The Haymaker
Veteran Member
Unless he was planning on copying your home movie collection, why would he carry a STACK of discs? Any idea what important personal info takes for space? Enough to half fill a 1.44 meg floppy...
Be Watchful of Utility or other service folks
- Thread starter brin
- Start date
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dmccarty
Super Star Member
The jerk came into MY house and told ME what HE was going to do with MY network and MY systems. He wanted to rewire my setup in my study that is running five computers.
I think not.
MY network is working.
HIS network is not. HIS network WAS working. Then it was no longer working. Phone support told us a change had been made in HIS network.
I swapped out cables and modem to check from that point out because I could and it removes a variable from the equation. No go. It is HIS network. My wiring is working since MY computers are working on MY network.
Since it is DSL and my phone is working the wires are at least connected and working to some level on his network. Most likely problem is in the data network and not in wiring. Which is what phone support told us. The problem is certainly not in MY network since MY network IS working.
Checking out wiring that works is a waste of time. WANTING to rewire MY WORKING network is daft. It is STUPID. And does nothing but make my network NOT work.
He may have his procedures he has to do. That is fine. But he does not come into my house and tell me he is going to rewire my network. PERIOD. He does not tell me my wiring is wrong when I have been doing this for 30 years and know a thing or two about computer systems and networks. This guy was not even 30.
And he was wrong.
The problem was in HIS network. Just like we told him. We gave him the facts on what was working, what was failing and what support said on the phone. Eventually he did what he should have done up front and talk to the office. They did something over the network and fixed their problem. Took him three hours to get to the phone call. Should have taken 15 minutes.
Back to the thread subject. Who knows. He may have just grabbed the wrong media. When I was responsible for systems and a network spread over south FLA on both coasts I had a box with everything I needed to solve problems when I had to go to different cities. Sometimes I would grab the wrong thing from the box and I had blank media in the box. Course this was before CDs.
The only thing I can think off that someone could get of value from one of our systems might be a SSN. We don't have banking or credit card information on the system. Maybe people do.
I suppose if one had passwords for websites such as Amazon in a unencrypted file he could have used that password to buy stuff. Seems like most websites are not storing everything needed to complete a transaction. But I guess he could get lucky. But he would leave a trail on what he bought with someone's credit card which would be kinda easy to back track.
He just would have been better to take the check book.
Later,
Dan
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Our non photo directories take up very little space. The files with the most value to me, but not to a thief, are very small. A DVD would allow someone to easily grab, without looking, likely areas of the disk that might have interesting files. I would guess most people keep stuff in the "Documents and Settings" directory so he could just copy everything from there and view later. But not everyone has a DVD or CD burner in a system.
There are things he could have used that would be even faster but that would require files on the DVD/CD but since they were blank he was not using those techniques.
Later,
Dan
OP
brin
Super Member
" Personally, I doubt that he was up to no good "
OK Bird..you are probably right..Hey I know, he probably brought the 6 Blank DVDs into my house in case I had a DVD player / burner and when he saw I did he left them for me as a gift..
OK Bird..you are probably right..Hey I know, he probably brought the 6 Blank DVDs into my house in case I had a DVD player / burner and when he saw I did he left them for me as a gift..
Bird
Rest in Peace
:laughing::laughing::laughing
robably so, Bob. I guess maybe I'm just more curious than you; prefer facts to assuming anything when possible. So I'd just have to call the company, find out, and satisfy my curiousity.MMagis
Veteran Member
Your whole train of thought baffles me. You ask opinions, but when you get them you think those of us that don’t share your opinion are idiots. You’re convinced he was up to no good, but you don’t want to call and ask because you don’t want to cost him his job? If he was planning what you think, he SHOULD lose his job. He walks in with a stack of DVDs, but he left them so as not to arouse suspicion? What? That doesn’t even make sense. Tell me, what in the world would he be stealing with a bunch of DVDs that he couldn’t with a jump drive? It just makes absolutely no sense at all. I think you may watch too many movies
OP
brin
Super Member
Let me unbaffle you as to my train of thought ! I posted this experience just as a note of caution to everyone. I chose not to report this since I did not have absolute evidence that he was up to no good but that does not mean I am not entitled to my own opinion and my opinion was that he was up to no good....but I can't prove that...just like in the unlikely event he accidentally picked up the 6 DVDs and brought them in...Without proof I will not report him on a hunch. Sure I could call and ask if they knew their service man left the DVDs and he could come up with a bunch of excuses so it solves nothing...again absent the evidence of wrongdoing or any proof we are only left to speculate. In my original post I simply wanted to warn folks and invite speculation on any good reason. I still can't think of one. I do watch a movie now and again...maybe I watch too much " 24"
MMagis
Veteran Member
Couldn't you call and enqire, without giving your name or the techs name?
jwstewar
Elite Member
When I've gone to work on a computer, I've been know to take a few blank CDs/DVDs with me in case I need to make a change and back something up before I do. Might take a couple 3 along just in case one is bad. Just depends on what I'm doing. Not saying that is what this guy was doing, just saying it is a possibility. Most of the time would use a flash drive, maybe he forgot his this morning or it just crapped out. Who knows. Again, I'm not saying this guy wasn't up to no good, just a thought.
OP
brin
Super Member
The service provider is my phone company and as soon as I call them they would know who I was by my phone number..again ..no evidence so I will let it go..It will be a mystery. Thanks for the thought though.
OP
brin
Super Member
Now there you go...that may well be possible and see that is why I did not report the service man...what you suggest makes perfect sense and is entirely possible ..it makes me feel better. I would rather believe the good than the bad. Thanks for offering a real possibility.
orezok
Super Member
Consider that the CD's were not blank, but contained hidden files. It's possible that you just turned your computer into a bot!
OP
brin
Super Member
UH OH...We have a network and McAfee anti - virus as well as a firewall, would that not stop any bot or other virus ? That is worrisome since I tried the DVDs in both computers to determine they were blank, but I see your point.
schmism
Super Member
if it was me id take the computer outside and hook it up to the demarcation point and have him trouble shoot it from there never entering my house.
If it works there it should work inside and if not its time to run a new wire for a jack, something im going to do not the highschool dropout they hire as techs these days.
If it works there it should work inside and if not its time to run a new wire for a jack, something im going to do not the highschool dropout they hire as techs these days.
forgeblast
Elite Member
get spybot destroyer, free program catches a lot.
orezok
Super Member
Here at the School District we use McAfee Virus Scan Enterprise 8.7 updated daily and they still slip through. Not to scare you, but a hidden program can install a "back door" through your firewall that a virus scan won't detect. It might just open up a port. Check your open ports. We fight that every day with various other programs that detect unusual traffic.
mattcage
Member
Look at the underside of the disks, that will tell you if they have been burned or not. Discoloration on the bottom from the outside to the inside.
I am a computer guy and cant think of a reason that he would bring blank disks to your house. Maybe he brought the wrong ones, blanks, instead of a burned one with utilities.
I have done that, but now days its the usb drive that I put the utilities on.
I am a computer guy and cant think of a reason that he would bring blank disks to your house. Maybe he brought the wrong ones, blanks, instead of a burned one with utilities.
I have done that, but now days its the usb drive that I put the utilities on.
Phils
Platinum Member
I think the 5 oclock news, TV and movies makes us all paranoid. That said it doesn't hurt to be cautious and find out what someone is doing by talking to them.
The guy that berated me above about his home network and vast knowledge over the obnoxious baby-tech should make things a little clearer from his first post. Didn't really get that the baby- tech from telco wanted to re-rig his fancy home-network. Excuse me.:ashamed:
The guy that berated me above about his home network and vast knowledge over the obnoxious baby-tech should make things a little clearer from his first post. Didn't really get that the baby- tech from telco wanted to re-rig his fancy home-network. Excuse me.:ashamed:
mattcage
Member
You are probably right. Anyway, there is some discoloration to look for.
