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PC REPORT
Compliments of Rich Levin's PC ALERT service (http://24.3.97.12)
TRUE TECH SUPPORT TALES FROM HELL (#256)
Hackers aren't the only people who bring computers to their knees. Sometimes all
it takes is a clueless user.
Tim Durkin, a deputy prosecutor in Spokane, Wash., setup his e-mail to automatically
generate an "out of office" reply to every message he received while traveling.
Or at least, that's what he thought he did.
Durkin actually programmed his e-mail to reply to every person in the county's address
book -- all 2000 of them. To make matters worse, Durkin requested a return receipt
for every message.
The screwed-up configuration turned Durkin's computer into a psycho mail server on
overdrive, spewing 2000 replies and 2000 return receipts for every message it received.
Over 150,000 messages clogged the county's network before the IT team found the problem,
and corked Durkin's system. Maybe it's time he took that e-mail training class after
all.
Rich Levin, KYW Newsradio.
Rich Levin's PC Report
As heard on KYW Newsradio 1060 AM Philadelphia
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Copyright (C) 1998 Rich Levin, all rights reserved Subscribe at http://24.3.97.12
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