On 5/24/15 1:42 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015 08:58:29 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:

I set up basic accounts because of the malware issues these days, but a
tutorial of why it's done and how to properly use them is supplied with
the computer.

The most radical thing I do is partition the hard drive, and move the
data storage to the new partition. Relocating those personal data files
LOL And the new owners get instructions on never putting files on
C:\. LOL

While I see your reasons for doing that, it's non-standard and is probably
going to confuse a few folks. Personally, I've always just advised people
with whom I come into contact to make backups on a regular basis. With a
good backup strategy, it doesn't matter as much where things are stored.

Guess that's a situation of how you define non-standard. G To me,
formatting/partitioning another Windows partition is not non-standard.
It's not the default, but not non-standard. Non-standard would be
creating Mac or Linux partitions on the drive.

I have to work with the assumption the new owners will not have the
resources to purchase an external drive for backups. Well, I don't
*have* to, but I do. And many times, the hard drive is too small to
have the images on the internal drive. In the case of the Vista machine
I'm working with now, the optical drive will only burn CD's.

I also work with the assumption they have no clue what a backup is.

After weighing in all the factors, this leaves me with the choice of
partitions, or asking them to do something they possibly can't afford to
do, even if they have the knowledge. I think partitioning and moving
their docs is the safest approach under these conditions.

I do explain what I've done, and why, in the documentation, and I
encourage them to do backups, *if* they can afford it. It's always
possible someone may give them an external drive, but I don't know that.

Case in point, one lady *asked me* to create a second partition and a folder
structure in it, then move her personal documents there. I got a frantic
call about week later advising me that all of her precious documents were
gone. Turns out, she had simply forgotten that she'd asked me to move them.
The part I felt bad about was when she told me she had been searching for at
least five days and had finally called me because she thought that I had
accidentally deleted them.

As long as you're in the "fix it" business of some kind, you'll always
have the customer who forgot they asked for something to be done, or
forgot to ask for something to be done. I would have felt bad too, and
likely would have tried to steer the conversation to make her feel
better, such as "Yea, I've forgotten these things too that I've done for
myself", so she knows she's not the only one to do it.

But the bottom line is, you did what she asked. You are not responsible
for her memory.



--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"