Things other people do with computers that annoy the crap out of you

[Mister_Rik]

@Musicat

I think the source of that thinking goes back to the time of Outlook as the major email program, prior to the web-based browser concept most used today.

I wonder how many of these older folks are simply equating “e-mail” with “phone number (land line variety)”.

My e-mail is tied to my personal domain name (mister-rik.com), and I use a standalone e-mail client (PowerMail, a Mac-only client that I just love). So my mail does indeed get downloaded and deleted from the server. But if I was traveling, and needed to check my mail from somebody else’s computer, I could of course access it via the web interface my host provides. It would be a pain in the neck, but I could do it.

[AHunter3]

I can’t get MY email from your computer. Or at least not unless mine has been shut off. Still using POP3 email and always will; it gets downloaded to my computer and erased from the provider’s server, and it fetches it once every 15 minutes. Unless we get to it within that 15 minute timeframe, any email sent to my email address is unavailable to you on your computer even with my account info.

---

There are a lot of things that make me wince to watch someone else doing on the computer, many of which are already mentioned: using the mouse instead of the keystroke equivalent when the latter is faster (most data entry chores), using a single window at a time when multiple windows work better (comparing two documents, moving a file from Folder X to Folder Y, etc), etc. But those don’t quite rise to the level of “annoy the crap out of me”, they just make it hard for me to resist the urge to say “gimme that, you’ll take forever”.
The one that drives me batshit insane is when someone is looking for a FILE (let’s say it’s a .zip file) on their computer and to find it they launch Microsoft Word and try to find the damn file in the File:Open dialog. “Why are you using Word to find the file? It’s not a Word file!” blank look

[kushiel]

@Soylent_Juicy

Naming files all_lowercase_with_underscores like they did in the olden days.

Okay, as long as I’m allowed to bill you the full rate when you call me up and complain that your picture is not showing up on your website when you named it John’s 100th Birthday & Suzie’s “Sweet Sixteen” Celebration June 15th, 2012 Pic (5).jpg.

grumblegrumblewebserversinthedarkages

[bouv]

@AHunter3

I can’t get MY email from your computer. Or at least not unless mine has been shut off. Still using POP3 email and always will;

Why? Do you feel it’s a security issue? Like…if it’s kept on the server, "someone"will get it and read it, or something?

It seems like a lot of trouble not being able to read your email from anywhere.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that with POP3 there was still an option of leaving the mail on the server and just downloading a copy?

[beowulff]

[QUOTE=Kansas Beekeeper;15133620 […]
Although they have a free webmail account, they and their friends somehow have it in their heads that email is tied to persons’ houses.[…]
[/QUOTE]

I’m pretty sure I know why people think this way.
I have a lot of clients who simply don’t understand how email works - the model they have in their head is wrong. They think that their mail “comes” to their computer. I try to explain to them that this model is wrong - the email doesn’t go anywhere - the computer needs to “walk to the mailbox” to retrieve it. I then explain that any computer can do this - from anywhere on the Internet. I also have to explain that it’s possible to set up mail so that the act of retrieving it doesn’t delete it from the “mailbox,” so that other computers can get a copy also.

It’s usually a waste of time.

[Mister_Rik]

@bouv

And correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that with POP3 there was still an option of leaving the mail on the server and just downloading a copy?

There is, but POP3 accounts are often tied to your ISP’s mail server, or otherwise connected to a 3rd-party mail server (as with my personal domain, which is hosted by pair.com), and there are limits to how much storage space you have. I inadvertently ran up against that limit a few years ago when I abandoned my old primary e-mail address in favor of a new one, but completely forgot to go in and actually delete the address from my hosting account. So while I had stopped accessing that address with my mail client, it continued to accumulate piles of spam on the server. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I started getting notices from my host that I was approaching my storage limits.

Even with non-spam, I receive more e-mail than the average person, being as I subscribe to a number of high-traffic discussion lists. It would add up quickly if I left it all on the server.

[AHunter3]

@bouv

Do you feel it’s a security issue? Like…if it’s kept on the server, "someone"will get it and read it, or something?

It seems like a lot of trouble not being able to read your email from anywhere.

I seldom go anywhere without my laptop so it’s seldom an issue.

I did not go out of my way to set it up so that no one else’s computer could be used to read my email, but that’s how it has ended up. I have all my email on my computer (which is nicely backed up). Never had the slightest interest in a web-based interface for my email.

[diku]

@RaftPeople

Uh, what?

The point is that I choose when to empty Deleted Items - you don’t choose for me.

For example, maybe I delete items from my Inbox but desire to retain them for 30 days in the Deleted items folder. Just because it’s called “Deleted Items” doesn’t mean it’s not part of MY mailbox anymore.

Actually, on our email systems, we do choose for you, since it’s not your email, it’s the companies. We wipe anything older than 90 days from Inbox/Sent/Deleted Items, and everyone knows this going in. If they want to keep it longer, they can set up an archive folder (still on the server) and put stuff there. Company has us do it for legal reasons.

And no, it’s not your email, not if it’s taking up space on IT disks. Previous to this we wiped everything in deleted items older than 30 days. Don’t like it? Don’t put it in deleted items. Create a folder elsewhere. A big part of this is due to the way Exchange allows us to manage folders. At our current licensing level, we can only touch the standard email folders, which includes deleted items.

[RaftPeople]

@diku

And no, it’s not your email, not if it’s taking up space on IT disks.

Yes, it’s understood the company owns the email, and the company owns the disks.

Previous to this we wiped everything in deleted items older than 30 days. Don’t like it? Don’t put it in deleted items. Create a folder elsewhere. A big part of this is due to the way Exchange allows us to manage folders. At our current licensing level, we can only touch the standard email folders, which includes deleted items.

Every company is certainly free to setup whatever procedure they feel like.

But you haven’t offered any points as to why automatically purging folders is a better option than the standard method of allowing X amount of space per mailbox and having the user manage what stays in, what gets archived etc.

The downside to auto-purging is that it’s non-standard and will generate complaints. And will require training regarding those specific policies. And if not applied to all folders, will require the user to create a procedure for managing their mailbox (unless the company allows for unlimited growth, which is unlikely).

The downside to just setting a mailbox max is that people must have a procedure for archiving/deleting - but this typically generates fewer complaints because it allows the user to manage their work in a way that fits them and their job. And it must happen anyway because auto-purging only part of the mailbox leaves a hole that must be addressed by someone.

[Nava]

@Musicat

Would you be happy if they are spread all over the screen, but deliberately? It really fucks up my workflow if an icon I intentionally placed in a specific location is spontaneously moved by the computer just to line up a column and make it look pretty. I can’t find it anymore.

I once gave the Voice of Doom to an IT dude who had to install some customer-required programs in my computer, for taking out my background pic and autoarranging my folders. I asked whether he intended to change my password, my folder setup and my default programs next.

“But… the company default…” “this computer is MY property. If the company wants me to follow ‘the company default’, they have to provide me with a computer. Since they don’t, they can’t tell me how to arrange my folders or what to have as my background. Capito?” “Yes ma’am sorry ma’am…”

[Chum]

@voltaire

People who figure that larger numbers are always better, so they set their resolution to the highest possible setting, regardless of the size of their screen. So everything is tiny to the point of ridiculousness. And they don’t even compensate for this by slightly increasing the text size in the display settings.

My (corrected) vision is pretty good, but unless my nose is practically touching the monitor, I can’t read shit on screens like that! Do these people have some sort of telescopic vision, or something?! I like to be able to lean back a bit.

This is what I came in to say. My boyfriend does this, and it keeps making me more and more angry each time I have to help him with something on his computer. It’s like printing off an article in 8-point font and holding it out at arms’ length to read. Why? I tell him it’s ridiculous, but he insists that he can read it just fine.

[jordanr2]

Using IE (any version, though I’ve heard interesting things about IE 10).

[diku]

@RaftPeople

But you haven’t offered any points as to why automatically purging folders is a better option than the standard method of allowing X amount of space per mailbox and having the user manage what stays in, what gets archived etc.

The main reason is for legal discovery purposes. We set a policy that says anything beyond that time frame doesn’t exist in the Inbox/sent/deleted, and that way it’s not recoverable.

The biggest issue with mailbox limits for us has to do with Unified Messaging, Cisco Unity has an issue with mailbox limits. I’d love to implement both, but this is what the company has thought up.

[california_jobcase]

I really hate it when circus clowns start juggling my computers.

[Colophon]

@beowulff

I’m pretty sure I know why people think this way.
I have a lot of clients who simply don’t understand how email works - the model they have in their head is wrong. They think that their mail “comes” to their computer. I try to explain to them that this model is wrong - the email doesn’t go anywhere - the computer needs to “walk to the mailbox” to retrieve it. I then explain that any computer can do this - from anywhere on the Internet. I also have to explain that it’s possible to set up mail so that the act of retrieving it doesn’t delete it from the “mailbox,” so that other computers can get a copy also.

It’s usually a waste of time.

I think I managed to get my dad to figure this out. When I went away travelling, he was puzzled by how he could send an email to the same address and it would magically “find me” whether I was in Sydney, Los Angeles or a tiny shack of an internet cafe in Rarotonga.

My mum, on the other hand, has no problems with computers and is usually trying to get me to get with the times (I only signed up to Skype and Dropbox last year, at her insistence).

[Kobal2]

@Musicat

You realize that double-clicking can be disabled and a single click will work?

…but do realize it will make everyone else using that computer hate your guts :p.

Actually that’s how you know my Dad’s been on a computer. He leaves a trail of annoying settings wherever he goes. If you ever sit at a computer and:

• the mouse pointer leaves the longest trail possible
• icons launch apps on a single click
• the taskbar is set to vanishing “below” the screen as fast as possible and
• the clock is 15 minutes fast
  then you can be dead cert’ mah daddy’s been here. He’s probably installed a bunch of gimmick, gadget apps so he could know the temperature in Peru in real time while he was at it, so watch out for that too.

I’m not entirely convinced my father is aware of the notion that most computers have owners that are not him.

[Mangetout]

@GuanoLad

I have a friend who, whenever he sends me an image, puts it in a Word file first.

I do this occasionally - in particular, if it’s screenshot images, and there is more than one of them - If you want to screenshot a sequence of actions, pasting them sequentially into a Word doc is about as easy as it gets (up to and including Windows XP, that is. In Win7, there’s something called Problem Steps Recorder which will document and screenshot what you’re doing for you)

[mack]

@Acsenray

That reminds me of another annoyance … People who think they need to shut down their computer every single time, and that they need to watch it while it happens. You know what, if there’s a reason to be an a hurry, just let it go to sleep. It’s going to hurt it if you leave it on over night once in a while.

Could be habit. At one company I worked for someone would go around after hours and tap keyboards to see if the computers were completely shut down. We’d hear about it if they weren’t.

[ThelmaLou]

I haven’t finished reading the whole thread, but my head was about to explode, so I had to jump in. I work next to a colleague whose quirks could fill this entire thread.

He has his screen resolution set (unintentionally, I’m sure. I know he has NO CLUE what screen resolution is) so that everything is HUGE. He’ll open a browser window, and if what he is looking for isn’t right there in front of his face, he’ll click away from the page. I have to say over and over, “Wait! SCROLL DOWN-- what you’re looking for might be at the bottom of the page/window.”

He has a mouse with a scroll wheel, but he doesn’t use it. So when ever he does scroll down, he puts his cursor on teeny arrow and scrolls that way. I’ve told him about the scroll wheel–not interested.

He spends a lot of time looking for documents… “Oh, I can’t remember what I named it…” If you have a document naming system and a few logically named folders, you don’t need to remember. That’s why you have a system. Does the librarian remember every title in the library? No, that’s because someone invented a card catalog numbering system.

I’ve told him, “If it was something recent, just open a window and click on ‘date created’ to bring the most recent documents to the top,” but he can’t seem to remember that. (We’ve only worked together 10 years.) Windows 7 has that nice “recent places” option, but in that office they’re still using XP.

Using the mouse to manually insert the cursor in each and every block of an Excel document or when filling out a form instead of tabbing– check and double-check. :smack:

Not knowing that Adobe is the name of a company, like Microsoft or General Motors, and that Adobe *Acrobat *is a program for creating PDFs. So he refers to PDFs thusly, “I just sent you an Adobe document” instead of “I just sent you a PDF.”

And the general complaint: “Something’s wrong with my computer today. It’s acting up/really slow/doing weird stuff.” Then they get the techie guy in to fix it, and when I ask my colleague what was wrong (which is something I like to know, so’s I can avoid it in the future), “Oh, I don’t know. I guess it was mad at me.”

And in conclusion: people who’ve been using a computer for at least 10-15 years and STILL say, “Oh, you know how I am with that computer stuff-- I just don’t get any of it.” <said with a chuckle>

That cartoon/video posted up-thread was right on the money.
ETA: Sharing a computer with anyone is a recipe for relationship disaster IMHO. I wouldn’t share a computer any more than I would share a toothbrush or underwear. I don’t want anyone touching my settings or changing anything. Having to share a computer at work–yuck. I’m a freelancer, so I take my laptop with me and NO ONE touches it. Ever.

[Jophiel]

@ThelmaLou

And the general complaint: “Something’s wrong with my computer today. It’s acting up/really slow/doing weird stuff.” Then they get the techie guy in to fix it, and when I ask my colleague what was wrong (which is something I like to know, so’s I can avoid it in the future), “Oh, I don’t know. I guess it was mad at me.”

That always reminds me of this classic Onion column