Making a PC safe for dodgy websites

[Clippy]

Just shoot him and be done with it.

[interested]

If he's that much of numpty he'll never notice the difference between the windows apps you mention and the open source equivalents. Give him a Linux box!

I doubt whether he'd notice if I replaced his laptop with a badger, to be honest

[DaveB]

Next time he rings tell him needs to unplug the computer, find the original boxes and packaging, pack it back up and return it to the shop he bought it from. When he asks why tell hims it's because he's

TOO FSKING STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!

That or give him an Etchasketch.

[DimPrawn]

Replace the PC with an etch-a-sketch and tell him it's a new laptop.

[BrilloPad]

Next time he rings tell him needs to unplug the computer, find the original boxes and packaging, pack it back up and return it to the shop he bought it from. When he asks why tell hims it's because he's

TOO FSKING STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!

That or give him an Etchasketch.

Etch-A-Sketch Technical Support
Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has a distorted display.
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has all of these funny little lines all over the screen.
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I turn my Etch-A-Sketch off?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: What's the shortcut for Undo?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I create an empty New Document window?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I Exit without Saving?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I set the background and foreground to the same colour?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: What is the proper procedure for rebooting my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has lines that prevent me from doing my art project.
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I delete a document on my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.

Q: How do I keep from losing my Etch-A-Sketch documents in the middle of my work?
A: Stop shaking it.


from http://www.jardmail.co.uk/workplace/etchasketch.shtml

[Moscow Mule]

Create a user account for him, which can't install anything. Lock down the control panel so that he can't remove anything either.

Create an admin account that can do things, but don't tell him the password.

Oh so very wise.

I wish I had done this to a crappy old Laptop I lent to a techno idiot friend of mine. When I got it back it was full of virus(es?). So much so that I managed to completely bork it when I tried to remove them. I'm sure oxfam were glad of it though.

[TheFaQQer]

Have a Linux machine, which runs a virtual machine with an XP installation on it.

Make a copy of the disk file that VM is using once it's configured.

When he messes it up again, delete the disk file and replace it with the original backup.

[PorkPie]

Have a Linux machine, which runs a virtual machine with an XP installation on it.

Make a copy of the disk file that VM is using once it's configured.

When he messes it up again, delete the disk file and replace it with the original backup.

Good idea - but he may lose stuff that he actually needs to save non?

[miffy]

Good idea - but he may lose stuff that he actually needs to save non?

Not if the virtual machine is split across two seperate disk files.

i.e. one disk file for the OS, one disk file for the user data.

[TheFaQQer]

Good idea - but he may lose stuff that he actually needs to save non?

F*** him - if he can't run a computer without uninstalling the AV, he deserves to lose data.

Or put it on two disks.