OK, please note that this is a very embarrassing story, but it is all true.

A couple months ago I was iChatting with my brother who lives in Morocco. He was concerned about a virus going around. I told him that unless you had root access, it was very difficult to make changes to the OS. As an example, I told him to put his System folder into the trash (expecting the "you do not have root access to do that"). His IM stopped cold. I screamed "OH, NO!" I tried to call him on the phone, but could not get through. I felt HORRIBLE. I knew if I could get through to him, I could help reverse my stupidity. I could not. He had to reinstall his system, applications, reset his preferences, passwords and more.

"How dumb am I?" I think this one wins the award because this crippled a family member half a world away.

Wow, mate. That truly IS horrendous. Is your brother speaking to you again now?

Yes... [blush] He realized that I have saved him countless times regarding other hardware/software issues and advice. I am his main tech guy and every time he and my other family members did not listen to me, they suffered (like buying cheap PCs). Every time they DID listen to me, they benefited. This was the only bugaboo because I tried to do this pre-Jaguar and it told me I could not do it. I did not know that this had changed. He is back up and doing fine. I also helped him extract all his files from a dying LaCie drive onto a replacement when he was home from Morocco during Christmas. He is back up to speed--All is well.