Well, I stuck my foot in it today. I have been working on cleaning up the computers here in the office. They were all full of spyware, inappropriate software and other computer related unpleasantries. I convinced the commander that we really needed to only have one administrator account controlled by me on each machine, with all other accounts restricted in their ability to install software. So today I went to work on cleaning up and locking down the computers.

I had been working on uninstalling needless software and cleaning all the crap off the computers all day. I finally got to the last computer but couldn't get in to do anything because someone had put a password on the administrative account. I had been asking around for several days if anyone knew who had the password on the administrative account and no one said anything. "Forget it", I thought to myself. I figured after 3 days of asking who has the password, it was time for me to get to work. So I wiped the hard drive and began reinstalling Windows XP, Office, Norton Anti-virus and all the other software the computer needed.

Now mind you, I had been asking around for three days about what was on that computer and who had the passwords, with no answers; just deer-in-the-headlights responses. It wasn't 20 minutes after I formatted the hard drive that Chief shows up and says "Where are my files? What do you mean you formatted the hard drive!?!" *Sigh* Chief is a Polish Warrant Officer we have working here running all the weapons ranges. The angrier he became the thicker his accent became. He got so worked up I could barely understand what he was saying. Which is probably just as well anyway.

I really feel for the guy, because I've lost important files too and it sucks. And of course, as soon as Chief had his blow up and left, everyone else chimes in with "Yeah, that's Chief's computer. Why did you erase it?" And then I find out they had pictures on there from trips they had taken and they had this and that and so on. After I wipe the hard drive everyone is forthcoming with information. They were regular founts of knowledge then. David Jennings (the guy from Jeopardy) doesn't know as much as everyone knew right then.

So I am persona non grata right now. Does it matter that non-administrative personnel had password protected the administrative account? No. Does it matter that their use of the machine had weighed it down with spyware, useless software and viruses? No. Did it matter they didn't make backups of their files and kept them in a separate location? No. Did it matter they were using a public use computer to hold personal files? No. Did it matter that everyone was too involved in what they were doing to give me the information I needed before I had to recover the machine by wiping it? No. I'm the one who fucked up by reformatting the drive. The joys of being the computer admin guy. I get to take the blame for the end users incompetence because I applied the consequences for their actions.

The commander didn't really care (which is my saving grace) but some other folks are kind of peeved. I think I'll just lay low for the next couple days and let it blow over. The good news is that all the computers are clean and permissions have been properly set. Besides, if they shoot me they'll never get into the computers because I'm the only one who knows the admin password ;-)