- Feature Articles
- CodeSOD
- Error'd
-
Forums
-
Other Articles
- Random Article
- Alex's Soapbox
- Announcements
- Best of…
- Best of Email
- Best of the Sidebar
- Bring Your Own Code
- Coded Smorgasbord
- Mandatory Fun Day
- Off Topic
- Representative Line
- News Roundup
- Editor's Soapbox
- Software on the Rocks
- Souvenir Potpourri
- Sponsor Post
- Tales from the Interview
- The Daily WTF: Live
- Virtudyne
Admin
Frist! On fresh real estate!
Admin
Well, you know how things must be at most 3 clicks away? So if you have to double-click to open a folder, then double-click again to open the thing, it's already too many clicks. Therefore everything must be on the desktop. It's rules, you know. Sheesh.
Admin
Windows 10 on my laptop constantly rearranges my desktop icons whenever I connect or disconnect a monitor. I can only imagine the inevitable explosion and demands from Jim about that.
Admin
You mean, you think this guy knows how to disconnect his monitor? I doubt it. I also doubt he uses a laptop, because it's too small to support the weight of his important files.
Admin
i want to scroll my desktop forth and back!
Admin
Back when I was using a laptop I had quite a fair few icons arranged in a certain style. And being a fan of extra monitors I had the exact same problem. Really annoyed me.
I found that, most of the time, if you don't touch it when disconnecting the monitor, it fixes itself up once you reconnect.
However, I eventually got tired of still having to rearrange everything again, and gave up and left it in a disorganised mess. I thankfully have a more permanent setup now.
Admin
A desktop full of shortcuts is a popular and efficient way of working, but not one I prefer. For me, the taskbar at the bottom is my preferred technique. But with Windows 7 these are no longer static -- when you one one, it grows big and elbows everything to one side. So of course, if you're opening something that's slow to start up (that's practically everything), and you go and start up something else while you're waiting, you're more than likely to click on the wrong thing because the icon you want moves from under your pointer.
Windows 10 is even worse.
But I understand the de rigueur technique nowadays is to use the Cortana bar. Er, naah.
Admin
What is this "desktop icon" sorcery you speak of?
Admin
Personally I find desktop icons absolutely useless and never use them. Nothing against people who do, but I have so many windows open during the day that the only time I ever see my desktop is the 2-minute window after logging in before my daily applications auto-start. Only ones I have are the ones I can't get rid of... I'm looking at you, Recycle Bin...
Also one of those people who thinks the Desktop is NOT a working folder, under any circumstances.
Home computers are exactly the same and it really helps make them seem less cluttered.
Admin
TRWTF is that a new employee just sat down and started browsing around a machine that could clearly contain confidential information without any authorisation or supervision.
Admin
In Taskbar Settings, under "Combine taskbar buttons", select "Always". It's been there since 2002.
Admin
You can disable Recycle bin from desktop with "Desktop icon settings"...
Admin
I totally agree, that was a bit of an eyebrow raiser for me too. You could argue that given the boss strictly ordered him to come up and look at his problem, that was an implicit approval to look into whatever was open at the time. Still, I would not have touched the PC unless the boss was actually there.
Admin
It's when you put a picture of your preferred Orthodox saint or other holy person on your desk, duh.
Admin
Nice one! I hate it if IT tries to be smarter than the user every time. if it saves the boss time, just adding screen estate is well worth while. $150 invested in a monitor saving 5 minutes a day earns itself back within a matter of days.
Admin
Sadly, I've seen this kind of thing before. People who manage to completely fill the desktops of not 1 but 2 1920x1200 monitors with a whole assortment of files - I've never understood how they can actually find anything in that mess.
Admin
I was unable to read entire article. Tell Shawn I need more space below the screen.
Admin
You dont have to find them. They are there just in front of your eyes
Admin
I never ever open anything full screen. If it happens (Windows Updates) I yank the borders to leave my standard gap around all 4 sides. I strategically place all my frequent Icons around the edges of the desktop so they always appear in that gap. I rig it up with small Icons and a high resolution on a wide screen monitor. I give myself room for two columns of 12 a piece on the left and right sides and one row of about thirty at top and bottom. So I always have room for 2 * 24 + 2 * 30 or 108 icons around the border. I've actually only placed about 80 in this "frequent" area. There are a couple dozen "infrequents" that live in the center portion of the desktop and a Quick Launch Desktop to get to them on those rare occasions. So all my usual stuff is always visible and a single double-click away. Infrequents are a single and a double away. I "never combine" Task Bar. I want to know when I got too much crap open. I also like to see, without hovering, which is which.
Admin
That only helps group icons for applications that are already open. It's not quite clear from "Quite"s post; since there was clearly a typo around "when you one one", by which I believe "Quite" meant "when you click on one[a pinned taskbar icon]"... the icon grows and nudges things out of the way.
Admin
I'm appalled at this way of working!
Admin
It's the pile theory of management. I have the reference here somewhere on my desk but it's covered up by stuff.
Admin
Right-click, point to "View", uncheck "Show Desktop Icons". No more desktop icons.
Admin
Personally I use Stardock Fences to organise things, it keeps everything locked in place even if I switch monitors
Admin
The trouble I have with desktop icons is that, even in this age of extreme transparency, it's hard to find a decent WM that can display icons without hiding whatever hack I'm using as a background. For some reason they all seem to insist on drawing icons on an opaque false root window.
Admin
I remember we had a "Marketing Director" at one place who kept complaining about the lack of content on our website, and how things she's been assured by her team had been added just couldn't be found.
This kind of bounced around for a while until eventually she moaned about at board level, someone shouted at someone, someone else volunteered it must be IT's fault, and one of our guys was sent to actually go and sit with her. Turns out, she wasn't aware of anything off the bottom of the screen. Understand, this wasn't a "below the fold" thing, it was a genuine ignorance that you can scroll down and see more.
One of our smart-alec 1st line guys gave her a bigger screen which could be rotated to portrait as "an interim fix". Some time later she took it upon herself to get involved in the details of the next version of the website and make directions on design and layout, you can just imagine how well that went.
Ah well, I felt for our guy who had to spend a merry chunk of his time dealing with that department and their constant need to blame us for there own shortcomings, still, he did have the enduring memory of seeing that same Marketing Director as a more junior member of the colouring-in team "earning" her promotion from the MD in a disused storeroom during one of the more drunken office parties.
Admin
I have the complete opposite:
Admin
This is the kind of convoluted shit people come up with when their desktop environment doesn't support proper window management.
At least W10 has (a primitive version of) virtual desktops without third-party explorer hacks, but you still need something like autohotkey for always-on-top.
Admin
Surely the way somepone operates a "Personal Computer" should be personal preference (the clue is in the name).
Personal I hate desktop Icons, (for the very reason that I have to move applications out of the way or select a different desktop when i want to access one.
I use XFCE as my desktop (with 4 virtual desktops as it makes managing full screen apps smoother), the preferences are set to enforce a 2 pixel boarder on maximized windows so that I can still right click on the desktop to get at the apps menu (less movement of the mouse if I am at the top of the screen) & I have a 2nd panel with my most commonly used apps on the left hand edge set to auto hide.
Admin
Ha! On my new computer (dual screen setup) I cannot place any icons on my second screen, when I run Linux Mint and xfce! I don't know why this happens (works fine with windows and cinnamon didn't have any trouble placing icons on the second screen as well). So I'm glad to see that Jim was indeed able to place icons on his "new space". Imagine the icons all magically moved over to the first screen, I guess Shawn wouldn't be with us anymore to tell the story.
But I'm curious, how was Shawn able to check out his boss' computer when he left for the day? Did the boss leave the computer on? And did Shawn just wait in the hallway to quickly check out the computer before the screen locked automatically?
Admin
Wtf u talkin bout guys, icons and shit, real programmers DONT organize the desktop, they use the terminal, they dont even need a mouse. Thought this was a decent site
Admin
My first reaction to the story was "so?". After all, the guy is the boss, as in "owns the company and pays the bills". So he likes lots of icons on the screen. SO WHAT.
Sometimes just do your damned job and stop bitching. After all, you ARE cashing the paycheck, right?
Admin
i've read about people who are completely unaware that it's possible to put programs or files anywhere except the desktop...i remember one story where a woman called IT and screamed that her important program had been deleted-when it had simply had it's icon moved OFF THE EDGE OF THE SCREEN when someone messed with the settings...
Admin
That was exactly my first thought!
Admin
The discussion in the comments reminds me of a discussion I had with someone a while ago. I argued that (some) people want icons on their desktops, that's why they use them. Also, not everyone is computer savvy enough to realize how a file system actually works (those kind of people who complain that "the file isn't there anymore" and don't realize that the "open file" dialog in Word had it's extension filter changed).
He bitched at me how icons are completly useless and noone should use them and that I simply wouldn't understand "the users" (oh, but he does?) and went on about what kind of system he uses and how superior it is. Having never heard of it before I politely asked
"Um, care to elaborate on that? I really don't know this."
And he was like
"This is getting too stupid, this discussion is over".
Ah yes, thank you.
Admin
Space is space, and sometimes your stature in a company is dictated by how much space you actually have. In some cultures (Japan iirc) the size of your desk indicates your place in the company. Yes, I agree that the "big boss" probably didn't need more screen space to do his littering of icons, the correct decision was made, and probably earned some points for our protagonist.
I have a friend who is the "big boss" in his company and he actually uses the THREE screens he has on his desk. He is constantly doing web development and lots of spreadsheet stuff, so it actually makes sense for him. For others, I really don't see the point.
Another company I worked for got a new phone system installed. They had all sorts of training courses and the like, and in this case the "big boss" got his own one-on-one session. The frightful thing is that he isn't the one who needs all the "features", but his administrative assistant (aka secretary). She is the one who fields all the calls anyway, and will probably announce them to the "big boss" anyway.
Bottom line: "big bosses" should do "big boss" stuff, and not screw up ESPN icons and litter desktops. If the "big boss" has this much spare time, he really isn't running the company correctly.
Admin
I loved everything about this post. The boss knew exactly what he wanted: more space to put more icons. The support guy was very pragmatic about it (after he came back from his initial stupor.) Everybody's happy and nobody's time is wasted on pointless "you should do X" arguments.
This is what I call a "success story", not a WTF.
Admin
Way up in the higher levels of management, responsibility and job titles are so vague that those folks have to compare themselves by other criteria, like the thickness of their carpets and the square feet of office floor space. In one particularly vicious law office, the alpha-lawyer fought to get a corner office, as that would give him more windows and a better view. A short while later he was back, complaining that the building corner-column took up almost 2 square feet of his office floor, making his office smaller than everybody else's, and he wanted the column removed.. It took some careful convincing about how he would probably enjoy his office more if the 22 floors above him didn't come crashing down.
The other lawyers were just as bad. They all wanted their computers stuffed to the max with memory to 4GB, (when memory was $300 for 256K). Informing them that all they used was a legal word-processor that could only use 128K of memory, under DOS. Technical arguments didn't work on them, so they all got lots of hot and expensive memory that could never be used.
Admin
My last position I had 4 monitors - at first in a 2x2 setup, later in a 1x4 (after they moved to an open office layout and the 2x2 looked really bad). I used all 4 of them while working, and my boss didn't mind - it just confused all the non-techies whenever they sat with me to go over stuff.
As far as icons, I save stuff to my desktop, but:
Admin
Chekhov' Law breach: the CEO noticed that Shawn "got things solved" quickly. Yet, no mention of the problems this will cause later for Shawn, when it turns out he isn't actually a fellow ID10T.
Admin
Saw it coming from the title and first para. Can we have a more interesting story next week please?
Admin
Desktop is Windowskey+D away at all times. It's the only folder I can call up that easily. Where else should commonly accessed shortcuts go?
Admin
Why is this on TDWTF? Is it because the techie didn't impose their idea of the 'right' solution, but actually realised that the time-cost of retraining the boss was far higher than the cost of another monitor?
Admin
My boss's desktop is like this (but to be fair, it's a 13" 1066x768 display). I had to add a shortcut to a Google Hangout he regularly accesses and there was barely enough room on the bottom right to put it somewhere he could easily find it.
I do not look forward to the day when he accidentally rearranges his desktop. At least he's nothing like Jim.
Admin
Had a coworker who was a Windows systems programmer. He hated having icons on his Windows desktop. Somehow he had removed the Recycle Bin from the desktop, too. Have no idea how he did it!
Admin
True, WIMPS are for wimps.
Admin
Usually i wont prefer to place the icons on desktop, Since we do not have Shawn to serve new monitor in my office :) I have only Recycle Bin icon. Placed all the icons on one directory(D:\path), and added the path on system environment properties.
No more mouse required to search and click. Win+r -> type the icon name -> enter.
That's it!
Admin
Why does this sound like a Linux person you were having a discussion with? They think everyone else, but them are stupid
Admin
horizontal scaling
Admin
I see you're typing because sound can't travel in that vacuum you're in. Shawn was lucky to have a spare monitor because these kinds of bosses are often cheapskates when it comes to hardware that the business actually needs to function.