Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)

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JoeMorgue said:
But what do I know I miss the, pardon the vulgar term, Keyboard Clit pointing devices which is seems are almost universally despised.
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I had a laptop with one of those, and preferred it to the trackpad (I think that's what they're called. the rectangular thing below the keyboard that you moved your finger across to move the mouse cursor). that it also had. It took a little getting used to, but worked fine once I got used to it. I still preferred a mouse, assuming I had one with me and room to use it.
 
I just take my normal desktop mouse with me as I'm mostly either using my laptop at my desk in a docking station, or taking it to a meeting on site. Several people take special travelling mouses and for short walks, they seem to be an utter pain.

Mind you, I quite like the trackpad on my personal laptop at home - I don't know if it is the PC or Windows-10 but it works nicely - so much that I rarely use the touchscreen - although I do sometimes, and frequently enough that I try to use the non-existent touchscreen on my work laptop.
 
Trebuchet said:
I mouse left-handed, and have the buttons reversed. It was always fun watching someone remote in to that.
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I'm ambimoustrous. I'm strongly right-handed but I get RSI in my right wrist so quite a few years ago now I trained myself to use a mouse with my left. But whenever I remote in to someone else's computer I have to switch sides. Except on those few occasions where they're a leftie too, which are awesome.
 
arthwollipot said:
I'm ambimoustrous. I'm strongly right-handed but I get RSI in my right wrist so quite a few years ago now I trained myself to use a mouse with my left. But whenever I remote in to someone else's computer I have to switch sides. Except on those few occasions where they're a leftie too, which are awesome.
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Yes, that's why I do it too. None of the doctors or ergonomic experts I saw ever suggested it. But since I switched, I've gone from over-use of naproxen sodium and a splint on my right hand every night, to barely noticing I ever had CTS. The main symptom now is a numb thumb while driving.
 
Trebuchet said:
Yes, that's why I do it too. None of the doctors or ergonomic experts I saw ever suggested it. But since I switched, I've gone from over-use of naproxen sodium and a splint on my right hand every night, to barely noticing I ever had CTS. The main symptom now is a numb thumb while driving.
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Have you tried one of these? I used one for several years and never had any pain. It was, by far, the best mouse I have ever used.
 
Trebuchet said:
Yes, that's why I do it too. None of the doctors or ergonomic experts I saw ever suggested it. But since I switched, I've gone from over-use of naproxen sodium and a splint on my right hand every night, to barely noticing I ever had CTS. The main symptom now is a numb thumb while driving.
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That's odd. It's actually one of the first things I suggest to people and it's quite obvious when explained. A standard keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right means that, with your index fingers resting on f and j* you have a greater reach across the right to use a mouse than you would on the left.
On the remote chance you find a copy in a used book store I can strongly recommend Linden's "Compute in Comfort". Instead of the usual rote recommendation he tries to teach you how to listen to your body telling you how it wants to move. Maybe ask your library?

*That's why f&j have little bumps on them for those who don't know. Touch typing.
 
Trebuchet said:
I mouse left-handed, and have the buttons reversed. It was always fun watching someone remote in to that.
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Must be difficult, having to do a job on a computer with different settings. What strategies did you develop, to make the process smoother? Did you just warn them as they were remoting in? Or did you find there were additional things you or they could do to make their job easier?
 
theprestige said:
Must be difficult, having to do a job on a computer with different settings. What strategies did you develop, to make the process smoother? Did you just warn them as they were remoting in? Or did you find there were additional things you or they could do to make their job easier?
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I DID warn them. It usually didn't penetrate until about the third time I told them. I was never very impressed with the computer support people at Boeing. I'd guess most of them were probably employed by third parties who got them off the street and trained them for a week before sending them in, because that's the way Boeing liked to do things.
 
The PC support staff at HSBC were similar and obviously followed scripts based on standard software for clerical staff. I supported and wrote specialized tools for IT ops and still was supposed to go through them. I had more authority on some of the bank's most critical servers than I did on my developer laptop. Some of the scripts obviously did not cover the existence of dual monitors which was amusing the first few times.
 
JoeMorgue said:
I've got a (blissfully small) number of users who use those horrid old Logitech "ergonomic" trackballs and split keyboards.
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If those are the ones I think you're talking about. I hate them. For one thing, I find a trackball a a lot more awkward to use than a mouse, but to make matters worse, I am left handed and all of the "ergonomic" trackballs I have seen are only usable with the right hand. The ones I'm thinking of are made to have the ball operated by the thumb and the buttons by the index and middle fingers. For me, rotating a ball with my thumb is much more awkward and less intuitivethan moving a mouse on the desk with my arm, and then to have to do it right handed is a recipe for rapid muscle fatigue.

I never cared for "ergonomic" mice either. Most of those are also right handed. What I find easiest to use is a fairly small, symmetrical mouse.
 
I am also left-handed, but I use a mouse or trackball right-handed.

I used to have a trackball with a ball about the size of a small orange. That was the best pointer controller I have ever used, but I don't think they're available now. The little ones with the thumb ball are useless for me.

My current mouse is a wired five-button mouse from Dynex, which was apparently a Best Buy house brand. All their products appear to be discontinued. It has a left and right button that emulates the forward and back arrows on the keyboard, so it's easy to return to the previous page on a website without moving the mouse.

I like it so much that I bought a used one on eBay, just to have a backup.
 
Mongrel said:
Far to many people, though, think the R-Click is some sort of mysterious and eldritch compact with the Elder Gods for all they use it or are willing to be taught to use it.

And back when I used to be on the service desk it was always a toss up about getting them to use it, first you had to explain where it was and that yes, you could click it. Then, inevitably, for the rest of the call whenever you asked them to click and no matter how many times you emphasised "Unless I say otherwise it's a normal, L-Click" they'd be asking if it was a Left or Right click...
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My experience is that the higher the anxiety, the more they want you to tell them, I try to say 'select' when they should left click.
It doesn't always works, but it helps. I have had people who wanted me to say which click each time as well...
 
Dancing David said:
My experience is that the higher the anxiety, the more they want you to tell them, I try to say 'select' when they should left click.
It doesn't always works, but it helps. I have had people who wanted me to say which click each time as well...
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Oh, it's been years since I had to do proper support.
I'm kind of, unofficial, first line in my team at work and I do the family stuff over Teamviewer but that's about it.
I got out of anything customer facing\interaction 15 years ago and have never regretted it, but yes I remember the little workarounds for getting the customers to do what we needed them to do :)
 
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Trebuchet said:
I DID warn them. It usually didn't penetrate until about the third time I told them. I was never very impressed with the computer support people at Boeing. I'd guess most of them were probably employed by third parties who got them off the street and trained them for a week before sending them in, because that's the way Boeing liked to do things.
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I've found that if I'm remoteing to a person with a left mouse, they usually let me know. My response is "Great! That means I don't have to swap sides."
 
Dancing David said:
My experience is that the higher the anxiety, the more they want you to tell them, I try to say 'select' when they should left click.
It doesn't always works, but it helps. I have had people who wanted me to say which click each time as well...
Click to expand...
I definitely have some specific language tricks that I use with people who seem to have less knowledge of computers. For example, I don't refer to the "Start Button". Because it doesn't say "Start" any more. It used to in earlier versions of Windows, so that's how we all commonly refer to it, but with the callers I'll call it the "Windows Button" because they may not have that historical knowledge. I call it a "computer" rather than a "workstation" or a "PC". I ask for their computer's "asset number" rather than the "workstation ID" or "machine name". Stuff like that. It just makes things smoother.
 
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