victimization of IT by relatives

[Lord Orwell]

this post is pointless. I just had such a situation today that i had to tell someone lest i go mad.

I'm at hospital with mother in law. She was admitted for chest pain. She has laptop with her. She said "while you are here, can you get my webcam to work?"
let the pain begin. I went through all the usual steps. I checked device manager: No capture device. Meanwhile i have her yammering about how the webcam requires a password to use. Eventually this turns out to be something with cyberlink's website. Much much later i find out why she thinks it's a cyberlink webcam. After i log onto hp's website to check for drivers i discover the model tag is gone off of the bottom of her laptop. much later after installing hp's detector program i finally browse to the correct download area only to discover no drivers exist for a webcam for her laptop. I should point out her laptop actually appears to have a glass spot where a webcam could be.

So anyway she bought the laptop at best buy and at this point i'm doubting whether or not it has a webcam. I say so. She says "Geek squad says it has a webcam" And then goes on about how she's having issues logging into geek squad, whatever that means.

Also she mentions about this time that the computer came with a cyberlink dvd for the webcam.

So anyway after much research i determine that her laptop wasn't even offered with a webcam. Every place selling it and listing a webcam also has "internal webcam:no" on the description so they are evidently packaging an external one with it.

so then she tells me "the webcam arrived yesterday" but she's still convinced there is an internal one.
But it gets worse. She wants to know why she can't get the webcam software to work. I explained to her no less than 7 times that how in the hell could she use a webcam that she didn't bring. She can't very well expect a friggin webcam to work when it's not connected, and the software of course isn't going to work if the webcam isn't connected! The very last thing i did before i left about an hour and a half later was tell her YET AGAIN because she was "here's the webcam software, what's wrong with it? I used it yesterday and even took a picture of myself" If i was there 2 more minutes i would have confiscated her laptop and given it to someone more worthy.

I should point out that in the past she's also tried to pay for antivirus 2010, the virus. When it comes to computer ability, she really is the gift that keeps on giving. The only person i know who's worse than her is my own mom, who i quit calling because the last time i did, i tried to get her to run system restore and it took nearly 20 minutes for her to locate "accessories" in the start menu.

And i want to get a job doing this? Sigh.

[Nightwalker83]

She said "while you are here, can you get my webcam to work?"

My grandma pulls the same kind of stunt whenever we are about to leave her house.

[LaVolpe]

Maybe: "I'm sorry, I'm sure it works at your house, but he hospital signals must be blocking the internal webcam somehow, I don't know maybe the electromagnetic fields from all their equipment? When someone brings the external one from your house then we can hook it up and see." The idea, reasonable doubt for an unreasonable person.

[abhijit]

I spent several hours trying to explain my sister that she was running "Skype Setup" and not "Skype" the program. At one point of time, I felt like I wanted to jump off the building.

[Aash]

Mostly it is considered that females are slow speed learner, but that's not true.

[Lord Orwell]

my brother isn't any better. The reason i was trying to get my mom to run system restore was because my brother virused up his computer for about the 7th time that year.

[honeybee]

At least she knows about logging into websites and some general computer usage. It could be worse!

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[Max Peck]

It is next to impossible to get a neophyte to understand that you can't solve hardware problems with software! I feel your pain Orwell!

-Max

[BackWoodsCoder]

Get her an iPad. Seriously. I've seen people who've struggled with things like checking email and printing word docs for years pick up an iPad and learn how to use it very well within a week. Long gone are my days of trudging up to my friends parents house to remove virii and spyware, re-install programs and operating systems, restoring data from backup. It's heaven. Plus it made me really happy when I went up there last and saw how happy his mom was to finally be able to send pictures and talk to her family members with no problems.

While a lot of us techie people scoff at it, this is what it's perfect for. Press one button to do this, one button to do that, and you're on your way. You'll never get away from the "hey can you look at this real fast" if you know how to repair PC's, but it may make it better :P

[Max Peck]

Get her an iPad. Seriously. I've seen people who've struggled with things like checking email and printing word docs for years pick up an iPad and learn how to use it very well within a week. Long gone are my days of trudging up to my friends parents house to remove virii and spyware, re-install programs and operating systems, restoring data from backup. It's heaven. Plus it made me really happy when I went up there last and saw how happy his mom was to finally be able to send pictures and talk to her family members with no problems.

While a lot of us techie people scoff at it, this is what it's perfect for. Press one button to do this, one button to do that, and you're on your way. You'll never get away from the "hey can you look at this real fast" if you know how to repair PC's, but it may make it better :P

I've got to concur with this one. For a strict consumer of data nothing beats the iPhone and/or iPad type devices. I bought my wife an iPhone4 a month or so ago. She very seldom goes to her laptop any longer. I have an iPhone4 also but there's no way I, as a developer, could live only with that device, though it sure is a great extension.

-Max

[Hack]

Maybe: "I'm sorry, I'm sure it works at your house, but he hospital signals must be blocking the internal webcam somehow, I don't know maybe the electromagnetic fields from all their equipment? When someone brings the external one from your house then we can hook it up and see."

Brilliant.

[Lord Orwell]

Get her an iPad. Seriously. I've seen people who've struggled with things like checking email and printing word docs for years pick up an iPad and learn how to use it very well within a week. Long gone are my days of trudging up to my friends parents house to remove virii and spyware, re-install programs and operating systems, restoring data from backup. It's heaven. Plus it made me really happy when I went up there last and saw how happy his mom was to finally be able to send pictures and talk to her family members with no problems.

While a lot of us techie people scoff at it, this is what it's perfect for. Press one button to do this, one button to do that, and you're on your way. You'll never get away from the "hey can you look at this real fast" if you know how to repair PC's, but it may make it better :P

I've got to concur with this one. For a strict consumer of data nothing beats the iPhone and/or iPad type devices. I bought my wife an iPhone4 a month or so ago. She very seldom goes to her laptop any longer. I have an iPhone4 also but there's no way I, as a developer, could live only with that device, though it sure is a great extension.

-Max

she actually owns an unrooted e-reader android tablet. Of course she stil hasn't managed to get an ebook on it. I should also point out she has Multiple Sclerosis so holding a tablet in one hand while using it with the other is out of the question.

[sapator]

I just don't show anyone anything and i can live a happy man(everyone hates me for that.Good!).
Last time was couple of years ago with my mother and i eventually jumped of the flat window 2nd floor and started running a couple of km's screaming.So ye, i don't show anything nowadays.

[honeybee]

Last time was couple of years ago with my mother and i eventually jumped of the flat window 2nd floor and started running a couple of km's screaming.

Couldn't you just have dropped down? Methinks it would have been easier than running all the way to the bottom.

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[BlindSniper]

I know exactly how you feel.
Sometimes when I am at a friend's house their parents ask me: "Oh, while you are here can you check why the scanner isn't working and why my email only works sometimes" at that point I feel like screaming because I am not their personal IT support.

My dad can't find a program if it is not on the desktop or on the start menu. He also thinks that his 20 gig hard drive is big enough for modern programs for running a business (it has 36 KB free space at this moment) He doesn't want to buy a new pc for next to nothing he wants to upgrade a 8 year old PC with a new hard drive

My sister can't figure out how to connect to the internet when all you have to do is click connect at the bottom right of the screen.

I get called a few times a day to fix something that's not broke by someone in my house, so I'm fed up with all this.

[Aash]

Everyone do asks from my brother whenever someone needs help about IT and then he gets fed up too.

[abhijit]

I just don't show anyone anything and i can live a happy man(everyone hates me for that.Good!).
Last time was couple of years ago with my mother and i eventually jumped of the flat window 2nd floor and started running a couple of km's screaming.So ye, i don't show anything nowadays.

2nd Floor? Out of curiosity in Greece, where do you start counting floors? Is the floor at the ground level considered 0 or 1?

[sapator]

I guess 0 is the ground floor and 1 is the 1st floor but since my old house had a floor beyond the ground level i actual jumped from the 1st floor.
So in short, i don't know the exact way that calculate.
Edit:I also hate when someone asks me to assist him/her in fixing their broken mobile phone....Err you have dropped it down,smashed,watered,kicked it and vacuumed it,twice.Do i look like an HP technician?Do,i?No, so how the hell could i possibly fix your phone?

[honeybee]

Do HP technicians fix mobile phones too? Never knew that...

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[sapator]

Smartass!
http://www.letsgomobile.org/en/cellu...cellphone/all/

[honeybee]

Yes, you are right. I forgot about the iPaqs, maybe because for me they are more like PDAs than phones. For me HP is more associated with Printers/Scanners, next laptops, then desktop PCs and maybe then if I could remember, the mobile phones.

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[sapator]

So i won this round?Can i put out the flags and celebrate?

[honeybee]

Yeah sure, and do have some bread too. Brown bread.

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