Question: Because my six-year-old desktop computer began to freeze on me all the time I replaced it with a laptop which I got on a special offer at my place of work. Eventually I was hoping to copy all the files I still wanted off my old computer and put them on my laptop which uses Windows 2000 Pro but when I got around to it I couldn't even get my old machine to stay working long enough to do that.

I hired a computer technician to come to my house and help. He came and told me the operating system, which was Windows 98, was corrupted and that the hard drive might be failing. He also said that my anti-virus software had expired last year and now there were two viruses on the computer. I told the technician that I wanted to continue using the desktop computer as long as it lasted because it was easier to sit at and type my letters on and also because I had to get a lot of the Excel files, Word documents and jpeg photographs off the old machine since I didn't have copies of them anywhere else.

He advised re-writing my Operating System. He attempted to do so but after about 30 minutes the replacement/repair process failed apparently because my original OEM Win 98 CD was scratched.

He then upgraded the PC to Win 98SE. After that everything seemed to be fine so he left. The next day, after working on the old computer for about 40 minutes, I tried to look up my jpeg photographs. A message came up saying my Adobe Photo Deluxe is broken.

Do I have a legitimate complaint against the technician? I paid him and I still can't get to my photos using Adobe which is what I always use for that purpose.

Also I've just realised that my new laptop doesn't have a floppy drive and neither computer has a cd burner so how am I supposed to copy the files across from one machine to the other?

Answer: This type of situation happens all the time in computer repairs. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've explained what might be required in parts and time to fix an old PC and been greeted with the response that the customer could buy a new computer for that amount of money!

Since the computer technician is selling you his valuable and expensive time it is up to you to make an informed decision about how far you want him to go.

Personalised service should mean that a conversation takes place between the technician and the customer in mutually understandable terms.

Any technician worth his salt will explain beforehand the limitations of the repairs he is being constrained by you, the customer, to confine himself to.

A sincere effort should be made by both sides to try (as much as this is possible) to explain the possibilities, options, cost and availability of parts as well as the amount of time (= money) they will cost. For example in almost all instances lost data can be recovered if the customer is willing to pay for it. This could extend to shipping the hard drive overseas to specialised data recovery companies, but this can cost thousands of dollars.

In your case it sounds like the technician acted reasonably. Windows 98SE is the logical replacement for your original equipment manufacturer (that's what OEM means) installed Win98 operating system and it sounds as if your old computer now boots to a stable desktop. It would take a lot of time(=money), his time your money, to check all the programs one by one.

The Adobe Photo Deluxe on your Desktop computer probably only needs to be re-installed over the original code to work again. Look for your original Adobe Photo Deluxe CD and re-install it yourself and it should be fine.

It is for situations such as this that I advise all my clients to keep their software together in a logical place, even a properly labelled one gallon zip lock bag will do.

As far as the transfer of data from your old computer to the new laptop is concerned you could connect the two of them together with the proper cable but this would mean setting up a temporary LAN (local area network) between the two machines.

I'm guessing that with them both using different operating systems and from the rest of your question you wouldn't be comfortable doing this.

Since your new laptop doesn't have a floppy drive and your old computer doesn't have a cd burner there is another possibility. I would get your technician to remove the hard drive from the old PC, temporarily install it as a slave drive on his shop machine and run a virus checker on the contents.

The technicians PC will certainly be able to burn (make) cd's. Get him to copy all your old Word, Excel and jpegs onto a CD or two, which are very inexpensive, and re-install the hard drive when he's finished.

That way, using the new cd's, you can easily load your valuable files onto your new laptop and you will e able to retain them as a permanent archival copy of your files.

James W. Lapsley is the founder of ComputerWorks, specialising in PC repairs, upgrades and advice for the home and small office user. ComputerWorks welcomes your questions and comments Send your PC questions by e-mail to computerworkslogic.bm or by phone to 293-0992.

Copyright 2003 James W. Lapsley