People and their computers -RANT ON -
Spooky, just reading this whilst waiting for my tea, got in from work a few mins ago, gave the young lad from up the road some advice as his car has snapped its cam belt, lent him some tools came in and phone goes, the Ipad has decided to just start sending all the test emails but also, I need to go round and tidy the cabling, apparently sending the longer cables round wasnt enough changing four cable for four longer alternatives is way too complicated, need to go round o collect my cheque for all the hardware, oh good a cheque, how very retro !
Scooby Senior
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 21,922
Likes: 2
From: Limbo
We set laptop & projectors at work all the time for people and the best call I had was.. its not working. so to prevent me going to the woman on the 5th floor we try to advise over the phone. Normally 100% ganrenteed to work but no nothing.. I get there and the bitch didn't put the plug in !!!
OH MY GOD RETARD !
OH MY GOD RETARD !
Every time one of you buggers sets one of these up for me it says "change dust filter" on the boot screen. DO YOU EVER CHANGE THE BLOODY FILTER?!
Scooby Senior
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,645
Likes: 0
From: UK
So - Question for those out there doing work in this field.
How much would you charge to help someone who's pc had died - ie couldn't reboot, it just kept saying it had a bad shutdown last time - choose Safe Mode / Last Known good config etc?
Specifically - How much to recover the data from the hard drive of the fubar PC and transfer to new pc / laptop??
How much would you charge to help someone who's pc had died - ie couldn't reboot, it just kept saying it had a bad shutdown last time - choose Safe Mode / Last Known good config etc?
Specifically - How much to recover the data from the hard drive of the fubar PC and transfer to new pc / laptop??
Scooby Regular
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 853
Likes: 0
From: On a 3 sided island
I paid the guy over the road from me £40 to rebuild my very kn@ckered old laptop last year. Worked great, I then bought a netbook (good offer) and the kids borrowed the old laptop, they fried it within days and the guy over the road charged me £20 to recover all my files and photo's - job done 
He said he sets it up to recover overnight so it's seriously not a lot of work and put it all on a memory stick so I could transfer to my netbook. Obviously the initial rebuild included installing programmes etc so bit more involved. £300 is a rip off imho.
He said he sets it up to recover overnight so it's seriously not a lot of work and put it all on a memory stick so I could transfer to my netbook. Obviously the initial rebuild included installing programmes etc so bit more involved. £300 is a rip off imho.
Scooby Regular
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 546
Likes: 0
In all seriousness, depending on how badly it's screwed that might not be such a bad deal.
if it's a physical hardware failure (although it doesn't sound like it) then you can pay 10 times that to get the data recovered... speaking form experience here.
Scooby Regular
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 16,694
Likes: 0
From: Pot Belly HQ
Is PhotoShop CS 5 something the Mac just does? If it is, why does it cost £20 more than the Windows version (prices taken from Amazon)?
Scooby Senior
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 20,896
Likes: 53
From: Overdosed on LCD
Scooby Regular
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 39,877
Likes: 0
Jesus, why is it if you having a passing interest in computers that people think mentioning their issues to you obviates them from sorting it out themselves ?
"I have a problem with my computer"
Translates as "You are now duty bound to sort my computer out"
I put all new network stuff in for my in laws, router, repeater, powerline adaptors which took three hours of my Sunday, dont mind but then I got a call later saying its asking for a disk, I took it out and I cant do anything, I advised "turning it off and on again" as basically he had removed a disk and the PDF viewer was asking for it, obviously I can see the screen from ten miles away, three hours later he calls to say "Nothing is working now" which is obviously because I touched it so I got in my car and drove round, turned it on and it worked perfectly !!!!
Mother in law gets an Ipad which was being a pain in the **** to get working with her shonky Wanadoo account, got it receiving but it wouldnt send, I said I would look into it further but after 90 mins I had to go, she seemed quite indignant, anyway we got an email "Sent from my Ipad" so obviously they will have got someone much cleverer than me to sort it out and I will have to listen to it, I will then buy a Blendtec and proceed round to render it to dust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko
My wife announced she wanted to print some photos, so obviously despite doing an ECDL printing one photo means I have to attend 5 times to put her straight "its not printing, it did last time", now I never print Photos but I just googled widows 7 print photos found the option and low and behold, SHALL I GOOGLE THAT FOR YOU ! then some other stuff about ink and god knows what.
I sorted out my brother in laws internet, three hours under his dusty, fingernail and spunk covered desk and tracing manky wire, fixed it and he didnt look up from the screen and said "thanks, bye" so enchanted was he to get his **** supply back.
Another mate, only rings me when he has computer issues or needs to ask me if he needs six cores or eight for doing some music and viewing ****.
What is it with people, I dont know it all, I have problems with my own kit but I TRY, I seek out the information, try stuff, people cant be arsed, its just lazy, the in laws drive me mental, I tell them how something works in non computer terms, 'Oh I havent got time for that" or "thats too complicated", no its not, it doesnt break down any further, if you want to use it, listen to me, shut up and learn, how can you not have time if you sit all day in front of the telly anyway ?
They seem to think I like it, after a hard days faffing with 300 database servers, listening to project managers telling customers half truths and stuff they have heard but dont understand I really want to learn the intrecacies of a seven year old OrangeHome router and try explaining wireless internet to a cretin, really I was asked the other day the difference between wired and wireless networking, I explained it and was told, "well I will leave all that complicated stuff to you"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25N-4zrk390
I dont remember all my own passwords so when I give you a piece of paper and tell you to keep it safe, dont look at me blankly when I ask for it, gong through 20 permutations each of the ten possible candidates for your password is not my idea of fun, ringing the call centre is not beneath you, you cant understand, neither can I either, and no, calling them "Wogs" loudly whilst I am on the call doesnt really help matters.
Learn how to clear your internet history and I dont find out stuff I never, ever need to know about you like when you last had a **** and your curiosity regarding transgender folk.
Dont drop your computer off, but if you must I dont need a 21 inch CRT, base unit, printer, cables, desk, mouse mat, 200 floppies, all the manuals etc, especially as I may just take it to the tip.
Dont think you are doing me a big favour, when you get a new computer of bestowing me a 512 mb ram Celeron POS with a 20 gb hd, I dont run a **** old computer museum, take it to the tip yourself. A printer, with no ink left, just what I always wanted.....
Neighbours, I dont care if your wireless doesnt work, saying hello when you can be arsed in the street does not guarantee you free IT support, dont be offended if I say no, if I asked you for free building work, free acountancy or free furniture you would quite rightly tell me to **** off, three hours work on my weekend, dont be offended if the bottle of wine you found in the garage, the one you didnt fancy doesnt make me explode with gratitude, three quid bottle of plonk versus three hours at what, lets say 50 an hour.
At least if you ask me to do something demonstrate a more involved diagnosis than Ask Mark its too complicated and looks like a right faff, its a faff for me also.
I dont know how every piece of hardware or mobile phone works either, if you bought it in 1998 it isnt my fault that there is no driver for it, I am not responsible for every product and its weak points, I will not be a scapegoat for Windows Vista.
Directories are not a complicated concept, use them.
I have not acheived the ability to time travel, if your hard disk f*cks up it isnt my fault and no I cant go back to back it up before it fails.
Dont gloat when you have new hardware, im not impressed but I can with a couple of mouse clicks make it run like a 4 meg Windows 3.1 installation and make it so no images appear on the screen in your browser, you want a 12 gig Oracle instance running in the background ?
You have a Mac, lovely, good for you, put it next to the Dualit Toaster, fancy coffee machine and all the other lifestyle accesories that look nice and get a proper computer if you need to do anything that involves the rest of the world.
"I have a problem with my computer"
Translates as "You are now duty bound to sort my computer out"
I put all new network stuff in for my in laws, router, repeater, powerline adaptors which took three hours of my Sunday, dont mind but then I got a call later saying its asking for a disk, I took it out and I cant do anything, I advised "turning it off and on again" as basically he had removed a disk and the PDF viewer was asking for it, obviously I can see the screen from ten miles away, three hours later he calls to say "Nothing is working now" which is obviously because I touched it so I got in my car and drove round, turned it on and it worked perfectly !!!!
Mother in law gets an Ipad which was being a pain in the **** to get working with her shonky Wanadoo account, got it receiving but it wouldnt send, I said I would look into it further but after 90 mins I had to go, she seemed quite indignant, anyway we got an email "Sent from my Ipad" so obviously they will have got someone much cleverer than me to sort it out and I will have to listen to it, I will then buy a Blendtec and proceed round to render it to dust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko
My wife announced she wanted to print some photos, so obviously despite doing an ECDL printing one photo means I have to attend 5 times to put her straight "its not printing, it did last time", now I never print Photos but I just googled widows 7 print photos found the option and low and behold, SHALL I GOOGLE THAT FOR YOU ! then some other stuff about ink and god knows what.
I sorted out my brother in laws internet, three hours under his dusty, fingernail and spunk covered desk and tracing manky wire, fixed it and he didnt look up from the screen and said "thanks, bye" so enchanted was he to get his **** supply back.
Another mate, only rings me when he has computer issues or needs to ask me if he needs six cores or eight for doing some music and viewing ****.
What is it with people, I dont know it all, I have problems with my own kit but I TRY, I seek out the information, try stuff, people cant be arsed, its just lazy, the in laws drive me mental, I tell them how something works in non computer terms, 'Oh I havent got time for that" or "thats too complicated", no its not, it doesnt break down any further, if you want to use it, listen to me, shut up and learn, how can you not have time if you sit all day in front of the telly anyway ?
They seem to think I like it, after a hard days faffing with 300 database servers, listening to project managers telling customers half truths and stuff they have heard but dont understand I really want to learn the intrecacies of a seven year old OrangeHome router and try explaining wireless internet to a cretin, really I was asked the other day the difference between wired and wireless networking, I explained it and was told, "well I will leave all that complicated stuff to you"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25N-4zrk390
I dont remember all my own passwords so when I give you a piece of paper and tell you to keep it safe, dont look at me blankly when I ask for it, gong through 20 permutations each of the ten possible candidates for your password is not my idea of fun, ringing the call centre is not beneath you, you cant understand, neither can I either, and no, calling them "Wogs" loudly whilst I am on the call doesnt really help matters.
Learn how to clear your internet history and I dont find out stuff I never, ever need to know about you like when you last had a **** and your curiosity regarding transgender folk.
Dont drop your computer off, but if you must I dont need a 21 inch CRT, base unit, printer, cables, desk, mouse mat, 200 floppies, all the manuals etc, especially as I may just take it to the tip.
Dont think you are doing me a big favour, when you get a new computer of bestowing me a 512 mb ram Celeron POS with a 20 gb hd, I dont run a **** old computer museum, take it to the tip yourself. A printer, with no ink left, just what I always wanted.....
Neighbours, I dont care if your wireless doesnt work, saying hello when you can be arsed in the street does not guarantee you free IT support, dont be offended if I say no, if I asked you for free building work, free acountancy or free furniture you would quite rightly tell me to **** off, three hours work on my weekend, dont be offended if the bottle of wine you found in the garage, the one you didnt fancy doesnt make me explode with gratitude, three quid bottle of plonk versus three hours at what, lets say 50 an hour.
At least if you ask me to do something demonstrate a more involved diagnosis than Ask Mark its too complicated and looks like a right faff, its a faff for me also.
I dont know how every piece of hardware or mobile phone works either, if you bought it in 1998 it isnt my fault that there is no driver for it, I am not responsible for every product and its weak points, I will not be a scapegoat for Windows Vista.
Directories are not a complicated concept, use them.
I have not acheived the ability to time travel, if your hard disk f*cks up it isnt my fault and no I cant go back to back it up before it fails.
Dont gloat when you have new hardware, im not impressed but I can with a couple of mouse clicks make it run like a 4 meg Windows 3.1 installation and make it so no images appear on the screen in your browser, you want a 12 gig Oracle instance running in the background ?
You have a Mac, lovely, good for you, put it next to the Dualit Toaster, fancy coffee machine and all the other lifestyle accesories that look nice and get a proper computer if you need to do anything that involves the rest of the world.
Les
