3 Computing Features We All Love to Hate

Computers are an integral part of our daily lives; we use them at work, at home and even on the move, and we all have a plethora of programs and apps that we rely on to make our lives easier.

Sometimes, however, computers don’t make our lives easier; they can make them worse. They can do things which drive even the most level-headed of technophiles into a fist-pounding rage – all thanks to those features that we love to hate.

Restart Now or Postpone

You’re hard at work when a little window pops up in the corner of your screen. “Your computer needs to restart to finish installing important updates,” it says. But you don’t want to restart; you’ve got important work to do today and you need to use your computer all day. Well, sorry, the window says. Your only options are to postpone it for ten minutes, one hour or four hours. This nagging and often ill-timed reminder is disliked by many users – which is why more recent versions of Windows have tried to make the update process more user-friendly.

Irritating PopUps

The humble paperclip is a clever and useful little thing. When Microsoft added eyes and animated it as their Office assistant “Clippy”, it turned into an annoying and widely detested thing. You couldn’t type more than a couple of words without him appearing in the corner, leering out at you. “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?”

Whilst the idea of context-relevant help is a sound one, Clippy interrupted even the most basic tasks, and many found him frustrating at best. In 2002, he was turned off by default, and in 2007 he was banished altogether. He may be gone, but he’s certainly not missed!

Toolbars, Toolbars Everywhere!

Browser toolbars can be useful, adding extra functionality that’s just a click away. The problem comes when you have too many, and the usable part of your screen gradually shrinks away into nothing. How does this happen? It’s because toolbars are so often bundled with other software, sometimes even with installers that don’t give you the option to say no to them. This often means that the average user ends up with toolbars they don’t use, don’t need and don’t want, and don’t know how to get rid of.

As specialists in IT support in London, however, we’ve got some good news for you – annoying features like these can often be disabled, leaving you free to get on with your work in peace. Our support and maintenance contracts mean that you can call us on any time, whether it’s to ask how to disable an annoying feature or to set up remote working for your employees. For more information, contact us today on 01707 378453 to speak to our team.