Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[mendip_discovery]

My pet peeve regarding computers and technology is something that has bugged me for years... when the process light of my laptop is on and flickering whenever the system is idle.

It's gotten worse with each Windows evolution. All kinds of crap runs in the background now. Some of it is useful, most of it is not. With a prebuilt PC, I always do a full wipe and reload of the OS as job #1.
After, I ran a little utility called ShutUp10 which made it easy to turn off unnecessary stuff. Just be careful with turning things off you don't fully understand.

I turned on my screen yesterday to see a message about xbox360. I dont have an xbox or even a login for it. Not sure why I need several apps running for xbox related stuff. I have a decent pc but still see no point in another app to mess things up or send me random messages.

[AndyBeez]

This evening, I thought I could write a computer's media playlist to an Audio CD and play this on the hifi. I have a functional USB CDRW drive, but not a single blank CD-R in the house! Not since 2015 apparently. Progress

[vk6zgo]

Years back, when I got my first W7 desktop computer, the dumb thing used to crash at every opportunity.
I could get it back by returning to the original configuration, in the process, losing all the programs I had installed, & reactivating my pet hate of all time-Norton!

The Internet was full of clever ways to get your PC back from a crash, except they required you to have admin privileges, which the "dumbed down" OEM version of W7 did not grant to the "unwashed".

I finally "bit the bullet" paid big bucks for a W7 disk from Dick Smith, & installed it, saying goodbye to the "e-Machines" crap forever, & never looked back!
The PC very seldom crashed, & was recoverable with a minimum of fuss when it did.

Much more recently, my ASUS laptop came with W10 "S" (for stupid or shit).
At least, they allowed me to send "S" to Hell where it belongs, with a minimum of fuss.

They did sternly warn me, that if I did that, I could never get it back-------but who would want to!

[Bryn]

Another one that occasionally gets on my nerves is mice... the fact that mice nowadays don't last as long and experience wear and tear after a year or so. From the past eight years, I've went through six mice (two Logitech B100s, an HP X1000 and three Dell MS116s) and now I'm using a Kensington K72356EU. I'm trusting the reviews it got on Amazon regarding its longevity so here's hoping it'll do me a good number of years and not like six months like my last one.

It seems to me that mice nowadays aren't built to last... I mean, I had a Logitech mouse that did me a whopping 11 years (that I had since my first WinXP computer). I still miss it to this day

[Ed.Kloonk]

Another one that occasionally gets on my nerves is mice... the fact that mice nowadays don't last as long and experience wear and tear after a year or so. From the past eight years, I've went through six mice (two Logitech B100s, an HP X1000 and three Dell MS116s) and now I'm using a Kensington K72356EU. I'm trusting the reviews it got on Amazon regarding its longevity so here's hoping it'll do me a good number of years and not like six months like my last one.

It seems to me that mice nowadays aren't built to last... I mean, I had a Logitech mouse that did me a whopping 11 years (that I had since my first WinXP computer). I still miss it to this day

hehe. You showing up in the cat thread and now complaining about mice isn't lost on this old cat. 

I'm a trackball guy and there's a extensive thread on here that goes into much detail on procuring new switches much better than the OEM for my particular offending model. Depends on the model, but if you can get at the switches (and the case is screwed not glued) your favourite mice can enjoy eternal life.

[armandine2]

endless multiturn  :'(

[PlainName]

endless multiturn  :'(

Go on, give us a clue

[james_s]

It seems to me that mice nowadays aren't built to last... I mean, I had a Logitech mouse that did me a whopping 11 years (that I had since my first WinXP computer). I still miss it to this day

I still have one of the original Microsoft optical mice that I got over 20 years ago when I worked there, it's a bit yellowed and there's some wear from my fingers but it still works.

[PlainName]

I had one of those (until I gave it away earlier this year). Looked pristine, mostly because it'd never been used since I discovered Logitech mice

[SiliconWizard]

I have a Roccat kone pure which is something like 7 years old and it still works fine. A bit worn out externally but nothing major. Recently, the right click tends to be occasionally bouncy (triggers two right clicks instead of one), which is rarely a problem in most applications. But as I'm looking for a new mouse, I see it as a pretext to change.
I can't seem to find anything much I like though with recent mice. If anyone's got suggestions. I want to avoid wireless.

[PlainName]

Why not wireless? I used to be a wired user because, games. But then I got wireless and the only difference I could tell was the cable not getting in the way any more. Even battery life is a non-issue: goes seemingly forever (well, a loooong time) and once a month I might remember to plug a USB cable into it when I go to make dinner or something. Worst case, it needs charging in the next 30 secs and then I just plug the cable in and use it as a wired mouse for a bit.

Having said that, non-rechargeable (that is, with alkaline batteries and typically Bluetooth) need a button press to wake them up if you don't move them for a bit. You get used to it, but it's a drag and I'd not use one of those for my main setup.

[armandine2]

endless multiturn  :'(

Go on, give us a clue

when the trim pot has no end stop (and freewheels?)

[PlainName]

endless multiturn  :'(

Go on, give us a clue

when the trim pot has no end stop (and freewheels?)

Ah, OK. Annoying, that.

[Kim Christensen]

endless multiturn  :'(

Go on, give us a clue

when the trim pot has no end stop (and freewheels?)

That's kind of normal. Usually there's a little click click click as you continue to turn it against the endstop.... Or, for example, did you mean that the 10k pot goes from 10K back to zero again?

[TimFox]

Every linear multi-turn trimpot I have seen has a "lock thread" where the lead screw goes click-click-click at the ends of travel.
Otherwise, it would be easy to break the mechanism by overtravel.
"Helipots" (without separate lead screws) have definite stops at the ends of travel.

[vk6zgo]

Every linear multi-turn trimpot I have seen has a "lock thread" where the lead screw goes click-click-click at the ends of travel.
Otherwise, it would be easy to break the mechanism by overtravel.
"Helipots" (without separate lead screws) have definite stops at the ends of travel.

That "lock thread" can fail, with the lead screw going click-click-click, but turning in the other direction does not reverse the direction of resistance change, with the resistance staying at the setting it reached before the failure.

Replacement is then the only "fix".

[Circlotron]

My stupid car wipers!
Use the squirters to clean the windscreen.
Then set the wipers going for several strokes.
Upstroke cleans the glass perfectly.
Downstroke allows airflow to flick some water off wiper blades and frames and back onto window.
Even after 10 or 12 wipe cycles there is still spots of water there.
 

[james_s]

endless multiturn  :'(

Go on, give us a clue

when the trim pot has no end stop (and freewheels?)

Don't most multiturn trimpots do that? Usually there is a clutch mechanism that makes a soft clicking sound if you listen closely though.

[Circlotron]

And when posts one’s pet peeve and it gets ignored by everybody else.

Actually I’m a great fan of recursion, so seeing that’s an example of such, I’m okay with it. 

[SiliconWizard]

My stupid car wipers!
Use the squirters to clean the windscreen.
Then set the wipers going for several strokes.
Upstroke cleans the glass perfectly.
Downstroke allows airflow to flick some water off wiper blades and frames and back onto window.
Even after 10 or 12 wipe cycles there is still spots of water there.
 

Yep. Try manually cleaning a window with the same motion - it's not really going to be very effective.

[PlainName]

The bit that annoys me is you can't wash then wipe. It's always wipe then wash.

[Kim Christensen]

The bit that annoys me is you can't wash then wipe. It's always wipe then wash.

It's the dumbed down world we live in. They are trying to be helpful when they make the wipers automatically go when you trigger the squirt. What was wrong with the pulling on the stalk to spray and then manually engaging the wipers once enough fluid was on the windshield?

[james_s]

The bit that annoys me is you can't wash then wipe. It's always wipe then wash.

It's the dumbed down world we live in. They are trying to be helpful when they make the wipers automatically go when you trigger the squirt. What was wrong with the pulling on the stalk to spray and then manually engaging the wipers once enough fluid was on the windshield?

I suspect the automatic wiping could be defeated by disconnecting the wire from the wash contacts to the intermittent wiper relay, at least on older cars like mine where everything is controlled by separate relays.

[coppice]

The bit that annoys me is you can't wash then wipe. It's always wipe then wash.

It's the dumbed down world we live in. They are trying to be helpful when they make the wipers automatically go when you trigger the squirt. What was wrong with the pulling on the stalk to spray and then manually engaging the wipers once enough fluid was on the windshield?

I suspect the automatic wiping could be defeated by disconnecting the wire from the wash contacts to the intermittent wiper relay, at least on older cars like mine where everything is controlled by separate relays.

This is not an issue with new cars. They either have the sprayer on the wiper arms, or they delay the start of the wipe until the sprayer has got the glass wet. The latter can be a little confusing when you aren't used to it. If you keep giving little shots of washing the wipers don't start. You have to hold the wash on for a couple of seconds.

[themadhippy]

They are trying to be helpful when they make the wipers automatically go when you trigger the squirt. What was wrong with the pulling on the stalk to spray and then manually engaging the wipers once enough fluid was on the windshield??

Doing it there way ensures the wipers drag across the dry surface for a few seconds without lubrication,leading to a shortening of the wiper blades life,meaning you have to by replacements more often