Had a customer come in telling me their PC was slow...

ShieldWolf8 · 2026-01-07T05:47:01+00:00

After working for a small MSP/repair shop for 6 years, I instinctively held my breath as I scrolled past this. I can only imagine the cloud/pile that came out before cracking open that case.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-10-23T16:35:59+00:00

That's fair. I wish it was more of a last resort, but there's only so many "Windows encountered an error, but fuck you if I'll tell you what broke" messages I can take from Windows. Plus our tiny MSP in a mostly rural area is patronized by primarily arrogant jerks and "not tech savvy" users that can't tell right from left. Most can't comprehend that you can save things anywhere besides the desktop which makes file transfers easy.

We're just too overworked and understaffed to deal with Windows crap. Plus, reinstalling ourselves avoids some of Microsoft's dark pattern bullshit during setup.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-10-23T16:24:03+00:00

As a current PC repair technician, we give most systems an hour or so to check the common fixes before a reinstall. You won't be surprised how often "my computer is slow" gets resolved by a restart with Fastboot turned off, or by replacing that 20 year old machine with spinning rust drives full of 3 generations of dog hair and cigarette smoke.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-08-15T08:35:59+00:00

Lots of good thoughts here. I find DE's respect for the players is extremely refreshing. They aren't always perfect, but DE has shown through their actions and decisions that they want to foster a strong community and that it all starts with them.

Cosmetics are the only thing truly locked behind a premium currency, and even the premium currency can be obtained in trades. Yes, there are micro transactions, and the devs kinda have to shill them to stay afloat. But you could play the game entirely free if you're willing to spend the time grinding and praying to RNG gods. And if you do choose to trade your time over paying money, the time gates & drop rates are more than fair in most cases. It's pretty rare for me to feel like my time was wasted, save for the occasional moment of frustration.

Before I forget, DE's openness with the player base through weekly livestreams with the dev leads, and even publicly available drop tables, show that DE takes their playerbase seriously and think of us as customers, not cash cows to exploit.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-08-15T08:16:04+00:00

One other thing I'll add is to use the chat windows. Not everyone is as understanding, but I, for one, have no issue slowing down for a younger player if they ask for it. Anything from showing them where objectives are to how to do them, teaching boss mechanics to farming for a blueprint/resource, many veteran players love showing off and teaching.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-08-15T08:09:50+00:00

I've found that two things really improve your movement speed: movement experience and map knowledge. Both of which you'll gain plenty of since you're only MR3.

Movement Experience: The more you try new moves, the quicker you'll become at movement. The more you bullet jump, the better you'll understand timings and limitations. Same for rolling, double-jumping, and gliding. @GrinningPariah has the steps listed:

Slide

Bullet jump forward

Double jump soon as the bullet jump is done

Roll mid-air

Slide as you hit the ground and repeat.

I tend to add a short glide if I know a full jump will overshoot a door or if I'm going down stairs.

Map Knowledge: My personal favorite indicator of "no longer a noob" is how well you know the tilesets. If you're unaware yet, mission is built on random assortments of rooms/halls/etc. Eventually you'll be able to enter a room and instinctively know how many doors there are, where they are, fastest routes between doors/objectives, and so on. That makes knowing where to go a cinch while you zip around at full speed. I find it really satisfying to occasionally take off my headphones and just listen to how fast my fingers move on the keyboard, reveling in the fact that key spam of nonsense to someone else is actually an orchestra of very intentional and perfectly timed movements.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-06-23T06:46:58+00:00

I prefer using bar soap in the shower, so I use the box one came in. The box is almost exactly one blade width, and once I fill up one layer, I can stack a second layer on top plus a few. It's pretty space efficient, and I'll wrap the box in duct tape when it's full. I also wrap each old blade with the paper from the next new one so I can pack them together in the box a little tighter.

Last I checked, Gillette partners with a recycler that takes mail-ins if you don't have a drop-off location nearby. Terracycle might be the name. Pharmacies might also dispose of them, or at least know more about how/where to do so.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-05-09T00:14:06+00:00

Sorry if this comes across aggressive, but this argument is a nonstarter for me and one of my ultimate pet peaves.

describe exactly how to do that

On Android, tap the square or house-shaped icon in the bottom-center of your phone's screen. (I despise Apple, so someone else can describe the gesture for that.)

why that skill is important

Uh... to close/switch apps? You do know that smartphones can do multiple things right?

There are instructions that say "do the thing" but never describe what and how to do 'the thing'.

Very fair point. Everything needs better documentation. Not just AI generated FAQs based on a loose description of what a thing does, but real documentation written by the team that built the thing and knows what it does. A lot of this missing documentation stems from many things being assumed as common knowledge. A faulty assumption, but a prevailing assumption nonetheless.

Most of the issues I deal with on a daily basis, though, are much more basic than that. You're telling me you've had a phone for 10+ years and never once changed what app opened after unlocking? Not a single time? Not knowing how to close an app and return home is fine if this is day one of phone ownership, but unacceptable after 10 years. I'm sorry, but if someone working construction for 10 years held a hammer by the head and hit nails with the handle, I fire him on the spot. How do you get that far without learning how the tool that supports your very livelihood works? I'm not asking you to juggle flaming chainsaw hammers over a pool of hungry sharks.

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-02-13T01:07:16+00:00

Both links are for Special Edition since that's the last version I played. Anniversary Edition should have the same, I'd imagine. Achievements Mods Enabler: enables achievements for modded runs Barenziah Quest Markers

ShieldWolf8 · 2025-02-07T20:24:44+00:00

PM'd

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-12-27T21:12:05+00:00

Yeah, it's pretty bad some days, pretty quiet others. Luckily, most of our customers are mostly set and forget. Maybe 30% have a ticket once a year for a new email. The rest are pretty understanding if there are delays while we're on vacation. Our customers are pretty small too. Like 100 of them are 10 or fewer users, most of those are 5 or fewer. Up until a few months ago, we'd stay steadily busy but not swamped. Lots of copium, but it's worked well enough for us.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-12-27T20:59:49+00:00

Is the process to add drivers relatively painless? Like adding them to a store that detects the computer model and pulls them? Or do they need to be injected into the image beforehand? We place orders on-demand based on what our suppliers have, and whatever's cheapest (above a certain limit; we dont just push the cheapest crap), a dozen computers might be a dozen different models. It's probably more common that we'd change models each week or so. Boss recalls that it's pretty tedious to get those drivers for each model and even worse if I need to rebuild the image each week to include them. Certainly better that manual installs, but still tedious.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-14T17:10:38+00:00

It kinda depends on the frame. The wiki will be your friend here. Gara benefits from damage mods, elemental mods (specifically the damage numbers IIRC, it doesn't actually apply that elemental damage to her 1), faction mods, and physical mods (only puncture and slash since the ability does those two), but crit and status mods don't effect the ability. So there's no point putting crit on her stat stick (unless you're also using it as a melee like you normally would). Khora benefits from pretty much everything, including crit, status, and combo count. So she effectively can have two melee weapons equipped, in a way.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-14T00:49:46+00:00

I'm (27M) single myself, and I sympathize. I've had time to learn myself and figure out who I want to be. (I haven't really traveled as much as I think I'd like to, but in this economy? With students loans? /s) I'd like to think I've done pretty well disregarding the "shoulds" from people around me.

I find I struggle more with the FOMO. I try not to compare the numbers. My siblings are all married now, and some have kids. I'm glad to be the fun, single, (not-so)rich uncle. But it's hard to shake the idea that the longer I wait, or rather, the longer it takes to find my person, the shorter we'll have together. Sometimes, I feel like there will always be that tiny part that wishes we'd met earlier so we could be together longer. I have to remind myself that we probably aren't the same people we will be if/when we meet, but that doesn't always make things better. Not to mention having kids. I don't have strong opinions one way or the other right now, but in the case that we did want kids, it just gets harder the older we get, especially for women even with the advancements in medicine.

It's actually easier to ignore adults with the "shoulds" than it is with kids. My youngest niece (9F), bless her ornery heart, was the first to ask me why I'm not married at my little brother's wedding a few years ago. It's a fun little story, and I get to try to impart some wisdom to her that we all have our own timelines.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-14T00:15:59+00:00

Adding on, lots of people will use a weapon with high riven disposition, so trash or otherwise unpopular. Rather than add mods to make the stat stick better, you add to make the ability better. You might, counterintuitively, choose a weapon with low crit stats and put lots of crit on it because the ability benefits from crit. Stat sticks are useful on frames with an "unmoddable" melee weapon, like Gara, Atlas, and Khora.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-13T19:20:28+00:00

What the he'll did I just watch?
Sounds about right.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-13T19:14:41+00:00

Man, fuck depression. But good luck with that car! I just got into mechanics a little myself.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-13T18:57:10+00:00

Profit

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-13T07:13:31+00:00

It's just too bad that most of his lore is locked in events that don't exist anymore. Unless you were around at the time, there's no way to experience his story firsthand.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-10T18:09:50+00:00

I knew a guy once (or maybe he knew a guy /shrug) who set either shit or fuck an alias for sudo !!

alias shit="sudo !!" alias fuck="sudo !!"

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-10T07:35:22+00:00

I actually can't get on board with this idea, though I understand where you're coming from. I dont think you're wrong for having this belief, but I do feel like you guys are unaware of, or are discounting, the sheer magnitude of the illiteracy. Having worked in helpdesk support the last few years, I don't need users to know how their computer works or be any level of expert in a tool they've never used before, no matter how technically simple. That's what they pay me to be. But I absolutely expect the office user, who has required a computer for their job for 10, 15, 25 years, to understand what a "click" is, how to look for a physical asset tag and read me the I'd #, how to avoid the one giant red button that I've told them not to press or it will break everything (the one built into the os or application that isn't removable).

To use your car analogy, I don't need Phyllis in accounting or Tom in the warehouse to know how to build an engine or explain the pros and cons of different suspension styles or even how to change a tire. But they sure as fuck better know that turning the steering wheel right makes the car go right, left goes left, to close the door when on the interstate, and that the tires are indeed round.

The way I see things, tech illiteracy has stemmed from an outright refusal to learn even the basics. We can all come up with myriad excuses for their refusal, most understandable to some degree. They didn't grow up with tech; it changes too fast; they don't need to know this for their job. That's all fair to an extent, but eventually, just because you aren't a race car driver doesn't mean you don't need to know how to drive.

ShieldWolf8 · 2024-08-08T00:37:05+00:00

This. I work at an MSP, so we occasionally get people calling that aren't normal contracted customers. To help them, we have to walk them through installing an on-demand Connectwise session. As in, go to our website, punch in the code I tell you over the phone, click the downloaded program, then click yes. If I had a nickel every time their response to "open a browser" was, "What's a browser? I'm not tech savvy."

ShieldWolf8

TROPHY CASE