My mother seems to disengage her brain when using a computer, so you must give instructions in exacting detail...

Me: Close that window.
Mom: Um, ok?
Me: ... Click the little red button at the top left...
MS Word: Save document? Yes / No
Mom: ... Now what?
Me: Well, do you want to save that?
Mom: Yes! ...
Me: ... so... click Yes...

... and I die a little more inside...

You just described my parents, its like pulling teeth. And then they come back not even a couple days later for the same problem even though they "took notes" and "paid attention" ... All this money I save you by fixing literally anything electronic for you and you still can't pay attention :p lol

I think it's the fear of the unknown and they're scared of damaging it, but yeah, it hurts. There are even times when they literally read you the message, then ask what to do.

Well....
There was one time, a cofounder in a startup I worked for, was waving his Wii remote around, not understanding why the game won't start. So he asked me. I looked at the screen, and written there in the biggest letters possible was : "press A to start game!". So I stare at him, amd tells him - read the screen... he takes a look, and then look at me: "what do I do then?"
....
he still is a pretty smart guy.
we are all idiots at some level....

Little red close button, ergo Mac, Ms word ergo windows... Confused!

@dyte it's relatively little and definitely red on win7
Ms office supports mac

@Lor-inc yes but not left?
But yeah didn't know Ms office supported Mac, so that's probably it :D