When in doubt, reboot....

[W3WN]

Ever have the cable guy in your house? He calls up the headquarters and tell them he needs a bullet. Bullets both start and stop the boxes. Years ago, RS used to sell a device that was a functional bullet blocker. This was during the time that you could walk into a retailer and buy a cable box that was basically an outboard tuner.

Hell no. Never again.

When we switched from DSL to FiOS at the townhouse, the "cable guy" (ie Verizon installer) insisted he had to check my PC over to install software. Found out 3 days later that he did me the "favor" of switching my email account's name from mine to my wife's, since the phone line is in her name.

When we had to get the router at the house replaced a couple of years ago, support promised me (on the phone) that the installer would simply drop off the new router & pick up the old one (we were running, ironically, on the townhouse's router temporarily). The installer refused to do this, told the wife that he was REQUIRED to inspect our home network and EACH and EVERY computer on it. She called me at work, I told her not to let the guy in the house, I called Verizon Support and asked why... and they told me that there was no such requirement, and they'd get to the bottom of this. 15 minutes later the installer returned and swapped equipment; I understand he wasn't in a good mood.

Never again will I let those turkeys rummage through my network. Never!

[KG4CGC]

Hell no. Never again.

When we switched from DSL to FiOS at the townhouse, the "cable guy" (ie Verizon installer) insisted he had to check my PC over to install software. Found out 3 days later that he did me the "favor" of switching my email account's name from mine to my wife's, since the phone line is in her name.

When we had to get the router at the house replaced a couple of years ago, support promised me (on the phone) that the installer would simply drop off the new router & pick up the old one (we were running, ironically, on the townhouse's router temporarily). The installer refused to do this, told the wife that he was REQUIRED to inspect our home network and EACH and EVERY computer on it. She called me at work, I told her not to let the guy in the house, I called Verizon Support and asked why... and they told me that there was no such requirement, and they'd get to the bottom of this. 15 minutes later the installer returned and swapped equipment; I understand he wasn't in a good mood.

Never again will I let those turkeys rummage through my network. Never!

This was back in the late 80s. These day there is no way I would let them in because even the guys who do repair work at certified computer shops are hackers. Some of them are self appointed cops. Some of them think they're Chris Hansen. Mostly though, they're after passwords and account numbers to places where they can find your money.