don't want to babysit computers for family anymore, what to do

[shilala]

Teach them how to use adaware, spybot, etc.
Teach them to use their antivirus utility to scan.
They are not retarded, they can perform those acts.
When they call, ask if they've done those things. When they say no, tell them to call back when they have.
/problem

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Firefox.

or Opera.

:thumbsup:

 

[Xyo II]

Originally posted by: Rage187
make an image of it while it's good, then just reimage it.

system point restore works

 

[petejk]

just take a clean ghost image of it...and whenever it gets fubared....load the image....

DUH!

 

[Xyo II]

Originally posted by: Staples
Certainly Firefox or Opera set up as your default browser will stop half the problems.

then not using windows will stop the other half?

 

[Cooler]

Simple just Install dos 6.02. That way they have to learn how a computer works before they screw it up.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: Einstein Element

Originally posted by: Rage187
make an image of it while it's good, then just reimage it.

system point restore works

Sorry, but no. Any spy/crap/virusware worth two bits will disable that first

 

[Bassyhead]

Originally posted by: Rage187
make an image of it while it's good, then just reimage it.

thats what I do

 

[Mickey Eye]

I told my step father I had had enough of tidying up his crap and that he was responsible for his computer. Didn't stop him but made him atleast more polite about it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Originally posted by: Rage187
make an image of it while it's good, then just reimage it.

QFT. I use DriveImage 2002 to keep good images of parents computers and update them every 6 months when I go back. It's tough to babysit computers from a couple of thousand miles away

 

[rh71]

1) ghost image
2) teach parents on how to boot ghost and re-apply image
3) teh profit.

 

[Squisher]

Buy this shirt

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: AmigaMan

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Firefox.

That got rid of almost every problem I had to deal with on my in-laws computer!

Yup. Dell + Firefox + antivirus + spybot s&d == happy Amigaman who doesn't have to help his in-laws anymore!

QFT :thumbsup: i completely concur (minus the Dell part)

Why "minus Dell"? For one, they have the cheapest PC's available. And they usually have free tech support available. I bought my wife one of those Dell Small Business deals for $249+tax/s/h and it's worked perfectly. I now recommend anyone else to just buy a Dell and you can just point them to the free Dell tech support when they screw something up. If it's out of warranty, they can either fix it themselves or pay for Dell to fix it.

 

[PingSpike]

Make a ghost image of a it when its good, and then every time there's any problem, no matter how small...just reimage it. They'll be pissed they lose all their settings and crap, but who gives a sh|t.

 

[WyteWatt]

I feel your pain.

This is the thing I hate the most!

Thank god for Hurricane Katrina! Don't have to really worry about it anymore.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: AmigaMan

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Firefox.

That got rid of almost every problem I had to deal with on my in-laws computer!

Yup. Dell + Firefox + antivirus + spybot s&d == happy Amigaman who doesn't have to help his in-laws anymore!

QFT :thumbsup: i completely concur (minus the Dell part)

Why "minus Dell"? For one, they have the cheapest PC's available. And they usually have free tech support available. I bought my wife one of those Dell Small Business deals for $249+tax/s/h and it's worked perfectly. I now recommend anyone else to just buy a Dell and you can just point them to the free Dell tech support when they screw something up. If it's out of warranty, they can either fix it themselves or pay for Dell to fix it.

oh no, nothing against Dell systems - what I meant was my relatives don't have Dells, but if they did that would be fine too. It would probably save me a couple tech support calls, since they have that included in their deals.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: rh71
1) ghost image
2) teach parents on how to boot ghost and re-apply image
3) teh profit.

wow, i don't even think my Dad could turn on a computer let alone do any of the ghosting

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: OS
I gave my parents two computers and every couple months, someone manages to jack something up and I have to piss away several hours fixing stupid sh*t. It's becoming really tiresome.

This time the computer is polluted up the ass with spyware I can't remove. I did make the mistake of letting them run as admin, it was convenient for me when I had to use it, but ontop making them just users, I'm thinking about taking away one computer so they can only jack up one. What else should I do? It already has firewall, AV, anti spyware, blah blah and it still gets screwed up.

Learn how to administer an OS properly.

You don't hear of corporate desktops getting trashed every few days unless the place is run by the same guys that can't keep their family's PC's clean.

Thats because corporate desktops don't belong to the employees.

 

[marvdmartian]

If you're running xp on that system, set yourself up as administrator, and set your parents accounts up as limited users.

It might not stop all the problems, but it will keep them from installing some of the dumb crud they've probably been putting on there.

Isn't it funny how when the kids are young and don't know better, they're the ones that screw up mom & dad's computer......then later on, when they don't know better, mom & dad screw up their own computer?? :laugh:

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: shimsham
im sure it sucks, but, come on man theyre your parents. the least you can do is fix their comps after they raised you. have you taught them how to run scans, etc?

QFT

at least show them how to clean it up on their own...teach a man to fish, etc.

 

[jammur21]

Mac Mini

 

[speg]

or safari + OSX

QFT.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
Welcome to the club, you are now your family's computer expert. Anything dealing with computers will come your way. Just be glad its limited to your parents and not your entire extended family, trust me, it sucks.

Yeah, my extended family does that, too. I eventually just started to make it a low priority because they would ask me for really trivial stuff (like changing the look of a profile). They can do it themselves but are too lazy to look it up themselves, so I started to tell them I was really busy, and would get to it later.

My folks rarely use the computers but they are fine with what they use it for. They just email and check certain things, so there are usually no problems.

 

[andylawcc]

outsource your job to India.

 

[NatePo717]

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime...... Teach your parents how to fix their own sh!t and this won't be a problem.