Buh?

[Aressel]

Older gentleman comes in yesterday with his laptop, complaining that his text editor is not working properly. So, I have him fire up the system to show me what his problem is. It boots to Win98 and he opens up Microsoft FrontPage. So, of course, I figure that he is just opening the wrong program, say as such, and look for Word on his computer. Word is not installed.

He opens up a document, and he actually has been using FrontPage as a word processor, and he seemed quite happy with it, so rather than fight with him and try and explain what FrontPage was actually used for, I fixed the problem that he was having (FrontPage was showing html tags, and he didn't want it to), and sent him on his way. Any stories of programs being used for an unexpected purpose?

[gunsage]

I just had a situation the other day where, and don't ask me how I got it working because even I don't know, a customer was former dial-up with a different company and transferred to ours with high speed cable. Okay, no big deal there...except that his Internet Explorer didn't work at all and was under the impression that he was to continue using his PeoplePC to get online. Somehow I got it to stop dialing...and it somehow worked...but I advised him he may want to search and see if he can get another browser in case he has further issues!

[ringo]

except that his Internet Explorer didn't work at all and was under the impression that he was to continue using his PeoplePC to get online.

In the Internet Options (Connection Tab) you can tell the program to "Never dial a connection". That will stop what you describe.

[Pedersen]

You've just asked if I use a computer. Aside from email and web browser, I don't know that I use anything the way it was intended.

Here, good example from many years ago: I was job hunting. And sending resumes out to anybody/everybody who I thought might even have a snowballs' chance in hell of speaking to me. And any one resume took me forever, it seemed. This was before everybody was accepting job apps online, so I had to try to fax, mail, or email, depending on the ad.

I wrote a set of macros into my resume that were pretty impressive. You hit a button on a toolbar, and it would ask how you were sending (email, snail mail, or fax). It would ask for customization info (proper email address, proper fax number, proper address, etc).

It would then fill in the fields in my cover letter. From there, it would start the appropriate send process. If faxing, it would start up WinFax Lite, and send the fax. If emailing, it would save the doc so I could attach it to email. If snail mailing, it would print out the cover letter/resume, and ask me to insert an envelope into the printer. I click okay, and it would then print the envelope, too.

All of this was done from inside of Word, using their Visual Basic of the time (back around Office 97/95).

And that's just one of the programs I've mutilated in my life

[Andara Bledin]

his Internet Explorer didn't work at all and was under the impression that he was to continue using his PeoplePC to get online. Somehow I got it to stop dialing...and it somehow worked...but I advised him he may want to search and see if he can get another browser in case he has further issues!

Oh, yeah, that particular 'quirk' of IE is really annoying. There are other parts of Windows that will pull the same crap, too.

For a long time, Nekojin's machine kept ignoring the DSL connection and demanding that he use the dialer for our ISP's dialup service, because we had to use dialup until they could mickey the lines in our building to stop killing our connectivity.

Actually, the lines in our building are so old and craptacular, the tech was really surprised that we could connect at all, much less get such decent service. Our DSL runs through the superior of the two lines coming in, and works great. The VOIP phone service, however, is completely non-functional because of how bad the line it is on really is. But we have to pay for the VOIP to even get the DSL because they won't actually provide service to this particular block of the city without it.

^-.-^

[gunsage]

Anytime I'm able to get someone online but IE is having various errors, I always recommend they get another browser and get their computer looked at just in case. I'm not allowed to at work, but at home, it's Firefox all the way. Granted, various things that are done in Firefox are emulated in IE7, but I like Derr Fox's setup much better.

[Qaeria]

We are currently in a legal battle with a SC we dealt with over a redesign of their website. They were so proud of their own website they created I'm sure they wrenched their shoulders out of their sockets trying to pat themselves on the back. OMFG the site looked like sh*t! GEt this... they used Corel Draw 9 to create the entire site! They wanted something editable in WYSIWYG, so we recommended Dreamweaver MX at the time, and we did do the full redesign including fresh graphics. Of course SC's are never satisfied, so you would think this is just laughable for them to use Corel as an HTML editor, but no. Stay tuned, because once the court proceedings are done, I will post a bit more of it as it truly is worthy of a posting both here and sucky customers.

Corel Draw for web.

[Geek King]

They wanted something editable in WYSIWYG, so we recommended Dreamweaver MX at the time, and we did do the full redesign including fresh graphics. Of course SC's are never satisfied, so you would think this is just laughable for them to use Corel as an HTML editor, but no.

And I can probably tell you exactly why. They knew how to use CorelDraw for it, and now they have to learn something new (gasp, horror!) to update the site now. Force an SC to learn something new, and you'll hear the oft mentioned wailing and nashing of teeth.