For my wife it was as simple as showing her, that it is hard to do something really bad to the computer without a couple of warnings from the OS, I even deleted my wife's resume from the machine, only to show her Time Machine and that it was still there....for the record I had copied it to a USB Thumb drive to be sure just in case, but did not need it.
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Bought my girlfriend an MBP and she's afraid to use it :)
- Thread starter Thomas Davie
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Tell her not to worry.
Macs are hardy and the fans deal with the temperature. What's the point of spending an arm and a leg on a beautiful machine it you are afraid to use it to its full potential? I totally understand what she's going through, but I really think she'll enjoy it more if she put her paranoia to rest .i can solve your problem, just send it to me and it will get used more than it will probably like
The breakthrough happened. Her HP laptop, which had beer spilt on the keyboard a few weeks back, packed it in. So, unless she wants to walk to her second floor to use an XP desktop, she is starting to use the MBP (Thunderbird, Firefox and iPhoto). And she is asking about buying an Apple remote.
thanks
Tom
thanks
Tom
She'll get used to it. It's weird going to a new operating system but OS X is easy and with a little encouragement/showing around, I bet she'll love it in no time.
Set up a non-admin account for her, and don't tell her the password for the admin account (until she's comfortable with the OS). With a non-admin account, there's very little damage she can do - apart from deleting her own files. If you can set up an automated backup, she doesn't have to worry about that either.
Also, you can remove icons from the Dock, apart from the apps which are running - this is probably more natural to someone coming from Windows. The freeware utility Onyx has several options for customisation, including only showing running applications in the Dock (haven't tried it, but sounds like it achieves the same thing).
Also, you can remove icons from the Dock, apart from the apps which are running - this is probably more natural to someone coming from Windows. The freeware utility Onyx has several options for customisation, including only showing running applications in the Dock (haven't tried it, but sounds like it achieves the same thing).
It's really the fear of the unknown. It doesn't matter how smart someone is in learning new stuff. Sometimes people don't want to change from what they are comfortable with.
Once she uses her Mac more often she will build a comfort level with it. Just make sure to be there if she needs any help and make sure to teach her all the routine basics like how to install applications, adding and removing apps from the Dock, etc. Once the unknown is taking away then she should become comfortable with her Mac.
You can also try explaining to her that there are a lot equivalents to PCs on Macs because most of their usability is similar in Macs and even more so since Windows keeps copying Macs.
For example you can tell her things like the Mac equivalent to the Start Menu in Windows is the Dock. Instead of being on the left side the Dock's default is in the center and has the shortcuts for her applications. Actually if she has her Application folder on the right of the dock it can be set to open in a list menu when you click on it which makes it very similar to Windows' start menu. Of course there are differences but starting with what she knows from the Windows side and explaining the differences will probably help her learn Macs quicker.Tom
I would love to hear an update in a couple of weeks from you about your wife going from Win to OS X. I am trying to convince my mother to give up he WinXP Sony for a Mini, but my Mom wont give it the couple of weeks I think are needed to make the change
I would love to hear an update in a couple of weeks from you about your wife going from Win to OS X. I am trying to convince my mother to give up he WinXP Sony for a Mini, but my Mom wont give it the couple of weeks I think are needed to make the change
I find that the people who won't give it the effort to change, really didn't understand what the hell they were doing in windows anyways. Since they didn't have any understanding of computing methodology to begin with, they aren't looking to draw any parallels from windows to OSX in regard to workflow, they are simply trying to figure out where to click and what to type.
Basically they have to re-memorize everything again, with little real understanding.
good analysis and one that i agree with 100%
i've long given up trying to get my mom to use another browser besides IE --she'd be lost if ever put in front of a computer screen which doesn't have a start button in the bottom left corner...
all she ever does is double click that blue e (*THE* internet --no blue e = no internet) and that godawful outlook icon
Porn fixes everything !!!! More Porn !!!! Seriously though maybe going to some apple classes together or dummies books. Good Luck !!!!
Sure, will do. I did uninstall iStat menues, since I was convinced that everything was running okay (I snuck in a handbrake encode to stress the system and no problems so I got rid of iStat). I bought Civ IV for her, but am going to let her install it.
Tom
On my mom's laptop I installed Dropbox and made that her home-folder so nothing would be deleted by mistake.
Of course, before I knew it she'd gone way past the 2gb free cap with iPhoto (which meant she was using it, so I won!!!) so I had to take that folder out of Dropbox, but still...
Of course, before I knew it she'd gone way past the 2gb free cap with iPhoto (which meant she was using it, so I won!!!) so I had to take that folder out of Dropbox, but still...
Me and my dad took the jump to OS X 10.6.2 from XP/Vista 2 weeks ago. It's not a big change for me since I had previous experience with OS X before. My dad is still waiting for his iMac to come in the mail.
I have mix feelings with Windows and OS X. Can Mac replace my PC? Certainly no. Can PC replace my mac? Perhaps if my PC is running in top performance.
There are some nice things about macs. Adding accessories (e.g., printers) are very simple and straight forward. You don't have to use anti-virus software (performance hog) and Mac OS X is very stable compared to Windows. (Note: I have yet to crash OS X 10.6.2 but I have crashed previous versions of OSX before.
Safari 4 is a very fast browser; however, it does not have that many security features compared to IE 8.0. Furthermore, I find that certain websites look much better with IE 8.0 compared to Safari 4.
I wish there is a BR burner/player & HDMI in my MBP. I guess Macs are designed to work and not for playing.
To those who are making fun of people and their knowledge on computers (win/mac): Think again. If PCs were that bad, Mac would have replaced it long ago and vice versa.
I have mix feelings with Windows and OS X. Can Mac replace my PC? Certainly no. Can PC replace my mac? Perhaps if my PC is running in top performance.
There are some nice things about macs. Adding accessories (e.g., printers) are very simple and straight forward. You don't have to use anti-virus software (performance hog) and Mac OS X is very stable compared to Windows. (Note: I have yet to crash OS X 10.6.2 but I have crashed previous versions of OSX before.
Safari 4 is a very fast browser; however, it does not have that many security features compared to IE 8.0. Furthermore, I find that certain websites look much better with IE 8.0 compared to Safari 4.
I wish there is a BR burner/player & HDMI in my MBP. I guess Macs are designed to work and not for playing.
To those who are making fun of people and their knowledge on computers (win/mac): Think again. If PCs were that bad, Mac would have replaced it long ago and vice versa.
Simple. Put the computer into Simple mode for her user. Then when she gets used to it put it back into full mode with certain restrictions, and gradually remove them as she needs to do more stuff.
I got my parents a MacBook ages ago. My mum never touched computers before so I put her user into Simple Mode and now she uses it just fine. My dad was a life long Windows user, so he had a more full experience. Though I placed restrictions on the account because he suffers from Parkinsons and keeps moving stuff around by accident (FFS I wish Apple would allow email folders to be locked so they can't be dragged around in Mail!! Considering Apple is supposed to be big on accessibility this would be a HUGE advantage for people with motor control issues.)
i had the same problem about a year ago when i got my girlfriend to switch. she was never the most computer savvy, and still is not. after a day or so, she actually wanted to return it to best buy. after a few days of tutorials and seeing me use my systems, she was able to switch. at first, it can be a drastic change and scary. give it some time. she'll get use to it.
Stop supporting her Windows problems. Let her deal with it.
Probably meant parental control mode?
Can you say in more detail how you set this? Would be great for my computer averse grandma.
Sure. If you open Parental Controls in the System Preferences there is an option to use "Simple Finder". When this is enabled she will be presented with a simple Dock that contains the Applications folder and a Documents folder. She won't be able to use the Finder as normal so she won't be able to go anywhere near system files etc.