OK, so I called my father a savage today. Trust me, it’s not as bad as it sounds.

He called with a computer problem: he’s trying to install some application on his PC. Problem: he’s completely clueless about computers. So I’m doing the familiar dance … what happened, what does it look like, what do you seen on your screen.

Seems to me that the application might actually be installed - he just doesn’t know it.

So I ask him to search in his Programs folder. Doesn’t ring a bell. Open up his computer’s hard drive. No response. Doubleclick the icon where all his files are. Nope.

That’s when I called him a savage. Actually it was more of an analogy. I compared him to a savage with a machine gun … as likely to be looking down the barrel when pulling the trigger as aiming anywhere else.

Not knowing anything about how computers work - even the slightest bit - is becoming more and more of a handicap.

Tags: computers, user friendly, clueless, savage, machine gun, john koetsier