Computer/Big Brother question

[U2SavesTheWorld]

Question for everyone...


I have a friend who uses her company laptop pretty much as her primary computer though she does have her own desktop.
She just got a lovely packet in the mail full of crap she has to sign stating that she won't use her computer for personal use, blah blah blah.

The crap specifically states that she won't have any instant messaging software on her computer. What I want to know is this: Can they dectect this software externally?

Two points of interest:

1) She works from home. If they see her computer she deletes all instant messaging software COMPLETELY before its sent in to her company.
2) She uses some sort of a dial-up service provided by her company.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Liesje]

Externally? Good question. It wouldn't be impossible to find out later though, if they really wanted to. If she does it anyway, I'd tell her to run a complete destructive system restore (restores machine back to factory settings) before returning it, otherwise if the company gets sneaky they can restore the computer to an earlier restore point and see all the files. Nothing deleted is ever *really* deleted though.

 

[Chizip]

maybe she shouldnt do things she shouldnt be doing

 

[halo jones]

Hate to say it but yes they can as soon as she logs on to her mail lan or someone from the company does any work for maintenance or other update. There is plenty of ways to detect that people are using the system for personal use and even if you delete the sites which you viewed unless she has complete Administration rights for the company then they can actually look at the history on the drives etc. Sorry to be the bearer of nerd news...... My suggestion is that she should buy one of the company's older stock when they get rid of it every tax year. That way she still has the same type of system but can get it dirt cheap (ususally when they are upgrading due to age etc. Companies tend to get rid of it for tax purposes really cheap). If she signs forms then it is pretty sure that they suspect things are going on inhouse... Good luck, Halo

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

if her network connection is through her work then yes they certainly can check out what you're using