I'm evil.

[jecook]

So I have two machines in the shop. One of them was having slowdown issues with OE and IE.(Alas, we still use it, due to boss wanting it to be a "company standard" dispite my suggestions otherwise.) The other had a loverly STOP 0x7 message on boot. It's running 2000.

PC #1 was easy, removed some spyware, installed a few updates, and the problem seemed to go away. Time will tell.

PC #2 annoyed me. Loads of spyware (including Dupeware that claimed to stop Popup ads, but was really spyware in it's own right) and some non-company softwre, including drivers for a USB storage device of some form, which i think is the root cause of the STOP error. Those went away, along with their Administrator privledges. No QueasyShare for you! I also put in the last round of 2000 updates for it as well, which was some 40 MB worth of crapola. The Trust issue was that after I re-built their machine several months ago, was that they would not do anything stupid to it. That trust was broken, obviously. Especailly after seeing two extra user account that I never put back on the machine to begin with.... And I would love to see the look on the face when they figure out what I've changed the Administrator password to on that machine ::EVIL grin::

I wonder how long it will take them to notice that a) their camera software is no longer on the machine, and b) they don't have install privledges anymore to make it happen...

I'm THIS short of tweaking their IE policies to disallow fiddling with the security settings... hmmm...
::goes in to gpedit.msc and does EVIL things::

Comments

[rrrebo.livejournal.com]

Ye gods, I wish I had that kind of control over our client PCs. Alas, that is not my yob. :(

[residentgeek.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I would love the pleasure of restricting install privileges.

[toxico.livejournal.com]

Custom error message dialogs for the win!

"You're attempting to do something I told you not to do in the first place, asshat. Please click OK. YOU HAVE FIFTEEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

[wyrdlinks.livejournal.com]

HeHeHe - one of the first things I did when I took over the network here was to lock down the PC's and prevent the buggers from installing software. Makes my life just that little bit easier. :-)

[jecook]

That would RAWK. I just Wish I kew how to do it.

[kalidor.livejournal.com]

I'll one up ya and would love to restrict logon privileges...

[residentgeek.livejournal.com]

True... I could make a case for that too.

[toxico.livejournal.com]

I use a (free) tool called Resource Hacker to do this (unofficially, of course).

Not really something you can do via group policy, but it (http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-22-5415781.html)'s oh-so-fun to mess with.

I had one user who suddenly began receiving a mysterious, oversized file delete confirmation dialog that read "OH NOES! WANG!!" after calling me at 5 till 5 to clean the source of transsexual porn pop-ups from his machine.

Thankfully he's a fun guy to joke with.

[amakiell.livejournal.com]

I hack admin passwords and set them blank ALL the time, because the call centre never gives me the motherfucking passwords. Changing them? Thats evil!!!

[jecook]

Ah, but my users are not supposed to be using the Administrator's account. They have their own setup.

Plus, I do have the password written down in the vault along with the other passwords, just in case I forget it.

And even if I do space the password, I have a reset tool which works nicely.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

I fail to see why you wouldn't just restrict their IE security settings.

hmmm

[255-255-255-0.livejournal.com]

wish I could lock our stuff down tighter.
we changed the desktop background to a corporate logo and we never hear the last of it.
We got so sick of people complaining "little billy" or whoever is gone we put it back.

[taii.livejournal.com]

I've got a large selection of admin password reset tools on my home PC.
So easy to find them too.
None that tell you the password, but who cares when you can reset it :)

Pray the the lusers aren't actually geeks...
Actually, if a user was a geek, you'd know the PC was most likely safe anyway... [we like our PC environment a set way and we want it efficient]

[jecook]

Because they can change it back. THis locks that down as well.

I did this on one of our receptionist's machine because she kept putting spyware on her machine right after I finished cleaning it off.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

I meant in addition to what you were doing (;