Bypassing Corporate Security or Banging the TV..Same thing

Bypassing Corporate Security or Banging the TV..Same thing

We are pretty ingenious for imitating or creating workarounds in life. Sometimes we shouldn't do it ... But people will fall into a trap of thinking they are "solving" an issue or creating a workaround when they are simply fooling themselves. Its too bad that we do not have enough people looking over our shoulders and asking why we are trying such a silly trick . This can be even more amusing when you find out that OTHERS consider you to be the smart one and they are following you down the same pathway to doom.

A couple examples. Photocopy technology. Still a very complicated process which includes many parts and bits of computer technology. The manufactures try their best to put smarts into these machines to warn you about different problems or issues. How many people have you seen being stuck late at night trying to coax out a bit more toner out of an empty cartridge for that critical report? In some cases the gentle thumping of a cartridge might help, but they are frequently actually resetting certain sensors, timers, reset trips on some machines. So the trick of turning off the warning light might be banging the toner cartridge, or may be something else. However its late at night and you must try all of these things so you can print the last twelve pages of the report! This can be a gentle process or a brutal one depending on the beginning or ending temperament of the user. How many "the copier is broken" notes on copiers that went kaput late at night? So the first person might get away with a few tricks, but the tenth person is certain to have a frustrating experience. Of course no living person or alternate resource! I know most of you in office situations have been there!

I won't bother with the details of fixing the situation. Just that I know that such remedies are probably cheaper than handling picking up the pieces of a copier that did not survive end of month reports!

Banging the T.V. to make it work. This trick may be fading out. However at one time there were some technical reasons that tapping the television could temporarily take care of an issue. The technology has changed over time and the number of certified TV repairman have dropped considerably. Reducing to a great degree that you know what you are doing by tapping the TV to make it work! For some time though... People started tapping anything electronic to make it work! Hey it seems to work! How about mechanical devices! Sure that seems to work! Not sure why.. Uncle Fred did it in the 1950's Maybe it will work for me! That was then .. This is now.

Please explain Corporate Security as it relates to this post?

Check out the Mouse Jiggler

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/MouseJiggler.php

This will be a fantastic gizmo that will fly off the shelves! Many people will buy this because they want to bypass the corporate mandates of screen saver software that is a requirement to auto-run on corporate systems!

There are some applications that will for example pause, crash or halt if screen saver is activated. Some people will request their IT support to remove the Mandated Screen saver or disable it so they can run their application. However this can be a dead end a corporate security policy may not have exceptions or workarounds. So the alternative is to sit around wiggling yourself and the mouse while your app runs rather than walking away and come back to find the application has stopped?

No way!

So the mouse jiggler and its relations will either give the computer the impression that the mouse is being wiggled! So the screen saver stays off. Person at the computer right? Wrong!

The people buying such a device will at first have a chance to get their coffee breaks and IT Security will be happy until they find out that unattended computers are not being protected.

It will be glaring so to speak. Computer screen with a non-screen saver display and human head not nearby to view the screen...

I predict this product will work for a while until the security snoops at the big corporations catch wind and confiscate these gizmos and toss them into the school teacher forbidden items drawer! Then the vendor will have made his $29.00 bucks for a while until piles of these things are stuffed away by the corporate security police! ( Probably stuffed next the the mad-windup-clicking-teeth-toys.)

Its an eternal battle.. So the next round will start again with a new gizmo.

So whats my point? There are reasons for plans. There are reasons for messages. There are reasons for decisions. There are reasons why things work. People who are sufficiently empowered will sometimes take a direct line to "solve" an issue when in reality they are undoing someones plans that were originally intended as a benefit.

So who is at fault? That is a question that surfaces when people try to pick up the pieces after something was "fixed" to death or disabled.

You cannot plan for all contingencies.

Have you planned for the creativity of the human mind to bypass your well thought plans?

Are your instructions geared for your target readership?

Do you still want to wack the Toner Cartridge?

Just do your best!

Dexter

Sank... Company capitulated and .....

Sank... Company capitulated and .....


I wrote a couple brief articles about my getting involved with the fun and travails of a new computer with a really new operating system. Yes I helped my friend out. Here are the original links.

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such ideas.
http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/sink-or-swim-dont-know-until-you-try.html

Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System
http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/update-on-sink-or-swim-with-new.html

Well after some time after the printer/fax machine was working.. The owner of the computer called the people she bought the system .. (computer system + Fax/Printer) The result of the conversation was that the printer was too "new" and no one had turned in any empty ink cartridges ... so they could not sell her any more ink!

So this finally frosted her cookies! So with some notes and encouragement from me... She went ahead and had someone mind her small business while she buried herself in an office for an anticipated battle of a customer return.

To her surprise she found that she part of a wave of unhappy customers and that the company had apparently heard enough complaints lack of resolution of issues that they gave her an acceptable proposal.

She would keep everything except the computer system box itself.
She would ship the misbehaving computer back.

The manufacturer would send her a new tower computer with the previous version of the operating system installed. (Hurrah!)

Yes they did magically find some ink cartridges as well!

I am glad for her. She will hopefully will once again be a happy customer.

I feel sorry for the staff and management of the manufacturer who will have to cycle who knows how many systems back, refurbish and resell. I know its part a fact of life of the business... But no doubt they do not need extra work to do such on top of the normal returns!

In my opinion so much pain could have been avoided. So at best my specific contact will be again paddling water, but there still was a loss in productivity, frustration , and uncertainty.

It was only with some proactive work on the customer's part (With external guidance) to push the issue to some level of attention. I hate to think of how many doorstops were created with this mistake.

I will keep you posted as I learn of the results of their promise to correct her computer problems.

Regards,
Dexter

My Dog the Web 9.0 Communicator. (Part 1)

My Dog the Web 9.0 Communicator. ( Part 1)

I am becoming more convinced that my dog Max has secretly gone to some Internet Marketing and Search Engine Seminars.

He has been trying to tell me something in dog language for some time, but I have been too dumb until recently to figure it out.

There are all kinds of magic terms to be used in Internet marketing. There are quite a number of people out there who make a full time living to convince you quite correctly that the world wide web is huge in terms of the electronic communication space.

You read enough about all of it and find that you have scarcely scratched the surface of how many ways you can go wrong in sharing your message out on the web. Why worry about it? Well it always a question of how much you see is returned to you for the energy spent on a project.

Everyone has to decide what is a successful return on that investment in time, energy and thought.

Some people post on a website or blog and are happy that they alone can see the glowing electrons of their ideas hanging out in virtual space.

Some people want a reference for their close friends and associates to congregate. Almost a virtual couch at the mythical coffee shop in space. Its a public space, but only the people who know or care about stay around long enough to know more.

Some people are happy to contribute in a virtual community of some form. Whether or not they become known, is quite secondary to the sharing of information.

Some want to want to have a virtual business card as a reference for those who know about their services and need additional information.

Some want to create a presence on the web to build a product or market identification with their personal name, corporate name or gizmo.

The last on the list are the people who want to hook or by crook to get everyone to think they are the Center of the Internet world in terms of their company, product or service. They study hard to work the system in order to have everyone see them at the top of the list in search engines or other resources.

I have walked into the valley of FTP and have no fear. I have been one of you and seen much , but I stay on the trail of knowledge to find out where I go in the Internet communications Internet Sphere.

I do have one thing many of the marketeers of Internet Knowledge lack.

Sure they know about SEO, S.E.O. , Web 1.0, web 2.0, Web 9.0. They share tidbits about adwords, adsense, and sundry other internet advertising stuff.

They talk about all this as well:

AJ - Ask Jeeves, AOL - America Online, ASP - Application Service Provider, AV - AltaVista,
B2B - Business to Business, B2C - Business to Consumer, CPA - Cost Per Action, CPC - Cost Per Click, CPS - Cost Per Sale, CTR - Click-Through Rate, DH - Direct Hit, FFA - Free-For-All Link List ,HB - HotBot ,IM - Instant Messaging, INK - Inktomi , LS - LookSmart, MSN - Microsoft Network , NL - Northert Light , NSI - Network Solutions, PFI - Pay For Inclusion, PFP - Pay For Performance, PPC - Pay Per Click, PPCSE - Pay Per Click Search Engine , PPL - Pay Per Lead , PPS - Pay Per Sale , PV - Page View, RON - Run Of Network, ROS - Run Of Site , SEO - Search Engine Optimization , SEP - Search Engine Positioning , UV - Unique Visitor, WWW - World Wide Web , Y! - Yahoo!

This just is the beginning. But these Intern knowledge experts do not have one thing in their arsenal of web domination tools.... What is it ? Not a tool, not a company , not a person.

Its my dog. Max the dog has gone to some of these Internet web marketing seminars. He has gone undercover. So most of the time he is disguised as a typical dog. Sometimes he is disguised as a waiter. Notice a dog hair in your soup ordered at the restaurant near the Internet Web Marketing Seminar? It might have been Max who waited on you! ( I never ask. He converts the his money earned as a waiter to extra dog bones for the backyard.

Sometimes Max has disguised himself as a 3 dimensional logo. So he can walk into these marketing seminars with security escort.

He is a crafty dog. The only problem is the Dog/Human language barrier.

As I translate what he has told me.. I will be glad to share with you.

Stay tuned.

Talk about a cliff hanger!

Regards,

Dexter Babcock