[vox-tech] windows support, unfortunately

[MB]

Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
On Mon 06 Feb 06, 1:11 PM, Micah J. Cowan <micah at cowan.name> said:

>>On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:19:39PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi all,
>>>
>>>At work I have to use WinXP, but all of my development is with open source
>>>tools like cygwin, miktex, etc., so I'm almost happy.
>>>
>>>This morning a bad thing happened.  Adobe Acrobat wanted to install an
>>>update 7.0.5 on my work computer, and stupidly, I allowed it.  It wanted to
>>>reboot to finish the upgrade, and again, I allowed it.
>>>
>>>Unfortunately, after the reboot, my system has become flakey.  Here are some
>>>manifestations:
>>>      
>>>
>><snip>
>>
>>It's an obvious one, but I'm obliged to ask it: have you tried
>>/uninstalling/ Acrobat, and if so, did it make a difference? Also, is
>>your desktop backed-up?
>>    
>>
> 
>Thanks, Micah.
>
>After the Acrobat update, I seem to have completely lost the ability to
>install and uninstall programs.
>
>Most of the time it says that I need admin privs.  Some of the time it says
>it can't access a particular .dll or it can't find a particular file.
>Before this whole thing started, I was able to install/uninstall programs
>just fine.
>
>  
>
>>>The reason why I'm posting to vox-tech is that one of the help desk guys
>>>noted that i have a lot of "illegal software".  this is the term he actually
>>>used; i'm not making that up.  he was referring to firefox, putty, miktex,
>>>gvim, cygwin, etc.  he said i have to uninstall the "illegal and unsupported
>>>software" to "fix the machine".
>>>      
>>>
>>IMO, this is worth making an issue of. All of these are extremely legal
>>to have on your machine, and it is worth making the support guy
>>understand this. Now, some of it /may/ be against company rules: but
>>since you mentioned that you use cygwin to do development, I sincerely
>>doubt it.
>>
>>Beat this into the support guy's head. Actually, a good tactic is to ask
>>/him/ questions, and make him answer them reasonably. Most answers from
>>these sorts of people will reveal more questions to ask.
>>
>>    How, exactly, is Firefox (e.g.) illegal to install?
>>    How did you learn this (from the answer to previous)?
>>    What do you think about (appropriate link to strong materials denying
>>        the truthfulness of his previous answer)?
>>    
>>
>
>I think his intent was "it's against company policy", but I'll try this
>tactic.
>
>  
>
>>>I don't have the admin password for this computer, but I noticed a utility
>>>on the web that obtains the admin password on XP machines.  Actually
>>>*changing* the admin password is out of the question, for obvious reasons.
>>>      
>>>
>>Actually snooping it may be a bad idea as well. You can certainly get
>>fired for such activity, and probably jail time, depending on the judge.
>>    
>>
>
>Woof!  Yeah, I definitely don't want to lose my job.  ;)
>
>  
>
>>If you must use this, make it a last resort. Probably the one right
>>after attempting to reinstall your system, reinstalling cygwin, etc on
>>top of a fresh install.
>>    
>>
> 
>Unfortunately, my hands are completely tied now; I can't install or
>uninstall anything.  It's almost as if my user account went from 'admin' or
>'power user' to 'restricted user'.
>
>Maybe tomorrow I should try calling support again and telling them that I
>can no longer install/uninstall software?  I really don't know what else to
>do, and you have me too spooked to try to change my user permissions now...
>
>Pete
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>
>  
>
Agreed.  I would be very wary of stepping on the wrong toes in the 
support department.  Most, if not all, offices that  have worked in do 
not generally allow employees to install random software, whether it be 
free, open source, or anything not on the "list".  I have always been a 
developer, and they generally leave the developers alone (until you 
begin to pester the desktop support guys)  It sure sounds like you have 
successfully hosed up a windoze installation, and I would suggest a 
walking over and sweet-talking the desktop guys.   This approach has 
worked for me *several* times. < I have hosed up many windoze boxes ;) >

Good Luck
-Mark