One of the downsides of my job is that it leads me to have to deal with people asking me to do the impossible, or next to it, with their computers. Now, sometimes I like the challenge, but sometimes you have to know when to say no.

This morning yielded one such call. The caller called in asking me to help him configure his router. After some discussion, I discovered it wasn't his router he was actually wanting me to configure, but his wireless network adapter. Well, the official line is that we don't support internal wireless, but we can and do try to do what we can to keep the company happy. So I figured I'd give it a go, at least.

After determining what he wanted done, I decided I'd give him as much help as I could, with the standard disclaimers. When his Control Panel didn't come up very quickly, though, I became suspicious. I had to ask what O/S he was using.

Windows 98. Great. Just great.

Fortunately, the boss was in, so I headed down the hall to his office to make sure I could dismiss the call if I needed to. Because of the demands being put on us (Windows 98 and Wireless Network Adapters are a BAD mix; in fact, I'd personally have to say that if it has the word "network" ANYWHERE in it, Windows 98 is probably not the best O/S to use), I had to draw the line on this one. I asked a couple of the other tech guys if they wanted a go at it, but they didn't want to touch it either.

Bottom line is: If your operating system is older than your car, it's probably time for an upgrade!