Is repairing Windows worthwhile?

[Jeff7181]

I know TONS of people who complain of a slow computer, and have tons of crap installed and running in the background, as well as tons of spyware and crap like that.
They also have data scattered all over the hard drive since some programs default folder to save in is located in the program's directory, not the My Documents folder. So it's not an easy task to backup everything.
Some of them also have bought computers without getting an OS on a disk, so the OS that's installed is the only OS they have and can legally use.

So my question is, is it worth removing all the crap software and deleting junk registry keys? Or would it be better to backup all the data I can find, and do a fresh install of a new OS and make them absorb the cost of the new OS and any other software that came pre-installed that they need?
Is it even possible to go through every little tid-bit of the registry and system files and remove junk and restore it to a like new condition?

 

[EeyoreX]

I guess my opinion is that it depends. Mostly on how badly the computer is trashed. My sister decided she didn't need/want all that "crap" her brother installed. Why use a firewall and antivirus software just cuz he put it there? Well, she called me and asked why her computer was so slow and had so many popups and so much junk. Did a scan with Ad-Aware, Found 479 pieces of spyware. Including at least 10 processes running, 50 registry enries and 80 files!! This was over the phone. After that I asked if she was using the software I installed. She was not. I'm not bothering with a repair. I told her to save what she wants saved, or make note because I am reinstalling everything.

\Dan

 

[Jeff7181]

What I'm wondering is how difficult it would be to completely clean up after programs that don't completely uninstall. Like clean up all dll's left behind that aren't needed and clean out registry entries.

 

[drag]

Well, You should always back stuff up.( I don't, so do as I say, not as I do. )

With Windows XP. I'd install a good virus scanner, scan it. Then install Adaware and scan us it. Uninstall a bunch of stuff and use msconfig to disable as much crap as I can.

Clear out temp files. Clear out other files they don't need or want anymore. Clean out the registry if you'd like, I usually don't it scares me, but I don't mind looking thru it everyonce and a while.

Install patches, and go to the microsoft knowledge base and fix any issues that may be plaguing the computer.

Update the drivers to the manufacturers newest stuff from their websites.

Then do the final free up disk space and defrag thing.

That usually fixes any issues and gets the OS back up to speed, so that's what I do.

Takes a few hours, but I usually take naps or do something else while that goes on.

If that doesn't fix it, then re-format anything else to do to try to get it back to a as-new condition probably isn't worth it.

 

[Jeff7181]

I keep the stuff I need backed up, but it's other people who have this problem that I could potentially profit from I'm just a computer guru, don't have any certs or papers to back up my knowledge, but I've been charging $50 for a house call, and $15 an hour after the first hour for upgrades, repairs, builds, etc. I also tell them that if I can't fix the problem or they aren't satisfied that I won't charge them. Seems to be working fairly well so far.
If I can restore the computer so that it performs like new or almost like new, and keep all their data and keep everything just the way it was, I would think that would be a pretty valuable service I could offer to people.

 

[drag]

That's cool.


Just don't forget to back up their data first. If you loose everything you can be liable.

I just remember this one guy I heard about that worked for a small company that performed computer upgrades and installed networking in peoples houses (among other things.)

The company policy was that even if you just open up a computer to poke around inside it, or do anything you back up the entire HD first.

Well one of the techs just needed to install a NIC card. Simplest thing in the world, right? Of course it was and that guy thought it was a waste of time to backup for something that simple.

Well something went wrong and fried the whole computer, maybe he forgot the grounding strap for his arm or something, because whatever happened in rendered the entire computer non-functional and all the info on the HD was corrupted.

I don't know if they tried to format it and reinstall or it caught on fire or whatever because the info on the HD was unrecoverable.

Well the guy that owned the computer used it for balancing the his finances for his company he owned.

Including the tax information for all his employees and ALL other finacial records. He didn't have any hardcopies or backups or anything.

He successfully sued the small company that that tech was working for for the costs hirering a bunch of accountant and lawyers or whatever it took to replicate the information and cover the costs lost to the computer owner's business.

(Certs are over-rated anyways.)

 

[Jeff7181]

(Certs are over-rated anyways.)

Not for someone like me with no work experience and no evidence that I even know what a computer is.

 

[drag]

Well it depends on who your being interviewed (or having application reviewed by).


A good manager that knows his stuff will aviod people that have too much education and certificates because most of what they learned in school will have to be un-learned to make them productive.... sometimes it's easier to train someone then un-train them. Plus the person may have a attitude because they think they know to much. They would care more about your attitude and how enthusastic, interested and communititive you are. A person who does a lot of hobby stuff with computer is more likely to like working with computers, a guy that just went to a technical school or something and has no personal experiance otherwise may just be thinking that getting a computer job will make him wealthy and give him a laid-back job. (A degree would still be a BIG plus though.)

However if you have to deal with a person in human resource or something they don't realise that a person with a lot of certs may just be realy good at cramming for tests and have know clue how to format a HD or to secure a network. All that TCP/IP, CPU, Megahertz and transistor stuff is just mumbo-jumbo to them so they just go by what looks good on paper and sounds "official".

(this has been my experiance)

Unfortuanatly you usually have to go thru the HR person before getting to the Boss person. So its a catch-22.

Probably running a small business out of your home would be 100X more impressive then a MS A+ network Cert or a Cisco Network Associate Certificate.

 

[Sunner]

I tend to keep my computer in as good a shape as I can, and when Windows eventually craps out due to bit-rot, I just reinstall.

 

[SFingktur]

Uninstall all the programs you want to get rid of, run AdAware with the latest reference file, install SystemWorks and run the One Button Checkup and SpeedDisk. Your system should be purring at that point.

 

[KF]

>He successfully sued the small company that that tech was working
>for the costs hirering a bunch of accountant and lawyers or whatever
>it took to replicate the information and cover the costs lost to the
>computer owner's business.

Interesting. That sounds like consequential damages. On the radio-lawyer shows I used to listen to, they used to always say you could not sue for consequential damages in Michigan.

For instance:
A common complaint was that a new roof had a small leak, ultimately causing damage to their house of say $20,000 (for repairs), not to mention doctors fees for the allergic reaction to mold spores from the moisture, etc. The radio lawyer would tell them they could only collect, at most, for the cost of the roof, and probably only for the shingle that leaked. Another thing you can't collect on is legal fees. You can collect on "court costs", which is what you pay the court for trying the case, but not on your lawyer's fees. It would be unusual for the lawyers fees to be less than the cost of a normal roof, so basically these people would be out the entire $20,000.

So, in Michigan the guys whose computer got zapped could only collect for the computer, which would be less than the lawyers fees. In locations where this is not true, legally aware companies should be making their customers sign a waver BEFORE any work is undertaken. In some locations, such wavers may not be binding (California?), but at least the customer may THINK he can't sue.

Legal considerations aside, no one should be messing with computers containing truely valuable, irreplaceable, un-backed-up data, even that idiot business man.

This is not legal advice, yadda, yadda. I say that because in Michigan you can get into big trouble for telling people about the law. The lawyers are diligent and relentless in monitoring these things, and they will get you for "practicing law without a license." They don't want anyone horning in on their action. One group that is always protected, even when no one else is, is the lawyers. That's because a huge percentage of the lawmakers are lawyers. Name me one case where a lawyer got the shaft! Meanwhile, lawyers shaft policemen, politicians, doctors, mafia Dons, the CEOs of giant corporations, and even their own clients. The closest I ever saw was John DeLorean after he got a new lawyer, and his former lawyer was suing him for millions in unpaid legal fees. It gave me a good feeling.

 

[drag]

I didn't mean so much for lawyers for the court stuff, but so much for part of the costs of restoring the lost information and stuff like that. I figured that laywers would be needed to cover the business man's business legal liabities (you know so that he follows tax law and employement law in regared to finaces and payments and stuff, and cover his as$ for any future enquireries from IRS-type guys) which is just speculation on my part.

Not so much legal costs in courts.

It would be more like the liability of maybe a roof guy causing a new section of a roof to collasp on your business and ruining a bunch of stuff, because he was to lazy to make sure what he was doing was safe.

Or maybe a car repair guy wrecking your car and setting fire to a bunch of legal documents in the trunk while testing your brakes he was suppose to fix properly, but didn't.

The information inside the computer would definately be worth some value and I figure that you could get compinsation for damages.

Of course nowadays, everybody needs a lawyer. Lawyer on your side=good laywer against you=bad. Consult a laywer for any business stuff.

 

[drag]

Also now that I think about it.. What do you think would be the best/safest way to back up a entire harddrive?

I figure that you remove the HD from the client's computer and then hook it up (or just hook it up in the old case) in your own computer you brought and then use ghost or something similar to put the image onto another big drive.

Does that sound resonable?

 

[KF]

>What do you think would be the best/safest way to back up a entire harddrive?

Safest?

I don't think I'd want to touch the innards, considering the story about the poor shnook that only put in a NIC. They have portable USB HDs. Probably slow. Maybe your own computer networked to the one that needs a backup, but only if they already have a NIC

 

[Thor86]

RegscrubXP works great for Win2k/XP.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Thor86
RegscrubXP works great for Win2k/XP.

Thanks, I'll give it a try

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Thor86
RegscrubXP works great for Win2k/XP.

Thanks, I'll give it a try

Ran it and it came up with a bunch of stuff... mostly keys with no values set for them... is it ok to remove these keys?

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Thor86
RegscrubXP works great for Win2k/XP.

Thanks, I'll give it a try

Ran it and it came up with a bunch of stuff... mostly keys with no values set for them... is it ok to remove these keys?

Select all and fix 'em. It does create a backup .reg file incase you fubar any software installations.

 

[cypriot]

can I remove windows XP thru repair option?

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: cypriot
can I remove windows XP thru repair option?

Are you trying to format the drive? All you need is a bootable floppy disk for that.

You don't need to "remove" it, just overwrite it with something else.