Have you ever given a computer to someone else and then got it back? Shocked by the results?

[Alexander's Horse]

I give my old PC to my boys and since one of my main machines has been down, I got one back. As usual every bit of it is crammed with every kind of game and fad.

They always do that. No updates ever downloaded. Java out of date. Every inch of Ram taken up. The machine is groaning and shuddering with spam and crap. The inlet for the power cable is broken...

They never seem to take a game off, why have one game on there when you can have 12? I will never understand...

The only thing that is always carefully managed is the internet history, but what can you expect from teenage boys? I really don't want to know anyway!

[Lorizael]

I remember sharing a family computer. My father was not so careful with his internet history...

[Sava]

Sort of. I built machines for my parents and was also their personal tech support. There were occasional speed bumps with my dad. Once I set up nod32 (back in the day) for everyone, things settled down.

Also, I once walked in on my dad watching some like 1920's era porn. It was more weird just cuz it wasn't your standard intercourse closeup type porn. Thankfully, he was just watching.

Pretty much all the standard teen fears of parents discovering something shameful or embarrassing have been realized in some fashion or another. Though for me, it's almost entirely been a role reversal... i.e. me walking in on my dad, etc.

Getting your PC situation sorted out?

Also, 12 games is a lot?

I have 87 installed right now... just on Steam.

[Alexander's Horse]

My son found my father had family photos stashed all over his comp, literally thousands of them. I'm not talking porn, just family photos. He didn't know how to file them properly so they turned up in the operating system, desktop, you name it

[rah]

Yeah, I have to maintain my dad's machine and his stuff ends up all over the place. He calls me and tells me he lost or deleted stuff and I just have to do a treasure hunt to find them.
That and he always forgets his passwords. I try to keep an updated list for when he calls.

But I have to give him credit since he is over 85 and actually uses his computer or tablet every day. On the other side, my mother has never ever used a computer.

[Alexander's Horse]

Well that rings a bell Rah. My Dad is 80, he also has interesting friends in Eastern Europe and Nigeria, people he met on "the Internets". I try not to think about it.

A couple of times my son has cleaned up Dad's comp. I even bought him a new one in hopes of a clean break. But he complained "he couldn't find anything". So my brother put Pop's comp back to the way it was i.e. chaos

[rah]

I bought him a cheap tablet for when he was going through radiation and chemo and wasn't very mobile so he could do our fantasy golf from the couch.
I set up multiple shortcuts so he could get there, but he called me last night to tell me that they're all missing now so he can't use it. *sigh*
He said he would try to fool with it (translate to he will muck it up worse).
Another task for when I visit in October.

[Lorizael]

Just remember, rah, in 30 years your daughter is going to roll her eyes whenever you accidentally format your neural implants and lapse into coma.

[rah]

She already laughs at me when I ask a question about the adroid OS on my smartphone.

[Tuberski]

It's Android.

ACK!

[loinburger]

I gave my old laptop to my parents, and my dad accidentally shot the screen with a nailgun (half of the screen was still usable, the other half was toast)

[Lorizael]

At the time, was he attempting to operate the computer or the nailgun?

[loinburger]

I suspect that the nailgun was fired in anger, though he denies it

[Alexander's Horse]

This is your last chance puter!!

Well no son, I always keep my nail gun in the den

[Fake Boris]

Today's computers tend to work fairly well and remain stable even when they're left unattended.

Document cluttering doesn't matter as much with insta-search features.

To us old-timers, it's hard to grasp the bad habits this has sparked in younger ones.