20091117 - FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

OMFG! I don't miss doing end user support. FYI, I'm the IT Security Manager (With a shortage of Security Engineers, thus the DIY in this case). So one of our mail servers gets blocked as a spam relay. I found this is due to an end user who has had their username/password compromised. So I call them as say "It would seem someone has figured out your password. Can you change it please?" (So a real rocket scientist to begin with), then I get:

"Ah. While you're here, can you tell me how to stop mail from going in to my junk folder?" - User

"Sure. Are you using Outlook?" - Me

"Yes" - User

"When you have a message in [...snip...I won’t explain the whole thing here] right-click and select ‘Add to safe senders’ or ‘Add sender’s domain’ if you want anyone from that domain/organisation to be able to send to you". - Me

*silence*

*more silence*

"Do you understand?" - Me

"No" - User

*My blood pressure rises. I take a calm breath, explaining it again and walking the user through each mouse click*.

"Ah. Ok. Thanks for that. Hey, it’s good I have you here, as I need to ask you another question. I need help opening an .ISP file" - User

"Did someone send it do you?" - Me

"Yes" - User

"I'm not familiar with an .ISP file so you'll probably need to ask the person who sent it to you what you need to open it with" - Me

"I think it's Outlook or something" - User

"Do you mean a .PST file?" - Me

"Ummm...Yeah. That’s it" - User

"Ok. In Outlook, select the 'File' menu"...*waiting*. "Have you done that?" - Me

"The what?" - User

"The ‘File’ menu option" – Me

"Where’s that?" - User

*My teeth are gnashing and my heart is thumping. Deep breaths. Deeeeeeeeep breaths*.

"Top left hand side of Outlook. Can you see it?" - Me

"Yes" – User

"Select that, then down to select ‘Open’, then down and across to select ’Outlook Data File’. *waiting*. Have you got that?"- Me

"Yes".

...To cut a long story short, when then spend *minutes* trying to select his CD-ROM drive in the ‘Open’ window, to find that because it’s read-only on a disc that we have to copy it off the disc (This takes more minutes), have to tell him how to open the file again, when we get there he says:

"It says ‘Open with’" – User

*Me struggling to remain calm*

"Just select the file, and press the ‘Open’ button.

"Where’s the ‘Open’ button?" – User

*Me screwing up my face in frustration*

"Bottom right hand side of the window, next to the ‘Cancel’ button" – Me

"Ok" - User

*silence*

*more silence*

"It’s all gone" – User

"What’s all gone? Is Outlook still open?" – Me

"I’m not sure" - User



"Alright, well we seem to be having some difficulty with this, so if you can contact the Help Desk, they will get some support staff to come and give you a hand with this" - Me

"Alright" – User

*click*