Is there a word that describes someone who works hard despite an easier way, but they aren't interested because they are too lazy or unmotivated to figure it out? I'm trying to specifically describe someone doing a task on a computer in a very convoluted way, but isn't interested in learning how to do it simpler and a lot faster.
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I don't think the linked "duplicate" provides any satisfactory answers to OP's question. The gist of this question, as I read it, is asking for an answer along the lines of "I'm a creature of habit and I just want to continue doing things the way I've always done them" whereas the linked answers are along the lines of "taking the scenic route" or "using a sledgehammer to kill a fly" or "taking three lefts turns instead of one right" etc. It's the "but isn't interested in learning a simpler way" that differentiates it from the linked "duplicate" – Jim Nov 05 '15 at 18:16
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You might get away with calling them an *old dog* because of the adage: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." "Yeah, Joe's just an old dog I guess. I tried showing him how to use 'Search and Replace- All' but he's happy to just hand edit them one at a time." – Jim Nov 05 '15 at 20:54
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Steve Krug, a well-known Web usabilty expert describes this bahavior as muddling through:
We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through.
My favorite example is the people (and I’ve seen dozens of them myself) who will type a site’s entire URL in the Yahoo search box every time they want to go to there—not just to find the site for the first time, but every time they want to go there, sometimes several times a day. If you ask them about it, it becomes clear that some of them think that Yahoo is the Internet, and that this is the way you use it.
And muddling through is not limited to beginners. Even technically savvy users often have surprising gaps in their understanding of how things work. (I wouldn’t be surprised if even Bill Gates has some bits of technology in his life that he uses by muddling through.)
(A chapter from his clasic "Dont' Make Me Think")
Muddling through refers to how many people use technology: they find some way that works (no matter how backwards, roundabout, or convoluted), and then they stick to it.
Krug goes on to note that this is not due to lack of intelligence, but for lack of caring. Many people are too lazy to figure things out, because the way they do it "just works":
Why does this happen?
It’s not important to us. For most of us, it doesn’t matter to us whether we understand how things work, as long as we can use them.
If we find something that works, we stick to it. Once we find something that works—no matter how badly—we tend not to look for a better way. We’ll use a better way if we stumble across one, but we seldom look for one.
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He is trying to break a nut with a sledgehammer.
According to thefreedictionary:
to do something with more force than is necessary to achieve the result you want
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/use+a+sledgehammer+to+crack+a+nut
Another question which I found similar to yours was "To kill a fly with a..."? This contains a lot of other such usable idioms
Although I am not sure if these cover unmotivated/lazy attitude on the part of doer to find an easier way.
Jony Agarwal
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