Holy lockdown batman!

[HAL9000]

So I arrived at work today and we received new computers... and just so people can bug me.. they're AMD 64's... don't have any idea of speed because we can't check anywhere.. these things are locked down so tight, they've become dumb terminals... I can't even put the calculator on the desktop or taskbar... if I need the calculator, I actually have to go start, programs, accessories, blah blah blah... I don't even have a recycle bin... actually surprised that I can still come here... we'll see how long that takes.

It is nice though, these HP's are way faster than the IBM's we had too.. and the Samsung monitors way nicer than the NEC's.

[Panama Red]

AMD!!!:eek: What is this world coming to! Hal using anything but Intel must mean the hot place down under (and I don't mean Jag's homeland) is freezing over!:p Next thing you know they'll give you a new Mustang as a compnay car!:D

[HAL9000]

I hope not... it seems hot in this room (not kidding) LOL... but no... I'm not trying to blame it on the AMD... although it would be fun to.... about the only specs I've been able to find are a 80GB HD, 128MB ATI and 1GB RAM... things sure are quiet though... can't hear it run at all.. the IBM's had a variable fan that when you ran anything with JAVA, would speed up and sound like it's ready to take off.... I want my old IBM keyboard back though... I hate this HP one.

[juppy]

... don't have any idea of speed because we can't check anywhere.. these things are locked down so tight, they've become dumb terminals...Any access to USB ports? The program SIW (System Information for Windows) can run directly off of a mem stick, no need to install.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/SIW.shtml

[HAL9000]

Monitored machines, we're not to connect anything to them.

[mbossman2]

i can understand the company's desire to lock down PCs.

While there are certainly employees, like HAL, who have an understanding of what they are doing, there are many who can, in a series of keystrokes, muck up their machines (I refer you to this trouleshooting guide (http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=187204), especially questions 8, 9, 17 and 18).

In addition to the potential downtime of a single PC, it is users who bring things in from the outside who are the greatest threat to a computer network.

A worker bringing in an infected file or PC or storage device is one of the largest threats that network and PC admins have to guard against - several very large companies have had their systems brought their knees because of these exact situations.

remember folks: the PC you are working on at the office is not yours, it is the property of your employer. As is the data stored upon it, the data transmitted and received by it as well as the network it is connected with right up to the router leading to the Internet.

So keep your hands off the innerworkings of the operating system and hardware (your company may have specific tweaks that they have installed to make sure that the software you need continues to work - this is ESPECIALLY true when it comes to MS patches - not all of them play nice with installed software and hardware) and keep in mind what you type and say as it is all out there for your employer to review and, if necessary, act upon.

[HAL9000]

The parts of the lockdown I don't understand though are things like the links bar in IE, by default, it is beside the go button and you have to click on the arrow to see the items... we cannot move it to the spot below the address bar so all the items are there quickly to use.

[mbossman2]

it's easier to lock it all down than be selective

[HAL9000]

It's not that we're not allowed to have the links section, it's just in a useless place... it's no faster to click on the links section now than it is to click on favorites and search through.

[mbossman2]

yup, it is but...

this is the corporate mindset: the rules are set, locked in and surrounded by fast setting concrete. the number of people that are necessary to change the rules and the hoops that you must jump thru (to appease the gods of bureaucracy) make this a battle that is not worth, to most managers, worth fighting.

What you can do is bring it up the next time an executive comes in - tell them what you want, why you want it and what benefits will be derived from it (more productivity!) and they can wave their magic executive wand and decree that it should happen if they agree.

[HAL9000]

I won't hold my breath.

[mbossman2]

it's not healthy if you do.

didn't you ever see Dilbert with the IT manager? that is not really far from the truth

[HAL9000]

Oh yea... and I knew this was coming.. but even when you know it's coming.... it still chokes ya a bit... at least the new monitors are nice :p ... then again, I've always liked Samsung monitors.... I still want my IBM keyboard back though.. these HP ones suck.

[mbossman2]

i still miss the bullet proof, very positive response from the keyboards that went with greenscreens

[HAL9000]

This one is VERY mushy and quiet... I like a little bit of click to it... we'll see how this stands up as I smack the keys pretty hard to actually hear it.... I was much lighter on the IBM as it made a nice clicky sound.... I did some searching for the model number... looks like an AMD X2 running a clock speed of 2.0Ghz with a 1MB cache.

[juppy]

I hear ya on the keyboard complaint, HAL. I have to have that clicky noise too, or I have more mistakes when I'm typing. I guess I must sorta listen to the clicks to know for sure that I hit the right keys or something, because when using a soft touch style keyboard, I find myself stopping every few words going "Did I miss that letter?".