Seniors, seniors, read all about it! The latest news from IT is that you will all receive brand new laptops this year!
Just kidding; not exactly. But almost as exciting. Seniors, this year you will receive administrative rights for your computers — which basically means that the computers are going to become yours. Gamers, you will finally be able to install whatever you would like on your laptop.
However, don’t get too excited. You’re not completely out of the clutches of Mr Sinclair. “During a helpdesk visit… every time your computer checks into the network, through the Cisco clean access,… it determines if a student has unloaded any specific programs intentionally,” Mr Sinclair explains. He also added that when a person is intentionally uninstalling programs, the IT department has the right to revoke admin rights and reformat the machine — the usual procedures for “rogue” machines and owners.
Allowing seniors to have administrative rights creates some important challenges for the IT department, however. Increased admin rights for students within our network infrastructure might cause malware, viruses and spyware to be more exposed to our servers. Potentially, this can cause a lot of damage to our network.
Dr Hartzell and Mr Sinclair have long-planned giving seniors full control of their computers. Giving the seniors a bit more independence and responsibility, this new freedom will emulate the laptop freedom of US colleges.
There is no current timeline set as yet – yes, they have agreed to let seniors have admin rights, but the IT department does not exactly know when.
Overall, the basic rule is to not touch the school software that’s already there. Other than that, seniors: you’re set!