Your experiences have been better than mine, though I too have the irritating problem of businesses not doing what I suggest, especially when it comes to making backups.
Business users seem to be more understanding when it comes to the bill, though.
I haven't done too many home computers, because the owners are just too uninformed about the things, and once I touch it, they figure anything that goes wrong with it after that is somehow my fault.
One home user I went to had something like 26 viruses and over 100 malware/spyware-related objects on the machine. After spending three hours fixing everything, I looked at they guy's history, and there were hundreds of porn and gambling sites. This guy's wife is extremely religious, and supposedly he is too, so I kept my mouth shut so as not to embarrass him, but I wanted to say, "If you'd stay off the ****ing porn and gambling sites, you'd have no problems.
That was five months ago. Last week he called me back with the same problems. Same viruses; same malware; same history list.
There are two reasons why so many amateurs are the only ones doing this kind of work.
The first reason is that computers often cost more to fix than what was paid for them in the first place.
It can take a few hours sometimes to fix some of the more persistent viruses and malware out there. As a consequence, only businesses seem to be able to afford my services.
The second reason is that home users have unreasonable expectations. Many seem to think that once I've touched their computer, I own it, and anything that goes wrong after that is my fault, not theirs.
I've only made a couple of home user calls. My first call was on a PC that had 26 viruses and over 100 malware and spyware-related issues.
In another case I had to tell a lady that she could buy a new PC for about $200 less than what it would cost me to rid her aging computer of demons.
Surprisingly, I have noticed that I charge $20/hr less than Geek Squad out of the local Best Buy. However, the home computer market is a touchy one.
You've got a good point. I would love to switch to GMail, but I've literally got years of important tidbits of information in the form of email in my Yahoo account. There's no way to move it to GMail, short of forwarding every individual message. I have better things to do.
Not to mention the fact that, despite the great interface, GMail is reading my mail -- I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with that.
You've obviously never been stuck in rush hour traffic. The idea is not "highly unlikely" in the least.
The fact is, if a (relatively) few slashdotters (thousands) can clog up the server by hitting it all at once, isn't it likely that out of the millions using the service, at any given time thousands will be hitting the server at once?
It was wrong to mod me down for pointing out that if their service can't handle a few thousand slashdotters at once, they're not going to be able to handle a few million people at any time, because out of those few million, a few thousand will always be trying to gain access.
Don't know whether to laugh or cry
on
The PC Is Not Dead
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Take the personal out of computing, and most companies would grind to a halt.
You mean Microsoft would grind to a halt.
Take the personal out of computing, and most companies would slingshot themselves to mach speed in terms of productivity.
...A large enterprise needs to be sure because it relates to securifying the environment...
Did that idiot actually say securifying? What is he, some kind of f**king hillbilly or something? I'm sorry, but I can't take advice from someone who promises to securify my network.
Truth is, I listen to NPR in the morning too. In fact, I heard this morning's broadcast on Knuth. But I couldn't resist the barb. Fact is, some days it is dreadfully, dreadfully dull.
You missed my point. Once you are dependent on an MCE box, Microsoft can disable your system the minute you modify it or upgrade it or whatever, just like they can now with XP.
They already have a de facto monopoly in computers, so we need to give them a de facto monopoly in television too?
Slashdot Mirror
The hell of it is, I will install Firefox (or Mozilla), talk to them about it, recommend they use it, and they'll still keep using IE.
;-)
I heard one guy claim that he changed the Firefox icon to the IE icon, and solved the problem.
Your experiences have been better than mine, though I too have the irritating problem of businesses not doing what I suggest, especially when it comes to making backups.
Business users seem to be more understanding when it comes to the bill, though.
I haven't done too many home computers, because the owners are just too uninformed about the things, and once I touch it, they figure anything that goes wrong with it after that is somehow my fault.
One home user I went to had something like 26 viruses and over 100 malware/spyware-related objects on the machine. After spending three hours fixing everything, I looked at they guy's history, and there were hundreds of porn and gambling sites. This guy's wife is extremely religious, and supposedly he is too, so I kept my mouth shut so as not to embarrass him, but I wanted to say, "If you'd stay off the ****ing porn and gambling sites, you'd have no problems.
That was five months ago. Last week he called me back with the same problems. Same viruses; same malware; same history list.
Good grief!
There are two reasons why so many amateurs are the only ones doing this kind of work.
The first reason is that computers often cost more to fix than what was paid for them in the first place.
It can take a few hours sometimes to fix some of the more persistent viruses and malware out there. As a consequence, only businesses seem to be able to afford my services.
The second reason is that home users have unreasonable expectations. Many seem to think that once I've touched their computer, I own it, and anything that goes wrong after that is my fault, not theirs.
I've only made a couple of home user calls. My first call was on a PC that had 26 viruses and over 100 malware and spyware-related issues.
In another case I had to tell a lady that she could buy a new PC for about $200 less than what it would cost me to rid her aging computer of demons.
Surprisingly, I have noticed that I charge $20/hr less than Geek Squad out of the local Best Buy. However, the home computer market is a touchy one.
You've got a good point. I would love to switch to GMail, but I've literally got years of important tidbits of information in the form of email in my Yahoo account. There's no way to move it to GMail, short of forwarding every individual message. I have better things to do.
Not to mention the fact that, despite the great interface, GMail is reading my mail -- I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with that.
I do it all the time. I don't think it's Yahoo that's the problem.
You've obviously never been stuck in rush hour traffic. The idea is not "highly unlikely" in the least.
The fact is, if a (relatively) few slashdotters (thousands) can clog up the server by hitting it all at once, isn't it likely that out of the millions using the service, at any given time thousands will be hitting the server at once?
It was wrong to mod me down for pointing out that if their service can't handle a few thousand slashdotters at once, they're not going to be able to handle a few million people at any time, because out of those few million, a few thousand will always be trying to gain access.
Take the personal out of computing, and most companies would grind to a halt.
You mean Microsoft would grind to a halt.
Take the personal out of computing, and most companies would slingshot themselves to mach speed in terms of productivity.
If it can't handle being /.'d, how is it going to handle millions of users?
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
Now there are 20 interesting problems for Slashdotters to work on...
I was going to tackle a few of these, but the wife insisted that I paint the house and remodel the bathroom first. (sigh)
Reminds me of Exit Mundi's article on this possibility.
...A large enterprise needs to be sure because it relates to securifying the environment...
Did that idiot actually say securifying? What is he, some kind of f**king hillbilly or something? I'm sorry, but I can't take advice from someone who promises to securify my network.
...and it also, erm, eats into our profits. So, um, don't use Linux because, it's evil, eeeeeeeevil!
"All your 1000Base-T are belong to us."
Truth is, I listen to NPR in the morning too. In fact, I heard this morning's broadcast on Knuth. But I couldn't resist the barb. Fact is, some days it is dreadfully, dreadfully dull.
Doh! Yes, that's $1,000,000.00.
Better re-read your last sentence.
Idiot.
I love that he gives something like $2.56 or something to everyone who finds a flaw in the book.
It's a little jest. He awards $100,000,000 (in binary) to anyone who finds an error. In decimal that's $2.56.
Yes, NPR is a mild sedative. Do not drive or operate machinery while listening to NPR.
In most of the U.S. a wrong number is just a wrong number, but in the South, it's a social event.
Considering that most games routinely defy the laws of physics, I would think that such a processor would actually make the games more dull.
So why couldn't this wire be used for a similar purpose? I don't understand your argument. You seem to be agreeing with me.
Wire-guided weapons, e.g., torpedoes and the like.
You missed my point. Once you are dependent on an MCE box, Microsoft can disable your system the minute you modify it or upgrade it or whatever, just like they can now with XP.
They already have a de facto monopoly in computers, so we need to give them a de facto monopoly in television too?