And another vote for the "wat the hell you smokin" award.
Punter buys a shiny new PC from PC World.
Brings it home, unpacks it. Plugs everything in, bangs head on table, swears, turns it on, plugs the power cord in, and remembers the monitor cable this time, and turns it on again.
Sits down at the table, and answers any questions as best they can. Usually a software serial number at most.
Then they are ON THEIR OWN..
The smart thing would indeed be to get a mate who knows a bit to give them a quick run through, but this does not actually happen. People don't want to appear stupid, so they make guesses. They do NOT ask questions. That's cheating. And people you ask use computer talk anyway, so what is the point.
Updates.. Stop annoying me. And amazingly, these will be turned off. Especially if it reboots while said punter pops to the kitchen to make a cuppa, and comes back to a login screen. Irritation is a great way to get something done, and a nagging PC will always be reconfigured to stop it nagging. EVER.
Firewall.. interferes with P2P.. Outa here.
Virus scanner.. It's free innit.. Keeps screeching about a 3 month demo, but the little picture is right there in the corner.
And now.. "To the internet!!" not for tutorials, but to download software, to surf porn sites, to watch Youtube and update your facebook page to "new computer set up and pretty damn fast so far".. Yes.. I suppose I'd better click ok for this virus scan what popped up out of nowhere.. See.. Told you the demo one worked just fine.
This is reality. When faced with a warning box, they look for the OK button, because if you don't read the writing, anything that happens is not your fault. Common sense.. I didn't see nothin, I didn't do nothin, I wasn't even there. Amazing how grown men and women regress to 8 years old when faced twit a tech problem.
And in six months or so, when it takes a half hour to boot, they will take it to a mate, or take it to a shop, and get it drenched in digital pesticide, so it's good for another six months of abuse.
Defragging.. HAH..
Malware avoidance.. You gotta be kidding me.
Reading, or following a tutorial.. BWHAAAAAA!! If they know which version of Windows they have it's a miracle.
This is the real world.. Not the Reg offices, where everybody has been using computers all their lives, and have picked up a thing or two on the way.
And no. Outside computing hobbyists(who can and do figure out how to operate an new OS properly by themselves), people do not read computer magazines. Any more than computer shopper publishes articles from Plumbing today monthly.
Ever wonder why people like web based email so much? Oh.. you thought it was because you could access it from anywhere..
No..
They like it, because all they have to do is put in a user name and password and it's up and running.
The only unrealistic thing that is in those "Dad uses new Windows" videos is the lack of swearing and shouting, and blaming the kids for mucking the computer up.