Ted Zieglar said:
Let's talk about something else. If you've had to "reload and reinstall
too many times to even talk about" then you're clearly doing something
wrong. You really ought to read a good book about XP, take a course or
somehow learn how to use your computer correctly. It will be time well
spent, and I'm talking from personal experience.
JamesP4056 wrote:
Dear Ted, Thanks for your help. I hope that you will read (this) my reply. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person and I have been using a "home" computer for 13 years. I guess you would not consider 'IDIOTS GUIDE TO XP"
a sophisticated manual it is just a rough guideline and admittedly it leaves
a lot of detail to be desired but all the same i found it to be helpful. I
attribute a lot of my "glitches" to the facts that my computer is obsolete [8
years old] with only a 400mghz processor, 256meg of ram and only a 30 gig
hard drive!I guess I hoped to become a closet nerd because I have so much
"stuff" loaded in that everyone says that I have too much JUNK on the thing!I
would get myself a new computer with all of the bells and whistles but the
purchasing department (wife) won't let me!!Would like to hear from you
again.Jim
Aha, just as I thought.
Neither old hardware nor having too much software installed are reasons
to have to "reload and reinstall too many times to even talk about".
Yes, they are.
Old hardware is not very well supported by XP-in fact I don't believe his CPU even meets the minimum requirements. Thus, it will be
a source of great problem. Like I said, not everyone is rich, so some people have to make do with what they have even if it means
dealing with problems. A good support tech will try to help these people instead of writing them off and simply telling them to get
new hardware, or do you only help the rich?
Having too much software is guaranteed to be problematic. System stability is inversely proportional to the number of applications,
drivers, and other software installed. Software developers do not check with each other when they write software. There is a very
good chance that at some point, there will be a conflict between some programs. You install two firewalls or virus scanners and
tell me you don't have some problems. Furthermore, having a lot of programs (especially a mixed bag of old and new) will likely
also lead to problems with support files like DLLs. Also, not all programmers are good at what they do. There are a lot of
programs which are faulty, unstable, outright unreliable and can mess things up. Don't just say not to use those, because someone
has to use them to realize that there's a problem in the first place. Besides, sometimes you have to use a faulty program because
there are no alternatives. Worse still, most developers don't properly clean up after themselves when their apps are uninstalled,
thus leaving traces of files, registry entries, and so on. Reinstalling is the most effective way to clean that stuff up.
You may have your system set up the way you want with your suite of applications that you use all the time but some people like to
experiment. Some people try new apps, different apps, install betas, and so on. Some try the latest drivers, beta OSes,
experimental apps. Doing that will eventually lead to a mess and require reinstallation. You can't tell people not to do anything
dangerous to avoid it. If they want to perform actions that can lead to problems, it's their choice. If they want or like to
reinstall, it's their choice.
There comes a point when doing a fresh install is just easier and safer than repairing problems. In University I used to reinstall
Windows 95 often, sometimes because it was getting bogged down and I wanted a fresh system, sometimes because I was bored and had
nothing better to do at the moment. There's nothing wrong with reinstalling (as long as you've got your data backed up, or even
better, located elsewhere), it's not only cleansing, but cathartic (there IS an emotional aspect to using computers and for a
programmer or help tech to ignore it is foolish).
Your attitude is tantamount to, for example, telling someone who loves to eat hot peppers that if they have to go to the doctor
every week for their stomachaches, they are doing something wrong and should learn how to eat properly. That's just silly. They
are entitled to do something that causes them trouble for themselves, especially if they know it. You don't like it, don't do it,
but don't tell them not to if it hurts only themselves. You're not their mother.
Ted, note that when I say "you", I don't mean you in particular, but everyone like you. People who treat anyone who says that they
reinstall like idiots who don't know how to use a computer (yes, I'm talking to you Ken.) If someone is capable of reinstalling
Windows, they are definitely NOT a novice! Don't treat them like one, don't condescend.
--
Alec S.
news/alec->synetech/cjb/net
Thanks Alec, You put into words exactly what I had a clue to but was not good at enumerating. It is particularlly pertinet about individual programmers and their programs. Other than possible costs involved I wonder why there is not some kind of a clearing house (possibley run by say Microsoft) whom could establish a database of conflicts between new programs as they come out so as to assure more compatabillity among systems and new programs. I guess that is asking for too much but thanks again!Jim
