I am NOT a PC repair man. I will NOT get your iPad working

Yes, I recognise all of the above with one notable addition.

Actually, I rather enjoy getting old kit to work, but my biggest gripe is when somebody goes out and buys a nice, shiny new machine, gets it home, plugs it in then hasn't the slightest clue how to use it. One of the latest bugbears is where a user with only a slight grasp of how to use Windows XP suddenly goes out and buys a Mac of some sort because one of his friends or colleagues has one and it looks nice. BLOODY HELL! A computer is NOT a fashion accessory! But they do it all the same but expect the same degree of support from me that they get for whatever they used to use.

To an extent, I'm lucky in that I've been exposed to many different systems over the years so I have a good idea where to look on any given bit of kit, but it still beggars the question; if you don't know how to use it, why buy it? Learn about it first, then you have a better idea about whether you should buy it. The shame is that, in every situation, the problem all comes back to a failure to ask the first, basic rules of IT procurement:-

What do I need it for? If you can't answer that, go buy a pencil and a pad.

Does this machine do what I want it to do? If not, what are you doing buying it?

Do I know how to make it do what I want it to do? I refer you to the previous answers.

If the system I have does what I want it to do, why do I need to change it? You buy new kit to resolve a legitimate problem, not just because it's shiny.

Would that more folk would ask these questions, then this problem would not be so acute.

I blame google myself

Try telling someone to go to a website by patiently giving them the URL. They type the www. in the bloody google search box, cos google is the internet innit? Address bar? what's an address bar?