TIFU I messed up by trying to “repair” my girlfriend’s laptop.

What kind of clown does something like this with no backup?

Apparently, that kind of clown.

My first action on working on anyone’s machine for anything that has remotely any chance of changing anything at all is to create a backup. Even if they tell me it’s not needed. Even if they tell me not to bother. Even if they claim they just created a backup.

That has saved my ass so many times.