I learn a lot watching my inlaws surf the internet
 

Most of the people I know are pretty tech and internet savy. Even my own parents have a decent sized clue. My in laws, however, would have trouble doing much on a computer and/or the internet if they didn't have a lot of hand holding on it.

They live a few hours away and every now and then my husband gets a "help me" phone call from one of them regarding their computer or the internet.

Last night we had a classic.

It went like this:

Mom in Law: Help, I can't use my computer!

Husband: What is wrong with it this time?

Mom In Law: I have a huge virus warning thing taking up the whole screen and it won't close.

Husband: What did you do?

Mom In Law: Nothing, I was on google (the whole web is google to her) and this thing popped up and said I had a virus and I needed to put my password in and it would fix it.

Husband: What password?

Mom In Law: My password...but it won't take it and the screen won't go away

Husband: WHAT Password!? You shouldn't be putting a password into anything.

Mom In Law: But it says I have to put it in or I have a virus in my windows.

Husband: Windows? Mum, what does the virus screen say. Read it to me.

Mom In Law: It says my copy of Vista Windows has a virus.

Husband: Mum, you have a Mac.


Every time I wonder how people fall for spam I will play this conversation in my head.

num num :)

:1orglaugh

http://i42.tinypic.com/35lcdoo.jpg

what's their email address?

lol

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

best picture ever

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I am just glad they never call asking for help with porn sites.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

lmfao :1orglaugh

:1orglaugh
It cracked me up! :)

"do you sell color printers?"

- "yes"

"could i get one in blue"

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

yea.. makes me wonder sometimes haha

must be fun :)

My mum is terrible with her computer too. She's getting better, she can now use MSN which is a pain in the ass since I never get rid of her now.

LOL! Wow. :)

I finally got my parents off of AOL.

They aren't even my in-laws and that hurt. Poor you.

If you take the conversation between the mom and husband and
simply replace the word "computer" with "web site", it sounds like
the average conversation between me and a typical webmaster -
"Help, I can't use my web site ... " ;)
How to NOT be the subject of a similar tread on webhostingtalk.com :

> Mom in Law: Help, I can't use my computer!

Don't say "my site doesn't work" - be specific.
Also maybe mention WHICH of your 12 sites you're talking about.

> Husband: What did you do?

> Mom In Law: Nothing.

Yes, you were doing something, and we'll eventually figure out what, but if
we have to take an hour to figure it out we'll probably bill you for that hour, so
just tell us what you did or were doing.

> Husband: What password?

> Mom In Law: My password...but it won't take it and the screen won't go away

> Husband: WHAT Password!? You shouldn't be putting a password into anything.

> Mom In Law: But it says ...

Answer the damn question! We don't ask you questions just for fun - we need
the answer in order to help you.


> Husband: Windows? Mum, what does the virus screen say. Read it to me.

> Mom In Law: It says my copy of Vista Windows has a virus.

Maybe you should have told us what the error message was in the
FIRST email so we could have diagnosed the problem immediately.
That would save you from a frustrating email exchange, and save you
from being the subject of a "dumb users" post on another board.