I'd be interested in seeing one of these "standards" sheets.  Unlike some of
the other posts on this topic, I usually consider the "scorched earth"
approach early on in the diagnosis process.  If my user is complaining of
three different problems, I place "scorched earth" at the top of the list.
I consider it this way... I could spend (countless) hours chasing down
squiggly problems that may be unfixable due to the mix of software installed
on the machine.  I figure that any machine that's been in use for about a
year or more without routine preventative maintenance (ScanDisk, Disk
Cleanup, Defrag, etc.) is so full of clutter and unused programs that the
best investment of my time and their money is to do the Fdisk, Format,
Install routine.  It usually takes 4-5 hours to do the job right.  I
rationalize this by realizing that not only is this going to solve their
problems, but it will probably improve performance and get rid of a bunch of
junkware that they may have installed over the years.  An added bonus is
that installing Windows is also an excellent way to ferret out little
hardware problems that may be causing the bigger problem.  They also usually
end up with updated drivers for all their hardware!  Just my $.02 and I'd
like to hear from others.

brian.

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