I can't imagine working at a place where *engineers* weren't allowed control
of their own PCs.
Sorry. I forgot we were talking about engineers as users. That's
quite different as operating and configuring computers is part of
their tool kit, and not just an office appliance. I have only a few
technically qualified customers. However, even those have machines
that are at least partially locked down allegedly to prevent security
problems, but really to keep the engineering from wasting company time
tinkering with their computers. I had one architect proudly proclaim
that he trashed an entire day fixing a computer problem, that I could
have fixed in 10 minutes. Yeah, I would trust them to control,
configure, and eventually trash their machines, but the boss that pays
their salaries isn't quite so trusting. I've also preformed far too
many system rescue operations precipitated by very competent
individuals doing incredibly stupid things with computers.
Question: Do you know of any intelligent engineer, who cannot resist
installing every utility program he finds on the internet? I don't
and have spent far too much time undoing the damage.
Incidentally, there are really smart ones, that use a Linux boot disk
to mount NTFS partitions, hack whatever they please, tweak the
registry, and then cover their tracks. I leave them alone.
If I can't trust someone to not screw up their own machine
on a regular basis or at least be able to fix it when they do, why in the
world would I let them start playing with $80k network analyzers where you can
blow up the front end with static if you're not careful?
I only have one customer that has an engineering lab full of test
equipment. They have two types of computers. One group is strictly
for use within the lab and does NOT connect to the corporate LAN. The
engineers and techs can do what they please with these. Just don't
call IT for help when you trash these. Most of these are used for
data collection and instrument control. There is a connection to the
internet, but it's completely independent of the corporate gateway.
The other class of machines are connected to the corporate LAN and are
locked down just like all the other desktops in the company. Only IT
gets to play with those. Incidentally, most of IT is outsourced to
some company in India, which creates some interesting problems.
Or high-powered
lasers or industrial robots or other devices that can cause very significant
damage if not used properly? I can't imagine letting anyone who isn't trusted
with a PC ever pick up a plasma cutting torch... aieee!
They're very different skills, but I see your point. Competence in
one area of expertise automatically qualifies that person to be
competent in computing. I don't think so. I know some people that
are very competent in their areas of expertise, that are an absolute
disaster in front of a PC. Show me some PC expertise and experience,
and I might allow them to perhaps format a floppy, or something
equally trivial.
But regarding the topic at hand... On PCs, backing up data is easy. Short of
doing a full disk image, though, do you know of any good program that'll back
up installed applications as well?
No. The problem is synchronizing the changes in the Program Files
directory, the well hidden crap under \Docs&Sets\User_name\Local
Settings, \Docs&Sets\User_name\Applications Data, the registry, and
perhaps stuff in My Docs. Windoze apps just spray garbage all over
the place. If they only had one section used in the registry, it
might be possible. However, some applications have literally
thousands of entries that have to be backed up. Applying them to the
registry on a different machine always causes problems. I make good
money recovering from the mess created by so called applications
"movers" that try to do that. The only safe way to move an
application is with a reinstall, followed by a data file transplant.
If you feel like gambling, you can try just backing up just the data
files, and hope that you haven't missed anything. A dry run to a new
machine would test for any problems, but nobody has time to do that
with all the machine and applications. In my never humble opinion,
the only thing that works EVERY time, is an image backup. It's not a
horrible as it sounds. I was doing one on my office machine last
night while I was cleaning a laptop that had filled full of dust (from
Burning Man) and left to ossify. Using Norton Ghost 2003, 30GBytes of
live data to 6ea DVD+R on a 16x burner took about 4 hours elapsed
time. If I had been paying attention when it asked for a DVD change,
I think it would been done in about 2hrs. At 25cents per DVD, that's
$1.50 per backup. Incidentally, I've done restores this way and they
take about twice as long as the original backup. Also, my office
backups are stored at home, and my home backups are stored in the
office.
