Help Desk

Own Worst Enemy

Comic Transcript

ALEX: Ubersoft Technical Support, Alex speaking. How can I help you today?

CUSTOMER: I just installed Verandah on my computer, and now it’s taking forever for all my applications to launch.

ALEX: Are your programs specifically designed for Verandah?

CUSTOMER: No, but they’re listed on your website as being Verandah-compatible.

ALEX: A program that isn’t specifically designed for Verandah will take longer to work because Verandah recognizes that it is not a native application and scans it very thoroughly to make sure it isn’t a virus. Only after it has determined the program is safe will it allow the application to launch.

CUSTOMER: What does it do if it determines the program is unsafe?

ALEX: Not a lot. It originally triggered a virus quarantine subroutine that would prevent the application from running and prevent it from accessing the rest of the system, but the programmers used the wrong development environment when they created it and it had to be taken out at the last minute.

CUSTOMER: Why? That actually sounds useful.

ALEX: Apparently when an operating system flags itself as a virus and then tries to quarantine itself there are “usability issues.”

For the record, I have no knowledge of anything like this actually happening during Vista’s development. I just thought it was funny.

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