Comment On Mini Support Stories and Shake It, Baby

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

second? No one cares. Really.

A friend of mine once told someone their network was down because all the 1's got stuck in the cable. He got them to unhook all the wires and straighten all the kinks out. Meanwhile he reset the router. When they turned their computer back it everything worked fine.

In Germany "KiGa" is the abbreviation of kindergarten, well ... I think they have some who bite there. :)

Thank god I'm not the only one who thinks WinPig is a kick-ass name for an application.

Addison:

A friend of mine once told someone their network was down because all the 1's got stuck in the cable. He got them to unhook all the wires and straighten all the kinks out. Meanwhile he reset the router. When they turned their computer back it everything worked fine.

That's an old joke. Scott Adams (author of Dilbert) claims to have done the same thing. Shaking the computer to reboot reminds me of when Dilbert and Wally gave the Pointy-Haired Boss an Etch-A-Sketch instead of a laptop.

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

"maybe he's one of <i>those types</i> – you know what I mean."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

WinPig is fine, just whatever you do don't use WinBearPig.

Eventually, out of pure desperation, I said "Make it blue,"

The window opens with the text already selected. But maybe it didn't on earlier versions... so, why keep harping on having him select it? You can delete text almost as easily with repititions on the delete or backspace key.

Back in the days of apps distributed on floppy disk (about 1997) I was supporting a diary/appointment/patient notes app specialised for Physiotherapists. I got a call from an elderly Scotish lady who was trying to install the software. She informed me that she had an error message on the screen and when I asked what it said she replied "Insert Disk 2". I explained that she had to find the disk labled "Disk 2 of 4" and then put that one in the disk drive. To which she replied "Do I have to take Disk 1 out first?". She really was a nice lady so I resisted the urge to tell her she could try leaving it in there to see what happened!

Did Jan tell Kelly to put some "hip" into it while shaking the laptop?

ah yes, the eternal challenge of deciphering "user-ese". And putting technical stuff into terms they can understand. And trying to get them to perform actions that are second nature to most techs, but not most users.
My wife is a talented physical therapist that can go into great detail about bones, muscles, and treatments but could not tell you the difference between a log off and a reboot.

I'm guessing most people who read this site know about these anyway, but, if you like tech support stupidities I recommend
http://rinkworks.com/stupid/
and http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

WinPig is already a product, for swine herd management. See this link. It's also the naame of a program "for communication with the Studsvik Neutron Monitor 2222A DigiPig via RS-232" (according to this .doc user manual). Lastly, http://www.winpig.com is apparently a pay-to-surf domain (and therefore blocked by the overzealous "security" goons at my orkplace).

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Look up Muphry's Law on wikipedia, it's quite real.

Ben4jammin:

ah yes, the eternal challenge of deciphering "user-ese". And putting technical stuff into terms they can understand. And trying to get them to perform actions that are second nature to most techs, but not most users.
My wife is a talented physical therapist that can go into great detail about bones, muscles, and treatments but could not tell you the difference between a log off and a reboot.

Yes, the good times trying to explain to a user that turning on their monitor is, in fact, actually different than turning on their computer.

Or trying to explain that a reboot doesn't mean hitting the power button on your monitor.

Or trying to explain to someone that when their monitor says "No Signal" it usually doesn't mean that it's broken, just that it's either unplugged or the computer is off. In one specific case I spent about an hour on the phone with a lady getting her to resolve this problem by actually hitting the power button on the server rather than the toggle button on the LCD on the front of the server (yes I'm aware that having non-technical people turning servers on and off is far from ideal, but there's really no other solution sometimes)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muprhy's_Law

jezmck:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muprhy's_Law

Oh the irony.

Andrew:

WinPig is fine, just whatever you do don't use WinBearPig.

Half Windows ... half Bear ... and half Pig.

In "Shake It, Baby" TRWTF is that the IT guy didn't just fix the damn mail system.

Even if he couldn't (no budget, whatever), IT people are hired specifically to support the needs of the staff. If all the staff were computer savvy, then the geek wouldn't have a job and mark my words, if he'd done that to a member of my team (who was obviously only trying to do the right thing by calling), he would lose said job on the spot.

Marty McFly : What's the hell's a kiggabit?

Sean:

Ben4jammin:

ah yes, the eternal challenge of deciphering "user-ese". And putting technical stuff into terms they can understand. And trying to get them to perform actions that are second nature to most techs, but not most users.
My wife is a talented physical therapist that can go into great detail about bones, muscles, and treatments but could not tell you the difference between a log off and a reboot.

Yes, the good times trying to explain to a user that turning on their monitor is, in fact, actually different than turning on their computer.

Or trying to explain that a reboot doesn't mean hitting the power button on your monitor.

Or trying to explain to someone that when their monitor says "No Signal" it usually doesn't mean that it's broken, just that it's either unplugged or the computer is off. In one specific case I spent about an hour on the phone with a lady getting her to resolve this problem by actually hitting the power button on the server rather than the toggle button on the LCD on the front of the server (yes I'm aware that having non-technical people turning servers on and off is far from ideal, but there's really no other solution sometimes)

One of the most impressive feats I have seen recently is when our infrastructure manager got a non-techie in a remote location (6 hours away) to completely configure a linksys router from scratch. Unfortunately, she had been told to do a "reboot" that turned out to be factory reset. He got her connected to it, and got the configuration set to re-establish their access...all over the phone. I would have bet my own money against this working.

When transferring support calls from one rep to another, it can be easy to distinguish the sophistication of the user by telling the other rep that they are dealing with a code "ID10t" (pronounced: "eye dee ten tea"). In which case, the user could get the old: TBSS STandBY (Too Bad So Sad Sucks To Be You).

Back in the "good ol' days" I recall offering to develop an application to balance out the data on a floppy because it wasn't reading correctly ("too much data on one half of the disk")

And there was that time I almost got that sales rep to return the "home mouse" he had purchased. I told him that it wasn't built for the all-day abuse that the "work mouse" is built for.

DaveAronson:

WinPig is already a product, for swine herd management. See this link.

Interesting company name. Why not go the whole hog (pun intended) and call yourself awkwardsoft or crapsoft?

Zagyg:

DaveAronson:

WinPig is already a product, for swine herd management. See this link.

Interesting company name. Why not go the whole hog (pun intended) and call yourself awkwardsoft or crapsoft?

What's wrong with Agrosoft? It's a perfectly good name for a company that makes software for the agriculture business.

GroundZero:

In "Shake It, Baby" TRWTF is that the IT guy didn't just fix the damn mail system.

Even if he couldn't (no budget, whatever), IT people are hired specifically to support the needs of the staff. If all the staff were computer savvy, then the geek wouldn't have a job and mark my words, if he'd done that to a member of my team (who was obviously only trying to do the right thing by calling), he would lose said job on the spot.

Right, but if you are calling about the same issue 47 times a day, I mean come on. Is there any realistic chance that budget money came through since you last called an hour ago? I admit that giving a solution that could result in damaged equipment should result in a reprimand, but firing them on the spot seems a tad much.

Bappi:

Zagyg:

DaveAronson:

WinPig is already a product, for swine herd management. See this link.

Interesting company name. Why not go the whole hog (pun intended) and call yourself awkwardsoft or crapsoft?

What's wrong with Agrosoft? It's a perfectly good name for a company that makes software for the agriculture business.

Indeed, but a much more common interpretation for agro than agriculture is aggravation (at least in the UK, where the website trades)

Code Dependent:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

Neat!!!11! Keep this up, it might draw out a fractal.

The real WTF in "Double-click..." is not the user who interpreted the sentence correctly, is that Microsoft named that object "My Computer", probably while trying to think of the best way to make tech's lives more frustrating. I think Apple named (and still does?) the comptuer "Macintosh HD"... when I've done support on those, there's far less ambiguity.

GroundZero:

In "Shake It, Baby" TRWTF is that the IT guy didn't just fix the damn mail system.

Even if he couldn't (no budget, whatever), IT people are hired specifically to support the needs of the staff. If all the staff were computer savvy, then the geek wouldn't have a job and mark my words, if he'd done that to a member of my team (who was obviously only trying to do the right thing by calling), he would lose said job on the spot.

Sounds like you shook it too hard and the bits fell out of the drive after the head crashed and you knocked them loose. We all start somewhere, right?

Shaking the computer to reboot reminds me of when Dilbert and Wally gave the Pointy-Haired Boss an Etch-A-Sketch instead of a laptop.

That's the best Dilbert strip ever!

"Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know."

Nice Vanilla Ice reference.

Code Dependent:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

And learn to spell 'criticise'.

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

There's a thin line between a clever troll and a stupid pedant. Therefore, trolls, even clever ones, are dumber than pedants.

Code Dependent:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

Murphy's Law being fairly common, Muphry's law being uncommon, and transposition of characters whose QWERTY keys are on different sides of the keyboard being one of the most common typos around, I think you're being a little hard on the guy.

The byte shaking reminded me of a time when someone at the helpdesk I was working was trying to get remote users to re-plug network cables into a VPN appliance or modem.

He eventually told them that the packets get clogged up in one end of the network cable. The fix for this was to disconnect the cable, hold one end of the cable and start to spin it around to get those packets unclogged. We'd hear the *whoosh* *whoosh* *whoosh* of the cable on the other end of the phone and tell them to plug the cable back up. Problem solved.

Steve H:

And learn to spell 'criticise'.

You're a footnote.

crit⋅i⋅cize
   /ˈkrɪtəˌsaɪz/ [krit-uh-sahyz] Show IPA Pronunciation
verb, -cized, -ciz⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to censure or find fault with.
2. to judge or discuss the merits and faults of: to criticize three novels in one review.
–verb (used without object)
3. to find fault; judge unfavorably or harshly.
4. to make judgments as to merits and faults.
Also, especially British, crit⋅i⋅cise.

captcha: iusto:

Murphy's Law being fairly common, Muphry's law being uncommon, and transposition of characters whose QWERTY keys are on different sides of the keyboard being one of the most common typos around, I think you're being a little hard on the guy.

The first time I saw Muphry's Law show up in here I was about to gleefully pounce all over it. Then I thought, "Let me just check to be sure first..." and googled it. If I can think of that, others can, too.

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

What is the correct usage of quotations and punctuation?

Code Dependent:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

Whoda thunk it?

My apologies to both Murphy and Muphry.

captcha: iusto:

Code Dependent:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

Nope. But maybe learn to research stuff you're about to criticize.

Murphy's Law being fairly common, Muphry's law being uncommon, and transposition of characters whose QWERTY keys are on different sides of the keyboard being one of the most common typos around, I think you're being a little hard on the guy.

Nah. The criticism is deserved (even if it was something of a gotcha). If I'm wrong, I'll take my lumps. Ten lashes with a wet Google.

Vempele:

Peter Pedant:

ThomsonsPier:

Henceforth, winipcfg shall be known as winpig whenever I use it. Which is never.

Please learn the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'. *rereads for instance of Muphry's Law*

And learn to spell "Murphy"?

There's a thin line between a clever troll and a stupid pedant. Therefore, trolls, even clever ones, are dumber than pedants.

C'mon, t'was a joke.

Double-Click on My Computer
I was on a call with a lady who was having Internet connectivity issues. I listened to her describe what was happening and was just starting to guide her through a few things to try to find the problem. I asked her to double-click on My Computer to which she replied, "How can I double-click on your computer?" I had to hit mute and collect myself because I didn't see that one coming.

It's probably just me but something about the whole "My Computer" thing has always struck me as a bit, oh, I dunno, maybe childish, like a petulant six-year-old saying "Mine!" when a playmate asks to share a toy.

It isn't necessarily even your computer -- the computer could belong to your company or be a shared computer.

As I said, it's probably just me. Let the abuse begin.

Did anyone else think of System Shock 2's GamePig when they read WinPig?



Nobody mentioned the slight reference to Ice Ice Baby yet, either.

Uber:

valetudo:

"Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know."

Nice Vanilla Ice reference.

Did anyone else think of System Shock 2's GamePig when they read WinPig?



Nobody mentioned the slight reference to Ice Ice Baby yet, either.

You lose. Please Leave

Captcha: Esse - Please leave now, Esse

Steve:

It's probably just me but something about the whole "My Computer" thing has always struck me as a bit, oh, I dunno, maybe childish, like a petulant six-year-old saying "Mine!" when a playmate asks to share a toy.

It isn't necessarily even your computer -- the computer could belong to your company or be a shared computer.

As I said, it's probably just me. Let the abuse begin.

No, definitely not just you. I fully agree, and it has always annoyed me... along with My Documents, My Music (ha, the RIAA must hate that too), My Videos etc etc. I think Windows 2008 Server does away with some of that nonsense, and hopefully 7 will continue this trend. I know they are moving away from the "documents and settings" folder to the "users" or "user" folder. Far be it from me to say something good about microsoft, but I kinda like where this is going...

Uber:

Did anyone else think of System Shock 2's GamePig when they read WinPig?



Nobody mentioned the slight reference to Ice Ice Baby yet, either.

The best part about playing the GamePig? The rest of the game doesn't actually freakin' pause. You can look up from the GamePig and be staring a zombie right in the face.

"They see youuuuu. Ruuuun...ruuuuuun!!!!"

GroundZero:

In "Shake It, Baby" TRWTF is that the IT guy didn't just fix the damn mail system.

Even if he couldn't (no budget, whatever), IT people are hired specifically to support the needs of the staff. If all the staff were computer savvy, then the geek wouldn't have a job and mark my words, if he'd done that to a member of my team (who was obviously only trying to do the right thing by calling), he would lose said job on the spot.

How is the IT guy supposed to upgrade the mail system with no budget? And what would you do to your team member for calling IT 4 times a day for the same problem? You think the IT guys don't want to fix things or something?

Andrew:

WinPig is fine, just whatever you do don't use WinBearPig.

NOOOO! We must stop WinBearPig! Send the nukes!