help needed for a friend

[Guest]

Below is a quote from my friend's email to me. Her computer is running really slow and her problems with WIN.rar are one of many. She is a web designer and has so much stuff on her PC that not even her emails are being sent very often and yesterday she received several copies even though I know only one of each was sent. No virus etc; this end. I've told her that she must lose some stuff but she won't listen. Now her CD-burner drive won't work ... she didn't put it herself, some else did and broke the IDE cable. I have a feeling that the drivers weren't loaded in when it was installed. I told her to send me an invite to help her as she's got XP but she thinks I'll delete stuff she needs but I can burn it all off on to CD at my end, I think but I don't know what else to suggest to her.
Has anyone any ideas on the way I can help her ... btw .. she hasn't got an XP disc to work from, she's been borrowing one from her friend who installed the the burner drive, she was never given any program discs on buying the computer. I always thought that if you bought a 2nd hand PC ... never used before ... you had to have the programme discs as well, am I right?


""I have found that some of the audio i zipped in .rar and copied onto some of Damons cdr's he told me to use, are not very good quality....although the zips copied on my rewrite disc seem to be better.
The ones I copied by mistake twice.....I had two folders both saying Blind Guardian and Rhapsody...one was albums one was movies...so I lost the movies....damnit. and what I do have are awful quality.....pixielating and jerky.""

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Below is a quote from my friend's email to me. Her computer is
running really slow and her problems with WIN.rar are one of many.
She is a web designer and has so much stuff on her PC that not even
her emails are being sent very often and yesterday she received
several copies even though I know only one of each was sent. No virus
etc; this end. I've told her that she must lose some stuff but she
won't listen. Now her CD-burner drive won't work ... she didn't put
it herself, some else did and broke the IDE cable. I have a feeling
that the drivers weren't loaded in when it was installed. I told her
to send me an invite to help her as she's got XP but she thinks I'll
delete stuff she needs but I can burn it all off on to CD at my end,

Not likely - CD burning across a network connection of any kind rarely works
well.

I think but I don't know what else to suggest to her. Has anyone any
ideas on the way I can help her ... btw .. she hasn't got an XP disc
to work from, she's been borrowing one from her friend who installed
the the burner drive, she was never given any program discs on buying
the computer. I always thought that if you bought a 2nd hand PC ...
never used before ... you had to have the programme discs as well, am
I right?

Depends on the manufacturer/seller. She definitely needs to have an XP CD,
so if she doesn't have one and can't get one from whomever she bought the PC
from (or can't create a CD from a recovery image, which we know she can't),
she needs to buy one.
If she has a broken IDE cable, she needs to replace it.
She needs something to use for regular backups, she needs a firewall,
updated, good/current generation antivirus software, regular Windows
Updates, etc etc etc...

[Psssst - honestly, this is OT, but just between you and me, I wouldn't step
into this mess if George Clooney himself asked me to. Helping out friends
with seriously messed up home PCs (esp. when they don't really want to
follow your advice or are paranoid about everything you're doing), can get
messy in a hurry. Can't she just take it to a local computer repair shop and
pay them? It's gonna be a lot cheaper than jeopardizing your friendship.]

 

[Guest]

Not likely - CD burning across a network connection of any kind rarely works
well.
That's that idea scuppered!! lol
so if she doesn't have one and can't get one from whomever she bought the PC
from (or can't create a CD from a recovery image, which we know she can't),
she needs to buy one.
If she has a broken IDE cable, she needs to replace it.
She needs something to use for regular backups, she needs a firewall,
updated, good/current generation antivirus software, regular Windows
Updates, etc etc etc...

The broken IDE cable was replaced ... I snt the replacement. She bought the computer from the girl who it was built for and I think both are as naive as the other. The original builder never gave any discs with his present ... she's in such a mess all round that finanacially she'll never get what she wants and she is so naive that she doesn't realise she will be on the rubbish heap but that's between you and I ..... I feel so bad that she will never come a working web designer.

I agree with your ot but I don't like to leave her in such a mess.
[Psssst - honestly, this is OT, but just between you and me, I wouldn't step
into this mess if George Clooney himself asked me to. Helping out friends
with seriously messed up home PCs (esp. when they don't really want to
follow your advice or are paranoid about everything you're doing), can get
messy in a hurry. Can't she just take it to a local computer repair shop and
pay them? It's gonna be a lot cheaper than jeopardizing your friendship.]

""I have found that some of the audio i zipped in .rar and copied
onto some of Damons cdr's he told me to use, are not very good
quality....although the zips copied on my rewrite disc seem to be
better. The ones I copied by mistake twice.....I had two folders both
saying Blind Guardian and Rhapsody...one was albums one was
movies...so I lost the movies....damnit. and what I do have are awful
quality.....pixielating and jerky.""

 

[Papa]

Give it up, Anne, at least until she decides to open her mind and start
thinking. Until then it's hopeless, and you won't receive any thanks,
believe me.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

The broken IDE cable was replaced ... I snt the replacement. She
bought the computer from the girl who it was built for and I think
both are as naive as the other. The original builder never gave any
discs with his present ... she's in such a mess all round that
finanacially she'll never get what she wants and she is so naive that
she doesn't realise she will be on the rubbish heap but that's
between you and I ..... I feel so bad that she will never come a
working web designer.

Well, that's a sad tale, but honestly, you can't fix her any more than you
can fix her computer if she doesn't get the joke. Maybe she'll learn the
hard way that a computer is not a toaster oven and won't just run perfectly
when you plug it in, with no effort on the part of the owner. Tough love
time!

I agree with your ot but I don't like to leave her in such a mess.
[Psssst - honestly, this is OT, but just between you and me, I
wouldn't step into this mess if George Clooney himself asked me to.
Helping out friends with seriously messed up home PCs (esp. when
they don't really want to follow your advice or are paranoid about
everything you're doing), can get messy in a hurry. Can't she just
take it to a local computer repair shop and pay them? It's gonna be
a lot cheaper than jeopardizing your friendship.]

""I have found that some of the audio i zipped in .rar and copied
onto some of Damons cdr's he told me to use, are not very good
quality....although the zips copied on my rewrite disc seem to be
better. The ones I copied by mistake twice.....I had two folders
both saying Blind Guardian and Rhapsody...one was albums one was
movies...so I lost the movies....damnit. and what I do have are
awful quality.....pixielating and jerky.""

 

[Papa]

You are a real friend. Hope she realizes it.

Papa, thanks for your advice and everyone else. Thing is, I can't bear to

see anyone suffer, specially the way she is, with her computer, health and
living conditions. She has NO daylight because of a new building having been
built across the road ... I will keep trying though by dropping hints and
all that sort of stuff. At least she is now willing for me to send her
copies of my security programs so maybe a start.