Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)

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Them: Hi, I started in the department today, and I'm trying to log on.

Me: Okay.

Them: ...

Them: ...

Them: ...

Me: Okay?

Them: ...

Them: ...

Them: ...

Me: Um, what are you asking me?
 
arthwollipot said:
Them: Hi, I started in the department today, and I'm trying to log on.

Me: Okay.

Them: ...

Them: ...

Them: ...

Me: Okay?

Them: ...

Them: ...

Them: ...

Me: Um, what are you asking me?
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Ask if he knows how a phone works. And tell him you are not the voices in his head, so he doesn't have to tell you what he is doing right now.
 
paulhutch said:
Speaking with my consumer electronics design engineer hat on. Assuming "large number" means more than 0.5% then almost certainly that is either do to poor design of the phone hang up switch system or faulty hangup switches. I've thrown away or returned for credit many of phones over the last 40 years for those two reasons.
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Our phones at the office had a handset that was slippy and thin, it could be hard to hold it firmly and not get your fingers in the way when trying to hang up.
 
And it still surprises me that many staff do not know the process for requesting a password reset. And despite monthly email reminders, do not register for password self-service.
 
I think the simple fact that we as an industry are using passwords far, far, far beyond the point of diminishing returns on the "Security versus practicality" chart is sort of an open secret in the business right now.

Any password complex enough to be secure enough, a user is either going to constantly forget or they are going to write it down.
 
JoeMorgue said:
I think the simple fact that we as an industry are using passwords far, far, far beyond the point of diminishing returns on the "Security versus practicality" chart is sort of an open secret in the business right now.

Any password complex enough to be secure enough, a user is either going to constantly forget or they are going to write it down.
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CorrectHorseBatteryStaple
 
At <bigbank> they introduced a self-servicing ticket tool that you had to drill down through and the password option pointed you at the self service tool. Similarly the phone number for tickets would nag you to use the selfservice tool once you did the "press 2 for..." maze.

The biggest problem with that whole system was it was always set up to maximise the IT teams' KPIs rather than help the customer. So say you had 3 new joiners all needing email. You couldn't raise one ticket that could be split into 3 tasks. It had to be 3 tickets with no "copy details from". This wonderful book linky ( which I thoroughly recommend and have bought extra copies to give away) refers to it as "displaced complexity". You make your task easier by shoving the complexity elsewhere.
 
xterra said:
LastPass or KeePass o a similar password manager.



My personal database has 478 entries, almost none duplicates.


Problem solved.
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That's great if you literally never have to log into a new device ever.
 
JoeMorgue said:
That's great if you literally never have to log into a new device ever.
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I don't know. On my home network I have perfect password printed out on a crinkly old piece of printer paper which already had something printed on it. It's the last page on my printers stack*. When friends come over and want to use my Network I give them the piece of paper and tell them not to make any mistakes. Hilarity ensues.


*so now you know!
 
RecoveringYuppy said:
You realize you remembered that incorrectly?
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Nope. I used camelCase in this thread to make it more legible to the unitiated. Capitalization doesn't actually change the underlying principle in the slightest.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/936/

ETA: The point is that a string of four arbitrary words is both easier for a human to remember and harder for a computer to guess through brute force, than a password that conforms to a set of "difficulty" requirements like one cap, one special char, etc.
 
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theprestige said:
Nope. I used camelCase in this thread to make it more legible to the unitiated. Capitalization doesn't actually change the underlying principle in the slightest.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/936/

ETA: The point is that a string of four arbitrary words is both easier for a human to remember and harder for a computer to guess through brute force, than a password that conforms to a set of "difficulty" requirements like one cap, one special char, etc.
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You could also write out the first letter of every word on a piece of paper in case you forget the password. It ain't like your colleagues are going to go to the trouble of trying to figure it out. They know it's probably something about your password - but who cares?*


*assuming your working in a normal business environment, of course.
 
theprestige said:
Nope. I used camelCase in this thread to make it more legible to the unitiated. Capitalization doesn't actually change the underlying principle in the slightest.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/936/

ETA: The point is that a string of four arbitrary words is both easier for a human to remember and harder for a computer to guess through brute force, than a password that conforms to a set of "difficulty" requirements like one cap, one special char, etc.
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Yeah, I get that. The principle is the same. But spacing and capitalization make a difference to whether you've actually remembered the password/phrase correctly.
 
RecoveringYuppy said:
Yeah, I get that. The principle is the same. But spacing and capitalization make a difference to whether you've actually remembered the password/phrase correctly.
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Yes they do.

However, my choice to capitalize in this case does not actually justify your assumption that I misremembered the password.

Also, a rule like "I never put caps or spaces in my password" is a lot easier to remember than "One cap, one special char, and one number, unless it's the bank, and then it's cap and char only, unless it's the other bank, and then it's char and number or cap, etc."

So once I'm allowed to use Munroe passwords, I'll have much fewer, much easier rules to remember anyway. Which is half the point of Munroe passwords.
 
xterra said:
LastPass or KeePass o a similar password manager.



My personal database has 478 entries, almost none duplicates.


Problem solved.
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That's great when you're working on your own computer, not so much when you're working with an 8,000-user government secure network where installation of unapproved software is prohibited by law and system policy.

I use LastPass myself. On my private, personally-owned devices.
 
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