Savvy office workers frustrated that their on-the-job computer tools don't function as smoothly as, say, an Apple iPod are taking matters into their own hands.
No longer are they relying on company technicians, or information technology (IT) administrators, to choose the software needed to get the job done. They know how to pluck tools right off the Web.
Industry observers use the term "consumerization" to describe the phenomenon whereby office workers are less likely to wait for the IT folks to equip them.
yeah, but when that nifty little program they like so much screws up something else in the system and then they can't do anything, guess who gets to spend the better part of his/her day ripping that little POS program out of the system.... the IT guy.
Experienced this very thing this past weekend. A few folks took it upon themselves to install a bunch of stuff they thought was 'neat' but when it started to bog down their system so bad that one literally took 40mins to boot fully I got the lovely job of redoing the systems. Now they are rather pissed at me because I locked the system down, they can't even change the backdrop thats what they get for being dorks.
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
-Thomas Jefferson
I like the way my college had there system set up, I forget what it was called but they let you install stuff that didn't require admin priv and when the computer was turned off for the night it basically reinstalled the OS or something. Not sure how it worked though.
But I know how you guys feel, I'm not a pro but my family uses me as an IT guy (as I'm sure everyone else's here does) and my 14yo sister and 11yo aunt sure know where to get a bunch of useless crap that bogs down the computer. I use StartEd a lot on their computers to get rid of all the useless stuff at startup. Not a perfect solution but I can't go spend hours cleaning up there mess every week. I have given them a talking to though
Alathald wrote:I like the way my college had there system set up, I forget what it was called but they let you install stuff that didn't require admin priv and when the computer was turned off for the night it basically reinstalled the OS or something. Not sure how it worked though.
But I know how you guys feel, I'm not a pro but my family uses me as an IT guy (as I'm sure everyone else's here does) and my 14yo sister and 11yo aunt sure know where to get a bunch of useless crap that bogs down the computer. I use StartEd a lot on their computers to get rid of all the useless stuff at startup. Not a perfect solution but I can't go spend hours cleaning up there mess every week. I have given them a talking to though
Why is it that end users don't need us until they need us and then it's the most important thing on their agenda? After end user caused repairs their should be a mandatory 2 day suck up period where they bring you some Starbucks, a new Mouse Pad, and a neck massage.
Methious wrote:Why is it that end users don't need us until they need us and then it's the most important thing on their agenda? After end user caused repairs their should be a mandatory 2 day suck up period where they bring you some Starbucks, a new Mouse Pad, and a neck massage.
I like that idea, I've seen first hand how impatient people are when they need something fixing, at my work we've got people who can't even wait 5 minutes, even if there are other important things that need doing, they expect everything to be just dropped all of the time.
My friends and family use me as their IT guy also. It seems whatever I fix, they have a way of messing it up again with the year. Most of what I do is clearing out sypware and virus' because they refuse to be safe and keep their security tools updated and on guard.
I don't take liberties with computers unless I have authority to do so. I think the idea of a system that cleans itself overnight is awesome!
yeah, at my school, all the computers refresh when rebooted, and we have no priviledges either, so basically, if we wanted to, we cant, and if we figured a way around, it would reset
the only things that stay are files in trash and on the desktop(a F@H folder for me )
This cracks me up, they write up these articles like this is some sort of new trend or something.
IT personnel have been dealing with these so called "Power Users" for many, many, years.
I prefer to call them "problem users". They know just enough to get themselves into trouble, and often do.
Only difference between now and 10 years ago is that there are more of them now.
With the household PC becoming such a commonplace, everyone and their grandma thinks they're an expert.
People in IT standards groups spend a lot of time testing applications and settings to ensure everything works on company workstations before deploying them into the environment.
What amuses me are the so called "Power Users" are completely oblivious to this and think they can just install whatever they want without any repercussions.
These are usually the same fools who don't understand why their PCs at home are running so slow....
I'm the IT person at home and thankfully, I haven't had any problems aside from hardware failure. My immediate family's well trained not to download/install anything (including Automatic Updates) without my knowledge/permission.
I was pissed off one time when a cousin borrowed my laptop and installed AIM on it. Actually, it wasn't even borrowed. It was one of those times when we have a family gathering and I left the laptop in one of the rooms to get food and my cousin just used it without permission. Grr...
Our division IT guys are pretty lax with the workstations, albeit, there's the scheduled virus scan every morning. All the necessary data are in a centralized server so if a gets PC bogged down by spyware, it'll probably be straight to re-format. Unless, you're a boss, of course...
File Server/Media Encoder/PVR PC
Antec P182 / Corsair 550VX / Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R / Core 2 Duo E7200 @ 2.53 / Wintec AMPX 2x2GB DDR2 800 / Sapphire 100233L Radeon HD 3450 / WD Caviar SE16 750GB x3 / WD Caviar GP 750GB / Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7190A x2 / XP Pro SP2
Being a former IT guy in a previous life, I tend to download software for productivity gains. Howbeit one must know what software makes thing productive in the long run vs. being short changed in the short run of things.
Much of the Open can of Sauce software seems to work well as well as Adobe Reader, Convert-It!, FireFox (hate IE at work), PDF995 and the like.
Things I don't do at work is use CD or DVD ripping software, streaming music or video from the internet. That can cause lose of productivity overall. A month ago, the IT staff sent out an alerted e-mail telling people to stop streaming audio and video because the network and servers were being taxied to death that no real business work could be done!
Yeah, they frown streamin audio here, but I still do it. I recently discovered that I can stream XM on my phone so I'm going to start doing that.
One beef that I have here is that you can't defrag without local admin rights. They have no problem usually giving you local admin rights if you request it, but the majority of folks have no clue how to maintain their systems anyway.
I kind of look at computers like cars (milling heads vs lapping cpus / CFM). If you don't take care of them they will "break" and it's not always the manfacturers fault nor the mechanic's. People just want to turn the key and everything should work. I don't know where I'm going with this - probably should pay attention to the meeting that I'm in.
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
~Bertrand Russell
Topher, take a chill pill. This is like the 3rd post I've seen of yours where you are angry at the world in general. Cool out or take it elsewhere. I come here to be uplifted, not depressed.
I've know Toph for years, hell of a guy. Hes forgotten more than I will ever know, and put up with people like those that the article is about for years. When I have the time in that he has I will be a bitter on the subject as well.
By the way he has made many post that are upbeat, lay off.
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
-Thomas Jefferson
well the funnyest thing that happened like that to me was when my married friend called me over because his computer was running slow (of course, he didnt have any anti virus or anything) and it turned out he had a classic pr0n virus i took it off but now i can make him do whatever i want or else ill tell his wife extorsion is so much fun sometimes
Sorry.... I have this uncanny ability to come across as some sort of asshole when it comes to forum discussions.
I don't mean to be, I just come across that way sometimes.
I'm not really that bitter over the whole subject, I've just had my fill of weatherbug, american flag screensavers, etc, etc.....
Not a biggie it's one of my pet peeves too. Every time a computer goes out the door I give the standard lecture about SpyWare, Adware, Trojans, and Viruses, and make it known that while hardware is covered software is not. Invariably a month later I'll see machines coming back with the Weatherbug, Gator, 6 toolbars, IE and Firefox add ins galore, porn and gambling website icons appearing out of no where, and half the "free" programs on the net cluttering up the works.
Lately I've been charging $20 extra at the sale and cloning the hard drives and storing images on cheap 20 gig drives. Saves me a lot of time, and them a lot of waiting to be reloaded.
Here's some proof that a IT guy is still needed:
Couple of days ago, my granny called freaking out and saying her keyboard had stopped working, she had even tried a brand new keyboard (which didn't work either). I didn't have a chance to go over till today (actually just fixed it) and when I got there the first thing I did was reboot the computer. I didn't even think to ask when I had be talking to her on the phone if she tried to reboot. Well after booting, the keyboard worked fine, problem solved. Next time I'll make sure to have her reboot first .
thats what they get for being dorks.
)
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
i took it off but now i can make him do whatever i want or else ill tell his wife 
