Safe Mode

kt33uk

My sister in law has an acer laptop which is used on a daily basis. I was asked to have a look at it because in their words 'it wasn't working properly'. Turns out they have had a problem for nearly a month and it hasn't been booting into Vista properly so they have been using it everyday by booting into Safe Mode with networking.

After a quick look at it, I noticed that everything is out of date including the virus checker I had previously installed for them. It wouldn't let me do a system restore and when I explained to them that the best bet would be for them to save whatever was on it that they wanted to keep (there were 3 user names I only had the password for 1) and I would restore it to the factory default for them. There attitude was why! it works fine the way we are using it.

So my question is - How safe is it to continually use a system using this method? I've tried explaining it to them that it's not good for the laptop to be constantly used like this but they won't listen. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

thebyp

Theres no great risk there, your essentially using the OS without all the bloat that comes with it. Clearly the AV will need updating.

debitcardmayhem

kt33uk wrote: »

My sister in law has an acer laptop which is used on a daily basis. I was asked to have a look at it because in their words 'it wasn't working properly'. Turns out they have had a problem for nearly a month and it hasn't been booting into Vista properly so they have been using it everyday by booting into Safe Mode with networking.

After a quick look at it, I noticed that everything is out of date including the virus checker I had previously installed for them. It wouldn't let me do a system restore and when I explained to them that the best bet would be for them to save whatever was on it that they wanted to keep (there were 3 user names I only had the password for 1) and I would restore it to the factory default for them. There attitude was why! it works fine the way we are using it.

So my question is - How safe is it to continually use a system using this method? I've tried explaining it to them that it's not good for the laptop to be constantly used like this but they won't listen. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Just walk away Renee offer turned down, feel free to wash hands , tell your sister in laws brother/sister(IE your oh) what you suggested and sleep easy.

closed

safe mode disables a lot of functionality which they will discover eventually

societys_child

thebyp wrote: »

Theres no great risk there, your essentially using the OS without all the bloat that comes with it. Clearly the AV will need updating.

I agree it won't cause any damage to the machine ... but not sure the AV (or any other security) will even load in safe mode.

thebyp

nope, anti virus will need to be cranked up each time.

birkee

How annoying is that!
They ask for help, and then tell you they are not accepting your input into resolving their problems.
Let em get on with it.

I REALLY hate that "while you're here and doing nothing, can you sort out my PC for me" attitude...... "Users".

kt33uk

i've told them it's not a good way to be using the laptop but hey will they listen - No! So my attitude now is if it gets worse and won't work they know where the nearest local pc repair shop is. And i'll tell you it'll cost a hell of a lot more than the thanks they would have to give me. :rotfl: