This is why I never trust corporate retail "techs".

[draggar]

A friend of mine got a new computer and asked me to help her set it up and copy her data over. No problem.

I get over there and my wife helps her with her dogs (she's one of my wife's client's too - plus she co-owns Artemis with us).

I disconnect the old computer and get the new computer mostly connected then I noticed an issue - the monitor is DVI only and the computer has SVGA. Problem but not a biggie - go out and grab and adapter (F-DVI to M-SVGA) and she's all set.

I run over to Best Buy (the only store reasonably close that would sell it). I ask the guy for the adapter (again, F-DVI to M-SVGA) and he quickly hands me an adapter. Of course, he hands me a M-DVI to F-SVGA (hooking a SVGA monitor to a DVI port on a PC) and I tell him I need it the other way around. So, he grabs one of the geek squad guys.

He proceeds to tell me that the technologies are incompatible and that the adapter does not exist. Of course, I told him that my monitor is DVI and the old PC did not have that so I had an adapter and it DID work. Of course, he proceeded to tell me that I was wrong and I had a SVGA monitor and a DVI card on my PC.

I guess his psychic powers are a little on the fritz - not only does he claim that he knows more about my own computer than I do, he still had it wrong.

I just shook my head and thanked him for his time.

I head back empty handed and hook up the old computer (It's not a bad system - some just messed up the drive partitioning - a 15GB primary and a 145Gb secondary - WTF?). I cleaned out a ton of temp files, installed CleanCache 3.0 to clean out her PC each time she shuts it down and told her about SpyBot and Ad-Aware, I didn't have time to install them. I told her that the adapter DOES exist and that I would try to find one for her. Lo and behold:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new

I told her I would still help her get the new system connected but now she's debating between a new monitor or the adapter. She has a 15" flat panel but saw a 24" widescreen at Costo for $160. Not a bad price.

But - I'm still concerned that people actually listen to these people (like the geek squad guy I spoke to) and believe them??

[otakuneko]

I don't think I've actually SEEN a DVI-only monitor (DVI-only video card, yeah..) but then, it's not like I go looking at monitors all the time.

Stupid Geek Squad guy. Clearly if there's an adapter one way, there can and will be an adapter going the other way.

some just messed up the drive partitioning - a 15GB primary and a 145Gb secondary - WTF?)

Anno, I don't see anything wrong with this, aside from a lack of space for the %Documents% directory perhaps (and the user directories in general) but, these can be re-pointed fairly easily. Windows ain't that big, even 7.

Hell if I had my way I'd have all systems use dual drives: a small one for the OS and a larger one for data and large apps. Unfortunately, the only small drives you can get these days are super-expensive solid state drives, which admittedly would be ideal for an OS drive...

[draggar]

Many of the earlier generation flat panels had DVI only, then they went to DVI and SVGA.

As for dual drives - my system has a 160GB primary and a 1TB secondary. I think 15 GB is a bit small, especially when it is being used by someone who is inexperienced with computers.

Right now on my system:
3.5GB for Windows XP home,
630 GB for Office 2007
3.25 GB for Adobe (creative suite etc.. - I know most users won't have this)
300 MB for HP (printer stuff - common with many people)

Yeah 15 GB can seem like a lot of space. Hopefully I can do some work with the new PC when she gets the monitor.

Maybe I'll take the drive out of the old system and make it a secondary, create some shortcuts on her desktop to access that drive.

[otakuneko]

Holy crap, 630 GB for Office 2k7?! Tell me that's a typo... I have the portable version, weighing in at roughly 520 MB.

You might look into Partition Logic to resize (or perhaps even merge) the partitions.

There's also Junction, which with some creative use could make two drives feel like one.

[draggar]

Yeah, typo - 630 MB.

[lordlundar]

Yeah, typo - 630 MB.

I would hope so. That would take roughly 2 weeks to install at 630GB.

[draggar]

Wow. Just wow. I really hate the Geek squad now, or at least the rep I saw tonight. Highly unethical.

I was waiting for a friend of mine (the same one in the OP) so we could get a wireless router and a USB wireless NIC for her new setup. While there I saw one of these people (and I'll use the term loosely) selling a high end Mac laptop to an elderly woman.

Now, OK, I'm usually not al into stereotypes but come on! This woman was probabaly pushing 90. You're selling her one of the most expensive Macs in the store. You had to show her how to put a CD in the drive! She obviously isn't going to be a high end user (I didn't hear what she wanted to do but she doesn't seem like the World of Warcraft fanatical raider type, but I could be wrong.

He told her she could put in any program and it would work - including the PC titles she had. (OK, I'm not up on Mac compatibility so I won't comment on this).

But then it got bad.

She said that Comcast was coming in a few days to connect her house to the internet. She asked him if she needed anything else. Now, of course you should ask questions or at least say no (you don't - all laptops have built in NIC cards built into them) but he didn't.

He proceeded to sell her a $250 gigabit wired / wireless N router.

My jaw almost hit the floor. Seriously and I wouldn't have been surprised if it actually did.

Now, a gigabit is 1,000 megabits (by the way - he kept calling it a gigabyte router which is not what it is AND is false advertising). The regular routers in the stores are 100 megabit - only 1/10th the speed.

BUT - unless you have something really high end (and I don't just mean a business class connection) the FASTEST you'll ever see is about 20 megabits per second and that's with business class cable from Comcast and the "power boost" is going fill speed. 99% of the time that line will be under 10 megabits. You could have four people connected and won't have much of an issue with speed.

Yes, what is did was like selling someone a Lamborghini (sp?) to run a mile or two to the grocery store to buy a bag of potato chips.

Even if she wanted a wireless connection she would have been fine with a $50 one from Belkin or get a nice one, a $80 one from LinkSys (or $60 / $90 for a "N" banded one). Absolutely no need for the gigabit router - I highly doubt she has commercial grade T1s at her house and is planning on running series of torrent servers.

[Dreamstalker]

You never know...she could have been Gramma BFG in disguise...

Still; yeah, I don't like techs whose goal is more sales than service (I realize there's a balance to be had, but if a person doesn't need X--or a trusted friend says they don't need X--they don't need it). The place I applied to is good about this; their salespeople are commissioned, but they actually listen to customers.