Is There A Problem Here?

Importing Browser Settings Has Positively Failed

2010-09-07T07:57:00.005-06:00

Wait...was it successful or not? Big red X marks do not indicate a positive outcome.

Please zoom in to see your results

2010-09-03T23:01:00.000-06:00

I search Realtor.com for homes for sale within my postal code. Wanting to see listings for the homes closest to mine, I then click the "Map" button. While I expected that I may need to zoom in a little and navigate to my house, I expected a bit more specific view than I got.

Your alert found new jobs

2010-09-01T18:17:00.000-06:00

I received the following alert email from HotJobs informing me that new job listings have been posted that match one of my saved searches. Notice a problem?

The search results section is blank. If it found new jobs matching the search criteria, it isn't showing me what they are. If it didn't find new jobs, then it is sending emails proclaiming it found something it didn't find.

Normal document template

2010-08-25T00:33:00.000-06:00

If Word is going to automatically save changes that I didn't make, why doesn't it automatically load them?

All those other errors were jokes. This time it's serious.

2010-08-23T20:18:00.000-06:00

@undividual: HEY! It's SERIOUS ERROR time!

No internationalization required

2010-08-22T20:57:00.006-06:00

@shradz: Error message #fail when uninstalling something on vista

And to think, someone went to the trouble of coding this very informative error dialog.

There can be only one?

2010-07-06T05:04:00.006-06:00

One conference. Two speakers. Two sessions. Same topic?

Any discounts for finding bugs on the conference website?

You will not see this page

2010-08-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Rick Scott reports: My wife found this page at the end of a website feedback questionnaire for the local gas company. She claims my bug-finding mojo is rubbing off on her. I think she's being overly charitable.

Perhaps this is an example of testers believing software instead of questioning it. It says that survey respondents won't see the page. No need to test that claim. Right!? :)

Free songs ... if you can find them

2010-06-30T15:07:00.001-06:00

Amazon seems to be having issues.

Hi, my name is Joe

2010-06-24T10:09:00.000-06:00

I work at a button factory -- pressing OK on Excel dialogs. ;)

No Roads

2010-06-16T07:41:00.001-06:00

My family and I often spend summer weekend days exploring Colorado and neighboring states. Our adventures often lead us down rural and mountain roads that aren't on any map -- including the detailed USGS topographical maps. Having a GPS system in the vehicle gives me an extra bit of confidence that I can go down unknown roads and later find our way back to civilization. This doesn't require that all roads we travel be on the GPS maps.

I recently replaced a broken Garmin GPS unit with a cheaper Garmin Nuvi 1100 model. At first, it seemed that the GPS had most of the same features as the more costly version. However, I soon noticed that the device often failed to show any roads. This isn't just the 4x4 trails or forest service roads; the device was failing to display state highways.

A little investigation revealed a pattern. Many roads are only displayed when the system is giving directions to a specified destination. These roads are not displayed when I've not instructed the device to calculate a route. This means that often no roads are displayed when we are exploring without a particular destination.

The GPS is configured to show the most map detail available.

Now that I've verified that the GPS is configured to show as much detail as possible, what does it display? It says I am driving on US Highway 24 and it shows a line for the highway. It shows no other roads.

I try zooming in and the device still shows no other roads. I look out the car window and I can see other roads. So, I then tell the GPS to calculate a route home. It now shows me more roads.

Why aren't these roads displayed when I haven't given the device a route? I am more likely to care to see surrounding roads when I am not following a calculated route than when following a calculated route.

Just in case the GPS has gotten into an unexpected state, I reset it.

After resetting the GPS, it again only shows one road -- this time in the default 3D display mode.

I calculate a route and more roads appear.

I set the display back to the 2D mode I prefer. It now shows an upcoming intersection.

I calculate a route and more roads are displayed.

These images do not show the all-too-common case of not even displaying the road on which I am driving. This especially happens on mountain roads and in other places that I want to see what other roads are in the area. This makes the device mostly useless for one of the purposes for which I bought it.

Free HD for $10 a month

2010-06-15T10:42:00.001-06:00

After paying my monthly bill on the DirecTV website, I decide to take a look at the currently available programming packages. I select the "Change Package" option from the account information page and the following page is displayed.

The "FREE HD Channels" catches my attention. I've been paying an extra $10 a month for HD. I click on the "How do I get HD channels?" link and the following is displayed.

This says "DIRECTV HD service is now FREE for as long as you're a DIRECTV customer." I think "Nice!"

So, I go back to my account information to see if I am still being charged $10 a month.

The account information page shows that I am being charged $10 a month for this now FREE service.

I pick up the phone and call customer service. I was expecting to need to do no more than ask to get my HD service included free with the programming package as advertised.

I end up speaking to two different people -- one in customer service, and one in promotions. During my time on the phone, I was told the following -- some contradictory -- information:

You have to sign up for auto-pay to get free HD
Free HD is only for new customers
Free HD is only available for 24 months for existing customers
Free HD is for life for new customers
Free HD is for existing customers who don't already have HD
Free HD is not available to you
Read the fine print on the "Free HD for Life" web page. (I see no such page.)

The DirecTV web site says I have Free HD included in my programming package, but I'm being charged $10 a month. The customer service people say they can't see the page I see and can't offer me what the web site says I already have.

The web site won't let me cancel the $10 HD service and re-add the "free" HD service. It says I need to call customer service to change my HD service.

So is this a software problem? Maybe not. However, as causes many software problems, there appears to be a communication problem at DirecTV. It seems the marketing, customer service, and web site people need to get together and figure out what offers they are making to customers.

A $160 early cancellation fee doesn't seem so bad right now.

Cannot delete file?

2010-06-14T15:17:00.001-06:00

I tell PowerPoint to open a file and it displays an error dialog stating that it cannot delete a file. What!?

Why is PowerPoint trying to delete a file? I told it to open a file. I clicked OK and my file opened. I have no idea what it was trying to delete.

Are you sure you want to delete Facebook?

2010-06-14T13:57:00.000-06:00

I only wanted to remove a Facebook widget from my iGoogle page. However, the possibility of completely deleting Facebook from the planet is intriguing. ;-)

Expired

2010-06-10T08:10:00.001-06:00

Seth Eliot reports:

If you are having trouble with a Medical Device and want to let the FDA know about it at www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch-online.htm, then the FDA only wants to know if you are using expired goods. Expiration Dates in the future are not allowed.

Fan Search Blows

2010-06-08T19:33:00.003-06:00

Sitting in the house on a hot June evening, I realize that our window fans aren't quite moving enough air through the house. So, I decide to check out some local retailers' web sites to see what fans they may have available. From the home page of each site, I submit a search for "window fan". These are all retailers that have had window fans in their stores in the past.

The Home Depot site returns a handful of fans followed by some air conditioners. Although I don't see quite what I'm seeking, these results seem relevant.

The Lowe's site returns one window fan followed by a bunch of doors -- doors with windows in them. Not quite what I expected. I expected Lowe's to have more than one window fan option.

The Target site shows me several window fans and some curtains. While I didn't expect curtains to be the number two result, I do see a selection of fans.

The Walmart site results are just bizarre: one "window fan" for a tent, and dozens of sport team flags.

Is there a problem here? While I don't expect each retailer to sell the exact same models of window fans, I expected to see a bit more consistency and relevancy in the search results.

Now, who puts a fan in a tent?

Legitimate banks will not ask you to do this

2010-05-30T09:35:00.010-06:00

According to Firefox, Wells Fargo is not a legitimate bank. I encounter security certificate errors about one out of every five visits to Wells Fargo's online banking web site.

Wells Fargo gave me a t-shirt with this URL on it. As we all know, printing a URL on a t-shirt makes it legit. Right? ;)

And why does Firefox first tell me the certificate is not valid but then report "This site provides valid, verified identification. There is no need to add an exception." when I try to add an exception?

Perhaps Wells Fargo should send the Firefox people at Mozilla some t-shirts too.

Denial of Trust

2010-05-29T07:43:00.001-06:00

@underexpose: Krungsri ATM #FAIL

Open hex editor programs on ATM displays help instill customer confidence. ;)

Too many edits

2010-05-28T09:21:00.000-06:00

Microsoft Word 2003 has this great feature that tells you when you are done editing your document.

Sorry, too many edits. Time is up. You must stop editing and save your work as it is now.

The disk is full

2010-05-28T00:38:00.000-06:00

According to Microsoft Word 2003, a disk may be considered full when one tries to save a ~600,000 byte file to a disk with only 171,057,172,480 bytes free.

AMD Athlon Core 2 Duo by Intel?

2010-05-23T08:00:00.006-06:00

Nick reports: "I opened up my Windows 7 system properties page the other day, and this is what I found."

You are not subscribed

2010-05-27T10:29:00.001-06:00

I click the unsubscribe link in a promotional email I received and the following message opened in my web browser.

If I am "not subscribed to the mailing list", why am I getting the emails sent to the mailing list?

Can't Touch Myself

2010-05-22T21:41:00.005-06:00

"A computer cannot connect to itself, and share its own screen. period. #solipsism #error" - @fekaylius

Stressing out a bit

2010-04-01T12:34:00.003-06:00

Jay Philips reports:

Tried doing a Twitter search today and received this error “Twitter is stressing out a bit right now, so this feature is temporarily disabled.”

Ben Simo adds:

Disabling non-essential features during times that system resources are stressed may actually be a good part of a performance management strategy. Of course, it is frustrating to those users wanting to use the disabled features.

Please wait while we process your check(s)

2010-03-28T13:42:00.000-06:00

@miceyj: soo umm I pulled up to the drive thru ATM & saw this..

Finding an ATM that appears to have taken so long processing the previous user's deposit that they gave up waiting and abandoned the machine gives me reason to not put much trust in the device.

At least it isn't displaying any information about the previous user or their account. However, if this processing ever does complete, will whomever comes across the machine have access to the previous user's account?