I dread what is comming

[majpooper]

I have a good friend who I installed Mint (17.3 then fresh install to 18.3) on about a 8 year old HP PC. He has been running for a couple of years with no issues. He is what I call a "general" user pretty much does everything from the browser, stores tons of family pics on his PC and uses Office occasionally (taught him about file extensions - no problems). The only issue he had was updating his Garmen nuvi and I solved that for him - so he was good2go.

The last time I saw him he was excited about buying a new PC with Windows 10 that works with voice recognition. About a week later he called and wanted to know what AV he should use and if the one that MS was pushing (McAfee ?) was any good. I had to tell I had no idea as I thought Windows had it's own native AV. Then he told me that the updates were taking too long and if he read them off to me could I tell which ones he really needed. He literally started reading the numbers and MS descriptions. I stopped him and told him I didn't know anything about Windows anymore and that he should probably download all of them.

Now I dread when what is coming - after running Mint with no issues for a few years on basically a door stop he is going to run into all the Windows headaches and start calling me for help. I will be as understanding as I can and not be off putting but he will have to understand that if he wants my help, which I am glad to provide, he will have to go back to Mint.

[richyrich]

I am in the same boat. I retired from repairing Windows systems almost 10 years ago, and still get my old clients calling and asking for Windows help.
I try to take the time to explain why I don't do windows anymore . . some (a few) understand and want to know more . . others just cannot (and will not) believe that I haven't run windows in that many years. lol

[murray]

You have my sympathies.

Maybe tell him to call the company that he bought the PC from for support?

[redlined]

Now I dread when what is coming - after running Mint with no issues for a few years on basically a door stop he is going to run into all the Windows headaches and start calling me for help. I will be as understanding as I can and not be off putting but he will have to understand that if he wants my help, which I am glad to provide, he will have to go back to Mint.

I'd gift him a brand new shiny USB stick with LM19.1 Cinnamon live session installer on it and tell him disable fastboot and secureboot and let LM19 installer erase and efi install itself...
(who needs win-woes? heck, we don't even need windows, Linux opens doors!

[DAMIEN1307]

I still have people in New Hampshire mailing their windows laptops to me, (they do include the return postage), for me to fix, they still wont find anyone local to work on their windows systems because they all want to charge 80 dollars per hour...lol... I left NH for New Mexico 8 yrs ago and im using and building for others, linux based systems exclusively...i finally had to tell them to no longer just mail them to me to work on their windwoes systems since i cant be bothered to waste vast amounts of time that is indicative of any windwoes OS...i have made it clear that if they want my help, i will be glad to convert their computers to a linux OS. i carried them long enough but enough IS enough...i feel like "Braveheart"...when he cries out..."FREEEEEDOM"...DAMIEN

[ajgringo619]

I still have people in New Hampshire mailing their windows laptops to me, (they do include the return postage), for me to fix, they still wont find anyone local to work on their windows systems because they all want to charge 80 dollars per hour...lol... I left NH for New Mexico 8 yrs ago and im using and building for others, linux based systems exclusively...i finally had to tell them to no longer just mail them to me to work on their windwoes systems since i cant be bothered to waste vast amounts of time that is indicative of any windwoes OS...i have made it clear that if they want my help, i will be glad to convert their computers to a linux OS. i carried them long enough but enough IS enough...i feel like "Braveheart"...when he cries out..."FREEEEEDOM"...DAMIEN

As a semi-retired ex-sysadmin, I would probably still enjoy trying to solve Windows problems. But I totally understand your "freedom" from dealing with MS's constant BS.

One thing, though...didn't Braveheart die right after this quote?

[BG405]

I can understand your trepidation. I abandoned support of Windows shortly after adopting Linux, for the same reasons! Good luck in your "new" venture ..

[DAMIEN1307]

hi ajgringo...you said,

One thing, though...didn't Braveheart die right after this quote?

...yea, yea, he did.

that goes along with a witicism i love to use..."HEY...how did that one work out for you?"...lol...DAMIEN

[redlined]

hi ajgringo...you said,

One thing, though...didn't Braveheart die right after this quote?

...yea, yea, he did.

that goes along with a witicism i love to use..."HEY...how did that one work out for you?"...lol...DAMIEN

something I like to query, while drinking some strange beer, right after they said:

hold my beer and watch this!

(bolded reply to show context of comment, especially considering how Gibson died in braveheart, right after saying that

[Shadow in Fire]

Funny story. Someone I know had problems with her HP desktop (i.e. Windows 10 would just reload for eternity), so I took a look at it and installed Linux Mint. Weeks later, she's enjoying working on her documents and running her business from it. This is someone who admits to not knowing much about computers. So far, so good.

[Valsodar]

Why don't you do what I did a year ago? I installed Mint on the user's computer who was (and still is) stupid enough to not know the difference and then installed him theme to make it look like Windows. He knows nothing about extensions (he uses only FB, movies and YouTube) and doesn't even know what a game is, so tricking him was easy. He still thinks he's using Windows and doesn't stop praising it...
I got this idea from a user in a forum, altough I don't remember whether it was this forum or another.

[majpooper]

Why don't you do what I did a year ago? I installed Mint on the user's computer who was (and still is) stupid enough to not know the difference and then installed him theme to make it look like Windows. He knows nothing about extensions (he uses only FB, movies and YouTube) and doesn't even know what a game is, so tricking him was easy. He still thinks he's using Windows and doesn't stop praising it...
I got this idea from a user in a forum, altough I don't remember whether it was this forum or another.

I know we talked about doing that a while back - can't remember who. The first person I installed Mint for was my wife.
She was very skeptical - she does lots of research and uses - well used Word and Excel a ton but with no fancy macros.
I put Libra Office icons on her desktop and renamed them WORD and EXCEL and changed the menu button to START. I also put a Documents, Pictures and Downloads folder shortcuts along with a SCAN shortcut on her desktop and she was very happy. The only issue I recall had something to do with the file extension .ods vs .doc but I told her how to deal with that . . . . I got "one of those looks" but she drove on and has been happy ever since.

It was my wife actually that convinced my sister, a college history professor, to switch to Mint because the help desk guy, me, was available for free. Set everything up the same way for my sister as well. Then when she bought a new Lenovo laptop with Windows 10 she didn't even power it up but gave it to me to un-box and install Mint.

Both these women are very smart but do not want to be bothered with "computer stuff." They view a computer as a tool and just want it to work so they can get about their business. My buddy on the other hand has not thought things through . . . . so we will see how this shakes out.

[Portreve]

You know, I like to think of myself as being basically a nice person. I help others, I try to share my knowledge and educate people so they never feel they have to be dependent upon another person (including myself). I give to charity. I donate to LM from time to time. I pay my taxes, don't give people a hard time in real life, etc.

But the older I become, and the more years that pass in which my s**t bucket is and remains full, well, actually what it comes down to is I'm really not a nice person. Honest, helpful, yes. But a nice guy, not so much.

Someone wants to switch back to Windows, let 'em. They want my help, the heck with them. And I'm being totally serious here. majpooper I am, technically speaking, in the same boat as you. Like you, I could absolutely google the Microsoft ID numbers and find out about the various updates and patches, but (and again I'm speaking for you ex-party) I don't think either of us wants to go back into that world again.

I'm not and have never been a Windows user. I've used Windows. I've had PCs I've bought or built which had Windows. However, I'm a Mac person. And in neither case do I want to go back to where I used to be. I've found the better platform and the more ethical ecosystem, and I've already moved here. And like Gen. Patton, I don't believe in paying twice for the same real estate.

[cliffcoggin]

Both these women are very smart but do not want to be bothered with "computer stuff." They view a computer as a tool and just want it to work so they can get about their business.

Both are women after my own heart. A computer should work for me; not me for it.

[Valsodar]

A computer should work for me; not me for it.

That's true but it's also true if you want it to work for you and the way you want it to work, you'll have to work for it for a while in order to set it to work the way you want (which includes cleaning it of dust from time to time). And for gratitude it will have a long and flawless life with you. Unlike some people I know...

[Tomgin5]

I switched to Linux mint and never looked back. I am a retired EE and have been involved with computers since the late 60's. Now I just resurrect bricked windows computers, laptops and netbooks.

Here is a sample:Toshiba U205 LM 18.3 Cinnamon 64/WinXP Pro 32 bit,
Toshiba L305 LM 18.3 Cinnamon 64, Dell Opto 990 LM 18.3 Cinnamon 64, Dell Vostro 1000 LM 18.3 Cinnamon 64. Samsung NP 305E5A LM 18.3 64 Cinnamon, Asus Eee 1001PX XFCE 19.1 64 2GB W 220 GB SSD,
Asus X402U 330 GB SSD 19.1 Cinnamon64,
MSI U200 1 GB Ram-128GB SSD XFCE 19.1 32 bit,
(2) Dell Mini9-910 W/16GB SSD 2 GB RAM XFCE 19.1 32 bit. (8) Dell Mini9-910 W/8GB SSD 2 GB RAM XFCE 19.1 32 bit.,
Dell inspirion N5010 4GB RAM 330GB SSD LM 19.1 Cinnamon 64.
HP dv2000 4 GB ram 160gb HDD LM 18.3 Cinnamon.
HP dv9700 4 GB RAM 2-160GB HDD LM18.3 Cinnamon

[GS3]

I just tell people that the last Windows OS I know anything about is Windows XP. This has the advantage of being the truth.

[Pierre]

in my circle of Friends & Family - - I'm known as 'some sort of Linux Nut',,
- - but, having said that bit, it does seem that I'm making some progress,
as the younger ones, have at least looked at Linux, & even installed Linux on some PCs.


plus, I'm of the 'helicopter view' when it comes to Operating Systems - - do mess with That Windows System
and it's vagrancies sure can be

so, therefore majpooper, the Best of Luck with that Project - - you'll most likely need it:
- - Don't Forget the Coffee for that can be an real life saver.

[majpooper]

I have a good friend who I installed Mint (17.3 then fresh install to 18.3) on about a 8 year old HP PC. He has been running for a couple of years with no issues. He is what I call a "general" user pretty much does everything from the browser, . . .

The last time I saw him he was excited about buying a new PC with Windows 10 that works with voice recognition. About a week later he called and wanted to know what AV he should use . . .

Then he told me that the updates were taking too long and if he read them off to me could I tell which ones he really needed. He literally started reading the numbers and MS descriptions. I stopped him and told him I didn't know anything about Windows anymore and that he should probably download all of them.

Now I dread when what is coming - after running Mint with no issues for a few years on basically a door stop he is going to run into all the Windows headaches and start calling me for help. I will be as understanding as I can and not be off putting but he will have to understand that if he wants my help, which I am glad to provide, he will have to go back to Mint.

Well it took a while but it has come to pass - I got a call for help with his Win 10 - and as best I can tell there is some sort of notification about an update(s) conflict . . . . ? ? ? ? ? His description is rather cryptic as he has zero computer literacy. It's "there is a box and I can't get rid of it (the box had some verbage about conflicts) and the other day I couldn't do anything and now my browser is different" I have no idea what he is talking about or what could be wrong.

[BG405]

Well it took a while but it has come to pass - I got a call for help with his Win 10

Longer than I thought! Almost 4 months .. for a Windows-system .. amazing!

Still, these days, I'm a bit loathe to provide free tech support for a system I'd be required to also pay for myself if I were to offer such support. The user is running a paid-for operating system, after all, which should include at least some support. I may be mistaken, but isn't there a toll-free helpline in the US? They might be able to use TeamViewer or something ..

I tend to have a "Duck and Cover" attitude when someone asks about Windows issues now. For anyone who's played Worms Armageddon, the character voice "RunAway!" comes to mind.