{"id":131735,"date":"2016-10-06T18:05:30","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T00:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/06\/little-tech-assist-needed.html"},"modified":"2016-10-06T18:05:30","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T00:05:30","slug":"little-tech-assist-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/06\/little-tech-assist-needed.html","title":{"rendered":"Little tech assist needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I am the primary computer support person for my mom, even though (a) I am many hundreds of miles away and (b) I stopped getting paid for hands-on desktop support decades ago.<\/p>\n

Mom apparently hit some sort of glitch with one of those oh-so-convenient Windows 10 updates that left her sitting indefinitely with white dots spinning around a black background. Cycling power left her in the same sitch.<\/p>\n

She spent the better part of the day on the phone with Microsoft, the end of which seems to have been, "Your Windows is screwed up, you need to either take your PC to the nearest Microsoft Store to do the following things, or else get a friend to come over with another machine to download an installation media copy of Windows 10, copy it to a flash drive, and then call us back and we will walk you through how to do "a clean install or your data".<\/p>\n

(1) Having my mom disconnect all the cables, and take the tower to the closest Microsoft Store, about 30 miles away, then come back and reconnect it is probably not practical.<\/p>\n

(2) Mom doesn't have a lot of (any) friends who could come over with a computer and create a flash drive installation setup. And I would worry about her being able to install from that, even with MS on the phone.<\/p>\n

(3) The odd phrase from Mom's notes "a clean install or your data" makes no sense, and she doesn't remember specifically what they said there. <\/p>\n

But I am interpreting this as they are recommending doing a clean install of Windows 10 which will wipe out her existing applications and data. <\/p>\n

This is highly problematic, as I have grave doubts (as does she) of being able to reinstall all her apps, reconfigure the machine to look like what it was, nor (even though her data is safe with Backblaze) easily copy her data to the new setup.<\/p>\n

Waiting until Christmas for me to fly out there is probably not the right idea. Nor can I fly out there right now and take care of this for her. <\/p>\n

She's calling MS again to get clarified what that final note should have been, but working on the assumption that what MS is suggesting is doing a clean install …<\/p>\n

Well, there are three questions:<\/p>\n

1. Does this Microsoft recommendation sound correct? I have no idea if the tech involved was a genius or some yokel reading from a script. Does it sound plausible? (To me, unfortunately, it does.)<\/p>\n

2. Am I correct in recalling that a clean Windows install involves essentially reformatting the hard drive, requiring a full reinstallation of apps and restore of data?<\/p>\n

3. Any brilliant ideas on what's to be done?<\/p>\n

Note that we are not talking about a lot of apps — Quicken is one (I believe she has the discs for that, and the install key is probably lurking in her email somewhere). Chrome (which will get back her browser and its settings and bookmarks). Open Office (or LibreOffice). And for data we're talking about a relatively small amount. But having her do it is not going to be pretty, nor is my trying to walk her through it all remotely, and doing a Friday-night-to-Sunday-afternoon emergency flight out there to do it hands-on — well, that may turn out to be the answer (at least for the restore), but I couldn't do it for another week, which would allow physical delivery of the backup media from Backblaze, and …<\/p>\n

… well, it's still not going to be pretty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I am the primary computer support person for my mom, even though (a) I am many hundreds of miles away and (b) I stopped getting paid for hands-on desktop support decades ago. Mom apparently hit some sort of glitch with one of those oh-so-convenient Windows 10 updates that left her sitting indefinitely with white … Continue reading “Little tech assist needed”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Superman+drinking.gifimgmax=660.gif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128449,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/28\/meanwhile-in-windows-10-news.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":0},"title":"Meanwhile, in Windows 10 news","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Oct-15 4:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally got notice that I could install it.I installed it.Um ... the Earth continues to spin with nary a wobble.The installation process was pretty painless, aside from annoying \"So by default we're going to set these various built-in apps as your default for stuff unless you click on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/ox8385B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128905,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/20\/thirty-years-of-windows.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":1},"title":"Thirty years of Windows","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 20-Nov-15 3:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It took a while (3.1 at least, but really 95) for Windows to be more convenient to use for me than DOS. It took an interface that actually did something, as well as putting all that extended \/ expanded memory stuff out so the way, for it all to make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28386,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/20\/surface-thoughts.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":2},"title":"Surface Thoughts","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Jun-12 1:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is going to be one of those columns that's either wildly prescient, or else something dragged out in 5-year intervals to point at and mock.I would not underestimate, with all the below, the power and draw that Microsoft has on the business word. A tablet that (we're promised) flawlessly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10281,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/28\/the_history_of_minesweepe.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":3},"title":"The History of “Minesweeper”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Feb-07 8:21am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've never found it a particularly engaging, but here's a history of the Windows solitaire game, \"Minesweeper.\" The Minesweeper that we all know and love was created by Robert Donner...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24602,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/16\/microsoft-tries-to-corner-the-password-manager-market-with-win8.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":4},"title":"Microsoft tries to corner the password manager market with Win8","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Dec-11 1:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I actually don't usually mind these efforts by MS to come up with well-running utility programs that obsolete or bankrupt their competitors (as long as they don't exclude someone from using something else). So, yeah, I use MS Security Essentials on my home machine, rather than someone else's competing-free or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7758,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/18\/lets_get_starte.html","url_meta":{"origin":131735,"position":5},"title":"Let’s get Started","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Aug-05 6:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Les asks, \"What's on your Windows Start Menu?\" (Assuming, of course, one has Windows ...) Microsoft Office Project - This one I use all the time -- though usually it,...","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}