Date: 5/04/98

As I'm training to become a Microsoft technician, I've heard many a
story from some of the veterans. My favorite comes from my trainer,
who used to take calls for the Windows 95 OS.

One day a guy calls in saying he has network problems, so my trainer
asked him to describe the network to get a little
background. Apparently he wanted to share files between his computer
at his house and his work site, but he couldn't see the files on
either computer. 'So what kind of connection do you have?' my trainer
asked. The customer said he had purchased 2 AppleTalk connectors
(warning sign number 1) that looked like phone cables, but bigger, and
he went on to describe the rest of his network. His network setup
consisted of this: two RJ-45 connectors plugged into the ports on his
Ethernet cards, and then alligator clips between the plugs and--get
this--the barbed wire running between his house and his work site down
the road. This left my trainer drop-jawed, and he thought he'd found
the problem right there. 'Can you see the other computer?' he
asked. Sure, the guy said. 'Are you sharing the files?' It was then
the guy realized his mistake. He hadn't shared the files on either
computer, but somewhere he'd figured out how to get barbed wire
twisted correctly and in the right places to emulate 10 Base-T
cabling. It worked perfectly he said, unless it was raining or a cow
leaned against the fence.


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