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I give up
Hammyman
Posts: 9,913 Forumite
Seriously, after a week like I've had I feel like shutting up shop.
Every single job has been some form of malware removal of various degrees. Standard line is: "I think I've got some viruses on my computer." usually followed by telling me all the photos of their kids from birth to 10 are on there, their entire years coursework etc etc etc and can I save it? So every job has had long periods spent booting up off a Linux live CD to save what I could to an external drive then fighting to get software on so I can sort out the mess. And of course this is made to take even longer because nobody ever deletes anything, clears out temp files or defrags the hard drives so they're already at the point of taking 10 minutes to fire up Internet Explorer before they got the malware.
And then you see that little icon in the start menu that just makes your heart sink - LIMEWIRE. And from that point on, you know you're on a hiding to nothing.
The last customer got a curt "You're supposed to back them up. See that rectangular thing at the top of your computer which has a button that you press that slides out that cup holder? Its a DVD writer. It writes DVDs."
Two clients got their computers back with Ubuntu on them. They had no windows licences and the installation was stuffed beyond repair. As much as they were a bit miffed when they got their computers back, in the long run I've probably done them a favour.
And like a muppet, I still took the lids off every machine to hoover out the carpet of dust and clear out the blocked solid heatsinks. And some computers were just gopping. One looked like it'd had cups of coffee and a Pot Noodle chucked over it and there were many from smokers which meant all the vents were blocked full of dark yellow sticky stinking dust - my workshop now stinks of cigarettes even though I don't smoke. Seriously people, if you're going to take your computer to someone for repair, at least clean the flaming thing.
I'd like to blame Windows for the viruses but I don't have a problem, wife doesn't, son doesn't, wife's boss doesn't, stupid sis-in law doesn't and neither do my aged parents.
Every single job has been some form of malware removal of various degrees. Standard line is: "I think I've got some viruses on my computer." usually followed by telling me all the photos of their kids from birth to 10 are on there, their entire years coursework etc etc etc and can I save it? So every job has had long periods spent booting up off a Linux live CD to save what I could to an external drive then fighting to get software on so I can sort out the mess. And of course this is made to take even longer because nobody ever deletes anything, clears out temp files or defrags the hard drives so they're already at the point of taking 10 minutes to fire up Internet Explorer before they got the malware.
And then you see that little icon in the start menu that just makes your heart sink - LIMEWIRE. And from that point on, you know you're on a hiding to nothing.
The last customer got a curt "You're supposed to back them up. See that rectangular thing at the top of your computer which has a button that you press that slides out that cup holder? Its a DVD writer. It writes DVDs."
Two clients got their computers back with Ubuntu on them. They had no windows licences and the installation was stuffed beyond repair. As much as they were a bit miffed when they got their computers back, in the long run I've probably done them a favour.
And like a muppet, I still took the lids off every machine to hoover out the carpet of dust and clear out the blocked solid heatsinks. And some computers were just gopping. One looked like it'd had cups of coffee and a Pot Noodle chucked over it and there were many from smokers which meant all the vents were blocked full of dark yellow sticky stinking dust - my workshop now stinks of cigarettes even though I don't smoke. Seriously people, if you're going to take your computer to someone for repair, at least clean the flaming thing.
I'd like to blame Windows for the viruses but I don't have a problem, wife doesn't, son doesn't, wife's boss doesn't, stupid sis-in law doesn't and neither do my aged parents.
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Comments
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Only bad users get viruses.0
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Hey, leave your sister-in-law alone.
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Two clients got their computers back with Ubuntu on them. They had no windows licences and the installation was stuffed beyond repair. As much as they were a bit miffed when they got their computers back, in the long run I've probably done them a favour.
And I thought you were a "Windoze Phanboy"
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Hammyman, I presume you're a pro and are charging customers for your services? If so, I really don't know what you're complaining about.
If the population at large knew what they were doing with a PC, you'd be out of work.
So be grateful for for Mr Gates and co. for making the things so complicated!0 -
mickeypops wrote: »Hammyman, I presume you're a pro and are charging customers for your services? If so, I really don't know what you're complaining about.
If the population at large knew what they were doing with a PC, you'd be out of work.
So be grateful for for Mr Gates and co. for making the things so complicated!
For a start, why should I have to put up with computers that are borderline biological hazards? And why is it my fault people are too dumb to back up? If the population at large knew what they were doing, I'd still have work - there are still sysadmins in IT companies.
And Mr. Gates and co have made things far easier, not more complicated. Once upon a time, you had to manually set jumpers on hardware to set IRQ settings and memory addresses which meant you needed to know what was already in use.0 -
And I thought you were a "Windoze Phanboy"
I have no allegance. In my house there's Windows XP MCE 2005, XP Pro, Windows 7, Ubuntu 10.04 and Mac OS X on the various computing devices.
One thing that narks me about Mac OS X is the fact that Ubuntu has a better font rendering engine....0 -
Hammyman don't mention linux ssshhhhh!0
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You do get paid for the work so ssurely thats a good thing, could you create some advisory notes for customers and give them to the customer but the they could just throw them away0
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Hammyman,
Sympathies M8, It's never got me quite that bad. Years of patient instruction / help / how to's when they collect, and still they troop back in to pay my next months mortgage & beer bill. Life can be so disappointing at times :beer:, ere av two, your avin a bad day :beer:Disclaimer : Everything I write on this forum is my opinion. I try to be an even-handed poster and accept that you at times may not agree with these opinions or how I choose to express them, this is not my problem. The Disabled : If years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years - Alf Morris - ℜ0
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