Support NeoGAF

[tedtropy]

I hate the IT industry. Period.
I'm going to school for something else.

I don't know that it's any better or worse than most fields. It's all about the environment and people you work with. I can safely say I don't think I'd want to work for a school IT department again, but the company I'm at now treats me very well, the users are mostly really nice people, and I learn alot of crap and help some people along the way. Works for me.

 

[Cherubae]

From what you describe, you told him to try it. Hell, maye he HADN'T tried it from work because, y'know, the chances of getting caught would be pretty large. Maybe he looks at porn at home instead?

Had he of replied with "Yup, I've been looking up /insert website here/ every day, and nobody notices! I wank in the breakroom when nobody is watching!", then maybe you'd have a point.

MrMyth has his browser History file He can find out how often he's visited the porn sites.

 

[xsarien]

I'm a systems analyst for my company. At my company this means I do everything but programming, and they're sending me for training for that. I'm a liason to the larger IT dept for my section of the company - let's just say if this were the Old West, IT would be the federal govt, my boss would be the local sheriff, and I'd be a deputy. Except the sheriff is always in a fucking meeting, so I'm the law around here.

And I suppose that you, Mr. Dredd, know that probably nearly everyone in the company is probably using some form of IM software.

Loosen the reigns, just go after people who are posing legitimate security risks. Also, he's new, don't be that guy. The guy who treats anyone below him like underlings. Just calmly explain to him that at this particular company, despite the (glaring) holes in the network, it is watched for and dealt with. Getting him fired? That's weak.

Small anecdote: On my workstation at the office, I have an SSH client so I can make secure connections to my remote server. I use it to check personal e-mail, maybe glance into IRC, and other things that are generally innocuous. One day IT did a routine network scan for "unauthorized" programs.

Do you know what they called me on?

iTunes.

A program I actually need for certain aspects of my job (part of the products I help develop get turned into mp3s.) They didn't care about PuTTY, something that should've sent up a huge red flag.

 

[Macam]

I'm hardpressed to think if we had any restrictions whatsoever at Acclaim, but then again, look where we went. The IT guys were dope though.

 

[capslock]

Mrmyth....more like Mrasshole


LOLAMIRITE?

 

[Scrow]

the employee is clearly an idiot, but you don't need to use him to inflate your fragile ego either. Tell him what's what, he'll shrink to the size of an ant and if he has any sense of self preservation he'll keep in line.

 

[stormer]

Do you know what they called me on?

iTunes.

A program I actually need for certain aspects of my job (part of the products I help develop get turned into mp3s.) They didn't care about PuTTY, something that should've sent up a huge red flag.

I think this maybe because putty doesn't write to the windows registry so they did'nt know it was installed.. just a guess though

 

[SFA_AOK]

You should have sent him an e-mail asking to see him the next day about his internet usage - he would've shit a brick for a whole day and when he walked into your office to see it was you he'd shit it a load more. Tell him how it is round here and that you'll be watching him like a hawk... Do it right and he'll be so glad he hasn't lost his job he'll be a model employee, you tell him to jump, he'll ask how high. Much better than losing an employee

Also, why are you trying to convince yourself that you can't let it slide otherwise your head will be on the bock? You make it sound like you're the one responsible for checking internet usage as you parent department don't have the time. But somehow you'll get found out? Then there's the whole entrapment thing. Rationalise it, play with the wording, think about the semantics thing all you want, it was an asshole-ish thing to do.

Tag this guy already!

 

[mrmyth]

Ultimately, it all shakes out like this -

The guy won't get fired. He won't even get written up. Nobody but he and I know about Jenna Jameson, because frankly, there's no way in hell I would've told my boss about it the way that it happened. There would have been no legitimate case.

He did visit two other 'questionable' sites, in addition to loading Kazaa and all its spyware. For the spyware and chat he gets one-on-one time with his supervisor about damge to company property and rule-breaking. I never mentioned the other sites.

He came by my desk this morning to shoot the shit. He knows everything I did. He called me an ass for what I did about the porn. I called him a blind ass for not reading the ID hanging around my neck telling him who I was. He wants to take me lunch for not telling. I'm probably going to be killed.

 

[Leatherface]

Ultimately, it all shakes out like this -

The guy won't get fired. He won't even get written up. Nobody but he and I know about Jenna Jameson, because frankly, there's no way in hell I would've told my boss about it the way that it happened. There would have been no legitimate case.

He did visit two other 'questionable' sites, in addition to loading Kazaa and all its spyware. For the spyware and chat he gets one-on-one time with his supervisor about damge to company property and rule-breaking. I never mentioned the other sites.

He came by my desk this morning to shoot the shit. He knows everything I did. He called me an ass for what I did about the porn. I called him a blind ass for not reading the ID hanging around my neck telling him who I was. He wants to take me lunch for not telling. I'm probably going to be killed.

I find you slightly more human now. I'm glad you were a little more forgiving with this.

 

[DarienA]

Ultimately, it all shakes out like this -

The guy won't get fired. He won't even get written up. Nobody but he and I know about Jenna Jameson, because frankly, there's no way in hell I would've told my boss about it the way that it happened. There would have been no legitimate case.

He did visit two other 'questionable' sites, in addition to loading Kazaa and all its spyware. For the spyware and chat he gets one-on-one time with his supervisor about damge to company property and rule-breaking. I never mentioned the other sites.

He came by my desk this morning to shoot the shit. He knows everything I did. He called me
an ass for what I did about the porn. I called him a blind ass for not reading the ID hanging around my neck telling him who I was. He wants to take me lunch for not telling. I'm probably going to be killed.

If you do get killed could you post and let us know?

BTW you give IT folks a bad name... thanks alot... as if we don't already have enough of a stigma.

We catch folks running streaming music services and sharing services fomr time to time(different folks), even though they know it's against IT policy.

We simply identify who it is, visit their desk and have a talk with them about it. We explain to them the amt of bandwith that streaming services can suck up on the network and how that can effect other network process... file access across the network, email access, etc.(we're an international architecture firm).

Problem solved. The user feels ashamed, has a better understanding of how what they do on their PC can effect the entire organization(or at the very least our local DC office), and the problem is resolved.

We let our users use chat programs though we aren't that anal, hell the IT department runs it's own jabber server so that we can get in touch with each other quickly.

Our users are happy, and have no problems coming to us to ask us about personal home PC purchase decisions, etc.

Problem solved, no muss, no fuss, no threats of someone getting fired. We only have to talk to a user who has commited the infraction once. I've never had to visit someone and say... hey you're running that damn streaming music service again.

Food for thought. Treat your users like real people... when there is a problem explain as much as you think they can understand, dumb it down if you have to but don't just say don't do this without giving them a reason.

Just like sales you want to get the user to BUY IN to understanding what is going on.

Then not only have you solved the problem but you've given yourself and ally who might even someday stop someone ELSE from doing something and explain it to them(I've seen it happen in my many years of Network Support).

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Local admin rights? Are you guys insane?

we did this at my last work as well. 4 1/2 years. whats the problem exactly? It's just easier to give people that freedom and it's not very difficult to manage. If they clog their computer to shit, reimage for them....

Edit: also, if the peoples bosses didn't have a problem with them fucking around, IT didn't care, unless it was eating mega bandwith and making my bosses budget sheet look shitty. Also we used the "pssst, stop clowning or we have to tell, sorry to be a dick about it" method of making them stop doing it.

 

[djtiesto]

HURF HURF HURF THAT PUNKBITCH IS LOOKING IMS ON COMPANY TIME! UR FIRED...FAMILY? FUK DAT I GOTTA EAT

NOW TO TELL GAF ABOUT MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS HURF HURF

Very Berry Clusters - that's a good cereal, I'm always eating it @ work for breakfast.

 

[tedtropy]

we did this at my last work as well. 4 1/2 years. whats the problem exactly? It's just easier to give people that freedom and it's not very difficult to manage. If they clog their computer to shit, reimage for them....

Edit: also, if the peoples bosses didn't have a problem with them fucking around, IT didn't care, unless it was eating mega bandwith and making my bosses budget sheet look shitty. Also we used the "pssst, stop clowning or we have to tell, sorry to be a dick about it" method of making them stop doing it.

The problem is some places would have their IT staff having to waste time reimaging machines frequently. And what's to stop them from installing "Bob's Super l33t No-Adware Firewall" and inadvertly blocking me from VNCing into their machine if I need to? It's company property. If they want to browse eBay a little throughout the day or check the horoscope on MSN, we're fine with that, but we've seen what happens to user's with local administrative privlages, and it generally ain't pretty.

 

[DarienA]

The problem is some places would have their IT staff having to waste time reimaging machines frequently. And what's to stop them from installing "Bob's Super l33t No-Adware Firewall" and inadvertly blocking me from VNCing into their machine if I need to? It's company property. If they want to browse eBay a little throughout the day or check the horoscope on MSN, we're fine with that, but we've seen what happens to user's with local administrative privlages, and it generally ain't pretty.

The problem is MS thought of this great idea.. multiple users access levels... problem is the software people weren't on the same track and as someone else mentions too many packages require admin rights to install and/or run.

Hopefully as we continue to move along the track more software developers will allow their packages(depending on what they are for) to install/run under the user accounts with less rights.

 

[mrmyth]

The problem is some places would have their IT staff having to waste time reimaging machines frequently. And what's to stop them from installing "Bob's Super l33t No-Adware Firewall" and inadvertly blocking me from VNCing into their machine if I need to? It's company property. If they want to browse eBay a little throughout the day or check the horoscope on MSN, we're fine with that, but we've seen what happens to user's with local administrative privlages, and it generally ain't pretty.

No, it isn't. But my IT directors won't lock anything down, so imagine dealing with Bob's adware Special along with Joe's Spyware Spectacular and every other cutesy cursor pack, 'calendar' and 'clock' and 'weather' app under the sun.

And Dariena, while I appreciate the advice, I generally do have an amicable relationship with my users. The thing you have to understand though, is I'm dealing with a set of people dead set on skirting aournd the rules. Whether its dress code, or breaktimes, or tardiness, or internet access, these people will smile in your face and then come back from lunch 30 minutes late wearing ripped jeans and then sit on Yahoo the rest of the day. The immediate defense is always, "What?? They didn't tell me I couldn't do this!" So now management has to constantly tell them what they can't do.
I toss out hardware over five years old and people take it out of the garbage - it FREE ain't it? A good third of the time people come to see me is because of an issue with their PC at home - hey, that's what you DO, ain't it? What do you mean we can't go on Yahoo? Then why did they put it there??
Despite that I still laugh and joke with everybody, store MP3's that people bring in on a dedicated server for everyone to listen to, debunk urban legends people bring to me, and recommend PC parts. Its just that at the end of the day, its been proven to me time and again that these users are only out for themselves.

 

[fart]

as long as you realize how utterly ridiculous and napoleonic you are, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, per se, it's just your attitude. they're not "your users", they're just users - colleagues, maybe, co-workers, definitely. knowing how to click some buttons doesn't make you a bronzed adonis. it doesn't even make you a BOFH. get over yourself.

 

[PotatoeMasher]

No, it isn't. But my IT directors won't lock anything down, so imagine dealing with Bob's adware Special along with Joe's Spyware Spectacular and every other cutesy cursor pack, 'calendar' and 'clock' and 'weather' app under the sun.

And Dariena, while I appreciate the advice, I generally do have an amicable relationship with my users. The thing you have to understand though, is I'm dealing with a set of people dead set on skirting aournd the rules. Whether its dress code, or breaktimes, or tardiness, or internet access, these people will smile in your face and then come back from lunch 30 minutes late wearing ripped jeans and then sit on Yahoo the rest of the day. The immediate defense is always, "What?? They didn't tell me I couldn't do this!" So now management has to constantly tell them what they can't do.
I toss out hardware over five years old and people take it out of the garbage - it FREE ain't it? A good third of the time people come to see me is because of an issue with their PC at home - hey, that's what you DO, ain't it? What do you mean we can't go on Yahoo? Then why did they put it there??
Despite that I still laugh and joke with everybody, store MP3's that people bring in on a dedicated server for everyone to listen to, debunk urban legends people bring to me, and recommend PC parts. Its just that at the end of the day, its been proven to me time and again that these users are only out for themselves.

You make me cry with that honesty... reminds how much I need to find another job once I graduate this year!

 

[mrmyth]

as long as you realize how utterly ridiculous and napoleonic you are, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, per se, it's just your attitude. they're not "your users", they're just users - colleagues, maybe, co-workers, definitely. knowing how to click some buttons doesn't make you a bronzed adonis. it doesn't even make you a BOFH. get over yourself.

Now you're just picking nits. They're 'my' users in the sense that Darien was talking about how it goes at his place of business, and I was talking about how it goes at mine.

I guess you'd have to know me. I do generally act how I post here, but nobody in RL seems to mind. In fact, most are just as snarky about getting caught as I am about catching them. So I'll take the insults and just be thankful that we don't deal with each other in the workplace. The only part I take personally about my job is when people lie to me.

 

[tedtropy]

The problem is MS thought of this great idea.. multiple users access levels... problem is the software people weren't on the same track and as someone else mentions too many packages require admin rights to install and/or run.

Hopefully as we continue to move along the track more software developers will allow their packages(depending on what they are for) to install/run under the user accounts with less rights.

I agree that can be a problem, but we've generally found that that a tweaked 'Power Users' level account can give them the access they actually need and allow most programs to run, but without the ability to mess with the more important stuff. While it's not entirely related, one feature of Vista that I'm really looking forward to is how it prompts you for an administrative password everytime a program tries to run an install, even while logged in as admin. Yeah, OS X has done it for awhile, but sometimes you take what you can get when it comes to Windows security. Microsoft should really just patch XP to include this option now

 

[DarienA]

I agree that can be a problem, but we've generally found that that a tweaked 'Power Users' level account can give them the access they actually need and allow most programs to run, but without the ability to mess with the more important stuff. While it's not entirely related, one feature of Vista that I'm really looking forward to is how it prompts you for an administrative password everytime a program tries to run an install, even while logged in as admin. Yeah, OS X has done it for awhile, but sometimes you take what you can get when it comes to Windows security. Microsoft should really just patch XP to include this option now

I'm curious to know about this tweaked Power Users work you guys have done... are you running in an Active Directory environment? And what tweaks did you guys do? If necessary I'd be interested in taking this conversation to PM, IM or email....

 

[tedtropy]

I'm curious to know about this tweaked Power Users work you guys have done... are you running in an Active Directory environment? And what tweaks did you guys do? If necessary I'd be interested in taking this conversation to PM, IM or email....

Yeah, we use AD. Most of our users just have basic privlages on their computers. If certain people request it, we'll add them to the 'Power Users' group and tweak with their local policy settings a little to give them some breathing space. In rare instances, we'll give users local administrative privlages if we think it's justifiable. Mostly though, we push out a global policy that seems to have a good balance of allowing the users to do what they need, but not install programs or jack with certain system settings.