Ask HN: What have you built more than twice and wish someone had built for you?

Re:Ask HN: What have you built more than twice and wish some... by probably_wrong on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @11:01AM (#34428363)

My parent's computers.

In the ancient times known as "the 90s" you could find PC technicians who would run anti-malware, dig into the register, and overall tune your computer while leaving everything more-or-less as it was.

Those technicians are long gone, replaced by people who make easy money by wiping your computer clean and putting your old files in a folder called "Backup".

I'd gladly pay someone to do it right, but I just can't find anyone. So whenever I visit my parents I know there will be a parade of slow devices waiting for me to tune them.

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Re:Ask HN: What have you built more than twice and wish some... by petiepooo on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @11:14AM (#34428594)

You can blame the ever-increasing complexity of MS Windows for that. My parents are now on Linux, being that the only things they do on it, other than open the occasional email attachment, are all browser-based. It's easier for me to occasionally run an apt-get upgrade remotely than it is to try to keep Windows free of infestations.

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Re:Ask HN: What have you built more than twice and wish some... by cactacea on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @11:03AM (#34428398)

Yup, and then rootkits happened. Better safe than sorry.

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Re:Ask HN: What have you built more than twice and wish some... by Cthulhu_ on Thursday January 19, 2023 @03:20AM (#34437955)

I was one of those, but I was just a late teen going to school for it. TBF, in some cases a wipe was the better and faster option. Modern day PCs and laptops are (should be) set up so that user folders are on a separate partition, and a hidden partition to reinstall the operating system while leaving the user's files alone. Should be, anyway.

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