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#46
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Help for Neighbor?
Paul has written on 8/1/2013 4:25 PM:
The MBR isn't a problem, as you can pull the hard drive, slave it to another computer (as a non-boot drive), and just erase it. That's if your plan was to start from scratch. Then, put it back into the machine. Can't it be erased in situ by running a wiper program from a bootable CD? |
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#47
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Help for Neighbor?
Juan Wei wrote:
Paul has written on 8/1/2013 4:25 PM: The MBR isn't a problem, as you can pull the hard drive, slave it to another computer (as a non-boot drive), and just erase it. That's if your plan was to start from scratch. Then, put it back into the machine. Can't it be erased in situ by running a wiper program from a bootable CD? Normally, the answer is yes. What you should be doing though, is entering the model number of the computer into Google, to find out if there are any issues with how it implements the basic features. There was one brand in Europe, where virtually every generation of computers they sold, it involved a different low level "trick", such as using an HPA to hide the recovery partition. And it helps to know all the details, before attempting to restore the computer to like-new conditions. Paul |
#48
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Help for Neighbor?
On 08/01/2013 09:33 AM, Bob Henson wrote:
Warren Post wrote: On 07/31/2013 08:39 PM, Paul wrote: Juan Wei wrote: ray carter has written on 7/31/2013 8:21 PM: What I would do - would be to install Debian. YMMV Why Debian over the others, say Ubuntu? Because Debian might have an interface you can use. Ubuntu has something that looks like Metro interface. I feel a little nausea, when I see these icons on the left. So install a different desktop environment. Unlike Windows 8, where you have no alternative to the tile interface, Linux lets you install dozens of different desktop environments. On my computer at work I have Ubuntu running the Xfce desktop environment. No problem. Therein lies the problem with Linux too, though - there are more distros and desktops than there are functional programs to use. All the familiar programs that everyone wants to use only run on Windows. No video editor (that works well), no Microsoft office, no latest games, the list is endless. While I could quibble with your description, I'd much rather make explicit what you hint at -- that users should chose their operating systems based on what they want to do with it, not as if they were religions. For me, Linux is the better fit. For you, Windows is the better choice, and vive la différence. Nor am I inclined to jump to the conclusion that Windows isn't a good choice for the OP's neighbor. -- Warren Post http://my.opera.com/wpost/ |
#49
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Help for Neighbor?
On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 14:06:35 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:
On Thu, 1 Aug 2013 17:32:03 +0000 (UTC), Dave wrote: I've seen this when someone asked me for help. Although the person involved denied having done something while online, I didn't believe her. This type of call is common, I believe they simply want some money, It may be that they simply want money. Or it may be that some of them simply want money and others want to install malware, key loggers, etc. Or maybe they all want to install such things. I don't know for sure what they do, but my advice to anyone who let such a person into their computer is to do a clean Windows reinstallation and change all your passwords. The risk of not doing it is too great; it's playing with fire. Meanwhile, I feel pretty sorry for the victim. Realizing that you've been had is not a fun experience (not to belabor the obvious). Let's hope that the recovery processes are successful relatively soon. -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
#50
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Help for Neighbor?
On 08/01/2013 01:35 PM, Bob Henson wrote:
If you work in a company that uses Microsoft Office, you*do* have to have it. LibreOffice in not sufficiently compatible. Actually, I work in a company that uses MS Office, yet I use only LibreOffice with no problems. No one has even noticed, and they're nitpickers here. That's not to say that the situation you describe doesn't exist -- I know of a few examples where your statement is unfortunately true. I just wanted to point out that, happily, it's often not true. -- Warren Post http://my.opera.com/wpost/ |
#51
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Help for Neighbor?
John wrote:
On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 08:55:35 -0700, XS11E wrote: No Intuit software, no Quicken, no TurboTax, no Quickbooks (they don't run properly in Wine or Crossover Office) and I personally have no other reason to own a computer. Go to the fora on www.codeweavers.com and tell the good CodeWeaver folks about those programs being incompatible. They'll fix them. It's in their interest to make *every* Widosed program run in Unices and MacOSes. They've been working on it for many years with some limited success. Intuit does make Mac editions. -- XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/ |
#52
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Help for Neighbor?
On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 11:51:22 -0600, Ken Springer wrote:
One thing I'm beginning to relearn from my 8-bit days, you simply have to find and try out different programs that do a particular category of work (i.e. word processors) until you find the one that does what you need, and fits you. Unfortunately when you come out of your cave into the real world and work with others, you find that it's important to use compatible applications so that information and work can be shared. Like it or not MS-Office is the default standard for this. |
#53
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Help for Neighbor?
On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 20:49:41 -0600, Warren Post wrote:
On 08/01/2013 01:35 PM, Bob Henson wrote: If you work in a company that uses Microsoft Office, you*do* have to have it. LibreOffice in not sufficiently compatible. Actually, I work in a company that uses MS Office, yet I use only LibreOffice with no problems. No one has even noticed, and they're nitpickers here. That's not to say that the situation you describe doesn't exist -- I know of a few examples where your statement is unfortunately true. I just wanted to point out that, happily, it's often not true. Unfortunately often it *is* true! |
#54
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Help for Neighbor?
On 8/1/13 10:47 PM, XS11E wrote:
John wrote: On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 08:55:35 -0700, XS11E wrote: No Intuit software, no Quicken, no TurboTax, no Quickbooks (they don't run properly in Wine or Crossover Office) and I personally have no other reason to own a computer. Go to the fora on www.codeweavers.com and tell the good CodeWeaver folks about those programs being incompatible. They'll fix them. It's in their interest to make *every* Widosed program run in Unices and MacOSes. They've been working on it for many years with some limited success. Intuit does make Mac editions. I think Intuit only makes a bare bones version for the Mac these days. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.4 Firefox 22.0 Thunderbird 17.0.7 LibreOffice 4.0.4.2 |
#55
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Help for Neighbor?
Nil wrote :
On 01 Aug 2013, Richard Rose wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: And you dont have to contend with bugs with MS cant fix that go back Windows 3.1 Such as what? Learn to program then you will find them out! or NSA back doors! |
#56
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Help for Neighbor?
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:40:40 +0100, "Richard Rose"
wrote in article ... Nil wrote : On 01 Aug 2013, Richard Rose wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: And you dont have to contend with bugs with MS cant fix that go back Windows 3.1 Such as what? Learn to program then you will find them out! OK, I'll bite - I know how to program, but haven't yet encountered any Windows bugs that date back to the 16-bit Windows 3.1 days. Please, give me an example. -- Zaphod Adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer (crook? quite possibly), manic self-publicist, terrible bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch. |
#57
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Help for Neighbor?
Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote on 02/08/2013 :
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:40:40 +0100, "Richard Rose" wrote in article ... Nil wrote : On 01 Aug 2013, Richard Rose wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: And you dont have to contend with bugs with MS cant fix that go back Windows 3.1 Such as what? Learn to program then you will find them out! OK, I'll bite - I know how to program, but haven't yet encountered any Windows bugs that date back to the 16-bit Windows 3.1 days. Please, give me an example. For a start there was 32bit code in the 16bit Windows 3.1 code, you can start there. |
#58
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Help for Neighbor?
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:53:17 +0100, "Richard Rose"
wrote in article ... Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote on 02/08/2013 : On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:40:40 +0100, "Richard Rose" wrote in article ... Nil wrote : On 01 Aug 2013, Richard Rose wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: And you dont have to contend with bugs with MS cant fix that go back Windows 3.1 Such as what? Learn to program then you will find them out! OK, I'll bite - I know how to program, but haven't yet encountered any Windows bugs that date back to the 16-bit Windows 3.1 days. Please, give me an example. For a start there was 32bit code in the 16bit Windows 3.1 code, In Enhanced Mode (which affects the operation of the OS itself, but is not exposed in userland) and with the Win32s extensions, yes, that's correct. So what's your point? you can start there. Start *where* exactly? Give me a concrete example of a bug in Windows 3.1 that exists today in Windows 8, and since you seem to be focused on the programming aspect, give me a code sample that exposes the bug. -- Zaphod "Yeah. Listen, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrox, my father was Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second, my grandfather Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third..." "What?" "There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine. Now concentrate!" |
#59
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Help for Neighbor?
Zaphod Beeblebrox submitted this idea :
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:53:17 +0100, "Richard Rose" wrote in article ... Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote on 02/08/2013 : On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:40:40 +0100, "Richard Rose" wrote in article ... Nil wrote : On 01 Aug 2013, Richard Rose wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8: And you dont have to contend with bugs with MS cant fix that go back Windows 3.1 Such as what? Learn to program then you will find them out! OK, I'll bite - I know how to program, but haven't yet encountered any Windows bugs that date back to the 16-bit Windows 3.1 days. Please, give me an example. For a start there was 32bit code in the 16bit Windows 3.1 code, In Enhanced Mode (which affects the operation of the OS itself, but is not exposed in userland) and with the Win32s extensions, yes, that's correct. So what's your point? you can start there. Start *where* exactly? Give me a concrete example of a bug in Windows 3.1 that exists today in Windows 8, and since you seem to be focused on the programming aspect, give me a code sample that exposes the bug. I'm not an unpaid bug tester, do you own (*&(&^%^£(^& research! |
#60
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Help for Neighbor?
On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 16:50:32 -0400, Chris S. wrote:
What it does, it does well - it's just very limited as to software availability and hence what it can do - like a Mac, but much, much worse. -- Well said! And without emotion! Excellent! +77 Chris I agree, I've tried Linux and have Ubuntu in a virtual box, but rarely launch it. There are two things Linux Advocates miss. Businesses of course are cost concious, but it's far more important for them to have software for which they can rely on a pool of trained operators, either in house or from a temp agency. Such people exist for windows stuff. Like it or not, MS captured the market and although historically they have been slow to get to where they are, Office is now an excellent product and if there are problems with Windows 7 I've yet to uncover them . The other thing people gloss over is the difficulty for completely non- technical folks to install any OS. Heck, I have to show people how to access their mail. They purchase their machine from a store with everything installed and ready to run. If they add software like Quicken, the process is painless. If they still have a problem someone like us can help. Oh, by the way, there is a third thing, Linux people in their NG's can be obnoxious and unhelpful,correction, a lot of them are rude, obnoxious and unhelpful. A lot of the good software that runs on Linux and would appeal to the home user is available for windows. I use Libre Office and Scribus. The latter is quite good but you need to persevere initially. Same can be said for The Gimp, but I'm afraid I'm not that persevering - elements 11 for me. |
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