in a call welcome to in a call Where bad actions at the site resulted in the worst discharges.
Our story, from a reader we named “Jones,” takes place in the early years of this century and relates to some of the military equipment provided by his company.
While computers (Windows) were not connected to the Internet for obvious reasons, they were powerful beasts and used for image processing and playback equipment. During training, operators were told that while the set was capable of playing music or movies, it was strictly forbidden to stick DVDs or external storage devices into it. Nothing is inserted into the various ports or openings without the express permission of the person specified on the site.
Unfortunately, simply disabling the USB sockets (or filling them with glue) was not an option since data sometimes had to be downloaded from the device. The same goes for a DVD drive.
Time passed, and a particular site developed the annoying habit of dropping off frequently, sometimes several times a week.
“Part of our job is, if there was a problem with a site, we took down whatever we were doing and by whatever means necessary we got the site tech,” Jones said.
“Now I can tell you that accessing some sites requires a little creativity and confidence. You call him, we pull.”
and pull verb. With some military outposts lurking deep in the desert, staying on call was a particular challenge.
The computer itself had a very large hard disk (at the time), divided into four partitions with two partitions used for storing images. Part of the operator’s training was to take existing images, once a certain size was reached, transfer them to another partition for archiving, and then delete the original image.
“In those sections there were some hidden folders that held data regarding playback parameters and resource usage along with thumbnails,” Jones explained.
In this desert location, the computer kept falling or running very slowly. After a few calls, Jones decided to dig a little deeper and see what was going wrong. The computers weren’t connected to the internet, didn’t take updates, and a full reinstall would happen every two months (“You know how Windows always works better on a fresh install,” Jones commented).
Why did this fail?
There was a small portion left of the section, dedicated to swap files. It was also where hidden files lie, and they are created when looking, for example, at photos and watching videos.
Armed with the appropriate privilege account, our hero opened the hidden folder and archive. Perhaps he wished he hadn’t.
“I found a large number of thumbnails with timestamps and source data for each…”
The staff assigned to this position seemed to be a bit bored, and so might occasionally appear in an external storage device to watch NSFW nature videos. Timestamps made identifying offenders easy. Limited space means there is less swap capacity, and therefore slow performance and occasional lock-ups.
“Unfortunately for them, although they were so diligent in covering their tracks, they missed the hidden archive file,” Jones said.
What to do Since poor performance and crashes had nothing to do with what the computer was designed for, Jones chose to download the manual and present it to the authorities. He also modified the configuration so that only USB ports might be used to download data.
And the husband with foolish military habits? Stripped of their ranks, they spent the rest of their tour working hard before being sent back for a disgraceful dump and serving time behind bars, according to Jones.
Have you been called up to deal with a performance issue and see something you just can’t overlook? Or tell users not to do something you knew they would do the moment the door closes behind you? Share the call you’d rather forget with an email to her in a call. ®
