Special Characters for "Special" Users

[HawaiianShirts]

New user attempts to log into the software I support but can't. I troubleshoot but cannot find a cause of the problem. I chalk it up to user error and do a manual forced login on the user's behalf.

This happens again the very next day. Now I'm curious. I ask the user to tell me what she is using for her password.

User: Well, I know it needs at least one special character, so I used my middle name but put a dollar sign in place of the s, then the down-and-back arrow, and then the middle part of my phone number with an exclamation mark for the one.
Me: The down-and-back arrow?
User: Yeah. That's a special character, right?
Me: I'm not familiar with a down-and-back arrow. Do you mean one of the slashes?
User: No, the down-and-back arrow! On my keyboard, it's above the Shift key.
Me: <looks at keyboard> ... The Enter key?
User: Yeah, that one.



I was going to explain how pressing Enter was the same as telling the computer you were done entering your password, but I changed my mind. I just told her that the down-and-back arrow was not a valid special character for this system. She picked a new password and seems to be doing just fine now.

[mjr]

Where's the "Any" key??

[EricKei]

"The down and back arrow? Yeah, it's right next to the Any key..."

edit: Damn post ninjas >_<

[lordlundar]

Where's the "Any" key??

Compaq took them out of their keyboards some time ago.

(no, I'm no joking)

[protege]

Where's the "Any" key??

Uh, right next to the "Easy" button?

[dalesys]

Uh, right next to the "Easy" button?

Isn't that right after the "Let Me Down" key?

[wolfie]

Or the "Why do I have to work with this tur" key?

[Chromatix]

Wait, Compaq still exists?

I know, they got absorbed by HP a while ago. I remember when they were still a separate entity, and saw inside one of their cheaper products of the time - a machine so compromised it made my head hurt, and which some wily salesman had sold as "expandable" (it really wasn't).

[lordlundar]

Well the Compaq series was around for a long time. I haven't seen anything in a while though. The "Any" key thing was well before the buyout though.

[MoonCat]

Oh dear god....

Is it bad that I can almost see one of my CW's trying to do this?

[Crossbow]

Where's the "Any" key??

Bottom row of the keyboard. It's the long one in the center; they just don't bother labeling it anymore.



Seriously, that's what I've had to tell people in the past.

[MrSmiley]

Where's the "Any" key??

I usually tell people it's the Shift key. That's the least potentially destructive key I know of. (Enter is a bad choice for a variety of reasons... any letter could potentially be a valid option on the screen at a particular time... Space key probably is less dangerous than those above, but windows sometimes has a habit of using it for a dialog box option, I'd rather people have to read and choose/click something on the screen than always be selecting default)

[protege]

...and which some wily salesman had sold as "expandable" (it really wasn't).

Uh, are you sure he didn't mean "expendable?"
You know, as when it has issues...you get out the 40-pound fence maul and "hit any key to continue?"

[Mytical]

Reading things like this always invokes the Blue Screen of Death on my brain. Also the 404 file not found error. I just sit for awhile gulping like a fish out of water, while my brain tries to recoop from SC 'logic'

[Chromatix]

Uh, are you sure he didn't mean "expendable?"
You know, as when it has issues...you get out the 40-pound fence maul and "hit any key to continue?"

Well, it wasn't me who bought it. I already knew better, and this was a *long* time ago. In fact, I think I was in the process of hand-building a new machine to replace it - which ended up at roughly the same cost, while being vastly superior in every measurable way.

My clearest memories of that Compaq were that it was the first time I'd seen:

1) a duct from the PSU fan to the CPU heatsink, instead of an actual fan on the CPU. I think it was a Pentium-3 based Celeron, so it was thermally acceptable, but still...

2) *one* RAM slot, in anything that wasn't a laptop. There was plenty of space for a second or even a third one, but they just hadn't been designed in.