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Geek Culture / Murphy's Law for Programmers

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kdf
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:07
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Maybe you can add to this list and then we can all be nice and paranoid, every time we turn on the PC.

LAWS:
1) Every time you unzip files WITHOUT specifying a folder name,
the contents get splattered all over the desktop(or your unzip
destination).
Corollary to 1) - Every time you unzip files AND specify a folder name, the contents will get unzipped to another folder within the specified folder name. And you'll be cussing at why you specified a folder name in the first place.
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RUCCUS
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:12
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Right...


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Dazzag
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:14
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2) Whenever you are a bit tight for money you computer will completely destroy itself in every single way
3) A computer works for years. No problems. You don't change a thing, hell even keep it off a network. Don't even turn it on for a year if you like. You turn it back on to do something useful and it doesn't work. With the software. BSODs, non-respondings, the lot. Is like a best before date for Windows...
4) You install the biggest piece of software ever, it takes like 3 hours (VS.Net is a good example), requires a new degree to install it, and then at the final second it comes up with a failure message for no particular reason. Cue days of searching the web before finding some stupid unrelated answer. Also replace failure message with power failure (seen that one happen)

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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kdf
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:21
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Dazzag,

I liked number 3) So True.

5) If you have a flaky PC, it will start up when you have nothing important to do, and will refuse to boot when you HAVE to get on the TGC forums.

6) If you have a flaky PC it will refuse to boot when at home, and will start up at the repair shop even before the repairman has thrown the power switch.
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:28
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7) If you have a nice clean computer after reinstalation, your computer will have a grudge against and as soon as you go online to grab the latest security patch, you'll be thanked with a lovely trojan horse.

8)For absolutely no logical reason your application will crash.

Hakuna Matata
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Benjamin
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:31
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9) For some inexplicable reason your application crashes, yet when you enable the debug code to find out the problem it works fine.

Tempest (DBP/DBCe)
Multisync V1 (DBP/DBCe)
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Fallout
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:32 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2007 17:32
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10) Your computer will crash and lose all your important data the day before you were going to do a backup.


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kdf
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:36
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11) Life sucks, when you're a PC user, especially a programmer. Life sucks otherwise also.
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kdf
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:46
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12) Your flaky motherboard blows a capacitor just one day after the warranty expires.
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 17:52
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13) The day you decide to show someone your current work in progress about 100 new bugs seem to magically appear and completely ruin your presentation. Otherwise you were just so used to the bugs they almost seemed like they were meant to be there and you forgot how bad they were. Your friend instantly notices.

Stuff like that has happened to me numerous times



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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 18:05
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14) When you backup important files, test that it's all fine and dandy. You computer has a problem and then you find your backup data will not work. (Though last time I cleverly made multiple backups of my coursework and the primary back up data failed.)

15) You'll create something your think is really good and you're proud to show off...Then your computer screws up and you lose all of your work.

Hakuna Matata
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Chenak
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 19:15
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16) Debug mode doesn't work because theres a bug in it
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Dazzag
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 19:34
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Quote: "test that it's all fine and dandy"
Yep. I was backing something up for about six months before realising that for some reason the zip just wouldn't extract correctly for some unknown reason. All six months worth. I now check every now and again that it all extracts without worries. I also backup every session to about 8 different places just in case (including my phone, tiny wallet USB drive, and iPod just in case my house gets burgled ). Once burnt and all that.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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Zotoaster
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 20:57
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Lol Chenak.

"It's like floating a boat on a liquid that I don't know, but I'm quite happy to drink it if I'm thirsty enough" - Me being a good programmer but sucking at computers
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soapyfish
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:08 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2007 21:21
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You spend ages trying to impress some girl on runescape with your meg0r sword of d00m and then it turns out to be a dude.


Every time your printer gives an 'ink low' warning you click the 'remind me later' button. Then it finally runs out when you really, really need to print something.

Beard Farms:: 100% Home Grown Hairyness
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Xenocythe
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:44
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17) If your planning on using McAfee Virus protection, expect a new virus every time you 'install McAfee updates'

18) The easiest things in programming turn out to consume more time than you planned them to.


DarkDev- Team Requests, forums, galleries, and more
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PowerSoft
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:48
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19) You buy a computer and find it's running Windows

(joke, really whats so bad with Windows?)

The Innuendo's, 4 Piece Indie Rock Band
http://theinnuendos.tk:::http://myspace.com/theinnuendosrock
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soapyfish
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:51 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2007 21:52
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Quote: "really whats so bad with Windows?"


Depends how bad your taste in curtains is....

Beard Farms:: 100% Home Grown Hairyness
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PowerSoft
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:53
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or blinds....

The Innuendo's, 4 Piece Indie Rock Band
http://theinnuendos.tk:::http://myspace.com/theinnuendosrock
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soapyfish
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:56 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2007 21:56
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As long as you don't strut around in the nude then I'm happy.

Beard Farms:: 100% Home Grown Hairyness
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soapyfish
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 21:56 Edited at: 23rd Jul 2007 21:56
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<double>

Beard Farms:: 100% Home Grown Hairyness
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Fallout
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 22:06
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20) You buy several top quality components/computers from one compo company, so you recommend it to a friend. Upon them receiving their ordered computer, it's the wrong spec, smashed to pieces and incorrectly setup.


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Chris K
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 22:58
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This isn't really a Murphy's Law, but don't you hate how Windows will boot up fine, then give you about 2 seconds of control so you can move the mouse, maybe open the start menu or double click something, then it's like "WHOA NO BUDDY" and it just locks up again, and continues to boot for a bit longer.

Start menu gets frozen there.

WTF is up with that, just boot up completely, and let me know when you're done mKay?

-= Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals =-
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JerBil
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 22:58
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21) Go ahead and save that download without thinking where it's going. You will never be able to find it again, ever.

Ad Astra Per Asper
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Manic
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Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 23:46
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22) the things that are the most difficult to program are generally the least impressive thing.

I don't have a sig, live with it.
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Cherd
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:02
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23. You think your being really clever and keeping ahead of the game by saving after doing something really difficult or important, only it crashes AS your saving and you have to do it again anyway

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Fallout
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 01:20
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Along those same lines ...

24. When you click "SAVE" instead of "SAVE AS" and thus overwrite the old file when you actually wanted to save the changes to a new file.


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jasonhtml
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 02:30
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Quote: "23. You think your being really clever and keeping ahead of the game by saving after doing something really difficult or important, only it crashes AS your saving and you have to do it again anyway"


DON'T REMIND ME!!! GRRR!!!

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 03:40
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Not really related to programming, but it is related to saving...

Pressing quicksave at the wrong time... like when a bullet was fired just before you hit save thus no matter how many times you try to reload and evade it it hits you in the head and you die...Then you have to restart the whole fricken level.



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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 05:59
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Quote: "24. When you click "SAVE" instead of "SAVE AS" and thus overwrite the old file when you actually wanted to save the changes to a new file. "


GOD YES. the amount of times i have done that is extremely frustrating, so many wasted hours.

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Jess T
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 08:37 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 08:39
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Related to 13)...

25)
You've organized and spent all night (2pm till 7am) with 3 team mates writing a game prototype for a demonstration. It works flawlessly. No bugs, no issues loading media. You've taken into account the lower specs of the demonstration computer. Turns out, DirectX isn't installed.


Happened to me just a month ago.
It was for a Uni assignment, and since these Demo computers weren't our normal lab computers, we didn't get to even look at it before we had to run it, and subsequently, lost marks

[EDIT]
Not only that, but we actually happened to have a DX install on my thumb drive (from last time I updated), so:

26)
You need to install some software to give a demonstration, but the computer requires an Administrator account which noone available has.

Nintendo DS & Dominos :: DS Dominos
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Insert Name Here
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 20:17
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Quote: "Pressing quicksave at the wrong time... like when a bullet was fired just before you hit save thus no matter how many times you try to reload and evade it it hits you in the head and you die...Then you have to restart the whole fricken level.
"

I had an experience with that on indiana jones... he was about falling off a platform 50 feet in the air. After 30 tries I stopped him from falling.
Sad that I tried really, isn't it?

I never tell the truth.
That ain't a paradox.
I always tell lies is though.
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Xenocythe
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 20:30
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Ouch mate, Jess that must be horrible.


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Arkheii
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 21:48
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Quote: "26) You need to install some software to give a demonstration, but the computer requires an Administrator account which noone available has."


Tell me about it.

27) A school/uni's IT center implements the most restrictive security and network policies in the CS building despite being the most reliant on network access.

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Hobgoblin Lord
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 23:23
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28) You spend months tweaking, squashing, and refining your program. When you are finally ready to release it an OS or DX update comes out that causes you fresh new special game to crash.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=73324&b=8
My RPG WIP, check it out
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kdf
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 00:09
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Quote: "24. When you click "SAVE" instead of "SAVE AS" and thus overwrite the old file when you actually wanted to save the changes to a new file."


Just goes to show that there isn't enough error trapping for end user mistakes. Like, maybe a dialogue asking you whether you would like to save over the old file? Yes/No.
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Jess T
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 06:07
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Xen, Arkheii,

It was painful. No matter, it's done now. However, we do have to give a couple more demonstrations this coming semester to see if we can get some funding to continue work over the summer (Christmas here) break. This time, I'm going to insist we either use someone's laptop, or we get given Admin rights to the PC we're going to do it on at least 2 days prior.

Nintendo DS & Dominos :: DS Dominos
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Dazzag
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 09:12
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Quote: "When you are finally ready to release it an OS or DX update comes out that causes you fresh new special game to crash"
Yeah, that happened to me with a DBC upgrade. Fun.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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Fallout
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 11:59
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Quote: "Just goes to show that there isn't enough error trapping for end user mistakes. Like, maybe a dialogue asking you whether you would like to save over the old file? Yes/No."


Yeah, or at least space the options apart. It's like game that have F5 for quicksave and F6 for quickload, rather than F9 for quickload. You end up saving your game accidentally by pressing F5 when you meant to load.


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kdf
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 13:31
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Yep. That too. The soft/hard buttons have to be spaced further apart. That would be good ergonomics.
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Father Tree
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 17:11
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not really around programming but..

You have spent like 4 months playing a game and you just finished it and got all your stats up and went around a friends to play a ulitiplayer game of it and it says your saved game data is corrupt and you have to start from the beggining again..

Add me if you got Xbox live please -_-
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 17:55
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Quote: "it says your saved game data is corrupt and you have to start from the beggining again.."


I hate that one, so I'll add my own...

-You spend hours playing a few games, you reach near the end for most of them...then someone is bound to lose your memory card.

Hakuna Matata
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Fallout
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 18:31
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When you download an update automatically that says "You must restart Windows" so you choose wait, and continue with your work, and then later it pops up to remind you while you're typing, and you hit enter, and it goes into restart, and you have about 0.8 seconds to save all your documents.

Or basically anything that pops into the foreground when you're typing and gets canceled, closed, or run when you didn't want it to.

Also, when your virus checker starts a system wide virus scan when you're in the middle of playing a game.


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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 25th Jul 2007 18:37
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-You're playing a memory intensive game and the computer pops up 'Virtual Memory Minimum Low' error message and it'll take half an hour to get your game back up and even longer for it to player smoothly (Why doesn't it just extend the memory with out warning you? Pop ups are extremely annoying when you're doing something)

Hakuna Matata
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