A Letter On Behalf of the World's PC Fixers 638
Barence writes "PC Pro's Steve Cassidy has written a letter on behalf of all the put-upon techies who've ever been called by a friend to fix their PC. His bile is directed at a friend who put a DVD bought on holiday into their laptop, and then wondered what went wrong. 'Once you stuck that DVD in there and started saying "yes, OK" to every resulting dialog box, you sank the whole thing,' Cassidy writes. 'It doesn't take 10 minutes to sort that out; it requires a complete machine reload to properly guarantee the infection is history. No, there is no neat and handy way I've been keeping secret that allows you to retain your extensive collection of stolen software licenses loaded on that laptop. I do disaster recovery, not disaster participation.'"
Tough luck (Score:2)
Well, one more reason to take away the computers from every stupid person. Boy, that'll be the day of comfort and silence. Can't wait for it to happen.
Get over it. (Score:3, Insightful)
Newsflash: there are douchehats in every profession.
Computer fixers deal with people who click 'ok' on all the addons their favourite 'free' download site suggests.
Computer programmers deal with specs and users that want features they don't understand, and will never use.
Mechanics who deal with people who figured the 'little oil can light' wasn't anything serious and kept driving.
Accountants whose clients figure they didn't need to file their taxes for the last 3 years, or that it was acceptable to write off that hooker as a 'business expense'.
Teachers whose students are dumber than bricks, and have parents who insist its your fault.
If you don't like it, get a factory job.
Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Generally, programmers are not asked to program for free by relatives. With mechanics, people know they need pay, they generally don't ask for free services unless you are immediate family, or an old friend who owes them. Accountants never do anyone's taxes for free, and you wouldn't ask a teacher to tutor your kids for free. Do you see the difference? It's not the "people are stupid" part that's the problem, it's the "your skills aren't worth anything" part that upsets the PC fixer.
Worthless? (Score:2)
If the skills of a pc-fixer are worthless, why even ask someone to do it? If the fixer is as worthless as an ass wiper, why aren't as many people asking others to wipe their ass for them as there are expecting free anti-software support?
Re:Worthless? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to do it too, for everyone I knew, friends, work, family etc, and it got really irritating not only because they always called me at odd hours and any time they felt like it, but they also made the same damn mistakes. They aren't stupid, just unwilling, I mean, why bother learning something I show in five minutes, when they can call this idiot any time something goes wrong.
So, I've stopped doing it, when someone asked, I use linux, my knowledge is out of date, I don't have time, and so on. Now, they only call me when they're truly desperate, deadlines looming, sensitive data in danger and so on, and they pay, oh yes, they pay.
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>> unemployed for six months, living in my guest room, eating from my fridge
Are you still taking applications for this position?
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As an accountant, I can tell you that I get asked all the time by friends and relatives if I can do their taxes for free...
As an accountant however I never do anything for free...
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Right, and THAT is why we keep getting stuck with this crap: we keep doing it for free. Stop selling yourselves short, when someone asks you for free services, just say no.
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Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I would say that part of the reason is that the tools needed to fix a PC are typically portable and/or highly available.
But this applies to other areas, the tools for working on cars (except really major repairs) are highly available and portable. Granted good ones cost a lot, but you can do minor things on your car (replacing spark plugs, changing oil, etc.) with stuff you buy at Wal-Mart. The difference is that you're paying a mechanic for their knowledge of how to use those tools. Why don't people realize it's the same thing for computers? Sure many of the tools are available for free, and are extremely portable, but knowing how to use them is the difficult part. It's quite easy for a novice to completely hose their computer using the same tools a skilled PC repair-person would use to fix it.
Having a teacher tutor involves them spending a predetermined (usually) amount of time with a student and that typically resonates in a person's mind as an act that requires pay.
So why do people not have the resonance when it takes 2 hours or more to repair their PC? And why do so many of them, despite obviously not knowing how to repair it themselves (or they wouldn't have asked you), seem to think it should have taken you only 10% of that time?
No, the problem is a lot of people, for some strange reason, think because they can successfully turn their PC on and browse the web that they're qualified to judge how easy and how quickly people can fix their PCs. They won't do the same thing to mechanics simply because they can turn their car on and drive it around. They won't do the same thing to a tutor even though they can read and write. But when it comes to PCs, many, many people are total jerks to those they want (often darn near demand) fix them. And as any IT worker can tell you, this attitude transfers to the office as well. Everyone's encountered numerous employees who think you're taking too long to fix their PC, even though they have no clue what you're actually doing.
But yes, a good solution is to say no. I only fix PCs for people who have treated me fairly in the past now. Everyone else I either politely put off (say I'm too busy, or I don't know what's wrong), or I just politely tell them I don't do PC repair. But I still boggle at the attitudes so many people cop when it comes to PC repair. It just makes no damn sense.
Says who? (Score:5, Interesting)
I find that when you are kind to family and friends, they are kind back. I help people with computer issues and in return they help me in their skilled areas. My dad, while not a mechanic, has a great deal of automotive experience and worked in the industry many a year. He has helped my numerous times with car problems. A good friend who comes to me for computer advice has been plenty happy to help me with home improvement work, as a couple of examples.
Part of being a family is helping one another in ways that you can. That can be emotional support, advice, using your skills, etc. Give and get. Now if the other party is someone who just takes and takes, well then ya they aren't someone who you help, or probably associate with all that much. However you find that in general if you are nice, other people will be too.
I'm very happy to help friends and family and they are happy to help me. Works out well.
Re:Says who? (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's good advice. But you have to make a clear distinction between altruism and enabling co-dependence.
There's the nice, sane, reasonably intelligent people (like your family) for whom providing a little technical support is non-onerous. Then there're the pinheaded droolers who rush from trojan to trojan, steal every bit of software they run, and plug USB cables into network ports...and make them fit
The latter class far exceeds the bounds of kindness, unless your definition of kindness also extends to running down to the local crackhouse to pick up your brother's latest order.
Some people shouldn't have computers any more than they should have children or any kind of metabolic protection against intoxicants.
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Re:Says who? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, well, it sounds as though you have a good reciprocal relationship with your family and friends, where you help each other with things in your area of expertise. If that is the case, by all means pitch in. Cooperation is wonderful. The problem comes if you don't have reciprocal relationships, i.e. they ask for free computer help, but come moving day, they and their truck are nowhere to be found. I believe THAT is what the article is complaining about.
I find (Score:3, Insightful)
That most geeks are the problem in that situation. Geeks in general seem to have less social skills and social graces than most people. They also seem to get a bit big-headed about their abilities and computers in general. Their attitude is "You should know that," and "RTFM noob." They feel put upon and act like martyrs when someone has the audacity to ask them for help.
Well guess what? Act like that and it shouldn't be a surprise people aren't so nice. Even if you do help them, if you are abusive about it
Ladies and gentelman, exhibit A (Score:3)
Notice the hostile attitude, the "People owe me," mentality and so on.
I don't think I got screwed at all. I didn't say to him "Ok I am spending this time and I bill out at $100/hour for indy work so I expect that much back from you." No, I did it to be nice to him. In turn he was nice to me. Did he do anything big? No, didn't have any big jobs, but he was very willing to help with things in his area of expertise. Funny enough, if we actually were to compare billings I'd probably owe him money. the company h
Re:Says who? (Score:4, Insightful)
My son's orthodontist office called me in a panic one afternoon: "Can you fix our network, like, today?" Long story short, I now handle whatever computer or networking problems they have in barter for my boy's braces. I'm thrilled to death to get a price break on their services and they feel the same way. It's a great arrangement that I hope to continue for a long time.
Re:Get over it. (Score:4, Interesting)
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What, you mean rebooting it and reinstalling the operating system is not the first, last, and only solution to computer problems?
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What, you mean rebooting it and reinstalling the operating system is not the first, last, and only solution to computer problems?
It's the best solution to malware ridden machines - you can't be sure you've really cleaned all that crap off. And malware problems are the ones that I see mostly these days. My rule of thumb is "would I be happy visiting my bank on this machine?". If no, wipe it.
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Generally, programmers are not asked to program for free by relatives. .
I've lost count of the number of web sites I've been asked to do because I'm a programmer and this should be quick. I point them to the many web site programmers that do entire web sites for $99 and kindly point out that I'm in the middle of a big project and won't be able to do it for 3 months. After 3 months experience elsewhere they are usually willing to pay the proper rate. if not wash rinse repeat.
Re:Get over it. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm beginning to see a pattern. If others consider your profession a "hobby" rather than a "real" profession, then they may be more likely to ask for free help.
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Please add professional photographers to that list of the abused. We are constantly asked for "favors." I farking hate it!
I'm beginning to see a pattern. If others consider your profession a "hobby" rather than a "real" profession, then they may be more likely to ask for free help.
And the bad part is if you enjoy your line of work enough, it might be a "hobby" in your off-hours, or truly was a hobby before you started getting paid for it. They more you enjoy your work, the more people assume you'd enjoy helping them in your free time.
Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Mechanics who deal with people who figured the 'little oil can light' wasn't anything serious and kept driving.
Mechanics generally draw the line at fixing the results of that for free. Yet computer repairers are often expected to do exactly that.
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A computer is a heck of a lot easier to fix than a screwed up engine. Id be willing to bet that if steve had fired up GMER, or Combofix, or one of Kaspersky's dedicated removal tools, the issue could have been resolved in less time than it took him to write his rant about how stupid she was for not understanding something that clearly isnt her area of expertise.
I tend to get friends and family who give me dinner or gift cards etc when i fix their machines; but perhaps not being a total douche about it has
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Absolutely.
Far and away the safest option is to take an image of the machine in a known-good state and restore to that. It'll take about 15 minutes. I've tried what the GP suggested, but there's quite a few bits of malware where quite frankly, the time involved to get all its nasty claws out of the system would cost the customer (were you charging them a realistic rate) substantially more than the PC was ever worth.
Of course, it can make restoring the system while not impacting documents or programs insta
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I just salvaged several computers like that in the last 3 months (and in return had several very pleasant evenings chatting with their owners, and getting dinners). You can tell when they are fixed through a number of ways-- a still-rooted PC (rooted with the common, commercially made rootkits) will reinstall the noticable elements of the infection within a few days. If you identify the particular rootkit or virus, you can generally find out the symptoms too-- an infection with Sality will go adding autor
Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you are doing this professionally, fine. You're getting paid to deal with the headaches, you generally get paid an hourly rate to sort it out.
The referenced article refers to someone telling a friend that their problem is not something they can fix in 10 minutes for free. I feel this is totally reasonable.
Ive lost count of the amount of free support I gave to friends and family when I used to fix computers for a living. Some of it I was happy to do either due to the relationship I had with the person or the amount of good will they had generated through our personal history. Others were imposing on what was little more than an acquaintance to avoid paying a professional when they had no intention of ever repaying the favour.
Re:Get over it. (Score:5, Insightful)
When it's strictly business, lousy customers and messy problems come with the territory. For whatever reason, though, anybody whose profession remotely touches computers(even if your background in SAN architectures makes you no more qualified than anybody else to reload windows on a hosed box) is liable to be asked to perform a multi-hours slogging match under impossible constraints by assorted acquaintances and relatives of some distance...
Working for free (Score:5, Interesting)
My brother, who isn't averse to saying "you can fix my computer", is a truck driver. Next time he comes to visit me while on vacation I'm going to get him to haul some furniture for me. I wonder if that will be enough to make him get the point.
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My brother, who isn't averse to saying "you can fix my computer", is a truck driver. Next time he comes to visit me while on vacation I'm going to get him to haul some furniture for me. I wonder if that will be enough to make him get the point.
What did he say when you told him you didn't have time?
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Maybe you could wait until you really *do* need some hauling, and then pay him double for the gas, his labor being "in the family (free)". Paying double for the gas should help cover maintenance, I figure.
Maybe there shouldn't be a point being made.
Re:Working for free (Score:4, Funny)
People with social skills know enough to expect a favor in return when asked to do a favor.
Frankly, if your brother is a trucker and you haven't already built up a stack of favors you owe him for hauling your shit around, you've been wasting the privilege.
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I Play Dumb (Score:5, Informative)
When I got a job writing and supporting industrial software for a pipeline company I started getting "out of touch" with home systems. Requests for assistance started getting replies beginning with, "I don't know if I can help - I haven't really done that kind of work in a while." Horse crap, to be sure, but it worked.
Now I help my parents when they need it, and recently I replaced a keyboard in my sister's laptop - but requests from cousins, aunts, and uncles have long since stopped.
Play dumb. It Works.
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We need a union (Score:4, Funny)
As a person who has fixed more relative's and friend's computers than I care to mention I have to say I think we need a union.
On a related note, I remember one time, about 10 years ago when I was working at a small PC shop. A customer came in and their windows install was hosed. The owner's daughter was the one who used the computer most. This 16 year old did her best to use her 'wiles' to convince me to somehow transfer all of her warez to the new install I was going to do for them. It was so easy to say no. I hope I held back my smirk well enough. Pay for your software.
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As a person who has fixed more relative's and friend's computers than I care to mention I have to say I think we need a union.
Or you could just say "no, take it to xxxx shop", or "Gladly, my rates are $xxx per hour."
I quit using PCs (Score:5, Interesting)
And switched to Linux/Solaris/NetBSD. Now I can claim ignorance when presented with some Windows related issue. And people quit asking for my help when I started suggesting they try Ubuntu instead.
Re:I quit using PCs (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean you quit using Windows on a PC platform. "PC" does not equate to "Windows Machine".
Nick Burns - The Computer Guy wrote this letter... (Score:3)
My solution (Score:2)
My solution is simple: I refuse to touch Windows machines. The help choices I offer are:
1) I'll install Linux on it for you
2) I'll help you choose an appropriate Mac for your needs
No takers on either so far, and I don't often get bothered.
I went a little more in depth with my wife's cousin's wife, whose kids had installed Limewire and who knows what else on it and whose trial version of Norton had come with the computer and had expired over a year prior: I can't fix this, it's Windows and would be a bit ou
XKCD (Score:3, Funny)
Correct target? (Score:4, Insightful)
How about a screed against his fellow technical people?
You know, the one who *create* the malware and junkware and root kits and junk operating systems and whatnot.
Be Deliberately Worthless (Score:5, Funny)
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
If that does not work, get a copy of the tech support script from... well, pretty much any tech company in existence. Then read it with a sloooooow ruuuural draaaaawwwl. If they interrupt you, then look confused and start over at the beginning.
This is why I set down ground rules (Score:5, Interesting)
I suggest setting these down yourself, if you're frequently called upon to help. Generally, I've found it actually makes people slightly happier with you - apparently, placing more value on your skills makes others value them more as well.
Re:This is why I set down ground rules (Score:4, Insightful)
7. Oh, and YOU buy the beer.
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God, number 2
If it's a program I've never used before, I'll click around for a few minutes to see if I can guess it. After that, I'll hand you the manual, and let you figure it out yourself.
You do right. Translation of the original request: "Learn this software for me, because I can't be bothered".
Happens all the time. Because I "know about computers" I must know exactly how to operate every piece of software ever written, instinctively!
It's probably that we can stay calm and rational and think logically instead of going "OMG PANIC DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, DURRR", it just blows the mind that this is so difficult for so many people. Sit someone in front of a computer - all willin
They're playing guess the verb (Score:3)
If I do not know something, do not grill me on the intricacies of it, as "I do not know" means exactly what I say.
What you see as grilling you on the intricacies, the other person might see as rephrasing the question in different terms to jog your memory. Their mindset appears to be the same as that of a text adventure player who runs up against a guess the verb problem [wikipedia.org].
I concur (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to do computer work for females at work, since I considered it a friendly gesture. (I'm not terribly attracted to girls, btw, most times I was looking for friendship.) Then I noticed that after the work was done, just like straight guys have found, you get entirely shut down. I noticed there were two things going on: 1.) the girl assumed that I was fixing her computer because I was interested in her tits and 2.) actual attraction to said tits has nothing to do with it, i.e. there's nothing I was doing wrong like drooling all over her.
I don't fix anyone's computers for free anymore. I started telling the girls at work that it would cost $100 per hour for a minimum of one hour for me to even look at it, and they stopped asking after about the 3rd time.
As the guy who fixes computers... (Score:3)
As the guy who receives these infected and mistreated computers in my large circle of friends, family, and co-workers (and then combinations thereof), I have to say: If you have a problem fixing any computer, just don't fix it.
I've gotten such severely infected systems that I spend the greater part of my weekend cleaning said infections and uninstalling malware only to pop in a couple spare sticks of RAM or an old video card (where there was once only on-board video). Why? Because I like the people around me and I like to make sure the quality of life is good... if not better than what it was. Seriously. I care about my friends and coworkers and friends of coworkers and coworkers of friends. If they need help and I can help them, I'm going to do it.
Just remember to do a full write-up of all the actions you did:
--Quote the number of infections
--Install as much free/open-source alternatives to their malware-ridden pirated software as possible
--List the names of the software and describe what they do
--List some "best practices" for real-world computer usage.
--Let them know that you do this so their lives can be easier and so they have to spend less money now and in the future.
Put that write-up on the desktop and give a mini-presentation to the owner before they retake the computer. They'll appreciate the education, they'll appreciate the free utility and any upgrades you surprise them with, once they understand the effort involved in the service a friend provides for free, they'll appreciate /you/.
You call that a rant? HERE'S A RANT! (Score:5, Informative)
Dear [Insert Name Here],
I completely sympathize with your situation, but I will not touch your computer. First off, I can't 'just take a look at it.' If I take a look, I promise that I will find things wrong with it. And then, inevitably, you'll ask me to go from 'just looking' to tweak it. Then after tweaking, full on, sleeves rolled up, virus killing, settings-changing, registry-editing, repair mode. Which is what you wanted all along, isn't it? You don't want me to take a look, you want me to fix everything that's wrong, speed it up, clean up your files and complete advanced maintenance tasks which you can't even pronounce, let alone perform properly. .dll isn't being found by what .exe, which isn't running when another program expects it to be and fails silently with no log file that cascades into a waterfall of failure that rivals Niagara on a good day.
It's a fifty-fifty shot on whether I can fix the computer. I'm not really dealing with 'a computer' here, what I'm dealing with is the combined stupidity of every Redmond employee and every developer, decision-maker, and contractor that worked on any piece of software on your computer. Because the thing starts up and POSTs just fine. I'm the poor sap who has to figure out what
And that's only if it's a real bug! You've probably downloaded cracks, and serial numbers (I see you've got the complete Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Edition installed, that's only $2600, I'm sure you bought a legal license...) and oh, what's this, 13 toolbars in IE! Bonsai Buddy! Password Saver Online! I'm sure all these are totally legit, and none of them are software deliberately trying to mess up your computer. That's a whole other ballgame, not poorly designed software but maliciously designed software that will make you part of a botnet, steal your passwords and let someone watch everything you're doing in real time. I'm sure that's going to be really easy for me to clean up, because I'm an expert in the intricate, retarded, ineffective internal design of the Windows security model.
Let's even say I manage to get your computer into some semblance of working order, after five or six frustrating hours (while you watch TV and relax after your hard day at the Dress Barn.) Pray tell what will I get in return? Maybe if you're generous twenty-five, fifty bucks tops? Not even enough to fill up my gas tank. Would you do something frustrating, something you consider vile and degrading, for $5 an hour after you just got out of a long day of work making way more than that and being much less frustrated and degraded? Let's put it this way, what if I walked up to you and asked, "Hey, why don't you do my laundry? C'mon, most of the time you're not even doing anything, the machine does all the work. And make sure it's folded right! How about you scrub my floors on your hands and knees while I watch from the couch? No? OK, make me some dinner. Nothing too special, just a standard egg and cheese souffle, lobster thermadore in a white wine sauce and chocolate mousse for dessert." You'd answer "No?" Wow, what a surprise.
But besides the insulting pittance and the degradation, what I'm sure you'll give me is the blame if anything ever goes wrong with anything on your computer from now until eternity. (About that dinner, don't worry, I'll buy the parts, er.., ingredients. But I'll blame you if you break a dish or the stove goes out two months later.) Because I messed with it. That's because nothing ever breaks, everything is forever and entropy is just a made-up word. (Who am I kidding, you don't know what entropy is.) That's my thanks for fixing the computer.
On second though, how about I don't fix it and I save myself a huge fscking headache and you keep your fifty bucks?
UAC to the rescue! (Never thought you'd hear that) (Score:4, Insightful)
UAC works fairly well for this in Win7 /if/ you can get away with not giving them an admin account. Just like not giving root on the linux box. I've done this for two sane people, set up autoinstall of updates (including Windows defender), and so far no problems.
Of course you usually can't get away with that because users really really want to install that cool malware. And by users I mean family members.
if you don't fix it, it ends up in the landfill (Score:3)
With the cost of pc being so low, it's pretty hard to ever justify taking a system to a professional fixer. Most people just decide it's time to upgrade and throw out the old system.
Now, some people genuinely need a new computer as the last time they've upgraded was 2001, but most of those parts are more than usable.
i have lots of good, usable parts left over from upgrades. Eventually, i put enough parts together to reassemble the system and pass on to a relative, which always ends up being an upgrade for them. For those systems, I give free support, since i don't want to see a good, usable computer end up in a landfill. for everyone else i expect something, and charge by how much i like them or how much work it will be for me.
Guilty as charged (Score:3)
I've told one family, when asked, that I don't install a cracked product. They stopped asking me for help. That's great!
I don't install file-sharers - LimeWire's popular here. If they want to, up to them but they can figure it out. And I'll clean it up next time 'round and get two bottles of wine from Dad for the labour.
Worst I've seen is when I cleaned up (reformatted) one PC, then had to do it again as the teenager had wrecked it within a week. I sat with her once while she went to a website and clicked "ok" to everything that got between her and the screen she wanted. All the time keeping up a stream of chatter. 'Did you read that message?", I asked. "No", she said. The family went to a Mac within a year, because "PCs just don't seem to work for us", the mother said. No shit.
only if you run as Administrator (Score:3, Informative)
I am very surprised that nobody has said that this yet.
Number one rule: never login as Administrator (or root), unless you need to do maintenance. Playing a dvd is not maintenance.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/aaron_margosis/archive/2004/06/17/157962.aspx [msdn.com] "Why you shouldn't run as admin..."
So a message to all pc-fixers out there: if your friend does want the automatic login, make sure it automatically logs in to an account that is in the "Users" group. And you could even go as far as not giving the Administrator password to your friend.
If users log in as Administrator when all they want to do is surf the web, write some email, write a document with MS Word or play a dvd. Then do not blame Microsoft if your pc gets hacked. It's your own fault.
This particular article by Aaron Margosis was written seven years ago.
I just decided. (Score:3)
I'm 'retiring' from fixing other people's computers. It's not worth the headache. I have two machines that I have already agreed to fix, after that. If I'm not having sex with you or your mother, it's extremely unlikely that I will ever be fixing your computer.
LK
It's no fun helping unprincipled slobs (Score:4, Interesting)
The rant was concerning a security problem -- specifically, an unprincipled and careless user installed a lot of dodgy software, got burned, and took the techie's help for granted. The user's behavior is consistent: it's clear she doesn't think about the welfare of others or the consequences of her actions, so it's no surprise that she's ungrateful for the techie's help, and doesn't appreciate the amount of work involved.
I love helping friends and family with computer problems -- but the problems I get are requests for help in installing a hard drive, configuring a printer, or figuring out how to use some software. I usually get generous thanks for helping them.
The author of the rant needs to deal with his real problem: he has lousy friends. That the immediate problems were computer problem is incidental.
Re:One thing is for certain. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One thing is for certain. (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know about "substantially". I've got a couple of scars from those cheap as shit cases that must have been made by Schick or Gillette.
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Fortunately I had just put my coffee down before I got to this response. My monitor and keyboard are also grateful for this fortuitous timing.
Re:whine (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, Some of us play Magic: The Gathering. Don't lump us in with those pokemon losers!
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Oh, your sarcasm is so 2000's!
We use MKVs now, old man...
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I still use BetaMax.
You see that lawn? Stay off it.
Re:Both of you, behave yourselves! (Score:5, Funny)
U-Matic SP and J-format tape.
your lawn seems to be on my lawn.
Re:Both of you, behave yourselves! (Score:4, Informative)
WebM did not replace h.264. VP8 replaced h.264. WebM replaced .mp4. WebM is based on Matroska, the superset of .mkv, .mka, and .mks. Turn in your geek card.
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Hey, some of us play Call of Cthulhu! Don't lump us in with those Magic losers!
Saying no (Score:5, Funny)
You just need to learn to say no. This works 100%:
Did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said "Free PC repair"?
You know WHY you didn't see that sign?
'Cause it ain't there, 'cause repairing dead PCs ain't my fucking business, that's why!
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If you have a neighbor who is a plumber, electrician, contractor, or handyman, you'll find that they demand to be paid for their time and their work.
However, those same people will come to you for help with their computers and expect it for free. I'll help out my immediate family and a few friends, but I just only have so much time and patience and energy. It's not even the money. I just don't want to deal with it.
But if you Built the box... (Score:3)
You just need to learn to say no. This works 100%:
Did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said "Free PC repair"?
You know WHY you didn't see that sign?
'Cause it ain't there, 'cause repairing dead PCs ain't my fucking business, that's why!
I've built three boxes. Impressive systems which could withstand the changes of time for about a decade with minimal upgrades. Lian Li cabinets, PC Power & Cooling PSW, ASUS mobo, Radeon AIW video cards, 4GB of ram, 500GB of drive space, DVD RW, the works.
Two are still going strong.
One was tossed (TOSSED!) due to a minor issue, in favor of a Big Box Store PC which was inferior in every way. Then the owner wanted further help. Why did you toss a system which was an absolute brick for a discounter's o
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Same thing happened when I bought a truck. Suddenly all sorts of people who I didn't particularly regard as friends were wanting to buy me coffee in exchange for me helping them to move a household across town. My answer: thanks for the coffee. Now about my driving fee, it's $150 per hour, I don't lift anything, and I'll need a $5000 cash damage deposit in advance. If you're okay with that, great. Otherwi
Re:Saying no (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Friend: How should I fix ${generic_problem} with my computer?
2) Me: Install Linux
3) ???
4) Repeat as required
5) Profit!!! Well, maybe not "profit", but they stopped asking me for help, anyway
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I tried that. It mostly works but a few of my friends then went and installed linux. But then I could fix their computers so it worked out ok.
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Works for me, too, but I add, for family and friends, "If you want me to support your PC I'll be glad to do so if you'll let me replace Windows with Kubuntu"
So far, about a couple dozen have taken me up on it. Where I used to clean or recover the same Windows box three times in a year, with Kubuntu on it the only time I hear from them is when we chat small talk on Skype, or exchange emails.
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That's ok I don't have Windows....I have Office
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I do free tech support for family members, and I'm almost always richly rewarded in some fashion. It has never once been money. I've gotten literally dozens of fresh baked cookies delivered to my home once a day for a week straight, because I recovered a "dead" hard drive loaded with family pictures and videos, for my cousin and her husband. I almost always get dinner at my choice of places when I do any tech work for
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You feel better about yourself now that you've insulted every geek and nerd in the place? Personally, I see an antisocial rant like this, I think "projection. [wikipedia.org]" And now you can't even get mad at me for insulting you, or you will look like a hypocrite.
Re:whine (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dirty little secret among PC Techs (Score:5, Insightful)
You've never tried this, have you? The sort of person who is easily frustrated by technology but has been barely getting by on windows gets utterly enraged when presented with different UI paradigms. I know because I tried this "fix" a couple of times for people. The problem isn't that either UI is too difficult-- the problem is that you're dealing with somebody who is utterly refusing to learn anything, and handing them a new OS is asking them to learn quite a few things all at once.
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I've converted more than a dozen individuals and families to the Mac. All have lived happily ever after.
A before you all geek rage on me, I have steered a few of the young-uns with a clear interest in computers as more than tools toward Linux.
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Next time tell them they get 90 days free support for OS X and the iLife apps from time of purchase.
You'd be surprised at the amount of simple help they can get on the phone, and the amount of useful links they can get as well.
Re:Dirty little secret among PC Techs (Score:4, Funny)
You are part of the problem. Instead of educating, you had them buy a unicorn. Way to go.
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You are part of the problem. Instead of educating, you had them buy a unicorn. Way to go.
Oh please, you've never heard the term 'Windows rot'?
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I've heard it... never experienced it though. Seems like it mostly happens to people who install and remove programs all day long, download crapware, and so on. Doesn't happen to a normally used system where you install the programs you need to be productive and then just use them.
Dirty little secret: "rot" can happen to any OS if you add and remove enough things. Especially if you don't know or don't care exactly what you're adding and removing.
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Re:God I can relate! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:God I can relate! (Score:5, Interesting)
It can be worse. I'm an EE, and people I know think I can automagically fix *any* electronic device ever created.
One guy wanted me to fix his neon beer sign. I know just enough about neon signs to know I don't want to mess around with voltages like that.
Sometimes I get lucky. One friend called me and said the ceiling fan he installed is working oddly, and wondered if I knew what was wrong. From 10 miles away. :-/ A sudden brain wave made me ask if he had connected it to a dimmer switch. Sure enough, he had.
Re:God I can relate! (Score:5, Informative)
If you can't draw an arc, the transformer is potted in tar and the labor to repair one (if it can even be done) is far more expensive than the replacement. If neither of the above fixes it, you'll have to get a new sign.
The behavior of a switch-mode supply when driving something other than the specified load is somewhat unpredictable, so testing the power supply in that case requires replacement with a known-good part to see if the problem is fixed.
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Actually, you may be increasing your attack surface, as only one of the four has to be vulnerable in order for you to get compromised.
It also depends on if you isolate each browser to certain websites, or all the sites you visit get each of the browsers with less frequency.
The idea that it is harder for attackers if no browser has 10% market share, is defeated if you use all 50 browsers to visit their website.
Re:security though obscurity (Score:5, Funny)
So essentially you have 4 angles of attack instead of 1, each with security settings deliberately set to something different instead of something, say, secure? Tell me again how this in any way would limit possible attack vectors. Actually, tell me if you even know what that word means.
Re:I love my brother's method of guilt (Score:5, Funny)
"If I knew how to do computer, I would help You so you should help me." Well my brother did help me move from my parents' house to my apartment --- ten years ago.
I wouldn't mind if he actually LEARNED something, but he's still stuck at the "how do I make firefox fill the whole screen" or "I have firefox open - how do I get back to desktop?" stage (try minimize and maximize like I taught you back in 1999). He never learns.
Just shut the hell up. I'd mod you down even lower but I see you're already at (-1) you fucking cockstucker. You really should be BANNED from posting
Are you the brother?
Re:Wow, it's pretty short (Score:4, Interesting)
Macs are good, and they are designed to be used by non-technical people, but they are not foolproof. A determined enough user can break a Mac, too.
Re:Switching to a Mac solved this.. for a while (Score:5, Insightful)
Showing every one that using an OS with limited option limits the options you have.