'Please store the internet on this floppy disk'

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

"screenshot in a word document"

Older version of MS Paint would default to saving in bitmap format - for a large monitor and 24/32 bit graphics, that would be a large file to attach to an email. Saving in word would compress it so you'd have a much smaller email. It's a poor solution, but for a non-savvy person, it can be quicker & easier.

Nowadays, paint seems to default to PNG format which is much better, so there shouldn't be any need to revert to Word.

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

"That REALLY grinds my gears - people who put images in a Word document. FFS!"

Whilst working for a large UK electronics retailer, I was amazed to receive - in the same day - an Excel document containing about a dozen paragraphs of text that were to be used on a website (just pasted one per cell, no wrapping or cell resizing even) and then a Powerpoint file with some data and graphs in.

I was waiting for the trifecta - a Word document containing images that were to be viewed as a slideshow, one per page. Tragically it never happened.

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

"Said screenshot is in a word document."

Count yourself lucky, if it had been management, they would have figured out how to post the screenshots in an Excel spreadsheet, one that was formatted so as to make it impossible to print out in one piece..

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

I get that all the time - prtscr + paste into Word doc.

Most of the time I just select the image, ctrl+c, open irfanview, ctrl+v and Bob's world+dog's uncle. Zooming in to see the offending message then is easy.

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

GODS YES. Our front line support minons do this ALL THE TIME. Our helpdesk software will accept *any* file for attachment to the tickets, but nope- gotta paste a screen shot of the two-monitor wide image into a portrait oriented word document...

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

Is anybody reading ElReg not tired of explaining why, exactly, so-called "digital zoom" isn't all that useful?

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

"enhance button" It's Christmas! Let's enhance.

https://youtu.be/LhF_56SxrGk

If it wasn't for that pesky reflection, I woulda gotta away with it...

You forgot to zoomify

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

Or dealing with someone who wants help with e-mail, but forgot the hide the message that came in from a dating site... Thank goodness it wasn't from Grindr !

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

The best ones are where you get a screenshot but find pornhub lurking on the taksbar.

PrtScn can be quite unforgiving to the uninitiated.

I know someone who works for a furniture retailer and deals with damage to furniture. They're often sent pictures of coffee table/bookcase/TV stand/DVD storage units that have suffered some minor (and sometimes major) maladies. The number of times these pictures have turned up with 50 Shades of Grey in either print or video form in the picture is impressive. Some have had a few R18 films in the storage units which the owners either didn't care about other people seeing (unlikely) or had forgotten they were there.

Re: I'm not sure what's worse

Lotus Office (circa 95) used to ship with a screen recorder thing that was ace for reaching people how to use new software products or for demonstrating a problem to a thick developer of the "I don't make mistakes" school over email.

It was easy to use and very basic. Click record, do what you wanted. Click stop and save the result. Files could be played back just as simply.

In short it was thunderously useful.

When IBM bought Lotus it was the first thing they dropped support for.

Well CD Trays have a hole in the middle. Had a hole in the middle. Then they changed from one large hole to a small hole and a slot. This uses more plastic so must have had a reason . . .

Not apocryphal.

Happened all the time as the corporate world shifted from a few folks with proper training using a command line to nearly everybody, most with no training at all, using a GUI.

So-called "ease of use" is a myth that has set back computing at least two generations. TANSTAAFL.

I'm sure many users have been caught out when they started auto-closing.

At Rich 11, RE: the cd tray.

I was working as the PFY at a company that shall remain nameless to cover my ass. One day we got a call from our PHB saying his computer had stopped working & he needed a new one. Cue the troubleshooting steps, no fix, & a personal visit from me.

I get there to discover his desk is now suspiciously clear of everything but the monitor on its stand - no papers, no ledgers, no pens nor pencils, no keyboard nor mouse, *nothing* - and ask where he keeps the KB&M so I can work on his computer. Turns out he had been using the "coffee cup holder", the tray had closed, & spilled his coffee all over his desk, the KB&M, down the back of the desk & wall, & all over his computer's tower.

I got him a new computer, used a "tower caddy" on wheels to keep it up off his floor, and shared the story with my BOFH Master.

He doubted my story right up until the point where we opened the old tower & smelled the PHB's infamous favorite sugary cinnomon frappy crappy drink.

My BOFH Master treated me to a pint as a gesture of appollogy & to welcome me to the next rung on the ladder to my eventual BOFH-ness.

*Happy sigh*

Ahhh the memories!

This apocryphal story has been doing the rounds since long before The IT Crowd, just like the CD tray/coffee cup holder one. Having met users, I don't doubt it was inspired by real incidents.

Had an incident at a media business where I found myself explaining how to use a piece of equipment. The person concerned was quite senior and had asked me to explain why her CD wasn't playing. She was in a media transfer suite and was insistent that the machine was faulty and her disc was fine. It was a CDR machine in the days when such things were very very expensive and normally the preserve of studios etc. I pressed open on the machine and out came the 'tray' with her disc on. This was a machine where the tray had a platter that held the disc firmly and then the platter was rotated. This platter was a reassuringly weighty thing and designed to minimise any wobble. I said the problem was that the disc was upside down and it needed to be turned over. I was told that despite having been around when computers were the size of cars she wasn't senile. She had a cd player at home you see and knew the label side needed to be up. I ventured that this machine was different and vastly more expensive but she wasn't having any of that. So I said that I'd bet her an extra week of holiday that if I put the disc in "upside down" it would play.

Now I knew she really wasn't senile because she said I'm not falling for that. Turned it upside down and low and behold it played perfectly. I always wondered if she'd ever used the "cup holder".

It did happen to me: a kid, quite young I must say, thought the can holder in a car was the tray of a CD player.

Re: Brings back bad memories

I'd have prepared a nice printout for the user , with big friendly letters on the cover saying "Dont Panic!".

and then let them work it out for themselves.

Seriously though , I've done that before a few times ( minus the hgttg) For simpler tasks than a whole new email client though, like mapping a drive , or sharing your calandar , or adding a mailbox to outlook.

After I've explained something simple , or worse done it for them , about 100x it's too much.

A nice friendly word doc / web page / printout (preferably colour) with idiot proof instructions , screenshots and big red arrows is in order.

tip - its 100x easier to follow if you put text relating to a picture by the side of it (and shrink the pic to achieve that) . Most guide writers tend to put screenshots that are far too big and too frequent with a line of explanation above or below , and you immediately lose track of wether the text refers to the pic above or below, as well as where you're up to becasue the screen sized scrrenshots push the prev and next step off the screen.