J
John Bailo
http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/04/29/0237254.shtml?tid=130&tid=2
"The real challenge comes into play when you bring Microsoft Windows
into the equation. Contrary to popular opinion, untrained, inexperienced
users cannot manage Windows by themselves. It takes a knowledgeable,
skilled user to keep a Windows system properly maintained. That means
applying updates and patches, setting up a firewall, using a virus
scanner (or simply knowing what is and is not a suspicious email), and
defragmenting the disk every month or so. Unfortunately, the kind of
people who need my help do not know how to do this, even for all the
times I've shown them. They are not stupid people, but many are older
and grew up in a time when their friends would not send them messages
that could harm them. They understand mechanical maintenance, but don't
quite comprehend the fact that computers require electronic maintenance.
Some don't care about system maintenance at all; they are content to pay
someone else to fix it when it breaks, rather than properly care for
their software. In short, they need an operating system that, for all
their trying, they cannot screw up. Windows isn't it.
Windows fails in ways that totally confound my hardware troubleshooting
abilities. A "blue screen of death" or STOP error can mean that a BIOS
setting is incorrect, a memory stick has failed, the motherboard is
dying, the power supply is starting to flake out, or that the hard drive
has bad sectors. It can also mean that the Windows registry has been
corrupted by spyware or viruses, a third-party program has caused a bad
crash, or Windows Update has mis-applied a security patch or driver
update. Where do you begin when there are so many possibilities? The
professional technicians I've spoken with recently tend to start with
the operating system, and rather than try to diagnose which part of the
software has failed, the usual recommendation is to erase the hard drive
and reinstall Windows, then work from there. And, not surprisingly, this
solution often works."
"The real challenge comes into play when you bring Microsoft Windows
into the equation. Contrary to popular opinion, untrained, inexperienced
users cannot manage Windows by themselves. It takes a knowledgeable,
skilled user to keep a Windows system properly maintained. That means
applying updates and patches, setting up a firewall, using a virus
scanner (or simply knowing what is and is not a suspicious email), and
defragmenting the disk every month or so. Unfortunately, the kind of
people who need my help do not know how to do this, even for all the
times I've shown them. They are not stupid people, but many are older
and grew up in a time when their friends would not send them messages
that could harm them. They understand mechanical maintenance, but don't
quite comprehend the fact that computers require electronic maintenance.
Some don't care about system maintenance at all; they are content to pay
someone else to fix it when it breaks, rather than properly care for
their software. In short, they need an operating system that, for all
their trying, they cannot screw up. Windows isn't it.
Windows fails in ways that totally confound my hardware troubleshooting
abilities. A "blue screen of death" or STOP error can mean that a BIOS
setting is incorrect, a memory stick has failed, the motherboard is
dying, the power supply is starting to flake out, or that the hard drive
has bad sectors. It can also mean that the Windows registry has been
corrupted by spyware or viruses, a third-party program has caused a bad
crash, or Windows Update has mis-applied a security patch or driver
update. Where do you begin when there are so many possibilities? The
professional technicians I've spoken with recently tend to start with
the operating system, and rather than try to diagnose which part of the
software has failed, the usual recommendation is to erase the hard drive
and reinstall Windows, then work from there. And, not surprisingly, this
solution often works."
