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“The computer forgot my password” is new to me. lol good one.
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.
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.
Yeah, I don’t know any of my passwords but the one password to rule them all.
Can you recommend a good, safe password vault?
Keepass and Bitwarden are the highly recommended password managers.
If you’re brave enough to roll your own: KeePass XC. If not, Bitwarden. (edit for clarity)
That’s not hosting, it’s just a local file.
If you want to access your KeePass safe from multiple devices (phone, tablet, PC, etc), you have to host it somewhere.
You can put it on Google drive or something similar. You could also use syncthing (like how I do it) and you still don’t have to host anything.
I recommend bitwarden. Make sure to have a good 2fa also like Aegis or raivo
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
If they use a password manager and randomly generated passwords, then it’s acceptable.
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.
Good ones have an unlock token or another one time use way of unlocking it in case you forget your master password.
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.
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.
My wife and I also keep our Keepass passwords in each other’s Bitwarden vaults.
So to lose access we’d both have to simultaneously forget our Bitwarden passwords AND be locked out of any biometric login. I consider that sufficiently unlikely.
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?
I get it, but I also don’t understand the idea of letting Google suggest a random secure password for me. Probably just the Genx/Millenial in me, but I subscribe to the xkcd school of random password generation (password generator), which makes it really easy to have secure passwords that meet complexity requirements and are also easy to memorize.
Why not both then? Make your own human readable passwords, but do a different one each time and store them in a password vault.
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.
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.
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.
Tip for anyone using Google Chrome password manager they can access it from any other device by going to passwords.google.com in the browser and logging in (probably best in incognito if not your device).
That’s a great tip. I don’t use chrome, so I didn’t know that.
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
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.
It’s like that with everything isn’t it? The problems have been off-loaded. In my company for example we used to make our own motors, now we buy them. I doubt there is anyone left who knows how to build one where I work.
My kid sister is the same way. Bought her a quest 3 for her bday. Took 3 days to get up and running because a) she had no idea what her meta account passwords were… had always just logged in on her phone… and b) none of the forgot password functions worked because she never cleared her Gmail mailbox so it had filled up and bounced previous facebook emails landing her on their internal do not send list.
I was livid.
I’ve had the same issue with gen z to gen x. It hurts my soul each time
I know people who don’t use a password manager so every time they have to type in a pw they have to go through the reset process.
Gonna have to actually use this one next time I lock myself out of my computer.
“My computer hates me” I’ve heard that one
“My computer is broken, it won’t turn on!”
“Are you sure it’s plugged in?”
“You think I’m stupid? Of course it’s plugged in! It’s broken!”
“Sometimes the plug isn’t in all the way and then it won’t work.”
“I know how to plug in a plug, it just won’t turn on because it is b-r-o-k-e-n!”
“Are you sure the plug is all the way in?”
“It’s all the way in. My computer is broken!”
“Im coming down there and if the plug isnt all the way in, I’ll be pissed and mock you.”
“IT’S BROKEN!”
Goes down there and plugs the plug all the way in
Computer starts
my brain sees “I’ll be pissed and mock you” and read it to me as “I’ll piss on you”.
Not a bad punishment for people don’t plug their plugs all the way in.
I had this with a person who said their screen stayed blank no matter what they did. I came down, saw the power light on the monitor was off, saw the plug was not plugged in, and fixed it. She was very embarrassed.
I actually want to get into IT. I like tech, don’t mind dumb situations, and enjoy helping people, and doubly so if it’s sarcastically helping people. Fucking shame every company wants like fourteen degrees and your first born for a level 1.
Certifications certifications certifications. Get your A+ or net+, apply for shitty remote help desk jobs like support.com. They will suck and you’ll get back to back calls, but keep your ears to the ground and a few months experience should be all you need to hop to something else. A lot of places are desperate for competent techs. Degrees don’t prove anything, I’m fact it seems like kids are graduating with these technical degrees and zero actual practical knowledge.
Source: My decade long IT career off just an associates degree.
I can confirm this. I was able to get a decent job right out of highschool with my certs I got at a technical college. Really as long as you can prove that you’re a fast learner, passionate about tech, and have the skillet to back it up it’s not hard to find a job. In my experience at least, which to be fair is only 6 years
Absolutely correct. Every single place outside of giants like Google take equivalent work experience instead of a degree. I dont even have an AA but I have 16 years experience and 11 certifications and make low 6 figures.
I have had an IT role and been a controls engineer for many years now. There is a fair amount of overlap in duties and you only need one degree for that. Basically, a lot of it is IT for machinery. I have a hell desk support team who keeps most of the basics at bay and every time they all get sick at once I remember why I love them.
I like how you skipped the preludes and just call them the hell desk. I am 100% sure that isn’t a typo and I’m never going to check to see if you edit it just in case.
You are correct. It wasn’t a typo. I stole it from the BOFH (bastard operator from ) Which if you are in IT you should read and laugh.
What machinery do you mean? Industrial machinery of some kind?
Industrial, government, chemical, even residential if the place is big enough.
The majority of people are genuinely thankful for your help. Sometimes they put off asking for help until they are very frustrated and you catch some of that heat but they calm down quickly. They also really like it if you have to sit down and work on their computer because it means they have an excuse to not work and have some coffee. There always seems to be that one person though that you dread helping because they are always pissy and sarcastic and blame you for everything.
Others have said here but for a help desk job it’s definitely more based on customer service ability. I came in from an admin job with a very long time in customer service prior to that but no other actual certs other than just being the person that people go to in the office for help and was told by my hiring manager it’s much more about ability to handle clients.
Now the next steps in my career I’m more worried about because it’s all very competitive at least where I am and everyone seems much more involved and knowledgeable of technology than I am. I know I can learn but it is pretty overwhelming.
Here’s some more pixels
it looks fine on my end
Thanks for the extra scenario!
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
I would interpret ‘the computer forgot my password’ as someone accidentally getting logged out of their password manager
Truly maddening
deleted by creator
Wind-proof router, here you go
Funnily enough, i think this might actually work to a degree
I highly recommend the original Bastard Operator From Hell stories, for those who read this comic and just nod yes with their heads and mentally go “Yeah, that’s how it is”.
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.
BOFH is still semi-regularly updated over at El Reg. It’s not the same (way different from the Striped Irregular Bucket days), but it’s still enjoyable.
You don’t need to be in IT, you just need boomer parents.
Fun thing is,… the cycle repeats.
~20% of Boomers had good working knowledge of the technologies of their age, similar to today.
Ill never lose touch with tech. Except fucking ticktock. Or temu. Or that other one.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
For every “I’m the bottom 10% of tech users” there is another 70% of the user base bitching about inept prioritization and service desk people who couldn’t troubleshoot process issues if their life were dependent on it.
Different people different skills.
My first fucking thought. I’m still waiting on helpdesk to respond to an issue I’ve already chased down to a registry key because I’m not allowed workstation admin privileges. 🙄. Which I’m fine with but more than a week to respond to a ticket? Come the fuck on
How many seats are they responsible for? Could be understaffing.
It’s always understaffing.
That’s because IT management theory currently holds that the more processes/workflows you standardize and consolidate the fewer things there are that break. Which means you can hire fewer help desk personnel.
Unfortunately the people usually tasked with performing this standardization is the help desk, so they don’t have the time to decrease their own workflow through standardization when they’re already filled to the brim with a backlog. At that point you’re just giving them more of a backlog.
Googling problems with Windows I find the majority of the results are MS support telling them to reset the OS. No attempt to debug the issue just nuke it and see if that fixes it. Then you read the next comments and inevitably they say “Nope, didn’t fix it”. I really dislike scripted responses like this.
Yeah the MS support forums are very hit or miss. And even the hit ones usually start with a response that doesn’t appear to understand the question very deeply, followed by a “that didn’t work”, “I said in my post that I tried that and it didn’t work”, or maybe a “that’s not what I’m trying to do, I want to do x”, and then a reply with useful links.
Though to be fair, problems can come from software the user installed or fuck ups they’ve made to settings along the way. Or quiet sabotage from another user.
Once upon a time I provided phone support for Comcast and had a caller call in unable to access Facebook. I did the usual script and found her internet was otherwise working. Narrowed it down to a dns issue. I was aware of the hosts file because I was using it for ad blocking at the time so had her open that up on a whim (which I would have gotten in trouble for since it was off script). Sure enough, it was there. Someone didn’t want her accessing it.
Who knows what kinds of methods people have used to discourage other things on shared PCs. Is edge really broken or did the user’s kid get tired of everyone clicking “make it the default browser” when it begged each time it was opened so they wrote a small program that kills it as soon as it starts?
“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.”
All they hear:
You just don’t know what you’re doing!"
"No, I’m just not going to volunteer myself to learn
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.
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.
I can see the pain in the eyes of the support fella.
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.
I’m not even IT and yet I feel this
