[RESOLVED] How to fool the users!!

[Batmanski]

It's always nice to get one up on the users.

I had a customer who wanted some printer drivers for his W2K server. I told him the manufacturer hadn't developed any yet, (the truth), but the NT4 drivers would be fine to use. He insisted I get him some W2K drivers as he wouldn't install non W2K software on his server.
That's fair enough I thought. So I put the NT4 drivers into a folder called Windows 2000 Drivers and e-mailed them to him. He rang back thanking me for the time I'd spent and told me they worked perfectly!!

I'd love to hear more tales of how you got one up on the users. It always makes me smile.

[MacGyver]

LOL. I wonder how many manufacturers have actually done exactly that with their shipping drivers.

My favorite episodes with getting "one up" on users have to do with file sharing services that people use at work (even though they are forbidden) So rather than confront them head on, I use the HOSTS file in their C:\windows directory to redirect all the file sharing servers to 127.0.0.1 That stops the things from working, and what are they going to do about it, anyway? Ask for help on unauthorized software?

From a mechanical engineering perspective, one of the classics is installing a dummy thermostat on the wall, instead of spending lots of money to actually make that thermostat control the temperature. Most of the time, this stops any complaints about the temperature. They can fool with the thermostat all they want and the building maintenance staff don't care.

------------------
http://www3.sympatico.ca/corey.reynolds/avatars/cdnflag2.gif I help others in the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

[MANDAN]

Hi all,

My way to fool the user is by editing the hardware .INF file,
By changing the device description:
Ensoniq will be creative

[Blehboy]

<font face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva" size="2">Originally posted by MacGyver:
LOL. I wonder how many manufacturers have actually done exactly that with their shipping drivers.

</font>

HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Canon....to name a few. The duplicate OS drivers all over the place. Including NT/2K.

------------------
"Oh, baby. You are so talented...and they are so dumb." - Sheriff Bart, Blazin' Saddles

[Blehboy]

<font face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva" size="2">Originally posted by MacGyver:
From a mechanical engineering perspective, one of the classics is installing a dummy thermostat on the wall, instead of spending lots of money to actually make that thermostat control the temperature. Most of the time, this stops any complaints about the temperature. They can fool with the thermostat all they want and the building maintenance staff don't care.
</font>

That is a good one, Mac.

------------------
"Oh, baby. You are so talented...and they are so dumb." - Sheriff Bart, Blazin' Saddles

[MacGyver]

<font face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva" size="2">Originally posted by MANDAN:
Hi all,

My way to fool the user is by editing the hardware .INF file,
By changing the device description:
Ensoniq will be creative</font>

I think there is a word for that: FRAUD
If you are doing this to fool your friends, that's one thing. If you are doing this to fool your customers, that's just plain wrong.


------------------
http://www3.sympatico.ca/corey.reynolds/avatars/cdnflag2.gif I help others in the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

[This message has been edited by MacGyver (edited October 16, 2001).]

[MANDAN]

To MacGyver,
As you know USR=3COM
some of my customer want to see on the device manager :
Modem Creative 56k support V.90
but the manucacture write : Modem DSI5655 for win2k .
here I dont see a problem.I will not write V.92, for expmle.
or modem : 1433VQH-33.6K Internal Data Fax Modem
will be: Texas-Instrument ...