Don't push that button!

Do you remember all the cartoons where the character is specifically told not to push the red button? In my quest to make my computer do things it has never done with networking before I was going through various folders that I really should not have been messing with. I found one that looked like a pretty globe and executable in a folder marked relating to networking. I knew it would do something…of course I really did not know what it would do. Knowing a button will do something creates an almost irresistible urge to press it. So of course the hero of the story pushes the little button that the little voices in his head whisper that he might not want to push it. After about 15 second a nasty error box pops up and says something to the effect that whatever our hero was trying to do did not work. A few moments later another program does not respond as our hero is working on something else. So the solution to many-stalled program is to hit the control-alt-delete and invoke the powers of the task master. Another big nasty error message pops up and says that the Administrator has revoked the task master. I own the computer. There is no Administrator; the closest thing to one is the owner of the computer. I didn’t tell it to revoke my override powers…what the xxxx? In an age of phishing, viruses and other malicious software my thought between error message, stalling programs and modifications of my admin powers our hero starts to feel a bit of anxiety. Our hero almost never panics and has survived at least 3 life threatening situations because of this personality. Luckily this was not a life threatening issue although it was a bit stressful.  His ability to think critically and rationally in the time of stress allows him to discover that his regedit (the soul of Windows) has been modified and manages to fix that portion of the problem without completely destroying his system.  

So the take away message is that if you put something that looks interesting in front of our hero and do not tell him what it does he will play with until it works or it breaks.