Spent the summer working at a local university. There was superfluous opportunity to embezzle a lot of money; as we were instituting their absolutely awful new HR software--which also meant I got to see how much all the bigwigs and upper-administrators (read: idiots puffed full of their own self importance) made off of hard-working students. (I was brought on as a Data Technician; not support or PC repair or what-have-you)

When the machines in our semi-secret office (All W2K) were infected with a virus (Don't ask me, I no longer remember, but I went & read the writeup @ symanted then, which told me it was able to cross-propogate through the network once it landed on one machine) I of course decided to quarantine the bastard myself first... I then realized what I had most feared--that these machines were all set up to Track who was using them; but not to actually restrict Anyone from Anything. Thats right, Joe Schmoe user could do anything he wanted; from registry-hacking to whatever your heart desired.

So; I managed to isolate this guy and the three other viruses that were wandering through the War-Room (thats what we called it); but I didn't purge, at this point I was too intrigued, so I summoned the IT guys.

4 hours later ONE guy (who looks like a plumber, and not even Mario) shows up, and begins, well, piddling (there's no other word for it.... he threw in an admin password and started checking completely unnecessary settings, then attempting to read the reports that their Tracking software creates, presumably to get to the root of the problem) with the machines after pretending he doesn't need me to tell him what I've done so far. His expression gets more and more bored, and after about another hour and a half, he tells my boss (one of them aforementioned admin-types) that he can't find anything wrong, and she should watch 'that new guy'.

I'm pretty sure they heard my jaw hit the floor on the other side of campus. A week later I had recieved the job offer I'd been counting on from the local cable service provider; and I headed for the hills, washing my hands of the whole situation, and terribly glad the only records tying my name to the lpace were strictly paper-based.

I checked in on it with a friend of mine who's a student there. He moved here from China, and is still a little unpolished with his english, but I heard this loud and clear: "Oh my FUCKING GOD man! Half the computers on campus are FUCKED!"

I can only assume that Mr. Plumber did not get anyone to look into the virus.

I have no idea how much that mistake cost the University; but I do know that once it was cleaned out, nothing changed. They are merrily running the exact same sytems setup the exact same way; probably every one of em mapped off the mirror sitting in the IT department.

T'was originally posted as part of a reply on Christmas Keylogger Virus: http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=171461&cid=14280063

If you like, post a comment saying so, cuz the stories of this place alone should give me a few journal entries.

I love slashdot. The information and viewpoints exchanged here are sometimes the most insightful and accurate perceptions. I would never want this incredible forum to suffer.

Which is exactly why I think we need to move on.

With the caliber of articles fluctuating greatly, countless trolls and flamewars... it can be very frustrating for those of us who actually Want to look at interesting topics from others' point of view.

Which brings me to the question: What can we do to preserve the community and shave out the, well, annoying shit that tends to come with?

I welcome your comments. Please show the respect of not commenting if you aren't legitimately interested.

Thanks.
#850967

OK, topic of the day is women.

Best advice I can give ya; be yourself and don't actively hunt em. If you live your life, and manage to chat with some women in your typical day without them running screaming for the nearest exit, you're well on your way to finding one that's not only 'normal' (read: not a brainwashed suburbanite) but also comes equipped with a fully-featured CPU (read:brain). The patience pays off, as the crowd here needs to realize that their demanding and unintentionally bitchy ways are only really tolerated by intellectually-advanced females. (read: my 2nd wife is much smarter and makes me much happier than the 1st, don't commit yourself to the first cute bum that doesn't think ur a *total* freak)

For all you major corps who keep trying to define why we, the people, hoard.

We know you are trying to control this world with your corporate dollars. We are also intelligent enough to see it won't last forever, and when it goes down, we intend to see that as many well-intentioned laypeople make it, to ensure there's someone around to confront you assholes when you come out of your bunkers if you manage to blow up half the planet before we stop you.