Geeks Put The Unsavvy On On Alert.
MonsieurEvil
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">You have been warned!</div> <a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/05VIRU.html' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/05VIRU.html</a>
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
By AMY HARMON
Published: February 5, 2004
When Scott Granneman, a technology instructor, heard that one of his former students had clicked on a strange e-mail attachment and infected her computer with the MyDoom Internet virus last week, empathy did not figure anywhere in his immediate response.
"You actually got infected by the virus?" he wrote in an e-mail message to the former student, Robin Woltman, a university grant administrator. "You, Robin? For shame!"
As MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, continues to clog e-mail in-boxes and disrupt business, the computer-savvy are becoming openly hostile toward the not-so-savvy who unwittingly play into the hands of virus writers.
The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly.
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed.
"It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become infected," wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, expressing frustration on the group's discussion forum. "How to beat this into these people's heads?"
Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line like "test" or "error." It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and attachments.
But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette. At a time when more than two-thirds of American adults use the Internet, they say, such carelessness is no longer excusable, particularly when it messes things up for everyone else.
For years, many self-described computer geeks seemed eager to usher outsiders onto their electronic frontier. Everyone, it seemed, had a friend or family member in the geek elite who could be summoned — often frequently — in times of computer crisis.
But as those same friends and family members are called upon again and again to save the computer incompetents from themselves, the geeks' patience is growing thin. As it does, a new kind of digital divide is opening up between populations of computer users who must coexist in the same digital world.
"Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bill Melcher, who runs his own technical support business in San Francisco. "When it comes to computers, a lot of intelligent people and fast learners just decide that they don't know."
Many of the computationally confused say they suffer from genuine intimidation and even panic over how to handle the mysterious machines they have come to rely on for so much of daily life. Virus writers, spammers and scammers, they say, are the ones who should be held accountable for the chaos they cause.
But as the same people equip themselves with fancy computers and take advantage of the Internet for things like shopping and banking, critics say that their perpetual state of confusion has begun to get tiresome. And while the Internet's traditional villains remain elusive, those inadvertently helping them tend to be friends and neighbors.
Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to operate a computer, just like the one required to drive a car. Others are calling for a punishment that fits a careless crime. People who click on virus attachments, for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service providers until they proved that their machines had been disinfected.
And some, tired of being treated like free help lines, are beginning to rebel. They are telling friends, relatives and random acquaintances to figure it out on their own.
Go out, get a book," suggests Zack Rubenstein, 28, who has for years provided free technical support for his extended social network. "You went to college and you got a degree, you obviously can learn something. Play around with it; it's not going to kill you."
Mr. Rubenstein, a member of the technical support staff at a New York City law school he thought it best not to identify, is not at liberty to dispense such advice at work. Instead, he answers endless calls about malfunctioning monitors that turn out not to be plugged in, and broken printers that start working again as soon as he removes the single piece of paper obviously jamming them.
"Especially dealing with academics," Mr. Rubenstein added, "you'd think they'd have some ability to deduce or think problems through for a minute."
Not so long ago, he took pleasure in showing people around the brave new digital world that he moved in with such ease. Now that everyone has a technical question, he says, being a tour guide has lost its charm.
But his girlfriend, Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave illogically. If people like Mr. Rubenstein expect her to understand them, she suggests, perhaps they should learn to speak in a language she can understand, rather than ridiculous acronyms and suffixes.
"There are these MP3's and PDF's and a million other things that you don't even know what they are," Ms. Tauber said. "I don't feel like I need to figure out computers, because my instinct is there's just no way."
Still, if there is any evidence that the antagonism of the technical elite is having an effect, it may be in the mounting degree of shame among those who make obvious mistakes, or ask obvious questions too often.
When Julie Dillon, 33, had trouble installing a wireless card in her Macintosh laptop last weekend, for instance, she stopped herself from calling a friend three blocks away who works for Apple Computer because she knows he is besieged.
"There's this whole complicated interchange — are you calling them as a friend or are you calling them as tech support — and I definitely feel a little bit guilty," said Ms. Dillon, a musician in San Francisco. "It's a fine line that has changed because I remember a few years ago it was no big deal."
Instead, Ms. Dillon called Mr. Melcher, who has built his technical support business in part on referrals from friends who no longer wanted to handle the demands of other friends.
Ms. Dillon, who considers her laptop "a blessing" that helps her promote her music, said she was happy to pay for the help. She has also frequently received technical support in exchange for dinner, and, once, for a song.
Even parents are being left to fend for themselves as their children tire of dispensing advice.
David Hale, 25, a lawyer in St. Louis, said he had rebuilt his parents' virus-ridden computer from scratch several times in recent months before he learned that his father, Dale, was replying to every piece of his spam e-mail, asking to be taken off the spammers' mailing lists. Dale Hale, 47, also frequently clicked on pop-up ads that appeared to be messages from Microsoft telling him to upgrade his computer.
"It would cause fights between my parents because they would argue about whether a particular one was legitimate and I'm like, `It is NEVER legitimate,' " said Mr. Hale, who explained as patiently as he could that answering spam and clicking on pop-ups only invite more of the same.
After that, Dale Hale said, his son would sometimes become frustrated by his and his wife's questions. They in turn would get frustrated with their son's instructions, especially over the phone. Eventually they bought antivirus software.
"We've learned by the lumps and bumps," the father said.
(People who had installed the major antivirus software programs from companies like McAfee were largely protected from the MyDoom virus after downloading updates available a few hours after the virus's appearance on Jan. 26.)
Perhaps the one thing that technophobes and technophiles can agree on is that software companies like Microsoft should make things easier and more secure for all kinds of computer users. But Microsoft, whose Web site has so far withstood a continuing attack by the MyDoom virus, had a reminder for users, too.
"Responsibility is shared," said Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security strategist. "With some of these viruses that require user action, people have a responsibility to be careful and protect themselves."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As someone who was a computer hobbiest starting in the early 80's, I can say that after right around 20 years of computing I'm ready to strangle all you dopes that don't know a sheep from a RAM.
To quote Howard Dean: "YYEEEAAAARRRGHHHH!!!"
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
By AMY HARMON
Published: February 5, 2004
When Scott Granneman, a technology instructor, heard that one of his former students had clicked on a strange e-mail attachment and infected her computer with the MyDoom Internet virus last week, empathy did not figure anywhere in his immediate response.
"You actually got infected by the virus?" he wrote in an e-mail message to the former student, Robin Woltman, a university grant administrator. "You, Robin? For shame!"
As MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, continues to clog e-mail in-boxes and disrupt business, the computer-savvy are becoming openly hostile toward the not-so-savvy who unwittingly play into the hands of virus writers.
The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly.
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed.
"It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become infected," wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, expressing frustration on the group's discussion forum. "How to beat this into these people's heads?"
Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line like "test" or "error." It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and attachments.
But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette. At a time when more than two-thirds of American adults use the Internet, they say, such carelessness is no longer excusable, particularly when it messes things up for everyone else.
For years, many self-described computer geeks seemed eager to usher outsiders onto their electronic frontier. Everyone, it seemed, had a friend or family member in the geek elite who could be summoned — often frequently — in times of computer crisis.
But as those same friends and family members are called upon again and again to save the computer incompetents from themselves, the geeks' patience is growing thin. As it does, a new kind of digital divide is opening up between populations of computer users who must coexist in the same digital world.
"Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bill Melcher, who runs his own technical support business in San Francisco. "When it comes to computers, a lot of intelligent people and fast learners just decide that they don't know."
Many of the computationally confused say they suffer from genuine intimidation and even panic over how to handle the mysterious machines they have come to rely on for so much of daily life. Virus writers, spammers and scammers, they say, are the ones who should be held accountable for the chaos they cause.
But as the same people equip themselves with fancy computers and take advantage of the Internet for things like shopping and banking, critics say that their perpetual state of confusion has begun to get tiresome. And while the Internet's traditional villains remain elusive, those inadvertently helping them tend to be friends and neighbors.
Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to operate a computer, just like the one required to drive a car. Others are calling for a punishment that fits a careless crime. People who click on virus attachments, for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service providers until they proved that their machines had been disinfected.
And some, tired of being treated like free help lines, are beginning to rebel. They are telling friends, relatives and random acquaintances to figure it out on their own.
Go out, get a book," suggests Zack Rubenstein, 28, who has for years provided free technical support for his extended social network. "You went to college and you got a degree, you obviously can learn something. Play around with it; it's not going to kill you."
Mr. Rubenstein, a member of the technical support staff at a New York City law school he thought it best not to identify, is not at liberty to dispense such advice at work. Instead, he answers endless calls about malfunctioning monitors that turn out not to be plugged in, and broken printers that start working again as soon as he removes the single piece of paper obviously jamming them.
"Especially dealing with academics," Mr. Rubenstein added, "you'd think they'd have some ability to deduce or think problems through for a minute."
Not so long ago, he took pleasure in showing people around the brave new digital world that he moved in with such ease. Now that everyone has a technical question, he says, being a tour guide has lost its charm.
But his girlfriend, Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave illogically. If people like Mr. Rubenstein expect her to understand them, she suggests, perhaps they should learn to speak in a language she can understand, rather than ridiculous acronyms and suffixes.
"There are these MP3's and PDF's and a million other things that you don't even know what they are," Ms. Tauber said. "I don't feel like I need to figure out computers, because my instinct is there's just no way."
Still, if there is any evidence that the antagonism of the technical elite is having an effect, it may be in the mounting degree of shame among those who make obvious mistakes, or ask obvious questions too often.
When Julie Dillon, 33, had trouble installing a wireless card in her Macintosh laptop last weekend, for instance, she stopped herself from calling a friend three blocks away who works for Apple Computer because she knows he is besieged.
"There's this whole complicated interchange — are you calling them as a friend or are you calling them as tech support — and I definitely feel a little bit guilty," said Ms. Dillon, a musician in San Francisco. "It's a fine line that has changed because I remember a few years ago it was no big deal."
Instead, Ms. Dillon called Mr. Melcher, who has built his technical support business in part on referrals from friends who no longer wanted to handle the demands of other friends.
Ms. Dillon, who considers her laptop "a blessing" that helps her promote her music, said she was happy to pay for the help. She has also frequently received technical support in exchange for dinner, and, once, for a song.
Even parents are being left to fend for themselves as their children tire of dispensing advice.
David Hale, 25, a lawyer in St. Louis, said he had rebuilt his parents' virus-ridden computer from scratch several times in recent months before he learned that his father, Dale, was replying to every piece of his spam e-mail, asking to be taken off the spammers' mailing lists. Dale Hale, 47, also frequently clicked on pop-up ads that appeared to be messages from Microsoft telling him to upgrade his computer.
"It would cause fights between my parents because they would argue about whether a particular one was legitimate and I'm like, `It is NEVER legitimate,' " said Mr. Hale, who explained as patiently as he could that answering spam and clicking on pop-ups only invite more of the same.
After that, Dale Hale said, his son would sometimes become frustrated by his and his wife's questions. They in turn would get frustrated with their son's instructions, especially over the phone. Eventually they bought antivirus software.
"We've learned by the lumps and bumps," the father said.
(People who had installed the major antivirus software programs from companies like McAfee were largely protected from the MyDoom virus after downloading updates available a few hours after the virus's appearance on Jan. 26.)
Perhaps the one thing that technophobes and technophiles can agree on is that software companies like Microsoft should make things easier and more secure for all kinds of computer users. But Microsoft, whose Web site has so far withstood a continuing attack by the MyDoom virus, had a reminder for users, too.
"Responsibility is shared," said Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security strategist. "With some of these viruses that require user action, people have a responsibility to be careful and protect themselves."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As someone who was a computer hobbiest starting in the early 80's, I can say that after right around 20 years of computing I'm ready to strangle all you dopes that don't know a sheep from a RAM.
To quote Howard Dean: "YYEEEAAAARRRGHHHH!!!"
Comments
Right now, one of the kitchen women (55 years of age) in our clinic, who has never used a computer or any other electronic device more sophisticated than a (two-switch-)toaster in her life, has to learn entering her storage data into Excel sheets. I walked her through the complete process, starting with her sitting helplessly in front of the set-up, pointing at the screen and asking "That's the PC, right?", and had an absolute blast during the process.
Well, let's see how I'm talking in 2014...
"Set your Deck up yourself! No, I do <i>not</i> care whether the Black Ice will blast your brain away! If you open the file, it's your own fault!"
On that thought I would also like to add that their should be a minimum age you have to fulfill to be able to use voicecom. Also in game such as starcraft and warcraft their should be internal code in the engine that prohibits the game from going online unless you have a code that is unique to each disc and is only accessible through beating the a special campaign that shows you all the basics and puts you through certain steps.(Im tired of people asking me "so wait, these little bubbles are my workers?").
Her mind is just too linear. You can't explain things by refering to an item or two. To her, you have to do everything step by step. She also got some spam and finding it interesting, replied and asked them to send the stuff to the rest of us, thanks Grandma...
I was helping her back up some documents she wrote once. The way we did it was she told me which files she wanted backed up and I did the rest. Of course she didn't think of them as files, she just saw words that magically represented documents she recognized as ones she didn't want to lose. But what really brought strife to the situation was after she had specified a bunch, I would highlight those, hit copy, shift window focus over to the backup drive, and as soon as I shifted focus, she would see all these files she wanted backed up and start listing those to me, I never fully got her to understand that she shouldn't even look there because they were all ones that were already backed up... It got to the point where I couldn't say a single thing without fearing that I would be completely misunderstood and that I had no chance of understanding what she meant. Very frustrating.
It's like saying "learn to play <a sport> or don't play it at all". It's just geeks trying to be the "cool" people now ;/
edit: about the current virus, apparently it doesn't always e-mail out from the address of the infected, some virus is e-mailing from my address and I'm more than certain my computer is clean.
Then again, unless I ask someone for it, I never get attachments in emails, so... meh.
It's like saying "learn to play <a sport> or don't play it at all". It's just geeks trying to be the "cool" people now ;/ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you have had any of the hassle of knowing about computers, you'd be as hostile as some of us.
Personally, over years, i've been called out by all my friends and relatives to fix their computers, hell, one time i spent in total about 5 hours over 3 days on the phone to my dad's boss giving him painful step-by-step instructions about how to format, repartition and reinstall his computer.
I, for one, am sick of it. I know people who have owned computers for 3-4 years and STILL don't know the first thing about them. If i'm in a good mood, maybe i'll help people with their problems, but most of the time now i tell them to go RTFM.
It's not geeks trying to be cool, it's geeks trying to live a quiet life without clueless people bothering them.
HEAR HEAR!!
Hera?
but really, that's all it is.
I still try to help every one.
I still go crazy trying to do so (specialy my mum <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
I still try and help every one I can in the Tech Help Forum.
And I even stand up for the clueless (those that click an attachment from their computer savvy friend)
Oh, and the way some of the better email virii work is this:
Computer A gets infected
Computer A's Adress book contains emails for computers b-z00
the virus now randomly matches up email addys and starts sending them out (I have gotten emails aparently from MAC ussers containing virii <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
then again I use Telnet and Pine so I am sorta safe <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> (I have to friken work to get at any attachments <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Thankfully most of my friends that do ask for help, usually do pay me back in some form, pizza beer and a hockey game or such. No problem doing that. I got my mom a book on computers also, and after 2 years she can do what she wants on it, but my parents still open emails they shouldn't. This is their PC is quarinteened on my network <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
But yah, computer knowledge takes time to learn, it's just like fixing a car or your sink. It may not look like it invovles much work, sitting at a keyboard, clicking around. The knowledge is knowing where to go on the PC and how to do most effciently. And that usually means payment... <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
(I could fill up pages with tech stories of people whining about paying for tech).
tech favors for candy <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> (or for umm other sorts of *ehem*favors <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
generaly I just go with candy or cookies (posibly a meal if they real wana <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
And my general deal with my mom is that I go into her office, teach her how to do what she wants then she takes me out to lunch <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<img src='http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/dean(www.albinoblacksheep.com).jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
think how much fun i have trying to explain to her that love.scr isnt something she wants to download.
teufel:
change tire = cell phone + AAA card
speaking of people who hate computers.
my roomate in the IT department always tells me how people complain about there PC/ printer/ etc not working, Then they blame the PC and whine how PCs are so unreliable and never work to him.
Usualy at it ends up being that they never plugged it in, in the first place.
It's not rocket science! We're not asking you to learn assembler! Hell, we're not even asking you to learn what assembler IS. Just use your brains, damnit.
<img src='http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/dean(www.albinoblacksheep.com).jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is, without a doubt, the greatest picture ever created.
/me twitches
--Scythe--
<img src='http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/dean(www.albinoblacksheep.com).jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You know, if he gets elected, that kitty represents the poor.
<img src='http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/dean(www.albinoblacksheep.com).jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You know, if he gets elected, that kitty represents the poor. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Alright! Let's derail this into some halfassed teenage angst filled complaint about how capitalism sucks and that because you suck at life, you DESERVE everyone ELSES profit from THEIR hard work!
Anyway, my mother uses a computer. She needs to, for her home business. She's been using it for several years. Except she always whines that she can't learn something new and needs to write it down. THEN she whines that she can't understand her instructions. I get **** off explaining for the thousandth time what the difference is between Adobe Photopshop and Adobe Acrobat, or how to defrag the hard drive. Or HOW TO EVEN OPEN FILES (Yes, this is true, after a crash, Frontpage reset the file path to her desktop and she starts screaming that everything was gone. I open up the directory and she freaks, asking 'WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST!'
It gets worse. My sister is 21 and in college and she doesn't know what the hell the difference between a CD and a DVD is. Installing a program is 'downloading' (even if it's on hard storage), she complains about her spam and the porn popups that appear and despite my explaining a thousand times, can't seem to figure out that spyware is BAD, and it's all from kazaa.
you got it right there
I quite like helping but I have been known to have my moody times ^^;
Generally I try and avoid using jargon because it just confuses them and use easy metaphors... as a result it's not too difficult to help most people without any misunderstandings =3
If you call me on a phone I won't help you much though... I hate doing stuff over the phone and I work a lot by seeing rather than guessing or remembering what might be on their screen =P
I quite like helping but I have been known to have my moody times ^^;
Generally I try and avoid using jargon because it just confuses them and use easy metaphors... as a result it's not too difficult to help most people without any misunderstandings =3
If you call me on a phone I won't help you much though... I hate doing stuff over the phone and I work a lot by seeing rather than guessing or remembering what might be on their screen =P <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same here, telling people things over the phone is murder as is telling them in person, they either A- forget it or B- Do the wrong thing.
I like the idea of a licence, it would REALLY cut down on the amount of silly virus etc.
And on the plus side people would get it to put on their CV <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I'm one of only 2 computer savvy people in my family. The other one is my brother. The family comes to me for tech support all the time. This is b0rked, that wont work, why cant I run Warcraft 3 on P2 133 with 16 Mb ram?
On the plus side though, my immediate family tends to be better. My sister has to deal with computers all the time and she knows basic functions (delete, save, directory structure, etc), My mum knows how to find games, go around the files etc, My Dad is the only one thats fairly illiterate, but he isnt annoying about it. He doesnt understand computers, but he can understand instructions, still, he's only touched the computer 3 times in living memory. Once to find out what all the fuss was about. The second time to try out a game called Bejeweled, the third only recently to start playing bejeweled again.
Nub/Newbie - A person who doesnt know the first thing, but is willing to learn, about computers.
N00b - Person that doesnt know the first thing about Computers and has no will to learn "Go the My Computer..." "What? Why do I need to go to your computer for?" "Theres an icon in the upper left" "OOoooh!!" "Now go to my computer" "Why?" "So you can access C Drive" "What?" "So you can get into your computers hard drive" "Why is my computer having a hard drive for?" "Sigh..."
Computer Literate - One that knows basic tasks on computers and terminology. They know what an exe file does, they know not to open suspicious attachments. They can browse a directory structure, scan for virii and deal with simple errors.
Computer Savvy - People that can format their computers, partition hard drives, install drivers and fiddle with settings with some confidence.
Computer Super Savvy - One that can not only build a computer from scratch, but also knows programming, networking, architecture, and even a little about how the computer actually works (CPU clock, what Megahertz means, flip/flops etc).