After experiencing difficulties with his computer, a poor,
incognizant user called the system maker's technical support
line for assistance...
Technician: Hello. How can I help you today?
Customer: There's smoke coming from the power supply on
my computer...
Technician: Looks like you need a new power supply...
Customer: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files...
Technician: Sir, what you described is a faulty power supply.
You need to replace it.
Customer: No way! Someone told me that I just had to change
the system startup files to fix the problem! All I need is for you
to tell me the right command...
For the next ten minutes, in spite of the technician's efforts to
explain the problem and its solution, the customer adamantly
insisted that he was right. So, in frustration, the technician
responded:
Technician: I'm sorry. We don't normally tell our customers
this, but there's an undocumented Windows command that may
fix the problem.
Customer: I knew it!
Technician: Just click on START, RUN, type into that field the line
'LOAD NOSMOKE.COM' and hit ENTER.
Everything should work fine. Let me know how it goes.
About ten minutes later, the technician received a call back from
the customer.
Customer: It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking...
Technician: Well, what version of Windows are you using?
Customer: XP, SP2
Technician: Well, that may be your problem. That version of XP
doesn't include NOSMOKE. You'll need to contact Microsoft and
ask them for a patch. Let me know how it all works out.
When nearly an hour had passed, the phone rang again.
Customer: I need a new power supply...
Technician: How did you come to that conclusion?
Customer: Well, I called Microsoft and told the technician
what you said, and he started asking me questions about the
make of the power supply.
Technician: What did he tell you?
Customer: He said my power supply isn't compatible with
the NOSMOKE command.
incognizant user called the system maker's technical support
line for assistance...
Technician: Hello. How can I help you today?
Customer: There's smoke coming from the power supply on
my computer...
Technician: Looks like you need a new power supply...
Customer: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files...
Technician: Sir, what you described is a faulty power supply.
You need to replace it.
Customer: No way! Someone told me that I just had to change
the system startup files to fix the problem! All I need is for you
to tell me the right command...
For the next ten minutes, in spite of the technician's efforts to
explain the problem and its solution, the customer adamantly
insisted that he was right. So, in frustration, the technician
responded:
Technician: I'm sorry. We don't normally tell our customers
this, but there's an undocumented Windows command that may
fix the problem.
Customer: I knew it!
Technician: Just click on START, RUN, type into that field the line
'LOAD NOSMOKE.COM' and hit ENTER.
Everything should work fine. Let me know how it goes.
About ten minutes later, the technician received a call back from
the customer.
Customer: It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking...
Technician: Well, what version of Windows are you using?
Customer: XP, SP2
Technician: Well, that may be your problem. That version of XP
doesn't include NOSMOKE. You'll need to contact Microsoft and
ask them for a patch. Let me know how it all works out.
When nearly an hour had passed, the phone rang again.
Customer: I need a new power supply...
Technician: How did you come to that conclusion?
Customer: Well, I called Microsoft and told the technician
what you said, and he started asking me questions about the
make of the power supply.
Technician: What did he tell you?
Customer: He said my power supply isn't compatible with
the NOSMOKE command.
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