• edric@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    “The computer forgot my password” is new to me. lol good one.

    • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m not IT, just a college instructor, but you’d be amazed at how many Gen Z students have told me that they can’t log into their email because they don’t know their own password. Not even forgot; they don’t even know it in the first place because every device remembers everything for them.

      • virku@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        To be fair that is basically what we are trying to get people to do though. Use a good password vault with a single strong password and two factor authentication. All other passwords should be a uniquely generated password for that application.

        • dingus@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          One of the reasons why I don’t want to use a password manager, actually. If you get locked out of that, you’re fucked.

            • doctordevice@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Ease of syncing across devices has me using an internet-based password manager (Bitwarden), but I keep a second local-only password manager (Keepass) that only stores my Bitwarden password. Just in case.

              • PopShark@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Hey that’s real smart but what if you forget the Keepass password when trying to retrieve the Bitwarden password you forgot lol?

                I use Bitwarden myself and love them. Great software great organization it seems. They didn’t even send any bullshit marketing “noooo come back YOULL LOSE EVERYTHING” emails companies love to send when you downgrade from paid to free tier and that right away bumps them up in my mind.

          • Kairos@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            Backups + OSS.

            I use Bitwarden and JSON backups inside a 7zip. I ALWAYS backup after I make a new password that can’t be changed via email.

      • Z3k3@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’ll be honest as an IT professional of 25 plus years I don’t know .y passwords either but that’s because I let a password manager deal with it for me.

        I have had people older than me complain the comp forgot the pass in my desktop days.

        There was also it’s cousin. I am definitely meeting the complexity requirements why isn’t it saving

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          My favorite are the services that keep rejecting the randomized passwords so I have to manually think of a password. I ain’t creative enough on the spot for that! Just accept my /dev/urandom output dammit!

      • explodicle@local106.com
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        1 year ago

        Caring about that has been beaten out of them by increasingly absurd password requirements over dozens of systems. They won’t memorize it, won’t write it down physically, and use the web browser to save it.

        “But my system is different, I…”

        Nobody cares. The password is just a speed bump in doing the thing they actually want to do.

      • papalonian@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Like others have said they’re probably using Google as a password manager. When you’re making an account for anything while in the Chrome browser it recommends strong passwords for you such as UjafUif&i$ureT6hj9gzq5hvc$tcgo0be3. Would you memorize it?

          • papalonian@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, I have my own password generation scheme. Not the most secure thing in the world but I’m at least able to log in to my accounts from other people’s computers. One of these days I’ll get around to using a password manager but I just can’t be bothered.

          • virku@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Why not both then? Make your own human readable passwords, but do a different one each time and store them in a password vault.

            • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Definitely. I don’t really do anything that is particularly sensitive, so I only have 3-4 standard passwords (that meet the most common complexity criteria) that I separate by how sensitive the information/service is, but if I truly needed more, I would absolutely be using a 3rd party password vault. I just don’t have the need right now, so I haven’t bothered.

              What gets me is the people that don’t know their own passwords, don’t know how/where to look them up, and don’t even understand how to reset their passwords (because they can’t log into their own email). I don’t even know how they function in modern society.

              • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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                1 year ago

                What gets me is the people that don’t know their own passwords, don’t know how/where to look them up, and don’t even understand how to reset their passwords

                I worked support for a phone manufacturer for a while and helped a lot of poor lost souls struggle to get back into their Google accounts on their new and replacement devices. I got a lot of them in, but some may have never gotten out of authentication hell

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        My girlfriend (millenial) is like that as well and it is infuriating. I tell her time and time again, just use a password manager that isn’t the browser’s password manager and you are golden. You just need to remember one “complicated” password, i.e. something with more than 8 characters and that’s it.

        The many times she doesn’t know her password to important account is mind boggling.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I’m GenX and I don’t know my email password…

        Though I’m 99% sure it’s in keepass somewhere.

      • Caesium@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        ironically I think tech literacy is going down with future gens thanks to so many functions getting automated. Kids aren’t learning how their computers work because it does all of work for them

        • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I hate to be a “kids these days” person, but you’re absolutely right. My Gen Z students don’t even understand how folder/file structure works; they just download everything onto their desktop and use the search function to find what they need later. If they can’t remember what something was called, they’re SOL.

          Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of faith in Gen Z and Alpha, but their strengths are definitely not the strengths of Millenials or Gen X.

  • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    In defense of ‘the computer forgot my password’ guy I’m sure we’ve all experienced the following sequence.

    • Incorrect password
    • Go to change password
    • New password cannot be the same as the old password
    • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I would interpret ‘the computer forgot my password’ as someone accidentally getting logged out of their password manager

    • dgbbad@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      **

      • Go to change password
      • They also don’t know the password of the email address the reset email is sent to

      *idk how to format

      • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        This struggle is real. Except I forget which email address I used because I use a lot of aliases.

        Normally my password manager would handle it but sometimes there’s re-branding and a new domain and the password manager can’t figure it out.

      • kattenluik@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        I’m sorry to tell you this so hastily but everyone else is a bot, it is just you and everything you’ve experienced is completely unique to you.

    • Uglyhead@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Fun thing is,… the cycle repeats.

      ~20% of Boomers had good working knowledge of the technologies of their age, similar to today.

        • Uglyhead@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve had people close to me say the same thing.

          A person who knew thoroughly how to install software and get computers up and running in the 80’s and 90’s, now had no interest at all in learning how to use a cellphone. Cognitive decline/brain shrink inevitably started happening at age 40 or so and it made it more and more difficult to understand the new tech.

          Similar thing happens with music, and keeping up to date with new artists and so forth. As you get older I guess you just start to not give a shit as much at all about the newfangled jibjabs and doohickeys.

          Meme incoming (oh I found the clip!) —-> https://youtu.be/BGrfhsxxmdE?si=A76DPdg4z4ZMxQL7

        • Random_Character_A@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If the day comes that you have deal with your personal matters or bank business through those services, I’ll put a bullet through my brain.

      • dingus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Idk. I’m not in IT, but I’ve always seemed to have a tendency to try to troubleshoot tech problems.

        I help out my coworkers, parents, and even my younger sibling on occasion (he’s in his early 20s). If it’s solely an age thing, then you’d think I wouldn’t be doing it with those similar to my own age or younger than me.

        At work I even figured out why our headsets (vital to our job) would intermittently fail and stop working, absolutely destroying our workflow. Our IT department couldn’t manage to figure it out. But I eventually found that it intermittently conflicted with a program on the computer (Microsoft Teams).

        I’m absolutely no genius and my knowledge is probably rather minimal. But I think it’s a difference in attitude and affinity for the stuff.

      • _lilith@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah no. Most of em just decided they don’t have to learn anything anymore and have this learned helplessness with technology. I have seen 70 year olds trouble shoot a computer like champions but a dude in his 50’s just “isn’t good with computers” and can’t change the font size in word without his hand held

    • hakunawazo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I see it as a fair deal. They paid my absurdly high phone bill as I fell for dial up scammers in my youth while experimenting with fresh new internet, and so I abandon all hope of lazy free time and help them with their unresponding printer now.

  • OttoVonNoob@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Fun story, I worked IT for an American Telecom company. One day I recieved a phone call from a guy who was setting up his router. We were maybe five minutes into troubleshooting. He asks if he can eat his dinner while we troubleshoot and I say “no worries”. Within thirty seconds, I hear a bang and panicd screaming. He informs me he dumped soy sauce and rice all over his router and work space. I sent a field tech to replace the router and set it up.

    Edit: This comic is the norm not the unusual…

  • elbucho@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    At one point in a former life, I was one of the trainers for the incoming helpdesk technicians. One of the practical exams we put them through involved us doing creative things to fuck with their computers before they came to class, and then having them figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. Plugging the mouse from one computer into its neighbor’s USB port and vice versa was one of my favorite tricks. For whatever reason, it had a 100% success rate in effectively fucking with them.

    • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      That’s lame and easy to figure out.

      Switch to wireless mice. Maybe Logitech Unifying. Then one day pull all the dongles out and put them in a bucket.

      First person to figure out how to download and install the unifying software and re-pair their mouse without using it gets a bonus.

      But most people nowadays are lost without mice so they’d probably cycle through all the dongles on the laptop plugged into the projector and all move their mice until they figure out which is whose.

    • skulblaka@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      Damn, I haven’t been reminded of BOFH in a while. Those are due for another read through, along with maybe the Jargon Files too.

      • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        I still have fond memories of the episode where his excuse calendar comes up “solar flares” and he proceeds to explain to people how their devices aren’t working because magnetic interference from the sun is moving the bits on the hard drive around.

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been on both sides of it. One of my favorite IT moments was changing to a new phone. I couldn’t access my email until I did a two factor auth process. Of course they emailed me my code to access my account to unlock my email. Good thing I also had a pc at home with access to my email.

    Then I was supporting a lab. One woman was clearly aggravated when she called. She said no matter what she did her screen was blank. I head right over and just look at it for a few secs. I check the lowest hanging fruit solution first and see the power light on her monitor isn’t on. I see it is unplugged, plug her monitor in and problem solved. I’ve never seen a more embarrassed person than her. lol

    Networking has to be the most thankless job in IT. You are invisible when the system is working, which is 99% of the time. It stays up like that because they are monitoring it and maintaining it behind the scenes. When it fails though the failure can be catastrophic for everyone, we literally cannot do any work without it. Then everyone’s eyes, and criticism, is on them.

  • OttoVonNoob@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    My coworker had a customer shoot his router. So, yes alot of American small business owners are Frank Reynolds.

  • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Love these. Reminds my of the CD drive cup holder and my personal favorite at my shop was the computer was afraid of me. Every time I came near to fix the problem they were having it went away. I was told the computer must be afraid of me and knows when I’m coming

    • winky88@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      The number of people who fail to recognize what it (typically) means when an issue magically disappears while Simone is looking over their shoulder is absurd.

  • WanakaTree@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I worked at an office once where the wifi legitimately got worse when it rained. It was because the buildings internet used an antenna instead of being wired, and the building was just barely in range of the source signal. When it rained, it was enough added distortion to make it noticeably worse.

  • _lilith@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I asked a guy for his host name today and he straight up said “No” wtf man what do you want from me then?

  • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Why doesn’t Uber specific hardware that the vendor DEMANDED be put on a switch that we don’t have credentials for not work seamlessly with the network?!?”

    “Because it doesn’t confirm to the standards of TCP/IP, and requires a dual NIC solution because God forbid they design their system to allow basic routing.”

    “You just don’t know what you’re doing!”

    “No, I’m just not going to volunteer myself to learn FCoIP so that your one special system has the support it needs until we deprecate it in six months.”

    • TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      All they hear:

      You just don’t know what you’re doing!"

      "No, I’m just not going to volunteer myself to learn