My mother in law has no knowledge about
computers nor did she ever own one. My father in law has one but use it only to
do his banking, read his e-mail and plays spider solitaire or he listen to jazz
music. He has a little knowledge of everything until it does not work and then
he is stuck.
He still uses Windows XP and does not see the need to upgrade. His
monthly balance sheet of his savings is still done in the early version of Pastel. The company, which was founded in 1989 in Johannesburg, is now a leading developer of accounting and business software.
There is no shame in not knowing about
computers or just be able to help yourself. My parents in laws did not grow up
with Computers, Cell phones, Bluetooth, Tablets, Ipads, Chromebooks,
Smart phones or laptops. They are both over seventy years old. It becomes very
difficult for older people to follow the trend frenzy and keep up with all the
gadgets available. They build up an adversary against everything the younger
generation so dearly need.
When my children showing of their new Black
Berries or new games, they always say, “We did not have those things in our
days, why do you need it now. It cannot be good for you to have all these fads
because it can’t teach you anything”. “One day you don't even know how to write
a decent letter”.
My father in law forbad one of my children to ever touch his
computer because the next day when he wanted to do his finance, his youngest grandchild
replaced all his desktop icons with different ones. He did not have a clue what
was what. I had to change everything back to normal which took me the greater
part of that morning.
My mother in law is a sweet lady and I love her dearly but she tends to have an opinion about any subject she really does not have a clue about. Like her husband’s computer is one of them. I am sure she does not even know how to switch it on.
One day when my Dad in law wanted to buy a
much anticipated book on the internet and asked me to help him, she all of a
sudden became the new Google CEO and pointed out all the dangers encountered by
buying something on the internet and giving out your personal details, e-mail
address and or your banking details.
She argued that if you give out that
information, everybody in the whole wide world will know exactly how much money
you have and will be able to steal all of it because they hack into it. They will spam you with emails
you don't want. They will bother you on your phone with fishing sales. They
infect you with viruses and creepers and they can make you sick as well.
She
even mentioned that they put spiders in your computer and now she cleans and
sprays it with bug spray to make sure nothing creeps out there. I asked her
where she got that information and she replied proudly, “I read”
My father in law already switched of his
computer while I tried to explain to her that what she said is true in a way,
but that those things she mentioned, do occur but not in the way she thinks it
happens. I explained that it is quite safe these days to buy on the internet
and that they have secure payment options which are not visible to anyone because
they are encrypted. She would not listen and said, she read the newspaper and
those things were mentioned there.
My father in law also claimed that he came
across such information and had to give his wife credit for her opinions. He
asked me to have a look at his e-mail because the other day he received a
notification that he had won $2500.000 in a lottery but he could not remember
he ever played one. He also asked me, if I am looking at that, if I could maybe
also have a look at some programs which appeared in his program file folder
which looks very strange to him and he has the impression his computer is
becoming very slow.
I sat down in front of the computer and
first looked at his virus program which was as old as the computer itself. This
program was never updated and by checking I found that automatic update was
disabled. I decided to replace the whole program with Microsoft security
essentials as this is free and updates automatically. While installing, it also
scans your computer first. I could not believe my eyes; the program went mad by
picking up viruses. There were so many it took more than 10 minutes to clean
most of them. A few of them were put in quarantine for later deletions. Altogether there were 1200 viruses cleaned. I restarted the computer after these
operations were completed and the program was installed. I found that the
computer started up fine and no obvious problems occurred.
Next stop was control panel to have a look
what programs were installed. I found the usual but old program versions and
got most of them updated with the latest versions. This took me more than three
hours. I also installed Glary Utilities to keep his computer clean. I was
afraid to upgrade Pastel as I was not sure if it was possible to transfer all
his investment data to the new version so I left that. There were a few unknown
programs installed which looked suspicious to me and asked my father in law to
come and see if he knew about them.
After looking at these programs, he could
not make a decision which one’s he used and which one’s not. I made the
conclusion to delete the ones I did not know about.
The next step was start-up
programs and I deleted all unknown entries. After I was finally completed, I
scanned the computer with Glary and several registry and short cut faults were
found and let Glary repair and delete all of it. After restart everything
looked fine.
The next step was his e-mail and found that
he never deleted any messages, some of them dated back to 2004. I cleaned the
e-mail inbox by sorting the same kind of message by date. I left the message of
the last 12 months in his inbox. I emptied the deleted item box. The message
about winning the unknown lottery was typical a phishing message and told my
father in law to not even open this kind of messages and delete it straight
away.
The much anticipated book was never bought
on the internet. My mother in law still cleans my father in laws computer and
disinfects it with bug spray. I now and then check his computer for problems.
He is happy with the speed of his computer but do not want to upgrade. He still
does his finance with the old Pastel version. They still think is better to
talk to a person than text a person. My father in law now deletes every message
he does not know from whom it is, which is anyway most of them. The internet is indeed a dangerous
place especially for silver surfers.
To celebrate, that my mother in law is always right, I leave you this shooter
Jamaican Me Crazy.
½ ounce Myers Rum
½ ounce Captain Morgan’s
¼ ounce blue CuraƧao
2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces orange juice
1 ounce Rose's’ Lime Juice
Splash coconut cream
Shake and pour into a collins glass.
To my Father in Law who loves jazz.
Amaretto Jazz.
To celebrate, that my mother in law is always right, I leave you this shooter
Jamaican Me Crazy.
½ ounce Myers Rum
½ ounce Captain Morgan’s
¼ ounce blue CuraƧao
2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces orange juice
1 ounce Rose's’ Lime Juice
Splash coconut cream
Shake and pour into a collins glass.
To my Father in Law who loves jazz.
Amaretto Jazz.
thesipadvisor.com |
1 oz Amaretto
0.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Blue Curacao
Top with Sweet & Sour Mix
Garnish with lime wedge
0.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Blue Curacao
Top with Sweet & Sour Mix
Garnish with lime wedge
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