ID ten T error

As we Silver Surfers know, sometimes we have trouble with our computers.

I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.

Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem. As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong?'

He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, 'An ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned.... 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?'

'No,' I replied. 'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'

So I wrote down: "I D 1 0 T". I used to like Eric.......this little bastard!

(Courtesy of forwarded mail from C K Cheong)

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID-Ten-T_Error):

ID-Ten-T Error (also seen as ID10T and ID107) is a term often used by tech support operators and computer experts to describe a user error, a problem that is attributed to the user's ignorance instead of a software or hardware malfunction. It is a masked jab at the user: when ID-Ten-T is spelled out it becomes ID10T ("idiot"). It is also known as a "Ten-T error" or "ID:10T error".

Historical use (circa 1995) includes phone tech support personnel instructing the user/customer to place the line "id=10t" in their config.sys file.[citation needed] The UserFriendly comic strip presented this usage in a cartoon on February 11, 1999.

A highly popularized example of this is a user mistaking their CD-ROM tray for a cupholder, or a user looking for the "any key". However, any variety of stupidity or ignorance induced problems can be described as ID10T errors.