Undefined Value

My Mom likes MSN.com. It's been her homepage for years, and I've accepted the fact that I won't be able to get her to switch to a better portal. However, every time Mom gets a new computer, she somehow gets tricked into signing up for MSN dial-up service for $9.99/month, despite the fact that she already has a broadband Internet connection.

Mom's a smart woman, so I'm not sure why this keeps happening. I think the new computers' desktops are always cluttered with crapware icons, and as she clicks them all to see what they do, one of them offers to help her "get connected to the Internet," even though she's already connected to the Internet. Then an animated translucent butterfly pesters her until the clicks "OK."

I'm sure there are people who actually would find it helpful for a new Windows machine to assist them in setting up a dial-up account. But, it would be even more helpful if the MSN take-your-money wizard would detect whether a dial-up connection is really needed.

Next time I help set up a new computer, I'll be sure to delete anything that says "MSN" before turning it over to the owner.