The most expensive 2-second fix of my career (and what it taught me about efficiency)

When I was a junior tech in the Windows 3.11 days, I got handed a problem that two senior techs couldn't solve.

The issue? A critical application popup was appearing completely blank. No text. No buttons. Just a white box.

I went into "full investigator" mode:

1. Re-installed the application. (Didn't work)

2. Upgraded the video drivers. (Didn't work)

3. Re-built Windows 3.11 from scratch—a grueling process involving 13 floppy disks and a lot of prayer. (STILL didn't work)

I was thinking so deeply about the architecture, the drivers, and the OS that I missed the surface.

**The "fix"?**

Frustrated and exhausted, I aimlessly dragged my mouse across the screen. Suddenly, blue highlights appeared. The text was there all along.

The user had changed their system text color to white. The background was white.

I learned a lesson that day that has saved me and my clients thousands of hours over the last 30 years: **Look at the simplest things first.**

In IT—and in business—we often look for complex failures when the solution is hiding in plain sight. In cybersecurity and IT strategy, we often chase "Zero Day" threats while leaving the front door unlocked. Occam's Razor isn't just a philosophy; it's a profit-protection strategy.

Have you ever "over-engineered" a solution only to find the answer was simple? Let's hear your stories below.

#ITLeadership #TechHistory #ProblemSolving #702MSP #RetroTech #Simplicity #OccamsRazor