Stupid friends rant.

**ilovetheusers** · October 6th, 2002, 05:11 PM

About 9-12 months ago I took my buds PC home as they had infected it with Hybris. I take it home and after having their whole family use it for a while they have really hosed the OS and it just needs to be reloaded and configed and whatnot. I spend some time and realize that IBM does not have any drivers for it online apart from the modem driver and everything is proprietary crap they piled onto the mobo. My buds note that they do not have the restore disks. No biggie, I can put a different OS on it, but no, I can't get anything more than the 64mb of RAM into it because someone has destroyed the locking mechanism in the back and the case no longer opens. OK, lets go with ME - I know it's not good, but it will work on this machine and has all the drivers already. It takes, great, I run all updates, put a AV scanner on, the works. It's swell when they get it and oh, look. 3 CD's that say RESTORE DISK on the front. Well, I only had to work for a week on it with them nagging for the thing back.

Within a week it's bluescreening. I go over and remove the 2 tons of crapware the kids piled on (games - why do they have to make kids games so freakin' bad so that they hose the OS???). It's stable again. I explain what to do and what not to do and how to update the virus scanner and whatnot. I fix a dozen little things here and there while I am over now and again. Now mind you I don't get paid for my time as they are my friends but they feed me whenever I go over. Steak and stuff. So it's nice.

Get a call this week and they have a virus. I knew it because i saw one of their e-mails sent to me with someone elses name and Bugbear attached to it. I ignore it because I'm moving and need to fix my moms PC she has hosed. I copy AVG for them because they are unable to update theirs now that they are infected. I walk them through the install and the update and all is well until we scan.

Bugbear found and cleaned. Guess what else, hybris again. HOW THE HELL DO YOU INFECT YOURSELF WITH THE SAME FREAKIN VIRUS 2 TIMES IN A FREAKIN" ROW?!?!?!?!? Let alone that they click every freakin' e-mail attachment in the world I told them not to open anymore.

Really now. If I put sugar in my gastank and then had to have someone repair it for me, I would remember not to do it again. How the F*** do people do this stupid poop over and over and over and over and over and over?

**NooNoo** · October 6th, 2002, 05:41 PM

/me hands ILTU a particularly large lart with rusty nails... have fun!

**geeksRus** · October 6th, 2002, 07:32 PM

they do it because their good buddy ILTU is just a simple phonecall away...i feel your pain.

**shamus** · October 6th, 2002, 07:52 PM

Originally posted by geeksRus
I feel your pain.

Me too. I've gone so far as Ghosting their HDD to CD to save me time and aggravation. They still don't understand why all the crap they loaded on the machine isn't there after I've replaced the partition with the one from the CD.

And I don't even get a steak dinner!!!

**Mayet** · October 6th, 2002, 08:43 PM

hehe...who needs ememies.......Love jobs...don't ya just hate em..........no pay for it and half the time they are not grateful or satisfied...I think sometimes that if you charged friends your normal hour rate, they would start appreciating your work very quickly....indeed

**geeksRus** · October 6th, 2002, 09:02 PM

yeh my next-door neighbor works on his friends computers as a hobby---for free. who does he come to when something isn't working rite? i charged him the last time, he hasn't been back for a while.

**FatalException0E** · October 6th, 2002, 09:52 PM

Somebody on the forums (can't remember who) once said about work for friends/relatives, "Charge them....double. Its still a deal, because they'll get four times the level of support that a customer would."

**Great White North** · October 7th, 2002, 06:07 AM

They do it because they know there friend will help them fix it for FREE.

I had a friend like this she even tried to get me to fix her friends computer for free after her last virus I said ok its $30 for the service call.

Have not heard from them again 2 yrs later now they were upset I wanted to charge them.
friends like that I dont need.

She even called twice a week from work and other peoples house trying to get free trouble shooting I said I was busy and could not talk and explained I did this for a living and that means I need to get paid for the time so I can feed my family.

One less friend and alot less agravation

**ilovetheusers** · October 7th, 2002, 09:25 AM

I better get a lot of steaks for this.

Thing that kills me is that they got the same virus as last time. Someone is opening the [email protected] letter and looking at the attachment. Well, there's mom, 15 yr. old son, and dad. I wonder which one is the idiot, or more to the point, the hornball...

**Commander Klarg** · October 7th, 2002, 11:40 AM

Yup, for immediate family, it's a freebie. For friends, first one is free, especially if I built it for them. If they screw it up the same boneheaded way after telling them not to, better whip out a check or a free dinner.

Acquaintances get assessed a small, hourly fee, not enough to hurt but enough to keep them from constantly calling.

**MacGyver** · October 7th, 2002, 11:46 AM

Some days you just have to accept it:

<h2>Some people are just too stupid to own a computer</h2>

**Stalemate** · October 7th, 2002, 11:57 AM

Ah, the ordeals PC techs must go through with relatives and friends...

I once had to tell my best friend that I would not offer him any support. It's not that he's a moron with PCs, but he was troubleshooting a mutual acquaintance's PC who had refused to pay for my services a mere 2 hours before.

**Computer Tech NE** · October 7th, 2002, 01:19 PM

Charging them a per hour rate is the best thing you can do--relative or not. Just tell them up front, no suprises. After they hose the OS by installing crapware and opening attachments a few times, they will learn. Money is a great motivator.

My dad is the only person I do free PC work for, but hey, he bought me my first 3 computers and needs the least help anyway(upgrade once in a while).

**gazzak** · October 7th, 2002, 01:50 PM

Being in the business is always a pain when you have clueless friends with PC's. My personal hate is the timing of the phone calls.
"I'm sorry to interupt your dinner but I really need some help with my printer", "Is that your lawnmower I can hear? My floppy drive won't format my floppy disk"
And yesterday I was at the bottom of a 5 foot hole I'm digging, (removing a tree stump), when my wife hands me the phone with my so called friend asking for me to wire up a telephone point so he can move his computer to the study!!
My wife has now been informed to ask what they want first!!!

Still, it's nice to feel wanted

**ilovetheusers** · October 7th, 2002, 02:08 PM

They always call when you don't have time. I am in the process of moving and I have a very clingy GF who eats my time and my mom hosing her PC and this guy killing his just eats it.

It is nice to be wanted but they only want ya when you're busy.

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