Good at computers != Being God

[Naaman]

I always get the annoying questions like “What antivirus do you use?” or “I have a virus, what should I do?”.
I don’t use an antivirus. I don’t know how to remove a virus. It’s that simple.
<snip>
b) They are scared to let their kids go online without an antivirus installed

I mostly do family stuff nowdays but I'd never recommend going without AV protection, if only to save yourself hours down the line when they've managed to get a virus.

I just stuff Grisoft AVG free on there, it works nicely and no user intervention is required to update the software or virus patterns

[ahanix1989]

I don't mind that they want an antivirus, but that's they're responsibility. Don't ask me for a recommendation, and when I tell you I don't use an antivirus, don't continue to ask for a recommendation.

[Jack7957]

[*]Build a laptop (wtf)

I have, technically. I was under contract with the County Goverment, which included the Sheriff Department. Well, over the three years of the contract, there were three times where a patrol car was involved in an accident. If you look at most patrol cars, the computer is mounted in front of the dash. What would happen is in all three accidents, the airbags went off, smacked the LCD screen and pushed it across the keyboard, ripping up keys as it went. So the head of IT for the Sheriff, would bring me a box of parts. These were Dell's by the way, with the Complete Care warranty, so amazingly they were covered under warranty. Usually the only thing that survived was the motherboard, hard drive, and CD-Rom drive. Everything else would need replacing, the LCD, keyboard, plastics, etc. But with Dell, and most manufactures, you order everything seperate. So I'd have to order each piece sperate, even screws, and those sticky plastic covers that hide screws, usually about 20-30 parts per unit, and assemble them back together into a working unit.

[Depot Denizen]

Daamn. I've seen Dell do whole unit replacements for less damage. Then again, the important parts were still functional...

[Mr B Rabbit]

I feel both your pains though, my dad's the neighborhood computer whiz and when he's out of town I get asked to do computer things for them but there's just one slight problem: I'M A MAC USER!!!!!!

Glad to see a Mac user admitting they're not computers at last.

However to stay on topic, good at computers != god, network administration = god.

I can:
- Build computers
- Change Windows features
- Prevent other people from changing Windows features
- Can't hack, but can get into your user account and do what I want anyway
- Change school attendance, marks, exclusions, finances, whatever
- Get a broken CRT or LCD monitor fixed
- Build a laptop from bits of the ones students have broken
- Lock down the school on a whim
- Control the CCTV cameras/footage
- Control the phone system
- Switch alarms on and off
- Get free stuff
- Replace their blown power supply
- Relent from smiting people in exchange for student sacrifices

Unfortunately this only works when I'm in my seat of power, not so good when I'm walking around town and a teacher pulls out their laptop when they run into me and starts ranting that its not working (yeah, that'd be because we told you the battery's dead, you need to have it plugged into mains, like the note stuck on it says)

[protege]

I built my current computer...and "rebuilt" my old Compaq with parts scavenged from various sources. In fact, I usually don't buy new parts...I simply scavenge what I need from "retired" machines at work. Anything I don't need is given away or scrapped. Last year, I hooked my grandmother up with a nice (free!) 21" monitor when she had difficulty seeing some of the text on a regular screen. It's not as nice as flat-panel, but it does the job. Getting it onto her desk was another story...I nearly hurt myself multiple times in the process! But, she's happy with it.

In the past, I had a neighbor who was happy to get anything I no longer needed. However, after dropping off a scrap HP desktop and a dead IBM...his wife (jokingly) threatened to "kick my ass" if I brought him any more junk

BTW, did you know the self-tapping screws in the cases are great for securing plastic model railroad buildings to the layout?

[technical.angel]

network administration = god.

I can:
- Get free stuff

I'm going to be getting free stuff tomorrow!!!! WOOT for a big ole conference!!!

[Argabarga]

There was one guy at work who thought I could fix his computer, because I know how to FIX CARS..... apparently, since cars have computers, it made perfect sense to him....

[Larissa238]

There was one guy at work who thought I could fix his computer, because I know how to FIX CARS..... apparently, since cars have computers, it made perfect sense to him....

I had a guy at work insist that I could fix a plane because I knew how to fix a computer