How long would you work on a computer FOR FREE before wiping the drive?

Question

I work in IT, and recently, it has been asked how long one would work on a friend's/family/client's computer for free before giving up and wiping the system?
Hours?
Days?
Weeks?

Answer 1

It would depend on whose it was... probably 10 hrs or so.

Answer 2

It depends on:
1. The possible problem (Am I on the verge of breakthrough?)
2. How soon do they need their computer back
3. What else I have to do in my life (Hey, this is free, my job pays)
4. How long has it been sence they last whiped the system out?

I think #4 takes presidence, I usually like to whipe my drive every 6 months or so and most people never do it, years can pass before they are forced to.

I however have 2 seperate drives setup, a drive for files (Movies, music, work files, etc) and a drive for applications (The OS, MS Office, browser, etc). That way I can whipe out the application drive and fix any issues without needing to add my files again. I save all application programs in a "Application" folder on the file drive to make installing all my apps easy.

So basically, if the computer is over 6 months old and has never been reset I would try to go straight to backup and reformatting after about 30 minutes of tinkering. If the client/friend does not want to do that I would give it about 3-5 hours spread out over 2-3 days (I like to take a long pause between big problems, stuff just hits you) and if I can't fix it and they don't want to reset it I will return to vegatating during my free time.

Answer 3

for a friend, about 5 hours, for my clients, as many as they want as long as thery want to pay 45 an hour, worked on one last night for 2 hours, called them and said it had to be formatted or they could come get it, it was formatted

Answer 4

Depends on what's wrong with it and if it can be solved before wiping the system.

Answer 5

i would go through it and save all the important stuff and reinstall the os...