IT's biggest worry--employee blunders

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IT's biggest worries

Don't take this the wrong way guys, but i basically do the same thing most IT staff be a "Professional Computer User Baby Sitter".

However, you can make your job much more simplier, by deploying windows nt 2000 or windows xp pro workstations for your below average computer knowledge people. Which by the way there is a lot of them out there and they know who they are. With using these operatining systems especially XP pro you can easily limit out what they can and can't do.

For instance:
1) Not allowing them to install software
2) Storing or syncing their my documents folder to a server and not allowing them access to anywhere else on the PC's hard drive. (In the event of a complete crash they wouldn't have anything on the local drive to lose).
3) Setup up shared directory permissions correctly for users. Most shares for server should only allow users to read - write and view their files. Deleting can be allowed but as another username provision. Meaning, don't let them use their regular username to allow them to delete files from their user directory, have them login with another username that has the privlidge to do that. This way they don't whine to you that they have delete their whole directory. This is good pratice if you only backup once a day. This way a whole days worth of work isn't ruined for them.
4) Have corporate A/V software like symantec doing the dirty work in the background filtering virus attachments in emails, scanning the hard-drive as an invisible scan window in the background so your users don't know what's going on and won't notice what's going on.
5) Firewall software is ok, for the most part, but a Firewall appliance is much better and less hackable/crashable. Look at it this way, most virus's can disable both A/V and firewall. But they cannot defeat a hardware firewall. Have a major problem with a selection or group of users always getting viruses or doing things they are not supposed to be doing, VLAN them on your managed switch so you can close out any spread of problems before they become one.
6) Backing up data, IS and always a pain in the ass. It's either not enough time to do it, don't know where off-site you want to store it (mostly because someone else could get ahold of it and use it to their advantage, yes you can encrypt the data, but what good is that if you forget or you leave the company). The best way for backing up data, that's mission critial is to have a RAID setup in your server and a removable hard drive bay rack or an external hard drive (my personal favorite). Have a couple maybe 5, 10, 15 extra hard drives and a fireproof safe or a well rated one to store most of them into and the rest off-site. I know the external hard drive sounds like a weird idea, but look at it this way, it's going to become cheaper or as cheap as tape backup, plus it's much faster and more universal that you only need a firewire or usb port to use it. Tape drives is a different story.

Just some thoughts for you guys

hmm, ok

How about instead of rooting machines everytime they get repaired, work! I know, amazing! working at work! what an innovation!

Seems like an interesting proposition, but with Windows boxes in particular organizations work pretty hard to get a "clean" version that they can deploy with relatively few problems on their network. It's part of policy to create a ghost image that causes the fewest possible problems. Then, when a machine becomes unstable (could be something as simple as a program installed that isn't an "approved" program), it's far more cost and time efficient to simply "root" the machine...unless of course you have the luxury of playing Sherlock Holmes for a few weeks...which sort of implies you're not all that busy.

while we're at it, how about firing people who have extended lunch breaks and continuously "sick" for no good reason other than, "oh, I don't feel like working".

Yes! I agree!

Listen to be sunshine, I've had to put up with people like you 6 days a week, 13 hours a day, and by christ I can't bloody well stand it. If you don't know how to use the computer effectively, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! read a bloody book and LEARN!

Again, they probably aren't afforded the time to know computers inside and out like you do. They probably have "other" books to read. You see, you read "your" books so you can help the people that read "their" books.

In a nutshell, if they knew what you did -- there wouldn't be much USE for you anymore!

Another innovation, actually LEARNING! maybe after a few people are fired for stupid behaviour we might actually see employees WORK rather than TWEAK their PCs. Instead of aimless chatting on phones and emailing, they actually READ and LEARN how to use the businesses COMPUTER EQUIPMENT MORE EFFECTIVELY.

I believe in work ethic, but I think you're taking your frustration over the edge in the process and neglecting the concept of balance and priorities.

Have your rant, we all do from time to time.

Posted by: blahblahblah Posted on: 10/18/03

Posted by: ajapierce   Posted on: 10/19/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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