Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[Roger Godpleton]

My wrist scars aren't itchy anymore so what am I supposed to do with all this E45 I have left.


And then when I need it again it'll turn out that I had less than I thought I had and I'll have to get some more and inflation will have made it more expensive and I will probably have a legitimate unwanted surplus of E45.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

My day by Dr X.

GOOD: FTL accepted a story that's been done by me and Malicious off this board.

BAD: I had to do an important tender document for my work - meeting the Big Boss about it at 9.30 tomorrow

GOOD: I got to work at home to do it

GOOD: I was using my own PC and not the work laptop; nice big screen and ergonomic keyboard

BAD: I was up to 1am last night working on it

GOOD: I finished it at 1pm

BAD: When I came back from making lunch, my 14 month old PC had blown up

BAD: There is no guarantee

BAD: I hadn't backed the damn thing up

BAD: I caused the damage accidentally and the cooling leaked everywhere

GOOD: My insurance will cover it

BAD: But it will be January before I get a repair/ replacement

GOOD: It means I have to play Mass Effect 2 on the Xbox.

BAD: I need to re-do the whole document before going to bed.

[Banners]

The airline have canceled the flights for our honeymoon.

[The Legendary Shark]

Oh Banners, that just sucks.

Still, honeymoons is all about the luurve, right?

[TordelBack]

Ouch Banners, that's rough.  Hope you get something sorted.

[Banners]

Cheers, Fella. It's not 'til August next year so we should be able to sort something. It will probably cost a bit more though. Oh well...

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Jesus Christ, it's not till August and they've cancelled. I'd get in touch with Watchdog and get yourself on telly, I can see the headline now, 'Honeymoon couple left stranded in shithole of a country' (that's this place by the way )

[Rog69]

I have spent the last three evenings re-installing Vista and all of her software on my Mothers laptop after it was boned by fake antivirus Malware.

Why is it that whatever security you set up on non-techie peoples PC's, they always find a way to disable/un-install/bypass/subvert it and then top it off by reverting back to an old version of internet explorer from the fully pimped out copy of Firefox you install for them.

I have to take it back to her tomorrow evening and pull my hair out while she tries to remember her passwords for he email account and Skype etc.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Rog, I know exactly what you mean. Everyone with the slightest bit of computer know-how knows exactly how frustrating techno-phobes can be. I posted this article before, but it does sum it all up beautifully.

[vzzbux]

I have the week of work and this morning I get a phone call asking me where I am.
I just replied "I booked it months ago through three different people just to make sure so I will see you Monday".
The reply was "OH sorry, OK then".

Fucking idiots.




V

[Banners]

I have spent the last three evenings re-installing Vista and all of her software on my Mothers laptop after it was boned by fake antivirus Malware.

On Sunday, I set my Dad up on the first computer he's ever had. It was quite scary seeing how little he knew - or rather, how much I take for granted. Things like maximising the window, typing into boxes or even clicking on something with the mouse were all alien concepts to him. I tried as best as I could, but after a while he was just nodding and not really getting it. Good on him for trying though...

My own PCs are always supplied with a vanilla Windows installation, so I was surprised that what made things far more confusing was the amount of pre-installed 'bloatware' that came on his machine. All manner of things were popping up and demanding attention. I guess it subsidises the price, but it's a bloody pain - especially the partition manger. The highly technical language was confusing enough for me, goodness knows what the uninitiated make of it(!) Microsoft can spend all they like on marketing Windows 7, but when the initial experience is full of tacky pop-ups it's very off-putting. And is it really necessary to have to reboot THREE times before getting to the desktop on a brand new machine?

After explaining all about Google and how people 'search' for things on the web, my dad phoned me yesterday whilst on his laptop - to ask for the web address for O2. I expect a few more 'support calls' in the days, months, years ahead...

[Rog69]

Yes, the bloatware is a major pain. I re-installed my mums laptop from it's own restore partition and it probably took a good couple of hours to remove all of the crap like Norton and all of Compaq and HP's registration nagware and get it back to a nice clean install.

Pops, check out this link to, it makes a nice companion piece to you'rs - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/computers 

[davethomson]

On Sunday, I set my Dad up on the first computer he's ever had. It was quite scary seeing how little he knew - or rather, how much I take for granted. Things like maximising the window, typing into boxes or even clicking on something with the mouse were all alien concepts to him. I tried as best as I could, but after a while he was just nodding and not really getting it. Good on him for trying though...

I think it is something all of our generation has had to go through, Banners

My mother, sick of being behind the technological curve compared to my father and I, went to one of these beginners computer courses at our local college and passed it with flying colours. The very next day she was on the phone to me, in tears, about how she had broken the family computer (more specifically, my dads PC, his pride and joy in life) so I drove across town to fix it.

When I arrived she was still in tears exclaiming nothing she was doing could get it power up. I pressed the power button on the tower and it turned on normally.

Turns out the college course taught her how to use a PC in their library where they turn on all the PCs in the morning before anyone arrives, conveniently allowing them to skip over the most important lesson in computer usage. Turning the damn things on.

My mother had spent the morning clicking the mouse buttons and saying "On" at the tower, working herself into a frenzy worrying about the damage she had wrought upon the PC. So traumatized was she by this experience she has never used a computer since.

[Dandontdare]

My dad can be very frustrating to teach PC stuff to as he insists on reading EVERY word on the page before clicking on ANYTHING. A simple installation wizard can take hours!

[Tombo]

My dad can be very frustrating to teach PC stuff to as he insists on reading EVERY word on the page before clicking on ANYTHING. A simple installation wizard can take hours!

You're bloody lucky!  My dad doesn't read anything, just forges ahead regardless.  Three guesses who has to sort it out when he makes a balls up, and the first two don't count.  Thank god he's planning on dropping his subscription to Web User magazine.