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What to tell the computer illiterate?
I've been thinking of putting together a kind of manual or readme for some 'computer illiterate' users that I know. You ppl like that, people that think defragmenting and formatting are the same thing. The reason is that I can not stand the abuse of PCs sometimes.
I don't mean to say that everyone using a comp should be an IT specialist, but for gods sake, it's not a mixer but an expensive piece of electronics, at least learn the basics.
Today I fixed the comp or a relative who recently bought a new 2.5 GHz. And after owning it for only 2 months, it already ran MUCH slower than my 1.8.
So what would you put in this 'manual', this manual that SHOULD come with every Dell, Packard Bell and other kinds of pre-installed Win XP machines.
My thoughts so far:
- Defrag your HD at least once a month
- WINDOWS UPDATE! At LEAST once every 2 weeks
- If you don't need it, don't let it start up at boot time
- Get an anti-virus (something most ppl fortunately do) and UPDATE!
Suggestions...?
Also, when I point out to them that their computers are infested with spy-ware, they ask me what it is. I tell them it is software that monitors your Internet usage and uses it to customize ads you see. And then they tell me "So...?" and ask me why the hell they would go to all the 'trouble' to run Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D.
What do I tell these people who obviously don't care about privacy?
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The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents.
- Nathaniel Borenstein
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