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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,725
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The Good, the Bad, and the Idiotic: Family Tech Usage
Basically I just want to rant about some problems my family has had with computers. I try to help, but they just keep going back to their old ways and ignore my advice.
Well, two years ago we got my sister a Dell laptop since she was going off to college. My mom was convinced she should have a near-top-of-the-line laptop so it would last 4+ years. It was a very nice laptop, and came out to over $3000 when done - with software and everything. We got her a docking station and monitor stand since she didn't like the idea of working off a laptop monitor, and I didn't think she could really handle the connections when taking the laptop to the library, class, etc. Big mistake. She decided she didn't want the monitor since it would take up too much space, and then about a week into school, apparently she had a problem with printing (USB printer), so someone apparently got it to work without the docking station. Woopdedoo. She won't even try using it again. Why? Because it works fine without it.
Same thing with Outlook. She doesn't use Outlook (XP) anymore (which btw I had setup with both her home and school accounts before she left). Why? Same thing. She had problems with it during her freshman year, and someone told her not to use it, but to use Outlook Express instead. :bad-words: In addition, almost every time she's brought her laptop home, I find loads of spyware and sometimes viruses on it. Fortunately last time I didn't find any, since the automatic NAV and Windows Updates I setup were actually still in place and doing their job.
Alright, on to my mom...hah. Well, she really wants to learn computers. Good for her, but she's still afraid to click around. Just like my sister (and I suppose most of the non-tech public), she likes consistancy. BTW, I gave her my old iPaq 3650, and she still claims to use it, however, most of that consists of plugging it in to sync every few days. She still uses a planner for calendar and notes. I just can't get her to convert. Anyway, yesterday I helped her install the free checklist from PocketGear. She really didn't know how to download the program. :| So I said, just click where it says "download" ...yeah, then how do you install it to the PDA? hmm...you get the idea.
Another thing that bothers me is how she uses Outlook. Email especially - she uses flags, but just to keep track of important emails. However, she has something like 800 flagged emails. That's not gonna tell you which emails are important! lol
Ah and my dad. Truthfully, he probably wouldn't use computers if he didn't have to. He loves surfing college websites (kinda addicted to researching colleges), but other than that, not much. His homepage was set to MSN.com at one time or another, and that seems to be the only way he explores the Internet outside of college sites. If there isn't a link to it off the MSN site, he doesn't see it. Good thing MSN has a search engine for colleges! :lol: Also, about a month ago, he tells me his emails are gone, but no big deal. No big deal?! If I lost all my emails for good I'd be in some serious pain. Well, I change his PW so I can login, and yep, all his emails are gone. I make sure his outlook data files are there and everything, and they are, only extremely small. Well, he must have done something, but I have yet to figure that out. I did a few system restores, but it didn't work. And yeah, partially my fault, he didn't have backups. But he didn't mind. They're just a few emails. :wink: :shocked!:
The other thing is, I don't think I've ever gotten a virus on my computer or laptop. Well, maybe once or twice, but they were gone within an hour or so. My family computer has gotten somewhere in the teens of viruses, and my sister's laptop has gotten a couple. I use my computer so much more than all of them combined. How am I so lucky? Guess I actually listen to my advice and update my AV, Windows, and other software.
Alright, I'm done ranting. Really guys, I love my family, but I just can't take the way they use computers sometimes. They're good people though, really. :werenotworthy:
How about you? Any good stories about your family's tech usage?
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