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Salty · Jul 7, 2009, 11:11 AM

Ugh, so i got a phone call today about how my sister's laptop wouldn't boot. I txted a friend who does IT work and he's too buys to fix it till monday and says that she'll need to spend 130 for a retail copy of XP since she didn't make reinstall disks (Since apparently PC OEMs are way too cheap to include CDs with their machines.) plus he's not able to come over till monday to fix things, she's bitching at me that it needs to be fixed right away. I told her that she should have gotten a Mac in the first place because this thing would be easy to fix in a half hour for me. Best of all she doesn't want to loose all her files and stuff. It's like again, this would be soooo much easier if you had a freaking Mac. I'm seriously tempted to just tell her to take it to best buy, bend over and like it.

turtle777 · Jul 7, 2009, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Salty

It's like again, this would be soooo much easier if you had a freaking Mac. I'm seriously tempted to just tell her to take it to best buy, bend over and like it.

I did this with my mom. Told her to get a Mac, so I could do better tech support.

Mixed results. On the one hand, I can really help her, and fix things. On the other hand, her iBook had two hardware issues, so in the end, I felt a bit responsible for it because I recommended a Mac to her

-t

Laminar · Jul 7, 2009, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Salty

Ugh, so i got a phone call today about how my sister's laptop wouldn't boot. I txted a friend who does IT work and he's too buys to fix it till monday and says that she'll need to spend 130 for a retail copy of XP since she didn't make reinstall disks (Since apparently PC OEMs are way too cheap to include CDs with their machines.) plus he's not able to come over till monday to fix things, she's bitching at me that it needs to be fixed right away. I told her that she should have gotten a Mac in the first place because this thing would be easy to fix in a half hour for me. Best of all she doesn't want to loose all her files and stuff. It's like again, this would be soooo much easier if you had a freaking Mac. I'm seriously tempted to just tell her to take it to best buy, bend over and like it.

Why not just download an XP install disc if you already own the license? If you bought a real disc, the money would just be going to a big corporation anyway. Also, GaB.

Chuckit · Jul 7, 2009, 11:44 AM

Tell her to reinstall without deleting anything. The rest is her problem.

Salty · Jul 7, 2009, 11:48 AM

Apparently pirating Xp is a pain in the ass? Not to mention the optical drive in my MacBook died after a few too many drops.

I got my mom a Mac mini, she's had zero problems with it, I've even upgraded the HD and the RAM for her. I when I lived at home I used to share her screen to fix problems. Now I need to set her up with an iChat account so i can share her screen that way. My dad also has a MacBook now, so supporting them is a breeze.

I'm really leaning toward telling her that I don't have the time or the patience to support her bad computer choices.

Laminar · Jul 7, 2009, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

Apparently pirating Xp is a pain in the ass?

Nope.

sek929 · Jul 7, 2009, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

Apparently pirating Xp is a pain in the ass?

Quite the opposite.

starman · Jul 7, 2009, 01:08 PM

It's not always easier with a Mac. Ever try troubleshooting the reason why two people can't communicate via iChat? That's a bitch when you have to tell them to get into their router.

sek929 · Jul 7, 2009, 01:16 PM

Giving computer help over the phone is just about the most frustrating thing ever conceived. Usually if somebody really needs my help I'll end up there in person to fix the problem.

shifuimam · Jul 7, 2009, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

Apparently pirating Xp is a pain in the ass?

Not if you have a valid license. You could legitimately torrent (or copy from someone) an unpatched/uncracked copy of Windows and use the license key that should be on a sticker on the physical computer. Just make sure you have the right version - volume licensed copies of Windows can't be activated with an OEM or retail key, and vice-versa.

She doesn't need to go buy a full copy of XP in the store. In fact, she can probably just contact Microsoft or her hardware provider directly and request them to send her an installation CD for Windows - the OEM is required to do so by their service agreement with Microsoft.

Oh, and +1 to what sek929 said - phone support for any hardware, software, or OS is just a hell of a lot more difficult than doing it in-person.

sek929 · Jul 7, 2009, 01:25 PM

I 'lost' one gig as a unpaid IT professional the day my buddy Andy bought his first Mac and my dad doesn't need any help with his (my old) PowerMac G4, which I'm convinced is one of the most flawless running machines I've ever used...it even has the original 40GB HDD from 2001.

Laminar · Jul 7, 2009, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

Oh, and +1 to what sek929 said - phone support for any hardware, software, or OS is just a hell of a lot more difficult than doing it in-person.

When I was in IT I probably would have carried the children of the people responsible for Apple Remote Desktop.

Chuckit · Jul 7, 2009, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

Giving computer help over the phone is just about the most frustrating thing ever conceived. Usually if somebody really needs my help I'll end up there in person to fix the problem.

My boss used to make me talk to his "computer expert" son when they needed help at the other office. The 30-year-old wunderkind couldn't even find the right widget when I told him "The drop-down menu labeled 'Kind' at the top of the white area of the page". He insisted that it wasn't there. I wound up just hanging up on him and driving down to the city they were in to push the friggin' button for him.

sek929 · Jul 7, 2009, 02:16 PM

Once and a great while Firefox will lock up my dad's G4 (for some odd reason), I've told him about the reset button (the little one under the power button) like 12 times but if the machine locks up he'll switch the power strip off instead.

<sigh>

shifuimam · Jul 7, 2009, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

When I was in IT I probably would have carried the children of the people responsible for Apple Remote Desktop.

Which, like Windows Remote Assistance, is useless if you're dealing with a problem with the person's Internet connection.

wallinbl · Jul 7, 2009, 02:54 PM

Breathe. Act with compassion.

Chuckit · Jul 7, 2009, 03:00 PM

Act with compassion for yourself.

msuper69 · Jul 7, 2009, 03:05 PM

I always tell my "friends" I'll be glad to assist them for $150/hr. with a 1 hour minimum.
Those calls for help stop real quick.

harbinger75 · Jul 7, 2009, 03:24 PM

I've been waging this same battle with my mom and my in-laws forever now. I've almost got them buying Macs, but they're waiting to be able to pay for it.

Salty · Jul 7, 2009, 03:29 PM

You guys sure about the restore CDs for it? Hmmm interesting. That's good to know.

Ugh I really feel like telling her she's boned and that she can go to best buy and find a new one and if she gets a Mac I'll help her with it in the future.

Chuckit · Jul 7, 2009, 03:31 PM

But then it's total data loss. Worst-case scenario, I'd tell her to take it to a shop. They can probably fix it for 10% of the cost of a Mac. Also, tell her to back that **** up.

Salty · Jul 7, 2009, 03:41 PM

She doesn't listen to me until she has problems and then she gets mad at me for not fixing it. I just told her she should get a mac and I told her I could have gotten every app she needed running at least in a virtual machine so that the windows install was sandboxed and when it was hosed it wouldn't bring down the whole machine. She's kinda pissed at me. In actual fact cross over would probably have worked just fine for all her apps too.

Chuckit · Jul 7, 2009, 04:56 PM

In actual fact, a Windows machine with a reinstall CD and a decent backup solution would probably also have worked.

residentEvil · Jul 7, 2009, 05:35 PM

just run through the repair windows option or whatever it is called after booting from the XP CD all the way to the install windows part...like 2nd or 3rd option down. installer found a previous installation, do you want to install fresh copy or repair". something like that. it won't wipe out your personal data. no guarantee that will fix whatever problem she is having, but worth the time to try. this is the best fix if the won't boot problem in a blue screen of death hat mentions either a file missing or currupted followed by the name of a file (like .sys, or .ini etc etc etc).

another popular one, if the BSOD mentions something about "unmountable_boot_volume" or simlar, a simple chkdsk will fix that. again, boot from XP cd, this time hit the R key while it first is booting off the CD, i think it is after the press F6 for raid driver or at the same time. this takes until REPAIR with ms-dos access. run chkdsk from the command prompt on the boot drive. reboot and good to go. once in, get personal data backed up ASAP. the reason why this happened is that the drive is having a hard time writing data to good blocks/sectors and/or blocks went bad where your system files are. in my experience, the drive is failing and your time is running out

finboy · Jul 8, 2009, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I did this with my mom. Told her to get a Mac, so I could do better tech support.

The thread topic could be "Relatives That Use <xxx> and Expect You to Fix It." That's how it is with everything, it seems. The best part is that when you DO fix it, anything else that breaks, later, is your fault implicitly.

You can't get the guilts over bad hardware -- it's always a random thing. For example, some HP Pavilions are great, others, even a few months later, are crap. Same with all of Dell now, it seems.

slugslugslug · Jul 8, 2009, 05:21 PM

Every couple years I think maybe I'll buy my parents a Mac, then I realize how nice it is that they don't expect any help from me when they have problems with their Dells. I'm sure I'd be answering 10 questions a week for the first few months if I got them to switch.

Brien · Jul 9, 2009, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by sek929

I 'lost' one gig as a unpaid IT professional the day my buddy Andy bought his first Mac and my dad doesn't need any help with his (my old) PowerMac G4, which I'm convinced is one of the most flawless running machines I've ever used...it even has the original 40GB HDD from 2001.

My PMG4 is going on 9 years and still running like a champ. Every other Mac, past or since, has given me at least some sort of problem, but the only thing I've done to it in 9 years is replace the HDD (original one died) and upgraded the RAM.

badidea · Jul 9, 2009, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I did this with my mom. Told her to get a Mac, so I could do better tech support.

Mixed results. On the one hand, I can really help her, and fix things. On the other hand, her iBook had two hardware issues, so in the end, I felt a bit responsible for it because I recommended a Mac to her

-t

^same here!

Originally Posted by sek929

Giving computer help over the phone is just about the most frustrating thing ever conceived. Usually if somebody really needs my help I'll end up there in person to fix the problem.

^what he said!
Especially if the person on the other side of the phone is your mom and doesn't understand ****, when you tell her to click the "menu", "double-click" here and tell the result..."what result?" she asks... "didn't you click where I told you?"..."what menu?"..."top of the window!"..."what window???"..."the desktop"...."what desktop??????".......then she freaks out and doesn't want to see that "modern technology" anymore...

Wiskedjak · Jul 9, 2009, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I did this with my mom. Told her to get a Mac, so I could do better tech support.

Mixed results. On the one hand, I can really help her, and fix things. On the other hand, her iBook had two hardware issues, so in the end, I felt a bit responsible for it because I recommended a Mac to her

-t

Similar story here.

Giving Mac tech support to family and friends can be just as much a pain as it is giving PC tech support.

Salty · Jul 9, 2009, 10:31 AM

Honestly with the Mac I find way less trouble, partially because I know it better, partially because there's fewer things that can go wrong and if something does go wrong you've got a good idea of what it is. My mom's Mac mini has given her zero problems. Mine always give me a few but that's because I drop them. This MacBook has issues with dying optical drives.

Laminar · Jul 9, 2009, 10:33 AM

I'm glad that most of your posts being with "honestly," because otherwise I'd doubt the truthfulness of your claims.

turtle777 · Jul 9, 2009, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

I'm glad that most of your posts being with "honestly," because otherwise I'd doubt the truthfulness of your claims.

Honestly, you shouldn't be that gullible.

-t

Salty · Jul 9, 2009, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

I'm glad that most of your posts being with "honestly," because otherwise I'd doubt the truthfulness of your claims.

Honestly you can go penetrate yourself with a splintering broom stick.

turtle777 · Jul 9, 2009, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Salty

Honestly you can go penetrate yourself with a splintering broom stick.

Can you recommend that ?

-t

Salty · Jul 9, 2009, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Can you recommend that ?

-t

Honestly, never tried it.

Railroader · Jul 9, 2009, 07:25 PM

That said ...

turtle777 · Jul 9, 2009, 10:21 PM

... who wants some cookies ?

-t

Salty · Jul 10, 2009, 10:22 AM

So it looks like my sister's gonna get a refurb 15 inch.

Dakar V · Jul 10, 2009, 10:24 AM

Honestly?