Experiences with non-techies

[Joegeddon]

My friend said he needed to upgrade his GPU from his old GPU which he swore he had in his PC. I opened it up and guess what? He didn't have a GPU.

I just noticed I used "GPU" a lot in that post

[vanished]

*snip*

 

 

Yeah that second story sounds a little familiar.  That's one of my most despised things; when websites only work in IE.  Why that was ever a thing will baffle me forever but the fact that some pages are still like that is 10 times worse!  Any company that does that should just be erased!  It's of course the worst when you have to use that site for work or school or something (luckily I never have had to).  It's like if you were only allowed to drive on some highways if you were driving a ford pinto*! 

 

* For those that don't know, they had 2 terrible defects that worked in evil synergy.  When rear-ended, the frame would crumple in such a way that the doors would jam trapping you inside, and the gas tank would also rupture, so you'd go up in flames.

[WkdPaul]

Yeah I've seen some several year old GPUs going (used) for more now than they cost when they were brand new!  It's ridiculous... I guess it's all Americans buying them (?) since with the exchange rate, it's a good price  :lol:

 

That's what I thought also because I was looking for 7870, 7950 and 7970's and man are they expensive on eBay ... around 300CAD for a used and a few generation old GPU when I can buy the "updated equivalent" R7/9 3** for the same price???

 

I also saw some people selling their used HD7770 for 150CAD ... when you can buy a R7 250x for less! lol I'm telling you, some people need a good kick!

[RustyZombie]

My father, who is losing his hearing from working in a factory for a few decades, thinks he can hear the 1's and 0's on CD's.  And that is the reason his old vinyl records sound so much better than CD's.  I think it has more do with that he has only listened to CD's on a $40 boombox, while he has a $6500 system (factoring in inflation) for his vinyl.

[Godlygamer23]

I would think the presence of water at all would be a bigger issue than corrosion over time

Water being present in the air alone does not affect electronics.

[cferns1]

Water being present in the air alone does not affect electronics.

I think he was more referring to the fact he was dunking his components in water to stop static from being a problem

[4ndrew]

People thinking CTRL stands for central...

[vanished]

People thinking CTRL stands for central...

wait, that doesn't actually happen, does it?  :blink:

[WkdPaul]

wait, that doesn't actually happen, does it?  :blink:

man, when you're customer or tech support, you're not surprised by stuff like this anymore!!!

 

On occasion I've taught what the Windows key was and how to use it ... to people that had been using Windows computers for decades ... seriously! (They knew the key was there, they just didn't know the use and never pressed it!)

 

A friend that is customer support for B2B told me that some of the people he talks to are so clueless he's amazed they are still in business! lol

[That90sKid]

to be fair, SOME laptops have so many driver problems in linux that it won't work, but still.

Very true. 

[Fetzie]

Yeah that second story sounds a little familiar.  That's one of my most despised things; when websites only work in IE.  Why that was ever a thing will baffle me forever but the fact that some pages are still like that is 10 times worse!  Any company that does that should just be erased!  It's of course the worst when you have to use that site for work or school or something (luckily I never have had to).  It's like if you were only allowed to drive on some highways if you were driving a ford pinto*! 

 

* For those that don't know, they had 2 terrible defects that worked in evil synergy.  When rear-ended, the frame would crumple in such a way that the doors would jam trapping you inside, and the gas tank would also rupture, so you'd go up in flames.

The Cisco Net Academy assessments only work in Edge for me

[DirtyDane]

 

 

 

Well, not always (see below)

But seriously, by that logic, you should never buy any technology, or a car, or food, etc.

 

 

I think that can be due to people who either a: never ventured outside the realm of windows (where the vast majority of things have to be "installed" which plants all sorts of registry keys and other crap scattered all around the computer, so just having a copy of the game folder will not cut it), and/or b: are fairly new to the tech scene (this "must be installed" behaviour is and has been pretty popular for a long while, but there was a time when it was considerably less prevalent, and more often than not, you could just grab the program or game folder and carry it around).

 

Or, it could be any or no reason at all if they are simply someone who doesn't experiment with things like this

 

 

 

yeah i just like screwing with things. not that thats even remotely interesting carrying a music game on a flashdrive. NOW lets talk about the worst security sin in history. student passwords that at pre generated and non changable. like i swear to god half the time you just gotta know someones name and birthday...

[vanished]

yeah i just like screwing with things. not that thats even remotely interesting carrying a music game on a flashdrive. NOW lets talk about the worst security sin in history. student passwords that at pre generated and non changable. like i swear to god half the time you just gotta know someones name and birthday...

Why weren't they changeable!?  I remember when we got our school accounts in elementary: not only did they ask us what password we wanted to start with, but we could change them at will and were encouraged to do so.

[4ndrew]

wait, that doesn't actually happen, does it?  :blink:

I've heard it far too many times at school...

[DirtyDane]

Why weren't they changeable!?  I remember when we got our school accounts in elementary: not only did they ask us what password we wanted to start with, but we could change them at will and were encouraged to do so.

I KNOW RIGHT!!!! its fun to piss people off by logging into their user right before they do so they cant. whats worse is taht the unrestricted (still not admin obviously but it has no restrictions on its actions) public account used for certain computers is accessible anywhere. so i can literally do what ever i want and they cant figure out who it was (well they could easilly if they cared) but thats a story for another time. i usually just remote to my home computer instead i prefer libre office and stuffs over word etc

[Kendrick]

So in class one day my teacher asked "Is anyone in here good with computers?"

My gf said my name to annoy me and I had to go help the teacher. 

 

the teacher asked why the computer wasnt turning on, it was unplugged.

[KazuMae]

Okay, this is not my experience but i heard it first hand from my friend who are working in IT call center department in my campus. So one day, she recieved a call saying that the user doesnt know how to reset her password. My friend knowing that the caller is tech newb guide her patiently as possible and she snapped at one point when the user said "I dont know what browser i am using". My friend muted the phone for a bit and screamed" you dumbass you dont know what browser are you using??? are u living in the 1940s????". Few moments after she calmed down, she continue to assist her.

 

another day in my campus IT call center.

[Abyssic]

My friend said he needed to upgrade his GPU from his old GPU which he swore he had in his PC. I opened it up and guess what? He didn't have a GPU.

I just noticed I used "GPU" a lot in that post

terminology is pretty important in that matter. a gpu is a graphics processing unit, wich isn't necessarily a dedicated graphics CARD. integrated gpus are still gpus.

[vanished]

terminology is pretty important in that matter. a gpu is a graphics processing unit, wich isn't necessarily a dedicated graphics CARD. integrated gpus are still gpus.

Everyone uses GPU and graphics card interchangeably though and I've never seen it not be clear from the context which was meant.  And that's just when it matters, which it usually doesn't

[Abyssic]

Everyone uses GPU and graphics card interchangeably though and I've never seen it not be clear from the context which was meant.  And that's just when it matters, which it usually doesn't

well i only said that because it does matter in this case. the person sees in software that they have a XXXX as gpu. so they think it is a graphics card since everybody uses those terms interchangeably.

[vanished]

well i only said that because it does matter in this case. the person sees in software that they have a XXXX as gpu. so they think it is a graphics card since everybody uses those terms interchangeably.

fair enough

[Fgtfv567]

So in class one day my teacher asked "Is anyone in here good with computers?"

My gf said my name to annoy me and I had to go help the teacher.

the teacher asked why the computer wasnt turning on, it was unplugged.

God, I wish I had a girlfriend to annoy me with tech...

(Mobile, can't multiquote)

[Fgtfv567]

yeah i just like screwing with things. not that thats even remotely interesting carrying a music game on a flashdrive. NOW lets talk about the worst security sin in history. student passwords that at pre generated and non changable. like i swear to god half the time you just gotta know someones name and birthday...

To log into to the computers and school assigned email is

Username: First.Last (Computer), First.Last@alamedaclc.org (email)

Password: Aclc1234

And besides the 4 digit numbers, all the user names and passwords are the same for every last person. Maybe you can change the digits if requested, but I doubt everything else though

[Fgtfv567]

Tell him this then walk away, "Conformity doesn't equal superiority."

Exactly. A lot of computers might have HDDs, but if you have little data, it makes more sense to go SSDs.

A lot of businesses also use Apple computers, but they're shit for games

[Fgtfv567]

When I was building my first computer my dad was watching me pick out parts to make sure I didn't go way out of budget. When I put the video card in the cart and he realized that it was about 70% of my budget he protested saying "aren't graphics cards the type of part that's really expensive when they come out and then cost like $100 less in a year?"

I replied "Often yes"

"Then why are you spending so much on a graphics card when it's gonna cost $100 less next year?"

He kept repeating that no matter what graphics card I showed him and it took an absurd amount of convincing to get him to approve of my choice.

To this day he thinks that nobody should ever buy graphics cards since they lose value over time

Oh have him try to play crysis with and without a dedicated GPU. Fucking night and day. I hope he knows that the whole computer loses value, along with his car (and house, if possible)