Fear of formatting...

Ok today at university I met this one guy who was having major issues with his computer, random BSOD's, lockups, freezes, crackling sound, I mean the works.
Check this:
His PC is a Pentium II 450 MHz with 256 MB of RAM and has like a 40 GB hard disk, the funny thing is that this machine initially was running Windows 95B for year, he then later upgraded to Windows 98 ran that a year, then to Windows 98 SE for less than a year, which was then upped to Windows 2000 Professional, and now he has installed Windows XP Professional. He's never formatted once, he's gone through about 2 video card upgrades, a sound card changes. I mean this guy's registry has got to be so bloated that it isn't even funny anymore, plus we all now how Win9x to Winnt upgrades are like. I mean the amount of driver conflicts and software conflicts that would be present here would be just freaking awful.

I told him to backup his data, he's got a burner, but he's afraid a format would make his computer run worse............?! Ok then........he's contemplating on buying a new PC, ok his PC is old but all he uses it for are MS Word, burn CDs, e-mail, ICQ, and online card games.

Is he afraid of losing data? I have a feeling there's something that I'm missing here....

Either route, he's still gonna have to move data somehow, but the reformatting will significantly cheaper.

He's afraid that a format could bring up bad sectors and stuff. Told him he's got a good quality drive, (western digital) and disk checking shows no problems, really he has nothing to worry about.

In any case, the actual formatting wouldn't cause the bad sectors. If there are bad sectors you should know about them asap...

This is like if you refused to go to the dentist because you were afraid they might find cavities...

Excellent analogy.

You couldn't make that scenario any worse by formatting. I bet you half the problems go away right after a fresh install of what ever OS.

Plus, if, and a big if, the drive is bad (which doesn't seem so) if he's backed up his data, what's the deal. Hard drives will fail eventually. Hopefully a while after you are done using them, but they will eventually go. Hard drives are cheap, and if you've got your stuff backed up, like I said, "...what's the deal?"

I hear ya Brian. With all of our knowledge with PCs its amazing how some people do not know how to use them. There are some people I know who are taking introductory computer classes, a course intended for those new to computers, but they took it for the easy 100. I mean assignments are to format floppy disks, type in MS Word, things like that. They told me on the first day that some people were scared that there was a mouse in the classroom.

yep yep
reinstalling the os to some people is like performing a voodoo ceremony.

installing xp is about as automatic as it gets.
i make the peeps who want a new os install it themselves so they aint scared of it anymore.
heck... i try to blow my system up with programs and drivers. only takes a little while to reinstal the whole thing if i need to.

btw... the new diskeeper blew up my nav corp 7.6.

Unfortunately this gentleman is frightened of the format, but I have had customers come in with 9x problems on 98se, and then go home and overlay 98fe along with the rest of their software. I know a guy who started at dos, and made every upgrade from there to milennium... You think your friends machine is bad off...

Depending on how much free space this guy has, I'd recommend splitting the partition, and moving the existing partition to the end of the drive, and reinstalling the latest os on the new partition. That way, no data is lost.

Just explain to him that installing a NEW FRESH!! o/s will make his system faster and cleaner, and put it in basic lamen terms but u probably already have.


argh! it scares me the amount of people who have NO!! clue about computers and how they work. frustrating really.

On the other hand, you can say that's job security. I have a feeling that ignorance and stupidity will keep people's jobs.

What do you mean? Do you know a great deal about every single thing you use? Can you repair your TV if it fails with a bucket of parts and a soldering iron? Can you rebuild the transmission of your car? Do you know how to build an addition to your home, including pouring the foundation, wiring it, and making sure that it passes all local building codes? It's impossible to know everything about every major item you use, let alone *everything* you use.

The fact that most peolple don't now know anything about computers (and don't want to know) is a very good thing.

It gives me money in my pocket since I work with it.

/Toby

Job security...