text:
People use something they don't understand...Or just don't want to know how to...
My usual approach is in the form of an analogy.
"You're driving down the road, and you stop at a traffic light. A man, dressed like a mechanic, approaches your car and says 'I think your car has a problem. Please pop the hood, and let me do a free analysis." Do you let him?"
"You get a package in the mail. You don't recognize the return address. You open it, and inside is a device with a note that says 'want a good laugh? press this button'. Do you press it?"
"A stranger walks up to you on the bus, and says 'My name is Rev. Kwame. I want a reliable person who could assist us
to transfer the sum of Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ( $20,500,000 ) into his / her account.This fund resulted by way
of gratification from a contract awarded by us under the budget allocation to my Ministry and this bill has been approved for payment by
the concerned Ministries.' Do you give them your bank account number?"
Reasonable and useful analogies. However
"You're driving down the road, and you stop at a traffic light. A man, dressed like a mechanic, approaches your car and says 'I think your car has a problem. Please pop the hood, and let me do a free analysis." Do you let him?"
In a GUI centric world, the average user doesn't understand the source or meaning of error messages, warnings, or confirmation dialogs. They're just another window that pops up on what they believe to be an "appliance". It isn't the window they're interested in, and not knowing what to do with it, they just want it to go away.
"You get a package in the mail. You don't recognize the return address. You open it, and inside is a device with a note that says 'want a good laugh? press this button'. Do you press it?"
A package in the mail has all it's shipping information clearly printed on the outside. With email, the information is in the headers, most all of which are routinely hidden (what is visible is often useless or suspect). The average user has no idea headers exist, and will reject any prodding that they learn how to read them, replying that they clutter up their screen (like viewing file extensions).
Moreover, they certainly don't want to know about MIME structures. Attachments? If it's like a package in the mail, how to know what it is if you don't open it?
"A stranger walks up to you on the bus, and says 'My name is Rev. Kwame. I want a reliable person who could assist us to transfer the sum of
An example that's more "real world" to the average user. Regrettably, in the real world, people (especially older folks) do fall prey to scams or otherwise obvious fraud.
"A stranger walks up to you on the bus, and says 'My name is Rev. Kwame. I want a reliable person who could assist us to transfer the sum of
An example that's more "real world" to the average user. Regrettably, in the real world, people (especially older folks) do fall prey to scams or otherwise obvious fraud.
No kidding. I still shudder when I remember what happened years ago to my aunt, who is over 70. I came to her house to visit and found a man in his 30s sitting in the living room drinking coffee. My aunt says "you remember so-and-so, I met him on the way to the grocery store and asked him in. Fancy that, he's now an antiques dealer and may be interested in buying some of my stuff." Well, this was NOT who she thought it was. It was a total stranger who realized she had mistaken him for somebody else and decided to take advantage of the situation. Now my aunt is a retired jeweler and "her stuff", some of which was exposed in the coffee table, consists of unique pieces and precious stones that she kept for sentimental reasons.
I didn't want to scare her by exposing the impostor, so I asked to have some coffee too. When she left I told the guy I knew what was going on and if he didn't want me to call the cops immediately he would show me his ID and, as soon as aunt was back, make an excuse and leave. Fortunately he was not a violent criminal, just a lowlife who saw an opportunity to scam an old lady. So he left and aunt never figured out what had happened.
When I read about old people giving thousands of $$ to Nigerian schemers, it reminds me of this story.
Read the subject line carefully - "Bank of Arnerica" - it isn't spelled "B a n k [space] o f [space] A m e r i c a" either in the subject or on this line.
My approach, actually, is that if they have time to be surfing for cutesy screensavers on www.i-pwn-u.ru and follow links to www.xploits-r-us.ro and to re-confirm their ebay password 10 times a day, that's the problem: they have time. Forget addressing the symptoms, go for the root problem.
Me? I gave my parents WoW. Sure, it's just about as hard as giving them Linux, so you have to hit them when they're down. It's for their own good. I got mom when she was too sick to do anything else, and she contaminated dad from there. If that fails, mention that she can talk to you on group chat. It's funny what moms are prepared to do for a son as a captive audience
Fair warning, it takes some time investment. Be prepared to answer questions like, I swear to FSM I'm not making it up, "HOW DO I SWIM UP?? WHAT CAMERA? I DON'T HAVE A CAMERA TO ROTATE!! NO, I LOOKED IN ALL THE BAGS AND I DON'T HAVE A CAMERA!!! WHERE DO I BUY A CAMERA?" or, again, true to FSM quote, "HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS CAVE?? NO, I DON'T SEE YOU! I CAN ONLY SEE THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND MAYBE 3 FT IN FRONT AND TO THE SIDES!!"
I can see you're dying to ask, "but couldn't I just teach them to use Linux, or heck at least Mozilla in the same time?" Not so fast, grasshopper. This time they'll actually be willing to learn. In the same month you can teach them to play WoW like a pro, or you can be running in circles around "how do I start IE? This paypal password site says I need IE and Javascript" and "why does this taxform.xls.exe attachment not start when I click it???" if you gave them Linux.
Fast forward about a year, and they don't even have time to sleep. No, really, they're only recently up to 5 hours sleep a night. Surf for cutesy IE toolbars and install crap? Good grief, they don't even have time to shop for groceries outside of wednesday mornings. I think they even lost some weight, what with the occasional wednesday when the servers are back on from 5 AM.
Ah, life is good.
'Course, this might cost them a few years off the life expectancy, but it's you or them, really. The hours to support their computers would have probably added up to the same number of years of your own life. Ask yourself this, really: do you want to spend that time supporting them or grinding your own epic gear? Thought so.
Yes he failed
(But note also his lack of social skills. Note his use of the terms "the users" and "security flaws". Taken alone, the latter (a reference to members of his family) could be simple jocular language; but together with the former, he plainly has problems relating to other humans. Indeed, he asked
"My question for Slashdot is: are there any resources out there that explain computer viruses, malware, adware, and general safe computer practices to non-technical people in an easy-to-digest format?"
Yes. First is engage them in conversation. Explain to them that it's an unnecessary burden to keep repairing their computers. Go on to say that on your leaving home, they might have to begin paying someone to do the same job, but they're not going to be as diligent. Then ask them, ever so nicely, how you can help them to understand how to maintain a clean, virus-free system.
Next, assess their needs. Is Linux or Mac an option? If not, is Windows locked-down hard an option? (Take away admin rights and you solve a whole swathe of security problems.) Before you say "no", check out the status of Wine-based projects for running games and so forth. Also assess whether a console might not serve their gaming "needs" better than a PC. In other words, separate work and play.
Anecdote: My brother shares a computer with his family, and keeps having to have it seen to. I recently exposed him to Google Documents and Gmail, and he thinks it's wonderful. Even though he runs a business, he doesn't have anything that requires dedicated, locally installed software, so he's happy with a machine that just has a browser. So long as there are no keyloggers installed on his family Windows machine or an Internet Cafe, he's safe. Best option now is for him to get a large-screen netbook and run Linux.
It's a real shame. When my Dad first got involved with computers in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, I could tell him "Just play with it -- you can't break a thing!" Later on, just in time for him to find it harder to learn, when introducing him to email, I had to repeatedly warn him about spam, phoney ads, and malware. Thankfully he was using a Mac, so phoney downloads weren't really an issue.
I can only imagine how hard it is to maintain a household of computers when you're running Windows everywhere. Sucks.
I live six states away from my nearest blood relative. Of course, that didn't stop my sister (who lives on the other frickin' coast of the continent) from calling me up, asking me to help her troubleshoot an issue with qmail on one of her webservers (she owns a small webservice company).
She was mildly miffed when her company got invoiced at the 'family rate' ($75/hr) - but at least haven't had any further requests for pro-level help since.
No I'm not trying to be smug. I simply refuse to maintain windows computers. Linux is not an option for most people. Ergo, a mac. Someday perhaps macs will be rife with trojans too. I'm not living in a dream where macs are perfect. But the very problem raised here is solved by a mac. So why fart around. Is your time worth nothing? if not these folks can cough up $599 for a mac mini. You don't have to use a mac, cause you are not the one with the problem. But they do.
I actually have to agree, although I'd argue part the issue is that the person asking the question doesn't have a massively high level of technical competence if it takes them so long to solve these sorts of problem which compounds the issue.
I had the same problem with my Dad, and although it didn't take long to fix each time, it was annoying because having spent all day fixing stupid IT problems back then at work, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was exactly the same thing.
The real solution is
Try MS SteadyState
You know? It's pretty damned sad that OS stability and security has to be offered as a separate frickin' package to the OS itself.
No. Try Ubuntu.
Well, that is true, as long as they just want things Ubuntu does out of the box. For virus resistance, Linux rocks. I've had a hell of a time getting other features figured out with linux though.
I spent nearly every night of a two week span trying to get audio working properly on my HTPC setup (well, the first few days was video) with Ubuntu 9.04, and finally gave up.
Installed Windows 7, and it worked right away, I kid you not.
I am DAMN good with computers, and that all just baffled me. I seriously lost HOU
"You're the shithead that broke it. You fix it, or you pay Best Buy to fix it, or you pay me to fix it. Those are your choices."
As you can tell, after ten years of this, I'm fed up with trying to support my idiot family.
I'm tired of giving-up my weekends doing what amounts to my fulltime job - for free.
Same here. Please mod parent up. Its the damn truth!
Unsure what all the hating of Apple hardware is on
Solid Unix based OS that your parents would never know about. Google developers use them.
It's actually not about being hip. It's about getting work done.
I had to sell my black turtleneck sweater to pay for my Mac. Oh the irony!
Even if you don't like, macs, get them a mac anyway. Regardless of how well windows or linux or whatnot works for you, you're not buying it for you so quit making the choice on what works for you and not for them. Recommend something that will be easy for them to use without frustrations, as unbreakable as possible, and require as little maintenance as possible. Never forget who will be using the computer, and that it either (1) needs to be maintenance free, (2) they need to be able to maintain it - real
My mom switched to Mac. Result: I only have to really do something semi-serious (i.e. more than 30 mins work) once every 2 years. My (mentally handicapped!) brother uses a Mac. Aside from an occasional correction of his mail settings via ARD Admin I'm hassle-free.
My brother and his g/f still use Windows. I just spent four f***ing days reinstalling Windows XP because Vista figured Autocad was either already installed, couldn't be installed, or shouldn't be installed. I told them it was the last time and I wo
Yes, we will hear that... BECAUSE IT'S TRUE. Not ONE serious widespread virus in the wild IN THE EIGHT+ YEAR HISTORY of the operating system. The only reason I have to qualify that statement AT ALL is because yes, there are a couple trojans. But NOTHING like Windows. There are NOT a million drive-by downloads, self-spreading worms, or a bunch of malware-infested crappy freeware apps like Windows has.
Is it because it's a better OS? Smaller market share? Lazy virus writers that's can't be bothered to learn to
... and if it has to be Windows for some strange reason. Give them Limited User accounts. You'll be the sole Admin (and you won't use it yourself... just User for day to day tasks) and because of that you'll have to approve or disapprove all software that has to be installed.
I have this modus operandi with my family and it works very well. Technically, you have to see a family as a small business operation where you are the IT guy.
no technical background aside from surfing the internet. Sounds like a perfect audience for an OS with fewer security flaws.
In the same situation, let me relate my story: Over at my parents' for the WE almost a year ago I had yet again to reinstall the whole shebang after a hardware improvement was 'refused' by XP. After a day and a half installing XP, downloading SPs and updates, downloading all apps, configuring them, etc, it crashed during the XP3 install. Wouldn't boot. I had 2 hours left.
As an experiment and a last minute move, I installed Kubuntu. 10 minutes for the install, 20 minutes to configure custom icons on the desktop links to firefox, kmail, dolphin, Xsane and a SD card image transfer script. I didn't even show them the result, just as an experiment. And I left. They called only once after 2 weeks: "Yeah it works fine, but we don't have skype anymore", which I promptly remotely installed. I consider this experiment a great success.
On the other hand, in order to escape Linux, my sister bought a Mac.
Seriously. I had similar issues and now have both my parents converted over to being happy Apple users. My support time has dropped to a truly negligible amount, and they're happier as well. It may sound facetious, but prevention works far better than education when those concerned have no interest in learning.
I completely agree. I did the exact same thing.
The most beautiful part? When I was convincing them to pick up a Mini to replace their dying PC, my dad's first question was (I kid you not): "But will it run Firefox and OpenOffice?"
I almost cried.
And if I do need to give them support? 99% of the time I can just have them fire up iChat and share their desktop with me. Quick and easy for them, and doesn't require messing with opening ports in any firewalls or NATs.
How much is your time worth, in any unit you care to name? If the answer is any amount greater than zero, then convincing friends and family to buy a Mac helps so, so much... I have several people I used to help all the time, and now I get a question maybe once a year. Not to mention that any frustration you are saving yourself, you are triply saving your friends and family who try to figure things out before they call you.
But I would add in addition to this advice, to buy a TimeCapsule for them as well. Yes it's a little more expensive than an access point and external disk combined. But refer back to my first point, the bit about time and so on? If they have a TimeCapsule set up they WILL USE IT, because it is on ALL THE TIME. If you try to make anyone connect an external drive they WILL NOT DO IT, and that means WHEN a drive failure occurs you will have to come help try and recover data. If the have a Time Capsule they can bring the system and TC into an Apple store and get the data back even if they can't figure out how themselves (which they probably will figure out).
I keep sticking a knife into my eye every three months. Can anyone provide detail instructions on how I can do this without causing so much pain?
Sometimes giving an answer to the asked question isn't appropriate. Sometimes you have to tell the asker that they are looking at it all wrong.
after 6 months you may not be looking at it at all.
I've found the best thing is to treat them like a corporation. Make sure their accounts are only user level, and either hold on to the Administrator password or make sure they know the real reason to use it. Done that with a few family friends I do work for and the amount of trouble i've had has dropped drastically.
Mod parent up; this is the only way to do this. I give my family a basic user account, and then furthermore go through their registry and then deny all write permissions to the "Run" sections of the registry so nothing can install itself in their user account. If absolutely necessary, give them an admin account to be used only for installing things (I gave it to my little brother and not my mom and this arrangement worked quite well).
I've found the best thing is to treat them like a corporation. Make sure their accounts are only user level, and either hold on to the Administrator password or make sure they know the real reason to use it. Done that with a few family friends I do work for and the amount of trouble i've had has dropped drastically.
Absolutely, I did this for my brother's machine, compared to my parents machine it's remained extremely tidy and worry free!
The only issue is Firefox updating. On Windows XP, Firefox cannot update itself when running in a non-admin account. (Bugzilla:407875 [mozilla.org]) Probably means my brother is running a months-old Firefox..
Makes me wonder if Internet Explorer would actually be safer for him, at least it would get updated automatically.
An insight into Mentoring & coaching
One day a man finds a cocoon for a butterfly with a small opening, he sits and watches the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared stuck.
The man decided to help the butterfly and with a pair of scissors he cut open the cocoon. The butterfly emerges easily, but something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings. The man watched the butterfly expecting it to take on its correct proportions. But nothing changed.
The butterfly stayed the same. It was never able to fly. In his kindness and haste the man did not realise that the butterfly's struggle to get through the small opening of the cocoon is nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight.
Like the sapling which grows strong from being buffeted by the wind, in life we all need to struggle sometimes to make us strong.
When we coach others it is helpful to recognize when people need to do things for themselves.
So you're saying that the next time Mom asks for tech support, he should bind her up in duct tape, leaving a little hole and saying "fight your way out Mom! It will do you good!"
While amusing, I don't think that would really solve her or his problems.
Dude, don't leave us hanging...
So what happened to the butterfly? Was it like Forest Gump and it went on to meet presidents and stuff?
I have systematically made all my family members get Macs over the years and this has reduced requirements for my support services to near to nothing. I have tried a few on Linux and that helped but they tended to be the most technically literate. Others who insisted that Windows was all they could use got XP with non-administrator accounts and I would remote desktop in as needed. That worked pretty well but not as well as a Mac and that person (my wife's 92 year old grandmother) is about to get a Mac mini.
I can't understand why you have people who only want to do basic tasks with anything other than an non-admin account? Even on a Mac I reserve the admin rights for myself.
In my experience, it is not an issue of easy-to-digest material, and explanations that they understand. It's a hard mental block. I've been in the same cycle for 10+ years, and my parents have said, flat out, they they "just can't learn". I've tried written, step-by-step instructions; I've tried demonstrating; I've tried tutorials. It's not the information or how it is presented. It's a mental block about learning new things.
"Why can't it just work?", and the fact that it doesn't is put on my shoulders as the "tech" generation. And that's that.
What really gets me angry is that they are helpless to do anything in their daily lives without their computer, and blame me for that fact (Cause *I* created all malware and put it on their computer, clearly), while simultaneously ridiculing my choice of career as worthless, because "technology is not important". The irony is lost on them. Completely.
The war you are facing is a cultural one, not a technical, or information/communication one. It's one better asked to a psychologist than Slashdot. Best of luck.
parents have said, flat out, they they "just can't learn".
Proper response: If you can't learn, I can't help. Sorry.
I agree. My long-time girlfriend is a veterinarian and always makes fun of my career choice when I am "on-call" or have an "emergency."
Obviously her on-calls, and emergencies deal with life-or-death situation (of animals...) and mine deals with thousands, and possible hundreds of thousands ($$) in lost productivity, revenue, etc.
Whenever I even mention the $$ argument as a way to back up my claim as my job is important - I get the "saving lives" is more important. One of our good friends is a doctor and uses the "save lives vs. save useless lives" argument with her...funny actually. The only reason why she did vet school instead of med school (truth be known vet school is more difficult to get into) is because she likes animals better than people.
Anyway, back to the story, whenever her computer screws up, I make it a point to note that I'm saving its life. It gets her all riled up, stating she'll just buy a new computer - to which I reply I'll simply buy a new dog when mine gets hurt - or even a new girlfriend when mine is broken.
It's this back and forth that makes me wonder if we'll ever get or stay married.
PROTIP: If your girlfriend ridicules your career/life choice, she's not marriage material.
Anyway, back to the story, whenever her computer screws up, I make it a point to note that I'm saving its life. It gets her all riled up, stating she'll just buy a new computer - to which I reply I'll simply buy a new dog when mine gets hurt - or even a new girlfriend when mine is broken.
So how comfortable is that couch?
Sounds like you both enjoy poking fun at each other and bickering about inconsequential things. Assuming this doesn't rise to the level of genuine arguments (like couch guy below) I say it sounds like a normal and healthy relationship. Just thought you might appreciate the thought after all the other comments soon to follow.
(5 year wedding anniversary 2 weeks ago, goin' on 9 years together, bicker like it's been 80)
It sounds like you have all the control here, so simply lock down those computers. Install a decent anti-virus, firewall, and script blockers. Install a decent web browser and delete the IE icon on the desktop. Ensure all these and the OS are able to update themselves automatically. Install the programs your family uses. Then create a non-admin account for them and do not give them the admin password. That's what I've been doing and the only problems I've had to deal with in the last few years were a hard drive crash and some minor issues. If they need to install a new program or need the admin password for any reason, they have to go through me to get it done.
Inevitably, something else bad will happen (an unrecognized virus will get through), and you'll have to re-install the system. So, once everything has been set up, including installing all of the tools mentioned above, then, checkpoint the system to an external drive that's physically compatible with the primary disk in the system. Next time things crap out, copy the disk image back.
Also, keep the system in one disk / partition, and user data on another. When you have to restore the system, it's easier t
Wait... so, you installed Ubuntu for someone and left them to use it with no discussion. It would appear that you never let him see it boot before handing it over, and never discussed the differences. And, as you say, he refused to use it.
I assume this level of casual computer fixing is reserved for family members, yet you say he took you to court. If your family are taking you to court, I think you have other things to worry about than the computers. If he wasn't a family member, why the hell were you fixing it for free and/or not discussing/explaining the solution?
I installed Ubuntu to head off a lot of these problem but he refused to use it.
It doesn't matter if it's friend, family or client.
It doesn't matter if your are working for a cold beer and a plate of pretzels or charging twice the going rate for your "professional services."
You never make fundamental changes without asking.
Without informed consent.
If I ask you to secure and return my Windows system -
I expect you to secure and return my Windows system - not to replace it with whatever Linux distro and Open
I got my mom a iMac 5 years ago & have maybe spend a total of 7 hours working on it since then. Two of those were upgrading the RAM & two more were upgrading OSX.
I had never even touched OSX until we opened that iMac up. I had no problems setting it up & she has had no problems using or maintaining it.
This. My 60-year-old father can tell the make and model of any car manufactured before the catalytic converter, just by hearing the sound of an engine. As a career veterinarian with 30+ years of experience and an interest in staying abreast, he is intimately familiar with the latest in small animal medicine. But when it comes to anything with transistors, he knows only the basics. He's always found them frustrating and irritating, and only started using email about 6 years ago when forced into it by an extended vacation my mother took alone. He only got a cell phone 2 years ago. I used to spend hours each month helping him maintain his slow-because-he-bought-a-P4-with-SDRAM Windows computer.
After being fed up with years of parental support, I convinced him with much prodding this past spring that instead of an HP, he should spend a bit more to buy a refurbished aluminum iMac with a full extended warranty and a Time Capsule. I was done with limited Windows profiles, spyware,Firefox with IE skins and changed icons, and all the rest. The Mac was a great decision. He's in love with it, and my Mom is now plotting her own mac purchase.
I spent the largest part of the two hours of setup copying files via thumb drive, configuring his Safari Top Sites page, and getting Skype turned on so he can talk to my brother in Italy. Haven't really thought about it since, but after years as a reluctant computer user, he's blossomed with the Mac. The iPod he never used to use is suddenly full of podcasts and music, and we'll talk about the Writer's Almanac show a couple of times a week. His digital camera no longer stores all of his photos for viewing on the little screen, and he doesn't go to Walgreen's to get help make prints anymore. - instead, they're in iPhoto with face tags, organized into events, and he uses his own inkjet with photo paper now. He never has to futz with the mic or camera when he's doing a video call with my siblings. He's an avid skier, so we put the snow reports for his season ticket resorts on his Dashboard, as well as the weather reports and clocks for various places around the world where we have family.
This is turning into a Mac ad, and I didn't mean that. Clearly all of these things can be done with Windows/Linux. My point is that the right combination of technology, in my case an iMac, managed to excite my father into an interest in my own passions, while simultaneously opening up all the really cool parts of the internet to him. And in the process, I no longer have to do any tech support for him. I don't have to worry about backups, I don't have to worry about viruses, I don't have to worry about email attachments, I don't have to worry about "How do I..." phone calls.
Instead, we have more things to talk about, and he's able to finally use these fantastic tools from which I've made my career. So: if the technology your family is using doesn't work for them, whether they're currently on Apple, Linux, or Microsoft OS's, try a different one. It's made all the difference for me.
Caveat: I really can't recommend buying a computer without a user-serviceable hard disk unless you also buy the extended warranty. Apple wants $450 to replace the 320GB hard disk on an out-of-warranty iMac with another 320GB. I found out the hard way on my own iMac. To replace the disk in an iMac you have to remove the glass and the screen. Get dust between those two during the repair, and it's game over. This is the rare case where the warranty is money well spent.
Sounds like it's time to transition your support job to the next generation.
Their cost is a second hard drive that they pay for, typically this is well under $100. It's more work up front on this, but teaching them basic safe browsing, automating what they don't want to deal with and have an image (and the ability to freely blow away the boot drive) are all things that will save you time in spades in the long run. I've significantly reduced how often I have to perform the friends and family computer work this way, and they feel better knowing that they have regained some level of control over their computer.
How about running Windows in a virtual machine (e.g. virtualbox.org) in Linux? You just have to configure it so that the VM starts in fullscreen mode automatically.
So, once installed to a state that you know is OK, you can simply make a snapshot image. If need be, it's easy to revert to that snapshot, or any future snapshots.
The only issue is going to be data. Well, you can store that on a separate partition and make daily/weekly backups using cron jobs. Now that 1TB and 1.5TB harddrives are standard, it should be no problem at all to have a liberal backup scheme.
Then, if there's some issue, you can simply SSH into the machine and revert to a working image and the machine will be reset to an acceptable state again.
I work as a programmer and we have this conversation a lot.
In the last few years I've noticed a serious trend. We're now mostly 35-40 and we are tired of working on home computers.
The solution? Get a mac.
EVERYONE who has one agrees (Don't believe me, ask around). If you want to know, go ask a PC user how he supports his family's computers--the story will generally be like yours, then go ask a mac user how he supports his family's computers--If he's been using one long enough it's going to be by getting them to buy macs, then not having to mess with them any more.
It really is THAT easy. Many mac users that I work with just tell their families that they don't understand the new-fangled windows even though they work with it every day (few programmers are lucky enough to be able to use macs at work).
For yourself--get a mac and install a windows partition for gaming, or if you are into high-performance gaming buy two computers... It's worth it.
By the way, this is from someone who occasionally tried macs before intel and couldn't stand them (and still would not use a pre-intel mac). The dual-core and OSX are essential for usability because the Mac UI tends to be pretty chunky with just one CPU.
I've owned a computer since 1978. I run a Linux server at home, and have 2 windows computers I NEVER turn on at home. I use windows all the time at work. I've built almost every computer I've owned except my 2 macs. I'll probably never buy another non-mac (Might convert the mac mini to a linux server eventually.
I find it sad an disturbing that both the OP, and many of the posters, only want to force the family to do one thing or another so he doesn't have to deal with them anymore.
I spent many hours patiently fixing my dad-in-laws computer when he'd managed, somehow, to mess it up again. Didn't bother me much as it gave me a chance to visit with him and mom.
They're both gone now - and I'd give much to hear the phone ring and Dad say "son, I've managed to mess it up again, why don't you come over and fix it, and then we'll have dinner and catch the ball game".
For 8 years they have relied upon you to solve their issues and apparently not learned anything! they are "non-technical" but have been using computers this entire time? I'm sorry but after that many years of using the damned thing if they haven't learned anything it's because you're always there to help them - stop helping. The excuse that they're non-technical doesn't fly after that length of time IMO. If they are so disinterested in the device but rely on it so heavily then there's a serious disconnect.
They aren't learning anything because they don't have to. If you always had someone to wipe your ass you probably would never have learned but somewhere along the way your parents decided it was time you did it yourself and TaDah YOU learned. Think of it as AA for computers - they have to hit rock bottom before they will get off their butts and bother to learn anything. A once in awhile help session is one thing but not to the extent that has been laid out here. Do they even bother to sit and watch while you fix their stuff? Or do they get to go off and do other things all the while whining that they want their computer fixed? Make them feel pain, make them sit and watch silently if you work on the computer for them and answer questions if you want. You're being taken advantage of and it;s not helping anyone except maybe you a little as you find out ever more innovative ways to solve their issues.
Here's another thought - stop trying to fix their computer. Simply reformat the thing, patch it, and walk away. Let them have to go through the pain of fixing it up the way they like it - maybe with some ramifications they will begin to get a clue and understand the cause\effect that's going on here....
is to make them pay a professional. after a few hundred dollars they will get better.
My family is smart enough not to need this sort of infantile hand holding, but I am to understand some people come from inferior stock.
Hmm, maybe I shouldn't reply to
Tell them in the virtual world things are turned around. Instead of assuming trust, assume everyone has an angle to get you.
computer viruses, malware, adware
Viruses? Malware? Adware?
What are those?
Can you explain them to me? Pretend you are explaining them to someone who has no clue what they are.
(I run linux)
My solution is crude and simple:
1. Install Linux at all machines
2. Install VMware
3. Install whichever OS in a virtual machine.
4. Make a backup copy of it in a safe place
5. Let people use the virtual machine, but don't let them use the base OS
6. Make sure that all essential data - documents, whatever - are always on a networked disk
- when they screw up, simply copy from backup. Not perfect, but it is amazing how much hassle it has saved me.
I use technology in order to hate it more properly. -- Nam June Paik


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Thursday, March 12, 2009
'Cool Man' & Smooth Air Clash in Gulfstream Park Handicap
Mount Joy Stable's Smooth Air and Robert LaPenta's Cool Coal Man were prominent winning Grade 2 stakes at Gulfstream Park at this time last year on the road to the Kentucky Derby (G1), but checked in 11th and 15th, respectively, behind Big Brown at Churchill Downs on the First Saturday in May in their only meeting.
The two 4-year-olds will likely be the favorites in a field of six older horses entered in Saturday's $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) to be run at one mile for the first time after decades contested at 1 ¼ miles and at 1 3/16 miles the last four renewals.
Jockey Paco Lopez gets a return call on Smooth Air for trainer Bennie Stutts, Jr. in his second start this year since finishing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, beaten only 5 ¼ lengths for it all by Raven's Pass with Curlin between them in fourth.
A Florida homebred by Smooth Jazz, Smooth Air won the Hutcheson Stakes (G2) and finished second to Big Brown in the Florida Derby (G1) prior to the Kentucky Derby. He scored another big victory in the Ohio Derby (G2) at Thistledown in late May and finished a game second in the Tallahassee Stakes on turf here on Feb. 7 as a tune-up for Saturday's race.
Jockey Jose Lezcano gets back aboard Cool Coal Man for trainer Nick Zito after they teamed up for a sharp allowance score going 6 ½ furlongs over the track on Jan. 28 in his season debut. The son of Mineshaft won the Fountain of Youth here early last year, but disappointed his connections in major events the rest of the campaign, except for a third-place effort behind Big Brown in the Haskell Invitational (G1) at Monmouth Park.
Completing the field of six entered in the race are Brian Prichard's How's Your Halo, Juan Leyva; Marc Keller's Bribon, Cornelio Velsquez; Rolbea Thoroughbred Racing's Finallymadeit, Eduardo Nunez; and Robert N. Clay's Formidable, Javier Castellano.
None in this group is a throw out. How's Your Halo, Bribon and Formidable each come into the race with impressive victories over the track in their last starts while 'Iron Horse' Finallymadeit finished a game second by a half-length behind Albertus Maximus in the Donn Handicap (G1) on Jan. 31.
How's Your Halo is a 6-year-old son of Halo's Image and posted a big upset in the seven-furlong Richter Scale Stakes (G2) here in his last start on Feb. 14 and is very effective on his best days at any level. He finished a game second to Eclipse champion sprinter Benny the Bull last summer at Calder in the Smile Sprint Handicap (G2).
Bribon is a 6-year-old French-bred gelding by Mark of Esteem trained by Bobby Ribuado and was a six-length allowance winner going one mile here on Feb. 12. He ran a big race in the Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct in late November to finish third, beaten less than a length for it all.
Formidable bids to give Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens his third victory in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, following Sensitive Prince in 1979 and Devil His Due in 1993. A 4-year-old homebred by Sky Mesa, Formidable makes his stakes debut after two impressive victories at the meet to break his maiden by 4 ½ lengths and an allowance by 5 ½ lengths after three tries last year in New York.
Finallymadeit makes his fifth start this year for trainer Javier Negrete after 15 outings last year at age 4 and 19 as a 3-year-old in 2007. The homebred son of Concerto ran the race of his life in the Donn at 30-to-1, but faded to ninth of 10 last out in the Mac Diarmida Stakes (G2) trying 11 furlongs on turf last out on Feb. 21.
Duke of Homberg will likely be favored in the Palm Beach with Chris DeCarlo to ride for trainer Tom Albertrani. The son of Dynaformer was impressive winning the Hallandale Beach Stakes over the course on Feb. 14. He began his career with two starts in France last year and may emerge among the leaders of his division with another victory Saturday.
Dogwood Stable's Lime Rickey and G. Watts Humphrey, Jr.'s El Crespo look like the main contenders to challenge Duke of Homberg with jockeys Cornelio Velasquez and Javier Castellano in the saddle, respectively.
Lime Rickey was a game second behind Duke of Homberg in the Hallandale Beach, beaten 1 ¼ lengths with trouble in the race. Trained by Frank Alexander, the son of Lemon Drop Kid just missed in his previous start when second in the Dania Beach Stakes when Duke of Homberg finished fifth with trouble in that race.
El Crespo goes back to turf after a disappointing ninth-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) on the main track on Jan. 31. Trained by Rusty Arnold, the homebred son of A.P. Indy broke his maiden over the Gulfstream course in his previous start on Jan. 10.
Completing the field for the Palm Beach are Jacks or Better Farm's Sweetlandofliberty, Manoel Cruz; Darley Stable's Stomalory, Rene Douglas; Terry Hamilton's Casey's On Call, Cornelio Velasquez; and Char-Mari Stable's Beacon Hill Road, Jose Lezcano.
Read more articles in the Gulfstream category.

subset: commoncrawl


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Deadly militant attack on Indian security bases in Kashmir
Militants, dressed as Indian Army officers, have stormed a police station in the Indian state of Kashmir, killing at least ten people.
The group of three militants threw grenades and opened fire on the Hiranagar police station, 200 kilometres from Srinagar city.
Officials say the attackers then hijacked a truck and drove to the army camp, in the nearby Samba district.
Inspector general of police Rajesh Kumar says the gunfight inside the camp is ongoing.
"(The attackers) abandoned the truck on the national highway and perhaps took another vehicle and carried out an attack on the army camp in Samba," he said.
The two incidents come ahead of a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif this weekend.
The pair are expected to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where they are expected to discuss rising violence in the Kashmir region.
After the attacks on Thursday, India's opposition leaders immediately called for the cancellation of the meeting which is the first between the two leaders since Mr Sharif was elected in May.
India's prime minister has strongly condemned the "heinous terrorist attack", but suggested the meeting would go ahead.
"This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of peace," Mr Singh said in a statement.
"Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue."
Neighbouring tensions
India has faced an insurgency in its part of the Muslim-majority Kashmir since 1989.
It has long accused Pakistan of supporting militants fighting Indian rule.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah says he believes the group had entered from Pakistan within the last 24 hours.
Pakistan's army and government were not immediately available for comment.
Television footage showed security men taking positions, firing from just outside the camp's walls and closing the main gate. Wounded men were seen being lifted out.
So far, 128 people, including 44 security personnel, have been killed in the region this year, before this latest attack, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal which tracks violence in Kashmir


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Posts tagged 'Nelson Mandela Akello'
Screening: Maramaso based on Sarabi Band Lead Singer – Nelson Mandela, Feb. 3 2014 @ Alliance Francaise
Follow the story of young musician and activist, Nelson Mandela Akello, lead singer of the popular afro-fusion band SARABI, growing up in Eastlands, Nairobi.
Date: Monday February 3 2014
Venue: Alliance Francaise Auditorium
Time: 6 pm
Entrance: Free
A Foresee Films Production, directed by Laura Asherman 2013, 54 min
Maramaso is a concept developed by a musician/activist born and raised in the slums of Nairobi. The name is derived from the philosophy's end goal, a "Man Raise Man Society" in which support for fellow man and youth empowerment are more important than personal gain in one's own life. This is how Mandela, the subject of the film, lives his life. The film illustrates his revolutionary philosophy of love and his daily struggle to survive in an environment that encourages self-promotion.
Maramaso Trailer from Foresee Films on Vimeo.
Screening followed by a Q & A session in the presence of the director and the cast.


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WELLESLEY, Mass. (taken from a Wellesley College press release) – The Brandeis University women's fencing team edged host Wellesley College, 14-13, in a dual meet on Wednesday evening at Wellesley. Brandeis won epee 8-1, and took sabre, 6-3, to offset a 9-0 sweep by the Blue in foil action. The Judges improve to 5-7 on the season, while Wellesley falls to 6-7. This marks the second-straight year that the Judges earned a one-point win over their local rivals in their annual midweek match.
In sabre action, Brandeis picked up three wins each from juniors Zoe Messinger (Short Hills, N.J./Millburn) and Emmily Smith (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward-Melville) to take the competition, 6-3. Messinger ended up recording the match-clinching point. Wellesley got solo victories from Dania Wright, Zsofia Schweger and Mariami Bekauri, to account for the three Blue points in the weapon.
In the epee competition, the visitors came away with an 8-1 win. Senior Emily Mandel (White Plains, N.Y./Masters School) and sophomore Leah Mack (Tarrytown, N.Y./Irvington) each went 3-0 for the Judges, while sophomore Kristen Ha (Bronx, N.Y./Riverdale CDS) picked up two wins. Wellesley's lone point came from Elise Dong.
In the foil competition, the Blue swept the Judges, as Wellesley's Carla The, Olivia Wei, and Oleander Furman each picked up three victories.
Brandeis is back in action on Saturday, traveling to Boston College for Northeast Fencing Conference action. Wellesley will also fence on Saturday, hosting the 2012 Wellesley Invitational, beginning at 9:00am.


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No, not the kind of shocking you think. As a follow-up to Wednesday's post about relearning how to have fun, I have to point you to someone else who was thinking the same thing. Cordelia (of Cordelia Calls It Quits) writes,
I used to be that peculiar kid off at the far end of the playground, singing a little song to herself on a swing while all the normal children played tag (or whatever it is that normal children do). I would imagine I was swinging directly into the trees in front of me, or directly into the sky above, and I remember it feeling so beautiful and transcendent that it "ached," as Anne Shirley would say. It never occurred to me to worry if the other kids would think I was weird for doing it. We'd have lunch together after recess and teach each other new versions of "Miss Mary Mack," and it would be all cool. I was me, they were them, we were friends, and life was beautiful.
I can't tell you the last time I lost myself—forgot myself—in my surroundings like that. Only, now I can. Because I did it this weekend. And it was lovely.
If that speaks to you, be sure to click through and read the rest. It's a fantastic story.
I'm off to try and do the same this weekend. Hope you do, too. See you back here on Monday!


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Recent comments
Game: The Powder Toy
Extremely impressed by this program! It does so much and still works so well. A bit complicated to learn, but fantastic once you get past that.
Game: Blocks That Matter
Tech-demo is available: announcement and download links
Game: Puzzle Moppet
Puzzle Moppet will be available completely free for 24 hours starting on Thursday 14th July.
Game: Homeworld
Works flawlessly on single player mode.
Also it uses about 1/10 the resources that running the game in wine does.
9/10 for a port well done. Let's see how the multiplayer support get developed
Forum topic: What is the 'not up to date' link for?
Well its confusing if a link acts as information and an option to reset the information. maybe there are some design possibilities to deal with that. But i have no idea.
To make it more clear, i switched from informational name to a name that shows what happens if you click the link. It now reads: "Reset update report".
the info was not so vital after all.
Forum topic: Sound?
oss-compat worked for me on aptosid
Forum topic: What is the 'not up to date' link for?
It's kind of confusing, clicking on 'not up to date' to say the game is up to date.
Forum topic: Sound?
hm, i know 5 solutions
1st. use OSS as sound system
2nd. if you use a debian derived distro install the "oss-compat" package(requires a restart) and start et with: "./et.x86 +set com_soundMegs 64 +set s_khz 44"
3rd. use http://nullkey.kapsi.fi/et-sdl-sound/
4th. use a wrapper see pheonton's post
5th. give et direct access to your soundcard
echo 'et.x86 0 0 direct' > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss
echo 'et.x86 0 0 disable' > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0c/oss