Dumb stuff people do on their computers

QFT a million times over. I don't know who is more pathetic: people who try to use ASUS Update, or ASUS for actually thinking that making a 'live internet BIOS update' would actually do more good than harm.

A live BIOS update? Must be a new thing... never heard of an online BIOS update. By nature BIOS updating is done on a root level with a floppy drive or floppy emulator on a CD rom. The former is the preferred method.

BIOS updating is very dangerous for the novice. One screw up can yield a dead computer.

Well, fortunately for most users, ASUS has pretty much abandoned the live update for BIOS -- last I checked the server for the updates was totally offline.

I can't imagine how it could possibly work -- since it's done on a root level you'd think that having other processes running would conflict with the flash. Not to mention the danger you'd be in if your internet connection decided to throw a fit in the middle of the download.

Hmm, something tells me the ASUS RMA department forced them to stop doing live updates to BIOS....

I would never even consider doing a bios flash in real time via the net, at least not with the standard pc and pc equipment and the isp i have.
I wonder, perhaps this live bios update was geared toward business with such things as gigabit ethernet and fibre-optic cabling, things like that or similar that most people dont do at home? Maybe that is the answer as it just doesnt seem within the realm of possibility with a home pc and standard gear.
How about trying to do a bios flash with a wireless network, lol.

Had a guy that was fixing a PC for a friend who was here in the UK who managed to switch the PSU from 240 volts to 110 volts and wondered what had gone wrong!!!

It happened here on TechSpot but the guy deleted most of his post after he realised just how stupid he had been.

Haha! I could just see someone on my block leeching my wireless and accidentally routing through to my LAN, somehow managing to update an ASUS BIOS onto their comp.....heh heh heh.

{Yeah, hypothetical and REALLY unlikely, you'd have to be so stupid you'd be a genius to leech someone else's download!}

"Nothing will power up properly, I can't even get it to get *to* a POST state!"
Heh heh

Here's a list of the things I have done;

1. I unplugged my hard drive power connection when the computer was on and plugged it back in...no more hard drive
2. I forgot to plug my power switch into the mobo and was going crazy trying to figure out why the computer wasn't turning on
3. I reset a password on a computer and forgot it almost immediatly
4. I have Windows

Tried to put an old slot CPU into a PCI-X slot (NOT PCI-E), and put the AGP card in the CPU slot. I wondered why there was smoke and a bad smell issuing from the case.

This may not technically fit the vein of the thread, but these are all dumb things I've seen people do on their computers in one way or another.

For instance, law firms that use over 20 different (and often redundant) programs on a daily basis, including greats like W0rd Perfect 9 and C0relFl0w, many applications being 13 years old and 16-bit, just so they can "preserve the macros" or because "they are used to it." However, they are also "open to technology," so every system must be a Dell C0re 2 Duo laptop with 2 monitors, docking stations, and all wireless peripherals, including a Tre0, Blackberry, Q, or Blackjack, not to mention active synching with like 4 applications (as well as buggy shareware applications so they can get those prized public folders), all under the control of a document management system called W0rldox; of course, some MUST use T0shiba M400 tablet PCs along with Bluetooth Drag0n 9 headsets and wireless video transmitters to their 60" plasmas. Add roaming profiles with gigantic dictation files and constant misuse of terminal services to the mix so they can work off of their Verizon Wireless cards and constantly be logged in on three computers. "Hell, let's throw a Nitix server in the mix, (blank) said we should have one of those, too." "Why are my icons disappearing and reappearing? Why am I getting this error message (when I try to run a program that was developed for a system running on 48-bits less than the one I am running)?"

Or secretaries: "My email is broke. I can't see anything. I can't watch my funnies." ::download flash:: "Aw! You fixed it! Look at him- that man with the parrot got run over by a semi and walked away without a bruise. It must've been Jesus."

Or "My website is broken. How do I download Firefox? It works at my house and my son said I needed Firefox." ::download Java:: "Hey, it's working now. How'd you do it in Internet Explorer?"

"I really need your help- my Word is gone." ::looks at the redundant shortcuts pinned to the start menu, the start>programs>MS Office 2003 menu, the three desktop icons, and the several open blank Word documents:: "Hmm." ::drag from desktop to quicklaunch bar:: "Wow, how'd you do that! I thought someone messed with my CPU and erased Word. Hey, can you put email on my computer, too? Oh, and Works." (ok, ok, she was REALLY old)

"Hey, we have an emergency!!! Nobody can get in to our system since I deleted the old email addresses (aka Active Directory users). What can we do?"

Hey, I think my computer has a virus or something- it is really slow. I put like three of them anti-virus and like 6 anti-spywares on it but it must be real bad, cause now it is even slower. I got the McAfee firewall and the Windows firewall on- I don't know how it happened. Do you need me to bring in the monitor and everything, or just the modem? Oh, my friend needs you to cleanup her modem, too."

"Yeah, well a couple of weeks ago, that tape thing on the computer (accounting server) didn't come out so I stopped changing it. Didn't you say to only change it if it popped out?"

"My computer seems slower." ::854 virii and 1381 spyware instances, 577 registry issues, 2.4GB temporary internet files, 1500 fonts, PIII 533MHz with XP Pro and 128MB ram, adjusted for best appearance with animated cursors and active desktop, never defrag'ed, running "Wal-Mart Internet," exclusively, with a wicked Hayes Compatible modem::

OH GOD... THE WORST EVER- "Yeah, I got that cable web you was talkin' about, but the cable wouldn't fit in my CPU, so I cut it down and it still ain't workin."

Nobody could make this stuff up.

Well, i just got one good enuf to add in here.
I had a customer call me yesterday to tell me her pc was running slow. I asked her if you had run these few progs i had installed to clean out temp files and the like, asked if a\virus and malware progs were updated and such.
She said yes to all i asked her so i told her to bring her pc over and i would have a look.
She calls me back a few hours later complaining that her pc wouldnt start. Why? Instead of manually deleting all temp files in windows she decided to delete all the files in windows, period. And some files wouldnt delete, she told me, so maybe thats why her pc wont start!

I had a lady bring the family pc in a few years back as it wouldnt start up at all. I noticed the power supply fan was full of white dust and asked her if her husband had decided to finish off the basement and had drywalled it. She said, ya, how would you know that? Just a lucky guess since the fan was full of very white powder as opposed to grey dust,lol.
I took it apart, had to take the power supply apart to clean it, the cpu heatsink and fan were totally clogged full of drywall dust. When all fully cleaned it fired up just fine.

that's easy to do. Plugging in the wrong voltage. I did it with a battery charger over here in Iraq. But with expensive items, you have to be more careful.
A lot of travelers either overlook or don't know different countries run on different voltages and hertz.

My friend lived over in Israel and none of his components with the exception of a computer (had the voltage changer) worked. He had to buy all new electronics...

"

Priceless!!

You know, that's incorrect. P2P can be QUITE useful to transfer large files.

More like:
I use bit torrent, limewire, etc... (P2P type programs) to ****** things and I can't understand why my system doesn't work.

I had one the other day here at work. I am a network tech and walking in from the parking lot a guy asked me why he could not get online with his router. I asked him if he had a highspeed ISP, he said he had dial-up and could not figure out why it would not work.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was freeing up space on my hard drive and now I don't have any sound, etc...

You probably should make your own thread for this and you should also provide more info, such as what program were you using to free up hard drive space, even specifically what programs within the suite you were using. Does that program make a system restore point that you can go back to? Or can you simply just use system restore and go back to before you did the cleanup. In addition, some of these programs back up the registry and allow you to undo any registry changes that were made, so maybe you could try that, although a system restore might be the best way to go.
Its a bit hard to help you as you didnt point out what program(s) you were using.

Personally i never use any of these products. I do mine manually, takes more time and not as thorough but i have been running the same win xp pro for over 5 yrs and still going. I used to use programs to clean up hard drive space and ran into problems like you are talking about, so i stopped using them long time ago. Not telling you what to do, only giving my personal opinion and some proof. But i know others feel the same and do manual cleanups as well, and maybe this might help you out the next time. I hope my suggestions can help you out.

Oops. No, I meant a dumb thing people do to their computers is to go in and delete all their files. thx though.

Lol, you said "now", so, of course, i was thinking you had trouble and wanted help.
The joke is on me!
On the other hand, you have some info about how others might do the job, manually that is. These programs that "clean" your system, well, you can see what i think of them.