(no subject)

[mtupyro.livejournal.com]

We don't service personal computers. If it's the department chair or an important professor, we may work on a personal laptop. But we don't touch student's personal machines. Ever. So why have I spent the last 2 days clearing spyware infections off of an undergrad's personal machine?

$BOSS: "His mom called, and I felt bad."

Grrrrrrrrr.

He had limewire installed and running under an admin account. Along with Norton. *gazes into the heavens* NORTON!!

It's getting a fresh format and install after I backed up what documents I could find. I fought the spyware, and the spyware won.

I'm really tempted to contact his mother and show her just what I found when cleaning out her little boy's computer. Still think he needs his computer for school mommy?

Comments

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

Nope. Not my machine, customer machine. He's too busy for a nuke-from-orbit reinstall right now, so he's living with the remnant of the malware I couldn't fix (popups that only occur if IE is running - can't find the source for the fucking life of me). He's scheduled for a true nuke-from-orbit reinstall - which WILL include scheduled ERUNT jobs - sometime a week or so from now.

The hell of it is, he's actually a very technically savvy guy, for a customer, and not at all inclined to do stupid shit. I honestly think he got bit by a normally-legit website somewhere that had been compromised by the Storm worm or something.

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it's things like malware that make me long for the days of thin clients. Give 'em a 20MB directory on the server, a monitor, keyboard, and a mouse. that's all anyone -really- needs. :)

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

Clearly you aren't supporting any civil engineers. The server hasn't been hatched that can handle several of these guys running Civil3D and generating models of miles and miles of coastline all at once. =)

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

No, but a cluster has! :D

You make a great point for hardcore engineering types to have their own computers. :) But Joe Random's secretary Executive Assistant doesn't need web cache. She doesn't need a place to store all those cute little pictures of her dogs. She doesn't need anything but bookmarks, a working Exchange setup, and a Mydocs that gets stored on the server (substitute appropriate Linux analogs if you prefer to keep your soul).

*sigh.* It'd solve so many problems.

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

I'm strongly considering starting to offer a program where direct internet access is restricted from ALL workstations, and web browsing must be done by remote X session on a Linux or BSD server that lives for no other reason than exactly that: to host web browsing sessions. Now THAT would solve a lot of fucking problems.

In theory I could do the same with a Terminal Server, but I'd have to drop the bitch and cold-copy ERUNT backups onto it fucking daily.

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

Oddly, blocking Myspace has about the same effect on IT workload. :)

[mtupyro.livejournal.com]

If you think Civils are bad try Mechanicals ;)

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

I support MEs as well. Trust me, the ME drawing hasn't been born that can hold a candle to a coastal CE model representing 5 miles of coastline in 3-D on top of 580MB of orthorectified TIFF background.