But My Computer Was Fine Yesterday

Many times, people will explain how their computer was fine yesterday, last week and last month before “the problem” showed up.  Today I will share a question from email today and explain how to share the true reality of computer health.

Computer users tell IT people that the computer worked “just fine” before the problem.

Following the logic of this thought process and why it’s frustrating to everyone involved

Email from customer

Adria:

You did some work for us this past October that was very helpful.  Everything has worked well, until recently when I tried to install TurboTax 2008.  I think I have used TurboTax for about 10 years and never had a problem.
The problems started immediately.  It would not install upon the first try and reported a “serious error.”  I sent a report to TurboTax.  The next day it did install, but it clearly wasn’t working properly.  If I tried to open Help within the progarm, it wouldn’t open (this reminded me of something you said in Oct. about a virus blocking attempts to get help).  I ran the AntiVir PE Classic program, and several viruses were detected.  The default on the software is to “quarantine” the file, which is what I did.  However, it seemed like I should delete the file.  I tried to search AntiVir to get more information, but couldn’t find anything useful.  After I ran the program I uninstalled TurboTax and reinstalled it.  Actually, I have tried this several times without any success.  I am able to get the updates downloaded (when we had problems before I couldn’t download anything) from TurboTax when the application starts, but after that it is a nightmare.

In all other respects the computer is doing fine.  No other problems and no problems downloading.

I can get to the TurboTax online site, but have been unable to find anything useful there.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions!

My Reply

Yes I remember you both. Thanks!

Here is what I will say. Many people use the previous logic, “It worked fine last week, last year…never had a problem” when talking about computers. The human body and automobiles are similar yet most people understand as a person or car ages, it does not behave the same…things start to break down.

Compare your statement now assuming someone had a serious illness they recovered from or a car was in an auto accident. Even if the person seems “better” or the car was “repaired”, some damage will always remain. That virus on the system, had pretty much disabled it. I would certify the computer as “not sound” meaning that anything we do is just a bandaid. To fully resolve this, I would recommend buying a new computer or backing up the data on that one, wiping the hard drive and reinstalling everything. Recently, I was able to find some AMAZING deals at the Dell refurbished store where they had Windows XP Professional on a system, 2GB of memory and a 3 year warranty for $289!
It would be a better use of your time and my time to explore one of these routes. For the existing system, the files have been compromised, the registry is probably not healthy and Windows isn’t happy. I could maybe connect to it on ***day/***day  to take a look but you could have a new computer by then too. I can’t remember if you have a router in place to share the internet connection but as long as you can get both computers online, I can help with the data transfer.
Let me know what you think.

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