Problems when someone else owns the laptop you use.

M

mm

My friend in the previous or next post points to problems when the
agency you work for owns the laptop you're using.

1) They control the updates, I think. She only has XP SP2. Why not
SP3? I think it's because they intercept it at work and don't give it
to her. Could that be? Her Thinkpad is 5 years old, and if she has
wireless, it's probably disabled. She plugs into the network at work
with a cable.

2) Every time the computer guy at work works on her computer, he seems
to set the default as caps on. Then she can't log on, she says,
because her password or logon uses non-caps, and he has to come back
and change something Hmmm. Does this make sense? Surely if she could
just press shift lock, she would do that and also he would tell her
to. She's definitely not stupid. If he told her she was doign it
wrong, she'd notice.

3) Last night, Sunday night, the computer started a "weekly scan". It
didn't say what software was running, if it was part of XP, or part of
Thinkpad, or part of the large city agency she works for. Even
though the progress bar showed it woudl take about 3 hours, there was
nowhere to click to stop it. She stopped it by turning the computer
off.

Who has a scan you can't turn off?
 
N

N. Miller

My friend in the previous or next post points to problems when the
agency you work for owns the laptop you're using.

When the hardware isn't yours, you have to work within the constraints
imposed on you by the owner. So what is the problem? Learn to work with your
IT staff to understand how to use it.
 
M

mm

When the hardware isn't yours, you have to work within the constraints
imposed on you by the owner.

Well of course you do, but she got her Ph.D. and her job to help
children, and it's distressing to her that in addition to the large
amount of time she has to spend on paperwork, which she understands
and agrees with, even that does not go smoothly and she loses more
time.

But, still, she didn't come here to complain. I posted, in large part
to get explanations or solutions for each of the three things.

1) Was my guess likely right that the reason she only has SP2 is that
her employer controls her updates?

2) Is it possible the computer repair guy at work really repeatedly
sets her default to caps, so that she can't log on. I believed it
when she said it, but now I wonder, a) Why would he do that? and b) Is
it possible that the Windows or network default can't be overridden by
pressing the caps lock key, when viewing the logon box?

3) I"m curious who has written a weekly scan with no button to stop
it. A lot of people would not have nerve enough to turn off the
computer, and a lot would be distressed to leave the computer running
all night. I can easily imagine some waiting up until the scan was
done.
So what is the problem? Learn to work with your
IT staff to understand how to use it.

It's not my IT staff.
 
S

SC Tom

mm said:
Well of course you do, but she got her Ph.D. and her job to help
children, and it's distressing to her that in addition to the large
amount of time she has to spend on paperwork, which she understands
and agrees with, even that does not go smoothly and she loses more
time.

But, still, she didn't come here to complain. I posted, in large part
to get explanations or solutions for each of the three things.

1) Was my guess likely right that the reason she only has SP2 is that
her employer controls her updates?
Yes.


2) Is it possible the computer repair guy at work really repeatedly
sets her default to caps, so that she can't log on. I believed it
when she said it, but now I wonder, a) Why would he do that? and b) Is
it possible that the Windows or network default can't be overridden by
pressing the caps lock key, when viewing the logon box?

There may be a group policy in place that sets the default to caps, put in
place by her IT. I can't imagine why, but it could happen. Also, if caps are
on when you log out/shut down, caps will be on the next time you login, and
vice-versa. Has she emailed her Helpdesk or IT department to ask?
3) I"m curious who has written a weekly scan with no button to stop
it. A lot of people would not have nerve enough to turn off the
computer, and a lot would be distressed to leave the computer running
all night. I can easily imagine some waiting up until the scan was
done.

We had a weekly quick scan in place, and no way for the user to stop it
without forcing a shutdown. We also had our users turn off their
workstations each night for server updates. The ones that were left on all
night quite often were forced to reboot after an update, whether they had
saved their work or not. When workstation updates were done, they were
either notified of when it was going to happen (for simple Windows updates
that didn't require a reboot), or if it was a major update like a service
pack or an update that required a reboot, the users were advised to leave
their workstations on so we could push them out after work hours (theirs,
not ours), and the user's work time wouldn't be affected.

It's all a matter of give and take- there's stuff that IT needs to do, and
generally it happens with the least amount of impact on the users. But at
times, there are necessary steps to take with regards to network security
and integrity that adversely affect the users, and that's just a fact of
company life. Most users don't realize (or care) that however much they are
inconvenienced, the IT department is even more so, especially when there are
a large number of users and only a couple of people in IT. IT is a job you
have to love, 'cause you're not going to get rich off it (well, not legally
anyhow ;-) ) I found that most of us thrived on adversity LOL! I also found
that a number of people would complain about some of the policies in place
but would never ask if it could be changed, or why not. If IT doesn't know
it's broken, IT can't fix it, simple as that.
 
M

mm

There may be a group policy in place that sets the default to caps, put in
place by her IT. I can't imagine why, but it could happen. Also, if caps are
on when you log out/shut down, caps will be on the next time you login,

I thought the bios held the default, but of course I'm not on a
company network.
and
vice-versa. Has she emailed her Helpdesk or IT department to ask?

She said something to the guy who came back. I don't know about the
rest of that. Now she's retiring in 2 weeks, so I'm the only one who
cares.
We had a weekly quick scan in place, and no way for the user to stop it
without forcing a shutdown. We also had our users turn off their
workstations each night for server updates. The ones that were left on all
night quite often were forced to reboot after an update, whether they had
saved their work or not.
Wow.

When workstation updates were done, they were
either notified of when it was going to happen (for simple Windows updates
that didn't require a reboot), or if it was a major update like a service
pack or an update that required a reboot, the users were advised to leave
their workstations on so we could push them out after work hours (theirs,
not ours), and the user's work time wouldn't be affected.

It's all a matter of give and take- there's stuff that IT needs to do, and
generally it happens with the least amount of impact on the users. But at
times, there are necessary steps to take with regards to network security
and integrity that adversely affect the users, and that's just a fact of
company life. Most users don't realize (or care) that however much they are
inconvenienced, the IT department is even more so, especially when there are
a large number of users and only a couple of people in IT. IT is a job you
have to love, 'cause you're not going to get rich off it (well, not legally
anyhow ;-) ) I found that most of us thrived on adversity LOL! I also found
that a number of people would complain about some of the policies in place
but would never ask if it could be changed, or why not. If IT doesn't know
it's broken, IT can't fix it, simple as that.

Thanks a lot. The details of who could do a better job of cooperating
are not important to me and vary from place to place. I don't know if
my friend is cantakerous at work or if her complaints are justified,
and I don't want to know.

And she was feeling pressure, because of my prior thread when she
couldn't write to her flashdrive becuase it was broken and couldn't
write to the new one because it was too fat to go in the slot and, the
office depot guy wanted to know her OS and she didn't remember any
more. Or maybe she does remember XP but didn't know XP was the OS!

What I was interested in is how it works and you explained that well.

Thanks a lot.
 
S

SC Tom

mm said:
I thought the bios held the default, but of course I'm not on a
company network.


She said something to the guy who came back. I don't know about the
rest of that. Now she's retiring in 2 weeks, so I'm the only one who
cares.

Thanks a lot. The details of who could do a better job of cooperating
are not important to me and vary from place to place. I don't know if
my friend is cantakerous at work or if her complaints are justified,
and I don't want to know.

And she was feeling pressure, because of my prior thread when she
couldn't write to her flashdrive becuase it was broken and couldn't
write to the new one because it was too fat to go in the slot and, the
office depot guy wanted to know her OS and she didn't remember any
more. Or maybe she does remember XP but didn't know XP was the OS!

What I was interested in is how it works and you explained that well.

Thanks a lot.

You're very welcome!
 

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