| Author | Message | ||
     Swordsman |
I was just informed my company will be installing MORE monitoring software on all of our computers to make sure we ONLY use them for work stuff. Despite how slow it is around here, I guess I won't be posting much in the future... I'll just have to sit and twiddle my thumbs.  ~SM | ||
| Chadhargis |
Trust me...it's not your IT department. Us IT folks would like nothing better than to not have to procure, test, install, and monitor MORE software. Blame your corporate management, but not IT. | ||
| Froggy |
Yep, don't blame IT, we keep the company moving. Point your fingers at the lawyers  | ||
| Steve_mackay |
I love being the "IT department" | ||
| Brinnutz |
That's when you get a PDA phone with unlimited data. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
when it's slow i just hide the window behind the piping dwgs. one click and it's gone. so no one knows what i'm doing because we don't have that software on the computer's yet. at least not that i know of. | ||
| Hootowl |
There is a fundamental disconnect between what management expects of IT (to have no audit findings) and what management is willing to put up with from IT (tighter controls). They can't have it both ways. | ||
| Hootowl |
Example... Audit finding: There is unlicensed/unmanaged software in your environment. Effect: Management is pissed that IT has failed an audit. Fix: Take away the ability to install software from non administrators. Implementation: Take admin rights away from end users. Result: management is pissed that they can't install software on their computers. Conclusion: IT are Nazis So who is to blame? IT, or management? | ||
| Chadhargis |
Hootowl...you have it right. IT is a great scapegoat. If the network is slow, it's IT's fault, not the penny pinching management who refuse to let us upgrade equipment or circuits. Or they have us chasing our tails trying to filter out boobies and social networking sites then bitch that it takes 2 days for someone to fix their computer when it breaks. I have sites that are sitting at 250:1 support ratio. Due to the current job market, they've cut so many people that they have us trying to do the work of two or three people (which can't be done), then they want to bitch about how long it takes to get something done (because, of course, everyone wants everything RIGHT NOW). I read an article once that said working it IT is as stressful as an air traffic controller or doctor. While I've never down the other jobs, I can imagine it is. We're on call 24x7x365 (and there is ALWAYS someone working...especially in a global company like mine). | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
The Navy's ISP just stepped up it's "productivity management" as well. Megavideo is now dead to NMCI computers  That's just the latest addition to an already long list of media streaming, web community, and flash gaming websites that are blocked. Luckily this week has been busy every night at work, but no online movie sites makes the slow nights pass VERY slowly. Thank God I've got a Blackberry and a memory card full of movies | ||
| Iman501 |
just use a proxy site, there are millions of them, at school facebook and youtube and other such sites are blocked, but we all use proxy sites and get on FB and everything anyway, just google internet proxies or something, you will get a whole bunch! | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Proxies on an NMCI computer will get the asset (that specific PC) locked out of the network, and the user (me) sent to a little thing we call Captain's mast. Imagine your boss demoting you, taking half of your paycheck for the next 60 days, and for the next 45 days you are forced to work twice as many hours while sleeping AT work instead of going home. That's the basic idea behind going to mast. No thanks. | ||
| Brinnutz |
Yo, I've never been locked out nor seen Captain's Mast...Well, not for proxy use anyways...Ha! | ||
| Swordsman |
Awhile back I tried using a USB flash drive with Ubuntu loaded on it. They haven't locked the BIOS, so I just set it up to check for a USB OS before hitting the HDD. Worked fine, but never could get internet access to work. If I had some software I wanted to use though, that could still be a good workaround. From what I can tell by the email, this new software is going to keep track of installed software, how often it's accessed, and probably what websites you visit and for how long. I'd wager it will keep track of software run from flash drives as well. Then once a month you have to fill out a survey confirming that you are the sole user of the computer (so you can't blame the findings on anyone else!), and it sends in the collected data for analysis. My admin rights got yanked long ago, despite the fact I'm responsible for our CAD software installations and updates. Fun stuff trying to walk a remote admin through the whole process over the phone. "Now double click on that one. No, not that one, the one below it. Check the 2nd box. Now click there..." ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on December 10, 2009) | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"I'll just have to sit and twiddle my thumbs." Hi, this is your boss, I just got word of your impending thumb twiddling. Please come to my oriface and bring the skull mounted cup holder. | ||
| Hootowl |
We package all applications and patches. The MSI installs with elevated rights. We also have implemented a mechanism to temporarily grant local admin rights to a user, even if the PC is not on the network. There are ways to deal with the consequences of taking away admin rights. FYI, I am in IT Security, and I do not have admin rights on my laptop. You might say I'm walking the walk. | ||
| Froggy |
Hell I don't even use an admin account on my home computers. | ||
| Hootowl |
That's smart. Malware can't do as much without admin rights. | ||
| Kustomklassix |
This thread made me LoL. I work for sister companies (same building/owners/employees ect.) and one side is a technical computer building, fixing, ect side, and the other company is an ISP. I feel for everyone here, everyone loves blaming we IT people for EVERYTHING!! Gah. | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
Jeez! Reading this post makes me think we all work in the same building. Funny, I'm a Net Nazi and half of my BadWeb browsing is done at work. But my little indiscretion is nothing compared to what our id10t's do on a daily basis. I've actually said things on the phone like "Are you sh!^ing me?" and "No, they can't see you through your monitor." Tbolt Pilot CISSP | ||
| Froggy |
That reminds me, a while back I was doing a service call for the local department of Social Services. There is one girl who is constantly slacking off and sleeping on the job. One day, I went up to her and said "Hey you better be careful with your nap breaks, they are watching you". She asked how, and I pointed to the microphone built into the monitor. A week later I was in the same office, and every single computer had a piece of electrical tape over the microphones! | ||
| Iman501 |
I'm a Net Nazi and half of my BadWeb browsing is done at work. ha ha me to, cept mine is done at school....yea i know i should be doing my homework, but i never have any (and when your kids tell you they dont have Homework....well trust me....DONT BELIEVE THEM!!!! ha ha we always do! | ||
| Kustomklassix |
LoL, nice display pic Ian. Tbolt Pilot - Holy crap were you talking to my mom?!? One time she was trying to set up a new printer on her home computer so I remoted in to help. I kid you not, at one point while I was installing drivers I asked her to hold the manual up to the monitor so I could check the type of printer it was. When she asked if she was holding it in the right spot and I could see it the guys in the back started laughing they're arses off because she was on speakerphone...  | ||
| Livers |
Yup. Computers had lights on the front when I last visited the man - lots of lights. | ||
| Iman501 |
thanks Kustomklassix. We get bored sometimes at the pool when there are no kids there (i'm a life guard) so i like to find ways to entertain myself! | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Huh.....I guess that makes me the REAL bad guy. I'm the IT auditor thats trying to make sure that IT does what its supposed to. Imo auditors need to keep in mind that IT has limited resources (people) many times and IT is where mgt hides people they just dont want to deal with (i.e. fire their sorry a$$es). There needs to be a balance between controls and usability, too much in either direction and your just asking for trouble. The fights always seem to figuring out where that balance point is. Well, that and mgt trying to make blanket rules that don't leave any room for flexibility. From my experience IT auditors and IT folks are usually in agreement on the way things should be. At least when they work together in the front end of a project and not the auditors coming in after a f'up and trying to explain to mgt what happened (which the IT folks already know and tried to explain but mgt wont listen to them and want to hear it from someone else). Usually our IT already know about the problems before I even point them out. They just dont have the time to deal with it b/c they are understaffed (or 1/2 their staff is incompetent). IT guyss seem to hate stuff like user admin rights and "unauthorized software", not b/c I ding them for it but b/c they have to deal with the morons that complain about slow computers that have installed, deleted, and reinstalled so much crap their registry is FUBAR, or the dumba$$ users that click on .exe attachments, etc, etc. etc. Maybe I didn't say it the best way but to me the bottom line is, usually its users and mgt that ignorant about IT thats the problem. (Message edited by sayitaintso on December 11, 2009) | ||
| Sphere79 |
Awhile back I tried using a USB flash drive with Ubuntu loaded on it. They haven't locked the BIOS, so I just set it up to check for a USB OS before hitting the HDD. Worked fine, but never could get internet access to work. It's not always practical, but if you have unfettered access to a PC - it's the way to go. Older systems will probably need a "live" linux boot disc as USB booting may not be possible. I always carry a business-card cd with Puppy Linux OS in my wallet for such occasions. I also use them to fix and troubleshoot Windows systems. Your network issue could have been ubuntu not supporting that particular LAN card, another distro may have worked. Or just possibly the network was properly configured?! If you're really slick you can run a VPN from said cd / thumb drive and access anything you want - all they'll see is an encrypted connection. You could even use the corporate pipe to run torrents all day - no kidding. They may notice the bandwidth use and eventually ban your mac address (they WILL alot quicker if you're torrenting!), but if they haven't locked down the bios in the first place you'll probably be alright for awhile. Not suggesting you should, just that you can. Hell, micro PC's are cheap enough. Pick one up for $200, get a KVM switch (with keystroke access) and hide it all at your desk. Then you can quickly switch from work to play. You could have the micro system piping streaming music to your speakers (from a site you normally can't access) while you do work stuff on their PC. A couple of strokes, check Facebook - click, click - back to that spreadsheet. How far you go depends on how badly you need to keep your job I guess. Probably should just stick to badweb and social sites though...... and maybe a few boobies. | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
I like the tabs in IE7 and Firefox for the quick switch. With 18yrs of IT, most of it as an Admin of some sort, I've got a book full of stories. And they are 90% ignorant users. Of which 90% of those users are Mgt of some kind. Some users you get to know so well that you just see the name on the ticket and you know what parts to grab before you go. Of course, there was one woman who was particularly rough on laptops and after the second fix in a week, she started bringing brownies with her laptop remains. |
