Helping people who are no good at computers!!!

Hotfail.com

Is there anything more soul destroying? I've spent the past hour trying to teach my mother how to sign up to the Apple App Store and I am currently pulling my hair out.

The questions are the worst part! "Do I put my email in here" YES! IT SAYS EMAIL ADDRESS!!! :mad:

I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it!!!! It won't eat you mammy, it's only a laptop!

God!!!!!!

SEPT 23 1989

Just wait till the year 2050 and you cant understand how to use those virtual sex hookers

Mr. Incognito

Have you tried plugging her out and then turning her off and on again?

jimgoose

The best advice you could give her would be to stay away from computers and do something useful. My mother is 78 and earlier this Summer I bought her a garden hose, a lawn-edger and a lightweight rake. This helps her to be outside, active and enjoying the garden and flowers and so forth, and not sitting inside trying to do ridiculous nonsense like signing up to the Apple Store.

jester77

Used to have the same problems, get her a tablet and set it up once. That's what i did with my parents and not one problem since. Sign them into their relevant apps and that's it. If they somehow manage to get lost they can just press the home button, can't really go wrong as it's the only button on the device.

Mr. CooL ICE

Parents switched broadband provider and couldn't figure it out. They rang me.

Me: So, did they send you any new hardware or did they tell you to use the existing modem?
Them: No, no new hardware.

*10 minutes of back and forth about ringing new ISP to ask for settings for router, etc*

Them: Should I use the new modem?
Me: You said there wasn't any new hardware.
Them: But this is a modem.
Me: A modem is hardware.
Them: Oh, didn't know that.

neamhspleachi

jester77 wrote: »

Used to have the same problems, get her a tablet and set it up once. That's what i did with my parents and not one problem since. Sign them into their relevant apps and that's it. If they somehow manage to get lost they can just press the home button, can't really go wrong as it's the only button on the device.

That's an excellent idea, kudos

House of Blaze

I don't mind it for the most part.

There have been a few occasions over the years which have struck me dumb though.

Like having to explain to a girl I used to live with the difference between wi-fi and 3g as she 'didn't have internet' when she left the house!

rainbowdrop

jester77 wrote: »

Used to have the same problems, get her a tablet and set it up once. That's what i did with my parents and not one problem since. Sign them into their relevant apps and that's it. If they somehow manage to get lost they can just press the home button, can't really go wrong as it's the only button on the device.

My Dad seems to genuinely believe that the laptop will explode if he touches the home button......

Kimbot

Im tech support for my entire family and sometimes it is soul destroying

Hotfail.com

rainbowdrop wrote: »

My Dad seems to genuinely believe that the laptop will explode if he touches the home button......

My Dad spent 15 minutes considering the ramifications of creating a new folder on the desktop :pac: I just don't get why some people fear computers so much, turning up the brightness on the television is harder than opening up your emails etc.

Duggy747

Them: "Remember when you installed Chrome for me?"

Me: "Yea? That was ages ago....."

Them: "Well now my printer won't print colour, what did you do to it!?!"

Valetta

Quite a bit of a patronising theme setting in to this thread.

Not everyone is as clever or sharp as people like to thing they themselves are.

Patience is a virtue.

weisses

Hotfail.com wrote: »

Is there anything more soul destroying? I've spent the past hour trying to teach my mother how to sign up to the Apple App Store and I am currently pulling my hair out.

The questions are the worst part! "Do I put my email in here" YES! IT SAYS EMAIL ADDRESS!!! :mad:

I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it!!!! It won't eat you mammy, it's only a laptop!

God!!!!!!

Ahh give her a brake ... I would guess putting you on this world was tougher then you helping her use the computer

c_man

Hotfail.com wrote: »

My Dad spent 15 minutes considering the ramifications of creating a new folder on the desktop :pac: I just don't get why some people fear computers so much, turning up the brightness on the television is harder than opening up your emails etc.

Ah from my experience, they're just fearful that they'll mess it up and cause you (the computer support guy) hassle. Totally understandable for the older generations imo.

But young people who are willfully ignorant of tech, well that's another matter.

gctest50

Hotfail.com wrote: »

My Dad spent 15 minutes considering the ramifications of creating a new folder on the desktop :pac: I just don't get why some people fear computers so much, turning up the brightness on the television is harder than opening up your emails etc.

Cos Super-Puters-R-us will charge them a fortune to sort it out if it goes wrong ?

You probably have fixed loads of problems - (you wouldn't even remember half of them) with your own gear that would have run into thousands by now if you'd paid someone

kjl

My dad has a smart phone and has lost the phone icon and as such he can't make calls till I get back to fix it for him.

Anyway, I think the OP is a bit patronising. I deal with people like him on a daily basis who claim they are the dogs bollox with computers, but really are only capable of maybe installing a driver.

As a developer, this is how I see most end users

https://i.imgur.com/X17puIB.gif

Hotfail.com

c_man wrote: »

Ah from my experience, they're just fearful that they'll mess it up and cause you (the computer support guy) hassle. Totally understandable for the older generations imo.

But young people who are willfully ignorant of tech, well that's another matter.

My parents are only ~55 though :pac: I don't mind helping people with computers when there's actually an issue but when it's just a case of offering them reassurance that passwords go in the password box for an hour it does my head in!!

biko

I'm training a new guy at work (on our systems) and it's doing my head in

Yeah, we were all new once and all but fcuk me it's a slow process.

jimgoose

kjl wrote: »

...As a developer, this is how I see most end users

https://i.imgur.com/X17puIB.gif

As an AIX admin, I tend to see a lot of developers like that as well. :pac::pac::pac:

jimgoose

Frogurt! wrote: »

Imagine we lived in a world where a person could have the time to do some gardening and at another stage during the day or week, download an app?...

I'd love to be Clever some day, just to see what it feels like! :pac:

Joe prim

Lots of very nice Indian gentlemen from Vindows ring me frequently to help fix my computer, could be a godsend for your granny?

ChippingSodbury

I nearly fell of the chair one evening when my dad asked me "but who pays for the email when I send it?"
Having said that, he's 80 and can print off his Christmas Card address labels every year!




Actually, who does pay????:eek:

jimgoose

ChippingSodbury wrote: »

...Actually, who does pay????:eek:

It's a bit tricky, but what do you think is behind all these Credit-Default Swaps we keep hearing about?

ChippingSodbury

Joe prim wrote: »

Lots of very nice Indian gentlemen from Vindows ring me frequently to help fix my computer, could be a godsend for your granny?

Mujibar was trying to get a job in India.

The Personnel Manager said, "Mujibar, you have passed all the tests except one. Unless you pass it you cannot qualify for this job."

Mujibar said, "I am ready."

The Manager said, "Make a sentence using the words Yellow, Pink and Green."

Mujibar thought for a few minutes and said, "Mister Manager, I am ready."

The Manager said, "Go ahead."

Mujibar said, "The telephone goes green, green, green, and I pink it up, and say, 'Yellow, this is Mujibar.'"

Hotfail.com

kjl wrote: »

My dad has a smart phone and has lost the phone icon and as such he can't make calls till I get back to fix it for him.

Anyway, I think the OP is a bit patronising. I deal with people like him on a daily basis who claim they are the dogs bollox with computers, but really are only capable of maybe installing a driver.

As a developer, this is how I see most end users

I never claimed to be the, ehm... "Dogs bollox" with computers, but I have been able to sort out every problem I've had with any laptop/computer that was giving trouble. I honestly don't think experience with programming would help me explain to my parents how to sign up to the Apple Store, unless I wanted to confuse them even more...

blaze1

Duggy747 wrote: »

Them: "Remember when you installed Chrome for me?"

Me: "Yea? That was ages ago....."

Them: "Well now my printer won't print colour, what did you do to it!?!"

+1

This made me pi55 myself

My OH and her entire family are a nightmare when it comes to anything techy.

Had this gem from the father in law a while back

"The pc isn't working, was trying to free up some space (no need for this btw) and I deleted some hidden files"

KungPao

They have the internet on computers now?

visual

Ive worked in IT for years and this has been an issue from the 80's when the first personal computers hit the market here.

Its no surprise that apple ipad became so popular as simplicity is the key to technology.

I can remember having to learn dos in order to use pc's graphics improved and windows point and click and the muddled world of the internet took over.

Best thing you can do is install remote software like teamviewer or similar and rather than try be a technical wizard and blind them with science log in remotely and talk them through what is on the screen.

You can also ensure their virus and firewalls are up to date and they are protected.

Then if you really want to be the hero you can explain how to spot scammers and dodgy websites.

You be surprised how little they will need your help over time as their confidence and ability increases.

they will also be seriously impressed with you logging in remotely and will be telling their friends how smart you are.

KT10

blaze1 wrote: »

My OH and her entire family are a nightmare when it comes to anything techy.

Had this gem from the father in law a while back

"The pc isn't working, was trying to free up some space (no need for this btw) and I deleted some hidden files"

I had a great one years ago, Uncle rings me "cause you do computers" to tell me his PC is shot, I asked him what was the last thing he did with it...

"Well I was trying to free up some space on the C drive, so I deleted this folder called System32 cause I didn't recognise any of the files in there." :eek:

I just hung up.

Chancer3001

DOUBLE CLICK ALL THE ICONS!!!!!!!!!

Borat_Sagdiyev

Mother of god, yes, this does my head in.

I've a mate that rings me FOR NO OTHER REASON than he wants to do something on the computer which is outside of his ridiculously small comfort zone.

He wanted to download a song from youtube and burn it onto a CD and was wondering if I could call over to do it. He rang me and I told him that he could do it himself no bothers, I would even type up the list of instructions for him on an email.

I then said, "look, if you email me the link of the song, I can send you on the mp3".

His reply: "Ah don't worry about it, I'll leave it until the next time you're around, I wouldn't know anything about 'links' or any of those things."

Jesus christ, you're a grown man - learn to do this very easy stuff yourself !

--LOS--

I'm tech support in my family too It is soul-destroying, but I don't think they would contact me at all otherwise, although that wouldnt be a bad thing >_>

Obviously I'm just born with all this tech knowledge, and there's no way that anyone else can just maybe learn it or.....google it -_-

The most common thing is my mam not being able to find emails. Since gmail made some updates a while back, she cannot understand the way emails are now stacked. Instead of it being a more logical way to store emails as well as being space-saving, it's this huge confusion to her, she cannot get her head around all sent and received mail from the same sender being stacked together, to her she is so confused by multiple emails being in the same email now. I've explained it so much, showed her in person how to go in and expand them out, she's not getting it I have to listen to her doing my head in every so often about 'emails disappearing'. I have showed her how to use the search function too to find anything she's having trouble finding, but when people don't really get searching online in general, it's a bit difficult...

snaphook

Everytime my Dad calls down the stairs and says "Can you take a look at that computer there will ya?"

I die a little inside.

Adamantium

I wonder if children born from the 90's onwards have a more intuitive feel for computers and problem in general, I used to have weird habits as kid such as counting the number of seconds between demo loads on ps1. People used to call me really intelligent at pulling thing apart and having an intuitive feel for tech and I'm like "well it's kinda easy enough". I used to build massive Knex structures taller than me, just to pull them apart and start over.

Like this bad boy:

http://www.knextoyzone.com/gallery/data/media/10/DSC06114.jpg

Cienciano

jimgoose wrote: »

The best advice you could give her would be to stay away from computers and do something useful. My mother is 78 and earlier this Summer I bought her a garden hose, a lawn-edger and a lightweight rake. This helps her to be outside, active and enjoying the garden and flowers and so forth, and not sitting inside trying to do ridiculous nonsense like signing up to the Apple Store.

This. Don't tell them they can buy stuff cheaper online, don't give them a smartphone, it's not worth it. Every time you go and visit your parents, instead of talking to them you'll spend 2 hours uninstalling toolbars and explaning how to play their mp3's.

dockleaf

jonny24ie wrote: »

Im tech support for my entire family and sometimes it is soul destroying

My husband is tech support for my dad and his sister ( both in their 80s). However as he is a 'foreigner' and they are both rather deaf, all questions have to be relayed through me, the interpreter, and back. This makes for hilarious fourway telephone conversations at times.:p

_Redzer_

My family are just lazy because they know if I'm around, that I'll just sort it out.

I learned everything I know through trial and error. And if that doesn't work, google it.

I'm no expert, but I can get by ok.

I hate the laziness though. It's just unwillingness to sit down and sort it out just because it's a computer, it must be complicated.

paulbok

c_man wrote: »

Ah from my experience, they're just fearful that they'll mess it up and cause you (the computer support guy) hassle. Totally understandable for the older generations imo.

But young people who are willfully ignorant of tech, well that's another matter.

Now this, yes this is a particularly irritating trait in some youngsters.

My nephew who is 15 (and not dumb, just lazy) has had 2 ipods of various sizes over the last 4 years and got an Iphone 4 for Xmas, won't attempt to learn how to use itunes or get setup on the app store, so reverted back to his old phone.
I used load up his music on itunes but have refused for the last 12 months or so.
He had a big project for the Junior cert this year as well and was looking for information on the subject. I told him to google it and copy and paste the relevant info to a word document and showed him how to create a basic word doc. He reckoned it was too hard to do that, so just transcribed everything off screen to a copy book.:rolleyes:

Akrasia

The worst thing about the computer illiterate is that they ask you which computer they should buy, or to buy a computer for them and from hence forth, you are both technical support and also responsible for any hardware failures that may occor within the expected lifespan of the hardware (up to 10 years)

I don't know how many times I have been called to look at a computer because it's slow only to find that there's only a hundred megs of hard drive space left. The entre family is downloading every movie and album on the internet and nobody ever thinks to do any maintanance on the pc or laptop. (A family that includes 4 'kids' aged 13 to 23)

thunderdog

My Dad: (Trying to Figure out the complexities of copying and pasting photos, as I describe it over the phone) "Ok so its right click, then scroll to copy, and then same again and paste is it?"

Me: "Yeah thats the one. Bare in mind this was at least our 3rd attempt at this procedure"

Dad: "Ok I think I've done it"

Me: "Great"

Dad: "Hang on a sec, I now have two copies of each picture, how did that happen"?

Me: "Did you pick a different folder to paste them into"?

Dad: "A different folder?????"

Thephantomsmask

Chancer3001 wrote: »

DOUBLE CLICK ALL THE ICONS!!!!!!!!!

CTRL+A and enter is quicker...

Nemeses

kjl wrote: »

As a developer, this is how I see most end users

https://i.imgur.com/X17puIB.gif

You should have designed your app better then :P

DEFTLEFTHAND

I hate the way if you're under 30 they assume you're some sort of whizzkid who can fix anything.

timetogo

I was in my folks house and the internet was slow (about 1Mb). This doesn't bother them when they're surfing but they can't watch video using any service as there's constant buffering. So they don't do that.
This wasn't what they were paying for so I rang the ISP pretending to be my dad and answering all their questions and going through their hoops.

They sent me an email to say they'd arrange an engineer to come out to upgrade some of the infrastructure for no charge.

I rang my dad to say they'd be on to him to send somebody out. He told me they were already on to him and he told them it was fast enough and didn't need them. Fuuuuuuuuuu

ToddyDoody

No need for me to read this thread. People who cant use computers that I sometimes help always accuse me of sabotaging them, and that's why its all gone wrong

gctest50

--LOS-- wrote: »

.........The most common thing is my mam not being able to find emails. Since gmail made some update a while back, she cannot understand the way emails are now stacked..............

You can undo that a little bit, go here for gmail :

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=h

then it should/might ask you if you want to use this view all the time

Ash.J.Williams

Valetta wrote: »

Quite a bit of a patronising theme setting in to this thread.

Not everyone is as clever or sharp as people like to thing they themselves are.

Patience is a virtue.

I would agree with this...except for that highly qualified cvnt that annoyed me yesterday....

gctest50

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

I would agree with this...except for that highly qualified cvnt that annoyed me yesterday....

Was it one of them ones - want you to :

- change laws of physics
- rewrite windows & osx & bsd & linux & cms
- their website be the only one on the internet before they implode

?

TrustedApple

My mother is shocking with any bit of technology and she's not that old at all.

Like we have had sky now for the past 14 years and she still can't use the Sky Box ask her to find a show that she has record is painful but magically is able to delate anything i recorded as it takes up to much space and we have a 2TB box.

Her phone/iPad don't get me going on that. She has had a smart phone for the past 4 years she went from a Samsung to a iPhone and now she has a HTC M8 (Fantastic phone) she all so has a iPad for the past 3 years as well.

She still asks me after 4 years old how to download a App !!!. She dosint know any of her passwords for anything and she always asks me for them i don't know them myself and she blames me for not knowing them.

Then last week she dropped her phone and ended up turning down her in call volume and she called me 6 times while i was in work telling me her phone is broke when i came home i just turned it back up as i was trying to tell her to do it over the phone and her replay was wheres the volume bottoms on the side ?.

Then her reply is you have a degree in IT you should know all this stuff ?. I go i don't know everything LoL i had to teach myself everything i know from online why can't you do that ?

Any time she has a problem i just tell her google it like everyone does ?. She gos how do i use google ?. But magically she can edit photos on her iPad ?. I don't even know it gets me even more made writing about it here LoL

But i am in luck the father can magically use everything on his phone book flights, download apps, steam stuff and so on and he has had a smart phone for the same length of time.

Alun

samapple789 wrote: »

Any time she has a problem i just tell her google it like everyone does?

Print this off for her ...