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Showing posts with label Computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computers. Show all posts

Friday, August 31, 2012

My Library is so broke... --How broke is it?

Maybe patrons would feel bad for us and give the library more money...

We use counterfeit copies of Microsoft Windows.

It was only a reimaging issue with this catalog computer, but I think it would be interesting to have these messages pop-up on our public PC's more often.  Maybe some patrons would finally realize how little of their tax payer money actually goes to the library that they would be willing to give more funding.  The library literally makes up less than 2% of the entire County budget, but is used by almost half of the population.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Damn Mice...

To all of the novice PC users who come in to the public library to use the internet stations I can understand your frustration.
I do try my best to give you as much one on one time in between answering the phones and helping other patrons at the information desk.
I know how difficult it is to learn how to use a mouse properly.
Yes, there is a ridiculous amount of buttons on today's mouse, most of which are never utilized by the general public.
I can understand how confusing it is at first: the right and left buttons work independently from each other, and yes, double-clicking does seem odd at first and  it does take some practice.
And of course, one of those buttons happens to control the pointer speed.
I do apologize for them, because the settings seem to run from "Squirrel on Crack" to "Must Use a 3' x 3' Mousepad."
If it is any consolation, at least they are optical.
Back in the day, the mouse I learned with was awkwardly shaped like a brick and the pointer would skip wildly around on the screen when the track rollers got dirty, which was all the time.
So don't give up, once we get past the basics I'll explain why I didn't show any excitement when you came up to the desk to tell me that the internet told you, "Congratulations!  You have been chosen as today's lucky winner!"