# "I don't know what this file is" does not fucking equal "I can delete it" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 5, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736 "2004-05-05T23:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/21 "2004-05-06T22:24:19Z")
> [@Mort Furd](#): > > How goes Birdcam? Funny you should ask; I did buy a small composite camera, but I didn’t get around to using it, but I’ve just picked up (very cheaply) a widget that allows a USB peripheral to be used up to 150 feet away from the host machine - across cat5 cabling, so I’m going to give it a try. Too late for this year now though as the birds are already nesting. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/22 "2004-05-06T22:58:39Z")
Suggestion: Would it be possible to set up a fake admin account for your boss? Something that looks like an admin account, but doesn’t have the permissions to _totally_ screw up a computer? Given your boss’s apparent skill level, it might be only necessary to rename the admin account and give him a regular one with the admin login name. Note: I am not a Windows user and have not been one for years. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/23 "2004-05-06T23:05:28Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > “When life imitates Dilbert” Heh. Remember this one : Pointy-haired boss : “I forgot how to reboot my laptop” Dilbert : “Just hold it upside-down and shake it.” Pointy-haired boss “Oh, yes.” Leaves. Dilbert (to Wally) “Do you think he’ll ever figure out that we gave him an Etch-a-Sketch?” ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/24 "2004-05-06T23:07:17Z")
We have a guy like this where I work. He is the ‘Network Administrator.’ Where am I going? And why am I in this handbasket? ---
**Author:** ![Eyke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Eyke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyke)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/25 "2004-05-07T14:21:54Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Ferret Herder, I’d think you were me, except my coworker mentioned it AFTER moving all her original directories into subfolders, rendering the machine thoroughly inoperable. “Gee, that’s a problem way past my skill, you need to take it to one of the admins.” Whew! There was a note on [Userfriendly.org](http://Userfriendly.org) pertaining to this behavior, it wasn’t you was it? (hmmm just popped into their [Tech Tales](http://www.userfriendly.org/community_techtalesarchive.html) and didn’t see that story…anyway…) All I can say is BYTM \:D ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/26 "2004-05-07T14:40:36Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I’ve posted this before … > > Let us not forget Dogzilla’s Theory of Inverse Management Intelligencetm: For each and every promotion higher up the management ladder, a person loses 10 IQ points and one office skill they had as a peon. . There’s more to it than that. I work at a large law firm (I’m not a lawyer myself, merely an administrator with some IT responsibilities). The level of technical competence among lawyers is minimal, at best. I think it’s ego-driven. Much like, say, Charlemagne didn’t think it was necessary to know how to read or write, since he would have clerks perform that menial task for him, lawyers, especially once they become partners, think that it would be demeaning to actually know how to use their computers. If a secretary can do it, it must be something that’s beneath them, right? You can’t expect them to do _secretarial_ work, can you? Not after three years of law school (how some of them got through law school without knowing how to use a computer is beyond me, but they seem to manage). So knowing the simplest things, like how to read and answer e-mail, is beyond them. Or – my pet peeve – if you get a 100-page long MS Word document as an attachment to an e-mail, you should know that the best way to get this document “on the system” (they all say that, even though they have no idea what it means) is _not_ to print it out, give it to the Word Processing department, and tell them to scan it. Idiots. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/27 "2004-05-07T15:54:24Z")
So, _can_ you write protect C:\ ? ---
**Author:** ![Eyke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Eyke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyke)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/28 "2004-05-07T16:44:06Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > So, _can_ you write protect C:\ ? Maybe I didn’t see the facetious tag, but no, there’s the whole hang up with the temp dir. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/29 "2004-05-07T16:49:11Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > Or – my pet peeve – if you get a 100-page long MS Word document as an attachment to an e-mail, you should know that the best way to get this document “on the system” (they all say that, even though they have no idea what it means) is _not_ to print it out, give it to the Word Processing department, and tell them to scan it. As a sometime word processor, all I can say to these people is…well, “Keep up the good work!” What can I say? I like to get paid. ---
**Author:** ![Eyke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Eyke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyke)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/30 "2004-05-07T16:51:42Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > We have a guy like this where I work. > > He is the ‘Network Administrator.’ I guess he’s the poster child for the Peter Principal? We hired this guy to be our IT guy because he was familiar with our Acct & Production software. I’m just the drafter who learned how to get himself out of problems he got himself into. I don’t know how many times I stealthly go in afterwards and fix the obvious. Like a printer that will not print black because the color cartridge was dry. I asked the shop foreman if Jorge checked the ink? Darrin said that he mentioned that aspect only to be told, “That can’t be it!!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Eyke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Eyke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyke)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736/31 "2004-05-07T16:56:30Z")
OH…and he moved on so we have this new “kid” who tends to say, “Well Geo did this and Geo set up this way and…” I have yet to say…“well…can’t you fix it???” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-what-this-file-is-does-not-fucking-equal-i-can-delete-it/243736.md?page=1)