Excuse the punny title but this post is supposed to be about reasons I pity the average computer user. Why? Well…

1. They use Norton or McAfee. I can’t stand Norton, at all. I find AVG provides me with sufficient protection and doesn’t hog resources in the same way Norton or McAfee do. If I was to use a non-free anti-virus package I’d probably lean towards NOD32.
2. They use Hotmail. Why oh why oh why?! Gmail is much better and every Hotmail users I’ve converted so far agrees
3. They use Internet Explorer… sometimes even IE6. Why not use Firefox or another gecko-based browser which are generally considered more customisable and secure?
4. They attend novice IT classes and read novice IT books. I learnt nearly all of my computing skills from trial-and-error. My relatives often attend courses or read books which generally just confuse them more as they learn how to do things in pieces of software they lack or different operating systems.
5. New computers come with Windows Vista. I’d much rather use XP (or even better a Unix-based OS) and as much as the average Joe (and indeed myself) love eyecandy in their operating system, Windows Vista’s eye candy isn’t equal to its performance and I’d rather have the latter.