My wife and I went to a work related party last night which turned out to be pretty boring. So much for the $70.00 spent on tickets. We left early and knew that the sitter was good to go decided to drop in on a friend of hers.
We get to her house and I am admiring her house and see a big Master Degree in Education hanging over her computer. I was surprised to see it actually as we have known her for a while and she had never mentioned it. Anyway to make a long story short she says hey my PC is having problems can you look at it.
You guessed it 2 hours later and much under breath cursing I give up and tell her I need to take it home or we can just pull the restore disk out and start from scratch. I get this deer in the headlights look when I explain that her computer has been hijacked and is infected with nearly every piece of spyware known to man.
1. Virus Definitions 2 years old
2. She had never run Windows Update.
3. Systems is plugged directly into cable modem
4. No Spyware detection software
5. No Firewall
Remember now she has a Masters Degree in Education. She commented I should open a business and fix peoples computers like hers. I guess my 21+ years working with advanced electronics now makes me qualified to fix computers. I suppose I could charge her $750.00 for a days worth of work. All I could do was smile and say drop it by the house and I will get it fixed for you…
All my wife could say when we left was sorry. I hate stupid educated people. Sometimes being a geek sucks.
(oh jesus, sorry, didn’t read the part on comment moderation! typekey also threw a few errors so I was kinda confused. first time i have to use the tk account..)
Kahless, I don’t agree.
No other complex tries to hide as much complexity as a computer does. Few things are more underestimated than computers. Few complex things are as heavily integrated with everyday life as computers are.
You got a drivers license after all before using your car. You got skiing classes before skiing on your own. You got swimming classes i n school (at least I did). Propably, if at all, you got walzer without lessons before dancing it.
But you’d ask for none of these services for free.
As much as I understood the original writer, it’s not about not knowing how to use her computer he complains her stupidity. It’s more about people complaining on IT, expecting all kind of things without the will to invest time to learn. And also, in that concrete evening, the lacking idea of how much that service usually costs, and when to consider it work.
:)
My internet is not working!
If you have any pc skills, there is no doubt you have been called upon to assist a family member with their pc
I feel for you man. I have fixed so many computers in this condition. I know that deer in the headlights look well. The one that gripes me the most is when I fixed it the second time. No updates had been installed for the adware detector in the last year and no virus updates either. If they had any concept of the value of my time….. oh well.
-zep