weird misconceptions that your parents/adults in general had/have about computers

[professor plum]

for example, my father was convinced that me being on irc would give the computer a virus

what about y'all?

 

[Nah]

one time my mother though that the little icons that appear for websites on your tabs was a sign that your computer got infected

she has a tendency to scream at the computer over everything really

the saddest part though is that there's people worse than her when it comes to computers

 

[Palamon]

My parents once fell for one of those Indian scam center popups that claim your computer has a virus. And they actually.... let the scammers get remote access to their computer. :')

The whole "we work for Microsoft" deal and everything.

 

[Taemin]

When my mom first used a computer back in the 80s, she thought it would explode if she clicked on the icons, or specifically the wrong icon.

She was afraid of what they would lead to if she opened them, hahahah.

I can't imagine it, but she's told me the story a couple of times, and I'm like, damn,,,

 

[Sylphiel]

Don't really have much in the way of stories like this because my dad was actually pretty savvy with that stuff when I was growing up, so I didn't hear much in the way of misconceptions.

Though I did get yelled at by my mom once for daring to talk to people online because "you're only talking to computers"...does that count?

 

[Neb]

Back when one of my Moms first got a computer in the early 90s she believed it would work without a hard drive. Needless to say, she had to get one installed soon after.

 

[Tsutarja]

Back when one of my Moms first got a computer in the early 90s she believed it would work without a hard drive. Needless to say, she had to get one installed soon after.

Technically you can run a computer without a hard drive via Linux live media. The only caveat is that you wouldn't be able to save data or install the OS.

 

[colours]

i wish i could come up with an example to these but my mom is one of those people that are just about barely savvy enough to get by and if she doesn't understand something, she does her own research (googling) instead of "old person"-splaining it.

 

[8-bit Zeta]

Technically you can run a computer without a hard drive via Linux live media. The only caveat is that you wouldn't be able to save data or install the OS.

You could just make a persistent USB install. :P

Or...even better. Use the Live Media to remote into a separate computer and save everything there. :P