Those newfangled intarwebs.

[museology.livejournal.com]

My mother just asked me how she could "uninstall my grandfather's old internet and install his new internet."

Sigh. At least it's better than my walking away from my laptop after 4 hours of coding in Python, and my stepdad freaking out that I had a virus because of all the text on my screen and closing it. Sure, I'd saved about 30 minutes before, but still..

Normally, I'm cool being tech-support family member, but sometimes, the stupid hurts.

Comments

[margaretc.livejournal.com]

Always always ALWAYS save before you walk away.
Just make it a habit to hit ctrl-s or < esc > :w < enter > (or whatever your save command is) whenever you pause for thought.
Just sayin'

[museology.livejournal.com]

I normally do, but this was a quick "crap, my cell phone's ringing in the next room, it'll only take two seconds" trip away.. Didn't think he'd have time to screw anything up..

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Put his computer in a fishing net strong enough to make keystrokes not register. That's the 'new and improved' internet.

[museology.livejournal.com]

Hahah. Is it bad that I understood she meant "cancel his PeoplePC dial-up and be sure the wireless is functioning correctly?"

[batchfile.livejournal.com]

have any of your older family members been concerned about you getting seriously ill from the new computer virus they heard about on the news?

[museology.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly, no. My grandfather just asks for things like, "Will you install the new iTunes for me?" He's the LEAST of my worries.

My mother, on the other hand..

[ximinez]

stepdad freaking out that I had a virus because of all the text on my screen and closing it.

Man, when people leave their computers unlocked around the office, the worst we ever do is change their home page to the Scott Baio Fan Club... ;)

[tmesser.livejournal.com]

Well, it could be worse; his stepdad could have poured Lysol on the keyboard to "kill the virus" instead.

[museology.livejournal.com]

The idea of Scott Baio still having a fanclub made me choke on my coffee. I don't know why, but that's the funniest thing I've heard in forever.

[ximinez]

Exactly! :)

[museology.livejournal.com]

Maybe some people thought his VH1 reality shows ("Scott Baio is 45... and Single" and "Scott Baio is 46... and Pregnant") were endearing?..

[teriwyn.livejournal.com]

Where I used to work, the common "unlocked PC" offense was to send an email out as that person. It was sent to the entire office, and promised a breakfast of donuts the next day. People who did not make good on it were hounded until they did.

So leaving your computer unlocked could get expensive after a while. We had one guy who, for a good month or two, was bringing in donuts every week.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

IT was at my desk logged in with the SU account to do some maintenance... IT walked away cause it was going to take a while and said "i'll be back in 20 min" I'm like ok, well i gotta step away from my computer so i'll just lock it so that no one messes with my email... doh...

[jecook]

Ah, baggy pantsing!

[canray.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, didn't you hear the Senator from Alaska.

The new Interwebz is a "Series of Tubes". Computer people can't figure it out any longer, you need a plumber.

They have Platinum-Plated Tools now, rather than just the Gold they used to...

[mattcaron.livejournal.com]

Do you not have:

Meta-X recover-file

Or similar? (Aka - turn autosave on, because you never know when someone will attack your machine).