If you’re new to computer repair, you may be wondering how some people are able to fix just about anything. Well, not anything… the majority of consumers today use Windows on their computers. A client may have a “blue screen of death”, a virus, or a huge bug that they just can’t live with. If you’ve been charged with fixing any of these things, don’t despair: I’ve found myself a few easy steps to fixing almost any windows-based problem.
Back up the user’s files. Now, you may be wondering how you’re supposed to do that if the computer won’t load the operating system. I use what’s referred to as a “live Linux distribution.” It’s basically an installation of Linux that can be copied onto a CD, DVD or flash drive and loaded into the computer’s RAM from there. You put in the disc, you boot the computer (make sure to select the correct boot device when you’re doing this), the Linux desktop loads, and you have a fully functional computer. It will be slow, but (unless the user’s hard drive is encrypted) you’ll have access to every single file on the hard drive—both user files and system files. Now that you’re here, plug in a flash drive or an external hard drive and copy the user’s files onto that. I usually copy the entire C:\Users folder, because many users never check where they’re saving their files—they just save to and open from the default location of whatever program they’re using. Copying the Program Files folders won’t do you much good, by the way. While some programs will still run after being copied as such, many will have errors due to Windows’ recently increased dependence upon the registry.
Reinstall Windows. If the computer has a “factory restore” option, I usually use that to preserve any built-in programs the user may have been using; many don’t bother installing anything else. If there’s not a factory reset option, I don’t use Startup Repair; instead, I simply format the entire hard drive and make a clean installation of whatever version of Windows was on the computer before. (If you’re using a key that came with the computer, you may want to skip reformatting the hard drive, but I usually do it just to be safe.) Remember, don’t upgrade or try to save anything from the previous installation; you have the user’s files backed up, just wipe it all and start clean. Remember to install updates after this; there are usually over a hundred that need to be installed, and you don’t want to pass that responsibility off to the user, as they usually don’t care about updates. Just make the process as seamless as possible for them and install all the updates, get an antivirus program installed, add any programs that the user had before, and use CCleaner to disable all unnecessary startup scripts; if the computer’s faster when you give it back then it was when it was working properly, you might get bonus respect points.
3. Restore the user’s files. Just go through the clients User folder, one folder at a time, moving everything back onto the new installation of Windows, excluding any desktop.ini or similar system files. If you want to copy AppData back, that’s OK too. If you’re copying and not moving, make sure to delete the user’s files when they’re done. While saving the backup for them may seem like a kind gesture, keeping files is unethical and disconcerting to just about everyone, and you want to give them a reason to pick you over the Geek Squad, not the other way around.
I hope that these instructions were simple enough to follow. This process really is easy to do, but it does take a lot of time. It can pay well, however, and you can always use the extra street cred from a job.