sunrat Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 I reluctantly help my neighbour Jharna with tech stuff. Mid 50s Indian lady. She's possibly the most technically naive person I ever met. But she brings me a bowl of dhal or home made shortbread sometimes so... Today she knocked on my door asking for help to set up her new computer, a rather nice 15 inch HP with i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD which cost ~$AU1400. She will use it for Youtube and online banking. Could have saved about $1000 and got one to do that but I didn't mention that. Opened the box, plugged it in, switched on. Cortana started up, man I hate Cortana. She has no wifi so I showed her how to hotspot her iphone. Insert wifi password - I had to explain the difference between Shift and Caps Lock. Hmmm... Took maybe an hour to get through setup and she wants Youtube. I showed her on Edge but she doesn't get it so I showed her MS Store and downloaded the first YT app that appeared. Then she says the screen looks different to the one in the shop; I showed her how to change wallpaper. Then she doesn't like the keyboard. Didn't she look at that in the shop? It's silver, she wanted black so she rings shop to see if she can swap it. I roll eyes again. Of course she can't, she opened it and set up Windows already. I'll leave out a multitude of other facepalm moments, but as I'm leaving she asks if she can use her mobile dongle. Of course she can but it may have been better to ask that before hotspotting her phone. I do really hate Windows 10 in its default form. And Cortana, hate that too (maybe I said that already, now I hate it twice). Back home to Debian and sanity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Cortana is invasive. I killed all that carp on my recently installed Win 10. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 The first thing I do on any Win10 install is kill Cortana and hide the Search box. Then I install Open Shell. Then you have essentially Windows 7. A laptop similar to Jharna's is available in a Ryzen 5 version for about $600 Canadian dollars. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Hmm... I should try that OpenShell before I get too comfortable with the Win 10 interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete! Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 50 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said: Hmm... I should try that OpenShell before I get too comfortable with the Win 10 interface. You can have both. One of the OpenShell settings provides the ability to ... Left Click on "Start" = Traditional Menu Middle Click = Windows 10 menu 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 (edited) Sounds like sunrat has identified the Indo-Australian version of Lillian. She'd probably be happier with a tablet. Edited May 6, 2020 by raymac46 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 3 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said: Hmm... I should try that OpenShell before I get too comfortable with the Win 10 interface. I don't ever want to see another tile or Windows app. 1 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Quote I had to explain the difference between Shift and Caps Lock. Oh dear, this woman should probably not be online without a minder. Blessings on you for helping her. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 She didn't tell me beforehand that she was going to buy a laptop, maybe I could have guided her with her decision . She already has a really old, heavy Toshiba laptop with which I helped her before. It would have been fine for her purposes. It may have been an impulse buy as she went to the store for a washing machine because her old one had died. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Well hopefully you won't have to configure the washing machine for her. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 2 hours ago, raymac46 said: Well hopefully you won't have to configure the washing machine for her. She only got it delivered yesterday. I bumped in to her talking to our other neighbour asking him how to turn off the torch on her iphone. I always tell her I don't know how to work iphones because I have Android. Sure she doesn't know what Android is though. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 I always tell her I don't know how to work iphones because I have Android. Good answer. My former doctor, whom I used to help with all computer problems at home and in her office for years, called me at home a couple of years ago because she got a new Windows 10 laptop and wanted me to drop everything and fix networking/connection problems before she left on a trip in a day or two. (People assume that his/her problem must become your chief priority. It has to be free and fast too). I gave my pat answer, "I don't do Windows 10". That has saved me so many problems from dealing with people who probably should not own a computer! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 10 hours ago, raymac46 said: Well hopefully you won't have to configure the washing machine for her. Given what so many modern appliances are like, I'd hate to bet on that. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 39 minutes ago, ebrke said: Given what so many modern appliances are like, I'd hate to bet on that. MUCH TRUTH THERE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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