[mcbee]

What do you think that most computer users do most often that maybe they shouldn't? There are many answers, both serious and not so serious, but I think it is Format. I think format should probably be a last resort but a lot of people see it as a cure maybe too soon in the problem solving process.

[Krlll]

Ignoring the obvious answers i would say installing/trying registry cleaners,toolbars and that type of junk.
I love formatting/fresh installing.With an external HD and the right software I can go from customised desktop with all the software I like to formatted to new installation in about 2 hours and my PC is runnig like new again.
I will spend maybe a day trying to fix some niggling fault but for me there is no point other than finding a solution for the sake of it when there is a quicker easier way.

[Carbon]

Formatting here too. I've removed some really nasty spyware, both when I didn't know about proper use of firewalls and from others' computers. Formatting should be an extreme last resort, not something to be done every year.

Also, on that same topic: people who run software firewalls and AV programs along with built-in router firewalls. It's important to have one line of defense up, and a software firewall may help (though usually not) but AV is completely unnecessary if you're not an idiot about downloading malicious exes. I've seen computers with Norton that seem to be slower than spyware could make them!

[cheesewheels99]

i think they use limewire or utorrent or something they shouldnt do that

[link590o]

smack their computer. and that doesn't mean just the case. that means the keyboard, mouse, monitor...the whole shebang. and then they don't know why their computers stop working, or certain functions quit on them. or their power button falls off. people that manage that don't know how to be gentle/take care of their computer.

people coat the WHOLE CPU with thermal paste instead of just across the core(s) like it tells you to. then they end up wasting paste, and making the heatsink/fan less effective.

people coat the socket with thermal paste, and ruin both the board and the chip. i've seen pictures. ^^;;;

they touch sensitive computer parts with their greasy oily unwashed hands. that ruins parts real fast. or they allow their pets near the computer parts. i know someone that had their dog lick a memory module and then it fried the memory module. for those of you wondering, the computer was off, don't worry, the dog is as happy and dog-like as ever. and alive. not so much to be said about the memory.

people don't clean their computer out/off enough. they don't seem to understand that dust, hair, dead bugs, and other things that accumulate under the keyboard and inside the computer have a dramatic effect on performance/cooling. then something happens like their cpu over heats and they don't know why, or a sensitive part breaks from the stress of too much crap everywhere.

people eat and drink near their computer. they don't seem to care that one wrong move could send that orange soda plummeting toward the delicate innards of their pride and joy, ruining it forever and ever.

people download tons and tons of unnecessary crap, and never clean it out. and then they want to install a game and find out that they don't have the space they need. whoops?

some people blame problems on things or people they shouldn't place blame on. for example, the tech support people that actually try and do a good job...they get screamed at by lots of people that are ticked off and high and mighty and can't ever make mistakes. (note the extreme sarcasm on that last bit). people that do something stupid or have a part fail, and then call tech support to yell at them need to be shot. if you call and need help, then don't go and bite the tech support people's heads off. it's not their fault. it's either manufacturer related, or user error. wanna yell at someone? yell at the manufacturer, or yourself. y' see where i'm coming from on that?

that's as much as i can come up with off the bat. but i suppose those are the main bits anyway. i'd have to think harder to come up with s'more.

[Dave Hybrid]

Originally Posted by Carbon but AV is completely unnecessary if you're not an idiot about downloading malicious exes. I've seen computers with Norton that seem to be slower than spyware could make them!

LOL.

That's because Norton is very bloated and a rubbish AV, lighter ones, normally free are fine.

AVs are essential, without them how will you ever know you have picked something up, no matter how careful you are.

[MJM]

I love formatiing. I find it fun. I do it all the time.
Even if I have a problem I am likely to fix it first and then format anyways. I do at least once a year.

However what normal people often do wrong is trying stuff they don't know about. Hey, I need more RAM. Pick up what the store sells as "the best" and before you know it they can't use DDR2.
Hell I have a friend who asked why Mass Effect wouldn't work with his PS3. His logic was that Mass Effect was on a DVD and PS3 plays DVDs... yeah, don't ask.

They don't use the search function. Be it Gogole or a Forum, people tend to avoid it. Look at how many guides there are for putting a PC together, yet they go ahead and "just try".

[cheesewheels99]

lo me 2!!