Who taught you how to.........

[StrtRacer98]

.... Use a computer ?

My dad is completely computer illiterate, and has lately been interested in using the computer / internet and it amazes me at how complicated he's finding it to be.

He's really old fashioned, and has never in his life had a reason to use a computer.
60 years old now and just learning to use a computer is not coming to naturally to him.

He also had some issues with the cell phone, but hes okay with that now.

He's using a dell desktop, with windows Xp Pro (simple IMO.)

I remember when I first started using a computer, I had no real instruction on how to use a computer, navigate the internet, compose an email, attach images, search engines such as google etc... I just learned as I went

Its almost everyday my dad asks me to come by and show him how to do a certain thing on the internet, things ive told him how to do several times, for example... how do i put pictures on the computer from my camera, and put them on an email... Ive told him about 5 times what to do and next time he wants to do that again, he will call me and ask how, im sure of it.

He's fallen for some of the get rich at home scams, take surveys online and make $ type of ****..

I had to call a few places and have his credit card removed from the billing list and cancel a subscription because he didnt realize he was getting billed monthly for some type of 'service' where you can make money.

He now knows to absolutely not use his credit card online ever, and if he ever feels the need to purchase something or has some kind of idea he thinks is smart I need to come over and supervise because he just doesnt get that its not safe.

Anyone elses parents / grandparents have issues learning about electronics?

[Mogobs30th]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I did for the most part, but Ive had one in my house since 1995. Most of the programs I know I was taught in school, I had several computer classes then. But everything else was self taught.

My father on the other hand is the same way. He still has a rotary phone in his house.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

The only formal training I've had in computer programs were required classes that were just review, other than a few programming classes. I've always thought most programs are logically setup and so without any direction I've always been able to navigate them. If it really comes down to it, google.

My dad seemed to catch onto it pretty well, but since he owns his own business, he had to be able to troubleshoot the problems everyone had so he was forced into it. I've taken over all the computer stuff at his office now. My mom on the other hand, I've taught her how to attach photos to emails 4 or 5 times and only recently has she figured it out. She still doesn't understand the concepts of highlighting text and moving things from one place to another. I honestly can't imagine a more logical way of designing the things she doesn't understand.

[Niko97RS]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

my grandparents still think that their IBM with the green and black screen from the early 90s with no internet is new technology....

[StrtRacer98]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

He still has a rotary phone in his house.

my grandparents still think that their IBM with the green and black screen from the early 90s with no internet is new technology....

[dmw319]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I remember when I taught my mom how to use a computer. I minimized a window and it went to the taskbar. She thought it was gone forever and started freaking out and saying, "YOU DIDNT SAVE IT! YOU DIDNT SAVE IT!"

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I remember when I taught my mom how to use a computer. I minimized a window and it went to the taskbar. She thought it was gone forever and started freaking out and saying, "YOU DIDNT SAVE IT! YOU DIDNT SAVE IT!"

So true, I can remember some similar experiences with my mom.

[T-Mill]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

Only things I'm really good with on the computer is Autocad which I took a class for Freshman year of college that taught the basics and then taught myself some of the more advanced stuff... and navigating the internet which is obviously self-taught...

my mom on the other hand is crazy good on computers, she works on one all day, but she's completely self-taught

[ssms5411]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I remember when we took my Mom and Dads computer out it was a 4 section 1/2 ton computer that spit out cards. Haha, Then put in a 15LB computer with printer. LOL My Dad and Mom got scammed on some stuff but got there money back through the CC for fraud on most. I had to learn on my own , mainly just taking courses for jobs.

[pace2006]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I remember when my parents had an old white laptop with MS DOS or something like that. I used to play games on it (this was before the internet became popular for general use).

After that, they got a laptop with Windows 98 and I was pretty much showing them how to do certain tasks on it.

My grandparents are pretty good with their desktop. They get on and play Freecell and Blasterball, check their email, look up the NASA sites, etc. Only time I've had to help them was the usual software cleaning and virus removal.

[Mighty Thor]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

I thought my dad how to use a computer, but my mom is reluctant. Funny thing is my mom used to be a secretary before she married my dad. She's awesome with the typewriter and she can type 50wpm with only 2 fingers. But I don't know why she has no interest in the computer.

[unvmyrs]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

Dude my mom calls me all the time asking if I could help her cuz her computer is slow. Then she says "I think I have a virus. Is their something you can download?" It's so funny. I've told her how to do things like 80 times and she still doesn't get it. I just think that in the latter part of my life, their will be something I will not really know how to or don't want to mess with. I'll just be like "Back in my day when things were simpler..." for example: Flying cars. Not that they'll be out in my lifetime but if they were, i wouldn't want to drive them being an old cooky nut lol

[Bandit127]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

Ive been building computers since I was 12 (19 now) so its just natural to me. I hate them, with a passion, which is why I switched to automotive. Sounds weird, but with computer logic I've acquired, it really helps with just about any kind of repair, and wiring diagrams are easy reading lol.

Love building computers, could crap a care less about virus's and other software problems.

Made my boss laugh when he acquired a virus and all i did after removing it, was reset his IE settings (there is a big reset button! :D) and it fixed it, after he spent 3-4 hours the night before trying to figure out whats what and how to remove it.

[SilverRS96]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

my dad knows how to do one thing on the computer. Shutting it off by pulling the plug. Other than that hes got no idea how to use it and really doesnt seem interested in learning. His thoughts about em r if i can go 56 years without using it y do i need to start now? Since ive been deployed hes kinda tried to use them a little since its a easy way to get a hold of me. Suborn old bastard lol

[Everglades W68]

Re: Who taught you how to.........

1984 - University of Central Florida College of Business "PC Lab" - we used the new IBM PCs. When we got in the PC - ATs and PC- XTs, that was :cool:. The machine I liked best had 512K of RAM (most of the PCs had 128k or 256K of RAM). In order to start up the PCs, you had to put in the 5 1/4" floppy disk containing DOS. We played games using the Apples - they had this cool graphical interface and used a curious little device called a mouse.

Both PC and Apples crashed at least once every hour. We were constantly making at least two copies of all disks (both floppies and hard drives failed frequently). I still remember one girl in tears because she lost her big Accounting Informatiomn Systems project.

Me: Did you make a back up of the files?
Her: Yes.
Me: So what is the problem? Use the back up file.
Her: I can't retrieve the back up file either.
Me: Why not?
Her: My back up was on the same floppy disk as the original files!