Kaonashi Ga Suki

I guess I’m a little unusual for a girl in that I know a bit about computers. Ok, I know more than a bit about computers. I’m not a programmer nor do I know about hardware, but I definitely know a lot more than the average Joe Shmoe computer user out there. I know enough to be able to take care of my computer, to know how to deal with certain situations if something goes wrong, and what to do to prevent things from happening in the first place.

Then there’s my family.

Since they know next to nothing about computers, it’s up to me to make things work. I am their IT person and overall computer geek. If they want to go on vacation, they look to me to check for prices and available flights. If they want to pay their bills online, they look to me to show them how to do it- or rather, do it for them. When my brother first got his computer, I set everything up- I plugged things in and installed the appropriate programs (Office, etc.) When my brother’s printer broke a few years ago, they looked to me to fix it. When we got DSL, I installed everything myself, including the wireless router. It took me a week and many phone calls to figure it out, but I alone was capable of doing it. And it often gets very, very frustrating.

First of all, it’s pretty much hopeless to try and teach my parents how to check their email, let alone learn the ins and outs of a computer and the Internet. I’ve tried for years, but they continously forget how to do the simplest things. I don’t know if it’s just too confusing or because they refuse to absorb the information in the first place. I also worry that they might accidentally delete something important if they’re nosing around the computer. Fortunately they don’t use my computer or my sister’s computer very often, and the world is a safer place.

Then there’s my siblings. My brother is supposedly majoring in electronic engeneering in college, but doesn’t know the first thing about computers. He knows nothing about the importance of antivirus software, what RAM is, or anything like that. He used to have a computer that he shared with my sister. God knows what they did to that computer. When I left for Japan in 2000, the computer was healthy and shiny. When I returned a year and a half later, I find the computer filled with almost nothing but Mp3s, Jpegs, and porn. Because of all these downloads, the computer was infected with all sorts of spyware, pornographic popups, and who knows what else. Then the printer mysteriously up and died. Meanwhile, I tried my best to save the computer. I downloaded ZoneAlarms, a firewall program. I tried defragmenting the computer. I installed a free sample of Norton Antivirus. But in the end the computer finally buckled over years of abuse from my brother and sister and died. Nothing can save it. It’s over. Finished.

Now my sister has a computer, which I got for her for “free” (I signed up for a certain credit card and they gave me a computer as a gift). I felt that she needed one badly because of school, and I also figured she could take it with her when she goes to college. Besides, I didn’t want her using my laptop. I told her about taking care of the computer, of making sure her computer doesn’t meet the same fate as my brother’s computer. I downloaded antispyware programs and taught her how to use them. I showed her how to defrag, how to clear cookies, and set her IE settings. I warned her about going to certain sites and not clicking on any popups. I notified her about phishing. I told her about the virtues of backing up your data. I encouraged her to buy an antivirus program. So what did she do???

Nothing. She now mainly uses the computer for AIM, where she communicates with her 8000 friends in spite of the fact that she SEES THEM EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL and can easily talk to them there. So far a virus has appeared on the computer, and the free antivirus program I downloaded for her didn’t work. She refused to spend money for Norton or McAfee, yet she’s more than willing to drop a load of cash on cute little skirts and makeup. A friend of hers recently gave her a copy of Norton 3 weeks ago, and she STILL HASN’T INSTALLED THE DAMN SOFTWARE ON HER COMPUTER. She’s so wrapped up in her AIM she could care less what happens to her computer. Just tonight I ran both Ad-Aware and Spybot on her computer, and it found about 88 spyware programs on her computer. When I looked at the breakdown, I noticed that some of them mention something about “Attempts to hijack your internet browser”. Doesn’t that sound somewhat alarming? I’d be freaked out if I found out that someone may have been trying to hijack my browser or computer. But she seemed to just brush it off. What will happen if she finds herself staring in front of her computer one day, and the cursor is mysteriously moving by itself???

She’d probably just leave it to me to fix it.