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 <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Ben Koenig Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 11:44 PM To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Google Bard - entry level sys-admin, learning fast? ------- Original Message ------- On Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 at 6:13 PM, Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> 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
