I hate computers.

[OakLeaf]

Heh. This average person pours hot tea into her laptop, turns the computer off, wipes it off, turns it upside down to drain if it needs to, puts it in indirect sun for a few hours, crosses her fingers and so far it's working.

No idea what other average persons do.

[shootingstar]

Good point, smilingcat. I think the average person, sometimes gives up....and buys a new compuer eventually in a few years. And doesn't use the "problematic" computer in a fullsome way.

Or like one of my sisters, they become computer illiterate because they had a computer years ago but couldn't afford to have it serviced, etc. She only uses a computer to check in people (as a receiptionist) for her job. She's not even on email or Internet at home. She has a home mortgage to pay solo.

I used to deal with my own computer at home but had been relying heavily on my partner since I have a desktop.

However I can see myself getting a laptop and hooking up to a keyboard in the distant future. Not now. At least if the laptop crashes, I can bring it in more easily for service.

I just don't like laptops because ergonically they don't feel comfortable for many prolonged hrs. of computer work. I also know that I'm not the type of person that enjoys dragging in a laptop into a coffee shop just the surf for fun or to look at my personal email. I'd rather do that at home.

[tulip]

I consider myself an average person when it comes to computers. The short answer to your question: we buy new ones.

A couple of weeks ago, my 5-year old very heavily-used laptop offered me three Blue Screens of Death in one week. I work from home and cannot take time to learn about computers. I just need mine to work.

The last BSoD happened the day before I left on vacation. there was nothing I could do but enjoy my vacation.

When I got back, I ordered a new computer and it arrived a couple of days later. The old one seems to work again for the moment, but I called a computer shop and explained what happened and they said it likely needs a new hard drive--$300. I will get it fixed so I can use it as a back up computer.

While I know next to nothing about computers and don't particularly care to know much more, I do defrag and back up on an external HD regularly. That is helpful. All my work stuff is stored on far away servers, so no work was lost.

[jessmarimba]

I'm fortunate that the macbook I bought after college has worked fairly well for the last 6 years. I haven't updated it enough, and it's almost at the point where I can't do much to make it modern, but it's worked. My work computers, on the other hand...I went through 5 laptops in 2 years. The fifth one is still working 3 years later, but I've had to ship it back to our IT guy once because of some virus or another - it had blocked the internet so effectively that he couldn't remotely log in and fix it. Had it been my own...I probably would have given up.