I know a lot of you here are tech folks, so I figured I would pass along a website I recently became aware of. I am not affiliated with this site whatsoever, just passing along knowledge As you probably know, reinstalling machines is a pain the butt. I know some of you do more server administration/programming than workstation support, but I'm sure you encounter a reinstall every now and then. Even when you reinstall your own machine or family/friends machines, this will come in handy. The website is called Ninite. What this website does is allow you to choose what apps you want to install by selecting checkboxes. These apps include PDF readers, antivirus, media players, browsers, codecs, Flash, iTunes, etc etc etc. Simply check the box of the things you want to install, and it builds and installer for you to download and run. It runs silently (well, not 100% silent. It has its own install window but you don't get install windows for every program) and downloads/installs all the programs for you. No more going to 10 different sites to get all of your downloads. And if you keep the installer file they present you with, and run it later, it updates your programs if there are new versions. So once again, instead of going to 10 different sites to get all of your updated programs, just run the installer again and it will update currently installed programs. It's really nice and easy and saves a TON of time. I've currently used it more times than I can remember and haven't had any problems with it whatsoever. Enjoy!
I can't remember exactly how long, but it has grown a LOT since I started using it. Absolutely a fantastic Ace up the sleeve for anyone, not just techies. My favorite thing is that it bypasses all the toolbars and other crap. I used to have a login script I used when setting up new computers that would install most everything it needed, but now all I do with that script is Office and a few programs that are local.
Snap.... the last time I heard about this (from Jim) I thought it would be great for my next system rebuild. And then I forgot about it and have done three systems since then. Phooey!... Well maybe I will remember it next time.... :mad:
I've found a couple of other sites that do the same basic thing, but I like Ninite a lot better. It may simply be a primacy effect thing, being I stumbled on Ninite first, but I only use it. I can't even remember the others, if that tells you anything, but I'd bet I bookmarked them...
NEVER! Never do work for free! Often people like us get taken advantage of...even if it's for your grandma or aunt/uncle. I still ask for money. Our time, knowledge, and patience is worth something. Even if it's a few cold beers or a hot meal (Or both!), expect something for the work you do! You are saving them hundreds if they took it to GeekSquad or the like
I agree with what you said; however, I have a hard time turning people down. I only do upgrades for myself and immediate household now. Besides the getting taken advantage of argument, I don't want to be the scapegoat for every computer problem that person has for the rest of their life.
Thats pretty :signs021 I've been thinking about doing a fresh install of my win 7 just to tidy things up too.
That's another thing about working for other people...it's always your fault if something happens or breaks! People will call me like "You worked on my PC about a year-and-a-half ago and now this doesn't work, what did you do!?!" I hate it. I ask $45/hour or half of GeekSquads prices, whichever is cheapest for them. If they don't like it, they can go to GeekSquad and pay full price! It may be 'mean', but that's how I feel. I do this work all day in a business environment; the last thing I want to do in my free-time or on the weekends is fix PCs! Especially when it becomes my problem in the future. At least if I'm getting paid I don't mind spending time on the phone with people or remotely fixing viruses. Doing work for free creates that slippery-slope area where I start to hate getting phone calls from my friends and family! It's a harsh truth.
I rarely do free tech work. Only exceptions being immediate, local family, and my church. Other than that, I rarely do it at all, although I'd kinda like to get a few calls nowadays and bring in some extra dough. I also make sure that they understand my caveat when I work on it: depending on the situation/work/fix, I'm not responsible for anything that goes wrong afterward. If I setup a new machine, and the next few days something isn't working, say, a missing driver or something, I'll rectify it. If I clean up a virus/malware/greyware issue, I'll show you what all the logs say that it's clean when I'm done, reboot a few times to make sure nothing is hiding in a locked file or directory (always turn off system restore when troubleshooting virii, y'all), and run for a bit. If it's clean, I'm done. If it happens again tomorrow, new contract - I may even block all the pr0n with a firewall rule and a un-rememberable password like "ouaobhjnaoiper/nmadsvp9 hdsfhna" so you don't do it again It's hardly an issue, though. I don't advertise/volunteer my help, and even if someone asks, I hardly have time to dedicate to it. Again, I'm making exceptions here lately due to medical bills and such...
