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

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Ron_Tomkins said:
I understand the complaint about people who claim to "not be computer persons", but unfortunately, those do exist. It has nothing to do with the fact that computers existed since the 70's. Not all people are computer savvy. Just because you do use computers, doesn't mean you actually know your way around them when anything unexpected happens and now you have to go to "Settings" and try to fix the problem yourself. Or even knowing how to navigate certain web servers such as e-mail and stuff.

An example of that is my dad: My dad has been a screenwriter his whole life. So yes, of course he has used computers most of his life to write, but this means that because his job is writing, he has only been concerned with the writing part, which is just opening a Word document and typing. Anything beyond that is pretty much a world of the unknown to him.

I will give you that people like my dad have been too lazy to try to understand how computers work a little bit better. But there's also some kind of cultural issue, I think. And also just, different brains are wired differently and find it harder to understand things (whether it's operating a computer or playing chess or being able to draw, etc) There are things that we take for granted that are just intuitive that people like my parents still fail to see. For instance, you're looking for something on the web, and you hit on an unofficial website. You can't really tell exactly why, but you know this website is probably some ******** spam trying to disguise itself as a website with the information you're looking for. There's a sort of instinct that computer savvy and just people who use computers a lot, that we know this website is a waste of time. But people like my parents cannot tell the difference. They basically take anything they find on the web at face value.

So it's a little bit of both: 1) Yes, people who are not computer people do exist, and 2) It does have to do in part with their lack of commitment to try to learn a bit about computers.... but it's also just a matter of how people's brains are. Some people just have it very hard to wrap their minds around how to operate computers.
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I basically agree with this, and will add that a lot of people I speak to have jobs that require a high degree of commitment, knowledge, and at times pressure. They don't have time to go on a Basic Computer Troubleshooting course, if such a thing even existed.

Does such a thing exist? I don't know. If it did, I don't think it would be well-attended, especially by the people who might need it the most.
 
Read this joke in another thread



William Parcher said:
Grandpa examined the keyboard for a half hour. He found the CapsLock key right away. He never did find the CapsUnlock key.
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And it reminded me of a true story.

A long, long time ago a business I had with 2 other guys developed a lottery/raffle system for use by small sports clubs and other social clubs and the like to raise funds. It consisted of a Compaq IBM clone running a database, ticket reader and a few other odds and ends all linked together with our custom code. It was actually quite good and surprisingly reliable.

We'd sold a system to a local rugby club and we had an issue with one user not being able to use the system. The issue was when they signed up a new member they had to enter the details and then press Shift S. This user was adamant it wasn't working, no matter how many times he pressed Shift S. So off I went with a replacement keyboard, he wasn't there at that time, I quickly checked and it seemed to be working fine but thought I'd replace the keyboard anyway.

Next day, same issue, off I went.

Care to guess what he was doing?

He was holding down the "s h i f t" keys...

His colleague started laughing, calling him words which passed for polite joshing in a northern Rugby League club. He came over to show his mate before I could correct his mate saying something like

"You have to get the timing just right" and promptly showed his mate to press down the shift key and the s key at the same time, but I don't mean holding the shift key down and then pressing the S key I mean using two figures to press each key at the same time and let go at the same time.

It was amusing and both of them took the piss out of each other for some time after I showed them how to use the keyboard.

But it did really open my eyes about the (at the time) lack of general public knowledge about even the basic use of a PC keyboard. Always stayed with me when trying to help anyone, remember to check the assumptions *you* have.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Who HASN'T met users who, when told to use the F1 key or F2 key, etc, have typed "F" then "1"...
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One problem I often have is that function keys work in two ways -- one way if you hold the fn/func key, another way if not. The systems I've had were set to different defaults. Changing in settings or registry does not always have a permanent effect.
 
Things I Wish More People Knew, part LXVIII

Some Systems Are Managed By Different Help Desks

We're a general Service Desk for most of the IT infrastructure. But there are specific applications available on our network that are managed by different teams. We're constantly acting as a switchboard for these other teams. Well... not constantly. But I just got three calls in a row that I had to redirect to other teams.

The thing that really galls me is that every single one of these systems has their support number clearly marked on the login screen. But we still get the calls.
 
Oh man, don't get me started.

Networking has a least three different teams. Until very recently we had two versions of Service Now. It's EVER so fun to say "Thank you for creating that ticket, you need to create it again in the other ticketing system.

Annoying as hell.
 
alfaniner said:
One problem I often have is that function keys work in two ways -- one way if you hold the fn/func key, another way if not. The systems I've had were set to different defaults. Changing in settings or registry does not always have a permanent effect.
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I hate the fact that a lot of laptos now have a "Function Key" that operates as a modifier like CTRL, ALT, and Shift so now F1 the function key and F and 1 as in press "Function" and "1" at the same time are a thing.
 
JoeMorgue said:
I hate the fact that a lot of laptos now have a "Function Key" that operates as a modifier like CTRL, ALT, and Shift so now F1 the function key and F and 1 as in press "Function" and "1" at the same time are a thing.
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Some normal keyboards have them as well. I have a Microsoft keyboard that has 'shortcuts' mapped to the F Keys by default, out of the box the drivers put the shortcuts on the keys and make you use Shift or press an F Lock key to access normal usage :mad:
 
I've got one of those right in front of me. The keys are also small and set down low. As is the "ESC" key, which is rather more important. There's another whole row of buttons above the Fn keys I haven't even bothered to experiment with, including ones numbered 1 through 5 and a star.
 
Trebuchet said:
I've got one of those right in front of me. The keys are also small and set down low. As is the "ESC" key, which is rather more important. There's another whole row of buttons above the Fn keys I haven't even bothered to experiment with, including ones numbered 1 through 5 and a star.
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Sounds like a similar setup...

In the end I just used the macro function of the software to reset the silly shortcuts to the be Function keys.
IIRC there was an option to to set the Function lock key to on by default but that cacked out enough times that just resetting the macros was easier.
 
Mongrel said:
Sounds like a similar setup...

In the end I just used the macro function of the software to reset the silly shortcuts to the be Function keys.
IIRC there was an option to to set the Function lock key to on by default but that cacked out enough times that just resetting the macros was easier.
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That's beyond my capabilities, or at least beyond my level of interest in being capable. I'd probably need the help of "Sir Charles" who called me from India a few minutes ago.
 
Trebuchet said:
I've got one of those right in front of me. The keys are also small and set down low. As is the "ESC" key, which is rather more important. There's another whole row of buttons above the Fn keys I haven't even bothered to experiment with, including ones numbered 1 through 5 and a star.
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That might be your desk phone...?
 
Trebuchet said:
That's beyond my capabilities, or at least beyond my level of interest in being capable. I'd probably need the help of "Sir Charles" who called me from India a few minutes ago.
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How's your Microsoft Windows computer? Virus-free?

(I sometimes waste their time by leading them on for a while, eventually getting to the point where I tell them I have a CLI prompt and it is "$" and it is a "VMS" operating system. Longbeard hackers FTW!).
 
arthwollipot said:
Things I Wish More People Knew, part LXVIII

Some Systems Are Managed By Different Help Desks

We're a general Service Desk for most of the IT infrastructure. But there are specific applications available on our network that are managed by different teams. We're constantly acting as a switchboard for these other teams. Well... not constantly. But I just got three calls in a row that I had to redirect to other teams.
Click to expand...

I'd be happy if my users could get it through their heads I'm not also an electrician, alarm system technician, and HVAC system engineer.
 
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