[Sussex] Elderly Aunts with computer problems (windows ones :-( )

[Geoffrey J. Teale]

"John D." <john at johnsemail.eclipse.co.uk> writes:

> Ah, I did wonder why it seemed to concern the .NET stuff - It's making
> sense now.

Yup.  Every .dll on your system is there because _some_ application
uses it (though be aware that on a windows box that application may
not be something you put there on purpose or indeed want to be there).

> I wonder if making the seperate "D" drive partition first and then doing
> the re-install would make the necessary mount point(s)? Obviously I'd
> just be telling "it" to install to the "C" drive partition, plus I
> understand that windies would then detect the other hardware items
> (CDROM, DVDRW, Floppy, etc) and auto allocate appropriate drive
> letters.

If your new partition is format as FAT32 then windows should just show
it IIRC (it's been a couple of years since I looked at a Windows box
never mind installed one).

Obviously (as has been stated elsewhere) you're not going to be
putting any system files or settings on the D:\ partition, but
anything else should be fine.
>
> That did occur to me. I suppose if you're in that sort of business, it's
> often easier/quicker to do the rebuild than go digging round to find out
> what the _actual_ problem is. Though I'm thinking that when she took it
> to the shop, they must have done some checking too try to find out if
> the DVDRW that they installed was faulty/OK and come up with the
> missing .dll(s).

Must have?  I wouldn't guarantee it.

Often in the windows world starting again from scratch is _far_
simpler than trying to debug the problem.  If you're dealing with
DLL's an you don't have the tools that come with Visual
Studio then you're often going to be working blind.  Just like Linux
there's a lot of knowledge you have to acquire before you can
sensibly understand problems with the libraries - unlike Linux you
often reach a certain point where the problem disappears
into a "black box" where you can't find out what's wrong, or if you're
lucky (and it's documented) you can't actually make any changes to
resolve it.

*yuk*

> Ok, I can see that. I suppose that she may have "lost" a .dll when she's
> been playing with the system! Don't know. Shes quite well versed in
> being careful normally (your quote of hitting the wrong key and the PC
> exploding comes to mind Geoff).

Ah!  An "Expert" user.

> I know that about the time she had the
> DVDRW fitted, she also bought herself a book about Photoshop Elements
> that had a time limited trial - then managed to get sold a copy of PS E
> (version 3) by Jessops, even though it apparently won't install on
> anything earlier than W2K/Millenium (they did a refund, even though
> she'd "broken the seal" and ordered her a copy of PS E version 2, which
> is the full version of the trial/book copy - which I thought was
> reasonably good customer service - she is "knocking" 80 but has managed
> to keep most/all of her marbles).

Well, hmm.  I don't see why this would have any effect on the DLL in question.

> Yes, I've even done a knoppix demo, but to no avail. I got the stock
> answer of having to learn how to use what she already has etc etc. plus
> the usual caveat of pensioners on fixed incomes (I suspect that she just
> didn't believe me that she could have easily managed linux on the
> system). Plus how can linux be any good? After all, it doesn't run
> Internet Explorer :-P

That last point actually being one of the  _best_ things about Linux :-)

> I've managed to get her as far as changing to Firefox and Thunderbird
> though - using the persuasive arguement of security concerns, which she
> relates to, I suspect that she's spent many a happy hour "curtain
> twitching" for the local neighbourhood watch campaign.

Ah, elderly paranoia.  I've noted many times that old people
(obviously not your aunt) can be very rude - ruder even than
teenagers.  It only recently occurred to me that the reason old people
are being rude to me is that they are convinced that if they converse
with me in any reasonable manner that I, being a person under the age
of 30, will steal their pension book and kick their teeth in.

The "Daily Mail" and it's ilk have a lot to answer for.

-- 
Geoff Teale
CMed Technology            -   gteale at cmedresearch.com
Free Software Foundation   -   tealeg at member.fsf.org