well of course it was slow it was ten years old.Spent ages sorting a neighbours pc's and network out, he is a builder, think I got a bottle of wine for my efforts, he fitted a loft hatch for me last week £480 !
Latest was a favour for a mate, felt sorry for him as he has had a rough time and I don't thinkhe his short of cash as he spends probably £200 a week on booze but he seemed keen on me fixing his ancient HP laptop, 2 gb of ram, very dusty, win 7 and the worlds slowest hard disk not helped by years of use and downloads. So decided to go to town on it, removed loads of crap, turned off various graphics stuff, cancelled start programs, added 2 gb of ram and fitted an SSD, the transformation was immense and he was very happy. I said I didn't want paying but he got me some cans of beer,
Trouble is, another lad in the boozer wants his looking at, ten year old Sony now on my desk which seems to be half laptop, half fan heater, had it in bits, cleaned it, new thermal paste, cleaned the filthy outside, windows updates applied, start programs trimmed and its still slow. BIN THE f
kER AND BUY A NEW ONE !!!!Did my brother in laws, lost internet, spent ages tracing ancient phone lines and replacing, rooting in the pubes and toenail clippings under his desk, avoiding the supect tissues, gets back ont he net, barely looks up and says a half hearted thanks and off I go.
I don't even like looking after my own IT kit, anyone elses, no thanks, some of them are health hazards, at least run a cloth over them, I wan to help but I suspect most could be used to clone the owner never mind just the disk.
At work rates, my time on this manky Sony would be about £100 by now, three times what the bin fodder is worth !
Worst one is when my mother in law rings, usually after a couple of G and T's and is trying to copy and paste something, I feel like Father Ted explaining Small vs Far Away...We crack it, then three days later she has forgotten and rings back.....
Never ever build pcs, did it like twenty years ago, sold a couple, and you don't make much, like £40 to £80, then you then get support calls for the rest of eternity, not because its broken but because they don't know how to do line spacing in Word or have lost a file, got rung on Christmas day once by a bloke I built one for in a grotty pub in Runcorn, it was every day for months, had never had a pc before.
Edited by J4CKO on Tuesday 10th December 15:34
J4CKO said:
Spent ages sorting a neighbours pc's and network out, he is a builder, think I got a bottle of wine for my efforts, he fitted a loft hatch for me last week £480 !
]
This a thousand times. Only now have a finally realised that everything I do for free/mates rates is never reciprocated bar one mate and we help each other out with stuff quite a bit. ]
You guys have it easy. My wife flatly refuses to read the instruction manual in our house on ANYTHING electrical. The TV is 8year old, and still, she can just about press the Vol and Channel change buttons. Her on her iPad face booking is painful. Her family lives in various countries around the globe, so chat is a full-time job with her.
I don't bother advertising my services anymore to family and friends. Nobody ever leaves you alone if you fix something and they never appreciate what you have done.
My brother in law thinks he knows a bit about computers so I leave him to it. For some reason, every bit of advice and everything I setup or changed was altered by him. The family would then trust his word over mine. So I gave up.
Much easier life. Let the brother in law do it.
Just as a pointer, he thought a hard drive was a processor. That's how good he is.
My brother in law thinks he knows a bit about computers so I leave him to it. For some reason, every bit of advice and everything I setup or changed was altered by him. The family would then trust his word over mine. So I gave up.
Much easier life. Let the brother in law do it.
Just as a pointer, he thought a hard drive was a processor. That's how good he is.
Nightmare
mum has me doing allsorts
flat has its own colelctoin of tv,
no it docent its freeview,
subtitles too small,
put on by the the bbc,
phonebill not right, tablets not runing right, no internet (which is the visitor wifi and free),
i got her sky but she cancelled it, not realising it wlil incliude her own free wifi,
so far this week ive been a heating engineer, app iinstaller shed repairer, and pc speederupperer
and fitbit fixer,
having a vans the best one though,
stopped doing stuff now,
last straw as drive to warrington pcik up a settee, carry it into a neighbours, house, he sits down gos in a diabetic coma, im outside settee hanging out of the door, starts raining,
three hours later heres your ten quid,
same family have four kids my age.
id like to think i help people where i can but when i need a lift or a flat battery or a little emergency
and dont get me started onmy missus, she does everything for anyone,
mum has me doing allsorts
flat has its own colelctoin of tv,
no it docent its freeview,
subtitles too small,
put on by the the bbc,
phonebill not right, tablets not runing right, no internet (which is the visitor wifi and free),
i got her sky but she cancelled it, not realising it wlil incliude her own free wifi,
so far this week ive been a heating engineer, app iinstaller shed repairer, and pc speederupperer
and fitbit fixer,
having a vans the best one though,
stopped doing stuff now,
last straw as drive to warrington pcik up a settee, carry it into a neighbours, house, he sits down gos in a diabetic coma, im outside settee hanging out of the door, starts raining,
three hours later heres your ten quid,
same family have four kids my age.
id like to think i help people where i can but when i need a lift or a flat battery or a little emergency
and dont get me started onmy missus, she does everything for anyone,
I just send people this when they ask me to look at their computers
Also when faced with the tech conversations, a friend recently built himself a mini pc to go under his TV so he could watch porn I assume. Anyway he was very impressed with himself and I nodded and made the right noises when pointed out various features. He then asked me what I do with the TV to watch things etc. He was very unimpressed when I told him I just use and Amazon Firestick for streaming services and an Xbox for DVD's and Blurays. What most people don't seem to understand is when you do that st for a living, the last thing you want to do at home is start fannying about with obscure Linux distros or odd hardware with weird drivers, it's no longer a hobby for me but a living.
Also when faced with the tech conversations, a friend recently built himself a mini pc to go under his TV so he could watch porn I assume. Anyway he was very impressed with himself and I nodded and made the right noises when pointed out various features. He then asked me what I do with the TV to watch things etc. He was very unimpressed when I told him I just use and Amazon Firestick for streaming services and an Xbox for DVD's and Blurays. What most people don't seem to understand is when you do that s
t for a living, the last thing you want to do at home is start fannying about with obscure Linux distros or odd hardware with weird drivers, it's no longer a hobby for me but a living.My mother thinks I can cure any PC problems.
Her PC just happens to be cripplingly slow so I have to clean stuff off it, whenever I'm there.
I fitted an SSD to speed it up but not a huge difference and then I had all sorts of problems with the BIOS recognising it, on start up, so an hour job turns into several hours.
"I got an email saying there was a problem with my Google account but it has now been recovered. Can you come down and sort out my Google account"
Sure, it's only a 10 mile round trip....
"No, log into your Google account and if you can, delete the e-mail".
Whenever her PC isn't working, what she really means is that she is incompetent and no matter how many times I tell her something, she still can't grasp simple stuff.
I need new phones for Christmas. Oh thanks, can you put all the numbers in for me...
She is 80. Am I being too harsh?
Her PC just happens to be cripplingly slow so I have to clean stuff off it, whenever I'm there.
I fitted an SSD to speed it up but not a huge difference and then I had all sorts of problems with the BIOS recognising it, on start up, so an hour job turns into several hours.
"I got an email saying there was a problem with my Google account but it has now been recovered. Can you come down and sort out my Google account"
Sure, it's only a 10 mile round trip....
"No, log into your Google account and if you can, delete the e-mail".
Whenever her PC isn't working, what she really means is that she is incompetent and no matter how many times I tell her something, she still can't grasp simple stuff.
I need new phones for Christmas. Oh thanks, can you put all the numbers in for me...
She is 80. Am I being too harsh?
Bussolini said:
I noticed a sign on a rug shop the other day that said "looking for part-time shop assistant - must be good with computers".
Good with computers in what way? How good? What sort of computer skills do you need to work in a rug shop? Did they really mean you just needed to be under the age of about 60 and be able to operate Word and internet browsers?
I know it's a bit old fashioned and you'd probably rather have tweeted or snapchatted them, but going in to ask would have answered your question perfectly, I reckon.Good with computers in what way? How good? What sort of computer skills do you need to work in a rug shop? Did they really mean you just needed to be under the age of about 60 and be able to operate Word and internet browsers?
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