If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
#46
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. |
Ads |
#47
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 7:56 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. No apology necessary, Ken. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. I agree totally. I've reinstalled my OS often over the years, starting with my Atari ST1040 computer. But it's so darned hard to get people to learn anything about the OS and how to even use it, much less reinstall it. An example is a good friend of mine. She's constantly complaining how slow her computer is. She's spent hours looking for fixes on the web. But will she take the time to reinstall and start from scratch? Nope. Will she let me do it? Nope. I just let her complaining go in one ear and out the other, these days. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
#48
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 2015-05-24 11:33 AM, Ken Springer wrote:
On 5/24/15 7:56 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. No apology necessary, Ken. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. I agree totally. I've reinstalled my OS often over the years, starting with my Atari ST1040 computer. But it's so darned hard to get people to learn anything about the OS and how to even use it, much less reinstall it. An example is a good friend of mine. She's constantly complaining how slow her computer is. She's spent hours looking for fixes on the web. But will she take the time to reinstall and start from scratch? Nope. Will she let me do it? Nope. I just let her complaining go in one ear and out the other, these days. I had no idea that it was even possible to re-install an Atari 1040ST's operating system. As far as I knew, the operating system was in ROM and therefore couldn't be affected by viruses. An upgrade would also require a user to replace the chip on the motherboard, no? -- Slimer Encrypt. - "NTFS is just slightly faster than apples HFS. And that is the slowest FS of all. EXT 4 is several times faster than NTFS, and *that* is the reason you dimbulbs now troll against EXT4." - "Like NTFS, which is at best at beta stage right now?" (Peter "the Klöwn" Köhlmann lying shamelessly about NTFS to desperately defend the fact that ext4 has been shown to corrupt data in Linux kernel 4.0.x) |
#49
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 12:06 PM, Slimer wrote:
On 2015-05-24 11:33 AM, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/24/15 7:56 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. No apology necessary, Ken. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. I agree totally. I've reinstalled my OS often over the years, starting with my Atari ST1040 computer. But it's so darned hard to get people to learn anything about the OS and how to even use it, much less reinstall it. An example is a good friend of mine. She's constantly complaining how slow her computer is. She's spent hours looking for fixes on the web. But will she take the time to reinstall and start from scratch? Nope. Will she let me do it? Nope. I just let her complaining go in one ear and out the other, these days. I had no idea that it was even possible to re-install an Atari 1040ST's operating system. As far as I knew, the operating system was in ROM and therefore couldn't be affected by viruses. An upgrade would also require a user to replace the chip on the motherboard, no? You're correct, but technically you kind of reinstalled it every time you turned in on. snicker, snicker OK, that was in fun. On the serious side, you reinstalled the OS, in this case an upgrade, buy removing the ROM and installing a new one. Which I did. But thinking back, that was on my Mega 4, not the 1040. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
#50
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
Slimer wrote:
On 2015-05-24 11:33 AM, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/24/15 7:56 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. No apology necessary, Ken. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. I agree totally. I've reinstalled my OS often over the years, starting with my Atari ST1040 computer. But it's so darned hard to get people to learn anything about the OS and how to even use it, much less reinstall it. An example is a good friend of mine. She's constantly complaining how slow her computer is. She's spent hours looking for fixes on the web. But will she take the time to reinstall and start from scratch? Nope. Will she let me do it? Nope. I just let her complaining go in one ear and out the other, these days. I had no idea that it was even possible to re-install an Atari 1040ST's operating system. As far as I knew, the operating system was in ROM and therefore couldn't be affected by viruses. An upgrade would also require a user to replace the chip on the motherboard, no? This is back when ROMs were expensive, but disk drives were more expensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS The ROMs in that case, would be considered "wastefully large" when compared to what was used on other computers. Paul |
#51
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote: I set up basic accounts because of the malware issues these days, but a tutorial of why it's done and how to properly use them is supplied with the computer. The most radical thing I do is partition the hard drive, and move the data storage to the new partition. Relocating those personal data files LOL And the new owners get instructions on never putting files on C:\. LOL While I see your reasons for doing that, it's non-standard and is probably going to confuse a few folks. Personally, I've always just advised people with whom I come into contact to make backups on a regular basis. With a good backup strategy, it doesn't matter as much where things are stored. Case in point, one lady *asked me* to create a second partition and a folder structure in it, then move her personal documents there. I got a frantic call about week later advising me that all of her precious documents were gone. Turns out, she had simply forgotten that she'd asked me to move them. The part I felt bad about was when she told me she had been searching for at least five days and had finally called me because she thought that I had accidentally deleted them. |
#52
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote: Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. What I don't do is look around on the think like pjp does. I could care less what's on there. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS You had me at "I'd take you all to Vegas...". When is this, again? I need to clear my schedule. |
#53
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sun, 24 May 2015 14:42:07 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: I set up basic accounts because of the malware issues these days, but a tutorial of why it's done and how to properly use them is supplied with the computer. The most radical thing I do is partition the hard drive, and move the data storage to the new partition. Relocating those personal data files LOL And the new owners get instructions on never putting files on C:\. LOL While I see your reasons for doing that, it's non-standard and is probably going to confuse a few folks. Personally, I've always just advised people with whom I come into contact to make backups on a regular basis. With a good backup strategy, it doesn't matter as much where things are stored. I agree completely. |
#54
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sun, 24 May 2015 14:42:07 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:
While I see your reasons for doing that, it's non-standard and is probably going to confuse a few folks. Quite, especially if they're working from a Dummies book. |
#55
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On Sun, 24 May 2015 07:39:14 -0600, Ken Springer wrote:
On 5/24/15 4:24 AM, mechanic wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Easy to say, but from what? And with what license? Retail copy or the restore partition if it exists, using the product ID on the computer. If there is one. Unlikely for most ex-business throw-outs. |
#56
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 3:42 PM, mechanic wrote:
On Sun, 24 May 2015 07:39:14 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/24/15 4:24 AM, mechanic wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Easy to say, but from what? And with what license? Retail copy or the restore partition if it exists, using the product ID on the computer. If there is one. Unlikely for most ex-business throw-outs. So far, I've been lucky. The product ID sticker is on the case. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
#57
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 1:43 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. What I don't do is look around on the think like pjp does. I could care less what's on there. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS You had me at "I'd take you all to Vegas...". When is this, again? I need to clear my schedule. LOL! About the time I win the lottery. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
#58
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
mechanic écrivait
: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. Easy to say, but from what? And with what license? What I do is to image what I've bought first, always leave yourself a way back if you hit a brick wall later. Interesting but what are you talking about? Why so many peoples start new threads to continue discussions on another thread? It's hard to follow if not impossible. |
#59
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 12:47 PM, Paul wrote:
Slimer wrote: On 2015-05-24 11:33 AM, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/24/15 7:56 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 22:54:57 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/23/15 11:10 AM, Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: Remember the days of Win 95 and 98, when a computer came with some basic software installed? Such as MS Works, Media Center, etc.? As most of these folks can't afford a computer, it's fairly logical they can't afford commercial software. So I install free stuff, like WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft), VideoLAN, free AV usually Avira, etc. Since I'm supplying the monitor, I change the resolution for the best display the monitor can provide. Adjust icon spacing, etc. as needed, different wallpaper (just for the fun of it, and it helps me remember which account I'm in. LOL) Enable Clear Type. I've not looked, but I suspect the settings of new computers are pretty much what I end up having when done. I mean, would you really want a computer with 800 X 600 screen resolution. :-) Not to accuse you of anything, but here's my standard message about used computers: If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either. Yea, I do a clean install, each and every time. In that case, I misunderstood you. Sorry. No apology necessary, Ken. Sometimes I don't even know who owned it previously. I'd take you all to Vegas and bet that 99& of the new owners wouldn't have a clue how to reinstall the OS I won't bet with you. The number might be a little less than 99%, but I agree that it's very high. But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter; you should do it with a used computer whether you know how or not: learn how or get a friend to help you. I agree totally. I've reinstalled my OS often over the years, starting with my Atari ST1040 computer. But it's so darned hard to get people to learn anything about the OS and how to even use it, much less reinstall it. An example is a good friend of mine. She's constantly complaining how slow her computer is. She's spent hours looking for fixes on the web. But will she take the time to reinstall and start from scratch? Nope. Will she let me do it? Nope. I just let her complaining go in one ear and out the other, these days. I had no idea that it was even possible to re-install an Atari 1040ST's operating system. As far as I knew, the operating system was in ROM and therefore couldn't be affected by viruses. An upgrade would also require a user to replace the chip on the motherboard, no? This is back when ROMs were expensive, but disk drives were more expensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS The ROMs in that case, would be considered "wastefully large" when compared to what was used on other computers. Probably so, but just try to install a virus in the OS. G -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
#60
|
|||
|
|||
Creating personal data/special folders
On 5/24/15 1:42 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: I set up basic accounts because of the malware issues these days, but a tutorial of why it's done and how to properly use them is supplied with the computer. The most radical thing I do is partition the hard drive, and move the data storage to the new partition. Relocating those personal data files LOL And the new owners get instructions on never putting files on C:\. LOL While I see your reasons for doing that, it's non-standard and is probably going to confuse a few folks. Personally, I've always just advised people with whom I come into contact to make backups on a regular basis. With a good backup strategy, it doesn't matter as much where things are stored. Guess that's a situation of how you define non-standard. G To me, formatting/partitioning another Windows partition is not non-standard. It's not the default, but not non-standard. Non-standard would be creating Mac or Linux partitions on the drive. I have to work with the assumption the new owners will not have the resources to purchase an external drive for backups. Well, I don't *have* to, but I do. And many times, the hard drive is too small to have the images on the internal drive. In the case of the Vista machine I'm working with now, the optical drive will only burn CD's. I also work with the assumption they have no clue what a backup is. After weighing in all the factors, this leaves me with the choice of partitions, or asking them to do something they possibly can't afford to do, even if they have the knowledge. I think partitioning and moving their docs is the safest approach under these conditions. I do explain what I've done, and why, in the documentation, and I encourage them to do backups, *if* they can afford it. It's always possible someone may give them an external drive, but I don't know that. Case in point, one lady *asked me* to create a second partition and a folder structure in it, then move her personal documents there. I got a frantic call about week later advising me that all of her precious documents were gone. Turns out, she had simply forgotten that she'd asked me to move them. The part I felt bad about was when she told me she had been searching for at least five days and had finally called me because she thought that I had accidentally deleted them. As long as you're in the "fix it" business of some kind, you'll always have the customer who forgot they asked for something to be done, or forgot to ask for something to be done. I would have felt bad too, and likely would have tried to steer the conversation to make her feel better, such as "Yea, I've forgotten these things too that I've done for myself", so she knows she's not the only one to do it. But the bottom line is, you did what she asked. You are not responsible for her memory. -- Ken Mac OS X 10.8.5 Firefox 36.0.4 Thunderbird 31.5 "My brain is like lightning, a quick flash and it's gone!" |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|