Knowledge Hole Has Been Filled By Security Hole

(I’m doing technical support for software mainly meant for preteen girls. A teenage boy calls about the software not running on the family PC. He tells me his parents made him call, because he knows more about the computer than they do. After a few troubleshooting steps, it’s obvious he’s right, but we still don’t have the software working.)

Me: “Okay, bring up Task Manager, please. What’s listed there?”

(He reads me the list of current applications, only one of which I don’t recognize. The others don’t generally cause a problem with our software.)

Me: “Close that one, please, and then try again.”

Him: “It’s working now.”

Me: “So that program was interfering. What is it, by the way?”

Him: “It’s the Internet filtering software. You’re supposed to need a password to shut it down.”

Me: “Well… let your parents know about that security hole, okay?”

(Here’s hoping he used his new knowledge wisely.)