SHARK TANK
- Video will drive UFB uptake, but NZ lacks content choices: ComCom || 2
- TelstraClear's half-year revenue drops by 4 percent, but telco posts $1m profit
- Peter Finch leaves CIO post at Gen-i || 1
- 2degrees announces 875,656 customers
- NZ Fauna app fills 'crazy' lack of animal info || 4
- Megaupload interest a mixed blessing for Pirate Party || 2
Computerworld is New Zealand's only specialised information systems fortnightly. Subscribe now for $100 (23 issues) and save more than 37% off the cover price!
Cancel that helpdesk request
At a New Zealand organisation, the helpdesk gets an urgent call saying the network switch cupboard is making a loud noise. Network tech heads up and whilst walking down the hallway hears a loud 'brrrrrrr' that sounds suspiciously familiar. It turns out that in the office next to the switch cabinet, a maintenance worker is using an air compressor. When the tech approaches the original caller, he notices that they're picking up the phone with a sheepish look on their face.
Hunting the mystery PC
This IT shop is replacing its two print servers with a single new machine, reports a pilot fish working there.
"We went through setting up a script that would run on boot and find all the printers on a user's PC, and change them to point to the new print server," fish says.
"After that was done, monitoring was done on the old print servers to see if anybody or anything was still using it — and we found one PC was still using a printer on the old print server."
But finding that PC turns out to be a challenge. It turns out it's not a machine assigned to a user, so fish and her cohorts look for it by checking the network address producing those printouts, then searching for the corresponding network connection in the department that uses those printouts.
And eventually they find it in a little room: an aging PC with a modem attached. A little asking around turns up the fact that the machine automatically transfers some files each night.
It's been doing that for years — so long, and so completely free of glitches, that everyone has forgotten that it's even there.
Email explosion strains Exchange
One of a company's more charity-conscious users composes a message intended for only a select few of his close personal friends — and then accidentally sends it out to the entire 15,000-member workforce, including this pilot fish.
"It was a request for support for a worthwhile charitable organisation," fish recalls.
And it has the predictable result. "First wave: Countless people hitting 'Reply all' to either praise the sender for his generosity or to chastise him for using company resources for his pet project," reports fish.
"Second wave: Countless more people hitting 'Reply all' to reprimand first-wavers for hitting 'Reply all.'
"Third wave: Strongly worded email from CIO to stop the madness, as Exchange was buckling under the load."
Computerworld NZ has now reached LinkedIn! Join to expand your networks and meet others interested in information systems.
