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PC Buyers Guide Event - Page 2

© Chris Cruickshank

Windows "big brother", Windows NT WILL stop you having access to the computer unless you log in so I can't help wondering why this feature is featured as it is. Of course, its' real purpose is for those logging on to a network so that they can be identified. A network administrator can set "privileges" as to which parts of the system a user can access.

Seeing as Windows 9x was featured as the "home users system", you would have thought the Microsoft could have implemented this feature in a better way.

Making "Easy" Difficult

Those of you who read my articles on a regular basis will probably know that I tend to think that computers follow this practice.

Why do things in a simple way when there is a far more complicated way of doing it!

I can remember the "good old days of DOS" when you had to know commands in order to get the computer to do things. (I can remember back to the days of CP/M, which is even more fun!).

As a trainer, it never ceases to amaze me the different ways you can do the same job. At first, this sounds great, but can be a real problem for those learning. People often learn by watching others. This can be confusing when different people do things in completely different ways.

For example, I was in a meeting with my boss today, who, under his own admission is not the fastest computer user around. He wanted to copy some spreadsheets from a floppy disk to his hard disk. Now if I were doing this, I would have used Windows Explorer clicked and dragged the files from floppy disk to hard disk.

My boss decided to load Excel, load the file and then perform a "Save As" and saved it to the hard drive. He asked me if "That was the right way to do it". I could have mentioned the Windows Explorer way (which was much quicker), but I said "Have you got the files onto your hard disk?" "Yes" he replied. Then that is the correct way!

Sometimes it's hard to see the wood from the trees and I wonder how many people are doing things "right, but slower"? (I wonder too, which tasks I am doing in a slower fashion too!).

You can buy "tricks and tips" books on speeding up your work but they all have one failing (through no fault of their own). They are all based on ways that the author finds quicker. It depends on whether you think the same way as they do!

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