Experiences with non-techies

[HexaGuy]

One thing I just don't get is why do some people get a Mac and yet run Windows? Wasn't getting a Mac because they want to get away from Windows in the first place, since they complain about how bad Windows is with all the viruses, popups, and other problems. So they spend like at least $1,500 or up to $2,000 on a Mac and then install Windows. By running Windows on a Mac, doesn't that defeat of getting a Mac in the first place? If one gets a Mac, then take the time to learn how the OSX works. Don't just spend your hard earn money just to rock a fruit as your logo.

 

Well, some people dual boot OSX and Windows for extra versatility.

 

People get macs not just because of the name, but because of the actual hardware itself. Sure, they may be overpriced, but you have to admit that the aluminium bodies are beautiful and the huge trackpads on their laptops are second to none. I have a Macbook Pro, which I'm typing on now, and let me tell you, the build quality is lovely, and the trackpad is just huge and silky smooth. I haven't seen or felt anything that even comes close. Not everybody that buys a mac is an iSheep or a boaster. 

[Boink]

Someone was sitting next to me while I was on my laptop after school and asked me:

"What's with all the heat coming out of this vent?"

I was gaming and they were referring to the vent on my laptop... 

[NumLock21]

Well, some people dual boot OSX and Windows for extra versatility.

 

People get macs not just because of the name, but because of the actual hardware itself. Sure, they may be overpriced, but you have to admit that the aluminium bodies are beautiful and the huge trackpads on their laptops are second to none. I have a Macbook Pro, which I'm typing on now, and let me tell you, the build quality is lovely, and the trackpad is just huge and silky smooth. I haven't seen or felt anything that even comes close. Not everybody that buys a mac is an iSheep or a boaster. 

I agree that not everyone gets a Mac just to be part of the crowd. They do have their reasons, like you, to be able to use what you need and experience the best of both.

[STRMfrmXMN]

What ?  You mean the RAM fairy doesn't bring them.

I'm confused. I just took a sledgehammer and a flathead and chipped some of the framework off of my Dad's pickup truck....

[Geekazoid]

@nillas12, you almost have 600 pages on this thread of yours. Heck!

[Guest Philosophy]

I was in sales and people would say I want a good computer. I would say this is a great one. They would say that one says 8 this one says 32 it must be better. Explaining ram is hard to people with no concept of it.

[Andraž Žnidar]

I forgot to post this on Halloween, but it is so spooky that I have to  .

 

Ars Technica originally posted this, you can check the full article on the link: http://bit.ly/1owHmzf

 

My favorite:

 

Not anywhere enough moons ago, a child came into our office with a broken netbook. Simple enough problem, he just needed to connect to the guest Wi-Fi, done in seconds. Our guest network is a filtered tunnel straight to the WAN, no local peer connections allowed. He came back the next day, he failed trying to roll his own netbook back from Windows 8 to 7, he had this half Windows 8 half 7 abomination that could only run half of the system tools, it was a miracle it didn't blue-screen-of-death the instant it was turned on. I refreshed Windows 8 and he was on his way again.

The next day we notice a sudden, near complete drop in network performance, LAN and WAN, ping times in the seconds, downlink in the Kb range, completely down. The server was fine, the APs were fine, the switches too, nothing was faulty but we gave a restart to everything we could just in case.

After some investigation I found the source of our lost performance, our main backbone link to our core router was unplugged and we were relying on a tiny backup link for emergencies.

I walk down the hall to the core, unlock the door and see this child. I still have no idea how he got in there. He had disconnected our gigabit link and plugged it into his netbook. On this $100 netbook were 8 individual bitcoin miners, all hashing away, he looked up at me crying, saying the devil had possessed his netbook and that if he didn't get a faster internet connection he'd take this kid's soul.

After performing an exorcism on his netbook to disable remote access and purge it of malware it started acting normally. He left and I never saw him again.

I started telling this story to the other support guys, none of them believed that this kid could get in our server room, it can't be locked from the inside either. So I went to pull the security camera footage.

All the cameras were down for the 3 days he was there.

[holytoledo]

I forgot to post this on Halloween, but it is so spooky that I have to  .

 

Ars Technica originally posted this, you can check the full article on the link: http://bit.ly/1owHmzf

 

My favorite:

 

My favorite part is the casual way the exorcism is just slipped into there.

[Aristocrates]

Goodness me, I, I... actually made it to the end of this thread... oh, what a journey it has been!

 

Nearly two months... I don't know what to do with my life now...

 

I guess I can start by telling this story:

 

A couple of years ago, I was spending a holiday with my grandparents, and, at some point, my grandfather (he's 90 now, so he must have been 87/88-ish then) asked me to fix the phone. The physical device that is connected to the phone line. Just because I'm good with computers (far less then than now, but still miles ahead of my peers).

 

It took a fair amount of shouting to get through to him the fact that just because I can handle a computer doesn't mean I can open any device with a circuit board and bleeding "fix" it. I told him these things are so dirt cheap they're not even worth fixing, and he could just use the other phone that they had.

 

("The other one is not as good, we prefer this one")

 

("what good is dealing with that stuff all the time if you can't even fix a phone", etc.)

 

Fast forward about a week, two men from a cable company other than the one that my grandparents had at the time come by to replace the cable service with the one provided by their company (roughly same price, fewer channels - phone service bundled together with television, same as the other company).

 

As they are nearly finished with the installation, my grandfather asks them to fix the phone.

 

They tell him the same I had: they don't even know anyone who does that (or would want to), because it's just not worth it.

 

At this point my grandfather gets quite angry. Turns out he had got the idea from whoever sold him the package that led the men to go to the house that the phone would become fixed by changing companies. Knowing him, he probably told them his phone had stopped working and they thought he was talking about the service, not the device (or maybe he had asked the other company to "fix the phone" first and they simply told him that their service did not include replacing devices).

 

He got so angry he came close to calling the whole thing off - after the men had already installed everything and changed the wiring in the apartment and also messed around with some boxes in the building. At this point I was alternating between exchanging looks with the men and just turning my eyes to the ceiling.

 

He went to the trouble of changing cable companies just because of a device the replacement of which HE COULD HAVE FUNDED BY LIFTING A SOFA CUSHION.

 

Thankfully, the men had brought a phone with them, because that is a standard thing that the company gives to new clients (talk about luck). After explaining that it would work just fine beside the other (the non-broken, "not as good") one (the one that didn`t even bloody get used), even though both were wireless (because my grandfather thought for some reason that they would not), the men finalised the installation and left.

 

So it ended well, but, bloody hell, my grandfather is a special kind of facedesk.

 

Oh and these days they use the old wireless phone, because "the new one is not as good".

 

And by they I mean my grandmother.

 

Because my grandfather almost invariably refuses to speak on the phone.

[RoyalistGamer]

Personally the worst experience with non-techies I have had would be some of my relatives who had a bunch of toolbars and dodgy software installed whilst having hardly any security on their laptops. (Lots of viruses were found)

[Ruostunut kokis]

Happened earlier today:

 

My little sister complained that her laptop refused to work, I say it's broken (and later found out that the hard drive is dead), and she blames me for breaking it... Typical to blame people who actually know something about the subject, and never blame themselves for anything.

[void_output]

okay, up till now I didn't have a story that was worth posting.. but here you go:

 

To organize college related stuff we launched a private Facebook group only for the applied computer science students.

The other day a guy posted a question into the group:

 

"Hi I hope someone can help me out here. I'm about to buy a new PC and I'm kind of in a sticky situation right now!! Can someone tell me if it is in any way possible to take my email account with me to the new computer? My password is saved on my current PC and I don't want to go through the trouble of creating a new email account just because I'm getting a new PC. Can I maybe save the password on USB and save it on the new PC?"

 

...and no he wasn't trolling. I laughed so hard

[Darkman]

Happened earlier today:

 

My little sister complained that her laptop refused to work, I say it's broken (and later found out that the hard drive is dead), and she blames me for breaking it... Typical to blame people who actually know something about the subject, and never blame themselves for anything.

I wish this stuff didn't happen but it sadly does.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Happened earlier today:

 

My little sister complained that her laptop refused to work, I say it's broken (and later found out that the hard drive is dead), and she blames me for breaking it... Typical to blame people who actually know something about the subject, and never blame themselves for anything.

That's my mom about literally everything ever.

[soaringchicken]

My entire group of friends has no idea what a GPU is, I cri errytim. I try and converse about PC parts but its hopeless, they have absolutely no knowledge of the inner workings of a PC. 

 

They are all console peasants.

[MLG Doge]

Noscope them.

 

But anyway, that was a pointless thread...

[Theblasphemouscoffee]

At my school it seems like lots of people are getting pc gaming, at least within the people I talk to so most of them know about this stuff

[Geekazoid]

Noscope them.

 

But anyway, that was a pointless thread...

Agreed!

[Speedyv]

I have both console and PC friends. 

They aren't really experts though.

[meritmaster]

I wouldn't get why anyone would have a problem with it; it's less difficult than a Star Wars Lego kit, so it should not be a problem for anyone.

[Megabikerjoe]

Had to explain a friend what a SD-card is last week..

[StopTheWar]

Had to explain a friend what a SD-card is last week..

What has this world come to....

[TechTalk]

One of my friends is getting the hang of it. I enjoy watching him learn more.

When I met him he had no idea how to build a PC or anything but I've basically taught him everything.

[gundershot]

The majority of people in my school disappoint me when it comes to tech. At least some of the gamers know enough to want a PC, I'm currently helping three of my friends plan their builds.

[Shroomster]

I have forced all my friends into building their own PCs, or helping them to build them. So they are getting out of the depths of ignorance.