Re: Activation problem with Office 2003

I just have to jump into this fray as an extremely competent computer
user who, when no one said it could be done, converted a WinME OEM
machine to a smoothly running W98SE set-up, ergo, I have some clues.
I am also the person who fixes everyone else's problems with their
systems and have not called tech support in 7 years for anything. This
comes from a lot of reading/testing, and, unfortunately formatting and
reinstalling, but, whatever...

Having this knowledge and the ability to fix my own problems, having
never had a virus/worm/trojan, et al, how would you explain to me the
necessity of those ubiquitous MS patches, patches to the patches and the
service packs, and subsequent patches to said service packs? I'm
certainly no IT person, but, I know enough not to d/l or install any of
those for at least 90 days after the date they were issued. Would this
be the problem of the "average" computer user? If the s/w worked OOB,
these "average" people wouldn't have problems that cannot be discerned
by the irritatingly cryptic error messages, one of which I got that
said, to wit: "Some error happened..." No kidding?

Or, how about this? I recently purchased a new Logitech wireless bundle
and switched the old Logitech wireless bundle to another computer. I
uninstalled the old kb/mouse set up on the one computer, hooked up the
standard PS2 set and, before installing actually RTFM. I proceeded with
the install and PFFFTTTT! Nada! Froze me out to the point that I could
not get ANY mouse or k/b to work. Tried for 7 hours on and off to get
into SafeMode, roll back using ERUNT, Recovery Mode, Repair Mode, etc.,
however, one needs the capability of a mouse and/or a keyboard to
highlight and/or click one of the foregoing options. Was that my fault
as an ignorant average user? I think not. I eventually wound up taking
the whole shebang to CompUSA where I purchased it (who, btw were
absolutely wonderful to deal with and did not treat me like a moron,
and, took that POS back, credited the purchase price and gave me a
discount on service), and, somehow, they got a kb/mouse to work after a
day, but, when they finally managed to get into recover mode, the damn
system froze. 4 times! We finally decided the old format/reinstall was
the only way to go. Not being an "average" user, I didn't lose much
since I keep nothing of vital importance on any computer, nonetheless, 3
wasted days over the installation of a Logitech mouse and keyboard?

Some of us know what we're doing but sometimes that simply does not
matter if the s/w is crap, therefore, while I agree that you should have
a basic understanding before getting behind the wheel, even the best IT
people get stumped/screwed when installing s/w and/or MS patches/packs.

End of my $.02

AbByNOrMaL



In article <bvqdncJTB5FrJhXenZ2dnUVZ_sSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx>,
jl_paules@xxxxxxxxxxx says...
> You still don't get it. I think it sucks that so many people are having
> problems when they convert. Either the conversion needs to be tweaked until
> there are no problems or MS should post in LARGE LETTERS that if you don't
> uninstall the trial version first, you may have problems. I'm not calling it
> a user error, I'm calling it a software problem.
>
> Is that clear enough *now*?
>
>
> (And, I know this will cause comments, but I happen to believe that if you
> are going to use a computer, you need to learn how to maintain it. You
> learned how to check the oil level in your car and how to fill the tank. You
> need to learn *some* things to keep your computer working. I'm not saying
> you have to be able to build one from scratch - I don't know if I'd be able
> to do that - but you can't just figure that everything will be fine and you
> can go along blindly.)
>
>
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Patch push programs for Win2K domain world?
    ... install it on a domain controller, but you can install it on other servers ... files for patches and service packs of all kinds. ... > - Cannot find a reliable way to query a host or the controller itself for ... > - When scheduled for deployment, it sometimes took UE a few hours to push ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)
  • Re: MS03-026 - are you patched? Windows Update isnt sure!
    ... registry checks to determine if a patch is installed on a given machine. ... Many patches install a registry key to indicate that they have been ...
    (NT-Bugtraq)
  • Re: [Full-Disclosure] MS Anti Virus?
    ... > running the firewall it shouldn't be an issue. ... you would only supposedly have new bugs in the latest revisions. ... >> had patches well in advance of the worm that impacted it, blaster, ... > If you install windows and attempt to either patch it or install firewall ...
    (Full-Disclosure)
  • Re: Project 98 and older
    ... Amedee Van Gasse wrote: ... I've been able to install a copy of Project 98, ... Also some of the files, made with Project 4.0, seem to have macro ... for how much such a file conversion would cost. ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Sun Solaris login bug patches out
    ... >> A UNIX box with a high uptime is indicative of that box not being ... >> maintained with the latest security patches. ... > At work we only had to install the patch onto one Solaris 8 machine. ...
    (Focus-SUN)