An OS is a house

 While waiting for something on Windows to get fixed, I figured I might try making a simple analogy to describe the experiences I often have trying to search online to fix an issue.

An operating system like Windows is like a house.

Different people live in the house, like different processes in an OS. Each person can exist in one room, or in different rooms, doing different things.

Sometimes, parts of the house can be used only by one person at a time- like a door. Other times, a utility can be used simultaneously (like devices connected to an OS).

When it comes to problems in the house, between people it's worked out or maybe they just leave (a scheduler).

Sometimes however, the problem is within the house- a bad pipe, paint on the wall, a scratch in the window.

Let's take for example bad paint in a wall- someone doesn't like the color. The solution?

Well, telling someone to reinstall their OS would be like telling the family to move into a new house, because one person doesn't like the color of their walls.

And telling someone to recreate their user account is like telling the person to move into a new, empty room. They just want a new wall color, not a whole new room.

And then your next door neighbor comes by and tells you to try this new paint color. You don't like it, so you look for another paint color.

But then you realize your entire neighborhood are tech bloggers and Microsoft support admins, who all took the advice of your neighbor, and who all will either recommend changing houses, changing rooms, or suggesting that same paint color.

But then, buried within an alley deep within the city of tech bloggers, you find a small and somewhat sketchy paint shop. But the thing is, it's a paint shop, and they sell different paints.

Unfortunately, they only sell 3 different colors of paint, which you don't like either, and they're too far to go in person to request your own color... (That rare forum discussion that has people actually discussing and solving the issue, sometimes it works but sometimes you're out of luck)

So you come to the conclusion of experimenting with different paint colors- how hard can it be? Just, uh, don't burn your house down by accident, or ruin your furniture in the process... (Attempting to DIY solutions can cause more problems than intended to fix, as is happing with me recently)

Finally, you have the color you want- now just to apply it... You need to move your furniture out just to move it back in place once applied... (To apply advanced fixes, often it's necessary to move files around temporarily or perform repetitive tasks to eventually accomplish your goal, and fixing things takes time)

At last, the paint is all applied! If you don't like it, hopefully it's the type that can peel off easily... Otherwise, time for a new house or room... (Sometimes these changes are permanent, when really they shouldn't be; Windows and other OSes have backup solutions but they don't always work)