Re: Tired of supporting friends' computers? Migrate them to GNU/Linux

John

Why tell us this?.. if you and your family are incapable of, or unwilling
to, run MS products, then don't.. there is no need to make a song and dance
out of it..


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user

http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm





"John Bailo" <jabailo@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:-YOdnWcG4oDsVu7fRVn-jA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/04/29/0237254.shtml?tid=130&tid=2
>
> "The real challenge comes into play when you bring Microsoft Windows into
> the equation. Contrary to popular opinion, untrained, inexperienced users
> cannot manage Windows by themselves. It takes a knowledgeable, skilled
> user to keep a Windows system properly maintained. That means applying
> updates and patches, setting up a firewall, using a virus scanner (or
> simply knowing what is and is not a suspicious email), and defragmenting
> the disk every month or so. Unfortunately, the kind of people who need my
> help do not know how to do this, even for all the times I've shown them.
> They are not stupid people, but many are older and grew up in a time when
> their friends would not send them messages that could harm them. They
> understand mechanical maintenance, but don't quite comprehend the fact
> that computers require electronic maintenance. Some don't care about
> system maintenance at all; they are content to pay someone else to fix it
> when it breaks, rather than properly care for their software. In short,
> they need an operating system that, for all their trying, they cannot
> screw up. Windows isn't it.
>
> Windows fails in ways that totally confound my hardware troubleshooting
> abilities. A "blue screen of death" or STOP error can mean that a BIOS
> setting is incorrect, a memory stick has failed, the motherboard is dying,
> the power supply is starting to flake out, or that the hard drive has bad
> sectors. It can also mean that the Windows registry has been corrupted by
> spyware or viruses, a third-party program has caused a bad crash, or
> Windows Update has mis-applied a security patch or driver update. Where do
> you begin when there are so many possibilities? The professional
> technicians I've spoken with recently tend to start with the operating
> system, and rather than try to diagnose which part of the software has
> failed, the usual recommendation is to erase the hard drive and reinstall
> Windows, then work from there. And, not surprisingly, this solution often
> works."
>
>
> --
> Texeme Construct
> http://texeme.com


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