Things that others do on the computer, that make you rage.

[n72.75]

Don't even get me started on what someone has to do on Facebook to get hidden or defended by me.

 

[N_Molson]

One of the worst things I often see is the irresponsable use of old CRT monitors.

In some schools were I work, I often have to deal with very outdated computers that feature old CRT screens. By default, those are set to 60Hz. It just destroy your eyes ! When I sit in front of such an antique machine, my first move is to set the refresh frequency to 75Hz. Only then I can begin to work. What is terrible is that very few people are aware about that simple tuning that can avoid vision troubles & headaches to many people... :facepalm:

And anyway, those CRT have to be replaced, so the sooner, the better...

 

[Artlav]

And anyway, those CRT have to be replaced, so the sooner, the better...

And the biggest weirdness is that we all used the CRTs quite recently. But, after using a flat panel for a year i found myself already quite intolerable to CRT. The noise they make gets used to, i suppose.
Nowadays i can hear a CRT TV from far away and it's not too pleasant.

Getting used to the better really takes little effort.

 

[Urwumpe]

Nowadays i can hear a CRT TV from far away and it's not too pleasant.

Also I am sick of having the second CRT TV fail in less than 3 years by a defect line transformer. On a LCD, you just get failing pixels, which is tolerable compared to no image at all.

 

[agentgonzo]

I hate it when my parents send me an email saying "email has stopped working on my <gadget>" and then expect me to fix it for them. A little more specificity would be nice

 

[Urwumpe]

I hate it when my parents send me an email saying "email has stopped working on my <gadget>" and then expect me to fix it for them. A little more specificity would be nice

You have not yet experienced the real horror of "The printer does not print".

 

[agentgonzo]

You have not yet experienced the real horror of "The printer does not print".

Yes I have! I received a phone call a few years ago when I was doing some tech support on the side as they were irate that the printer didn't print. I asked them to check all the normal things (shared printer plugged into another machine, so is the other machine on, can anyone else print to the printer, etc). They ranted about "of course we've checked it" before going suddenly silent and admitting that they'd unplugged the printer the day before to plug the radio in.

 

[N_Molson]

Nowadays i can hear a CRT TV from far away and it's not too pleasant.

I was very proficient at that when I was younger. With age (and I'm only 28), you loose the ability to hear ultra-high frequencies (which is not necessarily a problem...). I could tell from the other side of the house "someone forgot to turn the monitor off !". My parents were very surprised by that. I guess it was an useful skill for energy savings !

And yes, I totally agree. Once you've tasted LCD, you can't get back to CRT. Even working for a short time is a real pain !

 

[RisingFury]

What if you need a computer in a place that don't sell computers? You can't fly a desktop one carry-on, and it would be destroyed in luggage.

Well, sure, when there's no other choice. But if you have a choice between a laptop and a desktop and you know the computer will just sit on a desk all the time, then that's not really a choice.

Well, when you're only allowed to have one computer and need it for school, and when your parents are the ones choosing it for you, there's not much hope of getting a desktop...

So I'll join the Rise RisingFury's Fury club. :lol:

I'm willing to bet your parents don't know much about computers - no offense meant there - so convince them that they're making a better choice for the same price if they buy a PC. A PC (if you already have things to plug into it) of the same price is more powerful then a laptop.

I found it easy enough to convince my mom to get better internet (a switch from 2 Mbit to 10 Mbit) even though it cost a little bit more. When it comes down to it, performance / price is what parents fall for...

I have two simple reasons:
1. It would be hard to fit a desktop in my room (yes, I have a small room).

Unless you sleep in your closet your room isn't too small...

My laptop is monstrously huge, and performs better than the desktops (which are fairly recent and powerful) combined. It was a 3d thing before they even made such TVs and stuff [img ]hipster_laptop.jpeg[/img]

Don't give me no "my computer is new and yada yada...". Compare a new laptop and a new PC of the same price.

 

[Artlav]

I was very proficient at that when I was younger. With age (and I'm only 28), you loose the ability to hear ultra-high frequencies

That's curious, i can only hear high-pitch sounds with my left ear, and in that one i had otitis when i was around 15. With the right one i can barely hear an ultrasonic mouse repeller close up, but with the left one i can hear it from the other side of the store, a hundred meters of random stuff away.

Some places like to have these things hanging on the walls, they chirp loudly but no one seem to notice!

 

[jimblah]

That's a good one..

I was very proficient at that when I was younger. With age (and I'm only 28), you loose the ability to hear ultra-high frequencies (which is not necessarily a problem...). I could tell from the other side of the house "someone forgot to turn the monitor off !". My parents were very surprised by that. I guess it was an useful skill for energy savings !

And yes, I totally agree. Once you've tasted LCD, you can't get back to CRT. Even working for a short time is a real pain !

I'll remember The LCD, no more CRT bit. Very nice.:lol:

 

[Ark]

I was very proficient at that when I was younger. With age (and I'm only 28), you loose the ability to hear ultra-high frequencies (which is not necessarily a problem...). I could tell from the other side of the house "someone forgot to turn the monitor off !". My parents were very surprised by that. I guess it was an useful skill for energy savings !

And yes, I totally agree. Once you've tasted LCD, you can't get back to CRT. Even working for a short time is a real pain !

I know what you mean. At 8 or 10 I used to be able to walk inside and hear the high-pitched CRT sound of the TV in my room at the other end of the house. Used to catch my siblings trying to play my SNES all the time. :lol:

 

[Izack]

I'm willing to bet your parents don't know much about computers - no offense meant there - so convince them that they're making a better choice for the same price if they buy a PC. A PC (if you already have things to plug into it) of the same price is more powerful then a laptop.

No offense taken. They fit into most of topics here regarding computer idiocy, and on top of that they're technophobes who blame all the world's problems on on them newfangled cumpootors...

 

[jimblah]

Friend is a four letter word.

I used to be part of a big clique of people from a local coffee shop. At first I was popular for my skills as a musician. But soon I was getting requests to "help" someone get their computer up and running, left and right. I don't know that much about computers anymore. I carry around a few business cards from a local computer shop that does good work.
:rofl:

 

[Dambuster]

One of the worst things I often see is the irresponsable use of old CRT monitors.

In some schools were I work, I often have to deal with very outdated computers that feature old CRT screens. By default, those are set to 60Hz. It just destroy your eyes ! When I sit in front of such an antique machine, my first move is to set the refresh frequency to 75Hz. Only then I can begin to work. What is terrible is that very few people are aware about that simple tuning that can avoid vision troubles & headaches to many people... :facepalm:

And anyway, those CRT have to be replaced, so the sooner, the better...

Heh...I used to love the degaussing button on CRTs...oh the joys of sneakily pressing it during ITC lessons! :lol:

 

[Izack]

Heh...I used to love the degaussing button on CRTs...oh the joys of sneakily pressing it during ITC lessons! :lol:

Yes...the machine I always used in the old compsci lab at trade school has a burned resistor from degaussing too much. Ironically it was an EE course I was taking. :lol:

 

[Keatah]

Unless you sleep in your closet your room isn't too small...

Those Japanese sleeping tubes are pretty cool. And laptops or netbooks is about all you can practically use there..

 

[NukeET]

All of the above can simply be said as, "Nut loose on top of the keyboard.":rofl:

 

[RisingFury]

In some schools were I work, I often have to deal with very outdated computers that feature old CRT screens. By default, those are set to 60Hz. It just destroy your eyes ! When I sit in front of such an antique machine, my first move is to set the refresh frequency to 75Hz.

Ditto... I can still see blinking at 75 Hz though. I set my old Samsung monitor to work on 85.

I must admit that after that monitor died and I got a new LCD, I was dizzy for a few days to make the transition. The white background just burned my eyes...
Now it's the other way around.

 

[HarvesteR]

Hmm, I guess I'm guilty of never unplugging my laptop... but that's not actually my fault... the battery's gone bad, and it will only last for about 3 minutes

I don't use it for gaming though... I got my big rig for that

Which reminds me of one instance of computer stupidity... back in college, me and some guys were at my place working on our semestrl project... this one guy had never been in my house, and was seeing my computer for the first time... My computer has 3 LCD screens, which is awesome for productivity and gaming.

He had heard me talking about it before, and was always a little unenthusiastic about the idea of having three screens, and I could never figure out why...

Well, once the day was over, they were going home, and this guy turns to me and says:
'Huh, now I see why you like having three screens... You have so much desktop space...'

Turns out that all this time the guy was under the impression that having multiple monitors meant having your desktop repeated in each one.

It gets more interesting when you learn that this guy was majoring in Game Design... and was part of my project team...

Well, it gets worse... here's one featuring my grandma which, being 73, is actually doing pretty well around computers... but there are some funny facepalm moments every now and then...

Well, she calls me up, and says in a almost-panicking voice, that her computer is gone haywire, and that the screen is all blue with white text...

I immeadiately think she's having a BSOD, and decide not to tell her it's called a Blue Screen of Death, since it would only scare her further...

So I have her restart her computer, and once it's back up, I get into it remotely to see what's going on... all looks normal... then she says "there it goes again, it's all blue"

I just look at the screen and tell her -"click", -"click? where?", "just anywhere".. she clicks... "Ahh the blue is gone now"... turns out it wasn't a BSOD, she had somehow managed to select all the text on the web browser with a single click, and was seeing the blue text highlighted on the entire screen.

Oh well...

Cheers