problems with software

[Guest]

One of our employees(student) installed on his working PC(HP notebook,
Windows XP, Office 2003, Frontpage 2003) a vaste quantity of superfluous
programs of high size, i.e. Matlab, Macromedia Flash, CDex Audio Ripping
Tool, etc) (all this progs is not related with his work).
I assume, that it rather harmful, and this additional programs strongly
litter registry, and may cause various problems.
What is the possible harm and what problems this can arise?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

One of our employees(student) installed on his working PC(HP notebook,
Windows XP, Office 2003, Frontpage 2003) a vaste quantity of superfluous
programs of high size, i.e. Matlab, Macromedia Flash, CDex Audio Ripping
Tool, etc) (all this progs is not related with his work).
I assume, that it rather harmful, and this additional programs strongly
litter registry, and may cause various problems.
What is the possible harm and what problems this can arise?

Installing legitimate applications should not be harmful. Installing
software that is known to have spyware/etc could be bad - but legitimate
copies of Matlab, Flash, etc should not cause software issues. It may be
against company policy, however - that I cannot speak for.

Why do you think this can cause harm? Just carefully uninstall the
applications and/or if the student is done, redo the machine.

(The harm is that you gave a user a machine and made them administrator.
heh)

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Inform the employee he must immediately uninstall any
software programs the company did not purchase for
use on the company-owned PC. In most cases, installing
any software not authorized by the company is a flagrant
violation of company policy and could jeopardize security.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| One of our employees(student) installed on his working PC(HP notebook,
| Windows XP, Office 2003, Frontpage 2003) a vaste quantity of superfluous
| programs of high size, i.e. Matlab, Macromedia Flash, CDex Audio Ripping
| Tool, etc) (all this progs is not related with his work).
| I assume, that it rather harmful, and this additional programs strongly
| litter registry, and may cause various problems.
| What is the possible harm and what problems this can arise?

 

[Guest]

Installing legitimate applications should not be harmful. Installing
software that is known to have spyware/etc could be bad - but legitimate
copies of Matlab, Flash, etc should not cause software issues. It may be
against company policy, however - that I cannot speak for.

Why do you think this can cause harm? Just carefully uninstall the
applications and/or if the student is done, redo the machine.

(The harm is that you gave a user a machine and made them administrator.
heh)

========================
Even legitimate applications can cause various problems since it uses common
files, resources. Its not known how they interact, interact with system, etc.
How to forbid installation of programs through the setting of administrator
right?

breeze

 

[Shenan Stanley]

One of our employees(student) installed on his working PC(HP
notebook, Windows XP, Office 2003, Frontpage 2003) a vaste quantity
of superfluous programs of high size, i.e. Matlab, Macromedia
Flash, CDex Audio Ripping Tool, etc) (all this progs is not related
with his work).
I assume, that it rather harmful, and this additional programs
strongly litter registry, and may cause various problems.
What is the possible harm and what problems this can arise?

Installing legitimate applications should not be harmful. Installing
software that is known to have spyware/etc could be bad - but
legitimate copies of Matlab, Flash, etc should not cause software
issues. It may be against company policy, however - that I cannot
speak for.

Why do you think this can cause harm? Just carefully uninstall the
applications and/or if the student is done, redo the machine.

(The harm is that you gave a user a machine and made them
administrator. heh)

Even legitimate applications can cause various problems since it uses
common files, resources. Its not known how they interact, interact
with system, etc. How to forbid installation of programs through the
setting of administrator right?

Don't make them an administrator when you give them the machine.
If they are administrator, they can do whatever they please.