Archive for the Work Category
Why?
Why does [Windows] program X need to run as the administrator? Does it need to access the registry – No. Does it need low level access to a piece of hardware – No. Does it need to write to a special area on the disk – No. So why then for the love of all things do so many Windows programs need to be run as the administrator?
I’m looking in particular at you Sage Accounts and Lloyds Telepay.
Sage Accounts needs to be run as the administrator to ‘Save and Update program options into the registry’, write to a file in the windows\systems32 directory and possibly some other files that I’ve missed. In the UK if you are serious about accounting (or payroll for that matter) then Sage is the product you want. From what I’ve seen and the contact I’ve had with Sage they are not only on the ball, but a pretty decent company. So once again, why do you need to run as administrator? Need to save some settings for all users in the registry, don’t use a protected area of the registry. Need write access to a file, then don’t put it into the systems area on the disk. Better yet, use the users own home directory and registry settings. That’s what it was designed for.
For such a critical package as Sage Accounts it’s just dumb creating all that security within Windows and the network, and the leaving the back door open. Crazy.
The same goes for Lloyds Telepay. On the front it looks a simple program that reads and writes to some flat files, then dials up the bank with payment instructions. And for this you need to run it as the administrator. Where as Sage Accounts will at least run with minimised functionality, Lloyds Telepay actually crashes if you try and run it as a normal user! Not even the so called ‘Power User’ works.
It’s not just limited to these programs either, a quick google brings up plenty of people fighting different software with this same problem (and possible solutions). At the risk of repeating the paragraph above, what is the point of securing the infrastructure and restricting what can happen if we are then forced to run as administrator which ignores all security and access restrictions.
Why?
It’s not far off 5 months since I started my first job out of university. It’s not my first job working in the real world, I did the work placement in school year 10 (14/15 years old). In 6th form I did a small placement in preference to extra activities classes. Half of my summer holiday between first and second years at university was in the middle east doing IT work. Then of course there was the year in industry as part of my degree.
That doesn’t mean that the first 5 months of my new job have been easy. I’ve made mistakes, some from lack of experience, some from tiredness (there was a period when I worked 6 days a week not long after I first started) and some mistakes from just not knowing the systems that are in place. But gradually I’m getting there. It doesn’t help that the number of people in the IT department has gone from 5 to 3, and 2 out of that 3 are new to the company with the person who designed and wrote most of the system no longer employed here.
However I’m now at the point where my boss let me have the keys to one off our offices over the weekend so that I could do some essential out of hours work. Yesterday I felt sufficiently confident of my knowledge of the system and database to be able to reset some data so that it could be reprocessed today – but not before making a backup of the database 
So what have I learnt. Well I now have a much better practical understanding of phone systems, a better idea of MS SQL (the administration of), DFS (Distributed File Systems) and WSUS (windows updates for companies) is now something that I’ve implemented and/or supported. And that some times it’s better to let your boss have his way when you know you are in the right (they don’t teach stuff like that at university 
).
I’m now well and truly at the university of life.
It took 7 months (almost to the day) since I finished university, but on the 4th of August I was offered a job. I accepted.
I’m going to keep the name of the company off this blog, but if you ask me else where I’ll tell you.  In a nut shell I work for the directors of the company looking after the computer system of the two companies they run and own. It’s a small computer department of 4 people which look after a mostly windows environment, with linux boxes used on the external systems.
The company is spread over 2 sites, and originally the team had only 3 people it it. One person looked after each site and the 3rd was the programmer for the internal applications who also did quite a bit of user/system support. My manager has been added to bring the team up to 4 and I’m replacing one of the guys who has handed his notice in.
At present there is some good equipment (hardware etc) in use but the systems aren’t quite as good as they can be. My manager was brought in to use his experience and bring the various systems closer together. I’ll be working with him on that as well as the daily issues raised by the users.
One
As most of my friends and family know by now I’m searching for a job. In the course of doing so I have looked at a great deal of job adverts from a range of companies, most of which require some kind of experience. Now how exactly are non experienced people expected to get experience when you need experience to get a job in the first place?
You may like to point out that many companies run Graduate Recruitment Programs where you work in a range or areas within the company, but look close and they still ask for some sort of experience.
See why this bugs me?
Two
The other thing that bugs me is the login systems that are in use today. To put it simply there is no single login system that just works. The only one that comes close, and it pains me to say this, is Microsoft with their Active Directory implementation. I know that at the heart of Active Directory it is actually LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), but does this mean I can use it with my non MS application and operating systems easily. No. Unix operating sytems have NIS, but this doesn’t have a reputation for ease of opperation (or security for that matter). Web applications don’t get away with it either. Try and set up a web site that runs two popular web applications. I bet that the two wont have a common login system, and I further bet that it wont be easy to get them to work together. PHP Users is a project set up to solve this problem, but no one seems to be getting ready to use it once it releases full release stage.
I await that day when I can install a program or operating system, and once told where it can athenticate I am able to login with the same username and password as all the other programs on that system. Or I may not need to login as it will pick up that I have authenticated, the so called Single Sign On. No messing about, just “Authenticate using ‘auth.exmaple.com’ ” and away we go.
Looking the time stamp for this post and you will see mine.
Last week, and increasingly this week, I find myself not doing much during the day on my dissertation, that’s not to say I don’t do work on other things. It’s just that I find myself settling down with my laptop in the late evening and just flowing, rather in stark contrast to the jittering that happens during the day.
The thought crosses my mind that I’m turning into a vampire. I’ll check for the teeth in the morning.
Edit: The posting time is not shown like I thought it was, the clock on my desktop reads 01:02.
So maybe I lied when I said that I would blogging a bit more now that I was sorted in my new house.
Since then I have been either busy finishing up the last few tasks around the house, or bored at work. (Just kidding, been equally busy there too.) The table for my computer has now been aquired, I’ve repainted my room, and added in an extra electrical point at the top of the stairs for the phone.
Under the stairs has been completly cleaned out. You would not believe the amount of junk that the previous people left under there, certainly enough to fill 4 bin bags full. In the space that was let I have put my servers, I’ll post more about these at a later date but those that know me will not be surprised to lean that there is more than one pc.
At work I’ve completed my research into the virtual machine products available. In the end I suggested VMware Workstation. The reasons were simple – for more advanced use it’s better and provides more features. And the testers need the more advanced features. I gave my results in a presentation to the testers, some members of my team and senior staff.
Today (as in 30 minutes time) I meet with the senior staff to decide if they will accept my proposal, accept with changes, or reject it. My team boss is unable to make the meeting, but I’ve spoken to him and from the work he has seen me do and what I have sent him he is happy to give my proposal the backing. The presentation went well and I got some good vibes back from people so I don’t think I’ll have a problem, but I’m not going to put any money on it either.
Edit: I think I’ve passed my exams for this year. The university has messed up and so sent them to my old address so I don’t know the individual scores, but the overall score has been posted on the wall and that indicates I’ve passed. Should know in a few days.
