'Sucks' would be putting it very mildly.

Personally I would've murdered the bitch with my bare hands. Smash 'er skull in with the PC casing.

Not everything is lost... Get an app like EasyRecovery and you might get most of your lost data back.

i dont know if anyone said this but try going back to yesterday's date on your computer.
it might work.

Quick! Ctrl-Z ..................... lol. But no, seriously, everything dear to you is gone.

@53, your username is so right.

Sucks when you are just plain "illerterate".
Learn English please.

Yeah; it can be recovered. It's not like she ripped out the HDD and swiped the discs with a neodymium magnet.

OP left his computer with the Windows installation inside, his mother booted from the disk and followed the installation procedure, formating the HD.

Your mom may suck when it comes to computers, but my mom's the one who fixes all of our computer stuff in my house. But then again, you're at that age where moms are so dumb when it comes to anything.

Response Fail - [http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139250/Snow_Leopard_bug_deletes_all_user_data]

At least OP could use Recuva and get most of the data back... [http://filehippo.com/download_recuva/]

lifeinhd. . . WIN.

If I want to let some computer-illiterate moron on my Mac, I create a new account for them in two seconds (Leave the "Let this user administer the computer" checkbox unchecked!) and let them have at it. They can't do anything bad to the computer, only their own personal stuff.

What about the time, effort and expense it takes you to get your Windoze box back to where it was? There goes your savings for buying a "cheap" computer!

Dude, stop being so high and mighty. I have a Mac for graphic design but I'm typing this from my hp laptop and I love it. Sorry for telling the truth, but having an Apple computer doesn't make you better than the rest of the population.

douchebag FAIL.

"If I want to let some computer-illiterate moron on my Mac, I create a new account for them in two seconds (Leave the "Let this user administer the computer" checkbox unchecked!) and let them have at it. They can't do anything bad to the computer, only their own personal stuff."

so then...who gets to use the administrator account, since computer illiterate morons (like yourself) use the limited sub accounts. hmmm. does your mum have the admin password? did you lose it? im not quite sure i understand how your system works. note to dumbass: user accounts arent a mac thing. its very simple to do the exact same thing on windows. youd know that if you bothered to actually use a pc before bagging its functionality.

"What about the time, effort and expense it takes you to get your Windoze box back to where it was? There goes your savings for buying a "cheap" computer!"

...not quite. restoring files takes a few hours on backing up an entire machine, you can download free programs, and it wont cost a cent. but again, since youre so computer literate i assume you simply forgot this piece of info, being so technologically wise and all...

Perdix... PWND!

I don't understand where you got the idea that Perdix doesn't use the adminstator account.
And calling him names doesn't verify your point, either, organisedchaos.

organizedchaos,

You are a fool. Typical PC ass. The Mac makes things so much plainer and obvious that people use them, that while Windows may have them, they are too much of a PITA to fuck with that most people don't. The OP is one of those. I have an admin account AND a user account + a user account for each person in my house that uses that computer. I normally work in my user account and only go to the admin to do admin tasks. So, who's computer-illterate now?

I love it how you say it ONLY takes a few hours to restore files and download software. How much is your time worth? If you are a worthless dollar-an-hour flunky, I can see PC's being a good value for you. I am an evolved human and my time is worth a lot more, so the time you spent fixing your broken PC would be real $$$ for someone like me.

#31, don't act so elitist. This problem was not caused by using Windows, it was caused by the OP letting someone computer illiterate (probably much like yourself) use their computer. Macs seem to be designed for those unable to understand how computers work and unwilling to learn, thus, user control is limited. I have never been able to do anything I wanted to do on a Mac, yet I have mastered the use of WinXP.

#56, you're more of an ass than you claim organizedchaos is. You really think you're computer literate? Mr. Separate-accounts-for-everything? Perhaps you'd like to try organizing a few gigabytes of data, or writing a program? Good luck with that. I dare you to even figure out what it means to compile a kernel. Some hard worker you claim to be, time-is-money and all that. Yet you use a Mac, hoping to get things done. Good frickin luck.

Hey, one thing you Mac users could do for me; figure out how to reconfigure iPhoto so it doesn't download all the images off my flash drive EVERY DAMN TIME I plug it in to my friend's Macbook! He doesn't have the 2 minutes it would take to figure that out himself.

OP, FYL. I expect you'll be more careful who you let on your computer from now on? Personally, I rarely trust anyone with my vital hardware. I think you should only let computer literate people on your computer, or at least people who know that they shouldn't touch buttons if they don't know what will happen.

Separate accounts for other people is a good idea, despite what you claim. I wouldn't want someone else fucking up everything in the account I've built for myself.

Seperate accounts exist in both Mac and Windows. Plus, seperate accounts are a good idea if you want to prevent viruses from taking over your computer. If you don't use administrator accounts on unsafe websites, then usually, you're computer is pretty safe from most viruses. There are some that can worm their way into getting administrator rights through a user-only account but there aren't too many of those out there.
By the way, I use Windows and based on my experience, it looks much better and works much better. Apple makes really ugly electronics. Functions okay but not great. Many companies have figured out have to do the same things but using better, more lasting methods. I don't hate Macs too much, but I used them enough to develop a strong dislike towards them. And I try to be neutral about these kind of generalizations.

@56 "Typical PC ass."
you mean, the type who doesnt claim their computer is superior unlike yourself the "typical mac ass"?

"The Mac makes things so much plainer and obvious that people use them, that while Windows may have them, they are too much of a PITA to fuck with that most people don't."
...control panel...user accounts...add. wow. i reckon ud need a degree to work that shit out hey. im just so fucking amazing that i consider it really basic and simple, especially for those of us who claim to be the almight computer literate geniuses like you with your awesome mac.

"I have an admin account AND a user account + a user account for each person in my house that uses that computer. I normally work in my user account and only go to the admin to do admin tasks. So, who's computer-illterate now?"
...uh...you. youve openly claimed adding new users is extremely simple, and something any idiot could do with a mac (though apparently its difficult with a pc according to you), so congrats on being capable of...extremely basic plain and simple functionality. soon youll learn how to use clip art in a word processing program and then shit will get crazy funtime.

"I love it how you say it ONLY takes a few hours to restore files and download software. How much is your time worth? If you are a worthless dollar-an-hour flunky, I can see PC's being a good value for you. I am an evolved human and my time is worth a lot more, so the time you spent fixing your broken PC would be real $$$ for someone like me."
im sure. except its completely self automated...you select the files you want restored...and wait for it to do so. in this time you can leave it running while you go to work. again, you must have just been sarcastic because as the computer genius you are youd know that. im clearly not at your level so i dont get the humour, maybe one day ill learn to make user accounts too.

@54
"I don't understand where you got the idea that Perdix doesn't use the adminstator account."
it was a sarcastic point...

"And calling him names doesn't verify your point, either, organisedchaos."
no my point verifies my point, the name calling is an added bonus.

OK you're all idiots, it's just a matter of personal preferences, they both have their up and down sides. Personally I'm a mac person but I'm not gonna nock anyone who uses a PC. As for wiping the HD you can do that w/o the Windows disc, it's just not an easy task to accomplish.

"OK you're all idiots, it's just a matter of personal preferences, they both have their up and down sides."

yeah unfrotunately for you there was only one person arguing any one system was better...so if by "youre all" you meant one person then what you said makes sense...otherwise you just said everyone is wrong and agreed with the majority.

Thank you, I always try to look at the brightside.

Nah, I don't, but I did this time. :P

lol..u shud! its rili fun...tho it tends 2 get u in2 trouble alot!:p

MSCA is to system administration as McDonalds Certified Chef is to fine cuisine.

i did leave the cd in, i'm a fucking dumbass

my computer booted when i deleted the system file (i was clearing it out to install ubuntu) but it couldn't load the kernel

The downside to this is if windows fails, which it does on a regular occasion, you are totally screwed!