Selling an old PC and testing Windows XP
Originally published at Dom's Blog. You can comment here or there.
I recently delivered a second-hand PC having sold it on gumtree and it appeared to be working fine when I left, but then I got a call a couple hours later to say that there was a problem with Windows Media Player not starting. Subsequent calls from the buyer reveal that the system seems to have some underlying issue which is making it impossible to use, and I feel obliged to return and either fix these problems on-site or take the PC away for a reinstallation of the operating system.
This could have been avoided had I anticipated what the user might be wanting to use on the PC and tested it all, applications they appear to be using include:
- Windows Media Player (for playing CDs)
- MSN
- Internet Explorer
I had tested that Internet Explorer (and Chrome) worked fine, and was not aware there was a problem with anything else when I delivered the PC, I had installed AVG antivirus (although perhaps I should use MSE when I reinstall) and all seemed to be well from a quick check of the system, but clearly I should have looked more deeply, considering the problems they have been having, as I cannot put them all down to user error. It is possible the cause it a corrupt file downloaded during initial installation, or a virus which found its way onto the system prior to the installation of AVG, but without further investigation it is difficult to tell. I guess I trusted too much in Windows actually working on a clean installation, a mistake I won’t be making again.
No doubt I won’t be able to fix all this in a brief visit on Monday evening, I hope they will allow me to take the machine back and reinstall it, in which case I will be sure to test all the applications above and others as well, to ensure they don’t keep calling me back.