My mom and grandmother have a nice 20 inch widescreen flat panel monitor, but they use it on a 1024x640 resolution! All the wasted space upsets me every time I look at the screen.
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tech-related things your family/friends do that drive you nuts
- Thread starter tartsquid
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My family members routinely ask my advice on computer purchases, ignore my suggestion to just go look at a Mac, buy some cheap ass PC, then complain when it won't do what he/she wants and I say I can't help them because I'm not a PC guy.
Set their laptops on the coffee table in the living room with the charger cord stretched across the room for me to trip over.
My dad is a Windows guy. That gets pretty irritating.
My sister emptied the trash on her macbook ONE time, only because I told her too. She was complaining about running out of HD space, when theres deleted files taking up 8GB+ on her hard drive.
My sister emptied the trash on her macbook ONE time, only because I told her too. She was complaining about running out of HD space, when theres deleted files taking up 8GB+ on her hard drive.
Buy Dells.
First punch keys, click, after it hangs, then call to ask what to do.
Hurry print commands, don't know about Printer Queues, and leave about 13 jobs clogged up.....a lot.
Put drinks near their computer.
Open up laptops with little regard for screen smudges or hinge care.
Complain about their computer(s), then buy more Dells.
First punch keys, click, after it hangs, then call to ask what to do.
Hurry print commands, don't know about Printer Queues, and leave about 13 jobs clogged up.....a lot.
Put drinks near their computer.
Open up laptops with little regard for screen smudges or hinge care.
Complain about their computer(s), then buy more Dells.
Haha, that is right on. Or when they complain about their computer, then attack you for having a Mac and then complain about theirs some more. When, in reality, you have never had a problem with a Mac. Or about when they ignore your advice on getting a Mac saying there stupid and get a Dell and have more problems.
Tyler
My sister is a Windows person and it annoys me when she has dozens and dozens of files scattered everywhere on her ugly Vista desktop with a hideous looking background. She also tends to have a lot of windows, tabs, and applications open which makes everything clutter. It annoys the hell outta me since I'm used to having things neat and clean on my Mac.
Exposé and the dock = teh ultimate hottness.
Exposé and the dock = teh ultimate hottness.
-When if I so much as look at their computer, if at any time in the 12 months after I used it, it does something they weren't expecting, it's because I "did something to it."
-When they (in particular my mother, who I adore) make a mistake and "fix it" by frantically hitting every key on the keyboard as fast as they can and THEN call me over, and can't understand why they can't do it "Edit Undo" because they're now 849234829 things away from their original mistake.
-When they complain that their computer takes 9 years to boot up and they store every file on their desktop.
-When they (in particular my mother, who I adore) make a mistake and "fix it" by frantically hitting every key on the keyboard as fast as they can and THEN call me over, and can't understand why they can't do it "Edit Undo" because they're now 849234829 things away from their original mistake.
-When they complain that their computer takes 9 years to boot up and they store every file on their desktop.
1) Ask me to fix their Windows box when they dang well I don't do that and can hardly recall a lot of 'doze stuff.
2) Double click everything, mice click once on a lot of things... not twice on all things.
2) Double click everything, mice click once on a lot of things... not twice on all things.
Using PB/MBP in bed on down duvet and wondering why the thing keeps overheating. umm cause you just put it on a surface that insulates...
trying to look for the height change knob/button on the iMac - ok yeah this is a desing issue that apple should fix but this is the third imac I think you would get the idea that there is no knob/button.
Poking the screen when they want to point out to something.
Telling me the computer is giving error messages -, show me the error message but close it so fast I cannot read what the error is. < this one drives me nuts.
Keep insisting I install anti-virus software.
Gazillion item on desktop
Oh and my ultra favorite, liquids and food near the keyboards/laptops... NO!!!
trying to look for the height change knob/button on the iMac - ok yeah this is a desing issue that apple should fix but this is the third imac I think you would get the idea that there is no knob/button.
Poking the screen when they want to point out to something.
Telling me the computer is giving error messages -, show me the error message but close it so fast I cannot read what the error is. < this one drives me nuts.
Keep insisting I install anti-virus software.
Gazillion item on desktop
Oh and my ultra favorite, liquids and food near the keyboards/laptops... NO!!!
I just tell people I have installed virus software on their mac and leave it at that. If they ask were is it? I tell them it is in the system files and they cannot access it.
Yeah except they keep insisting that I put it on my macs. no.
And sending the me warning emails about a new win PC virus. uh huh that is nice I am on a mac - you can worry about this.
My dad does that. And then he's like, "See what I mean?" And I'm, "Erm, not so much, no."
My grandma is a nightmare on her computer. She uses it to play solitaire and mah-jong, etc, but she uses her WHOLE HAND for the mouse, so she's constantly engaging the right-click (years ago my parents bought her a dell, and we upgraded her to a new HP so we didn't have to teach her new software-if I were psychic I would have gotten her a mac, then we could have one damn button heaven.) I finally disconnected her mouse, taped the right button down, then reconnected it...now she can't create 16 shortcuts of the same game, engage the help menu while she's playing, and do god knows what to the system files. I don't even think she knows she does it, she just clicks and drags all over the place.
My mom always asks me about getting free stuff online, she scares the hell out of me. God have some cynicism woman! ... Also involving my mom, she'll peer over my shoulder sometimes to look at who i'm talking to, it's so annoying! God i don't evesdrop when you're on the phone, if you want to know just ask!
... Also involving my mom, she'll peer over my shoulder sometimes to look at who i'm talking to, it's so annoying! God i don't evesdrop when you're on the phone, if you want to know just ask!
I've tried emphatically to explain to my family that I work the nightshift*, and that calling me at noon is the equivalent to me calling them at 4 in the morning, and that I should be called during the day only in emergencies, and that otherwise I shouldn't be called until at least five. Just today I was called at noon to see if I wanted to "go out for lunch"** -- and my mom calls me exclusively at exactly five on a very regular basis.
Unfortunately, the prevailance of technology in my life has translated to an increased number of ways to be reached and thus bothered.
Last Wednesday at around noon, my sister managed to dump her whole hard drive (don't ask me how). By 1pm, I had been telephoned 3 times, once each by my sister, mother and father, as well as being text messaged twice by the former. When they didn't get my cell, they -- each of them -- called my landline. Upon finally telling my sister that a) I'm trying to sleep and b) I'd come by around eight (she lives close by), I thought I could go back to bed. Unfortunately, both my parents called me additionally to ask me what was going on, and then upon calling my sister with the same question, calling me back again to confirm my answer, and then again to make sure I was on my way. When I say "my parents", I mean each of them individually. My cellphone and landline total 14 incoming messages between noon and 8PM.
My sister has Applecare, and the problem was eventually deferred to them, which in reality it should have been in the first place @W@
My biggest pet peeve in regards to technology and my family would be the widespread abuse of telecommunications to keep me from the little sleep I already get. I'm considering blocking them from my landline***, so that they can only reach me on a phone that can be disabled during certain hours. But I want to be available if there's a real emergency.
Sorry if this post is less coherent than usual, I'm running on very little sleep because of being awoken at noon today. This probably sounds like a college-kid rant, and while I do love and respect my family, I'm understandably annoyed at the moment.
*Electively, I come fully equipped and optimized with a plethora of sleeping disorders, so I work with clients in different timezones. This lets me get at least some sleep.
**When my cellphone was turned off, which had been turned off specifically because of last weeks computer debacle, my landline was repeatedly tried.
***I need my landline on for deliveries and work-related queries. I haven't given my work my cell number so that I can only be reached when at home.
Unfortunately, the prevailance of technology in my life has translated to an increased number of ways to be reached and thus bothered.
Last Wednesday at around noon, my sister managed to dump her whole hard drive (don't ask me how). By 1pm, I had been telephoned 3 times, once each by my sister, mother and father, as well as being text messaged twice by the former. When they didn't get my cell, they -- each of them -- called my landline. Upon finally telling my sister that a) I'm trying to sleep and b) I'd come by around eight (she lives close by), I thought I could go back to bed. Unfortunately, both my parents called me additionally to ask me what was going on, and then upon calling my sister with the same question, calling me back again to confirm my answer, and then again to make sure I was on my way. When I say "my parents", I mean each of them individually. My cellphone and landline total 14 incoming messages between noon and 8PM.
My sister has Applecare, and the problem was eventually deferred to them, which in reality it should have been in the first place @W@
My biggest pet peeve in regards to technology and my family would be the widespread abuse of telecommunications to keep me from the little sleep I already get. I'm considering blocking them from my landline***, so that they can only reach me on a phone that can be disabled during certain hours. But I want to be available if there's a real emergency.
Sorry if this post is less coherent than usual, I'm running on very little sleep because of being awoken at noon today. This probably sounds like a college-kid rant, and while I do love and respect my family, I'm understandably annoyed at the moment.
*Electively, I come fully equipped and optimized with a plethora of sleeping disorders, so I work with clients in different timezones. This lets me get at least some sleep.
**When my cellphone was turned off, which had been turned off specifically because of last weeks computer debacle, my landline was repeatedly tried.
***I need my landline on for deliveries and work-related queries. I haven't given my work my cell number so that I can only be reached when at home.
My mum can't turn on the TV because there's no "Power" button. There's only a circle with a vertical line through it. Same with the computer. She just presses every button until it turns on.