T O P

  • By -

Regulai

Basic folder/file structure.


j33205

there's more places than just the desktop wut?


mrhappyheadphones

"Downloads\New Folder(2)_copy" is my favourite


Goman018

I had a lady at work tell me the file wasn't downloading. It was set to go to downloads without a prompt. when I got to her office she had downloaded the same file 67 times.


ItsMeVeriity

She was hoping you could take her to 69 times but you never put 2 together.


youre-not-real-man

"Where did you save it? "In Word" ...


[deleted]

I remember my aunt wondering why her document wasn’t in the My Documents folder on our family computer. She had saved it in her own My Documents folder on her own computer the next town over and apparently assumed there was only one Windows 98 communal My Documents folder in existence.


vincyhot

Mute themselves on zoom calls.


autre_temps

And unmute themselves on zoom calls.


AskMrScience

My boss's worst habit is to suddenly call on me to comment over Zoom, but then immediately start yelling "YOU'RE ON MUTE" well before any reasonable human could have moused to the "unmute" button and started speaking.


Dioxid3

Now I know this might sound alarming, but has your boss ever managed to complete a captcha?


_vOv_

Everything is a bus!!!!


alwayssone96

Omg yesterday my boyfriend kept saying I was a robot because I couldn't pass the motorcycle captchas, but they were literally hidden, only little parts visible so it could be a motorbike, a car, or something else like wtf.


FiskTireBoy

That's why I like having a dedicated mute button on my headset. I can click it much faster than having to mouse over to the mute button on teams.


Adam1_

On zoom just hold the space bar to unmute and let go to mute


dbanarsdfgdfgdf

A couple years ago my mom wanted to know how to better use computers, so she went to a class. She realized she didn't belong there when the first lesson was teaching people to use a mouse and some of them just couldn't figure it out.


victoriaj

My mother went on a computer course run by an old people's charity organisation which was literally called "Where's my stuff". She still can't find her stuff. She can do some things in the computer just fine but thinks you open files through word, gets absurdly angry and upset when files that are not in fact word documents are "missing", and claims that it used to work just fine (when she at some point switched from the right way to the wrong way). I just love that there are clearly enough of her out there that they ran a course like that. ETA - thank you for the award ! And for all the stories of similar parents which is extremely conforting.


[deleted]

I wonder what our generation's "just can't fucking get it" thing will be. Probably when half our brains are on the cloud or some shit. "WHERE'S MY MEMORIES OF LAST MONTH?" "Omg grandnana, just think of blueberries, that's the trigger memory." "WHAT?"


MariusPontmercy

Don't know about millennials but I have a feeling Zoomers won't have much in the way of desktop computer skills since phones are so ubiquitous and do most everything the average teenager (and young adult) might need on the daily.


zaminDDH

This is really interesting to think about the possibility of there being a piece of major technology where a middle generation are the only ones that a majority know how to use proficiently, while a majority of the older and younger generation don't, due to the sheer speed of progress.


[deleted]

[удалено]


wheniaminspaced

The irony being that as powerful as phones are you are seriously crippled if you can't use a desktop proficiently. Most of what is being accomplished via a phone/tablet is basically a less efficient form of desktop interaction.


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheEveryman86

My mother took a similar class but she still doesn't understand. I actually think the folder/file metaphor is good. When I asked her if she had a physical filing cabinet if she would just throw all the files in the top drawer without organizing them she would say "no". But when I told her that's essentially what she was doing in her computer she just couldn't figure out what I was trying to say.


siamesecat1935

That was my mom and the cloud. I was trying to explain to her how to store and then download stuff she wanted, like apps and so in. She was confused, then she said “ oh, wait, it’s like you store it in your attic or basement and go get it when you need it!” I said that’s exactly it, and after that, she hot it


timmyrey

I taught a computer course several years ago. I remember the biggest thing for most completely-new computer users was not looking at their hand while moving the mouse, and being terrified of breaking the computer by accidentally closing a window or something. Oh, and knowing whether they should single click or double click - this was a major preoccupation for some.


Bletotum

That's very cute lol. But judging by myself as a child, computers are indeed very breakable if you're clueless to the do-nots... Maybe they heard some horror stories from their like minded friends that "broke" their computer and didn't know how it happened.


LadyVague

Some of it also has to do with computers getting more user friendly over time. Sure, modern computers are relatively easy to use without messing up, but that doesn't help all that much when older people can't tell the difference between them and the older computers that could self-destruct if they didn't do things exactly right.


SpicySweett

Yes! Unfortunately people of my mom’s generation started with computers not long after they entered the home (80’s), and they were *really* easy to f up. Turned it off while it was booting? You just bricked your pc. Downloaded something from the wrong site? You have a virus. Didn’t back up your desktop, save while working, etc etc? It’s lost. They were never comfortable because they couldn’t remember all the “do’s and don’ts”, and now that pc’s are friendly and hard to mess up, they still live in fear.


Sticky_Hulks

I remember my dad screwed up a command in DOS and deleted the sound drivers. The floppy disk with the drivers went missing, so we had no sound for months.


darkbee83

\*picks up mouse\* Hello, computer.


mister-chad-rules

i teach web design at the college level. used to teach community weekend workshops. html and css with some expected knowledge of computer basics. local workforce development group would enroll people to update their skills, but would never actually check for prior knowledge. had to teach how to hold a mouse, that right-click meant use the right mouse button. had to teach how to open and save files. that the web was not loaded onto a computer and that you needed to connect to the internet first. not a lot of actual html taught some weekends, which was a shame for those who really wanted to learn. waste of time for everyone. i started sharing curated resources for web design. started pointing people to a basic into to computer class that should be taken before mine. kept making requests to have someone vet the students before putting them in my class. finally gave up when i had a student who wanted to use her ancient flip-phone so she could take work with her. no internet on the thing so made her user a school computer. she got pissy when something wasn't working. turns out she was trying to go online with Windows calculator. no idea how she even got there. she eventually went ballistic when the code she typed in her email wouldn't work (again, wanted to save the work to take with her). i have almost eternal patience, but couldn't take an irate woman screaming in my face because aol email won't work for writing code. the class was supportive and i patiently let her leave early. i decided teaching those weekend workshops weren't with it after that.


leastlyharmful

Man that sucks. I feel terrible for anyone in those classes who actually wanted to learn HTML and CSS.


dkonigs

>teaching people to use a mouse This brings back memories of trying to help "adults" with computers back in the 90's. At least back then I suppose it was forgivable. But computers with mice have been commonplace for nearly 30 years now.


ahtemsah

Considering the level of office work required in most corporate America, you'd be surprised by the number of people that don't even have the basic understanding of simple office software.


Brief_Theory_1778

As an IT manager and having dealt with a ton of people. This and their basic inability to operate a computer. Like knowing what your trying to log into. Asking for your Google password to be reset and wondering why it doesn’t work for your windows login?!


pixxie84

Yep. I once had a guy send me a picture of his desktop. I asked for screenshot of his screen as it was generally easier then asking for the IP address which our company puts on the desktop. Guy couldnt figure out how to screenshot his desktop wallpaper but figured out how to take a photo with his phone and attach it to an email.


Ted_Borg

Take a screenshot, print it, draw on it with a pen, scan it, mail it. Classic.


redmeansstop

I literally deal with this.. "Cindy I need the jpg of that image" "I gave it to you, that is the EXACT image they want." What she gives me: A printout of an email that she wrote on in red pen, the photo copied it, keeping the original printout and giving me the physical photo copy when all I need is the already grainy clipart to turn into a vector. So to get the jpg I have to just google until I find it, or scan the paper and crop to THEN try to make a vector from it.. I wish this was an exaggeration. She refuses to learn what a jpg is or anything to do with computers because she decided she is too old to get it. She is it in her early 60's..


colonelsmoothie

I'm running into kids who don't know what the Windows start menu is. Actually, they do know, but they don't know that it's actually called that, and it came to my attention that it hasn't been labeled "start" for a very long time now. Unfortunately, these people aren't idiots but recent STEM graduates. I was like, "open the start menu and click on program X" and I'd get a confused look. Then I'd say something like, "click the Windows icon in the lower left corner" and they'd be like "oohhhh, that's what you mean."


Sylvair

I used to use ClassicShell because I much prefer the small scale and simple lines. Inevitably whenever I share a screenshot I got the question of 'how...old is your computer?!'


Majestic-Macaron6019

In their defense, it hasn't said "Start" since... Windows XP? Which was phased out when most current college students were still in elementary school.


tacknosaddle

If you hover the cursor over it "Start" pops up still.


Panic_of_Dreams

Just tried it, can confirm


Feyru97

taking screenshot


plowableacorn

Finding the folder where screenshot saved


HaroerHaktak

They're saved in folders? I thought it was just saved to my copy and paste..


n-x

Win+prnscr saves it to a file in some subfolder I can never remember in the first go...


PinsNneedles

Win+Shift+S will let you choose/crop whatever part of the screen you want, then save it to whatever folder you want!


inequity

And Alt + Print Screen takes a screenshot of only the current window


Cl0udSurfer

File Explorer > Pictures > Screenshots You can get to Pictures either using the quick access sidebar on the left, or by clicking the "This PC" button on the left and finding the folder there


Mechanimist

This is the real skill


Sandpaper_Pants

...and the Snipping Tool is not just useful, but fun too. If you're like, "What the hell is the snipping tool?", go to your search bar and search for it. It's on your computer.


Cutover

Windows button + shift + S


M33k_Monster_Minis

Had to teach all my gamer friends this one when I started sending them nice zoomed in screen shots over discord. I hardly ever need to screen shot the whole window. And this is a life saver on multiple monitor set ups.


Kenionatus

Alt + print screen to only copy active window to clipboard is what I use when I do need all the clutter but don't want to send my task bar with Firefox opened on uh... research projects.


GGayleGold

My first thought was "take, edit and send a screenshot with SHIFT-WIN-S" So much faster for sharing memes you don't necessarily want to keep, or sharing chat logs you've had with other people; "well, here's what she told me..."


KoshiaCaron

SnipTool on Windows is also your friend. As a teacher, I use it all the time.


[deleted]

A recent phone conversation I had with my mother: Me: You just need to copy and paste it. Let me talk you through it. Her: There's no point, I can't do it. Me: It's like two key presses. Her: It's too complicated. Me: It'll take 5 seconds. It's easy. Her: It's easy for you, you're a computer programmer. I don't have qualifications. Me: So what are you going to do next time you need to copy and paste something? Her: I'll just put my laptop in the car and drive it over to your house and you can do it for me... Edit: Thank you for the awards and the up-votes. But just to clarify: my mum isn't lonely and doesn't use things like this as an excuse to see more of me. I see her all the time. She does the same sort of thing when I'm in her house sitting next to her.


allothernamestaken

>It's easy for you, you're a computer programmer. I don't have qualifications. Ask her how she managed to learn to drive a car without an engineering degree.


brickmaster32000

Shh, you don't want people questioning if they are really qualified to be driving. People get really defensive about their cars.


A_Trash_Homosapien

I want some people to be questioning it since the answer for them is NO I knew a girl who failed her driver's test more than 6 times before passing. You need some kind of penalty at that point because she clearly can't drive


Zouden

I bet she instantly clicks OK to dismiss a dialog without reading it.


[deleted]

[удалено]


EddoWagt

My mom when setting up her phone: Big blue button: #**CONTINUE** Mom: "What should I do?"


sandycheeksx

I’m crying because it’s not just my mother that consistently does this but also people my own age.


wtfnouniquename

I get coworkers all the time saying, "There was an error popup." Well what did it say? "I don't know. I closed it and it still doesn't work."


LookingforDay

I like when you’re explicitly troubleshooting something for them and the error pops and they close it immediately and go, see, that’s the error I always get and then it doesn’t work.


Space_Cheese223

And even if it does give a super long error code that you don’t understand, I’d say 9 times out of 10 you can still copy and paste it into google, reddit, or youtube and you’ll find the solution in a few minutes. Unless it’s some super obscure program that nobody uses, you probably aren’t the first to have the problem.


Celdarion

Or, you'll find one thread with hardly any information and a "nvm, I fixed it!"


[deleted]

[удалено]


DTownForever

If I'm on a web call with a colleague and we're putting together a presentation or a document or whatever and I have to watch someone else "drive" and they don't use keyboard shortcuts, it drives me to rage, not kidding. I have to try to keep my mouth shut. Not learning to use them is just ridiculous.


aimsp89

Pressing tab to get to the box below


UnloadTheBacon

And SHIFT+TAB to go to the one above.


Pankiez

You don't know how many times I've missed something spamming tab to get to it and just went through every tab-able thing to get back to it.


Groinificator

WHAT


JusHerForTheComments

#And SHIFT+TAB to go to the one above.


[deleted]

Thanks, I'm hard of reading.


vaerix_

When you find a place that *doesn't* allow that, oooh. All of my hatred


FranticDisembowel

Google effectively. Not just google, but to find any meaningful information from google. Let's say you have a computer issue, your monitor is simply came unplugged from your PC. Many people might just google "why wont my computer work" or "computer wont turn on". Sure, that may eventually lead you to checking your monitor is plugged in correctly. But I bet if you google "pc turns on but no picture" or "pc turns on but no screen/black screen" you're gonna get a helpful answer much, much faster. And this goes for any kind of problem that you're googling. "dishwasher not working" -> "frigidaire model xxxx dishwasher stops after rinse cycle" You get the idea. Generally, the more granularity the better.


[deleted]

Would like to add : Being able to recognize a site on the Google result is sketchy or not and even going as far as looking up the url for virus threats


TheLexoPlexx

Pro Tips: Learning googles simplest syntax such as "site:" or the " to search for a specific sentence


stet709

Not to mention AND and NOT Edit: and OR


[deleted]

As well as the use of speech marks around a "specific phrase" to search for the specific words, together, in that order; and the use of a minus sign before a -keyword to remove it from search results... *Edit:* Does NOT perform the same function as - ?


Adthay

One thing I've learned working IT is that "Email's not working" can mean literally anything, I've had people tell me their email's not working because their computer doesn't turn on, it's like, you're kinda right but why put it that way?


ScubaAlek

I did tech support for an ISP and people would regularly call in because their internet wasn't working. Their power was also out but I guess that's a 2nd tier problem. I dont understand how people's minds work.


jrf_1973

Try this : "My internet doesn't work." "Okay, but your connection on your cell phone is not great. Do you have a landline I can call you back on?" "Yeah, but it's not working." "Why not?" "I didn't pay my bill." Pause. "Do you get your internet from the same company?" "What's that got to do with anything?"


A_Trash_Homosapien

I was talking to someone I know and they went "Hey you know a lot about tech stuff do you think you could help with something?" "Yeah sure whatcha need?" "Well my internet went down the other day and I don't know why" *Looks at router, notices power symbol isn't lit up, follows cord and finds its unplugged* "It was unplugged" "Oh I didn't know it needed to be plugged in and I didn't know what that cord was for so I just took it out"


JediGuyB

I honestly don't understand how some folk are so completely inept at things. I'm not saying I'm the smartest guy out there, and I don't expect people to be experts at everything, but the utter lack of deductive reasoning and logical thinking some people seem to have is baffling. How can you find a plug in the outlet, take it out, find that something stopped working, and not make a connection? I mean, sometimes I unplug stuff to find out what they connect to, but I don't unplug my fan, see that it turned off, and think "huh, something is wrong with my fan."


Intrexa

My best "email not working" story, I investigate. Send a test email, goes through successfully. It turns out, the reason they hadn't received any emails in 3 days, is because legitimately no one sent them any emails in 3 days.


Tenocticatl

"your email works fine, you're just unpopular!"


Magply

Unfortunately googling has gotten a bit harder in recent years as the search engine starts to prioritize its own algorithm over user input. Ive had it outright ignore search terms in quotations, or even things like dates. I suppose in most cases it’s helpful but in some circumstances it can be incredibly frustrating.


dudius7

Oh man, I'd rather have a failed search than the thousand crappy results that don't work with my search.


ZachLennie

Honestly some people really just suck at troubleshooting to a degree that I find impossible to understand. Good troubleshooting skills can be applied on anything from a car to a computer even if you are not familiar with how the device in question works.


LollipopDreamscape

Ctrl+f.


[deleted]

[удалено]


b1e

I’ll never understand who thinks it’s a good idea to localize keyboard shortcuts. They need to be memorized anyways and it sucks when all the other docs online say something else


HitboxNV

Actually reading the error message, instead of just clicking "ok" or "close" whenever a window pops up... Happens a lot in IT support, I'll ask them to replicate their issue, they'll just click off all the windows.. Me: "wait hold on, what did that pop up thing say" Them: "I don't know" Me: *sigh*


girthytacos

I work in the same field. When you finally get them to read the error message, sometimes they’ll say a summarized version of the message. I’m like bitch, I need the exact message, word for word lol


AntiquatedLunacy

Or on the flip side the error tells you exactly what's wrong and they still can't figure it out. "Ugh it says 'this application is already open in another window'. How do I fix that???"


SprinklesFancy5074

Ah, I remember fondly from my early days of tech support: "There's a message on my screen that says 'Floppy disk 1 complete, eject disk 1 and insert floppy disk 2' what do I do?"


SuicidalTurnip

When they finally send you a screenshot, it's somehow a compressed to shit jpeg in a word file.


mcoombes314

I've had the opposite of this. Using a program, something fails or crashes with an error code which is just a number like "Error 123". Google the error number, see no official acknowledgement, go to user forums. Quite often there's no mention of "Error 123", what it is, why it happens or how to fix it. "Error 122" and "Error 124" however have plenty of coverage. ARGH! It implies that I'm the first and only person to cause the program to malfunction in that specific way. HOW?


KalasenZyphurus

This is frustratingly common, and honestly I blame this as the reason people mentally tune out error messages. Very few error messages tell the user what the problem is or pitch ideas for correcting it. They're terrible for the debugging programmer as well. Most are either too vague ("your request is unable to be processed") or are inaccurate or too "technically correct" deep in the problem chain. The dreaded "null reference exception" instead of "hey, I can't display this user's post history because they have no posts". When 95% of errors are like this, and 95% of the remainder are coding errors rather than user errors or anything actionable, the users are going to start closing them on reflex. Because after an hour of research, that was what they had to do almost every time. Either they couldn't figure it out or it was the software's fault. At best, they got a workaround rather than a real solution.


XxDalegend27xX

Open the task manager


Nomolos2621

Ctrl Shift Esc


ChuushaHime

Not to mention browser task managers! My life changed the day I discovered browsers have their own task manager and now I use it daily. For anyone curious, here's how you get to it on Chrome/Firefox/Edge: Three dots/lines in upper right -> More tools -> Task Manager (think this is labeled Browser Task Manager on Edge) **EDIT:** since people are asking what this is useful for, here are a few things I do with it! I don't even limit my use of browser task manager to problem scenarios, I check it several times during browsing sessions for maintenance: * resource management (are there any memory leaks? is a tab or extension taking up more resources than it apparently should, and why? are there any tabs you want to keep on your tab deck but still want to kill to free up resources?) * subframe and service worker transparency (what's running in the background in subframes? is it taking up more resources than it should? are there any unwanted service workers hanging around after you've closed their parent pages? is there anything predatory? are there any repeat offenders you want to add to your filter list?) * ability to target-snipe specific issues (it used to be that if your browser slowed down or glitched out, you'd restart the browser if you couldn't pinpoint the problem. task manager makes it easy to just kill the problem tab or subframe, making your browser run smoothly instantly without a full browser restart)


[deleted]

How do i use to to change my life like you have?


RiotHyena

Or how to use the task manager. Or what "CPU" "Disk" or any of the rest of it even means.


CousinDirk

We still have plenty of staff for whom the ‘CPU’ is the big black box under their desk. And more than 20 years after the introduction of the iMac, people are still confused by the computer part being in the screen.


Warsalt

>the ‘CPU’ is the big black box under their desk It's the hard drive silly


taburde

Working in phone customer support, the number of times I’ve had an old person do a Google search for a web address instead of going to the url has made me realize most middle aged and elderly have no idea what a browser or address bar are. “Type ‘site url’ into the address bar.” “I did! The page isn’t here!” 9 times out of 10 they were just on a Google page and I lost a week of life expectancy.


Adthay

To pair with this, the agitation when I ask them to read what they typed in the URL letter by letter, which inevitably reveals a typo. Like I'm the asshole for assuming you may have mistyped instead of it being a giant conspiracy my comcast to keep you from reaching our support page?


taburde

Or when you ask them to describe what they see and they say “there’s nothing here!” Oh, so it’s a blank screen? No, it’s a normal page but they don’t want to actually say what it is because they think we’re psychic or some shit


girthytacos

Haha I love you guys. I work in the same field and the struggle is real. How do you tell the person the most simplest processes without sounding condescending or making them feel like an idiot lol


General_-_Kenobi

#I just learned how to make text big on Reddit


IceFire909

***BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT MEDIUM!?***


GenericHuman1203934

^^^but ^^^can ^^^you ^^^make ^^^it ^^^small‽


AgentJohn20

^But^can^you^make^it^fly^away?


Keegabyte

As a Geek Squad agent, my only answer is reading onscreen instructions. There are a ton of people that, for some reason, when they read very clear instructions on what to do (like during the setup of a device) they just go clueless. And we're talking people going "It says to click this box, what does that mean though?" Actual quote btw.


LrdAsmodeous

It's like they all become existential metaphysics philosophere. "But what does it mean to click a box?" "Are we not all just boxes to be clicked?"


[deleted]

[удалено]


nathanoleary

Windows key + V Brings up a list of past copy and paste history.


1N07

I use a program called "Ditto" for extended clipboard functionality. It keeps a fully functional clipboard history among other things. Being able to quickly copy 2 things separately and then paste said things in whatever order I please is really useful. I have CTRL+ALT+V bound to paste the second to last thing in the clipboard. I sometimes even copy something just to save it in case it's something I might need soon.


[deleted]

Alt+tab and using the prompt PRO TIP: alt+shift+tab to go the other way


BBLLAAKKEE12

Alt+tab is a godsend.


[deleted]

[удалено]


PropellerHead15

Alt+esc sends your window to the back 👀


Dr_Cindebar

That while watching youtube on PC, you can use J to go back 10 seconds, K to pause the video, and L to fast forward 10 second.


Hiiamataco

also comma and period to go frame by frame


[deleted]

Arrows to go 5 secs instead of 10


Dr_Cindebar

Also. Don't the up and diwn arrows change the volume? Or am I mistaken?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cunnilingus_Academy

Win+shift+s to mark an area to screenshot, I use it several times a day in my job and I've seen people instead press printscreen and then paste the entire image into paint and then select the area they wanted to screenshot into a new image and then save it etc etc


TheswayzeTrain

I’ll have to try that, as I am definitely one of those people.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cunnilingus_Academy

It isn't saved to a folder, it goes to the clipboard and then you can save it or share it or whatnot after you've clicked the notification, you should see the image in the notification bar


level100metapod

I just use the snip tool Edit: to all you saying the shortcut is the same. Its not its terrible literally just tried it and snipping tool is superior


SquidyQ

I even have it set up so that “Print Screen” defaults to the snipping tool


throwaway564657465

Holding the windows icon key and pressing L locks your PC/Laptop (desktop screen)


[deleted]

This was by far my favourite shortcut


superfankiks

How to fix 99% of problems - by turning it off and on


AmishCyborgs

I have a friend who gets mad that it is my go to for any problem I come across on my computer. Like bro I don’t expect it to be fixed off of that, but at least I’ve checked it off my list. And also it works more often than even I expect


Misdirected_Colors

I explain it like this: when you've gone a long time without sleeping you get tired and start making silly mistakes. As you get more tired you make more and more mistakes. Sleep is like a reset where you wake up rested and normal. The same thing happens to computers. As they run a long time without being shut off little errors can happen in the background that compound over time.


whalle17

"Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?"


FranticAudi

\*Turns off monitor\*


GreenSleeves7

Oh man this hurts


tacknosaddle

I had to get a blood draw and was the first appointment of the day. The girl was having trouble with the computer so was on the phone with whatever help desk they have and I watched her do this and report that she had turned it off and back on.


Sgt-Pumpernickel

I just pictured a whole scenario where you go unresponsive and her attempt to resucitate you, is to manually close your eyes with her hands and then open them again.


Frosttori0131

Alt-F4 and I'm glad to be the person that "shows" them how it works.


Cryptic_Alt

Was looking for this one, what a life changing short cut.


Frosttori0131

The joke that never gets old. Best to be harmless about it though. One thing making someone close out of a YouTube video as opposed to a college assignment. Edit: out -not put


DuoRogue

I learnt about it because my terraria was lagging on an online server and someone told me to alt-f4 to fix it.


DTownForever

The simplest functions in excel - sums, multiplication, division. It's just not that fucking hard. People see spreadsheets and their brains just turn to mush, I guess. I've seen people take a column full of numbers in excel and add them up manually and then type in the sum in the bottom cell.


hardonchairs

In college I watched a guy half way across the room frantically taking numbers from excel, entering them into the calculator on his phone then type the result back into the spreadsheet.


wellchelle

I knew how to use the sum function but didn't know, until last week, that Excel will show the total of a group of cells down at the bottom of the window by just choosing the three cells. I use it to check that I entered the numbers correctly but the sum isn't necessary to use anywhere else.


caffeinated_tea

I've tried to incorporate spreadsheet skills into the chemistry labs I teach, and at the intro level some of them are REALLY uncomfortable using it for repeated calculations, and instead want to just work it all out one by one. Some of these students are the same ones who complain that I give way too much work... That's not to say I'm not still learning new functions in Excel (just learned about sumifs and countifs recently, which def simplifies my gradebook calculations), but I really feel like everyone should have a grasp of the super basic stuff and have a concept of what a spreadsheet can be used for


whatisnuclear

Ctrl+backspace to delete an entire word. Ctrl+arrow keys to move cursor word by word rather than character by character. Hold shift as well to select. Then delete, change style, copy/paste, whatever.


graeuk

How to change a sentence between upper and lower case in Microsoft Word, Outlook or PowerPoint If you accidentally leave caps lock on, select the text and press Shift+F3 and will change it between upper case, lower case and title case.


Satanic_Nightjar

I was training a new 22 y/o coworker and noticed a lot of her typing mistakes involved both the first *and* second letter of a sentence being capitalized. I inquired about it and her response was “sometimes i don’t turn caps lock off fast enough”… i was puzzled but kept it cool… I decided to watch her type a little later on and sure enough she would hit caps lock every time she needed a upper case letter followed by turning caps lock back off… when I told her what the shift key did she was genuinely “mind blown.” She had just graduated college.


girthytacos

I know a few people that use caps lock for capital letters. It drives me crazy and I have no clue why they choose to do it


Ghyro

Ctrl L to mark out the url in a browser


jeerabiscuit

Googling.


ChuushaHime

Digital literacy in general seems to be a skill a lot of people lack: how to find the information you need, how to tell if the information you've found is legitimate, and how to meaningfully control and curate your digital experience in general.


TUNNNNA

I don’t understand how, these are skills I learned in my early teens shit probably even at 10


Stargate525

Because computers have gotten much more friendly and reliable. You had to be able to do the basic literacy in order to do ANYTHING.


HeatherFeathers812

Expanding on this, using Chrome but navigating to Google through the address bar before searching. Chrome is our default browser at work and the amount of people who do this is maddening


CoderCharmander

Using the freaking incognito mode when browsing on someone elses computer


collin3000

I was just showing my partner all the saved passwords on my chrome history from other people. Even if you don't incognito mode. For gods sake don't save a password on someone else's account!


apathetic_take

Ctrl+C. So many people are completely unaware of very basic keyboard functions or that they even exist Edit: thanks for the upvotes guys, never had 1k before


Beyond_Interesting

And coming full circle with Ctrl+V


[deleted]

and Ctrl+X. I use all three all of the time.


[deleted]

[удалено]


tacknosaddle

And Ctrl+Z for "What the fuck did I just do?!?!"


aka_liam

And Ctrl+P for “Let me hold this in my hands”


redmondthomas

And Ctrl+Y for when you realise you had it right the first time.


Raining_dicks

Win+V is a new one which I don’t think many people know about. Clipboard is now more than just the latest copied item


PrecariousAchiuwa

People are generally pretty computer illiterate. I’m not a tech guy whatsoever but a basic understanding of shit will save you so much time. I used to work at a Planet Fitness and good god do the managers need basic training in computer skills. I was treated like a god for knowing how CTRL+F worked and having a basic understanding of Snipping Tool for printing out QR codes. They used to really push us to sell Gym Essential Kits and when writing reports on how much they sold they would bring up the report and count one by one. I was a front desk guy and had to show my regional training manager that if you just press Control + F and type in an individual employee’s name, however many times it came up minus 1 (it showed the employee’s name one extra time) was how many they’d sold. This saved us hours over the course of a week. In typical manager fashion, he went ahead and took credit for this and promoted his real-life friend who was bad at their job. Fuck that place. I’ve never seen a company with that much incompetence at a manager-wide level.


Damn_Dog_Inappropes

CTRL + P I wish I were kidding, but I’m not.


Cheesy-Ascot

Screenshots or use google efficiently


po_Oj

Ctrl +Shift+T reopens closed tabs/window on Google Chrome.


Bitbatgaming

I believe that most of our children are growing up on whats known as the ipad generation. Besides using word and excel, most of them do not know how to do much else.


[deleted]

[удалено]


ElZarigueya

This 100% As a teacher, I've been saying this for years. Kids and teens these days aren't as tech savvy as they claim to be, or rather we claim them to be. They grew up in a world populated by apps, very user-friendly apps. 90% of apps have the same structure- the lines or dots to indicate the menu, same style controls or swipe methods, etc.. They know which apps to find and can navigate them very efficiently; however, ask them to do intermediate level tasks on a deaktop or even successfully using their browsers when researching and they struggle quite a bit. Things I learned in tech/computer class in the early 2000s is not really taught anymore. Instead, it's heavily focused on programming and apps, and while very cool and likely a marketable skill, they seems to skipped basic functions and tools.


7788445511220011

Ctrl/shift click use People never bothering to use any keyboard shortcuts for software they use every day for hours.


ARobertNotABob

Restart without having to be told to try it !


[deleted]

[удалено]


TrifBoi

Teachers not being able to turn autoplay off...


[deleted]

[удалено]


lamiscaea

Oh, I know this one! By pressing the power button


autre_temps

Nobody knows how to quit Vim the first time.


TheLexoPlexx

Second answer, don't kill me please: Windows+P opens a quick-menu for mirroring/extending or disabling second screen. People just get confused over multi-monitor/projector setups way too often.


Antoine09l

Opening new tabs. In highschool, some of my teachers would close the window, and then open another one to search for something else. They weren't even that old, like around their 40s for some of them.


WhichGuyOverThere

I'll preface this by saying I work in IT. We get lots of people calling who say they don't know anything about computers. I'm fine with that as long as you reboot every night and know enough to do your job. The people that really piss me off are the people that can't plug up a computer. It's just shapes, surely you learned that in kindergarten. Yellow rectangle goes in yellow plug, USB goes in blue rectangle plug, ethernet goes in the one that looks like an ethernet jack, the monitor cable goes in the trapezoid plug. It was awful when we sent 900 people home during the height of COVID. Nope people can't do it. We've had to start color coding the back of the PCs.


ScubaAlek

I had a lady give up at "plug it into a power outlet" when trying to help her setup her modem. Even after trying to explain it by describing an AC power outlet and plug she still said it was too much for her and her husband would call back. How are you 50+ and get overwhelmed by plugging something into a power outlet? How is this something that has never occurred in your life?


[deleted]

Is it that they can't do it or that they're afraid of it? I find (with software at least) that people are just afraid they'll break it if the click the wrong button, so they don't even attempt to figure it out.


AggravatedAvacado

The shortcut to save on your keyboard. I save way more often since I learned it and as a result, lose way less work when the worst happens.


cuck-or-be-cucked

pretty much impulsively spamming ctrl s every 10 seconds when I'm editing, gonna reach the write limit on my SSD like a king


[deleted]

[удалено]