Computer Pet Peeves

Here are a few pet peeves of mine to do with computers.

1. Google nabbing the cursor. I have used Google as my start page in every browser I use for years and I've been annoyed by this again and again. You open the browser, start to type into the address bar then google finishes loading and steals the cursor. So I end up with www.slashd in the address bar and ot.com in the google search field. Grr! ...and it's more annoying if you have iGoogle enabled because that wait time is much longer so you manage to get more typed into the address bar before it flips the cursor to the search input field. I have started to solve this by making a Google Search enabled page in my own domain and using that as my start page because strangely enough that doesn't steal my cursor away, and when someone uses a computer that I've set up that way and clicks on the sponsored links I think Google's adsense tosses me a penny or two.

2. When you open a couple of programs, one loads first, you click on it and start working with it and the other loads ON TOP OF IT! If I have started working with another program I don't want something I asked for a few seconds before I started working to interrupt, it should load BEHIND what I'm doing, and I'll get to it when _I_ am ready. If I've moved on to do something else it's too late, load in the background.

3. Vista's nagging. I know everyone complains about this, but I don't mean it shouldn't ask for admin passwords at all, just that it shouldn't ask for it when I'm doing something that shouldn't need admin permission ... like "ipconfig /renew" or connecting to a new hotspot at some restaurant or airport. C'mon Microsoft, you have to realize that CEOs and managers don't generally travel with the IT dept. let them connect to a hotspot without asking their geek to do it for them.