Experiences with non-techies

[HyperHertz]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

$6 isn't that big of a deal.

Yeah but you can also get the Deathadder and the blackwidow chroma in a bundle for $6 less then what he paid just for the keyboard.

[I need a better name]

we seem to have lost over 100 pages, where all the posts about HDD weight with/without anything on it removed?

 

(No, seriously, what happend?)

[vanished]

43 minutes ago, I need a better name said:

we seem to have lost over 100 pages, where all the posts about HDD weight with/without anything on it removed?

 

(No, seriously, what happend?)

Did you notice?  The new forum puts more posts on a page so every thread is shorter now.  I don't think anything was deleted.

[Godlygamer23]

45 minutes ago, I need a better name said:

we seem to have lost over 100 pages, where all the posts about HDD weight with/without anything on it removed?

 

(No, seriously, what happend?)

The forum has each page more densely packed with posts compared to before. That's why we have less pages.

[Lain782]

my mum asked me if the operating system was microsoft office 2010

[Codeplayer]

On 11.2.2016 at 10:15 PM, wkdpaul said:

Sad yes ... I just don't understand why it's ok to call a whole computer "CPU" or "hard drive" while I'm sure nobody would call a whole car "engine"!

But this actually is happening, in UK they say you drive a motor.

[TheMcSame]

53 minutes ago, Codeplayer said:

But this actually is happening, in UK they say you drive a motor.

Because "motor" is short for "motor vehicle", and it's certainly not a common thing in my experience.

[sushisharkjl]

This happened in my middle school a few years back. Keep in mind this schools is literally in Apple's backyard. If you look on Google Maps you can find Lawson Middle to the southeast corner of Infinite Loop.

 

Guy in class: My mouse isn't working. I'll pay you $5 to fix it.

Me: *unplugs mouse* *plugs it back* *works*

Guy in class: YOU MAGICK  BRUH

 

Still waiting for that $5.  

 

In other news, if somebody whom you rarely speak with asks you to fix their ocmputer but you suspect they might not listen to you, talk to them with a British accent from the outset. It works.

 

Also, the techs at my current school haven't bothered to change the firewall/router administrative logins. Well we had fun setting up our own, custom local DNS server to redirect everybody to a WaybackMachine backup of 2001's Google. Until one of the techs had the sense to restart the router. I have no idea how these people get fired.

[WkdPaul]

20 minutes ago, TheMcSame said:

Because "motor" is short for "motor vehicle", and it's certainly not a common thing in my experience.

Exactly, the expressions have to be put into context, that's why I said "engine" and not "motor"

[Tieox]

I fix local computers, helps pay bills, and supply the beer fridge. 

 

Got a call one day from a buddy, his daughters PC is refusing to turn on, and could I come over? so I get on the scooter (yes i'm a Scooter rider) and head over, she is stressing as her A level work is on and again she has not backed it up.   

 

I go behind the PC and turn on the outlet from the wall..... yup.

 

 

[DirtyDane]

On 2/13/2016 at 0:22 AM, wkdpaul said:

MB & GB is decimal (base 10)

MiB & GiB is binary (base 2)

 

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

i know that but what is the discussion on exactly

[DirtyDane]

On 2/13/2016 at 2:17 AM, Ryan_Vickers said:

True.  It doesn't help though that Windows uses 1024 but uses the MB, GB, etc labels.  In fact, I think that might be the cause of all the confusion people have had (and continue to have) over the years.

OOOOOHHHHHHHHH now i get this whole conversation thats what i was trying to figure out what exactly were we talking about. lol intresting but i think i will go on ahead and stick with the incorrect standard so that i dont have to correct someone when they challange me

[DirtyDane]

14 minutes ago, Kierax said:

I fix local computers, helps pay bills, and supply the beer fridge. 

 

Got a call one day from a buddy, his daughters PC is refusing to turn on, and could I come over? so I get on the scooter (yes i'm a Scooter rider) and head over, she is stressing as her A level work is on and again she has not backed it up.   

 

I go behind the PC and turn on the outlet from the wall..... yup.

 

 

as stupid as it sounds you have to admit how many people think of the wall first (AND dont say you always do just for self confidence be honest here we all have done it once. i mean seriously how often especially with our own stuff do we think of something that simple first. its always worst case scenario then as we get more and more frustrated it goes down to the simpler problems.)

[WkdPaul]

Just saw Luke's video about PSU, totally forgot that people think higher watt PSU = higher power consumption!

 

I can understand how someone would get confused by that since the electric appliances and accessories we use are rated at their "working" watts (ie; an incandescent 100w bulb will always draw roughly 100w, etc...) ... still, misunderstanding power efficiency ???

[vanished]

2 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

Just saw Luke's video about PSU, totally forgot that people think higher watt PSU = higher power consumption!

 

I can understand how someone would get confused by that since the electric appliances and accessories we use are rated at their "working" watts (ie; an incandescent 100w bulb will always draw roughly 100w, etc...) ... still, misunderstanding power efficiency ???

It may not be just that - he talked about power curves, and the idea (even I thought this would be apparent in the results and was surprised) is that if you're drawing, say, 400W, you're probably at or near the ideal spot for a 700W PSU, but you'll be way off the bottom of the curve on a 1500W.  What helped the big boys pull through was that even their low efficiency areas (draws far from the ideal point) were better than the lower wattage PSU's peak efficiency

[WkdPaul]

27 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

It may not be just that - he talked about power curves, and the idea (even I thought this would be apparent in the results and was surprised) is that if you're drawing, say, 400W, you're probably at or near the ideal spot for a 700W PSU, but you'll be way off the bottom of the curve on a 1500W.  What helped the big boys pull through was that even their low efficiency areas (draws far from the ideal point) were better than the lower wattage PSU's peak efficiency

Yeah I know, personally I was not surprised to see the high efficient PSU "win" this one.

 

But I swear I've had people tell me that PSU with higher wattage WILL use more power, and when asked why they simply stated that a 750w PSU will use 100w more than a 650w one ... they take the PSU power rating as the face value for the actual power usage, that's what I meant! 

[vanished]

13 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

But I swear I've had people tell me that PSU with higher wattage WILL use more power, and when asked why they simply stated that a 750w PSU will use 100w more than a 650w one ... they take the PSU power rating as the face value for the actual power usage, that's what I meant! 

Yeah I'm sure there is no shortage of people like that.  And, honestly, that I could forgive them for; like you said, most electronics (in fact I can't even think of one example of something that doesn't do this) state what they draw, not what they can provide, so unless you're in to computers, you probably wouldn't know that or stop to think about if it makes sense.

[Str_Mape]

Guy on phone: "I want to return the IP camera I bough from you guys yesterday"
Me: "Okay, what's the problem with it?"
Guy on phone: "I can't use remote access with it"
Me: "Okay, have you gone through all the setup?"
Guy on phone: "Yes but it keeps giving a no internet error"
Me: "Do you have your laptop connected to the internet?"
Guy on phone: "No, I don't have any internet at my house"
 

[instagraml]

My dad deleted system 32 on my computer trying to set up parental controls...

[daniellearmouth]

15 minutes ago, instagraml said:

My dad deleted system 32 on my computer trying to set up parental controls...

......If you're being serious...

[mpsparrow]

I have had too many bad experiences with old people and tech.

[kelvindeschutter]

9 hours ago, instagraml said:

My dad deleted system 32 on my computer trying to set up parental controls...

dang had a friend with parental controls it was annoying but luckily my parents never did do that and now if they want to do that its bye bye internet for them

[vanished]

9 hours ago, Str_Mape said:

Guy on phone: "I want to return the IP camera I bough from you guys yesterday"
Me: "Okay, what's the problem with it?"
Guy on phone: "I can't use remote access with it"
Me: "Okay, have you gone through all the setup?"
Guy on phone: "Yes but it keeps giving a no internet error"
Me: "Do you have your laptop connected to the internet?"
Guy on phone: "No, I don't have any internet at my house"
 

What is it with people being totally mystified that a computer that's not plugged in won't turn on, or that has no internet connection can't connect to the internet?  Somehow people manage to intuitively understand that they must fill their car with gas in order to drive it, but yet when it comes to tech this insane level of stupidity is just "normal"... 

[Alucard86ers]

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

What is it with people being totally mystified that a computer that's not plugged in won't turn on, or that has no internet connection can't connect to the internet?  Somehow people manage to intuitively understand that they must fill their car with gas in order to drive it, but yet when it comes to tech this insane level of stupidity is just "normal"... 

some of the most highly educated people are some of the most technological inept. I don't know how many times I have to quote IT Crowd's "have you tried turning it off and on again"
One of the most common things I have to repeat is "please don't save all your work on your desktop" they are always surprised how much better a PC works when there is not 20GB sitting on the desktop. 

[RustyZombie]

Some of the people at my work that aren't tech illiterate were talking about SSD's, and one person in particular decided it was just the thing to speed up his aging computer.  He had heard I built my own computer, so he wanted me to install the SSD for him.  I try to avoid getting roped into being people's tech support, but he offered me beer.   I installed the SSD, as well as cleaning out a huge amount of malware beforehand.  He was rather pleased with the speed increase, but then decided he wanted a second SSD to replace the HDD.  Despite my insistence otherwise, he thinks replacing the HDD will cause the same speed increase across the board.  The second SSD he got was of the same brand, but with a larger capacity.  He has become convinced that the retailer and manufacturer are trying to scam him because the second SSD is essentially the exact same physical size as the first.  He doesn't understand how it can hold more in the same amount of physical space.  I tried to point out the different capacities of USB flash drives despite being the same size, but he doesn't seem to be able to make the connect.

 

One a side note, this is a guy that shot his own finger off when he tried to prove sticking your finger in the end of a gun will stop the bullet.