Worst Tech mistake you have ever made?

[TempestCatto]

I don't wear socks and sandals when working on computers.

 

I paid 200 USD for a VPN so I could pirate a 5 dollar song.

 

I bought a 2.5 foot tall PC case for no reason.

 

I, to this day, don't use dust filters over my fans because I'm too lazy to find ones that will fit and buy them.

 

I use a DeWALT 60v Brushless leaf blower to dust out my PC (yes, I'm serious, I'm that lazy)

[DrMacintosh]

2 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

Could you be a bit more specific?

Windows as a service, invasion of user privacy, forced updates, Microsoft does not test their OS releases on real hardware configs. That's just to name a few. 

[Princess Luna]

I replaced a laptop boot drive once while it was still in "sleep mode" rather than turn it off xd'

[TempestCatto]

6 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

I hate the direction Windows has been going in

Windows 10 LTSB, disable Windows Update service. You can turn off all the other bullshit during installation. Now you have what behaves like Windows 7, but is really Windows 10.

LTSB is what W10 should have been in the first place.

[akio123008]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Windows as a service

It's still just an iso that you install locally right?

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Invasion of user privacy

Not with the correct settings

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

forced updates

Those kind of suck indeed

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

Microsoft does not test their OS releases on real hardware configs.

Would be kind of pointless given the amount of possible configs. Have you experienced issues caused by this though?

 

What I'm trying to say is; it's not all that different. If you look at purely the OS itself, it really isn't that different from windows 7 and previous. 

[The_Prycer]

11 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

Windows 10 LTSB, disable Windows Update service. You can turn off all the other bullshit during installation. Now you have what behaves like Windows 7, but is really Windows 10.

LTSB is what W10 should have been in the first place.

I have to disable all that stuff during work installation and I'm still not a fan. If I have to use a specific version of Windows or comb through a bunch of nonsense just to get a non-bloated and non-spyware version of Windows then I don't believe they should get my business.

 

Also, I abhor touchscreens and Windows keeps making things that are obviously designed with touchscreens in mind.

[TempestCatto]

9 minutes ago, Caroline said:

is LTSB the same as LTSC? can you use it without a key just like regular windows 10? not like I care about my desktop background if that's the only limitation

I think LTSB is older while LTSC is newer. I've used it before w/o a key and it was fine.

 

Here's an article on the two: https://www.syslogic.com/eng/blog/2019/02/windows-10-ltsb-is-now-called-windows-10-ltsc-just-a-facelift-or-is-there-more-to-it-95717.shtml

 

10 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

I have to disable all that stuff during work installation and I'm still not a fan. If I have to use a specific version of Windows or comb through a bunch of nonsense just to get a non-bloated and non-spyware version of Windows then I don't believe they should get my business.

 

Also, I abhor touchscreens and Windows keeps making things that are obviously designed with touchscreens in mind.

You're not wrong. But I have to use Windows because there's some games that won't play on Linux. Plus some software for when I run sound, lighting, or projection. But if you ever needed to install 10, LTSB is the way to go.

[SpookyCitrus]

6 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

I have to disable all that stuff during work installation and I'm still not a fan. If I have to use a specific version of Windows or comb through a bunch of nonsense just to get a non-bloated and non-spyware version of Windows then I don't believe they should get my business.

There are custom Windows 10 install images that take care of this for you that other users have made. You can get a completely clean install for free that is activate-able and everything it just installs with everything pre-disabled. I don't know the exact website but I'm sure someone else will.

[The_Prycer]

1 minute ago, SpookyCitrus said:

There are custom Windows 10 install images that take care of this for you that other users have made. You can get a completely clean install for free that is activate-able and everything it just installs with everything pre-disabled. I don't know the exact website but I'm sure someone else will.

Oh I know they exist and I've downloaded a few of them to test over PXE deployment on some newer machines, but it is my belief that I shouldn't have to go through all that BS in order to use an OS in a professional setting.

[DrMacintosh]

16 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

What I'm trying to say is; it's not all that different. If you look at purely the OS itself, it really isn't that different from windows 7 and previous. 

No, what you're trying to say is that the reasons someone might like Linux and macOS over Windows 10 are not valid. You tried to minimize the significance of the experiences of the OP and I in addition to the trying to minimize the actions of Microsoft. That's not cool. 

[piemadd]

37 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

...I hate the direction Windows has been going in.

 

Well, MS is planning on making Windows 11 Linux based, and their newest OS (Azure Sphere OS) is also linux based

[Tristerin]

I used to take shortcuts, but as I got older I got rid of things like Box Fans (however they do work), or jerry rigging on my machines.  I have my Frankenstein (Dwight in sig) that I now do things you shouldn't with.

 

When I was younger I just didn't give a damn.  Now that I am older the organization, cleanliness, and properness are more important to me than it used to be.

 

However I have a degree from the School of Backasswards Engineering so am capable of some pretty lazy, or self-convenient actions

[The_Prycer]

3 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I used to take shortcuts, but as I got older I got rid of things like Box Fans (however they do work), or jerry rigging on my machines.  I have my Frankenstein (Dwight in sig) that I now do things you shouldn't with.

 

When I was younger I just didn't give a damn.  Now that I am older the organization, cleanliness, and properness are more important to me than it used to be.

 

However I have a degree from the School of Backasswards Engineering so am capable of some pretty lazy, or self-convenient actions

I've still got a water cooled loop going on in my box, I just have a 9590FX in said box, so any additional cooling I can add to it is welcome.

 

6 minutes ago, pierom_qwerty said:

Well, MS is planning on making Windows 11 Linux based, and their newest OS (Azure Sphere OS) is also linux based

And should it not come loaded with bloat and spyware I shall use it. I use Windows at work so I'm going to eventually have to get familiar with it.

 

 

[Bramimond]

I'm still using Firefox 30-something. I know, I know, security and all that, but using the new Firefox is a worse experience than whatever bad stuff can happen. On the bright side, my version doesn't have security holes introduced in new versions and also none of my add-ons suddenly turned off that one day Mozilla royally fucked up.

[Tristerin]

10 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

I've still got a water cooled loop going on in my box, I just have a 9590FX in said box, so any additional cooling I can add to it is welcome.

 

And should it not come loaded with bloat and spyware I shall use it. I use Windows at work so I'm going to eventually have to get familiar with it.

 

 

I am going to loop my 8350 just to get it to 5.0ghz finally lol, one day when I get some time

[akio123008]

11 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

No, what you're trying to say is that the reasons someone might like Linux and macOS over Windows 10 are not valid. You tried to minimize the significance of the experiences of the OP and I in addition to the trying to minimize the actions of Microsoft. That's not cool. 

I didn't. First of all, I didn't mention Linux or MacOS at all.

Also, I didn't minimise the significance any of the OP's experiences, I minimised the significance of the arguments you threw in. 

 

I can totally understand actual complaints about the operating system. I even admitted that I hate forced updates. I just think the arguments being made by many people when they complain about win10 are kind of vague, don't really affect them directly and have nothing to do with the actual usability of the OS. 

29 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

Also, I abhor touchscreens and Windows keeps making things that are obviously designed with touchscreens in mind.

This is an example of a real complaint that I can understand and that you won't see me minimise the significance of. I personally have plenty of complaints about windows 10 (for instance the horrible "settings menu") and perhaps I liked 7 more.

 

It's just that so often I see people come in with this "direction MS is going in" argument and it just kind of annoys me. It's not like this is new; they've been a bunch of arseholes for ages and always will be.

 

That doesn't mean we shouldn't look objectively at the software itself and focus on the actual functionality.

 

3 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

And should it not come loaded with bloat and spyware I shall use it. I use Windows at work so I'm going to eventually have to get familiar with it.

Also this is just a load of check boxes you uncheck during installation and you're done. It's not like you have to spend hours uninstalling adware or something. 

 

[Tamesh16]

My boot drive for my Alienware laptop was faulty (refusing to boot sometimes and would need hard reset, it was cheap m.2 sata drive)

after sending it back to them for other issues and getting it back with same boot issues, i decided to just order a 970 evo and get it in 1 day and replace the drive rather than ship my computer back to texas from new york for another free repair... 

 

 

 

EDIT: i dont think i could have sent it back because my warranty had finished just after the first repair anyways, but even if i could i probably wouldnt, i was on holiday and bored... needed my pc to play some games 

[vanished]

File organization continues to be a difficult challenge for me.  Not that I just dump everything on my desktop and am too lazy to sort it, rather I have plenty of will to sort but can never quite decide on the best method.  I've massively redone my whole system several times and every time I think certain parts get better but others definitely do not.

 

On this subject, I find it to be a very bad thing that so many systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and at least several disros of Linux all provide the same familiar default folders in your home directory (Photos, Music, Videos, etc.).  This encourages a very bad practice of separating things by type, rather than what they are or are for.  Consider the following scenario:

• You have 4 files on your computer:
  • a PDF of a tax document
  • a JPG scan of some bank statements
  • a JPG photo from your vacation
  • a short MP4 video clip from that same vacation

Most people would instantly realize the best way to sort this is something roughly like the following:

• Tax forms
  • 2018
    • the pdf
    • the jpg
• Vacation
  • July 2018 in France
    • the jpg
    • the video

But that's not how many people sort their things, and you can't even blame them.  The presence of the default folders tricks and misleads people into the bad habit of doing something roughly like this:

• Documents
  • 2018
    • the pdf
    • the jpg
• Pictures
  • July 2018 in France
    • the jpg
• Videos
  • July 2018 in France
    • the video

Or worse yet,

• Documents
  • the pdf
• Pictures
  • the bank jpg
  • the photo jpg
• Videos
  • the video

And the problem is at first, when you have only a few files you might not see the issue, but this quickly gets out of control, and once you've started like this it's hard to go back and change it.  Granted, that's not my problem.  Even understanding the types of content I have and how I should break it up, it's hard to find a good system, but I digress.

[kelvinhall05]

I broke a $600 Thinkpad X260 (thankfully turned out to be a $10 fix but I spent another $700 on another laptop before figuring that one out).

 

 

I've also massively overpaid for stuff, the worst examples being me spending $300 on a Dell XPS 8100 with an i5-750, 6GB of RAM, and a dying HDD that was disgusting inside and outside and also spending $140 on an R7 370 and another $70 on a cooler for it because I needed a new GPU quickly and didn't do my research (I got him down to $80 for the card but stupid me didn't realize he was 40 minutes away so he asked $60 for delivery and I obliged).

 

 

EDIT: To be fair, the prices are in CAD and the used market in my area is shit, but still.

[rcmaehl]

I still use an Antec 1200 stainless steel full tower case that was originally made in 2008.
 

I've compressed air'd my AIO radiator but I haven't actually removed it from the case to clean it

 

I want to organize my files but my file organization is too far gone for me to even start

 

My Windows 10 key as well as 4 others were bought from Venezuela for $15 total
 

I have a bad habit of upgrading old devices for way too long. My old laptop was an Acer Aspire 4720z. I upgraded it from a Core2Duo T2300 to a T9500  (BOTTLENECK 1: TDP), with plans for a X9100 or QX9300, 1GB 667Mhz to 3GB 800Mhz RAM (BOTTLENECK 2: FSB designed for 667Mhz running at 800MHz). 5400 HDD to an SATA SSD (BOTTLENECK 3: SATA III on a SATA II bus!!!!). Wireless G to Wireless AC+Bluetooth (BOTTLENECK 4: PCIe 2.0(?) x1). PATA CD drive to internal SATA enclosure (BOTTLENECK 5: SATA III on a PATA bus!) as well as from 1280x800 to a 1080p monitor via a guide I found. The laptop lasted longer than most batteries for it on the market, and any battery that did work drained super quickly form the increased power draw from every component. I had plans to get an ExpressCard -> PCIe adapter and hook up a GTX 750 (BOTTLENECK 6!) to it when it finally fried another power daughter board (It's gone through like 4 now due to all the additional power draw). I'm still running an Galaxy S5 as a backup phone despite modern apps really not happy with an SD801
 

For non-financial and non-PII/PHI accounts I do reuse a password/password format.

[samcool55]

I still use an old acer aspire one with a 1.6Ghz solo-core atom CPU with HT because I just love netbooks.

Like, it currently has a triple-boot config, it runs Ubuntu* (it's some lightweight version, dunno what exactly but it gets updates so it should be safe?), windows 7 starter that's still not properly updated after all those weeks and the god of OS's, XP! Yes I sometimes go online with it while I'm using XP, yea I love being a rebel. (not really but like, if it goes wrong I don't care)

Also, it has a 120gig ssd! Even tho it's slow AF! And I use a 64 gig microsd for extra storage because cheapskate.

 

It's like a perfect mix of everything you shouldn't really do, but I did it anyway. And I LOVE it!

 

37 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

I still use an Antec 1200 stainless steel full tower case that was originally made in 2008

I still use my Antec 1200 too! It's just such an insane case I refuse to replace it, also it was a birthday gift from my dad. And if I do ever replace it, that's going to be one insane server like, the front being basically all 5.25' bays, damn.

[TempestCatto]

34 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

I still use an Antec 1200 stainless steel full tower case that was originally made in 2008.

But that's not a bad thing? If I had one of those, I'd still be rockin' it too!

[rcmaehl]

3 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

I still use my Antec 1200 too! It's just such an insane case I refuse to replace it, also it was a birthday gift from my dad. And if I do ever replace it, that's going to be one insane server like, the front being basically all 5.25' bays, damn.

If you don't have USB 3 on the front from the V3 1200, you can order them as a replacement part from Antec
 

http://support.antec.com/support/solutions/articles/1000147235-gaming-series-spare-parts-list

 

It was like $25(?) or something like that and totally worth the upgrade to make the case slightly more modern.

[samcool55]

7 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

If you don't have USB 3 on the front from the V3 1200, you can order them as a replacement part from Antec
 

http://support.antec.com/support/solutions/articles/1000147235-gaming-series-spare-parts-list

 

It was like $25(?) or something like that and totally worth the upgrade to make the case slightly more modern.

I wish I knew this earlier...

Do they wear out over time due to the weird angle? Mine has 2 usb2.0 ports and both are borked because anything you plug in hangs and wears out the port and now they only work when I push the usb cable, which is annoying...

[rcmaehl]

Just now, samcool55 said:

I wish I knew this earlier...

Do they wear out over time due to the weird angle? Mine has 2 usb2.0 ports and both are borked because anything you plug in hangs and wears out the port and now they only work when I push the usb cable, which is annoying...

I'm pretty sure they do or at least the USB 2 ports. I haven't had issues with the 3.0 ports yet.