Abnormal desktop

[guncrasher]

I am careful with the internet and it's been a couple of years since I got a virus.  I have my hd's partitioned and it's easier to reinstall windows that way.  you still have to update everything but at least you wont lose a lot of data.


semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

No, but it is always a time consuming pain-in-the-arse to get the PC back to where it was i.e. all drivers installed, applications reloaded, games reloaded, setting restored, documents restored, etc.  Even if you are organized, have all your drivers at all times (I do), files backed up, etc it still consuming time I'd rather use for some other activity.

Not if you were smart and imaged your drive after you initially set up the system and saved your personal files to a separate harddrive or partition. After practising a couple times with a full reinstall maybe you can learn something in the process (like making the image instead of starting from zero). Frequent reinstalling makes you more confident with the computer enabling you to experiment with tweaks and settings knowing that you can routinely set the computer up from scratch again if necessary.

Then again if youre scared of a reinstall and constantly worry about 'breaking' something chances are you'll never advance in your computer knowledge and are forced to rely on crappy AV etc. solutions which expose you to serious risks.

[Fulcrum]

Not if you were smart and imaged your drive after you initially set up the system and saved your personal files to a separate harddrive or partition. After practising a couple times with a full reinstall maybe you can learn something in the process (like making the image instead of starting from zero). Frequent reinstalling makes you more confident with the computer enabling you to experiment with tweaks and settings knowing that you can routinely set the computer up from scratch again if necessary.

Then again if youre scared of a reinstall and constantly worry about 'breaking' something chances are you'll never advance in your computer knowledge and are forced to rely on crappy AV etc. solutions which expose you to serious risks.

Ripley:

For the record, I do image all of my builds.  After 24 years in the IT field I personally don't need to experiment with reinstalling a PC operating system given the thousands of times I've done so. I also practice most of the measures you mention...including creating images.  

But the average PC user does not, and likely cannot, perform these tasks due to lack of knowledge and/or required resources e.g. Home NAS server to store images.  My comment concerning a reinstall was for an average user.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Ripley:

For the record, I do image all of my builds.  After 24 years in the IT field I personally don't need to experiment with reinstalling a PC operating system given the thousands of times I've done so. I also practice most of the measures you mention...including creating images.  

But the average PC user does not, and likely cannot, perform these tasks due to lack of knowledge and/or required resources e.g. Home NAS server to store images.  My comment concerning a reinstall was for an average user.

We have a difference in views. I don't see an 'average user' I see a user with 'unused potential'. I always encourage people to go outside their comfort zone and perhaps learn something.

[Fulcrum]

We have a difference in views. I don't see an 'average user' I see a user with 'unused potential'. I always encourage people to go outside their comfort zone and perhaps learn something.

I had that attitude when I was younger.  Cleaning up messes created by 'average users' with 'unused potential' cured me of that. 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I had that attitude when I was younger.  Cleaning up messes created by 'average users' with 'unused potential' cured me of that. 

I'm not young anymore. If I have to manage someone I make sure they won't mess their computer up - which is why I install linux to anyone who comes asking for help with viruses etc. nowadays and are not willing to pay for repeated visits

[gyrene81]

I had that attitude when I was younger.  Cleaning up messes created by 'average users' with 'unused potential' cured me of that. 

same here. most people can't grasp the idea of "don't click on those things". switching a person to linux is only a viable alternative when you know the person can handle the concept of "works like but not quite".

[MrRiplEy[H]]

same here. most people can't grasp the idea of "don't click on those things". switching a person to linux is only a viable alternative when you know the person can handle the concept of "works like but not quite".

Nowadays linux works quite like older windowses and windows 8 is far harder to learn for users. An average user who does not game finds everything he/she needs in a standard distribution: Firefox/Chrome, instant messaging including but not limited to Skype, Office suite, sound and photoediting apps, Steam etc. With the coming Steambox even AAA titles are now being released with a linux support. For example Gabe Newell talked the Infinity Ward (Call of Duty etc) into jumping to the linux bandwagon.

When I introduce users to linux the first reaction is always "I don't know linux. It's too hard for me." Then after I show my custom made desktop to them they're like "Wow, I didn't know this! I like it!"

Even my parents use linux every day for all their daily needs. They're not nerds and not very young anymore either. My mothers level with computing can be described well with her terminology when she tries to explain something to me from the computer. "When I go to the start" means when she goes to the desktop. "When I open the internet" means that she opens the web browser... She has no clue how and why stuff works, but she just uses it. For many years already.

Nowadays the distros are so automated and advanced that any real knowledge is only required if you want to do something advanced such as compile your own kernels or drivers. Or if you happen to have incompatible hardware. Most computers get configured much easyer than windows - all the drivers are detected and installed completely automatically and you boot to a ready desktop on first install. Even my Microsoft Precision Pro joystick autoconfigured and worked straight on the first boot without me touching anything.

There are only a couple common problem areas still with linux and hardware: Wireless drivers can fail autoconfiguration if you have a nonsupported chip and some printer models require the cumbersome process of downloading a driver from the manufacturer (sound familiar?) and depending from the distro, either double clicking the .deb or .rpm package directly from desktop or running a simple command from the CLI.

Even most windows applications run fine nowadays with Wine and you can load Microsoft truetype fonts to make MS apps fonts and web pages look identical to windows ones. I can run Aces High with pegged out framerates using Wine, but it's not completely bug free yet.

[Kenne]