The Impact of Technophobes

fsharp writes "Most of us have experience with average folks requesting technical support. I have friends and family members that would be lost without my support. I opt for a sliding scale payment plan, usually dinner. At any rate, The New York Times has a nice piece on the impact of technophobes on the Internet (vis-a-vis MyDoom and other email-borne viruses) and their technologically adept friends and family."

Comments

The girlfriend thinks computers are like her?

[LostCluster]

From the article...
Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave illogically.

Uh oh. Computers, by definition, are cold and logical. They don't have personalities. They don't have moods.

If users think computers do have mood swings just like the typical female human, we've got serious user education problems. They clearly don't know the basics of what a computer does, and that makes it much harder to explain how to properly operate a computer.

HERE IS THE NO-REG LINK

[leerpm]

Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off

Sometimes less valuable

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Many times I've run across people that are so far out of the loop that they wouldn't even know to ask me for help or what to ask for help about, thereby my knowledge (if you can call it that) has no value at all to them. Or when I volunteer to look at something, makes me look like a 'know it all'.

For instance, I have several family members with computers: if I ask them if they have a firewall or have current virus definitions they look at me like whats that? and So what?

Hell most of them don't even check for Windows patches, much less wonder why there computer is slow as hell, they just think it's time for an upgrade - not to check for spyware, virii, worms, etc.

Some even tell me 'what the problem is' and refuse any explanation, for example Program X doesn't work correctly it needs more memory. Mind you that the individual doesn't know how, what, which memory to buy (or is compatible) or that it might be due to all of the 500 apps open in his taskbar.

It's not just about Viruses

[shking]

Your solution is to only support the minority because minority operating systems don't get viruses?

If you actually read the post you'd see that:

1. viruses are the not the main reason that the poster only supports Macs
2. Windoze PCs are not the only systems he complains about and won't support (he mentioned IRIX for pete's sake!)

The point of the post is that you don't have to dink around for hours to get a Mac to work. Stuff really does just work when you plug it in.

Now Macs DO have the virus/worm issues that Windows currently has in the real world

Nope. There are zero known viruses for Mac OS X, none, nada, zippity-do-da. There are about 60 viruses for OS 9, as well as a few that macro viruses that infect MS Office (which runs on both Windows and Mac)

Re:My solution:My solution:

[jshift2work]

Macs will never get 90% and Apple has no intention of doing so.

Now that right there is not really a smart sentance. you started out ok. but the last half just is non-sense. You are telling me that Apple has no inentions of becoming the number 1 computer company in the world? i would beg to differ as an ex apple employee we had all kinds of webinars (not realy that word but i just learned that in the poll forum so i will use it cause it is fun) talking about and introducing plans to become the number 1 computer company. in fact i rember #1 in 2001 wow that was so catchy. cant imagine why i quit.

This article is bang-on

[greg03]

I couldn't agree with this article more. I think computer science should be a mandatory high school credit after this experience. I was a technical manager for a major media conference and I had to work with someone who was, by her own admission, completely technophobic (scary part: she was the conference's media contact!) She was completely unreasonable with her demands on the conference web site. She asked me to teach her how to build and maintain a site, but that went nowhere. After awhile, I had to prevent her from logging into the conference's web server out of fear of her making radical (and dangerous) overhauls to the site. Finally, she managed to screw up sending a document via courier on a CD that was corrupt and unreadable. My solution? I contacted the tech guy at the company the document was originally to be sent to, logged onto FTP, sent it via the web - it was done in five minutes. I also had to make an advertisement via layout and graphics programs - she had no idea how the programs worked, what these programs are even capable of doing, and what looks good (and not so good) from a design point of view. I went through a series of battles with her, trying to make her realize that what she wanted was impossible. The kicker came when we had to get web access at the conference. I set up the internet in a hotel room for all the organizers to use, as it had been designated the "war room" and my director wanted it there. So I set it up for them. She calls me on our two-way cell and goes crazy on me for not setting up the web in *her* room. This, after I had spent the first day of the event getting everyone their cells, organizing laptops, getting a PowerPoint presentation finished, and setting up a major A/V system at a huge federal government building and battling with hotel staff in figuring out how to get past their firewall to log into a high speed web connection (this hotel wasn't the most cooperative in giving me instructions). Finally, my director had enough and told her to quit harping on me about it. She was pouty for the rest of the event, giving me the cold shoulder and assuming it was my fault that I didn't set up her precious web access in her room. And here's the last bit on info: this girl was only 23. So not all twentysomethings know computers. Only the incompetant ones.

Lusers need users

[ayahner]

Here's a few tips from someone who graduated from IT support.

As a quickie CV, I worked from helpdesk frontline to personal support over about 4 years. In between I became a helpdesk supervisor, network specialist, sometime sysadmin, etc. All this for my university IT office, while studying for a CS degree. Now I'm a software engineer.

Dealing with strangers:
This is the easiest, because most of the time, if they asked you for help, they already expect you to know more then they do. They'll usually listen to you and follow your steps.

• Evaluate the audience - try to figure out if they are the "professor without power" user, or the weekend sysadmin who hosed his user disk
• Once you know the level, speak to that leve.
• Drop the attitude - no one calling cares what you know. No one cares how smart and important you are. And if you don't know the answer, don't spew forth ridiculous answers you know will confuse them so they stop bothering you. Whether you get paid, or not, you've agreed to help. so do it.
• Look at the guys in Gamestop. If you find yourself acting like one of those guys, stop trying to help and go home and half-finish your xbox mod

Dealing with friends:
This can be tough, because your friends are voyeurs. They want to watch.
also, they don't want to waste your time, so they will try to lear what they can. Often you're shanghai-ed from fixing the cdrom (which, of course, was just a scratched cd) to showing them the location of all the best porn.

• Fix the problem as fast as you can, and don't let him sidetrack you.
• "I'll fix this, then we can address Janet Jackson's boom-boom bitties" will work wonders. Often, any of the myriad questions that would have waylaid you for minutes to hours will become a distant memory by the magic of the now WORKING cd-rom (which you had a backup of, luckily) and Ms. Jackson's Nasty nip
• Be prepared to help him in many ways. Spend the night. Then date his sister. As they say, it is a dish best served... cold.
• Look at the guys in Gamestop. If you find your friend acting like one of those guys, stop trying to help and go home and let him half-finish his xbox mod himself

Dealing with a spouse/signifigant other:
Absolutely the most difficult task in IT.

• Don't do it. Have a friend help them out, pay Comp USA/Dell, or get the hell out of dodge. It's not their fault, but when you are that close to someone, and they are so clueless as to need your help, they need someone that will be patient with them, allow for their mistakes, and NOT MAKE THEM FEEL STUPID, which is inevitable, cause you know this stuff cold, and they don't. Otherwise you would be asking THEM for help.
• Look at the guys in Gamestop. If you find your sig other is looking and/or acting like one of those guys, stop trying to help and go home and let them half-finish the xbox mod, then get some self-esteem. You can do better. Hell, you can do better at an anime con, even.