@nogoodwithnames I thought over the years my google-fu would catch on with the masses, but sadly, daily I am finding that people are getting worse at looking up information than ever.
@thismyusername Boy don't you know that. I teach online as an adjunct and if the students can't find it on page one of google (even if I can find it page one of google) they give up. Never mind there are librarians at that school online much of the time to chat and help them reference librarian style way.
IT administrator for four locations, 2000 users, lots of storage, high security etc etc, blah blah.... all I can say is you keep learning EVERY DAY in IT
@Veloslave Till you find that hidden USB port and the side of your ear and download all the internet...
But yes, the learning never stops. If only they slowed down on the server releases. Seems like the moment I get everything stable some asshole decides to release the next version.
@darkzrobe The never ending battle between "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "better security, more features, do we really need it?" Factor in budget games, compatibility issues, time, training, down time and all that equals the IT world... especially at the top. All Grandma wants to know is how does email work and why am I getting all these popups?
I'll be 62 in about three weeks and most everyone I know comes to me for help with their problems.
My husband is the worst. And it's really hard to get through to him that I can't fix operator errors. Every problem he has is "because of the windows update". SMH. Yeah, that's why all of your tabs close out in any browser when you close out "just the one"....funny how this stuff rarely happens when I'm watching over his shoulder and it can't be replicated when I'm watching.
for now, i'm the untrained IT savant for my friends/Immediate family. the stuff i can't handle, gets sent up to "level 2", aka My Older brother, who is a legit IT Professional. (at work he's above the Help desk, builds the desktop installs for his employer)
I say "for now", because he's looking to move back near our hometown to be closer to family before the Niece (1st Grade),and Nephew(8th grade) are grown.
I help everyone with their everything. I even set up all my parents with remote desktop so I don't have to run to their house everytime they accidently move the windows start bar or click the chrome icon instead of IE.
@ACraigL This is great, worked for years, but they still had too many silly issues. The next step was to get them all to buy Chromebooks. Hardly every get bothered anymore.
For those of you who are the family help desk, and for those of you who just want better security, here's some tips: You want as few plugins running as possible: Flash should be disabled, or set to click-to-play if you still need it. Java shouldn't be installed unless you actually need it for something, and then you should be using click-to-play for this as well. Install MalwareBytes Anti-Exploit (paid version if you can afford it, otherwise the free version is quite good). Keep your computer and software patched!!! Many attacks are foiled just by having up-to-date software (Windows, Office, Flash, Adobe Reader). Use a password manager so you can avoid re-using passwords for sites, and have more complicated passwords than you can remember. Never use a registry cleaner.
I'm in the Grandma category and have several problems that lead to total confusion. No. 1, I'm getting close to 70 and I've noticed that it's more difficult to learn things than it used to be. No. 2, I don't know as much as I used to (it takes me longer to answer Jeopardy questions). No. 3, I don't retain information as well. If someone shows me how to post a picture today and I don't have to do it for another two months, I don't remember how. Even if I write it down, when I look at my note it's like, "What the hell did I mean?" No. 4, it always asks me questions I don't know the answer to. I don't know if I want to save or download. I don't know the difference. There's a script running, do you want to.... Again, I don't know. No. 5, I'm really happy just knowing the everyday stuff; i.e., email, Google; heck, just turning it on and off. I really appreciate when my son does his absolute best not to be condescending when he shows me something for the fourth time and I think I did the same when I taught him to tie his shoes.
@pooflady My grandpa is in his 80s and I'm often the one who has to help him with his computer. Even if it's annoying sometimes, I just remind myself how annoying the computer must be from his perspective, and thus I always do it with a smile. When I get to around your age, I hope my future kids or grandkids will help me just the same with whatever crazy technology we have then.
I'm known among my nerd-friends as the person who gets drunk and starts dding their way to making drive backups and the like. In all my drunk dds, I have yet to 'destroy data'.
I am one with the Borg.
@darkzrobe so that makes you a microsoftian?
@duodec I like it the best, but I am good with Red Hat, Solaris, Ubuntu, etc.
At least when I manage machines my windows ones develop gremlins/personalty slower than my unix ones.
Does ability to Google any problem away count?
@nogoodwithnames I thought over the years my google-fu would catch on with the masses, but sadly, daily I am finding that people are getting worse at looking up information than ever.
@thismyusername Boy don't you know that. I teach online as an adjunct and if the students can't find it on page one of google (even if I can find it page one of google) they give up. Never mind there are librarians at that school online much of the time to chat and help them reference librarian style way.
I AM a Grandma, dammit, and I'm also the help desk for half my friends.
@OldCatLady Pardon my tech jargon but...
You are scaring the shit out of me.
IT administrator for four locations, 2000 users, lots of storage, high security etc etc, blah blah.... all I can say is you keep learning EVERY DAY in IT
@Veloslave Till you find that hidden USB port and the side of your ear and download all the internet...
But yes, the learning never stops. If only they slowed down on the server releases. Seems like the moment I get everything stable some asshole decides to release the next version.
@darkzrobe The never ending battle between "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "better security, more features, do we really need it?" Factor in budget games, compatibility issues, time, training, down time and all that equals the IT world... especially at the top. All Grandma wants to know is how does email work and why am I getting all these popups?
@Veloslave End of the day, really good job security lol.
That bell curve is warped to the weirdo side. Guilty.
I am the "computer guy" for my imediate family.
I just use google
@WilhelmScreamer
I build my own wifi routers for fun. And security. Fun and security.
I feel like there is a really large gap between helpdesk and supervillain. I also find that helpdesks do not help.
I'm tech support for India.
Picked up programming as a hobby and I can usually fix all my co-workers broken electronics
@rufflez For all of India???
Now watch as Mediocre emails everyone who voted cyborg-level and asks them to apply for one of their several open jobs.
@lljk They can't afford us.
@PocketBrain I don't know, I'd be willing to work for a Mediocre salary.
I'll be 62 in about three weeks and most everyone I know comes to me for help with their problems.
My husband is the worst. And it's really hard to get through to him that I can't fix operator errors. Every problem he has is "because of the windows update". SMH. Yeah, that's why all of your tabs close out in any browser when you close out "just the one"....funny how this stuff rarely happens when I'm watching over his shoulder and it can't be replicated when I'm watching.
I am a cyborg supervillain.
for now, i'm the untrained IT savant for my friends/Immediate family. the stuff i can't handle, gets sent up to "level 2", aka My Older brother, who is a legit IT Professional. (at work he's above the Help desk, builds the desktop installs for his employer)
I say "for now", because he's looking to move back near our hometown to be closer to family before the Niece (1st Grade),and Nephew(8th grade) are grown.
I help everyone with their everything. I even set up all my parents with remote desktop so I don't have to run to their house everytime they accidently move the windows start bar or click the chrome icon instead of IE.
@ACraigL This is great, worked for years, but they still had too many silly issues. The next step was to get them all to buy Chromebooks. Hardly every get bothered anymore.
For those of you who are the family help desk, and for those of you who just want better security, here's some tips:
You want as few plugins running as possible:
Flash should be disabled, or set to click-to-play if you still need it.
Java shouldn't be installed unless you actually need it for something, and then you should be using click-to-play for this as well.
Install MalwareBytes Anti-Exploit (paid version if you can afford it, otherwise the free version is quite good).
Keep your computer and software patched!!!
Many attacks are foiled just by having up-to-date software (Windows, Office, Flash, Adobe Reader).
Use a password manager so you can avoid re-using passwords for sites, and have more complicated passwords than you can remember.
Never use a registry cleaner.
@dashcloud Patching and Safe browsing habits are the best things you can do to keep you safe. And avoid anything that claims to speed up your pc.
I'm in the Grandma category and have several problems that lead to total confusion. No. 1, I'm getting close to 70 and I've noticed that it's more difficult to learn things than it used to be. No. 2, I don't know as much as I used to (it takes me longer to answer Jeopardy questions). No. 3, I don't retain information as well. If someone shows me how to post a picture today and I don't have to do it for another two months, I don't remember how. Even if I write it down, when I look at my note it's like, "What the hell did I mean?" No. 4, it always asks me questions I don't know the answer to. I don't know if I want to save or download. I don't know the difference. There's a script running, do you want to.... Again, I don't know. No. 5, I'm really happy just knowing the everyday stuff; i.e., email, Google; heck, just turning it on and off. I really appreciate when my son does his absolute best not to be condescending when he shows me something for the fourth time and I think I did the same when I taught him to tie his shoes.
@pooflady My grandpa is in his 80s and I'm often the one who has to help him with his computer. Even if it's annoying sometimes, I just remind myself how annoying the computer must be from his perspective, and thus I always do it with a smile. When I get to around your age, I hope my future kids or grandkids will help me just the same with whatever crazy technology we have then.
I'm known among my nerd-friends as the person who gets drunk and starts dding their way to making drive backups and the like. In all my drunk dds, I have yet to 'destroy data'.