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we had a similar system at high school: VNC on all computers, staff reguarly logging in to check you weren't doing anything fun VNC ran as a separate user with

we had a similar system at high school: VNC on all computers, staff reguarly logging in to check you weren't doing anything fun VNC ran as a separate user with its password hash protected by the relevant registry permissions one day we found a machine undergoing an automatic rebuild, found the password hash, and of course VNC only supports upto 8 char passwords apparently it turned out they used the same VNC password for every single machine, including the staff ones

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago
Are there other fields like computer science, where some students start university knowing how hashing works and being able to brute force passwords, while others start having barely used a keyboard and mouse? It seems like most programs people start on relatively level playing fields, but that couldn’t be more untrue for computer science.
- rjsw 7y ago
  Maybe some foreign language courses, the course itself will be mostly about literature in that language, you can get a mix of people who have learned other languages but not the one being studied and people who are native speakers. My CS course had everything from a few of us already writing commercial software to people who had never touched a computer.
- egypturnash 7y ago
  I am an artist and there sure were people in my classes who barely knew what end of a pencil to hold, while I had a decent grasp of the basics of perspective and anatomy.
- monkeywork 7y ago
  Trade schools would analog very nicely to how you describe the knowledge gap between some students in CS programs. Most other programs people goto post secondary to learn the subject at hand ... for a lot of trades and CS related programs they go into them because they enjoy that work and have been doing it on the side for a while. Those people immediately have a leg up on anyone who came in fresh.
bvinc 7y ago
Yup I had this same experience. You could try some ips and end up controlling the teacher's screen that was being projected to the class.

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago

Are there other fields like computer science, where some students start university knowing how hashing works and being able to brute force passwords, while others start having barely used a keyboard and mouse? It seems like most programs people start on relatively level playing fields, but that couldn’t be more untrue for computer science.

rjsw 7y ago
Maybe some foreign language courses, the course itself will be mostly about literature in that language, you can get a mix of people who have learned other languages but not the one being studied and people who are native speakers. My CS course had everything from a few of us already writing commercial software to people who had never touched a computer.
egypturnash 7y ago
I am an artist and there sure were people in my classes who barely knew what end of a pencil to hold, while I had a decent grasp of the basics of perspective and anatomy.
monkeywork 7y ago
Trade schools would analog very nicely to how you describe the knowledge gap between some students in CS programs. Most other programs people goto post secondary to learn the subject at hand ... for a lot of trades and CS related programs they go into them because they enjoy that work and have been doing it on the side for a while. Those people immediately have a leg up on anyone who came in fresh.

bvinc 7y ago

Yup I had this same experience. You could try some ips and end up controlling the teacher's screen that was being projected to the class.