I dare to say most Linux users know more about windows problem solving than the average windows user
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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That's only true for a time. After you stop dealing with Windows for enough years, you just forget the bullshit and you become almost as clueless as the guy asking for help. You're really good at Linux though. So when they ask for help you are all like:
But with a less annoying and more kidnapper vibe where you're withholding your valuable help till the bastard pays ransom. "You want help? Switch to Linux." You don't care if they don't.
Just knowing how to use Google/ddg/etc to search for a solution to your problem makes you better at troubleshooting than most people. Spending 30 seconds to find a relevant link can make you seem like a genius to a lot of people.
Seriously. I work in IT (mostly Linux) but whatever OS 90% of the Job is knowing how to properly phrase problems for Google and then you just need to know how/where to apply solutions.
Unless most "relevant" answers point to a Microsoft help forum with shit answers.
I have to use windows for work and I hate this bullshit.
I was going to make a joke saying "What, you don't appreciate Andre Da Costa telling you to reboot your computer?" but tbh the reason I do remember him is because he often had actual solutions.
Crazy that out of the thousands of Microsoft MVPs, there was exactly one that knew how to make your Windows shit work, and now he's no longer affiliated with Microsoft either.
I used to work with supporting the general public with computer usage. It was pretty much a nightmare.
I basically decided that, were I ever to become a benevolent dictator, the words "It just says 'error'", barring the rare exception where "error" and "ok" were the only things on screen...would result in immediate revocation of citizenship and deportation to wherever a dart landed on the map. If they were really nice, we'd let them throw the dart, or designate a champion to throw the dart for them.
This could work out really well for them! Either way, support staff wouldn't have to put up with it from that individual anymore.
(EDIT: No, the middle of the Atacama / Sahara Desert, the poles, R'lyeh, nor the ocean, would be valid. I said benevolent.)
...Yeah I'm still working with a mental health professional untangling what that job did to me. Lol
This sounds completely fair and benevolent. A lesser dictator would have them thrown into the pit of despair.
Yep. Haven't used windows besides poking at other people's machines and trying to figure out wtf is going on in about 20 years.
I'm just as clueless as you bud, but I've got a bootable Linux drive I can plug in. Come on, you know you wanna... It'll be great, you'll love it. It's free
I've been on Linux exclusively for over 5 years now. I'm starting to struggle with some Windows stuff that I just forgot how to do. But also I'm still shit at Linux. It just works so well that I never really had to learn what's under the hood.
I think another part of this is that you can do a little sleuthing in Linux and generally figure out what's causing an issue because the error messages are generally helpful!
In Linux, running a buggy / non-starting app in terminal will usually spit out something understandable. I think once we figure this out it spoils us a little.
Windows on the other hand, with anything that actually requires intervention, seems to go out of its way to be obtuse and goes all "contact your system administrator" about it. You spend more time trying to look up and cipher their "error codes" and dealing with unhelpful "support" than figuring the problem. (Which usually involves "nuke and pave a driver" anyway. Lol)
Maybe for some, but even if you have to keep it up because your work it relatives demand it, Windows ecosystem is essentially impossible to debug when it hits issues and you just have to take guesses as to why the obscure bad behavior is happening.
Windows is better at not needing to be fixed or the first place by self healing, whereas with Linux distributions you have to know how to fix those issues, but once it goes beyond easy to fix issues, Linux is reparable but windows isn't.
If it isn't blatantly obvious, it didn't fix itself, and SFC didn't fix it, then they always say reinstall...
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Dealing with Microsoft's bullshit has always been one of the most pursuasive arguments for Linux.
I dare to say most Linux users know more about windows problem solving than the average windows user
Well, your Windows skills are being represented by Bennett, who is no John Matrix, but also
isn't a standard civilian. And he does have that chain mail vest...that separates him from the normies too.
90% of problem solving is just Googling stuff and screwing with settings, which isn't particularly Linux specific.
Under Linux you find the root cause and fix it.
Under Windows you just try everything until something magically works.
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Except the success chances are significantly higher on Linux and It's easy to find a manual.
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In my experience professional Windows admins tend to be click ops guys. Trying to tell them that they don't need a GUI is impossible.
They are also the ones who will lock onto legacy ways of doing things. Try telling them that the thing they are trying to do is in the settings app.
Then they're shit admins, I'm always using Command Prompt and Powershell because the GUI fell short somewhere.
Also
Try telling them that the thing they are trying to do is in the settings app.
There's a reason for that, the settings app is trash the second you need to do something beyond the basics and doesn't cover enterprisey things whatsoever
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Just install Linux. Should fix most of their Windows problems.
At the expense of an exciting new array of problems!
But now they're Linux problems and easier to solve!
I know we're joking about how obnoxious we are when we make this recommendation... But it's also true. Linux problems are much more likely to be solveable. The proprietary "no serviceable parts within" boxes are much rarer.
It's a bit of both. I agreeey that Linux problems are actually solvable, but we're also willing to put up with a lot more because of that. (Admittedly, Window's enshitification is helping with the last part)
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"Did they change that fucking control panel setting/menu again?? Where the fuck is it!"
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What are you talking about? I love playing fun little games like "find out which of the three control panels has the option I need" and "trying not to click on the web results in local search".
I love how some control panel options now open settings and they still don't have fucking consistent theming
Whenever I get a tech question its always about how to navigate a gui I am unfamiliar with. And when I can't give them an answer, they assume I'm actually clueless about technology.
My least favourite technical support calls were with people who didn't know their own interface and I was having to direct them, blind, to get the information and do the diagnostics I needed.
There were at least a couple of times where I had to ask the customer to describe literally everything they saw on the screen starting at the top left and working their way down.
I sometimes pretend to be one of those people when I get tech support scammers on the phone because I know how tortuous it is.
This is why I always bounce around between all 3 major OS's (Yes yes, I know Linux distros complicate thongs)
Keeps me flexible, an OS is a tool and you need to use the best tool for the job at hand
I bet that if you stepped away from the computer while removing said thongs they wouldn't seem so complicated.
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windows is very complicated and inconsistent if you get to look under the hood
As a Linux user, I shit on Linux tutorials being obtuse because the solution is often like "then sudo [command]" and now run these 8 other commands. But at least with Linux commands, a smart person can piece together what's going on.
Windows, it's even worse. It's like a bunch of black boxes talking to other black boxes so after you right click to enable that property and add this registry key, you then have to reboot into your bios to turn on "Fuckboi" mode and take photos of your asshole for verification, then log into your Microsoft account to get this Powershell script and now you can finally see your children again.
And to add insult to injury, many of the issues in Windows are just "I don't want to do this the way MS wants everyone to do this."
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sfc /scannow
chkdsk /f
I always had a windows system around (for gaming, so it was kind of mandatory for a while), so I had a minimum level of know-how to fix most common issues on windows.
I've been telling people asking me for help that I would never be able to help them with W11, as I won't be touching it at all. Not even for work. It finally convinced quite a few that they did not need anything more than a linux box with a browser and libreoffice. Feels nice.
Just install Linux on a full wipe.
Whatever their windows problem was, it’s gone and they’ll never ask you again.
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