A computer store once received a call from a customer with a smoking

power supply. The service rep was having trouble convincing this customer

that he had a hardware problem.

SERVICE REP: Sir, something has burned within your power supply.

CUSTOMER: I bet that there is some command that I can put into the

AUTOEXEC.BAT that will take care of this.

SERVICE REP: There is nothing that software can do to help you with this

problem.

CUSTOMER: I know that there is something that I can put in... some

command... maybe it should go into the CONFIG.SYS.

[After a few minutes of going round and round]

SERVICE REP: Okay, I am not supposed to tell anyone this, but there is a

hidden command in some versions of DOS that you can use. I want you to edit

your AUTOEXEC.BAT and add the last line as C:\DOS\NOSMOKE and reboot your

computer.

[Customer does this]

CUSTOMER: It is still smoking.

SERVICE REP: I guess you'll need to call Microsoft and ask them for a patch

for the 'NOSMOKE.EXE'.

[The customer then hung up and calls back four hours later!]

SERVICE REP: Hello Sir, how is your computer?

CUSTOMER: I called Microsoft and they said that my power supply is

incompatible with their NOSMOKE.EXE and that I need to get a new one. I was

wondering when I can have that done and how much it will cost?