I don’t want to start another Windows versus not-Windows OS flame thread. I just want to point out some things that have bugged me since I started with ver. 3.1.
If you have any version of Windows, right click on the Start button. What do you see? the Windows tree is expanded. Why?
Uninstalling programs. Invariably, the uninstall program will tell you that there were some items that could not be unistalled or, that by unistalling them, could adversely affect other programs. Why? Couldn’t the program you are installing create a list of what items are being added and where they are going? Windows ME (hey, no hissing) DOES have a “Restore” feature that allows you to sorta “undo” things. I used it once and it SEEMED to work.
Printer errors. You run out of paper and what two choices do you get (w/HP printers, anyway): Cancel print and Troubleshoot. Troubleshoot? I’m out of paper. Hmmmmmmmm…what ever should I do? ADD PAPER?
While in the File Explorer and clicking on the contents of various folders, you have to “Refresh” the display in order to see how much disk space is left. Why? Does the Apple OS do this?
The conventional MacOS definitely does not. I am, at the moment, in MacOS X. I’m too new with it to know how X behaves, but I’d be annoyed if it did that. I’ll let you know.
I’m assuming you mean after you’ve clicked on the “Explore” option? This is because the Start Menu folder–which contains the Programs folder and all of your program shortcuts–resides in the Windows (folder) on your hard drive.
This is usually a precautionary measure. If you have several products from a different company, they may install so as to allow each program to share a file (rather than installing the same file multiple times). Or they may be sharing drivers.
It’s an efficiency question. The alternative is to have each program have it’s own set of drivers and files. By sharing files, it allows programs to work better in unison. Theoretically.
I don’t know how much Star Trek you watch, but computers don’t know you’re out of paper. All the computer knows is “Printer no print”. I don’t know about you, but the second I add paper, the error message goes away.
My biggest Windows gripe is having to reboot the computer after installing software, especially when the software makes you reboot three or four times (as in Visual Studio). Very inconvenient if you’re using your computer as a server.
What else… When you re-install Windows, you’re asked over and over if you want to overwrite some existing .dll file, and the dialog box always suggests you answer “No”. There’s a “Yes to all” button, but no “No to all” button, so you’re stuck there clicking no, no, no, no, no, like a trained chicken.
As long as I’m here, I have another minor gripe. When you delete files, you’re asked if you really want to go through with it (you’re asked twice for exe files). Is this really necessary? In the rare instance that I mistakenly delete files, I’ll just restore them from the recycle bin, thankyouverymuch.
I’m a Mac person, but I’m pretty sure you can disable that in Windows if you look around in your Control Panels for awhile. I don’t think it asks me that in VirtualPC.
(The MacOS also asks you if you’re sure you want to empty the trash until/ unless you disable the “warn before emptying” dialog).
Actually, it does know because the message box that pops up says “Printer Out of Paper”. Why not add a “Continue” button so that, after you’ve added paper, it will…uh…continue. Instead, I put in more paper and hit the continue button on the printer and the box disappears.
Actually, the buttons in the message box are “Retry” and “Cancel”, and the last line of the message is “Windows will automatically retry after 5 seconds.” That’s why it disappears when you add paper and hit the continue button on the printer.
Actually, the buttons in the message box are “Retry” and “Cancel”, and the last line of the message is “Windows will automatically retry after 5 seconds.” That’s why it disappears when you add paper and hit the continue button on the printer.
Sometimes I get that message, but mostly the “Cancel” or Troubleshoot" one.
In ME it doesn’t. There isn’t even a refresh option. It tells you how much space is in the drive you have selected. If you don’t have the drive selected, or a directory in the Folders window on that drive, it will tell you how much space is left.
Personally, what bugs me is how sloppy Windows and its applications are. Windows programs like to leave files all over the place, like empty beer cans after a country music concert…
Spoofe (and others): the computer SHOULD know when it’s out of paper. One of the signal lines back to the computer is a “PAPER EMPTY” signal. There’s a few other specific error lines too, but sometimes programmers get lazy and simply look at the higher level FAULT signal and don’t bother to tell the user exactly which kind of fault occurred.
Speaking of errors, don’t you just love how informative Windows error messages are?
Well, I’ve now checked my 98 machine…it doesn’t do it either, and I was also slightly wrong in my earlier post.
When in Explorer, you can see how much drive space is left on the last drive or folder in that drive that you selected in the Folders bar simply by deselecting anything in the normal window. When you select a folder or file in the normal window, it removes the free space of the disk drive to tell you how many objects you have selected, and in the case of specific files, how big the file(s) selected is/are.
That actually sounds pretty damn sensible to me.
But for the most part, Windows remains a mystery to mankind.
Next time you delete a file, hold the Shift button down, and you’ll realize why they included those failsafes.
Or maybe, instead of creating a listing of several hundred different messages to accomodate all the potential problems (“Printer on Fire”, “Printer clogged with semen”, “Printer exploded”, “Computer user is a dumbass”, etc.), they took the route that minimizes the potential of glitches and made a single catch-all message.
Remember, the more unnecessary content that’s added to an OS, the more likely it is to glitch up. And Windows is criticized enough for errors as it is, don’t you think?
re: printer error messages, wouldn’t that have more to do with the brilliance or idiocy of the printer driver (or, more precisely, the folks who wrote it)? PC printer drivers are often miserable little hacks. Many drivers on the PC platform won’t even let you resize the print job, for instance. Some printer drivers on the Mac are pretty klunky, too, come to think of it, although you can run a hell of a lot of printers with the LaserWriter driver these days. (virtually any PostScript printer on the network).
Among non-PostScript printers, Epson makes nice drivers. If your Epson printer runs out of paper, it tells you it is out of paper and tells you exactly what to do about it. It will warn you when you are running out of ink, and it will display a graphical representation of your ink levels in each separate ink tank on request.
One thing that annoys me about Windows (other than the obvious). When you have multiple windows open, your working in one window. All of a sudden, another window decides you really want to be working in it instead. You have to go back and click on the window you were working on.
This has really only happened to me with IE. Yeah, I use IE. Whaddya wanna make of it? IE is VERY pushy, which is annoying as hell when I’ve got a lot of stuff open.
If any other programs do this, it’s guaranteed they’re Microsoft programs. It’s their style, and I seem to remember one other MS program that did this. Can’t remember the name, though.
With IE (to use the above example), you click on a link to load, it takes a while to do it… when it finishes loading, it maximizes itself, thus completing the command you gave it.
