got to get this off my chest

A

alex

Member
Last year bout this time I purchased a 16x10x40 CD-RW and sold my old one (2x2x16) to the guy who does my taxes. I sold it for $50 and charged him $10 to install it (he has an IBM Aptiva) and it was no easy task to put in. I showed him a few things and copied one cd for him. Well, when I went to see him this year he starts rambling on about how that burner don't work right so I take a look at it and started to copy a cd but when it got thru copying to the hard drive, it locked up and I had to reboot. I looked around on his computer and clicked on the start button and then clicked programs and holy shit, his programs menu filled up the screen. I just hate it when someone thinks you ripped them off when really they are just ignorant :mad:
 
fury

fury

Administrator
Staff member
His start menu filled the screen? How big of a screen... 640x480?

Forget that, how would having a full programs menu cause his burner to lock up the system?
 
Huge

Huge

Holla if you hear me!
Staff member
So why didn't he call you when he had a problem in the first place or drop off an email? I recently upgraded a cousins of mine Aptiva (worst case ever) who had both onboard sound and video and put in a soundblaster and a tnt2 (about all that would run on that k6-2). Luckily everything went well and she was happy.

But I agree, that was wrong thinking you ripped him off...
 
A

alex

Member
fury said:
His start menu filled the screen? How big of a screen... 640x480?

Forget that, how would having a full programs menu cause his burner to lock up the system?
Click to expand...

His programs, under the start menu.

17" at 800x600 win 95

What that indicated to me (knowing how computer illiterate he is) is that his kids have been playin around d/l a buncha stuff and no tellin what else. I'm not saying that was THE cause, but it sure does indicate how well the computer is took care of.
 
Neo

Neo

Administrator
Staff member
Pad, I'd be pissed at him too. He prolly doesnt have enough space on the Hdd to copy the disk and have his swap file. Tell him to strip shit off the machine and then try it.
 
S

s4

Guest
Win 95 isn't any good for these newer computers. He needs to get something good and stable like I got. Win Me. :D
 
PostCode

PostCode

Perverted Penguin
Staff member
IF there isn't enough drive space to allow the CD Burner to swap then it could lock up pretty easy. Also, things like what he has running in the background and how often he does system maint like clearing out the windows\temp directory, temp Internet files, and defrag can easily cause these problems.
 
Kruz

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
I get the same kind of problems every time I go to my sisters house... It usally starts out with"How come my computer is".....*Insert problem here*...... could you take a look at it?
Now my sister and her kids install EVERY program that comes into there home... cd-roms inside cereal boxes, magazeins, free this, free that... and they find that they HAVE to click on each and every single popup window that comes along...AARRGgggggeee!!!
These are also the people that think that AOL "IS" the internet!!!
AND...she can't understand why the computer takes 5 mins to boot up, when she has 30 programs in the quick start tray....
 
Neo

Neo

Administrator
Staff member
exactly Kruz...And its always like you should be able to add all this stuff no problem. The worst is when they buy games and dont bother to make sure their system meets the specs for the game.
 
PostCode

PostCode

Perverted Penguin
Staff member
Or they buy those CD's with "101 Games" on it, mostly manufacturered by some no name company that fscks your system all the hell up.
 
A

alex

Member
Neo said:
exactly Kruz...And its always like you should be able to add all this stuff no problem. The worst is when they buy games and dont bother to make sure their system meets the specs for the game.
Click to expand...

My Mom, bless her heart, wanted to buy some video editing software for my nephews' puter (which I put together) and I told her it probably wouldn't work but before I could investigate it she had already bought it on sale.......and guess what....... it's not compatible with win2k and he doesn't even have an interface for his camcorder.......... $40 down the drain :smash:
 
Neo

Neo

Administrator
Staff member
Isnt it great to know your not the only one with these type of problems. Sometimes i feel like not ever building comps for anyone other than work(cause thats my job) and for myself at home... :)
 
Kruz

Kruz

Moderator
Staff member
Unfortunately, it's the same thing with mechanics! When people don't understand how things work and they have to rely on someone else to fix their problems, they tend to feel like they're getting ripped off. Or sold some unnecessary work...
I could fix a water pump today, and two months from now the customer will come back and say" you just worked on my car came now my air-conditioner doesn't work!"... it gets very frustrating when people think that all you're trying to do is take advantage of them.
 
S

s4

Guest
Yeah but there is good reason for skepticism sometimes.

My experiences with people and computers is don't offer to help or indicate that you know how to fix something. What happens is once someone gets the idea that you will fix a computer for them they will keep bothering you. I had one guy that would call me late at night wanting computer help. I was a good guy and fixed something for him a couple of times. Suddenly he wanted computer lessons on the phone, hardware help, and shopping advice. It got to be such a fucking pain that I finally told him I don't have time to do it. I got exactly $0 for all this great help.

computer work = charity work
 
A

alex

Member
Kruz said:
Unfortunately, it's the same thing with mechanics! When people don't understand how things work and they have to rely on someone else to fix their problems, they tend to feel like they're getting ripped off. Or sold some unnecessary work...
I could fix a water pump today, and two months from now the customer will come back and say" you just worked on my car came now my air-conditioner doesn't work!"... it gets very frustrating when people think that all you're trying to do is take advantage of them.
Click to expand...

That is so so true :)
 
fury

fury

Administrator
Staff member
s4 said:
Yeah but there is good reason for skepticism sometimes.

My experiences with people and computers is don't offer to help or indicate that you know how to fix something. What happens is once someone gets the idea that you will fix a computer for them they will keep bothering you. I had one guy that would call me late at night wanting computer help. I was a good guy and fixed something for him a couple of times. Suddenly he wanted computer lessons on the phone, hardware help, and shopping advice. It got to be such a fucking pain that I finally told him I don't have time to do it. I got exactly $0 for all this great help.

computer work = charity work
Click to expand...
Not for me... I charge for it, unless it's something simple like saving a file to a floppy disk and explaining why you can't use that as a cup holder. :D
 
B

B4TMANN

w00t
I've had similar problems with users computers (whether family or not) and what I do is load the box with Win2000.

My parents had a box with WinME, which is a decent OS, but it would lock up here and there. I put Windows 2000 pro on that bad boy and everytime I see them they say "hey....computers running great - no problems!". They even let it run 24/7.....so they can just walk up and use it whenever they please. Yes it does have Broadband :)

My point is this......I'm not saying that Windows 2000 is a fix all solution, but for real "hard on a computer users" it is great.

Win9x/Me has very very poor memory management. It is only made slightly better by setting the pagefile manually to double the RAM and making it static.

Anyway.......I feel your pain. I just had to dump all my side work onto some other dude that wanted it because I got REAL sick of phone calls every day like....."I cant Print - and we didn't change anything...honest".

Whatever......ya know!

Move em to a better OS and/or give em to someone else :)

:smash:
:eek:
 
Shadowfax

Shadowfax

Bla
Yup. have the same experiences. Put together a few systems or different people, all of them got fubared sooner or later, because those people just can't handle computers...and expect that while they are f*cking up their system, win98 will still work as well as it did just after a fresh install :rolleyes:

And then they come complaining about that I ripped them off, and get all pissed at me. And that while I invested time to build the right system for them, 100% quality hardware. Costed me time to install everything, free Win98, free Office 2000, free Nero 5..etc.
And still they dare to get pissed at me because of their own ignorance :mad:

At that point I decided to know nothing anymore. I won't help anybody anymore. Build no systems anymore, no network install, no formats, no nothing. Only perhaps for my best friends, my father and of course me :D

I saw an appropriate T-shirt the other day, it read: No, I will NOT fix your computer!

I think I'm gonna get me one of those. People often see me as free computer-related help. No way. Oh, that doesn't count for hot chicks, they can call for help any time :D
Kinda cute; a girl at work asked me for Photoshop 6, so I burned it for her. I asked why she wanted it, her answer was "I want to resize some JPG's"
And thus she needed Photoshop :D
But she's hot, so she can get anything anytime ;)
 
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