# Other people's annoying computer habits **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590 "2009-06-12T19:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/121 "2009-06-22T02:43:32Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > People who blow all windows up to full-screen “so they can see” - the only way to navigate among windows is via the taskbar. They don’t seem to grasp that the text size remains the same, and a lot of websites just show you the same size block of text, but with huge margins. That one’s not so bad… a lot of it depends on habit, which may have been formed on a much smaller monitor. I’m one of those folks- I had a 15" monitor for years at the house, and then a 17 for a long time, and just recently got a widescreen 23 flat panel, so until recently, I’d had to put it on full-screen to see a reasonable amount of stuff on the screen at once, or to see it as it’s actually shown without f-ed up wrapping or having to scroll around a bunch. At least I know how to use Alt-Tab and Ctrl-Tab to get around between my full screen windows. What annoys me is people who have no concept of available memory or processor capacity, and then install a dozen dumb-ass toolbars and utilities, and then bitch that their computer is slow. (more common than you think, esp. if you work in IT and you see a lot of computers) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/122 "2009-06-22T03:16:32Z")
> [@bump](#): > > What annoys me is people who have no concept of available memory or processor capacity, and then install a dozen dumb-ass toolbars and utilities, and then bitch that their computer is slow. (more common than you think, esp. if you work in IT and you see a lot of computers) My dad was complaining that his computer was running to slow. He had AOL, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, QuickBooks and OpenOffice (Calc) all running. When I explained to him WHY his computer was running slow, his reply was “Well, it shouldn’t matter” All I could say was “You’re right, it shouldn’t…but it does” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/123 "2009-06-22T04:49:03Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > My dad was complaining that his computer was running to slow. He had AOL, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, QuickBooks and OpenOffice (Calc) all running. When I explained to him WHY his computer was running slow, his reply was “Well, it shouldn’t matter” > All I could say was “You’re right, it shouldn’t…but it does” 😕 Why SHOULD that matter? That’s only 5 programs! And unless he was downloading via AOL while doing a different file transfer via AIM chat while videoconferencing on Yahoo Messenger, resynchronizing and rebuilding the vendor database in QuickBooks, and recalculating all cells on an 8000 x 8000 cell worksheet in OpenOffice, what’s wrong with having 5 applications open and running? I assume he’s got more than 128 MB of RAM, right? The last time I did one of those “how many apps can you run at one time before your system becomes unresponsive”, it was early 2006; I had 512 MB of RAM to play with at the time. I did indeed manage to bring the box to its knees (it could scarcely manage to draw a menu) but I [did manage to get more than 5 apps going](http://home.earthlink.net/~ah3files/Stuff/HowManyApps.jpg) before it got to that point. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/124 "2009-06-22T13:10:19Z")
> [@RachelChristine](#): > > My 17 year old has been taught very thoroughly by the school system to never use Wikipedia for anything. It’s a horrible source that can’t be trusted in any way, she says. She gets very upset when she catches me on it for any reason. > > But guess what she does when she wants to know something and Wikipedia seems to be the only answer? She just goes to Ask Yahoo… See, this is why I go through the trouble to teach the public classes on Wikipedia. “This is what it’s for. This is what it isn’t for. This is how you can track down the actual good references in it - you know, the ones that aren’t online.” I don’t get many students, though, and the ones I get are older. Kids think they know everything. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/125 "2009-06-22T13:24:41Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I had 512 MB of RAM to play with at the time. Sheesh! Kids these days! My first computer had a whole 1K of memory. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/126 "2009-06-22T13:34:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Going to Wikipedia and Google for absolutely everything, without considering what the most useful reference to answer your question would be. Absolutely. The problem is that people just don’t stop to ponder “best tool for the job.” Teaching “never use Wikipedia” is every bit as stupid as teaching “always use Wikipedia.” The Mac/Windows OS wars bother me for the same reason (or the vi/emacs wars or Microsoft Office/OpenOffice or FireFox/Internet Explorer or…). Some tasks are better done with one tool and some are better done with another. ---
**Author:** ![TheVioletCreep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@TheVioletCreep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheVioletCreep)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/127 "2009-06-22T14:27:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > In a row? …I think I love you. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/128 "2009-06-22T14:39:26Z")
> [@Casserole](#): > > For a scholarly work, I wholeheartedly agree… but when settling a bar bet? You bet I’m going to Wikipedia. > > In fact, when searching for general information online, chances are, I’d check wikipedia first, then google. My professors always encouraged us to use Wikipedia… for the references at the bottom of the page. Wikipedia is a great starting point for research for that very reason. It kills me that there is the mindset out there that Wikipedia is WRONG. It’s like any other tool… know your resources. Let’s be practical, most of Wikipedia is accurate, but just as you shouldn’t necessarily rely on a “friend of a friend told me…” so should you not rely on Wikipedia to be the final source of knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590/129 "2009-06-22T15:11:41Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > 😕 > > Why SHOULD that matter? That’s only 5 programs! And unless he was downloading via AOL while doing a different file transfer via AIM chat while videoconferencing on Yahoo Messenger, resynchronizing and rebuilding the vendor database in QuickBooks, and recalculating all cells on an 8000 x 8000 cell worksheet in OpenOffice, what’s wrong with having 5 applications open and running? I assume he’s got more than 128 MB of RAM, right? In my (and his) defense. I said _running slow_, I didn’t say it became unresponsive or had to be rebooted. I was just trying to make the point that he doesn’t understand that you can’t open everything you want and expect the computer to run as if only one program was open. Also, I should add that we have a HUGE QB file (or so we’ve been told by our accounts) which isn’t local to his computer which means a lot of network traffic. Also, he probably had WinTV open to monitor the security cameras in the store. Also, I couldn’t tell you the last time he ran AdAware. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-peoples-annoying-computer-habits/499590.md?page=6)