Stef called while I was driving home. It was a tech support call.
There are two speeds in Stef’s life. The first is operative when she wants something. The second kicks in when I want something. Guess which is faster?
I called her back when I got in.
She needed to know her WiFi password. I set up the wireless for her, but totally forgot the password. It seemed (and turned out to be) apropos when it was originally conjured. Problem is there are thousands of apropos passwords!
I tunneled into her computer with LogMeIn.com. It’s very reliable and resides permanently on her laptop.
Nowadays and on new installs I mainly use TeamViewer.com which seems a little more robust. More importantly it’s easy when my patient needs to be talked through its installation.
From Connecticut, but on her laptop in California, I quickly located, unzipped and executed a program to crack WiFi passwords. The virus protector zapped it on contact!
Oops.
Any program which plays with the system files necessary to recover encrypted data is looked at suspiciously. Understandable.
I tried turning off the virus protection. It wouldn’t fully shut down. Anti virus software looks suspiciously at that too! Frustration was setting in.
Finally I opened a browser and probed her router. It’s got a little website built-in to allow for configuration. Hidden away in obscurity was the password. It was fully in-the-clear. There was no encryption.
She’s happy. I am the man.