so my Laptop is at IBM right now getting repaired and I have a loaner from the bookstore. They told me i can install anything on it i want/need and basically treat it like it was my home computer. I have been downloading and trying out new software that i didnt want to try on my personal computer for fear of fucking it up. My question for yall are what are some fun things that i can mess around with and install on my this loaner. Really anything is fair game since I have no data i fear losing.

7/10/2006 11:32:32 AM

porn.

7/10/2006 11:45:40 AM

^i was thinking that, any good programs that arnt actually viruses? not that i reall care since they will reformat the hard drive when i turn it back in, just wondering

7/10/2006 11:47:16 AM

people that work at the bookstore read tww - charybdism or however you spell his name - i'm too lazy to look it up

maybe he will tell us what kind of shit you put on there

7/10/2006 11:55:59 AM

I say right before you return it, you fill the drive to the brim with porn.

Then when you return it mumble something about how they might want to "wash the keyboard" and quickly scurry away with your fixed laptop.

7/10/2006 12:08:13 PM

you should probably just try not to be a fag about it so that the bookstore continues to provide the service.

7/10/2006 12:13:09 PM

you are allowed to install any software you deem necessary for your uses. the system is reimaged upon receiving the loaner laptop back. however, that does not permit you to install anything incriminating on the machine. because the bookstore is a state owned entity, anything incriminating and illegal has to be reported. so basically, if you do something on there that could incriminate yourself, remove it before turning it in to the bookstore.

7/10/2006 1:25:15 PM

so if one was to install bit torrent or something like that, one should remove it along with everything that was downloaded? Not gonna do this just wondering outta curiosity

7/10/2006 1:40:57 PM

if you download illegal material from bittorrent then yes, delete the material. bittorrent downloaders such as azureus, bit comet, etc. are not illegal themselves.

7/10/2006 2:00:53 PM

uTorrent is one of the best.

7/10/2006 2:02:34 PM

i guess i cant give them a hard drive full of porn then

7/10/2006 2:04:08 PM

What type of things are you interested in doing / do you regularly do on your computer?

7/10/2006 5:42:29 PM

anything really, i need a good alarm clock app, and maby a stickynote app or somehting, oh and a DVD decoder type deal

7/10/2006 5:47:37 PM

1. Download Spybot
2. Go to as many shady sites as possible to see how much spyware you get.
3. Report back how many problems were found.

7/10/2006 6:14:12 PM

Yeah. You don't want to screw with that laptop and put illegal stuff on it.

People who work at the bookstore do read this website.

If you do any of that shady stuff, please go into IBM rescue & recovery (press the access IBM button on startup) and restore it to a previous backup before you go to the bookstore.

That's what we do anyway, and it'd sure be nice if we got a laptop back that was clean for once.

7/10/2006 8:39:00 PM

4. Delete the backup.

7/10/2006 8:42:18 PM

^^dont worry your laptop is in good hands, i'll wipe it down with some wipes or something befor i turn it back in

7/11/2006 12:59:54 AM

-Windows Vista + Office 2007 Beta
-Any sort of P2P program you want to test out
-And for fun ... intentionally run a couple of spyware/virus programs on there ... just to see what happens.

Imaging loaner computers makes sense. Either you lock it down and be ultra-restrictive on what they can do, or you give them a playground and destroy it when they are done.

7/11/2006 7:29:13 AM

install vista

thatd be baller

7/11/2006 7:39:40 AM

if you want to install Vista, i'm pretty sure you cant over-write XP due to restrictions put in place. you can try it but if given the option, install it just as a second OS.

7/11/2006 8:56:10 AM

doenst visit need like a gig of ram or something like htat? i dont think these are that powerfull

7/11/2006 9:34:05 AM

^ vista basic can run on 512 (per microsoft's minimum requirements)

hell, i've seen XP run on less than 128 and be somewhat usable for very basic uses.

7/11/2006 9:47:56 AM

Vista runs fine for me with 512, and when you start the computer it asks you which OS you want to boot into.

7/11/2006 12:17:02 PM

I ran XP on a 166mhz Gateway with 8 or 16 megs of RAM to keep mp3s on my network. That thing stayed up for months at a time.

7/11/2006 12:33:34 PM

Quote :

"... is a state owned entity, anything incriminating and illegal has to be reported."

If people actually followed through with that we wouldn't have very many teachers here. They got all kinds of shit on their machines.

7/11/2006 12:56:53 PM

so where would one aquire a copy of vista to fool around with?

7/11/2006 1:26:24 PM

Quote :

"If people actually followed through with that we wouldn't have very many teachers here. They got all kinds of shit on their machines."

it has to be, doenst mean it does. but do ya wanna take that chance? i sure wouldnt.

7/11/2006 1:58:27 PM

you totally need to put pictures of anita flick all over it

like pasted to the exterior of the case

7/11/2006 3:18:34 PM

that would not be a good idea

7/11/2006 4:51:38 PM

Quote :

"anything incriminating and illegal has to be reported."

-First, point me to a policy which states this.
-Next, tell me who has the time to do this.
-Next, if time isn't a factor, tell me who knows computer forensics in-depth to conduct a proper investigation
-Next, if knowledge isn't a factor, point me to a set of carefully crafted procedures for how to handle such a situation
-Next, ...

Not saying it can't be done ... but it's a heck of a lot easier to wipe it before allowing the OS to load and never asking what could have been on there.

7/11/2006 6:07:01 PM

I think we've turned on loaner laptops before (before I worked there) and there was an updated image for the windows background of a guy and his friends smoking pot.

That's the sort of stuff they're required to report.

Or perhaps if you put up kiddie porn up as the desktop background, they'd be required to report you to law enforcement and leave the laptop be until the cops took it and sent it off to be looked at by god knows who.

Basically if some dumbass makes it very obvious that they're a dumbass, it'll get reported to management followed by law enforcement. Then shit happens.

7/11/2006 9:47:39 PM

Quote :

"-First, point me to a policy which states this."

it is in the paperwork you sign when obtaining a loaner laptop from the bookstore. again, since people cant read for shit:

Quote :

"it has to be [reported], doenst mean it does [get reported]."

[Edited on July 11, 2006 at 10:12 PM. Reason : .]

7/11/2006 10:12:26 PM

bttt i tried installing vista last night but it wanted to overwrite my XP partition, I tried going into the recovery console to make a new partition i could install it on but that did not work. Do they have somehting set up so i cant do this, or is htere another way to set up a clean partition so i can install/mess around with vista before i turn the laptop back in?

7/14/2006 10:33:47 AM