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Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
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Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#82This problems are no doubt real, but sometimes it helps to change one's perspective from one of constant negativity (which causes you to see more problems, and feel worse about them), to one of positivity and gratitude.
Every day I'm amazed that computers, some of the most complex non-biological processes on this planet, work at all, or as well as they do. I'm thankful that so many wonders are available to me, like the Internet and mobile phones.
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#83I have several orders of magnitude fewer problems with Windows than most anyone I know.
When I share what I do with savvy folks who are having issues, I find that NONE of them do all of the things I consider essential, that can be done with little knowledge.
My easy-to-do essentials, In order of priority, from years of experience are:
• I restart Windows frequently, at least daily, and anytime things seem "off" (rarely). I of course also restart any application(s) that seem(s) to be working poorly. I rarely need to do either.
• I use an online backup service that archives changes (dropbox) so I can restore old versions of files in case I screw something up (about once every other month).
• If I have a problem that repeats, I restart Windows in safe mode, and then turn off, unplug the POWER cord, and then hold the power button in with the power cord UNPLUGGED (fixes some electrical static issues. Works on other appliances as well)
• I hide all services under Msconfig > services tab to see what is starting up that I might not need, and then uncheck some or even click "Disable all." You can generally turn anything off here without causing noticeable issues. Turn stuff back on and restart if concerns.
• If one browser gives me a problem I switch to another (I have four installed).
• I upgrade or reinstall Windows at least every 4-5 years or so.
• I auto-install software updates and use anti-virus software.
These basic practices give me many almost entirely headache-free years.
Of course, I'm also fairly savvy about not installing extras with software, and avoiding clicking suspicious links or giving information to suspect websites, but these practices rely much more on experience, and can't really be considered "easy-to-do" in the same way the others can.
Also, I used to use Apple products. I had so many problems, and couldn't figure out best practices to avoid them, that I stopped using Apple. Of course, YMMV, all I'm saying is that I'm not qualified to speak to stabilizing Apple setups, but I would expect that there are best practices that make a difference.
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#84As soon as I stopped building computers from off-the-shelf parts, stopped installing unpopular applications and plugins and stopped trying to use OSes like Linux with relatively few users the amount of my life I spent fixing weird computer problems fell from hours per week to almost zero. When I do encounter a problem, the answer is almost always available after 5 minutes on Google. Following the herd leads to an eas…
> As soon as I stopped building computers from off-the-shelf parts The most stable computers I've ever owned have been those that I've built myself, while 90% of my repair work comes from Dell and HP computers that barely last 2 years.
The nice thing about building your own computer is you know EXACTLY what you're getting. If something breaks, you have the wherewithal to buy a replacement and fix it yourself.
I don't think I'll ever buy another Mac desktop, because I'm so thrilled with the ability to "look under the hood."
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#85I have several orders of magnitude fewer problems with Windows than most anyone I know. When I share what I do with savvy folks who are having issues, I find that NONE of them do all of the things I consider essential, that can be done with little knowledge. My easy-to-do essentials, In order of priority, from years of experience are: • I restart Windows frequently, at least daily, and anytime things seem "off" (rare…
"I have several orders of magnitude fewer problems with Windows than most anyone I know."
Same experience here, on both my home and work machines that currently run Windows 7. I've found Windows 7 to be remarkably stable, but I've also had good experiences with all the other NT-based operating systems I've used: NT 3.51 and 4.0, Windows 2000 and XP (never used Vista). But I usually don't restart Windows except to install Windows updates every couple of weeks. My work machine runs continuously (with lots of third-party services like Tomcat, Apache HTTP and VNC) and my home machine gets hibernated when I'm not using it.
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#86Invariably it seems the majority of people who have these problems have done something to their computer. Either downloading an app they shouldn't have, or playing with settings they shouldn't have, or there's a hardware issues (power/memory problems will cause all manner of weird behavior) Something along those lines. The problems mentioned here are simply not shared by most users. Show of hands, how many Apple user…
Seconded. I've never experienced any of these issues. When I thought someone was wrong or off with my MBP, it turned out to be another piece of hardware or software.
I was never an Apple fan, and I've always tweaked even Windows. Likewise, I have tweaked my MBP here and there from a software standpoint, using tools build for it mostly though sometimes command line hacks.
I run brew, replaced native BSD tools like ls and grep with GNU versions, no issues.
It's a development machine as well, so it gets pretty punished.
Again, no issues, especially none OP was talking about.
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#87I am surprised you are writing this about Apple (I rarely use Apple products and hence don't know much about their quality) but I wholeheartedly agree on that title of yours in general. I increasingly feel like all products I use are in beta. I used to blame manufacturers for this, but recently I have come to the conclusion that consumers are to blame. Nobody cares about longevity and build quality of products any mo…
"Read some product reviews on Amazon and you'll notice most of them are written within days of purchasing the product."
And it's really depressing to see just how many of these reviews say that the product stopped working within days of being purchased!
Re: Everything just doesn't work and nobody cares
#88"Oh well, so after I got the iPhone 4 finally I could use the phone for a whole day, but the Home button... It's not working, and everybody who had an iPhone 4 had or having this problem. So basically speaking 100% of the iPhone 4 yield was defective." Too true. I bought a Nexus 4 because I had this problem, and the alternative was paying £100+ for Apple to fix my button. Surely the sole button on a device should wor…
My employer issued dozens of iPhone 4's to employees and not a single one had problems with the home button. I don't have a problem with people complaining about products, but it's silly to try to generalize it to "everyone has this problem" based on personal experience. Apple sold tens of millions of units of the iPhone 4 in dozens of countries.
You're completely right to say that we shouldn't generalize to every iPhone 4 based on personal experience. I was just confirming that my experience correlated with the description in the post. Obviously 'everybody who had an iPhone4 had or having this problem' is hyperbole, but it's probably evidence of a widespread issue if there are a large number of complaints about it.