my tech service rant

[pookiebear]

If I have one more user that lets the windows xp "desktop cleanup wizard" compress their hard drive. Then calls me to complain about their home computer running slow.... I will scream.


thanks for letting me rant.

[Psumi]

Maybe tell them that program does exactly what it does, and point out that the desktop is the portion of the computer that shows when you first login, the one with the fancy wallpaper/color and the My computer icon and anything else they put on it.

if they question, "But isn't everything my desktop?"

Tell them that everything else are folders within your "File System" and explain that the desktop is actually a folder in this File System that is made to show on the screen below the "hovering" windows.

---

Or better yet,

tell them that the desktop is like a window, the background is part of the world, and anything you have taped onto the window are your icons that you use to get to other things quickly, like your grocery list or something.

Then use this analogy to explain the stuff I said above.

lol.

[pookiebear]

^^you would get a blank stare...

best option I have found is to tell them you made a couple tweaks and it is working better now. Then you didn't waste your time trying to explain something to someone that does not care and won't be listening anyways. (been doing this for 20 years)

[Psumi]

^^you would get a blank stare...

best option I have found is to tell them you made a couple tweaks and it is working better now. Then you didn't waste your time trying to explain something to someone that does not care and won't be listening anyways. (been doing this for 20 years)

Tell them to use the uh... Disk cleanup program found in Accessories > System Tools or whatever.

Tell them to check the "Old compress files" box (especially if it has a lot of space.)

Then when they go try to find their old files, they'll say, "What happened to my files?!"

You'll just snicker in secret. My mother wouldn't let up for days after I "accidentally" did that.

[undecim]

^^you would get a blank stare...

best option I have found is to tell them you made a couple tweaks and it is working better now. Then you didn't waste your time trying to explain something to someone that does not care and won't be listening anyways. (been doing this for 20 years)

The placebo effect is powerful.

[Wee_Guy]

Hand them a windows installation DVD, tell them to put it in, restart PC and click next a few times.

Once they've successfully re-installed windows you can then guide them in restoring their files from their backup. (If you don't have a backup copy, your fiels may as well not exist, right?)


...Or, Smile knowingly at them, saying "That doesn't happen with Linux" :P