Computer Questions Re: WindowsXP, Front Page & MDG Computers

[TheNiteHwk]

Hey All: Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

I have a situation with my computer and need some advice. I bought a new computer at MDG last June. My friend (one of my house mates) and myself both purchased the same systems for about $1700. each at the same time. We understood that all is under warrenty for one year. About two weeks ago we both had similar problems almost the same day. Computer keeps crashing and giving a windows error message. My friend went back with his CPU to MDG and they re-installed windows and all is well. No charge. (well actually they tried to charge him but he refused to pay) A couple days later I went in with my CPU and they said if a software problem I must pay $75. for service. Also all my files will be lost and if I want to retrieve them another $50. I have since called the head office a couple times only to get voice mail both times and no body has called me back. My question: Has anyone else had same experiences with MDG? What was out come? They seem to have good prices but maybe their service sucks. Comments Please.

Also re Windows and Front Page. If I get them to re-install Windows it will be Windows XP Home Edition. I want to install Front Page. Some body told me Front Page will only work with Windows XP Professional Edtion. Is this true? Does any body know how much Windows XP Professional is worth and same question for Front Page. I am waiting for head office to call me (or I will call them again soon) and want to make a deal with them to forget Windows XP Home Edtion... install Proffessional Edtion and also Front Page. If they give me a good deal I will forget the fact they have double standards, rude service people and I have been without computer for 2 weeks now.

P.S. Don't they know who they are dealing with? How am I suppose to organize TERBites bashes with out computer at home?
And what about my webcam videos of my LF Egyptian Goddess (not porn) ... while she is pricless to me... I don't want to pay $50. to get them back. I guess I'll just have to get her to come over and make some new ones. lmao.

 

[Sasha Jones]

You will find the same deal at almost any computer shop you go to if it concerns software.

Most stores will only warranty the hardware. After all if they did place a warranty on software they would have every average joe coming in pawning off their computer problems on them when they got themselves infected with viruses etc.

Data recovery and backups take time, and if your OS is not working properly they are an even bigger pain in the ass. The prices they quoted you seem pretty fair to me.

BTW did Microsoft release a new OS that I am not aware of? I have never heard of XE before, I assume you are referring to XP.
If you don't like the idea of going to XP ask them to install Win2k instead.

 

[maverick]

never buy your computer at mdg. they suck. you could have gotten a better pc for the same cost from a more reputable place. mdg operates buy upselling their stuff and distributing to franchised stores who don't care about you after the sale.

mav

 

[TheNiteHwk]

Thanks Sasha. I have edit my post. Funny thing when I was on the phone to them I kept saying XE instead of XP. Maybe that's why they think they can pull one over on me. lol.

Maverick: I am begining to find that out maybe. That's why I don't shop at Future Shop no more. They seem to have good prices but service sucks. We did do a lot of research though before buying and MDG seemed to have the best deal at the time.

 

[Paul Waters]

Fact is, there is so little margin in computer stuff, no vendor can afford to solve software issues, especially Windows stuff.

And if you installed new software and changed your system, and problems result, why should they fix it for free? (There is a lot to be said to always buying the retail version of winnie doze so that you have the cd to re-install.)

A failed disk drive is something else, of course.

As for Frontpage, the package contains "server extensions." They only run on a server, and this is XP Pro. If you want your web page to use the server extensions, you will need a server to test them. This can be your host, and if they don't support them, you can't use them anyways. Unless you are really into this, you don't need winnie XP pro.

 

[zoickss]

Re Front page - the extensions note mentioned is only is if you are hosting the site from your own SYStem - I have run frontpage one Win 98, me 2000, and xp for designing pages - hosted elsewhere - never had a problem

 

[TheNiteHwk]

And if you installed new software and changed your system, and problems result, why should they fix it for free? (There is a lot to be said to always buying the retail version of winnie doze so that you have the cd to re-install.

Ah yes they did mention this and did make sense to me. I did install a couple programs I got at a computer show last September. One of them was an old 1996 version of Sports Illustrated Calendar Maker. The calendar maker part of the program is NFG. The screen saver works fantastic though. Maybe I should junk it. Only cost me $5. anyways.

I do have the CD for WindowsXP… just can’t find it. (NiteHwk turns red from embarrassment)(How could I loose something so important?) Maybe if I do some fall cleaning or home winterizing I will find it. LOL.

A couple of people though have mentioned to me that XP was a lot of probs. Wonder how others have fared.

As far as Front Page… I was told it was a good program (very user friendly) for designing web sites. Maybe though I could forget that and get Adobe. (I might be able to get Adobe for free) I will not be hosting my own web sites. However I want to (eventually) design a couple of sites. Both for business and personal uses

 

[Irish06j]

A couple of people though have mentioned to me that XP was a lot of probs. Wonder how others have fared.

As far as Front Page… I was told it was a good program (very user friendly) for designing web sites. Maybe though I could forget that and get Adobe. (I might be able to get Adobe for free) I will not be hosting my own web sites. However I want to (eventually) design a couple of sites. Both for business and personal uses

First of all stay away from MDG - we had nothing but problems with them when we bought systems for our office. Thier reputation is not the best. There are many more vendors out there that offer good prices and systems - go to the computer shows and check them out.

I have been using Windows XP since the beta stage and it is the most stable operating system that I have ever had. Everything loads good and have not had any issues. Just like Windows 2000 you have to be aware of compatiblity issues - both hardware and software. If it's old then it may cause a problem - XP can be fussy that way. The best policy is to run the compatibility report when you first load XP and it will tell you which of your hardware or software may cause potential problems.

As for Frontpage, it depends which version you have - if it's Frontpage XP (2002) it will run best on Windows XP but it will run on Windows 2000 as well. I am running Office XP (2002) on Windows 2000 at work (it includes Frontpage).

Hope this helps.

 

[wumpscut]

tbill it should work fine, ? for TheNiteHwk?

Tbill, your specs are very similar to the system I had when I first got sympatico high speed a couple of years ago and never had a problem

TheNiteHwk, before you lose your videos, can you get a cd burner and back them up?

 

[wumpscut]

another ? for TheNiteHwk

does windows xp have some roll back function where you can go back to an older configaration before problems started?

 

[DonAngelo]

A couple of people though have mentioned to me that XP was a lot of probs. Wonder how others have fared.

...for me XP Home and XP Professional have worked better than any other Windows OS before. I never ran Windows 2000 I have to admit.

This summer I had for the first time a hard drive crash on me with lot's of important files on it. I learned from that lesson and bought
myself an external LaCie 120 GB firewire HD. It's so easy and fast to make back up's now.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

XP does have a system restore feature, but I've never been much of an XP user anyway so I can't comment on how effective it is.

I would reccomend not bothering with Frontpage for web design if you can get your hands on Adobe GoLive or Macromedia Dreamweaver. The two are much superior in terms of the working environment, ease of use, robustness, and quality of the code they generate (if you don't choose to custom-code everything yourself)

 

[Goober Mcfly]

Microsoft contains a nifty program that will fix all your problems.

It's called fdisk.*















*No, not really. Please don't run this if you don't know what it does, it could seriously fuck up your system...

 

[TheNiteHwk]

Thanks all for your replies. Not sure what I am going to do yet... but your info is helpful. Think I'll leave it till after the holiday season as am very busy right now etc. Then look for my website(s) soon after the New Year. Thanks Again.

 

[QB7]

MDG

Nitehwk

A friend of mine bought from MDG a year ago and seemed quite pleased with what he got - no problems yet.

Based on his recommendation, I bought a new system there last July. To date (fingers crossed here) no problems.

My impression of them is that they are sales-oriented and not service-oriented, so I hope I don't have to go back.

Cheers
QB7

 

[wumpscut]

Tbill, you will get one unpleasant surprise...

... if you download that much porn. After your 5 Gb of download you pay extra, if you do 2 full size movies/day (where ever you can get them?) you are gonna get one nasty surprise come month end when it's time to pay up. Expect to need a second job to pay your internet bill!

 

[duncecap]

100 meg movie on average is about 30 minutes of viewing (differs depending on quality). 60 minutes a day is 200 megs a day. 200 * 30 = 6000 megs a month on average which is 5.85 gigs. Add on anything other than porn you get from the Internet and you'll be doing over 6 gigs a month. Not a good deal. Roger's probably still has no download limit, you should ask. There are many other high speed ISP's that don't have limits. Look around the net and see what options you have.

XP Pro and Win 2k are both better OS's than XP home, they are much more stable.

Frontpage is a very basic and not well thought out (kudos MS). Try Macromedia Dreamweaver you'll be amazed how much easier it is to build better sites.

Cheers,

DC

 

[goose]

full length movies

tbill,

I doubt you will manage to find any pay web sites that offer downloadable movies. Too risky what with licensing, copyrights, and all.

Your best bet is to use a peer-to-peer application like Kaazaa. TONS of videos, its just hit-or-miss at times depending on the connection speed of the person you are downloading from.

Your other option are the newsgroups. Get a subscription to a GOOD news provider like http://www.usenet.com (I use these guys, multple servers, content oriented servers, etc). Then get a good newgroup reader. I use Newsbin 4.0 which will take multi-part messages and splice them together.

Just my 2 cents worth. PM me if you want a bit more detail

Regs

Goose

 

[Sasha Jones]

idi... 'er I mean tbill

it is called bandwidth

and yes, EVERYTHING you use the internet for uses bandwidth.
ICQ, MSN, checking email even though nothing is there, visiting ANY website, windows update notification, etc, etc, etc.

Why don't you go to the sympatico site and look at the TOS (terms of service) agreement and see what they say instead of asking people who don't run or work for sympatico about it.

 

[Snook.fr]

you can find a lot of Full lenght movies on MIRC.
Download the Program ( Free and about 3mb ) connect yourself and you will have access to a lot of servers.
I downloaded Warcraft III 2 weeks before its release in stores ( and it took me 4 days to download it.....lots of people were queuing for it ).

Frenchy