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Norton Rant
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jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:00 am    Post subject: Norton Rant Reply with quote
    

Just got back from my mums whi has against stict instructions tried to install Norton 2005

It failed, and now won't uninstall or even get back in to the installer

https://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nsw.nsf/docid/2001101612274407?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=2&Src=#_Section2

may be an answer if nayone has a similar problem.

I just wish people would understand that playing about with this sort of stuff is like going under the bonnet of your car. Only to be done if you know what you are doing. When will people realise that PC's are complicated?

jema

joanne



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Did you read this article on BBC News

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4156333.stm - IT support for your parents

It may sound familiar

Joanne

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's it to a tee, I even have the remote connection

But what I find the biggest problem is that my Mum does not seem to understand the concept of don't install stuff

I gave her a "good telling off" this morning, which is not like me But I don't have hours and hours to spare trying to fix things.

jema

Northern_Lad



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Can you not change her profile to stop her installing stuff?

joanne



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It struck a chord with me as well

My mother uses me like "IT Support, Trainer and General PC Dogsbody" all rolled into one - rather than actually learning how to use the PC properly, if there is something she doesn't understand she just rings me - whether its a field on a form on a website or how to underline stuff in Word - drives me absolutely nuts because I've lost count of the amount of times I've very patiently taken through how to do stuff - She just doesn't listen

My Dad's even worse though - he won't ask for help (thats his natural personality - he never ever asks anyone for help in anything - he waits for people to offer!!!!), he tries to muddle through and ends up on some seriously dodgy websites with no idea how he got there and usually makes things 10x worse than it was if he'd just asked me - for instance the last time I deloused their computer when I installed AVG it had 40 different Spyware programs and 20 virus-like infections

Then add-in my brother who thinks he knows what he is doing but really hasn't a clue and I wonder why under the Black and Purple Hair dye I'm almost completely grey!!!!!

To make things worse, they've all now discovered eBay

Joanne

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 10:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd rather not change profiles, I'd like to avoid classifying anyone as a 2 year old

But this is almost the last straw.

jema

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I used to have similar experiences with my FIL, given up completely now

sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Just tell him that computers are made by foreigners and he'll probably refuse to touch one ever again

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Check out today's Daily Mail headline "Popadom madness"

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

jocorless wrote:
My mother uses me like "IT Support, Trainer and General PC Dogsbody" all rolled into one


My mums not that bad, and I've used her as a trainer for many things over the years.

I sometimes think PC sales people are often to blame as they sometimes ship packages that never work together.

joanne



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Treacodactyl wrote:
PC sales people are often to blame as they sometimes ship packages that never work together.


Ahh you see thats the problem - I sourced the PC and put together the package (which at the time was a really really good deal) but now nearly 5 years later, of course it desperately needs upgrading and try explaining that one to my Mother!!!! - Alot of their problems come from the fact that its a Gateway running Win98 Millenium Edition and doesn't have a CD or DVD writer so I can't back it up and give it the format c:\ option to clean it out which I'm really itching to do

Joanne

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

jocorless wrote:
Treacodactyl wrote:
PC sales people are often to blame as they sometimes ship packages that never work together.


Ahh you see thats the problem - I sourced the PC and put together the package (which at the time was a really really good deal) but now nearly 5 years later, of course it desperately needs upgrading and try explaining that one to my Mother!!!! - Alot of their problems come from the fact that its a Gateway running Win98 Millenium Edition and doesn't have a CD or DVD writer so I can't back it up and give it the format c:\ option to clean it out which I'm really itching to do

Joanne


I have taken to getting quite ruthless with :

format c:\

I do it to a lot of people. With a really fubar machine, getting it sorted without this measure, can be finger in a dyke measures. Only works in fairy tales.

jema

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

jocorless wrote:
Ahh you see thats the problem - I sourced the PC and put together the package (which at the time was a really really good deal) but now nearly 5 years later, of course it desperately needs upgrading and try explaining that one to my Mother!!!! - Alot of their problems come from the fact that its a Gateway running Win98 Millenium Edition and doesn't have a CD or DVD writer so I can't back it up and give it the format c:\ option to clean it out which I'm really itching to do


I run a laptop with the first edition of Win 98, almost impossible to get anything modern to work with it. Broadband was fun installing No CD writer or anything like that (hence my new PC post )

mrutty



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The problem is the mis selling of IT kit. These are complex machines that were built for engineers.

There is on this forum a person that has more qualifications than I and in no way dumb that asks me a number of questions per month. That person can run rings round me in a number of areas, but I won't ask this person to strip down my washing machine and fix it or to overhaul my car. PCs are sold with the understanding that they are easy to use and to understand. Lemmingware has not helped as many people can click but have no understanding of what sits under the hood. Most people have more idea of how a car works than a PC.

Real IT engineers are the ones that say that they are only a .......network engineer, software engineer, etc. No one in the industry (except maybe Billyboy) thinks they know it all.

Oops slipped in to rant mode there

jema
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 05 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

mrutty wrote:

Real IT engineers are the ones that say that they are only a .......network engineer, software engineer, etc. No one in the industry (except maybe Billyboy) thinks they know it all.



I was saying just the same myself on the forum to Sara "real all round gurus" are very rare, the field is just too wide.

I am a pretty good all rounder myself I can build them, program them in more than a dozen languages, I know much about configuring several operating systems on them. I have enough networking knowledge to resolve a lot of network issues. I do web design. I can cope with a number of graphics packages and so on.
But I will still get stumped by things. In this case Norton AV. I do not like AV packages, and certainly would not know off the top of my head why a particular package would fail to install. No one can hope to know half of it.

jema

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