Re: [H] Save XP!
Uh, those policies are pretty common, and it would cripple a citrix farm (for example) if not... From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:17:12 -0600 Subject: Re: [H] Save XP! You clearly have not ever worked in a formal IT department in a corporate environment. Frankly, if corporate executive management knew it was possible, they'd have us implement software restriction policies to only allow Outlook, Excel, Word, Project, and Internet Explorer to run in the first place. Greg -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anthony Q. Martin Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 6:08 PM To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Save XP! IT is generally charged with making sure corp. stuff works, not to lord over employees like gods. DHSinclair wrote: Thanks Ben, That is really what I was trying to not so gracefully get to. I agree with this totally. IT gets to be internet COP. That is what the folks are paid for. Whether we like this or not is a separate discussion. Best, Duncan At 18:24 01/15/2008 -0500, you wrote: Yes you most certainly prevent people from attaching any sort of device to a computer. How is this playing God if these are corporate PC's? Users plugging in ipods, flash drives, etc. is a security risk. End users should not be using their company owned computers for anything but doing work. Anthony Q. Martin wrote: One of the big things I'm looking forward to is the new ability to block hardware installation by device ID via GPO. I would absolutely love to prevent people from attaching their iPods to machines on my network...\ You can't prevent people from attaching their iPods to their machines. Perhaps you can prevent them from using them as they are intended to be used But why do you need to play god? _ Make distant family not so distant with Windows Vista® + Windows Live™. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/digitallife/keepintouch.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC_VideoChat_distantfamily_012008
Re: [H] Save XP!
You clearly have no experience working in corporate IT. Corporate IT has a responsibility to enforce policies set by the company. Anthony Q. Martin wrote: IT is generally charged with making sure corp. stuff works, not to lord over employees like gods.
Re: [H] Save XP!
I personally know someone that had a problem where they work by not watching the Employees close enough, and/or catching their illicit activities faster. All being run from (and on) the company computers. For other reasons, they accidentally caught them running some entire very illicit company from the employers system. (They were not the best behaved employee at actual work either.) This could have been very embarrassing for the real company had this gone on longer, and if someone else found it, instead of them. Rick Glazier Anthony Q. Martin wrote: IT is generally charged with making sure corp. stuff works, not to lord over employees like gods.
Re: [H] Save XP!
What gives you the right to attach non-company owned equipment to a company owned PC? What happens if your flash drive caused a voltage spike and ruined the USB ports on the machine? Who is responsible? There are plenty of good reasons to not let people bring removable media into work. Viruses, and the very real possibility that confidential data will find it's way to that USB drive and either be leaked, lost, or at best misappropriated. I think that there are corporate standards, and if one of those corporate standards are no outside devices then thats what the policy is, and people either choose to accept that or find another job. I don't ban USB drives and ipods at my office. But I can appreciate why some companies would see it as a security risk and want to act accordingly. Anthony Q. Martin wrote: It is not always a security risk for a user to attach a flash drive. What, you think everyone there is an idiot but you? Please explain how connecting a flash drive to a PC means they are doing anything but working? Get real people. ARe you glued to your work every minute you are there? Do you really think people are drones who shouldn't touch your machines unless they are working.
Re: [H] Save XP!
IT isn't Corporation X's internet cop, they are the IT handymen who make sure their fleet of desktops, servers, and network gear are working properly. For any large corporation, the only sane policy to make sure there are no leaky pipes on the network is to have completely controlled, locked down user desktop environment where the user has no admin rights or access to any program or device unless expressly permitted. Nobody is trying to play god here, we just want nobody fucking up the network, nothing personal. It's not a matter of trust either, in my experience, most damage to an open network by a user is unintentional. Does anybody accuse management of a god complex when they block 900 numbers and international calls from the company phone system? Same principle. The IT department is nothing but a money pit in the eyes of management, we make no money for any company (only save expenses at best), so you prove your worth by having the most streamlined, efficient shop set up. Having a wild wild west network is just asking for trouble. Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:40:59 -0500 To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [H] Save XP! Thanks Ben, That is really what I was trying to not so gracefully get to. I agree with this totally. IT gets to be internet COP. That is what the folks are paid for. Whether we like this or not is a separate discussion. Best, Duncan _ Watch “Cause Effect,” a show about real people making a real difference. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/MTV/?source=text_watchcause
Re: [H] Save XP!
You wont believe how many requests I see put in our help desk queue for a user to bring in their laptop to download music and videos onto it. They ask with a straight face not even expecting this request to be scorned or the activity in question malicious. Kids these days coming out of the wild, wild west of college have no reference point to follow on the legalities of computer use. All desktops in our enterprise after a few years ago come built with no floppies or ROM media devices, and I thank Dell for having the ability to shut down individual USB ports in the BIOS. Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:05:18 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Save XP! What gives you the right to attach non-company owned equipment to a company owned PC? What happens if your flash drive caused a voltage spike and ruined the USB ports on the machine? Who is responsible? There are plenty of good reasons to not let people bring removable media into work. Viruses, and the very real possibility that confidential data will find it's way to that USB drive and either be leaked, lost, or at best misappropriated. I think that there are corporate standards, and if one of those corporate standards are no outside devices then thats what the policy is, and people either choose to accept that or find another job. I don't ban USB drives and ipods at my office. But I can appreciate why some companies would see it as a security risk and want to act accordingly. Anthony Q. Martin wrote: It is not always a security risk for a user to attach a flash drive. What, you think everyone there is an idiot but you? Please explain how connecting a flash drive to a PC means they are doing anything but working? Get real people. ARe you glued to your work every minute you are there? Do you really think people are drones who shouldn't touch your machines unless they are working. _ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008
Re: [H] Save XP!
Mass-manufactured PC's suck in general! Until you consider it's cheaper to replace one then it is to debug/repair it esp. if your corp. bought a large number of them at a clip which elevates your support level. Joe User wrote: OK... so we've had XP/Vista, 'The AV argument', next is Dell vs. Custom Built/White boxes... DELL SUCKS. DING!!! - Round ONE Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
Re: [H] Save XP!
What I like about them is a single vendor to go to for support. If I have RAM go bad, I call up Dell and I have a replacement the next day. If I have RAM go bad in a whitebox, I have to remember where I bought the RAM, then either go to them (if it's generic) or go to Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, etc. and fight with them to get an RMA number, then mail the bad part in and either pay for a cross ship (if they will do it), or wait 2-3 weeks to get a replacement shipped to me. Multiply that by any quantity and it makes supporting whitebox stuff very hard. I have three Asus barebones servers in my server room. I had the motherboard go bad on one. It took about a month to get it back up and running, partly because Asus doesn't cross ship, and the first replacement board they sent me was completely wrong. j maccraw wrote: Mass-manufactured PC's suck in general! Until you consider it's cheaper to replace one then it is to debug/repair it esp. if your corp. bought a large number of them at a clip which elevates your support level. Joe User wrote: OK... so we've had XP/Vista, 'The AV argument', next is Dell vs. Custom Built/White boxes... DELL SUCKS. DING!!! - Round ONE Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
Re: [H] Roaming Access to Printers
So the FollowMe concept would be print to a central network que but then have user authenticate at the local printer which would then pull the job down print it? Had not thought of that! Seems just as efficient (in this case) to use VBS to query user for what room#? and set default printer to match. This could easily be modified to do the selecting and another script on the same site can add all the printers needed. http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Logon/LogonScript_Printer_Bonus.htm Robert Martin Jr. wrote: Only way I can think to do this is using bluetooth for proximity printing, like how the followme feature works in asterisk and on misterhouse. I'm surprised there isn't an available open source alternative for this. (Google doesn't show much) http://www.ringdale.com/FollowMe/ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
Re: [H] Roaming Access to Printers
If these are reasonably high end printers, and they can put a dedicated computer next to each printer, you could use a pay for print system, like www.goprint.com to direct the jobs properly, etc. Harry j maccraw wrote: So the FollowMe concept would be print to a central network que but then have user authenticate at the local printer which would then pull the job down print it? Had not thought of that! Seems just as efficient (in this case) to use VBS to query user for what room#? and set default printer to match. This could easily be modified to do the selecting and another script on the same site can add all the printers needed. http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Logon/LogonScript_Printer_Bonus.htm Robert Martin Jr. wrote: Only way I can think to do this is using bluetooth for proximity printing, like how the followme feature works in asterisk and on misterhouse. I'm surprised there isn't an available open source alternative for this. (Google doesn't show much) http://www.ringdale.com/FollowMe/ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
