Screenshots 0.1



  • I work at a help desk, so when users call in with problems I usually like them to send along a screenshot. The popular method (stemming from the 800x600 days, maybe?) is print-screening their entire 1280x1024 desktop and pasting it into a Word document, all so I can read two lines of arcane Microsoft error code. I try to show my users the virtues of Alt+PrintScreen and pasting into Paint (or better yet the actual email they're composing). I think I got through to one of them, though I don't think this person quite has the concept nailed down.

    Behold the screenshot of an email containing an attached screenshot of a Word document which contains the actual screenshot!



  • Wait, I'm confused. It appears that the wooden table has made its way into the actual Web site! Shouldn't the wood-grain be the outer-most part? :)

    That game is kinda fun!



  • That's actually a very high definition 0.1 screenshot! It's probably lossy, even more so because you made a screenshot of your mail program with your screenshot, but it's really not that bad! I am missing that 'bad lens, noisy sensor, shaky hand' quality.



  •  

     

    Now that is a proper 0.1 screen shot, although no wooden table was involved.
     



  • @Gabelstaplerfahrer said:

    [IMG]

    Now that is a proper 0.1 screen shot, although no wooden table was involved.

    I am speechless!

    A screenshot of a PDF of a fax of a screenshot by the look of it! 



  • Yes, and rotated! I love that.

    And also, note that my screenshot is a jpeg saved with MS Paint. For that authentic feeling.



  • Oh, it ain't just you.

     

    At my last company, we had a trouble ticket tracking system. When a user entered a ticket, they had the option to (and were encouraged to) attach a screenshot of the error. We even added instructions for capturing a screenshot (the alt-prtscn combo).

     More often than not, we received a screenshot...of the ticket entry form itself. They ALT-PRTSCNed the current form without focusing on the window with the problem. Even though they could see that they were including a screenie of the form they were filling out, and not the problem program, they still sent it thru as such.

    That job...I miss it. I don't have NEARLY the number of daily WTFs where I am now.  


     

     

     


     



  • That's nothing.  My father couldn't figure out how to send links.  Solution?  He'd print the web page, scan it, then email the scan to me.

    To be fair, though, he'd had a stroke.
     



  • Oh, I have one!

     So I got this image in a help ticket...

    • user gets error 500
    • print from browser
    • pin to thumb board
    • take picture with digital camera
    • put picture on pc and include in ticket.



  • @RobbieAreBest said:

    Oh, I have one!

     So I got this image in a help ticket...

    • user gets error 500
    • print from browser
    • pin to thumb board
    • take picture with digital camera
    • put picture on pc and include in ticket.

    The thumbtack is a nice touch.  Guess they didn't have any wooden tables handy.  (Any shot of a printout tacked to faux wood paneling henceforth receives bonus points.)
     



  • Ok, I can imagine that the print screen function may seem arcane and counterintuitive for some computer newbies. But, I mean, they at least have to know copy/paste, do they? I mean, come on...



  •  Don't mid me, just leveling up my thread necromancer.



  • @Vechni said:

     Don't mid me, just leveling up my thread necromancer.

    -3 Internets


  • @Vechni said:

     Don't mid me, just leveling up my thread necromancer.

    My string golem just set fire to your thread necromancer!  Ganked!

     



  • Firaga! Blizzaga! Thundaga! What, no effect? Impossible! Then it's time for the ultimate spell! Maaaagic Missile!

    *crushed under the weight of an ICBM appearing out of the void just a few inches above my head*

    Avenge... me... defeat... Vechni... remember... necromancers... hate... being... healed... urrrrrg....



  • @ekolis said:

    Firaga! Blizzaga! Thundaga! What, no effect? Impossible! Then it's time for the ultimate spell! Maaaagic Missile!

    *crushed under the weight of an ICBM appearing out of the void just a few inches above my head*

    Avenge... me... defeat... Vechni... remember... necromancers... hate... being... healed... urrrrrg....

    My name is Vechni Montoya.  You killed my father.

    Prepare to die!



  • @PSWorx said:

    Ok, I can imagine that the print screen function may seem arcane and counterintuitive for some computer newbies. But, I mean, they at least have to know copy/paste, do they? I mean, come on...

    The situation: The user has encounter some error message and become to flustered to read the text aloud, describe the situation that led to the error, or even name the program they need help with, is only babbling unhelpfully...

     

    User: It says error-something... auto-whose-it failed, help! I need this to work now and it's not working... [and repeats this in several variations for about 3 minutes without pausing to take a breath]

    Me: OK, I think I "understand" [I say lying to be reassuring] but can you email me a print-screen of the error message; do you know how to do that?

    User: Yes; but our "print-screen" expert told me it's busted on my computer.

    Me: [mouths: WTF?!] Hmmm, could we try it anyway, maybe we will be lucky and it will work today? Can you press the key labelled "Print Screen" or "P-R-N-T S-C-R-N" on your keyboard, it's usually above the numeric keybad on the righ hand side.

    User: I did push it, but like our expert said it's broken. There is nothing printing out at all.

    Me: Ummm, that's all right. Could you open Microsoft Word for me?

    User: Alright

    Me: Now, go to edit and choose "Paste". Is that the screen showing the error.

    User: Umm, yes. How did it do that?

    Me: That's ok, you'll have to tell the "expert" that it is working after-all. That is actually how it is supposed to work. Can you save that Word document to your desktop and send it to me... Thanks.



  •  @Vechni said:

     Don't mid me, just leveling up my thread necromancer.

    Gah! Tricked the zombie thread I was.



  • There is a whole world of mouthbreathing computer users out there who don't understand that there are more file formats beyond .doc, .xls and .ppt. The concept of sending any form of attachment that isn't in one of these 3 formats is alien to them.


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