The only conceivable way, as far fetched as this sounds, for a computer to be damaged while testing with a meter, is if it crashed the computer by having the meter connected to the Hot and neutral contacts of the receptacle and the meter being incorrectly set to measure current and not voltage.
I've seen this happen once before and it took out the whole circuit.
I don't however think that this is what has occured in this case though.
This scenario just sounds rotten to the core.
