Angie's Computer

[Boy]

So that was fun this weekend, for those of you who don't know... my mom decided to give me and Steve the wonderful task of fixing her friend's piece of crap computer on our weekend.

Now to give you a little background, about 2 years ago my mom gave me the task of telling Angie where to buy a computer and setting it up for her. Well I was pretty lazy, as always, so I just told her to buy a Gateway. She did and at the time it was pretty nice. It is a 800mhz and has Windows ME on it. Oh yes, and this lady had never touched a computer before in her life. I literally had to teach her how to use a mouse.

Ok so two years go by, and now she has royally fucked her computer somehow. We arrive at her house and turn her computer on... first her monitor is so fucking dim you can't read the text, next her computer is slow as fuck.

End result: Somehow she managed to fuck her monitor and must buy a new one, and we noticed that she only has 64mb of system ram... how? I dont knw either. Oh yes and her hard drive has so many disk errors that scandisk just gives up and throws a BSOD. So instead of attempting to fix her computer (buy her some more ram, and a new hard drive) we tell her to buy a new computer.... psshh she has enough money anyways.

Moral of the story: Dumb people should not be allowed to buy computers.

[lightfungus]

sheesh, so harsh. im sure she wouldnt say that about your baking skills (just assuming she can bake).

[Hawkeye]

Moral of the story: Dumb people should not be allowed to buy computers.

Exactly, this goes back to my idea.

Owning a computer should be like driving a car. There should be some form of a written exam and if you don't pass it, you can't buy a computer. Simple as that.

And Boy isn't exaggerating at all. This computer was royally fucked. No matter what you did, you got a blue screen. It was like the computer was fighting you so you couldn't fix it. You run Scan Disk... blue screen. You run Defrag.... blue screen. No matter what you do, this piece of crap spits it back in your face. My suggestion was to throw it in Windward's lake.

[Crumbles]

Yea, thank goodness I dodged that bullet.

[Hawkeye]

Yea, thank goodness I dodged that bullet.

Yeah, thanks a pantload!

[Crumbles]

Yeah, thanks a pantload!
HAHAHAHA, a pantload! That's great. I haven't heard that in so long! I'm so going to start saying that again!

[SCSInet]

Dudes...

At least you guys didn't get called until AFTER she fucked it. I've done several jobs before (yeah, I'm a repeat sucker), where it's like I was committed to a lifetime of free technical support.

So first there was the kidney dialysis company. A neighbor of mine owned it. It started with a call from him for a new computer...so I built him one. Over the course of a few years, I did maybe two more, then finally he asked for 5 from me. I built them at about 50 bucks profit each, and then the calls started. I probably spent 200 bucks in gas driving back and forth between Alpharetta and Clayton County about two dozen times, spending at least a hundred hours doing tech support. Net Profit to me: Negative 1 kazillion dollars.

Then there was the turbine maintenance people.
>>>HINT: Never install a network for a bunch of idiodic rednecks who fix engines for a living. These guys were all the way out in Austell. I was called into this by a co-worker who needed the network help. He built the PCs, I built the network. To this day I still get calls.

Let's not forget the concrete people.
>>>ANOTHER HINT: Never install a network for a bunch of idiodic rednecks who pour concrete for a living.
This one I was sorta forced into because the VP of my company went to church with this guy, and he asked him for help...so the VP just made my ass do it. The guy showed up at the office YESTERDAY (this is 2 years later) with a computer in tow that he fucked up, needing his OS reinstalled.

...of course that one doesn't really count because I made my desktop support guy do it. Being the boss rules.

Lesson: Don't do freelance computer work for non-techies. It never, ever pays off.

[Crumbles]

*All the shit that SCSINet said ... I get asked SO many fucking times at work it's not even funny. And what's even better, is for some fucking reason, they expect it for free. They go on, and on, about this, and that, and then you're like, okay, that will be this much money, and that much for labor, and they are like.... oh.... well.... I'll let you know. I either do one of two things now. Quote them like $500 more than it will cost me (so they will say no) or try hand the offer over to someone else. I can't stand doing it anymore. :mad:

[SCSInet]

Exactly, this goes back to my idea.

Owning a computer should be like driving a car. There should be some form of a written exam and if you don't pass it, you can't buy a computer. Simple as that. ...discourse continues...

I can see the point to this, but it obviously would never happen. To me, the fault lies in 3 places.

1. Ours. We don't HAVE to help them, but we do. By giving them free help and bailing them out of the crisis, we further increase the problem. It's good ol' fashioned negative conditioning. Aside from computers, I've been known to swing a hammer or fix a car. I have friends who come to me when their cars break down as well. I guess it's part of being a friend. I don't bitch about the cars or the hammer, though. Maybe it's just becuase if you do it for a living you don't want do it at home, and I don't do home improvement or automotive work for a living. On the other hand, it may be a different attitude displayed by people needing computer help. It's sometimes almost like "Look at me, I'm inept! Your help is my RIGHT!!!" Morons.

2. The software and hardware companies. "Easy As Dell." "Eaty My Ass." The software companies and hardware companies tout computers as plug it in, turn it on, and you're done. Computers aren't easy. They are complicated machines which require regular, preventative maintenance and constant tweaking to keep them running optimally. You know what other common device is like this? A FUCKING CAR. But why on earth isn't everyone's car breaking down? Because the car industry isn't trying to tell us that we can buy a car, weld the hood shut, and drive it forever. Bottom line: A computer is just as complicated, just as user-unfriendly as it was 20 years ago. It's just wearing a mask. People are fooled into buying more machine than they can handle, even into buying a computer when they don't need one. I've got an Aunt/Uncle/Cousin who are on their third computer. They buy a new one every 3 years because that's what the man at the computer store told them to do (of course, they take the crater-face's advice more than me, who actually has a COLLEGE EDUCATION in this field, but that's another topic). They never touch it. They don't use it for anything, never buy software. I've never seen it turned on. They don't use it, don't touch it, and don't know why they need it. They just know they want it.

3. Them. People buy into these in-your-face marketing techniques and buy these machines, and don't take any responsibilty of ownership. Take the car analogy again. People are responsible with cars...they get their oil changed, they check their fluid levels, they listen for noises..but they go into a computer store and buy this machine, then are ignorant of the signs..slow behavior, instability, problems that can easily be solved if they would take the time to educate themselves on them even a little. To make matters worse, they fail to learn from their mistakes in the past. My boss at work continues to download spyware. I have tutorials on it published on my company Intranet, I tell her about them, in writing, every time, and she doesn't read it. She continues to fuck her machine, in the same way, over and over and doesn't see what she's doing wrong..spyware. "Oh, it must have downloaded itself!" Yeah fucking right. Just like the other guy in sales who doesn't know how all that porn found it's way into a hidden folder on his hard disk with all permissions to view it revoked except his userid. Too bad for him I can force ownership.

I have never seen such irresponsibility with ownership of anything. People spend thousands of dollars on these machines then refuse to learn the lesson when they get fucked. For the life of me, I just don't understand it. It's 3 fucking thousand dollars and you don't take the time to learn anything about it. Even a little bit of knowledge and intuition would put you ahead of the game, but no...no time for that, the computer's starting! Oh no! It crashed again! I'll call my buddy, it's his problem now!

Sorry for the long post...I just get riled up on this one.

[Crumbles]

*really good points*
SCSI...

I REALLY hope two things here...

One: Do you remember that article you showed me a while ago written by someone who was talking about how people aren't ready for PC's? And the article went over a bunch of points that we both thought were valid.

Two: You can muster up a link to the article.

[SCSInet]

SCSI...

I REALLY hope two things here...

One: Do you remember that article you showed me a while ago written by someone who was talking about how people aren't ready for PC's? And the article went over a bunch of points that we both thought were valid.

Two: You can muster up a link to the article.

Ummm...well I know the article was in eWeek by a guy named Jim Rapoza. Other than that I can't say I remember a thing about it that would help me find it.

[Boy]

Net Profit to me: Negative 1 kazillion dollars.


ahahah thats great

[Crumbles]

ahahah thats great
Yea, gotta love it. "You worked on my computer a year ago, your support that was never part of the deal in the first place is still free forever right? Good! How's Monday at noon sound for you to drive over to my house and fix this. Nevermind your job, I'm the priority! You never told me to NOT install im_a_virus.exe, how was I supposed to know it would do something bad? So technically it's YOUR fault. I'll be waiting at noon."

[SCSInet]

You never told me to NOT install im_a_virus.exe, how was I supposed to know it would do something bad? So technically it's YOUR fault. I'll be waiting at noon."

Dude I just finally read this post and it's about the funniest thing I have ever seen. If the system would let me +rep you I would. Good shit.

rofl "im_a_virus.exe"

[Boy]

so yes i still have internet, the comcast guy is coming tomorrow at 3pmish to take the cable modem.... anyways.

Last night i was checking out who was online and saw this.... wtf is this about. I swear if its someone we know.

[Crumbles]

so yes i still have internet, the comcast guy is coming tomorrow at 3pmish to take the cable modem.... anyways.

Last night i was checking out who was online and saw this.... wtf is this about. I swear if its someone we know.
Ba ha haha ha! that's great!

[Hawkeye]

Hahaha, it was probably one of Angie's kids printing out a record of how much we can't stand fixing her stupid crap. She'll probably call Mom in a few days crying about it. Luckily you'll be there to feel her wrath!

Maybe you'll get lucky and someone was just viewing the printable version so they could print out Dave's 15 page rant. It was a pretty good summary of why working in IT sucks.

[Hawkeye]

Ok, so apparently this thread is the most popular topic on this forum. Good job Boy! Now the world can know how much we hate fixing people's PCs.

[Crumbles]

Ok, so apparently this thread is the most popular topic on this forum. Good job Boy! Now the world can know how much we hate fixing people's PCs.
Damn, that's interesting ...

[SCSInet]

Ok, so apparently this thread is the most popular topic on this forum. Good job Boy! Now the world can know how much we hate fixing people's PCs.


First of all, thanks Boy for making our plight known to all!!!

But it does beg the question...if Boy posted an article about how much we all like getting laid...would hot big tittied women show up at our doors to have sex with us?

Boyshenk, post an article. There's hope for us yet!

[Boy]

There is a pretty good thread going on over at /. on this same topic, guy is wondering how much he should start charging his friends for "tech support"

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/07/1529243&tid=98&tid=222&tid=185&tid=4

[engineers]

my ibook has a stain on the monitor that seems to have migrated under the the screen and is forever stuck there and it cant be cleaned, how did that happen?

[Boy]

my ibook has a stain on the monitor that seems to have migrated under the the screen and is forever stuck there and it cant be cleaned, how did that happen?
These are commonly known as screen bruises... usually from placing something heavy on the lid. My old laptop had some... that you only really saw on white backgrounds. Anyways there is not much you can do, you might try to see if apple will replace your screen, Im not familiar with apple's replacement policies.