Desktop
by frstdone
by epepke
by pxttocyob
by nichomach
...but the reasoning behind the registry was to dispose of the pre-existing situation, where applications dumped settings all over the hard disk in countless ini files - and those files could turn up anywhere; application directory, windows directory, a weird subfolder somewhere. Personally, having got used to the registry I wouldn't like to go back. Most of the stupidity I've seen with regard to it comes from either a) shoddy application design (like the Borland prog I saw that stored machine specific settings in the CURRENT_USER hive, which meant if another user logged on, the program wouldn't work); or b)users not reading the friendly manual as regards installation and uninstallation.
DLL hell is another matter, but similar problems apply, like failure on the part of the developer to version check when installing (and that ISN'T rocket-science). Shared libraries were actually a good(ish) idea - why have ten different versions of the 3D control libraries on your machine? Why not just have the latest versions out of those available, with bugs fixed etc., and have all applications use those? Again, users randomly deleting files causes problems.
by ice-tech
One trick is make it well known that installing "unauthorized" applications is a big no-no. The first question by the DFU's (I won't offend anyone by explaining that acronym) is "why not?" I tell them that by downloading and installing all those "cute" screensavers, etc they are risking instability on their computer. Trash a home computer, don't trash the one's my group is responsible for. Their company owned computer is a tool and it is not for their personal enjoyment.
Our corporation has IT Corporate Standards for apps. Anything else, unless otherwise approved, is considered non-standard and of course unecessary. Any time one of my support guys responds to a users PC issue they will uninstall all of the apps that have not been approved.
When we do PC upgrades we'll typically do 10 or more at a time. We then make a "ghost "image of one computer and use it in the event of PC rebuilds. Any user that continues to have strange OS/App issues get ghosted. Oddly enough (<-sarcasm)it seems those users that spend all their time downloading garbage from the 'net have the most problems.
Typically, when we have to rebuild someone's box we make sure everyone in their group hears us criticizing them for wasting the timeof IT. If it continues to be an issue we start putting off fixing their issue and let them struggle with blue screens, etc for awhile. At the point they go to their manager (they used to but are afraid to now, word has got out) we sit down in a meeting with them and their manager and explain in no uncertain terms the amount of company time the user has wasted downloading garbage, trashing business machines and wasting the time of IT complaining about an issue they themselves brought about.
I have practiced this philosophy for a number of years and it tends to work. I figure work is work and many users are like kids... They need a lot of discipline.
by mcintyrem
by craig mcd.
Criticizing an employee/user that way is *never* a good idea.
What needs to be done is to, at the first instance of the unathorized app being installed, "fix" the box and *immediatly* schedule a meeting between the user, their boss and *your* boss. You don't have to be involved. Let the Powers That Be do their jobs. Repeat offenders get sanctioned bythe people who are supposed to do that.
And all you need, especially if you are making it a policy to publicly rake the user over the coals, is for Someone Who Knows Someone to pass this along to the same Powers That Be, whether the person you are raking over is them or not.
Then it will be a case of a meeting being scheduled with your boss to discuss *you.* And if you are lucky you might even be invited.
A user called me once regarding a problem. After going through the trouble shooting guide I still wasn't able to help her, so I decided to go in person and check things out.
So upon arrival I pulled a chair beside her and we went through the trouble shooting stuff again (she's controlling the mouse and keyboard. So I am setting there relaxing and telling her exact the same things and voila it worked. She 's asking: what did you do, me: nothing, you have the kb and mouse. she: no, you did something. Me: I am just looking.
She insisted that I did something and also that she did the same things through the telefoon but it didn't work. You guys figure it out.
by fanchant
We call this "the aura of geekiness". I think it's the same principle that makes your car stop making that funny noise when you take it to the auto mechanic.
Or it could be that the computers know that WE know where the magnets are.... :)
by jbutter
by frstdone
by fbowrys
by jim
by mayuresh
by rcsoar4fun
It is unfortunate that Linux has gained a reputation as being diffult to install and configure. True, it once was, way back in the day. However, a late version of Linux such as Mandrake 8 is not very difficult to install at all. It lies somewherein between Nt 4.0 and Windows 2K. The vast majority of the hardware is auto detected. There is some learning involved in using the system, but it tends to be information that will partially transfer to other OS's. I must heartfully disagree that Linux is not ready for the desktop. Once installed and setup Linux requires much less support than a typical MS 9x or NT system. My point is this, if you have the hardware do not be scared of Linux. Spend $25 or download a copy of it and try it out. Mandrake and many others will even install on your Windows partition. What do you have to loose?
Kristopher
by lvasold
Your comment about Linux inspired my two-cents. Linux is an operating system based on the Minix version of Linux. You can use it as a server or desktop, it is completely scalable and an entire viable solution for any computing need. I'm not an avid user, but I have studied and used the OS.
IBM does offer servers with Linux pre-installed. There are smaller companies that offer Linux installed and configured on the systems. http://www.linux.org/ is a good starting place. http://www.debian.com and http://www.redhat.com are both companies that offer Linux distributions. And it can be installed on almost any hardware platform (Mac, Intel, Alpha, etc).
Good luck. And don't feel cornered, try just a little research into the other side, and I think you'll like what you see.
by billyki
by mcintyrem
by bnaritomi
by fbowrys
by rkirkland
Ever have someone try to put a CD-Rom in a 5 1/4" floppy drive...?
Yes, there are people out there that try to shove the square blocks into the round peghole ;-)
I had a user somehow disable Stanby Mode on his Windows98 laptop. I didnt even know you could do this, so I didnt have an answer for him when he expected me to fix it. Turns out you can reinstall Advanced Power Mgmt. or tweak the registy to fix it.
Another time a user sent out an angry email to the entire company claiming that the IS staff was spying on him. He was mad because he has a C$ share on his hard drive. We told him everyone has an "administrative" share, its part of NT. The complaining went away.
Now, for one of the stupid Desktop Support tricks. One time I was installing Outlook for the HR Manager. I was only on the job for about a month and didnt have a educational background in computers. Anyway, I accidently set her up for POP mail instead of Exchange/Outlook. I got a frantic call from her, stating that her emails were disappearing from her screen. Hehe, they were all downloading to the machine I was working on. :-)
by rhamby
by a techie disquised as an end-user
At a previous job, I had a "team lead" (she and I were the only two on the help desk...) and she was... um... challenged. She fancied herself a budding Novell admin. She was not well like by either the end users OR the techs for the same reason: lack of knowledge and an ego too big/fragile to admit when she didn't know something. A PC tech told me the following true story:
An end-user called and wasn't getting a log-in prompt. Jason and Kathy went to the desk and Kathy immediately said, "type 'whoami'". Jason tried to explain that if he wasn't on the network, 'whoami' was pointless. She persisted. He ignored her and looked for the network cable. It wasn't plugged in. He showed her the end of the cable, said it wasn't plugged in and she continued to say, "type 'whoami'". He told her to leave and fixed the PC.
She finally got transferred to the Lotus Notes group when the end-users and tech's revolted. To top it off, she made $17K more a year than I did...
Though i couldn't top it I found it amusing.
She acted the way she did because she might be feeling lonely, bored or wanted you by her side or you must be very handsome she couldn't resist and this list goes on........
just joking
anyway i too found those silly beings in our office
by rjjodoi
by fanchant
I had a user who kept hosing her W95 machines - she'd get to the point where she'd have regular BSODs, even though she insisted she was shutting the machine down correctly, blah blah blah.
One day I happened to be in her cube when it happened. I asked her to go ahead and reboot the machine... and she reached over, clicked on START, clicked on SHUTDOWN.....
and turned off the power to the machine!
We immediately had a training session on the correct way to power down your PC.
by dave
by generalist
I agree that shared libraries are a good thing. I also agree with the '(ish)' qualifier that you added.
I suspect that shared libraries would work a lot better if all parties agreed to full backward compatibility with the shared modules. Of course that might require some sort of commitee to establish the standards and to ensure that the standards are followed.
Open Source with controls for module names, functionality and interfaces? Something to think about.
by nichomach
by jon p
The main reason why manufacturers of software are in business is to make money, let's not forget that. The only exceptions to the rule are certain Linux and FreeBSD O/S's, but the availability of decent software for these platforms is so limited if you don't want to pay for anything. Many large software Corps (EG Macromedia, who at their last British conference stated that they weren't prepared to support Linux until the Linux community was prepared to pay their way.) are not supporting the platform at all, other hardware manufacurers e.g. HP, provide basic functionality for their small office printers, but aren't interested in it in reality. I think that the problem is that there generally isn't enough experienced people at supporting theplatform and trouble shooting.
To put a less fine point on it, Microsoft have done such a fine job of marketing their tool, and although we can swear about how this or that isn't right, the major fault is our own for jumping in feet first. Linux is by no means perfect, but the difference is basically that an open source operating system can have its bugs written out by any apsiring programmer. Microsoft holds the source code for it's O/S (or it did!) and forces you to buy the merchendise in order to fix the bugs you see, but when a rewrite of the O/S, such as XP come out, it introduces a whole new set of flaws, just so you have to buy the next one after that!!! It's just simple marketing... make you reliant on the O/S and then force youto pay for more and more... See what happens with Hotmail... it's beginning to become available in more and more places, people are beginning to rely on it, so Microsoft are now talking about charging for it! And so it goes on... God for a Desert Island with no technology!!!!
by t.marcantel.
how about you edumacated morons stick to the subject.
I work in the IT world and nothing is worse as an admin having to tell some to type their user name and then they put their password in the same field or telling them to type thier password and they punch it in on the phone.
BTW way Linux sucks you geeks need to give it up Bill may be the Anti-Christ but at least he gave most of us our jobs.
Dan
by nichomach
by jimnypivo
Yo, Ron. Ease up. You got it wrong way round. If if weren't for your USERS, you wouldn't have a job.
Problem is that many businesses and IT geeks assume that everyone knows how to use a computer, and admin geeks think everyone knows how their network runs. WRONG! Not one organization I have worked in included 'network 101' in any of their E&T programs. Remember, not all of us had home computers as childhood playthings.
Some more advice---go to the 'Bad grammar' discussion board.You might learn a few things.
by cellerd
What rock did you crawl out from under?
Also spellcheck is a great tool.
by jimhm
Most of my users were technically challenged - to say the most.
1)A young lady called with a priority 1, saying that her machine wouldn't power on, but her radio was playing.
Answer - Building power was out - (months ago when she learned about a ups system) she had unpluged her machine from the UPS system and used it for her radio (she didn't want somthing to happen to it if someone caused a power surge).
2) An Executive - deleted and emptied the trash on his pc - 3 days later he wanted it restored.
Answer - Tried to explain - no good. He was still upset - Almost lost job because of it. (someone told him that it is still recoverable only the file name is deleted not the data)
I guess we have all had our chuckles and giggles at others who aren't as technogeeky as the rest of us. But then again - I am sure electricans, auto mach, and others have the same types of comments in their professions... and I am sure some of us technogeeks fall into that group of challenged..
by negrao.
by eujay
I once got called out to look at a problem with DOS. It wasn't working right and I could not figure out why.
I asked the users if anything had changed recently and they said "Oh yeah. There's this application we wanted to install and it said we needed to have DOS version 5.0 We only had version 3.0 so we upgraded".
Hmmmmmm.
I still couldn't figure out why things weren't working. Edit would not run but edlin would. The dos shell would not start but some of the commands available in the shell would run from the command line.
In the end I asked if I could see the Upgrade software, the source that they used to do the upgrade.
They gave me a set of floppies labelled by hand, something like "Sue's DOS disks do not touch". The disks were indeed the full set of MSDOS 5.0 disks and they were all good so then I asked "can you show me what you did".
The user sat down, put floppy # 1 into the drive and entered the command
copy a:\*.* c:\dos
After that she did the same to disk#2, Disk #3....
So here's the thing. The DOS "hidden files", IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS are the core of the OS. "copy *.*" will not copy these files. Edit, edlin, the shell and all the other "external" commands call code that's written in the hidden files, the core OS. Unless this is changed the OS is not really upgraded.
Finally I confirmed the problem by typing in
ver which returns the version number of the OS. Sure enough ver responded with "MSDOS 3.0"
I proceeded to install DOS properly; ie using the command a:\setup which copies the system files.
After that everything worked Ok.
by nettek
1.Don't write anything down. We can easily play back the error messages you get on your screen.
2.When a tech says he's coming right over, go for coffee. It's nothing for us to remember 481 screen saver passwords.
3.When you call us to have your computer moved or replaced, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of post-its, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and Popsicle art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to get a good look at yours.
4.Send support requests all in uppercase, with a few ASAPs thrown in for good measure. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery, and once we read it we'll drop everything and run to your desk.
5.When you call a tech's direct line, press the number that skips the message that says he's on vacation, record your message, and wait exactly 24 hours before you send a scathing email straight to the director because no one ever returned your call. After all, you're entitled to common courtesy.
6.When the photocopier or fax machine doesn't work, call computer support. After all, there's electronics in it.
7.When you get a message on your PC about a hard disk controller failure, and then you reboot and it looks okay, don't call tech support. We'd much rather troubleshoot it when it's dead as a doornail.
8.When a tech tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That'll get us going.
by fanchant
I have this list (pervious message)with about 25 things on it.
It's posted on the wall by my desk, and every time it actually happens in my company, we put a hash mark up...
So far we've had about 20 of the 25.
by nettek
9.When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 10 times. Printers frequently fall asleep. If you re-send it enough times, you'll wake up the printer.
10.Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by, "My thingy's not working."
11.When a tech asks you whether you've installed any new software on your computer, lie. It's nobody's business what you've got on your computer.
12.If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, it must have happened the last time a tech worked on your PC. Keyboards are actually very happy with spilled coffee, half a pound of muffin crumbs, paper clips, and nail clippings in them.
13.When you get a message saying "Are you sure you want to delete...?" click on that "Yes" button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
14.Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know anything about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our career choice referred to as ?crap?.
15. When you receive a 30-meg movie file, send it to everyone as an e-mail attachment. We got plenty of network bandwidth and lots of disk space on our mail servers.
16.If you curse every morning when you are starting your PC and theannoying Virus Scan screen pops up in your face, disable the Virus Scan. Again, this is just like real life: if you don't like condoms, just don't use them, that's all.
17.If you keep getting the same virus an your computer and a tech asks you if you are bringing floppy disks from home, lie. Once again, it?s nobody's business. Besides, you couldn't possibly have a virus on your home computer.
18.If a tech installed software on your PC and shortly thereafter nobody could print to the printer down the hall, the tech must have caused the printer to stop working. After all, the printer was fine before he worked on your PC.
by johnm
by generalist
I take it some of the students at Spokane Falls stumbled on this obscure fact while goofing around...
Or maybe it was a staff member wondering if somebody could do something that, ummm, 'technically challenged'.
Of course with Zip drives beinginstalled in PCs on a regular basis, it won't be long before you have 3 1/2 floppies stuck in the Zip drive bay.
Now should I test that with my machine...?
by epepke
are a really good design. They aren't quite square, so they don't fit sideways. The bevel prevents them from being inserted backward. There is only room for one of them in a drive.
It's too bad not everything is designed this way.
by jhattrick
by mishratron
by epepke
by epepke
On the Palm OS, when an application is installed, all databases associated with that application are also automatically installed. When it is removed, all those databases are automatically removed.
Shared libraries behave differently based on their signature. They can be set up either way.
This is a much better design. It's easy to understand, works well, and does not leave detritus.
However, I see on Pocket PC's that you have to clean out the TEMP directory every once in a while. On a handheld device, this is totally insane and totally inexcusable. I fear, however, that new devices that need not become infected with earlier crappy design decisions will become infected, simply because people will assume that everything has tobe like Windows is today.
by nichomach
by mishratron
you know how you can "fix" this "bad" design were the vendors do not want or care to take the time to do it right ???????
Simple, make one entity SOLEY responsible for all applications installation and uninstallation
like say Microsoft, If they had the final say on all the software that is to be installed or uninstalled on there OS then they would be able to perform that function, as perfectly as the mac..... but wait !!!!!
MAC was greedy and did this and could not get anyone to write forit or make it the standard hardware..... Ya know MAc followed that design and they almost died from it.
You want a bad business model becuase you do not want to take the 5 minutes to document any extra work you have to do to install something. We document everything here and I may have to take and hour of reg hacking to get something NEW to work. but after that it is documented and it will take me less then 5 mins to fix next time. Or I cna make a btach file do it for me. just a thought
linux freeks and mac freeks get back on TOPIC. STOP IT STOP IT
If you wnat to discuss MAC VS WINDOWS VS LINUX MAKE A DISCUSSION ABOUT IT, STOP ENVADING OTHER DISCUSSIONS.
this discussion has nothing to do with any particlar OS other then the one the user is using. Any other mention of an OS is off topic. IF you Linux dewbs dont have the gonzolgas (made up word) then I will make the discussion for you just ask.
Chad
by epepke
Everything I write is on topic. I just happen to disagree with you.
You obviously believe that whenever something bad happens with a user and a computer, it is always the user's fault, and it is right and natural to blame the user.
I believe that the majority of errors result from stupid software design that fails to model the user's view of the world.
I have been a developer for a long time, and I think that the state of software design is shameful. I also think it's important. I think it's desirable to design systems that are more resistant to breaking than current systems are. I also think that, when a user has a problem, that it's a good idea for IT pros to think about *why* that problem exists and figure out ways to obviate it. I think that this is our job.
There are some instances of really dumb users, but most of the ones presented so far, including the one that spawned this subthread, are really a result of users that are quite smart but simply don't think thesame way as an IT pro. If IT pros were to think more like users, many of these problems would go away.
You seem to disagree, to think that everything is fine as long as you have a user that you can feel superior to. This is what I call a "user-hostile" attitude. I find that an obstructive attitude, and so I present another attitude.
You obviously don't like this, but there isn't much you can do about it.
by admin
What's a "Linux dewbs"? I'd like to become one. Do they have a website?
I was happy to see you expressing your opinion so freely here, as the TechRepublic Discussions are referred to as a "Coffeehouse" atmosphere rather than a Nazi Police State From Hell Rule Infested Discussion Group, which I, as you, would prefer not to see it become. This is why I liked the freedom you had in presenting your viewpoint. I hope you don't think I am too off topic in this.
I also appreciated how you spelled: "gonzolgas" correctly. I believe that is a word actually.
by generalist
Maybe she is used to a multi-purpose scanner/monitor? I seem to recall hearing that TV sets and monitors can be adapted to serving as crude TV cameras.
In fact, when you think about it, having a screen serve as a scanner might not be such a bad idea. It would certainly save on desk space.
You might want to check if she is from the future...
by fanchant
It's not the stupid ones I mind so much - God knows that things that look obvious and simple to me as an IT professional may be obscure to one of my clients- it's the ones that can't be taught. The people that call me for help, and then refuse to follow instructions, or start talking about what else they've tried when all I want them to do is click on something and read it to me, or the worst of all - the egomaniacs, who couldn't possibly be helped by a mere female (I work in a very male dominated industry). THOSE are the people I'd like to send off play fetch with a bulldozer.
Okay, enough ranting. It's just that this thread and 20 minutes with a guy on copying a file from his a: drive (next time I'm taking him to a DOS prompt and telling him what to type!) coincided.
by eujay
Your post made me think of a something that happened to me years ago. At the time I worked for a major city hospital and got called to set up some new PC's at an office in the Eye Hospital.
I arrived to find an office with about six women, including the boss, working there. The situation was interesting because A/ The saleman had told them that "Everything was compatible", that the new software was an upgrade on the old software, (in reality it was different software), and that he would "provide training". B/ The office "Mom" was an older lady who was a complete DU. Plus there was an up and coming younger woman, the keenie, who wanted to know "all about computers".
I worked in that office for about a week converting all the data files to be readable by both types of software. As one machine was made ready I "released" it and let another user loose.
All the while I was working there I was subjected to lots of questions - the "Computer Man" was in the office and exclusively avalable to them. They asked me tons of stuff and I did an impromptu training for all of them.
What this made me realise is that the best way to train users is to put them together in the groups they will be working with. What happens is that the keen and capable ones will pull the DU's along with them. This is especially true if they get the training in their own envirionment working on their real world tasks.
I also realised that the user that comes off as knowledgeable sometimes isn't. Likewise the one that says " I don't know anything about computer" might know a lot more than they think. In this situation the Office Mom proudly defended herself by telling me that she had been through six word processor packages in as many months. But somehow none of the packages would do what she wanted them to do. Meanwhile the young keenie who had "helped" her with the six packages had learned something from eacj one and tu
by fanchant
by kenbarker
A support rep got a call from an upset veep at a large brokerage. "My computer won't even startup come fix it" (this computer had just been upgraded to NT)
Upon arrival the support rep used his own fixit kit top get the thing started only to find that the "user" had mastered the basics of file management by creating two folders "Mine" to which he copied all of his personal files, and "Not Mine" to which he had attempted to copy all other files on the machine.
Needless to say this worked for about nine seconds until the system needed a file that had been moved to the "not mine" folder...then BLAMMO down she went.
BTW - we don't call users "lusers" for no reason.
by eujay
Good Story. This is a major variant on something I used to see a lot of back in the early days of Windows and DOS.
I used to get these calls from users who were either running low on drivespace or who wanted to "clear out all my old files".
Either way I would ussually find a non working machine that had all its data files, (the ones they wanted to clear out), stored in the root directory.
Along with the root files were the system files. So when the user came along and looked at all these files they would say to themselves "Hmmm, io.sys ? MSDOS.sys ? DOS ?" " I don't remember those files - they must be old files " "I think I'll delete them !!"
Of course everything would work Ok while the box was powered on but as soon as the next reboot happened the box wouldn't work right or it wouldn't run right.
Windows 95 with it's "My documents" folder stopped all that but brought with it new challenges. Here's one that I came across awhile back.
Fixing a PC for a friend at thanksgiving the lady said to me that she was tired of navigating through the file system to get to the windows "My Documents" folder. So she had made herself another "My Documents" folder that she had put in the root directory. So far so good.
To avoid confusion she wanted to delete the c:\Windows\My Documents directory leaving only c:\My Documents.
Using Windows file manager I pulled all the files from c:\Windows\My Documents into c:\My Documents. All the files transferred and it looked good.
Then I right clicked on c:\Windows\My Documents and sent the directory and all it's contents to the recycle bin. When I went to c:\My documents I found that it no longer existed.
Hmmmmm!
Thankfully I was able to recreate c:\windows\my documents and put back all the files from the recycle bin. At least I think all the files are there.
Strange problem Huh !! I never expected windows to do that. By the way the Os was
by dksmith
After three days of relatively simple technical training a user walked up to me holding the power cord to his laptop and said, "So, this end goes in the wall and this end goes into the computer?"
He did not last long.
by richard lane
And then there's the "urban Legend" regarding the Wordperfect Support team call:
Lady calls up saying her screen went blank whilst using Wordperfect. Techie asks her the standard checks with the software, to no avail. Then he asks her to check if everything is plugged in OK. After the second time of checking under her desk she complains that it is too dark to really be able to see, as the lights aren't on and they only have small windows. When the techie suggests she turn the light on, she replies that there is a power cut in the building. He promptly tells the customer to box up the PC and take it back to the shop and get a refund. When she asks him what she whould tell the shop, he replies....."tell them you're too stupid to own a computer"!
I know that this is just a legend, but how many of us support techs out there would love to actually do that?
I had a user who's screen was working but the pc not (she was smart enough to notice that).
So I told her to put the powercard a bit firmer in the pc, but she told me she would not touch, and ask me to come over, I denied (the building was like 1000 m from me.
She agry, telling me things , and that she had to work. So I told her later , hung up and called a friend in her neighboorhood and asked him to do it.
Afterwords she called me and asked why I did not come and help her myself:)
by romancesar
by romancesar
by fanchant
I have users complain because they have to remember two different passwords (one for NT, one for AS400 emulation). They usually shut up when I tell them I have about thirty passwords to remember.
Course, I don't tell them that when I'm surfing thenet, etc., I always use the same password...
by epepke
then the registry would be as invisible and unobtrusive as the Macintosh desktop file. I would have no problem with this.
However, the registry is a thing that the user unnecessarily has to know about due to bad design.
The fact that vendors don't implement this properly is an indication of the badness of the design. In a proper design, proper uninstallation would be automatic, and a vendor would have to work hard to violate it, not to implement it correctly.
The whole WIMP interfaceis designed to promote the idea that you drag something into the recycling bin/trash to get rid of it. But then Windows violates this with "except for applications, and then you have to do an uninstall instead, which probably means finding the manual and reading it, and even this doesn't work." This is totally unneccessary.
Why cannot dragging an application into the recycle bin just do the correct thing according to the mental model of the user? The OS should know exactly what to do. After all, it was there installing the files and doing all the work! Why should it forget?
The need for the vendor to be careful could be reduced dramatically by a good design. Any remaining care could be enforced by presenting an error message ONINSTALLATION if the required information cannot be remembered. That way, the first time the vendor tries an install, they will know whether they have done it properly.
The need for the user to be careful can and should be eliminated entirely.
by wordworker
For tons o' laughs, check out this TechRepublic download:
https://www.techrepublic.com/download_item.jhtml?id=dw03119991130jed01.htm
by shep0197
by d. brinson
Here are a few of my favorities...
One. A few years back we upgraded versions of some emulation software that we used to connect to our system. The new version would allow the the users to change screen colors on line instead of having to do it in the configuration file. I thought my users would like that so I told them how to change their colors. Big mistake. I had at least three different users call me down complaining about how the system was not working and that they couldn't do anything. They had changed their colors to white on white. They didn't understand why that wasn't a good combination.
Two. A friend created a large Excel spreadsheet that contained a lot of data for a co-worker. He passed this on to her and he told her that he knew that she might need to have it in different order and/or might not need all the data he had given her for all the departments. He told her to just cut and paste what she needed since he didn't have the time to do that for her. Sure enough, when he went by her office later that day, she had printed the entire spreadsheet and was sitting there with scissors and tape (at least she didn't use paste) and then would photo-copy her taped-together reports to make them look better.
Three.I had a user that would call me repeatedly about her PC just powering off for no reason. I spent a lot of time looking at the machine and could never replicate the error. I was in her office one day talking about something else, when I realized thatshe was swinging her legs back and forth (the PC was sitting on the floor). I watched as she kicked the power button. Mystery solved!
by justinf
I had a user once who wanted to upgrade to IE 5.5 (company policy is 4.01 sp1) but she knew of course better than us. So first level went to install IE 5.5, after that she made a whole issue that she not able to click on a link in an email and open IE automatically. Like I said, it became a whole discussion between 1 st level support, her boss, etc. So my boss sent me (sr network admin).
I went with one of the 1st level people just to verify the install, etc and everything looked ok till, ... I noticed hotbar installed.
I immediately uninstalled knowing the issues with hotbar and voila , problem solved.
Of course we returned fire to the user and her boss about installing unauthorized software without prior consent of the IT department etc.
Since that day that lady is one of the most behaving persons in the company.
by ice-tech
That was my point exactly. I have seen shops that have a real FEAR of users. It boggles my mind to think a professional IT person would feal threatened by a user's lack of ability being blamed on them.
You reap what you sow. If you allow people to walk all over your IT department they WILL do it. Can you imagine other professions feeling this way? A doctor afraid because one of his patients drank gasoline that they would be mad at him/her?
In this day and age of people not taking responsibility for their actions and blaming everyone/everything except their own shortfalls they need to have their eyes opened. It is a job, a way of making money. It isn't personal.
Reminds me of Patrick Swayze in Road House explaining how he's going to run the bouncers. Same theory applies. Be nice until it's time not to be nice (then toss em on their hinies). haha
by admin
by wee jock
When I worked on our helpdesk (for an ISP) - a customer called up with a problem (he is the main IT contact for large company) I tried to walk him through a few things - as he did not have a clue about "right Clicking" this was taking quite a while (and yes he had windows and not a mac!) I ended up asking to click on "my computer" he says
"How the B****y hell can I click on your computer? I am in London and you are in Cirencester I cannot even see your computer! Anyway the builder has turned up he can help good day!"
I have heard many an urban myth about suport calls and I finally got the caller from hell! I could not stop laughing for the rest of the day - actually I am smiling at the idiot now!!
by mishratron
I have allways chacked it up to the fact that the PC knows tht when I am there the User can not torture it anymore and it will get to do things correctly, it also knows that anything the user has left wrongly will get put back into its correct place by the IT guy.
Its IT Love man. They love there makers....
by crbarnett
I guess I am anal but I am a stickler for being precise and correct. IT staff should be able to write clearly and grammatically correct, as well as speak concisely. If we programmed like some of the articles and postings I have read in this thread, computers would not work. My wife gives me a hard time about being so literal and I told her that it is from my computer field. If users are to glean anything from us, it should be that, being exact in what and how we "ask" computers to do thingsis important. Some people luck into doing things and then they don't understand why it won't work all the time. When we as IT staff try to explain things we have to understand that people hear something differently than what we said or wrote. I give my guys a hard time when I see them write e-mails with misspellings or incorrect terminology to get a point across. If we are to guide our users, we should take pride in our ability to help them and also be above reproach in our explanation or writing. Computers are literal and we should be to our users. Also it makes us look dumb if we don?t know how to convey thought in words or writing. Furthermore, there is no excuse for not using computer tools such as spell checker.
Just my "too" cents
by ataylor
I support Building Managament Systems; not IT but desktop support comes with the job description. I deal with Build Operatators(HVAC Mechanics) so, not too many know much about PC's.
It's always the "computer's fault".
The craziest call I received was from a frantic Operator asking me ....
"WHY IS MY SCREENSAVER RUNNING??"
I asked him what he was doing(just to humor him).
"Well we went to lunch, came back and the screensaver was running!!"
note:(when the screensaver runs it logs him off the system
I walked him through how to disable the screensaver.
I wish I was kidding:D
by boxxeronfly
by peteystock
Heh. My suggestion first off is to have a sense of humor about it all - and that may be the most important part, from my own experience. Hey, I've left non-bootable floppies in drives too, so us IT guys get a case of the stupids once-in-a-while also. :-)
What to read...well, that depends on what you work with. Personally, since I work with NT/Win2K I get Win2K Magazine, look at MS sites for stuff, read this and other tech websites, etc. And you know, I occasionally browse the bookstore too to find books that would make good references.
As someone who has only been in IT itself for slightly more than 2 years, but used computers for about 15, I would also say to relax, have fun, and absorb knowledge from co-workers, because they are some of the best resources too.
Good luck!
by kahunanui
Aloha! Well, this certainly isn't the most technically challenged that we can come up with but it should be good for starters. We all know that users can sometimes get a bit spastic with the mouse and somehow they nest folders inside of folders andcan't figure out where their data went...but recently we came across a user who DOUBLE NESTED each folder inside the other! WOW! Needless to say, this produced quite a situation. Unfortunately, this was on the server, so it killed our badly neededstorage space.
More later...
by kahunanui
Aloha! Well, I've come across some really weird and stupid situations, but the following stunned me more than anything seen so far. While working with a client's network, a friend of the client claimed to be new to computers and expressed interest in what we were doing, etc... Well we had to go out and check something and we left the friend sitting at one of the computers accessing the Internet. The friend had never been on the internet before and was completely involved. Well, we showed him how to "surf" and explained the "back" buttons and some of the basics of the browser. We told him to enjoy himself and we would be right back. Well, when we returned, we noticed that he was sticking a paper clip into the floppy disk drive and it appeared as if he had a stuck diskette. We asked him what happened and he stated:
"Well, I was on this website that sold imported wines and stuff and found something that I wanted. It said that they took Visa and so I put my card into this slot andit got stuck and I couldn't get it back." !!!!
Of course his visa card got stuck in the FDD.
This was one of the best ones that has ever happened to me.
by netdrake
I have a user, in fact he could be called, "The Great and Mighty User", the president of the company, that just CANNOT figure out something as simple as printing an envelope on his personal laser printer!
I've told him time and time again, listen, you put the envelope in the manual feed tray here you go here in the software and push print. The printer is set up where you have to push the button to resume manual feed so that it doesn't automatically start printing on regular paperbefore you can get an envelope there.
The problem is, he gets impatient with it warming up and pushes the button over and over again. When he does this, he gets a printout of the printer configuration after the envelope.....EVERYTIME!
Sometimes, he pushes the button for no reason and complains that it is a piece of crap and that I got him a dud! I have to bight back my laughter sometimes.
Another thing he does is get impatient with our accounting software, which is resource intensive andwill end up opening 20 instances of the application effectively rendering his workstation useless due to lack of resources.
Anyone have similar?
by kmay
by sales
by pwcstech
Isnt it frustrating when your about to go for your break and you get a phone call only to say theres an urgent problem....and when you get there its all OK.
"Hi im using Microsoft Word and i thinks theres a problem with my monitor"
"ok... whats the problem..>"
"the cursor on my screen keeps flickering....."
"no shit!"
by ice-tech
All of our employees with a network account must sign a security agreement that outlines in plain English that their computer and the software on it is property of the company and is to be used exclusively for business relating to the company. The last statement is an "I understand that by signing this document" they agree with it. There is also wording there stating that by not complying they run the risk of "disciplinary action, including immediate discharge and possible civil liability."
That is their initial warning. Beyond that their future is in their own hands. Upper management fully supports this and Someone knowing Someone won't get much support unless that Director or VP wants to look like a moron and toss Corporate Policyout the window. Upper management also looks upon IT to be the police in this situation and if the need arises also to become the jury. Perhaps this doesn't work in some shops but everyplace I have worked it has been a benefit to run like this.
by mcintyrem
by epepke
Are users technolgical challenged where i work some are.
We had a call to the helpdesk from a user about a message on her screen to call the helpdesk. I went down to look and what was it the SCREENSAVER. The fix move the mouse.
by sandokan
Now I know i am not alone, netwolf :-)... it all depends on the basics of your users... i used to tell them so many times to no avail... so, they call me... i go do it for them... and i hope they are watching what i am doing... my worst nightmare iswhen they are not watching in what format they are sending printing jobs... it takes time knowing your users... i still have to learn how diplomatic i need to be with each user :-)
All the best.
by sandokan
... and i just went through each system to check on what software and what versions are running on each machine, so i can put the info in my database, and, it goes without saying, the quality control manager (the quietest of them all) was the worst offender... he got the prize... no wonder he knows QUALITY, 'cause he tries them all... so , i do it right... no scalding about it, no comments... just uninstall (as opposed to some yanking them out of the system) and let them come to me and say something... :-) .. yes... some boot-up to some porn sites, too, exposing the IP range...
by sandokan
by phonetech
by admin
I hope I didn't miss this one above...
Change your victims desktop wallpaper to a screen shot of his desktop with all the icons. Now remove temporarily in a safe place all his (or her) icons and watch him squirm as none of his "icons" work or move any longer!
hehehehehe :)
by phonetech
by eujay
I once had a call from a user who said she could not get her PC to print. I tried all the usual stuff over the phone but nothing worked. The lady came off as an advanced user so I went over there expecting some kind of deep problem.
Sure enough Ifound a PC connected to a shared printer. It was set up to print out of it's serial port through a switch box to a dot matrix printer.
Hmmmmm. All the connections seem tight everything looks Ok. I spent hours working on this checking everything Icould think of.
In the end I was in the breakroom when I overheard one of the women in the ofice taling about "Neil". Who was he and had anybody ever seen him. Thinking this was someone new to our organistaion I joined the conversation and asked "So who's Neil ?"
Then they told me that on the back of the PC there was this cable that was labelled
"Neil Moe Deem".
They thought it must belong to Neil that works in the data center so they took the cable off the PC and sent it, via internal mail, to Neil at the Data center. Apparently he had not replied but never mind, they had another cable in the cupboard, one that didn't belong to Neil, and they had put that one on the PC.
In the end I had to explain to them that Neil was our cable expert and you must only use his cables to connect to the switch and printer.
eujay
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