Sister's computer broke down, Now What?

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I guess my littlest sister's computer broke down again, for the umpteenth time.

She complained to me on Friday that her computer would not boot up completely. What happened is that as soon as the computer reached the Windows XP screen it would become dark again (appearing as if it is about to load the normal OS, and then the computer shuts off and repeats the process, over and over again, ad nauseam. I have a feeling that it has something to do with a software conflict (she has an I-pod and downloads music onto it from her computer). She uses Blubster to no end, and likes downloading toolbars for her internet browser.

Well, that ends the technical aspect of the rant or whatever (I love saying that - or whatever).

Well the Catch-22 is that everytime this happens, I either have to do a restore on her computer, and if that fails she asks me if she can use my computer. In the end, however, my computer usually develops errors and/or crashes. In spite of having Aspergers, I do not live up to the Aspie reputation of being a computer nerd, and instead rely on commonsense solutions to fix malfunctioning computers.

When I attempted to restore her computer on Friday night, the actual restore completed successfully, but the computer still would not boot up completely. She wants me to fix her computer sometime tonight, but I am really nervous.

When I have to let her use mine, she downloads programs (like Blubster, AIM, and other) without my permission, and does all sorts of things with my computer. I tend to not put a lot of stuff on my laptop because it is supposed to last me until I graduate from college and get a job, whereas her computer is mainly used for music downloading, instant messaging, and other crap.

My dad gave her an opportunity to get a new computer (because he could afford it) last winter, but she told him she wanted an I-Pod instead. He indulged her on this.

She has been causing problems with the family and has pretty much alienated the rest of us away from her. She has been having occasional fights with my dad and sister, and has even run away on a few occasions. So, I am stuck in a bad scenario. Either I fix it (someday, restoring it will not work anymore) or I may have to once again let her use mine.

So, I am thinking that if her computer fails again, I may just tell her that she may NOT use my computer, and should go to the library instead. But this will inevitably start a fight with her or she will go out and try to convince my dad to force me to let her use my computer.

For the record, my other sister and my dad are behind me on me doing this. But I am afraid of starting a conflict, and indeed terrified of her.

She just go her first part time job, so I am hoping maybe she will save some money up and buy a new laptop on the cheap.

So, what do you think I should do? Say no and start a fight or let her use mine and have mine fail.

Personally, I would stand your ground and say 'No', and walk away if she reacts negatively. In the end, it is your computer and what you use it for is most likely more important than the sort of thing she uses hers for. alternatively, insist she does not download anything and warn her that if she does, she will never be allowed to use your laptop again.

*sighs*

Well, I tried, and failed. I told her that her computer is inoperable, and that she is going to have to call technical assistance and get help. She told me that she "doesn't know what to do, and that I should call them." I left for a bit, and came back later and told her that she should call them and listen to the prompts. I mean making a phone call to tech assistance is basic, not hard.

She asked me if she could charge her I-pod on my computer overnight, to which I said "no, its my computer", and she glared at me and said, "you dont have to be an a-----e about it.

I agree with Graelwyn. My computers are practically "sacred space" for me (I'm a compete geek, dweeb, and nerd rolled into one) and I do not let other people use my machines. If for some reason I have to, I create a separate guest account for them, tightly restrict their privileges and set the software firewalls on high, then let them use my machine briefly, just long enough to fix theirs.

Downloading third-party browser toolbars, songs from file-sharing services, and using AIM are good ways to get malware or other glop onto a system. Getting it off can be tricky (and not worth your time unless you actually enjoy doing that kind of thing).

One posibility is to create her an account that does not have permisions to install software. but you are probably wisest to stand your ground and it is quite posible that her computer can be repaired although she may need to look elswhare for the expertise. It may well be worth runninbg a disk test on it.

I don't blame you for not wanting her to use your computer. Sounds like she does not want to take care of it right. Walk away and tell her if she wants to have a computer she needs to learn how to use it right. That means dealing with problems on HER computer HERSELF. From what you said it seems this thing keeps happening with the computer. Does she use antivirus? Firewall? Not your fault she keeps screwing it up. I would not even let her look at your computer, let alone touch it.

Have you told her that these programs that she puts on your computer are not present for a reason? and that when she puts this stuff on your comp that it causes you comp problems? and that if she were to use your comp that she can't put these things on your computer?

If you gave no reasons and just pointblank said no, with no explaination of the problems she causes on your computer when she uses it, I would guess that that can cause agro all on it's own. If you've explained and explained and yet she still does these disrespectfull things to your computer, you can only explain so many times.

I hope all goes well and that she doesn't try to make you do things that you don't want to do.

You can setup a separate account for her, password protect your own account and then disable auto login. Remember to make her a standard user only (ie not the admin type) so that she can't make system wide changes.

This sounds like the blaster worm, or one of it's variants. I bet she's infected it by installing those stupid toolbars. There are only a couple of them I trust, and they are from the big companies, for example yahoo, google and AIM, but you don't really need any of them, I just use my search box & add engines to that.

I wouldn't let her use yours, but if you do, put her on the guest account, which will stop her having access to all your major settings. To do this go to control panel>user accounts, on the user accounts window you will see an option for the guest account, which will be turned off, turn it on and switch users/logoff your account. Guest will show then on the welcome page. All she'll be able to do from here is change the most minor settings, like screen resolution, screensaver, background and the like. As for the downloading, tell her if you find just one item on that computer that you didn't put there, then thats it, no more being able to use your computer.

You have to put your foot down somewhere.

With regards to fixing it, I don't know THAT much about computers, but when her computer is booting up, or trying to, start tapping the F8 key quickly from the minute it begins to boot. This should bring you to a DOS screen with a few options. There should be 3 safe mode options, safe mode, safe mode with networking and safe mode with command prompt. Try safe mode first. If you can boot into safe mode, it might bring up a box asking you if you would like to do a system restore. If you see this box, click the option that allows you to enter the restore window. If not, go to programs>accsessories>system tools>system restore.

Simply restore the computer to a date & time before the problem started, this might fix/undo any changes which might be causing the boot problems. This does not erase any data or files, but it will remove programs installed after that date/time such as updates etc. You can as easily undo a restore as you can do it, simply by returning the computer to a later date/time.

If you cannot get into safe mode, then it becomes harder, and further out of my remit of knowledge. Then your best option would be to contact a tech, preferably a local repair shop rather than someone from a phone directory.
The smaller shops tend to do a better job than the bigger ones. Most of them you can just walk into for some advice too.

That is fine you all, I can understand the technical issues pretty well, but I think the issue is more emotional.

As I said before, all she uses her computer for is instant messaging, downloading music for her I-pod, and watching online movies, while I need mine for school.

This sister has a really bad attitude issue and even the most reasonable thing can cause her offense. For instance, if you tell her no to anything, she gets mad.

On Sunday night after I attempted to (and failed at) restoring her computer, I had to tell her that her computer was "inoperable". I told her that she would have to call Customer assistance, but she told me that she wanted me to do it since she didn't know what to do. I left, and came back a while later and told her to call the number on the back of her computer.

As I was leaving, she wanted to recharge her I-pod using my computer. I made the mistake of telling her "no, its my property." She proceeded to call me an a--h-le while I was personally present. I am not good with mentally interpreting looks from other people, but she looked at me from the side of her eyes with an expression (which I have seen on many occasions) that mixed told me I was inconveniencing her and that I let her down. That look demoralizes me.

After I left, and I am speaking from hearsay from my other sister, she got on the phone with one of her friends and called me an "f--er", "d--k", and a "f-----g d--k."

She has been having problems with us other three family members because she is deep cahoots with a not-so-good boyfriend who is lying, deceiving, and condescending to the rest of us.

Her behavior since my parents got divorced and my mother's subsequent Egyptian affair (literal) has been quite unbearable, to say the least.

She is always asking my dad and sister why I like to "hide in my room" and play video games, read books, watch anime, and spend time on my laptop. I don't think she realizes that I am not a social creature and can be quite awkward. Just because I am not a people person like her does not mean that I am any less a contributing citizen to society. She has pretty much driven me away from her for a long time because of her attitude and her penchant for saying rude things and having bad boyfriends.

I think it's time to encourage her the woes of the internet and not everything comes in hassle free.

I would begin by uninstalling software that is not recognised, and if you aren't sure what it is, look it up using a search engine. When it comes to toolbars, do people know that the more you install, the less space there will be to view the page?

Once all the crap has been removed, best to start scanning with anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.

The boot sector can not be corrupted if Windows boots to the splash screen. This only means that the boot sector was read correctly and the following programs were read without error, usually 3 files in the case of Windows NT based operating systems. After this it's down the the files that Windows will load.

The only good thing with safe mode is that the computer will probably operate faster while you remove software. It might be wise to research some of the software and see if it's likely to cause problems. Some people when installing will only go to "next -> next ->finish" and just install defaults, including any toolbars.

I hate when something offers to install a "Google" toolbar for my firefox, I don't need 2x search boxes in my browser.

I still say educate her on the internet...