It is NOT your PC.

[Adul]

Divine, for every user who does ahve some clue what they are doing, there is another 1000 that don't...

 

[divinemartyr]

<< Divine, for every user who does ahve some clue what they are doing, there is another 1000 that don't... >>



I said for people who know what they are doing, not for the ones who don't. I understand what the numbers are but thank you for implying I didn't

dm

 

[fdiskboy]

Jeesh, there are exceptions to every rule.

I've been on both sides, tech support and end user, and I understand Divine's point.

There ARE end users you can trust. Sure, there may be 999 others that SUCK big time.

So trust users like Divine, and to hell with the rest of 'em.

 

[divinemartyr]

<< Divine: No matter how much of a power user you are, there is no telling what incompatibilites are going to hose your system *mutters about the novell client under 98* >>



Well I'm not saying it could never happen, but I've been using work PCs for hmm..... I guess about 6 years now and haven't managed to 'hose' one yet. I don't think it's a matter of being a power user, it's just knowing what you're doing before you do it and then how to fix it later if need be.

dm

 

[Windogg]

divinemartyr, The whole point is not whether you know what your doing or not. A lot has to do with comptibility issues. One user installed some cheezy photo editing utility that dropped a long file name in the autoexec.bat. Then he decided he didn't like it and deleted the directory and shortcut. Of course he didn't tell anyone so it 5 man hours to figure that one out. Sure it was as simple as deleting one line but in the meantime, people with REAL problems had to wait because some moron wanted to doodle with picture.

Another reason is licensing and legal issues. Sure someone might think it's fun to drop their home copy of Photoshop 6 (already pirated) on the system but what if some disgruntled ex-employee reports the office for pirating software? Now imagine everyone installing whatever that wanted and having a bunch of investigators swarm into the office checking PCs for compliance. These companies don't have time to catch every home user pirating stuff but snag a Fortune 200 company and they are set. I for one do not want to be the one walking the plank should the sh!t ever hit the fan.

Windogg

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Heh, I get along great with my company's MIS dept. So I got an unspoken don't ask don't tell policy regarding other SW, I don't have to tell them as long as I make sure they have no reason to ask.

 

[Windogg]

Soybomb, yea the Novell Client is an absolute pain in the ass. Any little bit of temapering will knock it out of place which leads to, &quot;Uhhhh... why don't I have the S: drive?&quot;

 

[warcleric]

heh try running Zenworks under Win2k, I have been able to overcome every NW Client issue I have ever had, but trying to get the damn NAL to palce icons on the desktop in win2k is impossible I say!

and

divinemartyr: for the simple reason, IT IS NOT YOUR PC, I dont care if you were the lead programmer for Windows 98, dont install personal stuff on your companies machine...would you like it if I came to your house and started installing my software on your home computer?

 

[divinemartyr]

<< divinemartyr: for the simple reason, IT IS NOT YOUR PC, I dont care if you were the lead programmer for Windows 98, dont install personal stuff on your companies machine...would you like it if I came to your house and started installing my software on your home computer? >>



Let's use a fair comparison. Let's say I let you use a computer which I own to help me do some work. Do I expect you never to install your own software on it? Absolutely not. If you screw something up though, you will be held accountable.

dm

 

[zippy]

Demon, basically you do your own tech support so there is no need for anyone elses.

Heh, my sister's boyfriend is a computer consultant- it was ever so much fun to talk to him on the phone (we're friends too)when he worked at this dysfunctional, incompetant, yet quite large company as their Director of MIS! Heh, he quit that job to move almost clear across the country with my sister and he now he has his own consulting business. It's still entertaining to talk to him about his customers and their idiocy, but not as much so.

 

[divinemartyr]

Windogg

Just for the record, you don't have one single piece of software installed and haven't made any changes on your work machine which is used for absolutely NOTHING but work related purposes? Up to and including, a personalized background, different colors in windows, winamp, any mp3's, napster, irc, icq, aim, yahoo messenger, msn messenger, etc. I'd be really surprised if you did not have ANY programs which were used for even 1% personal use.

dm

 

[warcleric]

divine: maybe you are talking from a users point of view, but let me tell you the best way to avoid these situations is just to abolish the act completely. Where I work it is immediate termination for any unauthorized software to be installed on a users PC, and I like it that way....before this policy was in effect the amount of network congestion was almost triple what it is now <real audio, WMP, etc> and the tech calls for problems created by user installed software was far too time consuming. So now, nothing gets installed anywhere, unless we install it.

 

[Windogg]

divinemartyr, nope. I set an example. Plus AOL IM, Yahoo Messanger, ICQ, etc. are all firewalled back in Texas so there is no point installing it. I even use Lotus cc:mail as my email client even though I hate it. No backgrounds since it slows do the PC.

Windogg

 

[iamwiz82]

he does use the browser for personal use =].

 

[Windogg]

Yep I use the browsers but IE5 is part of the standard load and I've cleared what I do with my boss. As long as I do my job I can do as I please.

 

[Adul]

<< Yep I use the browsers but IE5 is part of the standard load and I've cleared what I do with my boss. As long as I do my job I can do as I please. >>



Someone has thier bases all covered

 

[Howard]

People like Windogg must run for President.

 

[corpboy]

I'm with you windogg, Lead by example.

 

[Namuna]

The new Laptop Manifesto has been written.

Thanks Dogg!

 

[Valhalla1]

Windogg - sounds like you need to implement this - http://www.attrition.org/gallery/spoof/users.jpg

 

[hardtail]

Great rant Windogg. I directed our IT dept to install NT4 on all our desktops back in '97, and once the permissions were set, most of the issues disappeared. We recently migrated all the laptops to NT2000, and now have them under better control. They can still screw things up, but we removed most of the bullets from the gun....

You're exactly right about the liability exposure. While one incident of pirated software in a company where it completely contrary to policy probably wouldn't be a huge deal, the best defense is be being able to demonstrate that we did everthing within our power to prevent it.

People are funny outfits. We have high level optical and laser engineers that can't write a coherent paragraph, manufacturing technologists that can troubleshoot an automated factory in under and hour, but can barely use a laptop.

ht

 

[Lord Evermore]

For the ones saying &quot;trust the ones that know what they're doing&quot;...how much time do you think the IT department has to interview and evaluate every single user to determine if they REALLY know what they're doing, or just managed to install Office once, or are total fricking morons that can't follow simple instructions such as 'click on X'.

However, unless the company specifies a complete policy defining exactly what can and can't be done with the computers, the IT department just has to deal with it and use the phrase &quot;non-standard and not approved&quot; a lot, while making a disk that automatically formats and reimages disks.

My company's IT staff is somewhat anal for most areas, but we have a reasonably cool (i.e., lazy) LAN manager at our office, and he told our manager that he doesn't care much what we do with the machines, just don't expect him to support them beyond replacing failed hardware (which for some reason, the hard drives are constantly head crashing) and reimaging them if the software gets screwed up. However recently we've been ordered to reimage all machines with corporate standard and lock down to prevent any installations (rumors of the SPA coming 'round).

 

[kazeakuma]

Isn't it fun being an IT tech? I always love this one, &quot;It must have been something you changed last time&quot;.

Yeah, I deliberately screwed up your pc when you buggered it up last time so I would have to come back again. I just loove seeing you.

 

[The Stigenator]

I totally agree with you.. some people are just plain idiots.. they dont even listen after all the warnings you give them and they still do it..

Arrgh!

 

[DadofOne]

We won't discuss the Asset Manager who pooched her laptop when the ferret knocked over the water glass.....:Q