B
Bossman
I posted this in a Linux group and got to wondering if this is an
isolated incidence. But what I really want to know is if anybody here
has any information as to how major computer corporations can ship
computers with outdated OS software like indicated below? Actually I
am more interested in gaining a little insight into the workings of a
computer assembly line and how things like this get overlooked. Or,
can anything be done to prevent somthing like this, either with or
without MS software, or safety issues in place. My question is, where
is the os installed? On the harddrive prior to assembly? Or after the
machine is put together? Is it done here, or overseas, with the lowest
bidder getting the work? If it's the lowest bidder, is there a price
difference that MS charges for update software such as SP1, or has the
vendor not update the software Os for one reason or another?
Posted to a Linux group:
Sorry all for the win references, but heres yet another reason why I'm
learning Linux. Good friend found a Compaq 2.8 gig, 512ram, 40gig hd,
DVD/CD burner etc... for 599.00. Now this friend is 82 going on 30,
and couldn't pass up the sale, even though he doesn't actually need
the laptop. Bought the lap on Tuesday, took it home, fired it up and
logged onto the net. 5 min later it kept powering off. ( i'm thinking
sasser here ) Not wanting to inconvenience anyone(me), he brought it
back to the store Wed, and used his charm to get the tech's to remove
and reboot the os, free of charge. Compaq CS wanted 45.00 per hour to
try to talk him through removing the viruses over the phone, directly
from India. Went home and had the SAME thing happen that night. Back
to Best Buys and they swapped the unit out for another one. I told him
not to log onto the net until he brought it to me, and to bring me the
machine this am, as I had some time free, and would install basic
firewall, spyware stuff on it before he had any more problems. This
machine, just so you all know, is the second batch at this store, and
is supposed to be exactly the same as the first batch according to the
store manager.
Last night I burned a disk with zonealarm, and ad-aware, as I wanted
to install these before I logged onto the net with it. Since I had to
assume that he had picked up the sasser virus for the power on/off
problem , I knew we'd have to immediately make sure SP1 was installed,
as well as the rest. Since he has dialup at his house, we went to
Starbucks, and used my linksys card to download the updates. His other
machine is a desktop running Win98. He kept telling me how beautiful
the xp environment is, and that he wants to get a disk for the
desktop, as the laptop came with the software pre-loaded, and no xp
disk. I told him he would have to pay to install the os on the
desktop, and he didn;t immediately get the fact that he had to pay
again for an additional lic for it, even though his son HAD a disk he
would let him use for free. Took some explaining, but he finally got
the idea. His desktop, by the way, is not running any firewall
software on it, and has Norton AV, and has never had a real problem
with viruses or hackers.
Considering this machine is brand new, and comes with WinXP Home, I
figured that it would be relatively close to that on my XP Pro laptop
for hardware detection. It found new hardware, but didn;t know what.
Since I had the driver I downloaded as well for the card, I installed
the driver, and had to spend 10 minutes getting the machine to connect
the card . Finally got it working, logged onto the net, and went to
update software. There were 11 XP updates 22 service and critical
updates, and 7 driver updates. Installed sp1, and rebooted only to
have to manually re-config the wireless card again to work. Went to
download the linksys update as indicated, rebooted again, and same
thing. Next update, and the Internet Explorer wouldn;t open, just the
preferences tab. Had to use Windows explorer to access the net to use
my t-mbile account to finish updating. Next reboot I downloaded
Mozilla which changed my config for the wireless card. ( I doubt that
it did actually change the config, but... ) Total of all reboot/
reconfig took well over 3 hours. Only after final updates installed
did the laptop work fine. No way this guy would have been able to do
this at his house, and on dialup.
I had some similar issues with my Sony lap and XP pro, but couldn't
believe that system's this vulnerable go out into the real world every
day. This is a scary thought. I have always assumed that I am not like
the masses, and am overly cautious by first always installing AV
software with updated definitions, firewall software, then internet
stuff. What do average people do when this happens? Are they just
blind to the fact that this is apparently normal, and pay / deal with
the additional costs involved? Worst thing for me was when he asked me
to place the Office taskbar on the side, and I had to tell him he
didn't have one installed. Now he has openoffice, and I told him it
was an updated version of M$ Office 2000. He'll probably figure it out
sooner or later, but at least he can write his grand kids tonight..
Side note: My Sony laptop got Mandrake 9.2 installed on it Tuesday
night. It took all of 30 minutes, rebooted, and everything worked.
Linksys card and all. Nothing tweaked for it to work. Changed the
desktop, and installed KDE theme, and it crashed hard. locked up.
Reinstalled and had some installation disk read problems, but it's up
and running. Going back on to it after I send this .... Wine' s next
on the agenda.
isolated incidence. But what I really want to know is if anybody here
has any information as to how major computer corporations can ship
computers with outdated OS software like indicated below? Actually I
am more interested in gaining a little insight into the workings of a
computer assembly line and how things like this get overlooked. Or,
can anything be done to prevent somthing like this, either with or
without MS software, or safety issues in place. My question is, where
is the os installed? On the harddrive prior to assembly? Or after the
machine is put together? Is it done here, or overseas, with the lowest
bidder getting the work? If it's the lowest bidder, is there a price
difference that MS charges for update software such as SP1, or has the
vendor not update the software Os for one reason or another?
Posted to a Linux group:
Sorry all for the win references, but heres yet another reason why I'm
learning Linux. Good friend found a Compaq 2.8 gig, 512ram, 40gig hd,
DVD/CD burner etc... for 599.00. Now this friend is 82 going on 30,
and couldn't pass up the sale, even though he doesn't actually need
the laptop. Bought the lap on Tuesday, took it home, fired it up and
logged onto the net. 5 min later it kept powering off. ( i'm thinking
sasser here ) Not wanting to inconvenience anyone(me), he brought it
back to the store Wed, and used his charm to get the tech's to remove
and reboot the os, free of charge. Compaq CS wanted 45.00 per hour to
try to talk him through removing the viruses over the phone, directly
from India. Went home and had the SAME thing happen that night. Back
to Best Buys and they swapped the unit out for another one. I told him
not to log onto the net until he brought it to me, and to bring me the
machine this am, as I had some time free, and would install basic
firewall, spyware stuff on it before he had any more problems. This
machine, just so you all know, is the second batch at this store, and
is supposed to be exactly the same as the first batch according to the
store manager.
Last night I burned a disk with zonealarm, and ad-aware, as I wanted
to install these before I logged onto the net with it. Since I had to
assume that he had picked up the sasser virus for the power on/off
problem , I knew we'd have to immediately make sure SP1 was installed,
as well as the rest. Since he has dialup at his house, we went to
Starbucks, and used my linksys card to download the updates. His other
machine is a desktop running Win98. He kept telling me how beautiful
the xp environment is, and that he wants to get a disk for the
desktop, as the laptop came with the software pre-loaded, and no xp
disk. I told him he would have to pay to install the os on the
desktop, and he didn;t immediately get the fact that he had to pay
again for an additional lic for it, even though his son HAD a disk he
would let him use for free. Took some explaining, but he finally got
the idea. His desktop, by the way, is not running any firewall
software on it, and has Norton AV, and has never had a real problem
with viruses or hackers.
Considering this machine is brand new, and comes with WinXP Home, I
figured that it would be relatively close to that on my XP Pro laptop
for hardware detection. It found new hardware, but didn;t know what.
Since I had the driver I downloaded as well for the card, I installed
the driver, and had to spend 10 minutes getting the machine to connect
the card . Finally got it working, logged onto the net, and went to
update software. There were 11 XP updates 22 service and critical
updates, and 7 driver updates. Installed sp1, and rebooted only to
have to manually re-config the wireless card again to work. Went to
download the linksys update as indicated, rebooted again, and same
thing. Next update, and the Internet Explorer wouldn;t open, just the
preferences tab. Had to use Windows explorer to access the net to use
my t-mbile account to finish updating. Next reboot I downloaded
Mozilla which changed my config for the wireless card. ( I doubt that
it did actually change the config, but... ) Total of all reboot/
reconfig took well over 3 hours. Only after final updates installed
did the laptop work fine. No way this guy would have been able to do
this at his house, and on dialup.
I had some similar issues with my Sony lap and XP pro, but couldn't
believe that system's this vulnerable go out into the real world every
day. This is a scary thought. I have always assumed that I am not like
the masses, and am overly cautious by first always installing AV
software with updated definitions, firewall software, then internet
stuff. What do average people do when this happens? Are they just
blind to the fact that this is apparently normal, and pay / deal with
the additional costs involved? Worst thing for me was when he asked me
to place the Office taskbar on the side, and I had to tell him he
didn't have one installed. Now he has openoffice, and I told him it
was an updated version of M$ Office 2000. He'll probably figure it out
sooner or later, but at least he can write his grand kids tonight..
Side note: My Sony laptop got Mandrake 9.2 installed on it Tuesday
night. It took all of 30 minutes, rebooted, and everything worked.
Linksys card and all. Nothing tweaked for it to work. Changed the
desktop, and installed KDE theme, and it crashed hard. locked up.
Reinstalled and had some installation disk read problems, but it's up
and running. Going back on to it after I send this .... Wine' s next
on the agenda.