Alongside being a web developer I am also freelancing as a general IT guy with local small businesses. I have an interesting case I'd like some ideas for.
The company uses a strange conglomeration of Win 98, 95, and ME all networked together. The problem is that recently (within the past few months) the WinME machine has been locking up, running generally slowly, and having strange errors in general. I have come to the conclusion that a full reinstall is necessary, and an upgrade is more than highly reccommended.
The problem is that the owner is wary of reinstalls or upgrades. Basically, he wants me to fix it via the most noninvasive method possible.
I've got RegHealer (a registry "cleaner"), and I've been cleaning off any spyware etc... (not much, it's barely internet capable and he's a man of habit, doesn't go online very much or surf around at all).
So I'm looking at a Windows problem (I hate ME with a passion) that I need to fix without reinstalling windows. Using an overlay reinstall (which I thought was included with ME, where you just reinstall necessary Windows files and leave the rest alone, but I could be wrong) would be preferable....but I guess not possible.
Don't have a good solution for you, other than convincing the owner that Win ME was the worst thing M$ ever put out, and that the reliability of his PCs will go way up if you upgrade them to XP.
"Please give us a simple answer, so that we don't have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don't fit the way we want the world to be."
~ Terry Pratchett in Nation
Tried that. He had a bad experience with his old computer person, and actually lost somewhere in the ballpark of $15,000 due to the mistake. I had to talk for 30 minutes to explain why updating his Windows was a good idea.
It's a friend of the family, so I don't want him to have to hire someone else (at a local $140 a pop to even show up, I'm at least 10 times less expensive and still as qualified). But if there has to be a reinstall he wants to have someone else come check it out. I don't want him to have to pay that type of money if I can fix it in under a dozen or so hours.
Assuming it's not a hardware problem just (re)install ME from the CD. The install will not change data or settings, only the system files.
Personally I would buy a new system, ME is 5 years old, and import all files and settings from the old computer via the network or a stick using the transfer wizard in XP.
At least 98% of internet users' DNA is identical to that of chimpanzees
Assuming it's not a hardware problem just (re)install ME from the CD. The install will not change data or settings, only the system files.
Personally I would buy a new system, ME is 5 years old, and import all files and settings from the old computer via the network or a stick using the transfer wizard in XP.
The disk he has will only reformat the drive and do a clean install. A gift from being an eMachines peice of crap.
eMachines. Been there. Done that. You're screwed. The time and effort needed to fix this is well beyond the cost of upgrading. There are lots of programs and web sites out there that almost work and solving these problems but never really do. Even WinXP has to be reinstalled every so often. I don't recall if you were concerned about losing this job but if you just pretend to work on it then eventually he'll give up.
I worked at a radio station that had an audio mixer board from 1919 or something that was built like a tank. It barely worked but we couldn't talk the GM into buying a new one. So one night I went in and took an AC cord with bare ends and fried that baby. The next day, the morning guy found one channel still worked on it and they still wouldn't buy a new one.
So I guess frying that box won't solve the problem either.
I'm not concerned about losing the job as it's a freelance gig and not my main source of income. But he is a friend so I want to do my best to explore our options before forcing him to upgrade.
He will eventually upgrade but he wants to try other things first.
the reliability of his PCs will go way up if you upgrade them to XP.
win2000 might be a little better (maybe). It's pretty much the same thing as XP, and without alotta of the fluffy stuff that you don't need.
Either way, it's better than the microsoft made virus.....
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Originally Posted by Fang
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