Products · Broad category
Computers
Raised as a usability problem by 71 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 70 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Beginners get stuck on the simplest tasksUnreviewed
20082026- Interface is hard for non-geeks to learn, unlike tablet apps2012-04-28
- Novice users struggle to learn basic computer tasks and can't follow instructions2011-07-07
- Beginners get hung up on the simplest tasks because computers aren't intuitive2011-05-02
Computers take much longer to boot than in the 1980sUnreviewed
20082026- Modern computers take much longer to boot and be ready than in the 1980s2026-04-25
- Modern computers feel much slower and more frustrating to use than Windows 95 machines2025-10-04
- Users wait for machines to boot their operating system, losing productivity time2024-09-04
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Mainstream desktops force restarts and interruptions and lack flexible window grouping, making long-running projects harder to manage2026-09-24
- Modern interfaces are slow and unreliable, wasting power while still feeling unusable2026-08-23
- Modern computers take much longer to boot and be ready than in the 1980s2026-04-25
- Injured arms make using a computer difficult, so copy and paste is a struggle2026-02-05
- Same actions like copy paste use different controls across platforms, annoying when switching computers2026-01-03
- Half-second lag on every click because security and sync software hogs the machine2025-12-22
- Modern computers feel much slower and more frustrating to use than Windows 95 machines2025-10-04
- Personal computers and their interfaces are deeply opaque to intended users2025-08-08
- Users wait for machines to boot their operating system, losing productivity time2024-09-04
- Computers are confusing and hard to use for non-technical people2024-08-26
- School-provided devices are slow, buggy, and laggy to use2024-05-28
- Must use a mouse to disable Bluetooth, but the mouse will stop working before they can finish2024-01-17
- Ports look nearly identical, so non-technical users plug into the wrong one2023-12-01
- Capable people are afraid to touch settings, fearing they will break things2023-11-04
- Terrible interfaces make it nearly impossible to figure out where to go2023-07-22
- Plugging in a monitor makes all displays blink and go blank repeatedly before settling2023-06-28
- User interfaces were crappy or sometimes downright unusable in that era2023-04-24
- Dialog boxes disappear with messages users can't relay later, and no undo exists2023-02-04
- Noticeable delay between key press and response, forcing rhythm game players to calibrate input2022-10-25
- Non-technical users click OK reflexively and make costly mistakes, since PCs don't protect them from error2022-07-06
- Typing lags so badly from company agents that the laptop is sometimes unusable2022-06-09
- Average people struggle to administer computers and find them annoying to deal with2022-05-25
- Older relatives find computers harder and more confusing to use now2022-05-01
- Takes 4-5 minutes to boot and apps take half a minute to launch2021-12-19
- Computers are so hard to run that people must pay subscriptions to vendors to do it2021-12-03
- A computer with a wrong date is pretty much unusable due to certificate failures2021-08-31
- Family members can't find where a saved file went2020-11-30
- Computers have manifested every design flaw and are still pretty hard to use2020-07-13
- Nobody could figure out how to build for Windows anywhere except one undocumented machine2020-05-14
- People can't find where downloaded files went or spot the downloads indicator2020-04-18
- Sites and apps constantly try to trick the user into signing up, downloading, or changing settings2020-01-02
- Everyday computer interactions feel sluggish and laggy to use2019-12-19
- Interactive elements are impossible to find in computer interfaces2019-06-28
- Software is slow and unresponsive, with too many hoops to jump through2018-11-06
- Waiting 15 seconds for pages to reload causes distraction and annoyance2018-08-30
- Windows, taskbars and file browsers are confusing, and installing software is complicated and risky2018-07-23
- Simple tasks like sending files now require jumping through many hoops2018-07-01
- Older users struggle to find and read what is on screen, needing their gaze directed2018-05-21
- Slow computer gives no way to tell why it is slow2018-04-03
- Early computers were awful to use, with punch cards, keyed entry, and long waits for work2017-07-31
- Devices feel sluggish several times a day despite faster hardware2016-09-13
- Computers are too complicated, and a keyboard mispress can lose work2016-05-30
- Cryptic error messages and weird settings make ordinary users feel out of their depth2016-04-07
- Computer takes about 15 minutes to start up, discouraging use2016-04-04
- Visually impaired users must still see and move the mouse to operate computers2016-03-02
- White text on white background and text covered by images makes pages unreadable2015-11-16
- Parent feels a computer is complicated and liable to be broken2015-07-30
- Interacting with email and meetings mechanically feels unintuitive, so non-techy people find computers complicated2015-06-30
- Regular people struggle with the hassle of using general-purpose computers effectively2013-09-12
- Platforms and products of the 80s and 90s were unusable and computers generally sucked2013-08-26