# Watching other people use a computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699 "2010-10-01T09:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/21 "2010-10-01T16:24:56Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’m guilty of this but I often do it on purpose. If I type it in the address box then it’s permanently (well, unless I erase history) in my drop down list of addresses. > It may be some website I never want to go to again but now it’s stuck cluttering up my address list. Uh - but you end up going to the website right? Then it’s still stuck in your drop down. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I think it was an extension from the previous step that the person was googling Google and then they were clicking on the link to get to the Google homepage…where they started. That part bothered me a bit as it’s a bit of a stretch. I constantly watch people google the actual web address they want to go to, I’ve yet to see someone google google. That’s what I was thinking, but thought maybe the googling google was just a generic way of showing him googling some random company with an easy address to put into the url bar. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/22 "2010-10-01T16:44:06Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > I constantly watch people google the actual web address they want to go to. > > I’m guilty of this but I often do it on purpose. If I type it in the address box then it’s permanently (well, unless I erase history) in my drop down list of addresses. > It may be some website I never want to go to again but now it’s stuck cluttering up my address list. You’re joking, right? Please tell me that you don’t mean that for the purposes of keeping a website address out of your history you go to Google, then actually search for, say “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com),” then follow the link to “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com).” Because that would be ridiculous if for no other reason than the fact that you’re wasting a lot of time and keystrokes keying in the “www.” and the “.com” parts. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/23 "2010-10-01T16:52:39Z")
Yes, I know some people will do that. FWIW, if you are using Firefox, you can go to Tools\>Start Private Browsing and then there is no record at all of what you did. Whether it’s because you don’t want someone finding out what you were up to or you really just don’t want an extra address in your drop down bar, it doesn’t matter, there won’t be any history of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tamarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamarin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/24 "2010-10-01T16:54:19Z")
[obligatory I.T. Crowd clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrQUWUfmR_I) ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/25 "2010-10-01T17:00:29Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > > [@Hampshire](#): > > > > I’m guilty of this but I often do it on purpose. If I type it in the address box then it’s permanently (well, unless I erase history) in my drop down list of addresses. > > It may be some website I never want to go to again but now it’s stuck cluttering up my address list. > > You’re joking, right? > > Please tell me that you don’t mean that for the purposes of keeping a website address out of your history you go to Google, then actually search for, say “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com),” then follow the link to “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com).” > > Because that would be ridiculous if for no other reason than the fact that you’re wasting a lot of time and keystrokes keying in the “www.” and the “.com” parts. I do the same and it’s not about keeping things out of my history. This is my laptop and nobody else uses it- I don’t give a shit about my history. It’s the drop-down box at the very top that I don’t want cluttered up. It’s not the history, but it stores some (on mine, right now, on firefox, there are 12) things that you’ve typed into the address bar. Like right now, mine has a few websites I visit frequently (facebook, the SDMB, wordreference, stuff like that) and a few that I just copied and pasted into there long ago because someone shared it and didn’t link it properly or something. There’s a craigslist listing for a car from like two months ago on there, for example. It’s just clutter. So for some things, I just type them into the search box and click the link. It’s stuff I look at occasionally, but not enough to bookmark, like the Hyperbole and a Half blog or XKCD or Cracked. I like keeping my bookmarks and my drop-down thing at the top as clean as possible. It takes like a third of a second extra, which is worth it to me to not have four thousand bookmarks. And I’ve seen people google “google”. The best was when one of my profs picture-googled “Google” in class and a picture of a lady with big giant bare boobs as the “OO” popped up. He was very confused and then typed what he was actually searching for into the address bar. He was a bit goofy. eta: I don’t type “[www.cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com)” into the google bar- just “cracked”. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/26 "2010-10-01T17:10:50Z")
Yeah, I literally have to leave the room when my wife works on the computer. Not only does she do things about the most inefficient way possible, she shares it by mumbling to herself while she does it. “Let me see, where did I put that file? Not in My Documents, hmmm, where could it be? Ooh, what’s this folder? . . .” SEARCH! For all that’s holy, USE SEARCH! On the other side, there’s fewer things more nerve wracking than demonstrating something on a projector to a room full of programmers. Every little thing you do, I swear, there’s a least one programmer who has to let you know a better way to do it, even if it has absolutely fricking nothing to do with what you’re trying to demonstrate. _click on the File menu_ You can just right-click that! _type a SQL command_ Why didn’t you just run that directly from the window? _paste an attachment in an e-mail_ \*Jeez, you coulda just created that directly from the file! I love programmers, I really do, but half the time I felt like I was running a day care center. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/27 "2010-10-01T17:22:39Z")
::hangs head in shame:: Yep, that’s me. I have to bite my tongue and think happy thoughts whenever Mrs. Giraffe and I are co-surfing for something and she’s running the mouse. But it’s just so hard – she scrolls up and down pages by _clicking on the frickin’ arrow at the top and bottom of the scroll bar!_ She doesn’t even drag or click on the the empty part of the bar to go down a page at a time, let alone use the scroll wheel. It’s…maddening. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/28 "2010-10-01T18:05:33Z")
**Hampshire and SurrenderDorothy** - you’re talking about the autocomplete cache (not the browser history). Next time you see that goatporn or carfromlastsummeroncraigslist, just arrow key down to it so it is highlighted, and right-click and delete. Poof. Works great for mistyped/outdated email address that want to autocomplete in Outlook, and pretty much any Windows app that uses autocomplete for typing. Select, right-click (or use delete key), and nuke it from orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/29 "2010-10-01T18:52:34Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You’re joking, right? > > Please tell me that you don’t mean that for the purposes of keeping a website address out of your history you go to Google, then actually search for, say “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com),” then follow the link to “[www.thisisnotgoatporn.com](http://www.thisisnotgoatporn.com).” > > Because that would be ridiculous if for no other reason than the fact that you’re wasting a lot of time and keystrokes keying in the “www.” and the “.com” parts. Nah, I know enough not to have to add www and com. But I will still punch “thisisnotgoatporn” into google and click the link from there to keep the address from imbedding in my drop down. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/30 "2010-10-01T18:56:56Z")
> [@pantheon](#): > > **Hampshire and SurrenderDorothy** - you’re talking about the autocomplete cache (not the browser history). > > Next time you see that goatporn or carfromlastsummeroncraigslist, just arrow key down to it so it is highlighted, and right-click and delete. Poof. That doesn’t work for me. Right-clicking on a highlighted address in the address drop down list doesn’t bring up anything. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/31 "2010-10-01T18:56:59Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Nah, I know enough not to have to add www and com. But I will still punch “thisisnotgoatporn” into google and click the link from there to keep the address from imbedding in my drop down. Thank Jebus. I was really worried about you for a second there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/32 "2010-10-01T19:35:04Z")
Heh. I can’t remember the last time I used quotes. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/33 "2010-10-01T19:37:06Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > > [@pantheon](#): > > > > **Hampshire and SurrenderDorothy** - you’re talking about the autocomplete cache (not the browser history). > > > > Next time you see that goatporn or carfromlastsummeroncraigslist, just arrow key down to it so it is highlighted, and right-click and delete. Poof. > > That doesn’t work for me. Right-clicking on a highlighted address in the address drop down list doesn’t bring up anything. It doesn’t work for me, either, but if I arrowed down to it and hit delete, it went away 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/34 "2010-10-01T20:38:30Z")
This thread also reminded me of one of my favorite Simpsons bits ever: > [@](#): > > ``` > Lisa: There must be a website that can help you deal with a clingy baby. > Marge: Oh, I don’t want to bother the internet with my problem. > Bart: Aw, come on, Mom. We’ll help you surf. > (Marge sits down at the computer, grabs the mouse and starts clicking away) > Bart: Click that one, Mom. > Lisa: No, go up. > Bart: Keep going--up, up, up! > Lisa: The blue ones are ads. > Bart: That’s the toolbar. > Lisa: No you’ve opened Word; close it! > Bart: Close it. Do-don’t save it! > Lisa: Stop clicking. > Bart: Don’t go there! > Lisa: Why are you buying a freezer?! > Bart: Don’t click the cart or you’ve bought it! > Lisa: Aw, you clicked the cart! > > ``` The two of them yelling instructions at her while she does things more and more wrong never fails to completely crack me up. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/35 "2010-10-01T21:04:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I constantly watch people google the actual web address they want to go to :: eye twitching :: That makes me crazy. Most of our employees review our website regularly. They do so by typing our URL into the Google toolbar, the clicking on the Google results. This messes up our analytics to a degree because it looks like Google is driving traffic to our website, but then when you look a little closer at the metrics, you see it’s all just our sales department. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/36 "2010-10-01T21:33:46Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > This thread also reminded me of one of my favorite Simpsons bits ever: > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > Lisa: There must be a website that can help you deal with a clingy baby. > > Marge: Oh, I don’t want to bother the internet with my problem. > > Bart: Aw, come on, Mom. We’ll help you surf. > > (Marge sits down at the computer, grabs the mouse and starts clicking away) > > Bart: Click that one, Mom. > > Lisa: No, go up. > > Bart: Keep going--up, up, up! > > Lisa: The blue ones are ads. > > Bart: That’s the toolbar. > > Lisa: No you’ve opened Word; close it! > > Bart: Close it. Do-don’t save it! > > Lisa: Stop clicking. > > Bart: Don’t go there! > > Lisa: Why are you buying a freezer?! > > Bart: Don’t click the cart or you’ve bought it! > > Lisa: Aw, you clicked the cart! > > > > ``` > > The two of them yelling instructions at her while she does things more and more wrong never fails to completely crack me up. That dialog could be an exact copy of one of my neighbors. She has seen people move the mouse, click, move…and thinks she should, too, so she moves the mouse and clicks without concerning herself about what the mouse pointer is on. Shit happens and she’s mystified why. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/37 "2010-10-01T21:37:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I constantly watch people google the actual web address they want to go to That often happens because the URL box has been removed and/or replaced with the google toolbar (wonder how that happens?) These people have never seen an address line box, have no idea what it is used for, and see no reason why they should have one. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/38 "2010-10-01T21:52:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > > Depends on your version of Windows. Win7 has a button on the far right of the taskbar. WinXP sometimes has an icon (though not always). However, you can always right click on the taskbar and select “Show the desktop.” > > Vista has a button on the far left of the task bar. And in general, Windowsbutton-D gets you to the desktop. Thank you. I used to have a toolbar icon that would do that, but it went away in the last upgrade. Now I have the power back! ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/39 "2010-10-01T21:58:08Z")
> [@Lionne](#): > > My boss still writes an account number down on paper, minimizes the window where he retrieved it, then retypes it into the new window. > > I’ve only just shown him how to use the quick launch area. He won’t put a link to IE there because ' **I know where it is right now and I don’t want to move anything around.**" This reminds me of a YouTube link that the Dope introduced me to - forget the seires name (I’m sure some Doper will pipe up, quite possibly with a specific URL) - the series focusses on a completely computer-illiterate salesman that antagonizes the IT person with inane questions, all done in chipmunk-style voices (and is funny as hell). Anyways, after getting access to the person’s computer, the IT discovers that the salesman has all his desktop icons arranged in the shape of a penis. IT person then rearranges them (tiled alphabetically) to which clueless salesguy replies “NOOOO! I can’t find anything now! Our company website was at the tip of the penis!” ---
**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:** [October 1, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699/40 "2010-10-01T22:22:45Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > > [@Musicat](#): > > > > I have people in my office who have been shown the “reduce all open windows to the taskbar” single-click shortcut, yet they insist on minimizing each open window separately, and on my computer, that is typically dozens. > > What where how? [Restore the “show desktop”](http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-restore-missing-show-desktop.html) icon = “reduce all open windows to the taskbar” Never surf without it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-other-people-use-a-computer/555699.md?page=3)