I recently helped someone with two PCs to reorganise her home working environment. She was sharing a printer between an old Windows 95 desktop and a new Windows Vista laptop. When she needed to print, she would carry the laptop upstairs to where the printer and desktop PC were based and switch the USB cable over from the old computer to the new one.
I had a much better idea. I suggested that we configured the two PCs as a small workgroup, meaning that she could leave the desktop turned on, acting as a print server, and would be able to print at her leisure whilst working downstairs in the lounge. She loved the idea, so I went ahead. It worked perfectly… until about five minutes after I walked out the door.
Returning to her house, the problem was immediately apparent: the Windows 95 desktop machine was demonstrating the infamous “blue screen of death”. I reversed my work and apologised for getting her hopes up. While it should work in theory, in practice the Windows 95 installation on her ageing computer had become too unstable over time for her to rely on this solution.
I was reminded of a fairly basic principle that day: sometimes you have to say no, enough is enough. With the best of intentions, I had tried to help her to get more value out of her existing IT systems, but I let my enthusiasm and helpful nature get the better of me. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 95 at the end of 2001 and in future I’ll be following its example.
When enough is enough
I recently helped someone with two PCs to reorganise her home working environment. She was sharing a printer between an old Windows 95 desktop and a new Windows Vista laptop. When she needed to print, she would carry the laptop upstairs to where the printer and desktop PC were based and switch the USB cable over from the old computer to the new one.
I had a much better idea. I suggested that we configured the two PCs as a small workgroup, meaning that she could leave the desktop turned on, acting as a print server, and would be able to print at her leisure whilst working downstairs in the lounge. She loved the idea, so I went ahead. It worked perfectly… until about five minutes after I walked out the door.
Returning to her house, the problem was immediately apparent: the Windows 95 desktop machine was demonstrating the infamous “blue screen of death”. I reversed my work and apologised for getting her hopes up. While it should work in theory, in practice the Windows 95 installation on her ageing computer had become too unstable over time for her to rely on this solution.
I was reminded of a fairly basic principle that day: sometimes you have to say no, enough is enough. With the best of intentions, I had tried to help her to get more value out of her existing IT systems, but I let my enthusiasm and helpful nature get the better of me. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 95 at the end of 2001 and in future I’ll be following its example.