The initial response included instructions for scanpst.exe. I didn't copy it in
because it was HUGE. Took forever for it to print out in their interface.
But the reason I tried that question was because a few weeks ago I actually got
that from a user at the company I'm working at. He was having an ongoing
problem with this error message and previous attempts by tech support to fix it
had failed. This included running scanpst.exe, but the problem kept coming back
no matter how many times he rebooted his PC.
Turns out.... He was on windows 10 and kept doing a "cold boot" by shutting
down the laptop ("shutdown" from the start menu) and then booting it back up. I
had him try "restart" instead of "shut down" and the problem magically went
away. Also resolved a few other issues as well. So I disabled FAST START (the
feature responsible for the behavior that he was experiencing) and the user was
super stoked to finally have this fixed.
This leads me to wonder if any AI chat technology sponsored by a given company
will have the ability to question the functionality of a product designed by
said company. Will MS-sponsored AI be able to recognize that Windows is just a
piece of shit and consider implementing workarounds that DISABLE functionality
that MS wants to push on users? Seems like a conflict of interest.
-Ben
------- Original Message -------
On Thursday, March 30th, 2023 at 12:41 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt
<t...@portlandia-it.com> wrote:
> What is COMPLETELY STUPID about that advice is the OST file is ONLY created
> when Outlook is connected to an Exchange server and it is a duplicate of the
> mailbox in the Exchange server database.
>
> You also can't delete cached mode since the Exchange server sends out a GPO
> that enforces whatever way it wants to setup.
>
> So if it gets corrupted the fix is simple - delete the Outlook profile and
> create a new one and login and the OST file will be recreated.
>
> It is the PST file that you use repair tools and other such nonsense on. And
> the Microsoft supplied tool is scanpst.exe
>
> Incidentally the most common PST error I ever see is caused by corruption
> from spams.
>
> Ted
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PLUG plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org On Behalf Of Ben Koenig
>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 11:44 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group plug@pdxlinux.org
>
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Google Bard - entry level sys-admin, learning fast?
>
> ------- Original Message -------
> On Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 at 6:13 PM, Keith Lofstrom kei...@kl-ic.com
> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> > Career sys-admins, take note. You may want to retrain as a career
> > re-trainer; many sys-admins may soon be looking for new careers.
> > ...
>
>
> On this particular note... I decided to give chatgpt a test and see how it
> handles a basic tech support question. I'm abbreviating the responses due to
> hardcore mansplaining.
>
> Q: My Outlook is giving me an error saying that the OST file is corrupted.
> How do I fix it?
>
> The provided response was pretty large. Lots of instructions for a tool that
> repairs the OST file which is common. Also includes a last resort step to
> recreate the file entirely. So I issued a follow up question...
>
> Q: I tried to re-create my ost file but that didn't work.
>
> A: It recommended disabling cached mode. Recommended using a third party tool
> to repair the OST file, and then dropped this beautiful piece of advice into
> the chat.
>
> "If none of these solutions work, you may need to contact your IT department
> or an IT professional for further assistance."
>
> I just love how it repeated the standard MS response. Every BSoD includes
> that message and being the LLM that it is, regurgitated what is probably one
> of the most common error messages to ever exist. Do we have any reason to
> believe that Bard is any better?
>
> -Ben
