Why they look for help from friends
To tell a story - in keeping with the research findings - one of our intelligent, but non-computerish clients phoned to ask how to respond to the message 'jusched would like to make changes to your computer', or words to that effect. Now we know that's Java asking to check for updates, and it's fine, but how on earth was she supposed to know that? Having drummed into her the need to pay attention to messages, where and how would a 'lay' user find out what it meant, if she couldn't phone us free of charge? She even had the healthy thought that if it was a nasty, she might get into more trouble if she started Googling.
The lesson (see above) is that so long as many of the messages and explanations our poor users see on their computers, conversations with experts and discussions on techy websites and are couched in language they do not understand, and they do not have access/time/motivation/money to learn enough to understand, they will seek help from someone or something who explains things in straightforward language, like that warning about Facebook. Isn't that part of the reason spoof antivirus programs succeed?
