-sigh- Parents.

To your parent you'll always be the little kid who has to have his diapers changed every few hours.
Better get used to it, they'll still think of you (subconsciously) like that when you're 50 and they're 80 or so.

Yea it was the same way for my parents until I proved to them that compared to any of the "IT" people on the help desk lines and in shops, I was a live-in god of computers.

Of course, proving that took about of year of giving them a list the problems with steps for fixing their problems while they called support lines only to have the "IT" people spend 2 or more hours coming to the conclusion I had in only a few minutes. I also took the liberty of installing surprise upgrades on one of the computers while they were away. :P

If you really know what you're talking about, eventually they'll come to the realization that you're a valuable resource.

Yeah, that's parents. Like when i wanted to go to raw, i checked out all the options to get to the arena, found car was the best. Explained all that. "No". 2 months later. "Can you find the route to Earls Court?"

It's life.

To your parent you'll always be the little kid who has to have his diapers changed every few hours.
Better get used to it, they'll still think of you (subconsciously) like that when you're 50 and they're 80 or so.

Yup, that's right. My baby girl is 38 years old and has her own teenagers. My 42-year-old son is a lot more computer hardware savy than I am so he has fixed/built my computers for the past 25 or so years.

Yup, that's right. My baby girl is 38 years old and has her own teenagers. My 42-year-old son is a lot more computer hardware savy than I am so he has fixed/built my computers for the past 25 or so years.

Yeah but it sounds like you belive the things that your son tells you when it comes to computers. You have been able to get PC's for 25 years?

Lol my parents are the same.

My mum is the sort of person who clicks the popups saying "Your PC is infected click here to fix" (which is actually spyware) and thinks that phishing emails are genuine <slap head in despair>

i mean, im here on daniweb or something and shes like "stop playing games and go outside" and im like AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

and she always asks me why im wasting my money on computrers which really annoys me.

she threw out like 2 of my PCS too because she said they were "old" and that i never used them. THE REASON I NEVER USED THEM WAS THAT THEY WERE MY SERVERS!!!!

gah! parents!

hahahaha my parents don't like computer old fashioned ppl my dad has a laptop i once tried to install avast for him he was having bsod(blue screen of death):P so when i opened it he yelled close that laptop rite now young man i was bssssss fine i don't care it ain't mine

my bro in law his pc was screwed up before i get here to england but i screwed it up more (gimme som credit) anyhow he had a crashing problem so i sneaked out at night and went to the study room i took the whole pc apart :D i didn't come to anything i didn't know the problem then i touched the power supply it was soooo hot when i told him he said no it aint the power supply its ur programs i was like fyn blame it on me the only thing i brought him was the spyware :P seriously that was the only thing

Yeah but it sounds like you belive the things that your son tells you when it comes to computers. You have been able to get PC's for 25 years?

25 years might be a streatch -- probably more like 15, but you get the idea. :)

looool true that

she threw out like 2 of my PCS too because she said they were "old" and that i never used them. THE REASON I NEVER USED THEM WAS THAT THEY WERE MY SERVERS!!!!

gah! parents!

Man that sucks. I suppose im lucky in the mum department. She knows better then to do that almost to the point where its not an advantage. Mum tends to just stay out of my room now. What she does not see does not hurt her.

25 years might be a streatch -- probably more like 15, but you get the idea. :)

Was going to say you must have a pretty big house if you have had computers for 25 years. Not to mention you electricity bill.

thats another thing they like to complain about, the bills

right now ive got

3 desktops
2 laptops
2 pdas
1 server
1 router pc (old 486)

running prettymuch 24/7

Yeah my mum does not complain about the bills because we mainy use laptops so its not quite as bad however i do have 2 desktops running all the time. But i do not think mum realises how much electricity computers actually use.

esp. when i have a 1kw PSU ;)

They just dont understand computers i think and therefore they there reasoning is well i diddnt teach them all this stuff about computers so it must be wrong.

I find our generation quite strange like that. We have basically grown up using computers all our life now so we can fix most things that go wrong with them without even thinking about it. However it is harder for them because they did not always have this fancy technology and its a new thing that they have to learn.

I don't know about you guys ( especially the older ones in this forum) but i think computing is really second nature too me. Infact i think i would find it rather difficult to operate without a computer or the internet these days and its at the point where we have more computers then we do people in a household. Yet it comes as a real shock when people don't even have one computer. Its so incredibly easy just to google an answer to whatever question you may have and personally i find it very difficult not having access to the internet for more then a day or two for this reason.

Parents however do not get this. Because they have not really been exposed to the wealth of information avalible on the internet or how easy computers make it to do various tasks they therefore don't understand why we have such a high reliance and knowledge about these things.

Edit: sorry if any of that repeats itself or jumps from place to place a bit. I went on a bit of a ramble there.

I agree

thats another thing they like to complain about, the bills

right now ive got

3 desktops
2 laptops
2 pdas
1 server
1 router pc (old 486)

running prettymuch 24/7

how big is ur rooom ????

Was going to say you must have a pretty big house if you have had computers for 25 years. Not to mention you electricity bill.

Not at all -- desktop PCs were first marketed in 1981

my parents trust everything i say.... but then again, we live in WV; the computer has only been around for a month or two :P

Maybe this is just me but it seems like despite the fact i am getting older and starting to know some things that they don't my parents still do not listen and belive me about things. Especially when it comes to computers which i do know more about then them.

I see that as pretty much normal.

Mentally I have a picture of the level of trust in kids something like in the attachment. That is one component of the equation. Another element is things you know; another is things they know. Another is a cost/benefit ratio. Another is a risk assessment. These and other factors automagically compose the thought process and a general best-case scenario is chosen.

My parents let me do the computer thing. I built one in 9th grade for a school project, and I've been tech support ever since. It's not always fun :P

yeah i dont really have any training excepot exerience at the moment and i have not really had any problems. I know how to build computers etc. without any problems and i can maintain networks and stuff. Any questions i do have i simply use google.

Yeah im the same. I study computing at college but thats not really relevant. at home i like google, daniweb + books and enjoy programming, making networks and building pcs

i built a pc once it was the worst pc i the whole world 128 rams 1.8 ghz procesor it just sucked so i sold it hehehehe(evil laugh)

my PC has 2gb ram and a dual core AMD FX cpu, 160gb HDD and 2x dvd burners and XP pro and it cost me 599

Yeah but it sounds like you belive the things that your son tells you when it comes to computers. You have been able to get PC's for 25 years?

The first IBM PC was introduced in 1981, so 26 years ago.
So yes, they've been around for 25 years :)

And before that the term "PC" or "Personal Computer" was used more generally to indicate any computer for the individual (rather than mainframes and minis).
The Apple ][ for example was marketed as a PC, so were the highend Amiga models and some top line Ataris (among others).

wouldnt you consuder an atari a games console?

but then again, the lines are blurred, seeing as moden consoles like the xbox are partially PC-compatible

Maybe this is just me but it seems like despite the fact i am getting older and starting to know some things that they don't my parents still do not listen and belive me about things. Especially when it comes to computers which i do know more about then them.

For example.

The other week my dad's computer was playing up. Coming up with thermal errors and crashing and such. I took at look at his computer installed a CPU monitoring tool to check the temperature of the CPU and it was having no problems. So i decided to crack it open and take a look inside. Sure enough nearly all the capacitors inside were leaking and/or bloated. I told him that it was a common problem with the Intel motherboards from a couple of years ago everyone bought these motherboards at the time because they were cheap but the capacitors wore out after about 2-3 years. I also told him i could replace the motherboard for about $90.

So anyway a couple of a weeks later im having dinner with him and he says "Guess what i found out what was wrong with the computer!"
I asked him what it was even though i already knew. to which he responded "I took the computer into the shop today and they said that its the motherboard thats the problem and they showed me all the leaky capacitors. I got them to replace it and it only cost me $100 plus labor" he also rattled on about how the guy had told him it was a common problem with the cheap intel motherboards from a couple of years ago.

Finally i spoke up and said "I told you all this 2 weeks ago and that i could replace the motherboard for $90. Why did you go to the computer shop?" to which he replied "I know that but i wanted to make sure that was actually the problem."

So anyway has anyone else had this problem with there parents before? If so do share your story and let us know what you think the reason for them doing this is.

Lol my parents are the same.

My mum is the sort of person who clicks the popups saying "Your PC is infected click here to fix" (which is actually spyware) and thinks that phishing emails are genuine <slap head in despair>

i mean, im here on daniweb or something and shes like "stop playing games and go outside" and im like AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

and she always asks me why im wasting my money on computrers which really annoys me.

she threw out like 2 of my PCS too because she said they were "old" and that i never used them. THE REASON I NEVER USED THEM WAS THAT THEY WERE MY SERVERS!!!!

gah! parents!

They just dont understand computers i think and therefore they there reasoning is well i diddnt teach them all this stuff about computers so it must be wrong.

I find our generation quite strange like that. We have basically grown up using computers all our life now so we can fix most things that go wrong with them without even thinking about it. However it is harder for them because they did not always have this fancy technology and its a new thing that they have to learn.

I don't know about you guys ( especially the older ones in this forum) but i think computing is really second nature too me. Infact i think i would find it rather difficult to operate without a computer or the internet these days and its at the point where we have more computers then we do people in a household. Yet it comes as a real shock when people don't even have one computer. Its so incredibly easy just to google an answer to whatever question you may have and personally i find it very difficult not having access to the internet for more then a day or two for this reason.

Parents however do not get this. Because they have not really been exposed to the wealth of information avalible on the internet or how easy computers make it to do various tasks they therefore don't understand why we have such a high reliance and knowledge about these things.

Edit: sorry if any of that repeats itself or jumps from place to place a bit. I went on a bit of a ramble there.

I agree, we have all been exposed to computers and technology from such a young age. We have grown up with it, and it is much easier for us to adapt and change to this type of technology. I remember playing with computers since I was like 7. When I got a little older I would get on there, just mess around, and pretend to be some kinda hacker or something lol. As for my parents, they don't know jack sh** about anything either. They also enjoy clicking all the damn ads and such.. (gaw..). I remember taking control a while after we bought XP. I set it up, and gave everyone a limited account except for myself lol. My parents have always been skeptical of my abilities too until recently... However, now they don't do anything without my advice. I actually just built them a brand new computer with XP, office, and the whole shebang. A very phenomenal build, and only $400. I seriously don't know how they are going to survive when I go off to college this fall..

A very phenomenal build, and only $400. I seriously don't know how they are going to survive when I go off to college this fall..

Assuming that's a legal copy of a recent version of Office, and a legal license for XP as well, nice build. :P And they'll probably survive about like mine did: no updates, call me for tech support. Mine're still running with a 1.2GHz and a 2500+ that I built well before going to college...