Generic Pet Peeves

[Glenn Schroeder]

There is already one for Solidworks, but sometimes we have things get under our skin that are unrelated to software. It's generally the organic beings we interact with.

Here's my first example. It's clients that send us pdf's with drawings, and they need to be rotated before I can read them. Yes, I know it's not that difficult for me to rotate them, but it boggles my mind that someone would send out a drawing that way. I couldn't do it.

[Frederick_Law]

People leave voice msg: "Call me"

[SPerman]

The guy who is ruining the morale of the good employees because he brags about how little he actually does during the day. (And the boss who won't fire anybody, for any reason.)

[the_h4mmer]

When people go against their word

[jcapriotti]

When you attend a meeting and are asked if there is an issue moving a server to Azure, and they tell you it must be moved, no exceptions?

And now we have issues.......

[Glenn Schroeder]

When you attend a meeting and are asked if there is an issue moving a server to Azure, and they tell you it must be moved, no exceptions?

And now we have issues.......

Well at least they asked.

[SPerman]

"Why can't I email .exe files? The IT department just makes up stupid rules for no good reason."



(Edit: That is the grief I get from others. Not my view.)

[mattpeneguy]

There is already one for Solidworks, but sometimes we have things get under our skin that are unrelated to software. It's generally the organic beings we interact with.

Here's my first example. It's clients that send us pdf's with drawings, and they need to be rotated before I can read them. Yes, I know it's not that difficult for me to rotate them, but it boggles my mind that someone would send out a drawing that way. I couldn't do it.

[DennisD]

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Not only are you, Matt, the answer to that question, but you are the answer to so many more!

[mattpeneguy]

"Why can't I email .exe files? The IT department just makes up stupid rules for no good reason."



(Edit: That is the grief I get from others. Not my view.)

Even worse, why can't I open .exe files in the emails I receive?...

[jcapriotti]

Even worse, why can't I open .exe files in the emails I receive?...

Because you are a danger to yourself. The next step is to stop all EXEs from executing and move everything to the harmonious cloud where there are no more files for you to hurt yourself with.

[Tom G]

Cross threaded twist ties. It should tighten clockwise, like a screw.

[Glenn Schroeder]

When someone is driving 5 mph under the speed limit, and won't move out of the left lane, it should be legal to run them off the road.

[SPerman]

I am about to drive home in the rain, which means everyone on the interstate will be driving 40 mph, with their flashers on, in all 4 lanes.

I have no problem if you are afraid of driving on wet roads, but please, get the heck out of the far left lane.

[Frederick_Law]

Because you are a danger to yourself. The next step is to stop all EXEs from executing and move everything to the harmonious cloud where there are no more files for you to hurt yourself with.

I can send you a reg file to block all exe files.
You'll be surprise how many IT didn't block running of reg file.

[Frederick_Law]

I have no problem if you are afraid of driving on wet roads, but please, get the heck out of the far left lane.

If anyone is afraid to drive, get a Uber, taxi, bus, or walk.

[jcapriotti]

I can send you a reg file to block all exe files.
You'll be surprise how many IT didn't block running of reg file.

Our company approach now is to block everything, then only unblock selective stuff based on what needs it. More secure I suppose, but business slows to a crawl as you have to open tickets and justify every change. The red tape get thicker and thicker.

[Frederick_Law]

If you see your computer has Sophos, good luck. It default to block everything. It was blocking Soildworks bug report because of .ASPX or something like that in web connection. Took them a few days to figure out how to unblock it.

[jcapriotti]

If you see your computer has Sophos, good luck. It default to block everything. It was blocking Soildworks bug report because of .ASPX or something like that in web connection. Took them a few days to figure out how to unblock it.

Haven't seen that one but our PCs have Win Defender, McAfee, and Carbon Black. When something stops working or works very slowly it becomes a game of hunt for the offending antivirus software. Had a couple of PDM reports that are run from EXE files that went from 5 seconds to 5-10 minutes. Windows Defender was the culprit but no one could tells us why or how to fix it. Not every PC would exhibit the behavior either.

[Frederick_Law]

Check extension of the report file. Add it to exception.
CAD program like to create a temp file first and rename it at the end.
So the temp file could have another extension.
If possible, add all CAD file extension to exception.
Also where does the EXE create file, local or server?

[jcapriotti]

Check extension of the report file. Add it to exception.
CAD program like to create a temp file first and rename it at the end.
So the temp file could have another extension.
If possible, add all CAD file extension to exception.
Also where does the EXE create file, local or server?

It doesn't create any files. It resides on a server and we have PDM buttons on the data cards that launch them. The report is generated at runtime. The GUI takes 5 minutes to come up, not the report running part, which is normal once the programs opens.

Also, we can't just add exceptions. We must open a ticket which has to get approved so an outside company can make the changes. It was all so simple when we handled this internally. Now we work with outside companies to become more secure.

[SPerman]

There was a time, back in the ancient days of computers, where the OS didn't try and "help" you select text. You put the cursor where you wanted the selection to begin, and drug it to where you wanted the selection to end. I hate the fact that Windows decides it knows what you want to select. 95% of the time it is wrong, and takes much effort to only select the text I want.

[Glenn Schroeder]

There was a time, back in the ancient days of computers, where the OS didn't try and "help" you select text. You put the cursor where you wanted the selection to begin, and drug it to where you wanted the selection to end. I hate the fact that Windows decides it knows what you want to select. 95% of the time it is wrong, and takes much effort to only select the text I want.

We use Outlook for email here. It's especially bad about that.

[DanPihlaja]

We use Outlook for email here. It's especially bad about that.

I have resorted to using SHIFT + arrow keys to select text.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

Even worse, why can't I open .exe files in the emails I receive?...

Why did my screen go blank and say "Pay $2000 to regain access to your computer" when I opened a .exe on a email I received?....

[Ömür Tokman]

"Why can't I email .exe files? The IT department just makes up stupid rules for no good reason."



(Edit: That is the grief I get from others. Not my view.)

Change your extension and leave a note.
"Please change the extension to exe"
Who cares about the rules. (don't let the boss hear!)

Not:I am currently using this method.

[mike miller]

There was a time, back in the ancient days of computers, where the OS didn't try and "help" you select text. You put the cursor where you wanted the selection to begin, and drug it to where you wanted the selection to end. I hate the fact that Windows decides it knows what you want to select. 95% of the time it is wrong, and takes much effort to only select the text I want.

Just discovered this by experimenting with it.

Click. Hold ALT. Drag your selection and it won't jump to whole words.

[Glenn Schroeder]

About 10:30 this morning I got a pop-up that Solidworks couldn't connect to the server, and it shut down. I checked with a coworker, who reported the same issue. I immediately called IT, told the guy what had happened, and that the problem was on their end. He logged into my computer and pharted around for about four hours, and then told me the problem was on their end.

[Frederick_Law]

Same thing when I contact reseller.
Usually I'll test laptop on cell network to make sure it's SW problem.

[Glenn Schroeder]

Same thing when I contact reseller.
Usually I'll test laptop on cell network to make sure it's SW problem.

At least it was fixed yesterday morning when I got to work.

[Glenn Schroeder]

While I generate most of the drawings we use here to construct the test installations, we sometimes get drawings from the client. They want to save money and have them done in-house. The quality is often "questionable".

Our construction supervisor just showed me a set and said there seemed to be a discrepancy between the drawing views and the BOM quantities. What did I think he should do?

My answer: "Do nothing until you get clarification from the client. Make no assumptions."

[DanPihlaja]

While I generate most of the drawings we use here to construct the test installations, we sometimes get drawings from the client. They want to save money and have them done in-house. The quality is often "questionable".

Our construction supervisor just showed me a set and said there seemed to be a discrepancy between the drawing views and the BOM quantities. What did I think he should do?

My answer: "Do nothing until you get clarification from the client. Make no assumptions."

I absolutely hate it when I (or another designer here) have made a mistake and the vendor sees that mistake and then makes an assumption as to what I might have meant, and then moves on with the $10,000+ project without picking up the phone or sending an email.

People who do that more than once will lose their business from me. I don't care how hot the project is.

Everyone makes mistakes....but if you see one....call it out....find out why or what or who...

[SPerman]

There should be an international standard for Pan/Tilt/Zoom mouse key combinations.

[Glenn Schroeder]

There should be an international standard for Pan/Tilt/Zoom mouse key combinations.

I agree, and Google maps has it backwards. Rolling the wheel toward you should zoom in. And that's not just because I'm prejudiced toward the default behavior with Solidworks. It seems counterintuitive to me to roll the scroll wheel away to zoom in.

[SPerman]

Rolling the wheel toward you should zoom in.

I would agree with you, but you're wrong.

As long as they give you the option to invert, I'm happy. Not all software has that option.

[jcapriotti]

I agree, and Google maps has it backwards. Rolling the wheel toward you should zoom in. And that's not just because I'm prejudiced toward the default behavior with Solidworks. It seems counterintuitive to me to roll the scroll wheel away to zoom in.

Fall back or fall forward.....

SolidWorks feel more nature since it's how a 3d mouse work, push the part away (Roll up), and pull the part toward you (Roll down) But a lot of programs have seemed to standardize based on how Photoshop works so maybe 2D systems are to blame.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

Fall back or fall forward.....

SolidWorks feel more nature since it's how a 3d mouse work, push the part away (Roll up), and pull the part toward you (Roll down) But a lot of programs have seemed to standardize based on how Photoshop works so maybe 2D systems are to blame.

Actually every other system, Outlook, Word, File Explorer, etc. you roll towards you to zoom in. This a DEEP rabbit hole you could spend pages debating...

[Frederick_Law]

And the fact that you can change scroll direction in Windows.

[jcapriotti]

When users just put anything and everything in PDM.......no.....just no.

@bnemec Surely you never have this happen?

[bnemec]

When users just put anything and everything in PDM.......no.....just no.

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@bnemec Surely you never have this happen?

Actually, more of the opposite. People trying to avoid the vault for things that must go in. Things like CAD files for example.

You must have a much better vault implementation than we do.

[AlexB]

Actually, more of the opposite. People trying to avoid the vault for things that must go in. Things like CAD files for example.

You must have a much better vault implementation than we do.

Turn this on for your user's warnings. They won't be able to check anything in even if one little thing is outside the vault. This will force them to be all-in or not-in-at-all.

[bnemec]

Turn this on for your user's warnings. They won't be able to check anything in even if one little thing is outside the vault. This will force them to be all-in or not-in-at-all.
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Yep, that's been checked since shortly after migration. There's just not much love of the vault here yet/still.

But as Jason pointed out there is some litter that shows up. We set up the "Add to Vault" filters pretty strict though.

[AlexB]

There's just not much love of the vault here yet/still.

Yeah, that seems to be pretty common for a lot of folks around here as well. They begrudgingly use it though.

[jcapriotti]

Yep, that's been checked since shortly after migration. There's just not much love of the vault here yet/still.

But as Jason pointed out there is some litter that shows up. We set up the "Add to Vault" filters pretty strict though.

In this case the files weren't checked in, still in the private state, however they are secretly uploaded on drag and drop. Also had another user with a folder called "Desktop" and an image file alluding to it being credit card information.

[bnemec]

In this case the files weren't checked in, still in the private state, however they are secretly uploaded on drag and drop. Also had another user with a folder called "Desktop" and an image file alluding to it being credit card information.

That might take the prize! Did they also share a pic of SS Card and DL?


I have not seen Documents or Downloads in the vault yet. So people here still trust the roaming profiles more than PDM.

I moved changed the location for Documents, Downloads etc. to local path; I have one of the shortest login/out waits.

[Frederick_Law]

Wait till someone drag and drop Vault into anther Vault folder.

[bnemec]

Wait till someone drag and drop Vault into anther Vault folder.

Oh that was done several times by several people in the first 72 hrs

As well as obsoleted (changed state) on a top level files along with every single component in the extended BOM too.

[Frederick_Law]

Thanks, I'll copy that.
Corporate use PDM and SW, not changing that.
Locally we use Vault and IV. I need to make some changes.

[Uncle_Hairball]

We use Outlook for email here. It's especially bad about that.

You can turn that 'feature' off in MS Office applications, including Outlook.

[Glenn Schroeder]

You can turn that 'feature' off in MS Office applications, including Outlook.

Would you mind explaining the process?