Tech Savvy People - Help Me Out Here

[movingforward]

This is mainly out of sheer curiosity... One of the employees at work who reports to me stated that the file for a project she has been working on became corrupted.  How does this happen and why? 

Just to give you a little back story regarding person, she is an hourly employee who used to request permission to work OT quite a bit.  I talked to our CEO a couple of months ago and she agreed to freeze OT.  We only have 2 hourly employees and everyone else is salaried.  The reason I requested to freeze OT is because I noticed this particular person wastes at least 2-3 hrs a day on personal calls, chatting with other employees, searching the internet, etc.  Honestly, I don't really give a crap what people do (obviously I am on the YM right now - LOL) but I do care about the work getting done.  As long as the work is getting done then employees don't hear crap from me.  I don't micromanage, etc.  My big beef though is don't sit around flapping your gums all day long and then come to me complaining about your workload and requesting OT.  That doesn't fly with me.  At any rate, I get a call at 7PM last night from this employee and the conversation is pretty close to this:

Employee:  I was just finishing up project X and the file became corrupted

Me:  What do you mean the file became corrupted?

Employee:  I was working on it and the file just got corrupted and is not good any longer.  I am going to have to recreate this entire thing.

Me:  So it corrupted our server?

Employee:  No, it was just this particular file

Me:  Well, don't you have the file saved to the server

Employee:  Yes, but it only backs up every week so any changes I made in the past few days are not there so I am going to need to stay tonight and redo any changes.

Me: Uh, okay

So this morning she calls and says that she was at the office until 4AM and will be in later this afternoon.  So how does a file become corrupted?  I am not tech savvy enough to know... Also, I really have a hard time believing she needed to be at the office until 4am to do what needed to be done on this because most of it was completed prior to this happening but I guess that is another story. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

How do I prevent files from becoming corrupted?

It's rare for a file to become corrupted. Typically, it happens when something goes wrong while the file is being saved. For example, the program saving the file might stop working, or your computer might lose power just as the file is being saved.

You can decrease the chances of a file becoming corrupted by protecting your computer's power with a surge suppressor or with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

Also, always make sure you turn off your computer properly. Avoid pressing and holding the power button because it usually forces Windows to shut down abruptly. For more information, see Turning off your computer properly.

from microsofts page

[movingforward]

Thank Beth.  I really couldn't figure out exactly what she meant and just wasn't sure if she was trying to pull my leg to get OT or what...

[swasat]

Microsoft 7 allows you to get the prvious versions of the file.

Right click on the corrupted file and click "Restore previous Versions". If the file was saved locally on her computer she should be able to get a previous version.

[ArchietheDragon]

what kind of file was it?

Word 
Excel
powerpoint
specific software file

??

[movingforward]

Dec 11, 2014 10:34:44 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

what kind of file was it?

Word 
Excel
powerpoint
specific software file

??

Publisher

[ArchietheDragon]

support.microsoft.com/kb/198256

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I was just finishing up my CAD final project......one that I had spent 20+ hours on.  There was a glitch in the system, I was able to copy the entire drawing to another screen and saved it under another name.  The glitch happened when I was trying to save some corrections I made.

Yesterday, I accidentally called it up to print it out and turn it in and it was a mess.  I'm not sure why it happened, but it did and had I not been able to save it again to another file, I would have had to move into the computer lab to redo it.  Copied file was good though.....

[movingforward]

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 11, 2014 11:30:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

We've got one of those here.  her computer is always having problems.  I think most are user related errors. 

[swasat]

Dec 11, 2014 11:30:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

I had a similar one last year too. Used to arrive at work @ 10am, work for an hourm leave for a Starbucks break @ 11 am, come back 11:30, leave for lunch @ 12pm, arrive back 1;30-2pm, work till 3:30, coffee break 3:30-4:30 and then out the door at 5:00 sharp  I didn't notice at first, but then all my other employees started grumbling about it indirectly. Turns out the guy wasn't even doing his work. Would constantly try o offload his work. There were other issues as well. Needless to say, he went out the office in 4 months!

[movingforward]

Dec 11, 2014 11:35:21 GMT -5 swasat said:

Dec 11, 2014 11:30:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

I had a similar one last year too. Used to arrive at work @ 10am, work for an hourm leave for a Starbucks break @ 11 am, come back 11:30, leave for lunch @ 12pm, arrive back 1;30-2pm, work till 3:30, coffee break 3:30-4:30 and then out the door at 5:00 sharp  I didn't notice at first, but then all my other employees started grumbling about it indirectly. Turns out the guy wasn't even doing his work. Would constantly try o offload his work. There were other issues as well. Needless to say, he went out the office in 4 months!

This one just has a million excuses as to why she can't meet a deadline.  She has been with the company for 15 yrs and I have no idea how.  This past February she was responsible for a project that was a BIG DEAL to our board and it wasn't done!  Our CEO actually covered for her and told the board it was her fault the project wasn't done .  She knew they would want this person fired so she took the hit. 

[Abby Normal]

Dec 11, 2014 11:30:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

can you check the server for what time she logged out?  I would wonder if she was really there that long. I would also check the date and time the file was last saved.

But it's pretty rare that a file actually corrupts.  And like Swasat pointed out, you can usually recover it. We lose power all the time and while we have UPS on the computers and servers, I'll occasional need to recover a file.  But I've always been able to recover it. Usually the next time you enter the program, it will ask you if you want to restore it. 

So I'd be a bit suspicious.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Dec 11, 2014 11:58:34 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

Dec 11, 2014 11:30:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Honestly, I never know with this particular employee because it is ALWAYS something.  Thanks everyone.

can you check the server for what time she logged out?  I would wonder if she was really there that long. I would also check the date and time the file was last saved.

But it's pretty rare that a file actually corrupts.  And like Swasat pointed out, you can usually recover it. We lose power all the time and while we have UPS on the computers and servers, I'll occasional need to recover a file.  But I've always been able to recover it. Usually the next time you enter the program, it will ask you if you want to restore it. 

So I'd be a bit suspicious.

 

[saveinla]

I agree with Agilemom. If you have desktop support, please check with them to see if they can figure out what happened and if there is a backup on the server. Most microsoft products usually have auto backup and she may not have to redo the whole work.If it is actually corrupted, then just a smaller portion may need to be redone. 

[Virgil Showlion]

Files typically get corrupted when there's too much power going into a computer.

Some files crave power so greatly that they begin to delete competing files. Factions form, leading to brutal autocratic filesystems. The master files promise reforms (more byte rebates for the rich files, extra storage space for poor files, shorter copying times, etc.) but very often succumb to greed and delusions of paranoia, leading to deep corruption. This corruption can in turn lead to horrible atrocities such as genocide (recall the ethnic cleansing of the .FONs by the .TTFs back in the late 1990's) and daily program executions.

I realize technology can be daunting at times. We all have to learn these things bit by bit as we go along.

[skubikky]

Virgil....you slay me.
Here's two more novenas for you. 

P.S. All I want for "the evil holiday" is a novena icon.
P.P.S.  Hugs and love....skub

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2014 13:11:40 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Files typically get corrupted when there's too much power going into a computer.

Some files crave power so greatly that they begin to delete competing files. Factions form, leading to brutal autocratic filesystems. The master files promise reforms (more byte rebates for the rich files, extra storage space for poor files, shorter copying times, etc.) but very often succumb to greed and delusions of paranoia, leading to deep corruption. This corruption can in turn lead to horrible atrocities such as genocide (recall the ethnic cleansing of the .FONs by the .TTFs back in the late 1990's) and daily program executions.

I realize technology can be daunting at times. We all have to learn these things bit by bit as we go along.

Oops.................. I'm on the wrong thread.  Didn't understand a word of this.  After all , I just learned to tag!!!!!

....but I do think there's some hooky-dooky that can be done to see what time the employee signed off.  4:00 a.m.?  I doubt it!  I used to work with someone like that.... She was late every morning, spent the first half hour putting on her makeup, then phoned her mother, then had a huge breakfast.  I could go on and on about her day; but she always claimed to need OT.

[Works4me]

Definitely talk to IT/Tech Support if you want to find out what really happened.on my last job we could even extract what times people entered the garage, when they signed on and off the computer and when people left the building.

i do have one question or concern: if she has been there 15 years AND the CEO was willing to fall on his sword for her, would it really do any good to catch her lying and nail her?Why was the CEO willing to take the fall for her? Does she maybe have something on him? Someone or something else? The reason I ask is because if anything like that is the case you could just be cooking your own goose, so to speak. Having been through more than one "corporate wars," I would recommend treading lightly. However, YMMV.

[movingforward]

Dec 12, 2014 5:08:26 GMT -5 Works4me said:

Definitely talk to IT/Tech Support if you want to find out what really happened.on my last job we could even extract what times people entered the garage, when they signed on and off the computer and when people left the building.

i do have one question or concern: if she has been there 15 years AND the CEO was willing to fall on his sword for her, would it really do any good to catch her lying and nail her?Why was the CEO willing to take the fall for her? Does she maybe have something on him? Someone or something else? The reason I ask is because if anything like that is the case you could just be cooking your own goose, so to speak. Having been through more than one "corporate wars," I would recommend treading lightly. However, YMMV.

In short, she and the CEO are good friends.  Before the CEO became the CEO she was an employee just like this person (well, not just like this person as our CEO worked her butt off) and they became friends.  Our CEO became the CEO about 10 yrs ago (but has worked for the company 22 yrs), and she has basically let this person get away with a ton of crap.  Essentially, she has created a monster.  Last month our CEO announced her retirement and the board of directors will be replacing her the 4th quarter of 2015.  This particular employee is now EXTREMELY worried about what is going to happen to her (she has expressed this on several occasions).  She knows a new person is not going to let her get away this crap, and the new CEO might be me!  I have been asked by several board members if I am planning to apply for the position and I have told them yes.  I have no idea if I will get the job or not but if I do then this person is really going to have to get it together or say goodbye.  Really, it isn't going to matter who it is because no one is going to let her continue to behave this way.

At any rate, I am not going to make any waves at this point.  I don't think it is worth it.  I need our current CEO's recommendation as her replacement. 

[Works4me]

Definitely play it cool - but I would go ahead and collect whatever "evidence" you can and just keep it in a confidential file - then when you are CEO, you can show a documented history of long-standing issues.

i am so glad that you are going for the CEO position - here's hoping they have the good sense to promote you!