I’m always the first to admit when I make a mistake, but damn I hate making them! Especially when the mistakes affect a customer I’m working with at the time.
While uninstalling yet another copy of the bloated Norton Internet Security today, I ran into the Norton Password Manager. Unfortunately, some of my work (like anyone else involved in a business) becomes repetitive and robotic and that can lead to potential problems. I was getting "click happy" when I ran into this program (that I honestly had not seen anyone use yet) and before I thought to ask the customer if he used the program, I had already uninstalled the program. Fortunately, I saved the data, but the program was history…even System Restore couldn’t get it back and he didn’t have the CD for re-installation.
Needless to say, I felt like a dunce.
Upon further questioning, however, the gentleman (who was very patient and understanding by the way) had only about a dozen saved passwords in the program AND he knew what they all were and had them written down. I downloaded a copy of the amazing Robo Form software for him and had him back up and running with an even better solution. Disaster averted and I cut my bill in half for the inconvenience and my lack of thinking.
Moral of the story: Don’t get click happy on a computer and even in the most routine of operations, stop and think.
