[…] Of course you may lose your configuration settings and saved games. This is especially true for some games that keep their data in the Application Data folder (as they should). But if you have your user profile backed up (as you should), restoring this stuff should not be an issue. […]

Comments seem to have gone off into “helping the clueless” but I wanted to comment on save files, so nyah! :P

I agree completely that Application Data needs to be used more often – its right there as a designated folder for putting in all the settings, saves, configuration and everything like that, but a whole lot of the time the program just puts everything in Program Files\[some program]

It’s annoying not just on the basis of it causing problems if there are multiple users, but also that I have the whole Documents and Settings folder on a separate partition to try and keep everything that’s likely to change in one place and avoid too much fragmentation, as well as allowing me to shrink down the C:\ partition where everything else is, putting their stuff in Program Files messes that idea right up..

I believe I already put a comment on the “Mac vs PC installation methods” post about how all software should exist inside a self contained folder, with all its data, application files and such in subdirectories (with a nice shiny executable at the top level). Well now I’m thinking put a neat self contained folder in Program Files, with everything the application needs to run, then put a settings folder in Application Data for everything a user might want to change, preferably in human-readable plaintext configuration files. Oh, and have a file in the Program Files section that tells it where to put the settings folder, so I can transfer it all to a portable drive without having to recreate the folder structure or anything ugly and hackish like that.

[quote comment=”5905″]In stupid user defense … we expect a basic knowlage of computers when we talk to someone… [/quote]

I agree completely, but when I say “Read exactly what it says on the screen”, that’s a simple instruction that any English-fluent person who has used a computer should be able to perform, especially when the instruction is repeated.

Likewise, when I say “Okay, every time I say ‘click’, I mean ‘left-click’, I will tell you if we need to do otherwise”, it doesn’t mean that you should continue to ask me ‘left- or right-click’ every time I mention the word. Interestingly, for some customers I would change to the more cumbersome ‘left-click’ instead of ‘click’, and they would still ask left or right.

But I have to agree with Luke. If you’re using your computer for personal use, fine, be a naive. But if you’re being paid for your work and it involves a computer, you should know how to use your tool. A carpenter knows how to use a hammer, an electrician knows how to use cable-strippers, and a plumber knows how to complain when people don’t flush. Not knowing how to use the tools that you’re gainfully employed to use is not acceptable. Common, but not acceptable.

Well, the difference is that your job does not depend on proper application of technical football knowledge. I don’t usually expect my relatives who use the computer mainly for myspace youtube, and spamming family with chain letters to really know much.

But if Word, Excel and Outlook are your primary work tools and you spend most of your work day using these applications then you should at least have a basic idea on how to use them, and a basic idea about how the Windows windowing and file system.

Similarly, I would expect a cook to be able to diagnose the problem and re-light a pilot in the oven. Or a carpenter to take apart and properly clean their power-tool when it gets jammed. Or a professional driver to be able to jump start his car, or change his tire all on his own.

If a computer is your primary work tool, you should at least be expected to have basic working knowledge of how it works.

In stupid user defense … we expect a basic knowlage of computers when we talk to someone… we also usually expect a little bit more because of the amount of shit we know…. but lets switch the rolls

Football Coach: “Travis, go in as the tight end”

Travis: “Which one is the tight end?”

This isn’t a real scenario… but if I was told something that had to do with football i would probably be lost, yeah i play it alot out with my brother or my friends… so by appearance i would know about football… I throw the ball really well, i can catch, etc. However when asked to do a certain task IN football i would have a problem same thing with these users:

They can use their computer all day long and have a basic understanding because they don’t actually know WHAT they are doing, it just always works for them so they never question it. However, sometimes they stray from the beaten path or we ask them to do a task and they will get lost…

Thats all.

LOL!

Reading error messages seems to be difficult to the users.

heh…

Once I had a user call me with an error message after a task which she said was ‘It says the file is corrupt’.

Knowing that after the task she did, it wouldn’t have given that error message (the task didn’t involve files), so I got her to read it out to me. ‘The file you are trying to use is corrupt’, she “read”.

Feigning surprise at this unusual error message, I then asked her to spell it out for me, so I could ‘get it letter-perfect and look it up’. Sure enough, when forced to spell it out, I got the correct error message, which had nothing to do with corrupt files.

Another customer complained that her free third-party software couldn’t read our exported studies because our exports were corrupt. After struggling for two hours to replicate her fault (“It says the study is corrupt”), I despatched a service tech because she was both a contract customer and also threatening to sue us over this. Sure enough, he gets there, runs her third-party software, and before it’s possible to even load a study, the following error message popped up: “This is not a Win32 application.” It was Mac software…

*sigh*

Hehe! I have a better one. When I used to work at a small medical center, one of the nurses called me:

Nurse: Luke, hlease help me! I think I broke the computer.
Me: Ok, what happened?
Nurse: Well, I was typing and all of a sudden my screen dissapeared.
Me: What do you mean?
Nurse: It’s gone. I can’t type or anything.
Me: What do you see on the screen?
Nurse: Well… Nothing. It’s like all blue.

So at this point I think it’s BSOD. I tell her to reboot, but she doesn’t know how to do that, so I walk over there, look at the screen, and I see…

Windows desktop. The medical records application (an ugly, full screen text app originally designed to run on ancient on the dumb terminals) at the time sits in the task-bar minimized.

So I maximize it, and go back to work.

LOL!!

This reminds me of the time I used to train people on the use of an academic management software. Some didn’t have a clue about how to use Windows and I still needed to teach them the concepts and the usage of the software.

It went like this:
Me: Maximize the screen so that you can see all the window.
User: How can I do that?
Me: Just click that small icon on the top right-hand side next to the X symbol.
User: Now everything is gone? What should I do?
Me: You must have minimized the window. Look for the application name on the bottom part of the screen.
User: Found it, now what?
Me: Click on it.
User: Right or left click?

At that point I had to give up explaining that over the phone…

LOL! No worries, I totally understand. I get the same exact thing at my work.

At my work, getting a user to change their SMTP settings in Outlook over the phone is at least a 2 hour conversation that goes something like this:

Me: Go to Tools and choose Email Accounts
User: Ok
Me: Now click View or Change, and click Next
User: I don’t have that
Me: Ok, what do you see on the screen
User: Nothing… Stuff.. Not what you said…
Me: Can you read of what it says?
User: I don’t know… Like Mail Format… Something
Me: Ok, I think you went to options. Click cancel
User: Ok
Me: Now go to Tools….
Use: Ok
Me: Email accounts…
User: I don’t have that…
Me: Ok, do you see like little arrowheads pointing down
User: No
Me: Ok, never mind, just wait a sec and the menu should expand
User: Oh, it did. Where do I go?
Me: Email Accounts
User: Ok
Me: Now, view or change…
User: I don’t have that.
Me: What do you see?
User: Like General, Mail Format… Sigh… I hate this computer.
Me: Ok, you went to options again… Click cancel
User: This computer… I just can’t work like that. It doesn’t work.
Me: We’re almost there. Just click on Tools..
User: No, this is ridiculous. I just want to get my email, and you make me do all these things. I can’t deal with that. I’m gonna bring it in.

These days I just use VNC if I need to remotely change some settings on a users computer.