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  • No longer supporting family members

    My mother is korean, and likes to watch a lot of korean dramas. She exhausted Hulu and Crunchy Roll's supply of shows, and started googling for korean dramas to watch for free online. This created several issues for her computer, especially when she disabled the adblock program and flashblock programs I put on her browser just so she could watch her shows for free.

    I told her very plainly that if she continues doing this, I will not fix her machine. I will not even look at it. That she either has a clean computer and watches her shows on reputable sources like hulu and crunchy roll, or she has tons of viruses. She chose her shows.

    Well, I visited her on Sunday and her computer was completely borked. She said she saw a pop-up about updating her 'adobe'. She said 'it looked real', thus wasn't her fault. She still expected support from me.

    :|

  • #2
    I'm hooked, and watch them on DramaFever. Some are free (with commercials) and the rest are premium. I have off and on subscribed to the premium content. Not that I have enough time, but they are very addicting.

    Still, it's annoying when you're trying to help and get ignored. I have a relative who refuses to update his computer. That's a blanket statement which includes the operating system, and all applications. He refuses until it crashes and he is forced to update. *sigh*
    Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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    • #3
      Your mother is just begging for a crypto-locker to make its way onto her computer.

      Then she won't be able to watch anything at all unless she pays hundreds of dollars to some Russian bank account.

      And we wonder how computer viruses spread so fast.
      Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

      "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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      • #4
        My wife and I support her brother and his family with their computer(s). He has a pair of teenaged sons that love to download pretty much anything they can. It took a while, but we finally convinced him to get a separate computer for the kids instead of having them play around on the one he used for his business! Now we support his computer, but the kids are on their own.

        Neither he, nor my wife, liked the idea I had for supporting the kids' machine. Set up a recovery DVD with images of the basic stuff needed to run the machine. Give each of the kids a 16gb flash drive to use for storing whatever data they want/need/think important. Any problem they complain about with the machine, and it gets wiped and reinstalled. No exceptions, no warnings. They'll either learn to protect the computer or fix it themselves...
        "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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        • #5
          ... what?

          I like that idea too.
          Seshat's self-help guide:
          1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
          2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
          3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
          4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

          "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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          • #6
            Quoth Seshat View Post

            I like that idea too.
            Its pretty much what we do here at work. All employees are warned that anything important should be saved to the (bucked up) network drives, and anything on the C: drive is subject to total loss.
            The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
            "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
            Hoc spatio locantur.

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            • #7
              I use Linux to avoid this sort of thing, but my dad's always getting weird stuff on his computer. It's not his fault, he gets those drive-by downloads.

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              • #8
                Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                Still, it's annoying when you're trying to help and get ignored. I have a relative who refuses to update his computer. That's a blanket statement which includes the operating system, and all applications. He refuses until it crashes and he is forced to update. *sigh*
                This is *exactly* why I don't bother with my dad's computer now. He's constantly bitching and moaning about how "slow" it is, how it "constantly freezes up," yet refuses to update his virus defs, install any sort of spyware protection, or even update Windows. When I tell him he needs to do those things, I get screamed at. Apparently, just *having* an antivirus program is enough, there's no need to keep it updated

                Funny how I do this shit for a living, and I don't get viruses or spyware...
                Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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                • #9
                  Quoth protege View Post
                  This is *exactly* why I don't bother with my dad's computer now. He's constantly bitching and moaning about how "slow" it is, how it "constantly freezes up," yet refuses to update his virus defs, install any sort of spyware protection, or even update Windows. When I tell him he needs to do those things, I get screamed at. Apparently, just *having* an antivirus program is enough, there's no need to keep it updated
                  Can't you set up your dad's PC so that he gets automatic updates, and install automatic-updating spyware protection yourself? And schedule restarts in the wee hours of the morning?
                  cindybubbles (👧 ❤️ 🎂 )

                  Enter Cindyland here!

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Silent-Hunter View Post
                    I use Linux to avoid this sort of thing, but my dad's always getting weird stuff on his computer. It's not his fault, he gets those drive-by downloads.
                    To be fair, its not always the user's fault. AdChoice got snookered recently, and some malware loaders got sneaked into the advert rotation, so all kinds of normally perfectly safe sites could have loaded malware onto some unsuspecting people's devices.

                    I managed to avoid it, because I take pains to block AdChoices and some other dynamic adverts, but not everyone knows how to do that.
                    The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                    "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                    Hoc spatio locantur.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Geek King View Post
                      Its pretty much what we do here at work. All employees are warned that anything important should be saved to the (bucked up) network drives, and anything on the C: drive is subject to total loss.
                      Same here. If the drive fails, a reimage is in your future. What? Didn't have your data backed up to the network? Sorry. Sucks To Be You.
                      "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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                      • #12
                        Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                        I have a relative who refuses to update his computer. That's a blanket statement which includes the operating system, and all applications. He refuses until it crashes and he is forced to update. *sigh*
                        This is basically how I operate. I don't install stuff until the thing finally grinds to a halt, but I'm under no delusions it won't happen.

                        I'm not a download junkie for music/tv shows/flash games/porn whatever, and my computer isn't business/life critical, the only things I do on it is browse and edit photographs/art.

                        I don't receive any meaningful emails, I never open attachments, but I'm well aware just browsing eventually loads the machine with enough malware and the like that it's just easier to wipe the darn thing and start over than bother with time consuming updates.

                        I know I'm playing with fire, I'll take the risk, there's nothing here I care if I lose, all the stuff I want to keep is backed up on a USB or another site.

                        This machine is expendable and is on the verge of being unusable right now, I'll probably wipe it at the end of the year.
                        Last edited by Argabarga; 11-05-2014, 05:23 PM.
                        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                        • #13
                          Since ads are pretty much the top vector for malware, I thought I'd mention that AdMuncher is now freeware. AdMuncher is a transparent proxy that does exactly what it says on the tin.

                          Being a transparent proxy rather than a browser add-on means it protects every browser automatically.

                          I've been using it for a few weeks now and it works fairly well. I've only encountered a couple minor issues with it on some sites. Also, you'll notice Firefox uses less memory without AdBlockPlus running.

                          You can get it at http://admuncher.com
                          Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

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                          • #14
                            I am going to try it.

                            Quoth otakuneko View Post
                            Since ads are pretty much the top vector for malware, I thought I'd mention that AdMuncher is now freeware. AdMuncher is a transparent proxy that does exactly what it says on the tin.
                            Thank you.

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                            • #15
                              Crossbow -- I like the cut of your jib ^_^

                              We did something similar back when I worked at a comp repair shop. We kept custom images for custy's who would routinely need to bring their systems in to be re-imaged (read: yes, THAT much free porn) because they would no longer function. One of the elderly gents needed to have this done every month, like clockwork. He was under no illusions as to *why*.
                              "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
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