Experiences with non-techies

[DigitalHermit]

We have plenty of those in school, most of the time I just push it in.

 

That's a UPS with 2 sockets... What's plugged in are 3 400W system units... That one that's plugging in sideways is connected to the UPS by touching the prongs on the other plug...

[WinNut]

That's a UPS with 2 sockets... What's plugged in are 3 400W system units... That one that's plugging in sideways is connected to the UPS by touching the prongs on the other plug...

What I meant was that we have plenty of half-inserted plugs in the school, it really scares me.

 

I opened up a computer once and found a empty bag of chips in the FDD. U WOT M8

[colonel_mortis]

What I meant was that we have plenty of half-inserted plugs in the school, it really scares me.

 

I opened up a computer once and found a empty bag of chips in the FDD. U WOT M8

The thing that worries me about that is that your school computers have floppy disk drives

(and also that there was an empty packet of crisps in the computer I guess)

[elecxonica]

my school forced us to buy Windows RT surfaces...  

 

Worst.  School.  Ever.  

Wait, they made you buy them. With your own money? Wouldn't there be legal issues with that?

[WinNut]

The thing that worries me about that is that your school computers have floppy disk drives

(and also that there was an empty packet of crisps in the computer I guess)

There are about 40 computers isolated in one room that have floppy drives.

[Akolyte]

Mine is worse. We have machines designed for XP running pirated Windows 7 enterprise. All these machines are comically slow. They also bought immensely cheap and lousy peripherals that break if you do so much as touch them, they break. Think that's not that bad? Well, we also have internet filters which will block out innocent search terms and as such, many educational sites have been blocked with them. So when I tried to go to Backstreetmerch to look at the Slayer snapback I had noticed that the site had been blocked because it supposedly sold weapons... A site that sells band merchandise selling weapons? Really?

 

The security holes are massive. I have unblocked command line and was able to use netuser commands which would enable me admin access. I had also hacked the staff wireless network and when I point this out, they admit that they always knew about this issue and were just sweeping it under the rug. They get a lot of funding from the school and what do they do with it? They put it into buying projectors for rooms that can't physically make use of them due to their purpose or their lighting. Teachers, staff and students alike demand that they unblock sites such as YouTube and they never respond making negotiation completely and utterly pointless.

 

What about the laptops you ask? They are all at least six years old pieces of garbage which literally (not figuratively) fall apart on a regular basis. HDDs corrupt themselves, BSODs, missing keycaps and many more horrific problems. Did I mention the 5 - 10 minutes it takes to sign in? We all have these e-mail addresses which are never actually used and you have to very carefully word what you say otherwise you will be reported. For example, I once sent a friend a long word document and I got reported for sending viruses. Same thing happens if I receive an e-mail containing naughty words. And that's just the "big" laptops. They also have these other smaller Dell laptops, probably 8.5 inches or less in size. They have this awkward rubber padding and they all have broken fans on them. None of them can actually be repaired.

 

My School's IT Department are pure EVIL.

Same at my school!  Except for the laptops. 

 

Theres a hacker at school who controls the school wifi and infects it.  He even will DDOS some of the teachers computers.  The school isn't doing a thing.  

[KemoKa]

Same at my school!  Except for the laptops. 

 

Theres a hacker at school who controls the school wifi and infects it.  He even will DDOS some of the teachers computers.  The school isn't doing a thing.  

I'm sorry, but I have to...

Give that man a freaking medal.

My school's IT department consists of ONE guy and he is borderline incompetent. That's probably because he is asked constantly to fix our schools shitty P4 computers and iMacs. They've all but done his head in.

He'll come in saying the network will be up and running *insert arbitrary period of time here*.

has it ever actually been up and running in that amount of time? Pffff, no. And to those of you that are thinking "well, he's doing a difficult job, you shouldn't judge him for having a hard time doing something you couldn't even manage yourself" Like hell I couldn't. The problems with our school system are simple glitches that can be sorted with a few resets and tweaks. Our guitar teacher knows more about computers than our system admin. either he or should be running the school system. we would be superb.

[DigitalHermit]

I'm sorry, but I have to...

Give that man a freaking medal.

My school's IT department consists of ONE guy and he is borderline incompetent. That's probably because he is asked constantly to fix our schools shitty P4 computers and iMacs. They've all but done his head in.

He'll come in saying the network will be up and running *insert arbitrary period of time here*.

has it ever actually been up and running in that amount of time? Pffff, no. And to those of you that are thinking "well, he's doing a difficult job, you shouldn't judge him for having a hard time doing something you couldn't even manage yourself" Like hell I couldn't. The problems with our school system are simple glitches that can be sorted with a few resets and tweaks. Our guitar teacher knows more about computers than our system admin. either he or should be running the school system. we would be superb.

 

At least you have a dedicated IT guy...

 

Edit: removed double quote

[Akolyte]

I'm sorry, but I have to...

Give that man a freaking medal.

My school's IT department consists of ONE guy and he is borderline incompetent. That's probably because he is asked constantly to fix our schools shitty P4 computers and iMacs. They've all but done his head in.

He'll come in saying the network will be up and running *insert arbitrary period of time here*.

has it ever actually been up and running in that amount of time? Pffff, no. And to those of you that are thinking "well, he's doing a difficult job, you shouldn't judge him for having a hard time doing something you couldn't even manage yourself" Like hell I couldn't. The problems with our school system are simple glitches that can be sorted with a few resets and tweaks. Our guitar teacher knows more about computers than our system admin. either he or should be running the school system. we would be superb.

Yes, the hacker is incredibly skilled, but he is stealing data from students too.  That is not right.  

[Akolyte]

At least you have a dedicated IT guy...

 

Edit: removed double quote

who does completely nothing.  I guess it might be better than nothing, but the hacker just keeps finding exploits in the firmwares of the hardware and keeps finding ways to hack the wireless password.

 

I would be glad to help him, but hes one of those bossy teachers that thinks he knows everything and acts like hes immortal and im a mere mortal.  I work for AVG so I'm somewhat experienced with securing networks, but.  You know, its just how it is.

 

I'm the computer nerd in the school who tells everyone to disconnect from the wifi and I go around volunterily patching up people's systems and reinstalling operating systems on them to secure them from the horrible Trojan this guy made.  Its not horrible as in super advanced but its sort of like a keylogger, and everyone thinks this hacker is a dick because he steals student data, and looks through their cameras.  I find it disgusting.

[KemoKa]

who does completely nothing.  I guess it might be better than nothing, but the hacker just keeps finding exploits in the firmwares of the hardware and keeps finding ways to hack the wireless password.

 

I would be glad to help him, but hes one of those bossy teachers that thinks he knows everything and acts like hes immortal and im a mere mortal.  I work for AVG so I'm somewhat experienced with securing networks, but.  You know, its just how it is.

 

I'm the computer nerd in the school who tells everyone to disconnect from the wifi and I go around volunterily patching up people's systems and reinstalling operating systems on them to secure them from the horrible Trojan this guy made.  Its not horrible as in super advanced but its sort of like a keylogger, and everyone thinks this hacker is a dick because he steals student data, and looks through their cameras.  I find it disgusting.

Ah, well then... Take away that man's medal.

Then get everyone to lend you their computers and assemble them, and DDOS the hell out of his computer...

Wait, that's not how DDoS attacks work, is it? I thought it was overloading a server.

[DigitalHermit]

who does completely nothing.  I guess it might be better than nothing, but the hacker just keeps finding exploits in the firmwares of the hardware and keeps finding ways to hack the wireless password.

 

I would be glad to help him, but hes one of those bossy teachers that thinks he knows everything and acts like hes immortal and im a mere mortal.  I work for AVG so I'm somewhat experienced with securing networks, but.  You know, its just how it is.

 

I'm the computer nerd in the school who tells everyone to disconnect from the wifi and I go around volunterily patching up people's systems and reinstalling operating systems on them to secure them from the horrible Trojan this guy made.  Its not horrible as in super advanced but its sort of like a keylogger, and everyone thinks this hacker is a dick because he steals student data, and looks through their cameras.  I find it disgusting.

 

Now that's a problem...

 

The no-dedicated-IT-guy is restricted to my department of the university, but the bigger network is more secure than the (non DoD) government networks...

 

We come under attack regularly from some overseas attackers (take a wild guess) but they haven't been able to cause anything major other than that one time where they vandalized the library's website...

[DigitalHermit]

Ah, well then... Take away that man's medal.

Then get everyone to lend you their computers and assemble them, and DDOS the hell out of his computer...

Wait, that's not how DDoS attacks work, is it? I thought it was overloading a server.

 

 

A few friends of mine did a ping flood (using 20+ computers) on one of the instructors' phone via the local network for fun... His connection slowed down to a crawl... He found out and laughed it off...

[Akolyte]

Ah, well then... Take away that man's medal.

Then get everyone to lend you their computers and assemble them, and DDOS the hell out of his computer...

Wait, that's not how DDoS attacks work, is it? I thought it was overloading a server.

yeah, you can overload a server but I'm pretty sure you can do a DOS attack on a single machine, router and firewall as well. 

[Akolyte]

Now that's a problem...

 

The no-dedicated-IT-guy is restricted to my department of the university, but the bigger network is more secure than the (non DoD) government networks...

 

We come under attack regularly from some overseas attackers (take a wild guess) but they haven't been able to cause anything major other than that one time where they vandalized the library's website...

we never get attacked from overseas or from anywhere really.  I mean, its a fairly small place so theres no gain for hackers overseas to attack us.  Still, the hacker in the school is a big problem.  My sister is at the same school too.   She is disconnected from wifi all the time, I don't want that jerk spying on my sister.

[KemoKa]

I know this has been said probably several dozen times, but I really hate it when people look at me sitting at a computer in school and then immediately assume that I am hacking because I opened word. NO.

I can hack a little but not that much, I mean, I can bypass command line restrictions and firewalls, and I can grab an IP using Ping and override proxies at school, but beyond that I can't hack for shit. Hacking is -- gah, I don't even know why I bother...

People are so stupid...

[rambi36]

You know you're surrounded by non-techies at school when: Everyone runs to you when they have a computer issue that can be solved in 2 seconds

[Deletive]

You know you're surrounded by non-techies at school when: Everyone runs to you when they have a computer issue that can be solved in 2 seconds

at my school everyone that is good at tech isn't in the tech program. like some of the people in my schools tech programs don't know how to put a file onto a usb and I'm just there working in cryengine

OT: When people say our school (mine and theirs) is ghetto, when we have i5 ultrabooks  and i3's in our library, i5 ivy bridge computers with 7750's in the computer lab with 2014 imac's in the art room. NO ONE UNDERSTANDs :'( 

[Akolyte]

I know this has been said probably several dozen times, but I really hate it when people look at me sitting at a computer in school and then immediately assume that I am hacking because I opened word. NO.

I can hack a little but not that much, I mean, I can bypass command line restrictions and firewalls, and I can grab an IP using Ping and override proxies at school, but beyond that I can't hack for shit. Hacking is -- gah, I don't even know why I bother...

People are so stupid...

i know right, like I can hack wifi passwords with kali, with a tool.  But then, thats fairly easy, and I mean I only do that to make sure my wifi is secure.  

 

But some people think I can hack the entire world... nope.  I'm just a guy, who knows about some tech but I know barely anything compared to allot of people.  

[Akolyte]

You know you're surrounded by non-techies at school when: Everyone runs to you when they have a computer issue that can be solved in 2 seconds

I know, I was a complete tech noob at school. Now I'm being asked questions about tech every day by all the people who used to tease me...  haha.  

[Beskamir]

at my school everyone that is good at tech isn't in the tech program. like some of the people in my schools tech programs don't know how to put a file onto a usb and I'm just there working in cryengine

OT: When people say our school (mine and theirs) is ghetto, when we have i5 ultrabooks  and i3's in our library, i5 ivy bridge computers with 7750's in the computer lab with 2014 imac's in the art room. NO ONE UNDERSTANDs :'( 

Those sound like amazing systems for a school. Also I mainly had my fun working with Unity and Blender in school environment on 3 separate projects that were meant to be was much simpler and less exciting. (ie powerpoints, posters, essays, etc.) Additionally I aided my brother with a Sketchup project which we escalated to a Blender + CryEngine work of art. Now that was fun although I'm pretty sure the CryEngine part of the project failed to look as good as we intended on the school computer that the teacher used to grade it Oh well my brother also assembled the same scene in Blender (minus all the water/fog/lighting/etc effects) and it was still thousands of times better than what could have been achieved in Sketchup.

 

Slightly on topic: Speaking of that project the teacher kind of went full celeron when coming up with the requirements. There were several stupid requirements but these 2 were the worse: 1. make it look interesting. 2. avoid things that could lead to distractions. The requirements completely contradicted themselves! I mean anything that could be considered interesting could also lead to being a distraction...

 

who does completely nothing.  I guess it might be better than nothing, but the hacker just keeps finding exploits in the firmwares of the hardware and keeps finding ways to hack the wireless password.

 

I would be glad to help him, but hes one of those bossy teachers that thinks he knows everything and acts like hes immortal and im a mere mortal.  I work for AVG so I'm somewhat experienced with securing networks, but.  You know, its just how it is.

 

I'm the computer nerd in the school who tells everyone to disconnect from the wifi and I go around volunterily patching up people's systems and reinstalling operating systems on them to secure them from the horrible Trojan this guy made.  Its not horrible as in super advanced but its sort of like a keylogger, and everyone thinks this hacker is a dick because he steals student data, and looks through their cameras.  I find it disgusting.

You work for AVG? What do you mainly do?

[Deletive]

Those sound like amazing systems for a school. Also I mainly had my fun working with Unity and Blender in school environment on 3 separate projects that were meant to be was much simpler and less exciting. (ie powerpoints, posters, essays, etc.) Additionally I aided my brother with a Sketchup project which we escalated to a Blender + CryEngine work of art. Now that was fun although I'm pretty sure the CryEngine part of the project failed to look as good as we intended on the school computer that the teacher used to grade it Oh well my brother also assembled the same scene in Blender (minus all the water/fog/lighting/etc effects) and it was still thousands of times better than what could have been achieved in Sketchup.

Our school got like 50-100k in grants because our principal was leaving, so we bought new PC's.

I recently got into maya and unreal engine 4 so I'll try to make a little level in that this year

[Akolyte]

Those sound like amazing systems for a school. Also I mainly had my fun working with Unity and Blender in school environment on 3 separate projects that were meant to be was much simpler and less exciting. (ie powerpoints, posters, essays, etc.) Additionally I aided my brother with a Sketchup project which we escalated to a Blender + CryEngine work of art. Now that was fun although I'm pretty sure the CryEngine part of the project failed to look as good as we intended on the school computer that the teacher used to grade it Oh well my brother also assembled the same scene in Blender (minus all the water/fog/lighting/etc effects) and it was still thousands of times better than what could have been achieved in Sketchup.

 

Slightly on topic: Speaking of that project the teacher kind of went full celeron when coming up with the requirements. There were several stupid requirements but these 2 were the worse: 1. make it look interesting. 2. avoid things that could lead to distractions. The requirements completely contradicted themselves! I mean anything that could be considered interesting could also lead to being a distraction...

 

You work for AVG? What do you mainly do?

I'm on the facebook support team and I mainly review early AVG products before release, share my imput and test and investigate brand new malware. 

 

We also have contact with some high up people in AVG which is really cool because it allows us to get our requests across to the developers

 

I also, surprisingly don't use AVG, I hate to admit it but when you know about allot of horrible bugs with 2014.  I'm afraid to have it on my system.  We are hoping 2015 will have allot of the bugs fixed, it should do. 

[Akolyte]

Wait, they made you buy them. With your own money? Wouldn't there be legal issues with that?

I guess there might be.  But they forced us to.  

 

They do pirate windows and their wifi is full of malware and RATs, mainly due to this hacker there.  I mean, I just thought.  What if the hacker is using the malware because the IT teacher payed the hacker to install trojans on the network. 

[ZmanFTW]

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