I want to rant! I don't do it much, so give me this one chance...

[Jeff7]

(Kinda lengthy rant, yes, I will summarize it.

)
Someone's PC was acting up, so I took it home to work on it. The thing would reboot after it reached the desktop (only about 4 minutes after hitting the power button anyway). It's a Duron 700, Abit KT7, 256MB PC133 RAM, 20GB HD, blah blah blah....
Ran Spybot on it - 4 times through before it got rid of everything. And man, that list of crap it found just went on and on. Must've taken 4 minutes just to remove the first slew of junk. Booted much faster that time.
But the programs, uninstallations, and general use had still done a number on the registry and the overall Windows installation. Format time. I THOUGHT I had backed up everything - she uses Incredimail (which I'm told contains spyware itself), so I backed up that folder, along with some other stuff she wanted. Well, AFTER I fdisk, format, reinstall Windows, and restore the backed up files, then I run Incredimail and notice that all the Boxes are empty. Guess where the messages are stored? C:\Windows\Appication Data\IM\Identities\(alphanumeric string)\Messages
Something like that. And guess which folder was wiped in the big format? AAAAnd guess which folder R-studio (demo anyway) can find, but will only give me empty files out of it?
Initially, I hadn't Ghosted the drive because I didn't think I had a spare - the RAID array of my TV-PC was backed up on all available drives I own; lots of recorded shows in MPEG2 format. Well after the data on the person's PC is gone, I realize "hey, the drives in the RAID array can be formatted, because their data is backed up already!" I hate it when you find the perfect solution to the problem only a week after you already tried to solve it, and screwed it up even worse.

Summary - I messed up.



Ok, maybe you want a better summary: Brought home a computer to work on it.
Didn't back up data like usual because I didn't think I had a drive available.
Backed up most of the data.
Format, reinstall Windows. Needed data was wiped out.
Then I realized that I do in fact have TWO available drives.


Now comes the difficult task of delivering the news - the crap is cleaned out of your computer and it works good now. But your e-mails from the past who-knows-how-long are gone.

 

[BCYL]

Oh man, I would hate to be in your shoes right now...

Good luck man, hope your 'client' doesnt care about his/her email TOO much...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BCYL
Oh man, I would hate to be in your shoes right now...

Good luck man, hope your 'client' doesnt care about his/her email TOO much...

Dunno; of course, the PC shop she had dealt with before (more about them below) has a disclaimer that basically says: Back your data up. If we screw it up, it's not our problem.

The company she'd dealt with before is an ISP/PC shop; pretty good ISP too. But she got a 386 PC, 4MB RAM, and Windows 95 on it. Yes, it actually booted up, in under 10 minutes I believe. But she wanted a bigger hard drive installed - 20GB. And they did it. She isn't exactly computer literate - a game said "Windows 95 compatible" so she figured it'd run on her PC. Her PC itself could hardly run.
I heard about that and just plain told her that the computer is an ancient piece of junk, and that I could build her a system (my first mistake?), which I did. It worked much better. But then came the Internet, and all the malicious software out there just looking for an open computer to infect.

I unfortunately don't have much time to work on this PC either anymore, as I do have a full-time job. When I do a reinstall, I do a good job too - not just "Windows is on and it boots, here you go" I install updates, accessories (Quicktime, Flash player, Winamp, the user's apps, Spybot....oodles of good stuff), so it's working pretty fine. Maybe I'll try Ghosting it to a CD now so that she'll have a "restore disc" of some sort.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: BCYL
Oh man, I would hate to be in your shoes right now...

Good luck man, hope your 'client' doesnt care about his/her email TOO much...

Dunno; of course, the PC shop she had dealt with before (more about them below) has a disclaimer that basically says: Back your data up. If we screw it up, it's not our problem.

The company she'd dealt with before is an ISP/PC shop; pretty good ISP too. But she got a 386 PC, 4MB RAM, and Windows 95 on it. Yes, it actually booted up, in under 10 minutes I believe. But she wanted a bigger hard drive installed - 20GB. And they did it. She isn't exactly computer literate - a game said "Windows 95 compatible" so she figured it'd run on her PC. Her PC itself could hardly run.
I heard about that and just plain told her that the computer is an ancient piece of junk, and that I could build her a system (my first mistake?), which I did. It worked much better. But then came the Internet, and all the malicious software out there just looking for an open computer to infect.

I unfortunately don't have much time to work on this PC either anymore, as I do have a full-time job. When I do a reinstall, I do a good job too - not just "Windows is on and it boots, here you go" I install updates, accessories (Quicktime, Flash player, Winamp, the user's apps, Spybot....oodles of good stuff), so it's working pretty fine. Maybe I'll try Ghosting it to a CD now so that she'll have a "restore disc" of some sort.

A 'restore disc' is definitely a good idea... cuz you know it's only a matter of time before they mess it up again (from downloading junk etc)...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BCYL<br
A 'restore disc' is definitely a good idea... cuz you know it's only a matter of time before they mess it up again (from downloading junk etc)...

Yeah, and a scarier thought - she's on dialup now. If she ever gets broadband..."Duuuude! You're gettin a MAC!"

 

[FoBoT]

more good reasons not to fix OPCs (Other People's Computers)

 

[rh71]

At least you had the right idea - GHOST before reformat (especially others' machines).

 

[djheater]

Remember this maxim:

No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
more good reasons not to fix OPCs (Other People's Computers)

Yeah, thing is, I do get paid for it. Rather well too, and it's easy work, for me anyway. Usually. Right now I'm fighting her ISA modem. It's battling the COM ports (I do not miss ISA one bit).

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: FoBoT
more good reasons not to fix OPCs (Other People's Computers)

Yeah, thing is, I do get paid for it. Rather well too, and it's easy work, for me anyway. Usually. Right now I'm fighting her ISA modem. It's battling the COM ports (I do not miss ISA one bit).

One posiiblity I've done before is: Tell them you'll provide the computers and support them when there are problems for a fee. Then buy them a Dell or HP or something. Basically you're consulting. When there's a problem take it home and get Dell on the phone. They're paying not to have to bother with tech support. In my experience you have a much better chance of using tech support to figure out and solve problems that may arise than they do.

I've built people computers but only with the strictest promise that they won't hold me responsible when things screw up. I give them the option: I can build it cheaper, but if you want 24hr support buy a Dell or something....


You need this.

 

[XZeroII]

Been there. Most people are pretty understanding, though. Just tell them flat out that you tried backing everything up but you were unable to save some items (ie: email). Just remind them to backup all their data regularly (anything they would miss if lost), and that you tried your best. Good luck.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: FoBoT
more good reasons not to fix OPCs (Other People's Computers)

Yeah, thing is, I do get paid for it. Rather well too, and it's easy work, for me anyway. Usually. Right now I'm fighting her ISA modem. It's battling the COM ports (I do not miss ISA one bit).

One posiiblity I've done before is: Tell them you'll provide the computers and support them when there are problems for a fee. Then buy them a Dell or HP or something. Basically you're consulting. When there's a problem take it home and get Dell on the phone. They're paying not to have to bother with tech support. In my experience you have a much better chance of using tech support to figure out and solve problems that may arise than they do.

I've built people computers but only with the strictest promise that they won't hold me responsible when things screw up. I give them the option: I can build it cheaper, but if you want 24hr support buy a Dell or something....


You need this.

I tell people that I only build quality computers. If they want the cheapest prices, go to BB or something because I won't deal with the problems associated with crap computers. If they want a quality computer, they will pay slightly more, but I tell them that I will have much better support and be much more flexible if something goes wrong. I personally don't care which way they go because I refuse to deal with crap components.

 

[Nitemare]

Is this a paid fix or a freebie fix?

Install windows 200 and set her up with guest privileges only. It is for her own protection.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: rh71
At least you had the right idea - GHOST before reformat (especially others' machines).

i agree

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: djheater<br

You need this.

I so wish that was not $15 (plus whatever shipping costs), I would love that shirt. Thanks for the link though. Maybe I can buy some T-shirt transfers and make my own sometime? I don't think that they can really trademark/copyright that sentence, can they?

I tell people that I only build quality computers. If they want the cheapest prices, go to BB or something because I won't deal with the problems associated with crap computers. If they want a quality computer, they will pay slightly more, but I tell them that I will have much better support and be much more flexible if something goes wrong. I personally don't care which way they go because I refuse to deal with crap components.

This is something that I'm learning too. This computer has some Diamond Multimedia components in it - luckily, the reference drivers for the components they are based on work reasonably well.

Is this a paid fix or a freebie fix?

Install windows 200 and set her up with guest privileges only. It is for her own protection.

That actually sounds like a reasonable idea. Or something called Centurion Guard - it is a hardware device that tracks all changes made to a hard drive after an "initial state" is set. Then at reboot, the drive is set back to defaults.
Yes, this is paid. I don't do freebie fixes except for people in the same house.

 

[spanky]

if i were u... i'd tell her a virus chewed up her stuff. lesson learned... don't install crap. at least it's half true.

 

[Kev]

if the dummy's computer was loaded with that much spyware and garbage, you could probably just lie to them and say that the email itself was causing the problem and the only way to fix it was to get rid of the email

 

[Ameesh]

tell her that the email had viruses in it and you had to delete it.

 

[Jeff7]

No, I won't lie, and I didn't. She's ok with it; I did mention that I got most of the other stuff (pictures of relatives, that sort of stuff) backed up and restored. She said she's just glad it wasn't a virus that could have destroyed her hard drive. But Norton AV did its job - the PC was virus free, provided that you don't qualify spyware apps as viruses, which some of them mimic very closely.
Phew.:sun:

 

[n0cmonkey]

Look at some of the freeware/payware forensic tools out there. You might be able to re cover some of it.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
No, I won't lie, and I didn't. She's ok with it; I did mention that I got most of the other stuff (pictures of relatives, that sort of stuff) backed up and restored. She said she's just glad it wasn't a virus that could have destroyed her hard drive. But Norton AV did its job - the PC was virus free, provided that you don't qualify spyware apps as viruses, which some of them mimic very closely.
Phew.:sun:

Good for you!

Man, three people in a row suggesting you lie............

that's deeply messed up.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Look at some of the freeware/payware forensic tools out there. You might be able to re cover some of it.

Tried R-Studio's Demo; it seems to be one of the better ones out there. The demo's only limit as far as I can see is that it will only recover files smaller than 64KB. I tried it on a few text and JPG files - all empty. I did try a few other programs too, but they couldn't even see past a format.

 

[m2kewl]

i woulda lied. "ma'am, there was so many viri on your pc and mail...i think you should go back to pen and paper"

"oh, here's my bill - did i tell you my rate was $65/hr??!"

 

[m2kewl]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jeff7
No, I won't lie, and I didn't. She's ok with it; I did mention that I got most of the other stuff (pictures of relatives, that sort of stuff) backed up and restored. She said she's just glad it wasn't a virus that could have destroyed her hard drive. But Norton AV did its job - the PC was virus free, provided that you don't qualify spyware apps as viruses, which some of them mimic very closely. Phew.:sun:

Good for you! Man, three people in a row suggesting you lie............
that's deeply messed up.

aren't you glad we don't fix your compooter?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: m2kewl

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jeff7
No, I won't lie, and I didn't. She's ok with it; I did mention that I got most of the other stuff (pictures of relatives, that sort of stuff) backed up and restored. She said she's just glad it wasn't a virus that could have destroyed her hard drive. But Norton AV did its job - the PC was virus free, provided that you don't qualify spyware apps as viruses, which some of them mimic very closely. Phew.:sun:

Good for you! Man, three people in a row suggesting you lie............
that's deeply messed up.

aren't you glad we don't fix your compooter?

actually that's fairly harmless....just so you don't fix my brakes, design bridges, or practice medicine.