Bad Computer Advice?

Look, I'm not claiming to be a computer expert. I personally know three dozen people I can name off the top of my head that know WAY more than I do. A couple of them frequent this message board.

That said, I keep running across church-going folks who keep getting what I personally consider bad computer advice from people trying to sell them computers and/or computer services; basically taking advantage of the less technologically-competent among us.

For example, a couple I know has a ministry; they attended a seminar, where they were given a personal one-on-one with one of the seminar presenters, and he had them convinced they needed to start shelling out $750/month for a website, search engine optimization, advertising services, etc. I was able to dial them back, sit down and show them that their Facebook page was already showing up on the first page of Google search results, and determine that they were already using their Facebook page address on their business card and mailings. I asked them why they wanted to start putting themselves in debt for something that had a negligible--and most likley, negative--return on investment. Once they thought more about it, and had more information, they started telling more people about their Facebook page, and last I heard, things were picking up....

A pastor friend was adamant that his church needed a website. I kept asking him why. He just had it in his head that it would be more professional to have a website. I asked him who was going to maintain it; if he understood the difference between domain name and hosting, and how much a domain name costs versus hosting costs; etc. I offered to educate him; but he started to understand the complexity of what he was asking for. Then I showed him that the Facebook page that one of his parishioners had started was actually the #1 result on Google; AND, it already had the capability of a calendar, allowing his parishioners to share things with each other, etc., etc.

I'm not advocating Facebook. I'm hopefully advocating common sense, inexpensive solutions, and using computers as tools rather than seeing technology as "gee whiz gadgets" that we can point at and say "see what we have" (for instance, I'm thankful that no one has asked me about creating a mobile app for their church or ministry yet; but I'm also surprised it hasn't happened).

Not really sure why I'm starting this thread. Maybe just venting. Does anyone else see what I'm seeing?

 

My father-in-law used to have Norton on his computer; I continually urged him to uninstall it. He kept insisting it was the best antivirus. I kept telling him it was the cause of most of his computer slow-downs.

I'm still not sure what's happened in the recent past, but I've noticed that he finally uninstalled Norton. Problem is, I don't think he's using *any* antivirus at the moment....

And don't get me started on MacAfee....

 

I think the part about keeping it updated is the true key. Against my better judgment, I'm about to volunteer for our county Baptist Association, because we have a LOT of churches in this area that are using the free website provided through the Southern Baptist Association -- but no one's keeping them updated. From what I can tell, the churches are emailing or snail-mailing stuff to the county association office, and then expecting them to put it up on that website.

For some of us, no. For others, well...I currently work with a woman who actually was employed at NASA. I do my best to not let her touch the computers if I can help it.... <grin>

 

My two favorites.

 

We were good until you hit "Microsoft Security Essentials"....

 

BTW, folks, a suggestion for all of you helping out pastors, church staff, etc.: if at all possible, DON'T let them use personal accounts to set up Facebook, websites, etc. If they've already done it, so be it. If you can change it, I suggest you do so. This is primarily for the smaller churches, where they don't have a full-time staff.

In an ideal world, that person will never leave, and you'll never have to worry about what email address or password they used to set up the account. In 90% of the cases I've come across, someone's left the church, people don't know how to get hold of them, and no one knows how to access the Facebook account or website control panel. Sometimes it's nice when you come across that sticky note or a scribble in a notepad that has the information. But most of the time, it's harder than dickens to recover that info. Half the time, when I do find the person, they can't remember what password they used.

What I recommend to folks is to use Hotmail, Outlook.com, Google, Yahoo, Juno, whatever; and set up a "generic" account for the church. Sometimes (especially with Google), you have to use a personal email to set up a new email account; that's okay, no big deal. Once you've set up the new email account, you can forget whoever's "verification email" address you used (as long as the church group actually uses the generic account and doesn't forget about it!). Once you've got that account set up, make sure you annotate that email address and password, and store the information near the computer. Remember: this is an account that will be used by *anyone* associated with the church, not just a particular person; thus, an "organization account." Then you can use that information to create websites, Facebook accounts, etc.

I suggest that when you create such an account, you ensure that at least two people have the information to access the account; thus ensuring that you don't have a "single point of failure."

Just some thoughts that I've learned the hard way.

 

First, I forgot to include the "cheesy grin" tag. Second, "recommend" is a strong word. About every 3-4 months I'll check the tech sites to see the latest rankings for the free antivirus programs. Bitdefender's done pretty well, as well as AntiVir; but what I recommend is what you're comfortable with. Some folks would swear by Kaspersky; but as you mentioned, you didn't like it.

Even a mid-ranking antivirus is better than no antivirus.

No offense to Ann's husband, but having things locked down so that they can't be installed won't prevent everything. We have the same settings where I work; and those dang Facebook games and people clicking on email links still get past us occasionally.

 

For those that say you HAVE to have a website - I tend to look at things from a different perspective. Customer service, to me, means looking at the customer's ability to use what I give them. It also has to meet their need.

Rev, Ann, and Smyth have it under control. But would you advise a smaller church with no full time staff, limited funding, and no one with any serious computer experience, that they need to figure out a website?

One such church had no one willing to volunteer to be the church website administrator. They had the free site, and someone had done an initial set-up; but it hadn't been maintained, and no one was willing to step up. However, when it was propositioned to use Facebook, several of the older ladies picked it up. They now post the weekly sermons, videos of services, announcements, etc., etc. They're really using their church Facebook page to help keep their church members connected.

All I'm saying is, when it comes to the available tools, I'm not necessarily convinced any tool is better--or lesser--than another.

Here's an idea for another thread: how is your church using social media?