Technology can sometimes confuse even experienced users.

In this story, an IT specialist received a call from a woman who couldn’t log into her computer after a VPN update.

She said she kept getting a “smart card cannot be used” error.

So he tried to troubleshoot and found out that the cause of the problem is a simple keyboard key.

Check out the full details below…

Your update messed up my computer!!

I received a call.

The user stated that ever since IT implemented the new VPN, every time her computer locks, she needs to restart the computer to log in.

She gave me the error message “smart card cannot be used,” which sounded familiar.

I looked through footprints just to make sure.

This man realized what the problem was.

Then, it became clear that this message only appears when you leave the PIN field blank.

I said, “Ma’am, do you have Num Lock on?” She said no.

I said, “Hit Num Lock and try it again.”

And voila, she was able to log in again.

The user didn’t think it was because of the Num Lock.

Now, I’ve had plenty of calls about Num Lock before.

But this one had me confused because she claimed it only happened when the computer locked.

It did not happen when she initially logged in.

Then, she comes out and says, “I never thought about Num Lock.

When I first log in, I use the numbers above the letters on the top row.”

Cue facepalm.

Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This person shares an interesting memory.

Someone who sets up computers at work speaks up.

It’s Microsoft’s doing, says this one.

Finally, this one commends the user who called in.

Just when you think Num Lock has very little purpose, it causes a huge computer problem!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.