5 ms·

Back in the IE 6 days I was in charge of fixing my families computers, and my family's friends computers. I was dealing with a few things a week, some requiring

Back in the IE 6 days I was in charge of fixing my families computers, and my family's friends computers. I was dealing with a few things a week, some requiring a full re-install. This was back in the early 2000's. Eventually I snapped and started charging hourly unless people switched to Gmail and Firefox. I started getting a lot less calls since Gmail was pretty good about filtering out malicious attachments and IE was, IE. I probably got around 40 households to switch to Firefox. The people that refused to switch financed a lot of my undergrad, I charged 100 a hour. I don't like fixing computers and the goal was to make things as painful as possible for them so they would stop using IE. Using a ad-blocker in Firefox was the #1 thing I suggested for safe computing. And don't open unexpected email attachments. This killed 95% of peoples computer woes. So good job Google, you did it, from here on out whenever I see Chrome on families computers I will strong-arm them into switching to Firefox. I did it in 2005 and was wildly successful. I can do it again. And I think my Christmas gifts this year will be domain names and three year subscriptions to Fastmail for my immediate family.

9dl 7y ago
I did it like this Install FF Set it as default Change path on desktop shortcut for "Internet" to FF And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version
- Cub3 7y ago
  Change the icon of the FF shortcut to look like the IE icon ;)
- moomin 7y ago
  If you’re on Windows, you need to set up edge-deflector too, which is a fairly advanced piece of idiocy.
  - exergy 7y ago
    There is a way to get rid of Edge by renaming its install folder or something like that. I did it, and I love it.
- ifdefdebug 7y ago
  > And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version That's just plain dumb. Explain to your users what you are doing. You seem to think they are stupid, well they are not.
  - 9dl 7y ago
    Good sir, I did not have 10h+ for lecture per client And by the way, smart ones already had FF and Opera installed
  - frabert 7y ago
    Oh no, he doesn't think they are stupid, just that they don't know the difference between browsers. If my mechanic mounted a new transmission or something that wasn't the same brand as the one mounted before, and told me "it's the new version", I couldn't care less as long as it worked as intended. I don't know anything about transmissions, so from my point of view I have no way of knowing if what he's telling me is the truth or not, I just trust him to make my car work again.
    - mikorym 7y ago
      This reminds me that such people also think that the visual experience of browsing the internet is somehow "fixed". My impression of social media is that one of its draws (pitfalls actually) is that it gives the impression of different people experiencing the same thing, e.g.: a 100 people like this or 500 people retweeted that. However, as programmers, we should see the internet not as a browser at all. We should see it as a list of protocols and implementations thereof. I think a big part of the oh-so-common emotional social media battles is anticipation of the other person's experience. Hopefully for you, as a programmer reading this, your view of the internet is protected by automated command line scripts that fight your internet battles for you...
      - javajosh 7y ago
        >social media ...gives the impression of different people experiencing the same thing Brilliant!
- LoSboccacc 7y ago
  yeah back then there was a theme for firefox 3 that mimiked explorer icon and ux, all my relatives had that, very few questioned the different download menu.
- thrownaway954 7y ago
  thanks satan In all seriousness, "And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version", that is the key, let them think they are still using their old software.
- lordlimecat 7y ago
  I always found that it was best not to lie to users for their own good, at least if you want them to continue considering you a trusted source of computing information. You don't have to explain what firefox is, or what IE is, just that "this isn't IE but it does the same thing and will keep you safe". Maybe they'll have follow up questions, and you can answer those, but lying is just a good way for them to go back to IE and not tell you because they don't to be treated condescendingly.
apexalpha 7y ago
Nowaways I put a pihole in every home of my family members. Together with unchecky (windows) my calls dropped by 95% or so.
- johnpowell 7y ago
  I use a pihole at home too. It is funny since I have gotten a few texts from my roommates about their phones being infected when they aren't connected to the wifi here. They think it is a virus and I have to tell them that is what the internet normally looks like.
  - bobajeff 7y ago
    I wouldn't rule out an infection in that case. I have a friend who has phone malware that shows ads about every minute or so. I offered to help factory reset it (last I checked everything she wants to keep is automatically backed up to the cloud) but we just haven't gotten around to it. And yes she really does use her phone regularly.
- neuronic 7y ago
  What lists are you using, which avoiding? My use of pihole constantly disrupted basic services such as Sonos. I can certainly find the URL culprits and resolve it, but I got tired of constantly doing so...
  - johnpowell 7y ago
    I just use the default. We have Sonos stuff too and it works without doing anything special.
  - Spare_account 7y ago
    I have Sonos kit and a pi-hole. I use the default lists plus the ticked lists from this site: https://firebog.net/ https://firebog.net/ I have no issues with my Sonos equipment - I use a local MP3 library, a Spotify subscription and TuneIn Radio all without any issues. What problems did you have?
jfoster 7y ago
Back then, that was pretty good advice. IE was so insecure your entire system was at risk if you were exposed to the wrong content. Google made their browser quite secure and fast, which negates some of the reasons why people used ad blockers. There are other reasons people might use them, but these days you're much, much safer on Chrome than you ever were on IE.
- goalieca 7y ago
  Maybe the attacks were less sophisticated back then. I've seen so many windows computers completely owned by people using chrome to stream tv shows or perhaps visiting the wrong site while looking for discounts on shopping.

9dl 7y ago

I did it like this Install FF Set it as default Change path on desktop shortcut for "Internet" to FF And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version

Cub3 7y ago
Change the icon of the FF shortcut to look like the IE icon ;)
moomin 7y ago
If you’re on Windows, you need to set up edge-deflector too, which is a fairly advanced piece of idiocy.
- exergy 7y ago
  There is a way to get rid of Edge by renaming its install folder or something like that. I did it, and I love it.
ifdefdebug 7y ago
> And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version That's just plain dumb. Explain to your users what you are doing. You seem to think they are stupid, well they are not.
- 9dl 7y ago
  Good sir, I did not have 10h+ for lecture per client And by the way, smart ones already had FF and Opera installed
- frabert 7y ago
  Oh no, he doesn't think they are stupid, just that they don't know the difference between browsers. If my mechanic mounted a new transmission or something that wasn't the same brand as the one mounted before, and told me "it's the new version", I couldn't care less as long as it worked as intended. I don't know anything about transmissions, so from my point of view I have no way of knowing if what he's telling me is the truth or not, I just trust him to make my car work again.
  - mikorym 7y ago
    This reminds me that such people also think that the visual experience of browsing the internet is somehow "fixed". My impression of social media is that one of its draws (pitfalls actually) is that it gives the impression of different people experiencing the same thing, e.g.: a 100 people like this or 500 people retweeted that. However, as programmers, we should see the internet not as a browser at all. We should see it as a list of protocols and implementations thereof. I think a big part of the oh-so-common emotional social media battles is anticipation of the other person's experience. Hopefully for you, as a programmer reading this, your view of the internet is protected by automated command line scripts that fight your internet battles for you...
    - javajosh 7y ago
      >social media ...gives the impression of different people experiencing the same thing Brilliant!
LoSboccacc 7y ago
yeah back then there was a theme for firefox 3 that mimiked explorer icon and ux, all my relatives had that, very few questioned the different download menu.
thrownaway954 7y ago
thanks satan In all seriousness, "And ofc do not forget to say that is new IE version", that is the key, let them think they are still using their old software.
lordlimecat 7y ago
I always found that it was best not to lie to users for their own good, at least if you want them to continue considering you a trusted source of computing information. You don't have to explain what firefox is, or what IE is, just that "this isn't IE but it does the same thing and will keep you safe". Maybe they'll have follow up questions, and you can answer those, but lying is just a good way for them to go back to IE and not tell you because they don't to be treated condescendingly.

apexalpha 7y ago

Nowaways I put a pihole in every home of my family members. Together with unchecky (windows) my calls dropped by 95% or so.

johnpowell 7y ago
I use a pihole at home too. It is funny since I have gotten a few texts from my roommates about their phones being infected when they aren't connected to the wifi here. They think it is a virus and I have to tell them that is what the internet normally looks like.
- bobajeff 7y ago
  I wouldn't rule out an infection in that case. I have a friend who has phone malware that shows ads about every minute or so. I offered to help factory reset it (last I checked everything she wants to keep is automatically backed up to the cloud) but we just haven't gotten around to it. And yes she really does use her phone regularly.
neuronic 7y ago
What lists are you using, which avoiding? My use of pihole constantly disrupted basic services such as Sonos. I can certainly find the URL culprits and resolve it, but I got tired of constantly doing so...
- johnpowell 7y ago
  I just use the default. We have Sonos stuff too and it works without doing anything special.
- Spare_account 7y ago
  I have Sonos kit and a pi-hole. I use the default lists plus the ticked lists from this site: https://firebog.net/ https://firebog.net/ I have no issues with my Sonos equipment - I use a local MP3 library, a Spotify subscription and TuneIn Radio all without any issues. What problems did you have?

jfoster 7y ago

Back then, that was pretty good advice. IE was so insecure your entire system was at risk if you were exposed to the wrong content. Google made their browser quite secure and fast, which negates some of the reasons why people used ad blockers. There are other reasons people might use them, but these days you're much, much safer on Chrome than you ever were on IE.

goalieca 7y ago
Maybe the attacks were less sophisticated back then. I've seen so many windows computers completely owned by people using chrome to stream tv shows or perhaps visiting the wrong site while looking for discounts on shopping.