SON!! I broke the computer!!

[chris89300]

Don't apologize for stuff you didn't do man

 

[Carlston]

So glad I grew up with pc's, dos and all...

So now i'm old I don't have that fake "I got left behind." mentality.

 

[Enigma6667]

...claiming firefox was too hard to use and IE was faster and easier.

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[Sneaky Paladin]

I usually have to deal with the

" Son the computer stopped working I need help. "

" Is it plugged in "

" I don't know. I need you to check "

/sigh

 

[Calatar]

Oh, and for the Norton related questions: It's a piece of crap, uses more resources than malware, if you need an antivirus, get one of the many free solutions out there, they're usually a lot more efficient, even if not perfect, since perfection doesn't exist, and even if it did, we all have different definitions of it.

This used to be true, but I actually did some research into the best antivirus out there about 2 months ago. Symantec now has one of the leanest antivirus programs out there right now, to my surprise. And to my further surprise, Microsoft's free antivirus is also really good. Good as in beating many other paid antivirus programs in detection while being lighter in resource-usage.

This site has extensive and thorough testing of many AVs.
I narrowed down the best ones to: Avira, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, Kaspersky, Microsoft and Symantec.

 

[chris89300]

Oh, and for the Norton related questions: It's a piece of crap, uses more resources than malware, if you need an antivirus, get one of the many free solutions out there, they're usually a lot more efficient, even if not perfect, since perfection doesn't exist, and even if it did, we all have different definitions of it.

This used to be true, but I actually did some research into the best antivirus out there about 2 months ago. Symantec now has one of the leanest antivirus programs out there right now, to my surprise. And to my further surprise, Microsoft's free antivirus is also really good. Good as in beating many other paid antivirus programs in detection while being lighter in resource-usage.

This site has extensive and thorough testing of many AVs.
I narrowed down the best ones to: Avira, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, Kaspersky, Microsoft and Symantec.

Yeah, I'm using Avira, but it sometimes ... forgets to update on its own, wtf

 

[Cornish]

My father is probably better with nearly all tech than me... but he still uses IE. I cringe... every time I see it.

 

[T-Bone24]

I managed to do a complete system restore, install a new version of Firefox (sans all previous extensions) and install Google Chrome on my family computer all without anyone in my family noticing. I'd say they're not the most observant people, computer-wise, in the world. Neither am I, though.

But, anything goes wrong in or around the computer is always my fault. Why? "Because you spend the most time there."

That's like saying:
"All of America's problems are the Natives' fault."
"Why?"
"Because they spent the most time there."

 

[open trap]

Son help your sister turn the DVD Player on no one can figure out how to make it work, Finbe dad, *looks at DVD player* i found the problem, what is it, you never turned it on

 

[itsnotyouitsme]

Ok, my parents know how to use the internet like my dog knows how to use my phone. However most retarded, for me that is, story actually is from my brother. He's 24 now and married so ill count him. He was helping my parents with their computer since it was running slow and would freeze and reset every now and then. After running some diagnostics(ironically he is the computer guy in our family which makes this even worse) he decided to wipe the computer and reinstall windows. After formatting and reinstalling, he went to ohio and i was told to fix it up again. I installed the programs and everything was fine for about a day. So i take a look at it. It takes me all of 5 minutes to figure out the problem and fix it by taking out the quilt made from dust out of the cpu fan. The simplest answer is usually the best.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

A couple of weeks ago, my aunt called me for a computer-related problem, since I'm one of the most computer-savvy and accessible people in my family. She calls me about her computer constantly restarting throughout the day. I drive over to her place because talking her through a computer-related problem only made us both angry. She's wondering why the computer is constantly restarting, and she's thinking a virus is doing all of this. I use her virus scanner (which my aunt had no idea existed) and nothing came up, so that was checked off. Then she tells me her internet is slow. I click on IE and I see an array of toolbars and useless shit, so I told her I was gonna get rid of all but Google toolbar and a couple other things. Then I defragment her computer and replace IE with Firefox (with no objections aside from a few questions regarding it).

After all that, the computer still restarted three consecutive times before it could reach the desktop. I turn it off and went to examine the hardware itself, and boy was it dusty. It took some effort, but I negotiated through the jungle of vines and opened the case, and nearly everything had this... this thick, dusty sludge on and in it, the fans and graphics card suffering the most. I told my aunt and anyone nearby watching me that this dust and sludge is what was causing the overheating and computer restarting. Cue an hour of me cleaning the parts until they shone. Everything gets put in its place and the computer works properly.

I should have gotten paid for that.

 

[Iznat]

My mother insisted I install Windows 7 for her, which I did. I kept copies of all her notes (she's doing some kind of college course) in a HDD, and they were in Windows.old, but when I installed Open office as opposed to Word, she refused to use it, and threatened to take my new laptop instead, because with Notepad, it came out in gibberish.
It also took her a solid three weeks of instruction to learn to save things as .doc instead of .odt

My dad is too proud to admit defeat, and too impatient to really let me fix anything. He has a nasty habit of refusing to update anti virus software or not running spyware scans. He has a lot of experience with Windows.... 98, so he thinks he's the bee's knees with PCs.
He's not too bad though, I have him using Torrents instead of Limewire (people STILL use it? O_O)

My sister (ANOTHER one) is a tard. MSN add ons, toolbars, widgets, you name it, she's downloaded it.
It.
Is.
Infuriating.

EDIT: I've only just remembered our old family computer - it took 45 minutes to boot up.
Everything auto booted, the fans roared, there were three or four different anti viral software running at any one time, but no spyware software, 512 MB of RAM, 100GB hard drive, Windows XP, installed in French, with a French Command Prompt, and a hugely outdated BIOS.
And whenever I cleared it out, I got into shit for it, 'cause I had to have been "deleting all our memories."
The HD is at a friend's house, waiting to be sifted through.
Can't wait O_<

 

[Eri]

Another one for the pile, my sister continually installs the other crap that comes with iTunes every time it has an update. She always has no idea why its there despite me telling her and showing her. She just goes "derp".

 

[Imsety]

Nothing immediately springs to mind, really. My father's a programmer, my mother's not too bad apart from having no idea how it all works, my sisters are both fairly sane. I'm usually called on when someone needs a new system, or some hardware upgrades, but apart from that everyone I know of is pretty knowledgeable about how to keep things working.

Only thing I can think of is a friend of mine. He's fairly okay with computers, but for some reason has the weirdest ritual for going to a website: He goes to Google, types the URL into the search box, and clicks on the first result...

 

[Eri]

He's fairly okay with computers, but for some reason has the weirdest ritual for going to a website: He goes to Google, types the URL into the search box, and clicks on the first result...

Weird..I know a couple of people who do that, Even if I point it out, they're just like "leave me alone!". Whatever floats your slow ass boat.

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

He's fairly okay with computers, but for some reason has the weirdest ritual for going to a website: He goes to Google, types the URL into the search box, and clicks on the first result...

Weird..I know a couple of people who do that, Even if I point it out, they're just like "leave me alone!". Whatever floats your slow ass boat.

I have a friend who does this too. It infuriates me watching him repeat this over and over...

 

[Blackdoom]

I remember my dad constantly saying that installing games makes the computer ran slower and blaming me for every single problem with the computer.
After I bought my own computer and removed everything I had on his computer and formatted it for him he still blames my games for his computer running slow and constantly claiming that OpenSUSE is a virus that is infecting his computer through our network.
One day I decided to see what he had been downloading to get the viruses and never again shall I do that.

 

[Eri]

I remember my dad constantly saying that installing games makes the computer ran slower and blaming me for every single problem with the computer.
After I bought my own computer and removed everything I had on his computer and formatted it for him he still blames my games for his computer running slow and constantly claiming that OpenSUSE is a virus that is infecting his computer through our network.
One day I decided to see what he had been downloading to get the viruses and never again shall I do that.

Technically, the more full your drive is the slower it'll run but I'm sure he didn't mean that and was talking out of his ass. Games or no, all the same when stored in memory.

 

[similar.squirrel]

When my mom is borrowing the computer to check some website, she types with only her index fingers. And it goes slooow. Always makes me cringe.

I see your mum index typing and raise you a dad as well. And they both like to have me check their typing for emails etc...sometimes one after and another. 2 emails can take away 30mins of my day

My mother works with a computer and still does that. Seeing it makes my bones itch. Also, her formerly white Mac is now a fetching shade of yellow-grey because she smokes like a chimney. Ugh.

Oh, and my dad hits his laptop whenever it's deemed to be running too slowly. Percussive maintenance. Really pisses me off.

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Im always fixing the Tech stuff, AND blamed for the tech stuff when something happens, mostly by my sister. I tell her "No downloading, we have barely any bandwidth left" so she downloads and then in 10 minutes goes "WHY THE FUCK IS THE INTERNET SLOW? WHAT DID YOU DO?"

[facedesk]