Constantly being yelled at for messing with family Computer...

[alvisno15]

So, I was wondering if you have ever been yelled at by whole family for "messing up" the computer. By that I mean installing Linux and dealing with "No flash installed" or installing a new program and it totally changes how you have to use the computer. I'm a new Linux geek and trying to find a replacement for Windows, haven't found it

 

[Zer0Cool]

Never used anything but Windows but I know where u coming from about having a family PC. It will always be like that until you get your own However for the time being one rule that always helped me when I was young - leave it as you found it

 

[alvisno15]

I have my own laptop, but what I think I'm doing is "improving" our 5 year old PC with an OS that doesn't get virus's (or rarely does)
I agree, I need to just let things alone XD

 

[strollin]

Since it's a family computer, it doesn't seem fair to convert it to Linux without considering how the rest of the family feels about it. If you do want to experiment with various Linux distros, you could try installing VirtualBox and run Linux in a virtual machine to see if you like it. Heck virtually all Linux distros have a "Live" CD that lets you boot the OS from the CD without making any changes to the computer. Another option is to make a system image of the machine before making any changes which would let you recover the machine to the way it was before you made any changes.

 

[lhamil64]

You just installed Linux on your family's computer without asking them first? Hopefully you just put it in a dual boot instead of wiping out their Windows partition. If I deleted Windows on my parent's computer (used to be the "family" computer) they'd probably kill me. I'd say that in the future, you talk to your parents (and whoever else uses that computer primarily) and explain what you're going to do. Even if Linux would work fine for what they do, it's kind of rude to install it without their permission. Imagine if you woke up to find that your parents had just reformatted your laptop without asking you or anything.

 

[alvisno15]

Yeah, I kept Windows just for them. It's the last time I'm installing anything for a while

 

[setishock]

If you want to help them just run periodic maint programs like Ccleaner and MaleWareBytes. Keep it cleaned up and hands off otherwise.

 

[MMM]

Mate the last time I used the computer years ago I shut it off normally and when the wife switched on next the day the Hard drive crashed big time with loss of all software and data which could not be recovered... Never heard the end of this from the missus.

Solution to problem is she has her computer and I have mine and I laugh at her nowadays if some thing goes wrong as it is her fault not mine.

But seriously any computer can go pear shape any time, if you want to play around with different software and settings it would be in your interest to have a separate Test computer to do this, at least this way the main PC stays intact & everyone is happy.

 

[aPanzerIV]

Imagine if you woke up to find that your parents had just reformatted your laptop without asking you or anything.

Yeah, my parents did that. I beat them to the bios password though, so I just reinstalled everything. Unfortunately, bios passwords don't protect against water being spilt on it, ahem, *MOM*.

Fact is though, you really shouldn't mess with it. You can get a cheap and capable A64 based system off ebay for $40-$70.

 

[jmacavali]

I think it's been said already but I don't think you can be mad at your parents for wanting to keep their computer running.

You need to find one that you can work on yourself.