3 ms·

In middle school long ago, I was using one of the library search computers. They ran Windows XP and were locked down to the point where you couldn't open anythi

In middle school long ago, I was using one of the library search computers. They ran Windows XP and were locked down to the point where you couldn't open anything except the software that was running and you had no access to the desktop. One day I was rapidly mashing the "Search" button in the native book-searching software they were using - for no reason at all - and it suddenly opened an Explorer window out of nowhere showing everything in the filesystem. I could reproduce it easily with rapid-enough clicks. I still have no idea why that happened.

Haemm0r 6y ago
Classic thing was to write file:///C:\ (or something similar, I do not remember it anymore) on computers with only kiosk mode IE on them to access the local file system. :)
- mhh__ 6y ago
  Also powershell was usually unbanned in my experience even if the policy disabled cmd
- michaelcampbell 6y ago
  In the early web days, I had a public facing web site with a link that said "I can see what's on your computer", and the href was essentially what you posted. The number of emails I got from that was worth the vitriol contained in them, including threatened lawsuits.
jorvi 6y ago
This reminds me of the classic XP login screen bypass by opening the help dialog, then the print dialog, then searching for a file to open for printing, and then executing 'explorer.exe' (I might be misremembering, this is quite a while ago). I also remember figuring out how to share my USB key as a network drive to other users. Many fun middays were had blasting around in Halo or Soldier of Fortune II with like 10 friends, although less fun was had when our school's sysadmin found some lingering cache files that were owned by my id.
Hoboburger 6y ago
Oh man this brings back so much nostalgia for the old school computer exploits we used to find. Only approved programs software was supposed to run but you could actually run anything as long as the .exe was on the desktop. 7-zip would let you explore the entire network drive, including teachers folders that we didn't have access to. Unplugging the reconnecting the Ethernet cable wouldn't reconnect you to the teachers monitoring software. We had a zip filled with games like Starcraft 2, Quake 3, Halo CE that was hidden on the shared network drive that kids around the school would use to play and LAN with each other.

Haemm0r 6y ago

Classic thing was to write file:///C:\ (or something similar, I do not remember it anymore) on computers with only kiosk mode IE on them to access the local file system. :)

mhh__ 6y ago
Also powershell was usually unbanned in my experience even if the policy disabled cmd
michaelcampbell 6y ago
In the early web days, I had a public facing web site with a link that said "I can see what's on your computer", and the href was essentially what you posted. The number of emails I got from that was worth the vitriol contained in them, including threatened lawsuits.

jorvi 6y ago

This reminds me of the classic XP login screen bypass by opening the help dialog, then the print dialog, then searching for a file to open for printing, and then executing 'explorer.exe' (I might be misremembering, this is quite a while ago). I also remember figuring out how to share my USB key as a network drive to other users. Many fun middays were had blasting around in Halo or Soldier of Fortune II with like 10 friends, although less fun was had when our school's sysadmin found some lingering cache files that were owned by my id.

Hoboburger 6y ago

Oh man this brings back so much nostalgia for the old school computer exploits we used to find. Only approved programs software was supposed to run but you could actually run anything as long as the .exe was on the desktop. 7-zip would let you explore the entire network drive, including teachers folders that we didn't have access to. Unplugging the reconnecting the Ethernet cable wouldn't reconnect you to the teachers monitoring software. We had a zip filled with games like Starcraft 2, Quake 3, Halo CE that was hidden on the shared network drive that kids around the school would use to play and LAN with each other.