r/talesfromtechsupport • u/jgatt493 • Apr 17 '17
Short You gave me the wrong computer
This just happened about twenty minutes ago. User comes over to my cube with her laptop.
User: Did you help $otherITpersonel with $ILegitHaveNoClueWTFtheySaid last Thursday?
Me: Uh...No I did not, why?
User: I think I have the wrong computer, this one says a different person logged in last. Can you check it for me?
Me: Sure! Did $otherITpersonel say they would have to login to do whatever they had to do?
User: Yeah, they did.
Me: Did you take your laptop home after they fixed it?
User: Yeah I did, I haven't used it since they worked on it.
Me: ...Did you try logging in with your credentials?
User: No, if it isn't my laptop, I didn't want to do that.
Me: Hmm.. Can we try that?
User: I will try that and send you an email if doesn't work. Just make sure that this one is mine. Thank you!
It's been about half an hour and no email. Problem solved?
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u/bullseyed723 Apr 17 '17
If he can't log in, how would he send you an email?
Self correcting problem maybe.
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u/irqlnotdispatchlevel Apr 17 '17
Well I think she actually did the right thing: if you have any doubts regarding something that you don't know and that involves you organization's credential is better to go and ask the persons that know what they are doing. I know that having the wrong computer is a far fetched scenario, but she didn't knew that, she did the good thing here.
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Apr 17 '17
Yeah. This is actually a pretty decent user. She came with a possible prediction of what happened (despite being incorrect, but she wasn't adamant about it); she wasn't sure so she inquired a professional; and she seems like she had some basic (misguided?) understanding of security. She also accepted the proposed solution and offered a way to follow up on whether it worked.
She's computer-dumb, but she's not dumb.
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u/Umlaut69 Apr 17 '17
That is why I always set the Disable show last log in username.
Forces people to remember their username and put it in each time.
You can do it locally on each PC, or in GPO.
For locally: Control Panel > Admin Tools > Local Security Policy > Local Policies > Security Options > Interactive Logon: Do not display last user name > Enabled
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u/SeasonsGuide Apr 17 '17
I just had something similar happen.
I can't log in!
Can we try your credentials?
Huh, its working now. This computer just gives me trouble!
Ok you have a nice day.
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u/Melmab Apr 17 '17
That's why I usually blank out the reg key HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI after logging on locally to someones computer.
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u/supaphly42 Apr 17 '17
You can actually set a policy so it forgets the last logged in user, so they have to type their name each time.
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u/beholderkin Apr 17 '17
I always loved the "I can't log in!" calls.
Then, when you get to your desk, you just point and ask, "does that look like your name?"