November 6, 2009 - 7:12 A.M.
Everything has been working just fine for this small business's IT, with e-mail and the Web site managed by a third-party vendor on the vendor's servers. But then the Web site vendor moves e-mail and Web sites to the servers of a large hosting company.
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November 5, 2009 - 7:10 A.M.
This pilot fish has watched his IT shop grow from a single IBM minicomputer to dozens of servers connected to hundreds of PCs over the past 20 years, and these days he only occasionally sits in on a department meeting. But sometimes, that's a good thing.
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November 4, 2009 - 7:09 A.M.
Lone on-site IT engineer at a small military base in the desert in Iraq is very gung-ho about doing his part, and he wants to be able to brag about his time ‘outside the wire' -- so he comes up with a novel excuse.
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November 3, 2009 - 7:08 A.M.
Pilot fish gets a call from a client with a week-old PC -- and he's in a panic. The newbie user tells fish that he can't plug in the mouse and keyboard, and he needs to answer an important e-mail that has just arrived.
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November 2, 2009 - 7:00 A.M.
This government agency wants a digital photo of an employee in a remote office, and the local administrative assistant dutifully e-mails it. But that's not the way the folks in D.C. want it.
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October 30, 2009 - 7:00 A.M.
Programmer pilot fish uses a big-name software package to write quick and simple reports for some users. But when it's time to upgrade the hardware for the report server, things get complicated.
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October 29, 2009 - 8:49 A.M.
This manufacturer needs to set up a remote office just to support the management of its inventory with a certain huge retailer. But after DSL is installed there, the staff calls the help desk because they can't reach the Internet.
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October 28, 2009 - 8:36 A.M.
Pilot fish gets a call from a department manager on the other side of the building, who's complaining that all the network printers in his area have stopped working.
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October 27, 2009 - 8:08 A.M.
This nationwide retailer's help desk staff spend a lot of their time resetting users' passwords. And they try to be nice about it -- but sometimes it just doesn't help.
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October 26, 2009 - 7:16 A.M.
User calls support pilot fish with an improbable story: She says she dropped her mouse and her PC shut down.
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October 23, 2009 - 7:15 A.M.
Pilot fish who works for a big software vendor is hunting for one of the company's sales reps, and tracks him down outside a conference room -- in the middle of a heated discussion.
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October 22, 2009 - 7:14 A.M.
This IT pilot fish's job is as a support tech, so naturally he also ends up providing tech support for his friends and family. And when a friend calls with a printer problem, he knows just what to do.
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October 21, 2009 - 7:13 A.M.
Newly hired pilot fish is issued a computer by a member of the IT staff. Great, says fish, now I can load the programs to interface with our test equipment. IT guy's reply: No, you can't.
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October 20, 2009 - 7:12 A.M.
Network admin sends an e-mail to his group's applications admin, database admin, developer and interim IT manager -- and he has a serious security concern.
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October 19, 2009 - 7:11 A.M.
Receptionist in this doctor's office has been working there for three or four years and using a PC the whole time -- but that doesn't mean she's mastered it.
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