# Things other people do with computers that annoy the crap out of you **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697 "2012-05-31T20:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/82 "2012-06-01T19:27:09Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > 1. Having your laptop automatically go to sleep when you close the lid. That irritates me too, but I’ve put up with it for eons because I had no idea you could change this. So how _do_ you keep a PC laptop from going to sleep when you shut it? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/83 "2012-06-01T19:41:25Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > 1. Leaving unread emails in your inbox, trash, etc… > > I obviously encounter this less often, since I don’t log into other people’s emails. But even just sort of peaking over their shoulder and seeing something like (559) in blue text next to ‘inbox’ makes me crazy. How does it not make you crazy!? Even emails I have no desire or need to read I’ll scroll over so they become read, even if I’m going to delete them…because having a blue (12) next to my deleted folder is just as annoying! Not sure why this bothers you, or why one would consider it a bad practice. At my office, I always have a handful of emails I know I need to get to. They show up in bright red in iNotes, so they’re easy to spot. I can also click on ‘Show Unread Only’ if I want to see all my unread emails (got 15 of them at the moment). I could open them, then flag them, and I think I can also read them then restore them to unread status, but in some cases I know that a reply isn’t urgent or even necessary even before I open it. So I don’t open it until I’m ready. I use one of my ‘home’ accounts just for when a business wants an email address, usually because I’m buying stuff from them online. Needless to say, some of these businesses send me lots of emails. I only go into that email account when I need to, which is maybe once or twice a month. In between visits, quite literally hundreds of emails pile up there. I don’t see any point in cleaning up that email account: I’m perfectly happy to let it have thousands of unread messages in it. I used to occasionally weed things out, but they’d just pile up again. Yahoo has never made it particularly easy to clean out the detritus, so fuck 'em. I can find what I need to, and that’s the important thing. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/84 "2012-06-01T19:45:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The complaint is about people who use the menu. What exactly are you arguing about? Not arguing so much as stating that shortcut keys aren’t always all that. Mouse is much better for cut and paste. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/85 "2012-06-01T19:56:42Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Luckily for my role we now have dual screens! Dual monitors are wonderful; they just make it really easy to move back and forth between different documents and applications. For awhile, everyone here was getting dual monitors automatically. But my most recent hire came in just after that ended, and now we have to justify a second monitor, with the only justification they’ll listen to being that something specific that you’re working on will be much more difficult with just one monitor. It’s not like that, though. Probably only a limited number of additional tasks would go from impossible to possible, or from difficult to reasonably easy. But a LOT of things would become a little bit easier. And it bugs the hell out of me that they’re not willing to spring for a second monitor - what, $200? - for someone who they’re paying $70K/year even before you figure in benefits and overhead. You don’t think this person will be $200 more valuable with that second monitor? Sheez. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/86 "2012-06-01T20:07:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > That irritates me too, but I’ve put up with it for eons because I had no idea you could change this. > > So how _do_ you keep a PC laptop from going to sleep when you shut it? Check the options in your display (control panel) section. Could also be under power saving settings. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/87 "2012-06-01T20:31:03Z")
> [@diku](#): > > My number one is people that store items in their Deleted Items folder. We wipe that out as a policy at my company (not every time, but on a schedule), and it drives me batty when people get pissy about it. It’s called deleted items for a reason, it’s not store all the stuff I’ve read items. Yaaargh. This drives me crazy. I can see the reasoning, of course, but it makes me itch something fierce. Sure, deleting an email once you know it’s been dealt with keeps your inbox VERY clean and makes it easy to spot new emails to deal with, but I frequently have to confer about past emails and that means the folks who delete then have to trawl through their Deleted Items for the thing I want to discuss. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/88 "2012-06-01T20:36:03Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/89 "2012-06-01T20:37:29Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > People who don’t learn the keystroke shortcuts for common actions, like cut and paste. Instead, they slooooooowly navigate to the menu bar then slooooooowly scroll through the drop-down menu to “Cut.” Then they place their cursor and do it all again to paste. GAH! > [@beowulff](#): > > Watch it buddy! That’s my wife you’re talking about! (I can’t get her to use keyboard shortcuts. When she asks me how do do something, and I say cmd-f… she says "just show me on the menu!”) “Alt-E, T” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/90 "2012-06-01T20:51:54Z")
One thing that _I_ do that drives my wife crazy is using my mouse to randomly highlight the text I’m reading, a habit that also irritates me when other people do it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/91 "2012-06-01T21:03:32Z")
You know what annoys me? When other people get annoyed by my cluttered Desktop. Guess what? I don’t use my desktop. Ever. At all. That means all the icons and other detrius that is there were not put there by me but by an install of somethingorother. Why do you care, anyway? (I have cleaned them up now to make y’all happy.) Also, the people who complain about the resolution of my screen. Yep, it’s too high for you to read the tiny words. Guess what? I can EASILY read things that size. Why are you looking over my shoulder, anyway? I can fit more on the screen. Much more efficient. Though the number one thing that annoys me is that I work in a software company and no one knows how to use Word or Excel. I spend a lot of my time (that is supposed to be devoted to solving customer problems and fixing bugs) correcting formatting of things going out the door or helping someone with formulas. Really guys? You can figure out how to code a complicated piece of software but not use a simple application? ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/92 "2012-06-01T21:04:03Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > One thing that _I_ do that drives my wife crazy is using my mouse to randomly highlight the text I’m reading, a habit that also irritates me when other people do it. 🙂 Me too! I do it all the time, and I don’t know why. Is there a name for this propensity? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/93 "2012-06-01T21:16:34Z")
I highlight the text I’m reading if my eyes are tired. Or sometimes when I’m trying to read two screens at the same time and I’m having trouble tracking how much I’ve read already. I hate that some people won’t use the lovely little outlines that word does automatically for them, instead they have spasms of creativity and try to invent their own outlining system. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/94 "2012-06-01T21:21:57Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You realize that double-clicking can be disabled and a single click will work? yeah I have had mine set up this way since the first pc I owned. > [@beowulff](#): > > I don’t get it. > Double-click is a shortcut. Single-click selects. Once selected, you can do a number of different operations to the selected item, one of which is “open” it. Double-click just does the select/open combination. or pointing at it selects and single click opens…like web pages do. there is no justifiable reason to have such a silly method for opening files on a computer when its obvious the alternative is better all the way around. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/95 "2012-06-01T21:29:01Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > yeah I have had mine set up this way since the first pc I owned. > > or pointing at it selects and single click opens…like web pages do. > > there is no justifiable reason to have such a silly method for opening files on a computer when its obvious the alternative is better all the way around. That would be horrible. What if you wanted to: Duplicate. Rename. Move. Archive. Multipled-select. Copy. Get-info. There are a ton of operations I do on files other than “open” them. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/96 "2012-06-01T21:45:55Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Uses application windows to navigate the file system. > > For example: > > When he wants to open a Word document, he loads MS Word, then goes to “file”, “open”, and then navigates the 9 folders down in the small dinky Word window to the document he wants, and clicks on it. It opens up into Word. > > Well, we also need an Excel document for this too. Well, now we have to open up Excel, then go to file, open, and then navigate the 9 folders down in the small dinky Excel window to the document he wants… > > I’m thinking, just open up a windows explorer window and use it to navigate to where you want! First of all, it is nice and large which shows you more folders, and it will show ALL the types of files there. You can launch any particular file in any particular program you want! It’s that easy! I noticed a guy doing this about a week or so ago, and it bothered me. In fact, I almost posted the exact thing as you did. However, today he came into my office and I said “here, I need to show you how to do this”. Next, I need to talk to him about his “use” of quotation “marks” for “emphasis”. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/97 "2012-06-01T21:57:35Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > I hate that some people won’t use the lovely little outlines that word does automatically for them, instead they have spasms of creativity and try to invent their own outlining system. If it worked in any predictable manner I would use it. I hate the automatic outline function with the heat of a thousand suns, especially when I need to edit something, insert new paragraphs, etc. It rarely ever does what I need it to do, but it can be depended on to give you someting you don’t want. No. I don’t want to start paragraph 7.3.6. I just want to add to 7.3.5. Wait a minute, here we go.. damn it, why is it giving me an indention? I don’t want an indentation! Look, I just want to add a little bit here and, ah screw it! Drives me crazy. But not crazy enough to bother to learn how to use it or use the help feature to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/98 "2012-06-01T22:03:17Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > or pointing at it selects and single click opens…like web pages do. > > there is no justifiable reason to have such a silly method for opening files on a computer when its obvious the alternative is better all the way around. > [@beowulff](#): > > That would be horrible. I’m with the legendary 5th century hero. I don’t see that Critical’s method is obviously “better all the way around” at all. It sounds like a nightmare to me. Clicking to select and double clicking to open gives me way more control. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/99 "2012-06-01T23:37:34Z")
I apparently do many of the things listed here that annoy folks. Sorry about that. But honestly this thread now has me so amused at my maladroit self that it is making me smile. So thanks for that, annoyed people :D. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/100 "2012-06-01T23:43:17Z")
> [@diku](#): > > My number one is people that store items in their Deleted Items folder. We wipe that out as a policy at my company (not every time, but on a schedule), and it drives me batty when people get pissy about it. It’s called deleted items for a reason, it’s not store all the stuff I’ve read items. Having a name of “Deleted Items” doesn’t in any way indicate what the desired retention behavior should be for that folder. For your company to just assume it can be wiped out because the folder is named “Deleted” is pretty odd. You’ve now just forced people to create a staging folder for things that are on their way to getting deleted so that they can properly manage the retention period and archiving behavior. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697/101 "2012-06-01T23:45:31Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > or pointing at it selects and single click opens…like web pages do. > > there is no justifiable reason to have such a silly method for opening files on a computer when its obvious the alternative is better all the way around. So, when you want to select multiple items with gaps in between them, how exactly would you accomplish that with your “point at=select” method? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-other-people-do-with-computers-that-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you/623697.md?page=6)