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School suddenly has a problem with portable apps

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13579
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School suddenly has a problem with portable apps

Greetings all-

I've been using portable apps for years without a problem. But suddenly today, the admins at my school seem to have a problem with it.

I'm going to have a meeting with the principal and the school tech person to discuss it tomorrow.

Any tips on what to say to them about this?

If they still won't let me use portable applications, I'm just going to stop using school computers. Internet Explorer is horrible, Microsoft word and such take forever to load, everything is much too bloated. I also have my computer set up with all open-source software.

Apparently they just found out I've been using portable apps because their overly-sensitive virus scanner detected the autorun textfile as a trojan (Just how does that happen?).

About their only argument so far is that using portable firefox slightly impairs their ability to monitor everything I do.

According to them, it was stated in the network agreement that I signed that I had to use the software they provided, though I remember reading through said agreement and it said nothing about that. I've asked to see a copy.

Thanks-

arinlares
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Oh the indignity!

Well, the false positive got their panties in a knot. Tell them, plain and simple, that PA doesn't write to the hard drive. Also, don't quote me, but I don't think infected files will run through the suite. Somebody'll have to confirm/correct me.

It couldn't hurt to say their software sucks.

Load the file to Virustotal.com, and print the result, if possible.

Hey! Where'd it go?

MaienM
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Tell them, plain and simple,

Tell them, plain and simple, that PA doesn't write to the hard drive.

Thats not entirely true, some apps DO write to the harddrive. The files written there don't remain there though, they will be moved to the USB drive when closing the app. Also, some apps might write registry entries, but those will, again, be moved to the USB drive on closure.

Also, don't quote me, but I don't think infected files will run through the suite. Somebody'll have to confirm/correct me.

Sorry for quoting you, but afaik, there is no build in virus scan/protection in the suite. If someone were to place a infected exe in a subfolder in the PortableApps folder, and then ran it, it would work identical to how it would when it would be run directly.

It couldn't hurt to say their software sucks.

Well, it might hurt doing this. You never know, the admin might be a windows fanboy, so to say, and well, saying IE/MSWord is crap will not make him happy with you if this is the case.

Apparently they just found out I've been using portable apps because their overly-sensitive virus scanner detected the autorun textfile as a trojan (Just how does that happen?).

Virus scanners tend to flag autorun files as virusses, I would assume this is because when these are on a CD, they could be used to make a virus autorun. Also, some virusses replace all autorun files they can find with infected ones, so it MIGHT actually be a infected file. Running it through a online virus scanner, as suggested by arinlares, might help, if it is a actually infected file. And else.... well, it won't hurt you.

About their only argument so far is that using portable firefox slightly impairs their ability to monitor everything I do.

Our apps should not leave any files behind (except for files you save to the hard drive yourself, using openoffice for example) and should not affect the host system. Because of this, they will not be able to view your browsing history, but aside from that I don't see a problem. At my school they use VNC to "spy" on us, but afaik they don't look at the browser history.

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Bensawsome
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CRC Check

Quoted from JohnTHaller (Post)

The StartPortableApps.exe in the root and all the app launchers (FirefoxPortable.exe, etc) already perform a CRC check as they are run. If the CRC is wrong, they will refuse to run and show an error. So, if a given drive were infected by a virus, you'd know as soon as you try to run the first thing.

 iLike Macs, iPwn, However you put it... Apple is better ^_^ 
"Claiming that your operating system is the best in the world because more people use it is like saying McDonalds makes the best food in the world..."

qwertymodo
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Yeah, but....

Yeah, but if you recompile the launcher from source and slip something ugly in that way, then it recomputes its CRC at compile-time, so no CRC error. Really, that's more useful in checking for a bad download or broken installation than for checking for viruses.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

Bensawsome
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But then...

I am pretty sure all the launchers and stuff are digitally signed so if you do recompile them they won't be digitally signed by portableapps.com so...

 iLike Macs, iPwn, However you put it... Apple is better ^_^ 
"Claiming that your operating system is the best in the world because more people use it is like saying McDonalds makes the best food in the world..."

IrishPrince
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It's all about the control

It's all about the control. They don't much care what you run as long as they can monitor you and what you click on, your cookies, your history file and so on. PortableApps seriously impedes their ability to keep tabs on you. Sadly, that's what it's all about.

-IP

qwertymodo
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They can still view your

They can still view your network usage logs. They might not be able to view your browsing history from the computer's log, but that's no different than if you deleted the history after every time you used it. You should point out that they still can monitor it. In the case of FF, most IT actually monitor the network usage, NOT the host computer logs, because then not only can they monitor everyone's traffic from one place rather than going around to all of the computers, but also, it's at the network level that they have the most control over, say, content filtering. You still have to use their network in order to use your programs. Since they apparently found a false positive in your drive, you should show them this site, show them all of the posts on false-positives and why they are caused, then ask them to run a full-disk scan on your drive using a different AV product with current definitions. Giving an explanation of UPX would do a lot to aid you in pointing out the existence of false positives.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

13579
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In the technically-challenged

In the technically-challenged principals words: "When you use portable firefox, we know when you're doing something, but we don't know just what you're doing.".

And I'd happily show them this website. Except half way through this year they censored it under (If I remember correctly) the category of "security.proxy".

Their censorship software is just about the best of the best, pretty hard to bypass at times. Runs on a network level.

They use some kind of VNC-type software, along with Lightspeed Systems for the censorship software/a few other things.

After the fake virus alert went off, next time I was on a computer I thought I might be being watched. So I opened a notepad doc and typed "Greetings. Nothing to see here, friend ^^". A few seconds later they VNC'd me and tried to log me out Blum

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I might talk to them tomorrow.

arinlares
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Wow.

As far as being blocked as a proxy, there were a few discussions that had the key words needed, assuming the firewall operates that way.

Nice call on Notepad. Any repurcussions for that?

Hey! Where'd it go?

13579
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This website was already

This website was already categorized on the light speed website, a member of the school staff decided to manually block it.

They did the same thing with Sourceforge last year, but there ended up being a huge amount of students that submitted the website to be 'reviewed', and several teachers needed it too, so it was unblocked. Cept' now they blocked the download links only.

Yeah, the notepad thing surprised me. I've done that kind of thing before and always thought I was just being paranoid, got quite a surprise.

I haven't heard anything about it from any school staff Blum

After I logged back in, I started another file and let my friends type things along the lines of "You all just lost the game" and "How about a nice game of chess?", but nothing has happened since.

If only their censorship was limited to blocking websites by redirecting them to 404 pages, like our local library. Portable firefox alone defeats EVERYTHING they have set up in there Blum

Pyromaniac
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Same problem at my school

The school is also REALLY paranoid about viruses and thought that I was messing up a program with some program on my flash drive. They told me I had to remove all my apps from my flash drive or just not use it at all.

I chose not to use it at all and keep all my portable apps.

qwertymodo
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Just got out of high school

Just got out of high school myself and due to undergoing some very special circumstances all throughout it, I am well used to getting a point across to school administration. Perhaps I can assist further and craft you an argument that you can pass along verbatim or just use it for yourself.

As far as I can see, there are three main issues here.

First, the alleged virus.

This is most definitely what is known in the tech world as a "false positive". This means that the program operates in a way or simply appears to be similar to a virus, when in fact, it is not one. The main reason for this with PortableApps is their use of a program known as UPX, or the Universal Packer for eXecutables to help shrink the size of the program in order to make better use of the relatively limited capacity of thumb drives. What this program does is almost identical to placing a file into a .zip file, in that it makes that file smaller. However, this packing makes the file hard for the virus scanner to recognize which causes the virus scanner to respond in a manner similar to "this file is trying to hide something, it must be hiding something malicious", which is entirely untrue. PortableApps.com prides itself in its reputation as completely free, including virus-free. Most of these false positives are quickly corrected as soon as the virus program updates its definition files. There are no viruses here.

Second, the installation of "unauthorized applications"

While I don't see this explicitly addressed here, if it is against the school's technology use policy to install programs, then this may be an issue. However, one of the absolute, immutable standards here is that the host computer cannot be PERMANENTLY modified IN ANY WAY. Now, many of these programs do write files and settings to the computer as they run, but this is not malicious. Also, these applications are REQUIRED to clean up after themselves, so when the program exits, there are no changes to the computer. If you were to install a program locally (normally), this would not be the case, as the program would be left there on the computer, with all of its settings and files, possibly affecting how the computer runs or doing such things as monitoring the use of the computer in the future (such as spyware). This is absolutely not the case with these applications. When the program closes, it as if it was never there.

Third, the administration's ability to monitor your activity

No system administrator with any number of computers to manage anywhere monitors all of the computers by logging in to every one and reading every log for every user. These actions are all centralized, and as such, the school's ability to monitor your actions is not affected by your use of these applications. Say for example your internet browsing. True, the school cannot read your history on the computer, because you take that with you on your flash drive. But that isn't what they read anyway. They see network usage logs, which are made at the network level.

Think of it this way. Your school is an office building with a gated fence. Inside that fence is your school and its computers. Outside that fence is the internet. You sit down at a desk every day and work, but when you want to get online, what you do is write out a memo and the office lackey goes out through the fence to the internet to bring back the page you want and bring it to your desk. One day you decide the company forms are far too complicated, so you print your own forms that contain all of the information needed, but in a much more readable format. Your boss comes to you and tells you that since you have started using your own memo forms, they can no longer monitor what you are sending for. Well, this isn't true because your boss never reads the memos, what he really does is gets a sign-in sheet from the gate guard who tracks everything that goes in and out. Even though you're using different memo forms, the gate log is still 100% the same. That's how network usage logging works.

Now, the reason proxy sites are a no-no is because, to go back to my previous analogy, it's like having the lackey go out and get a page from the ACME corporation, but ACME products are against company policy, so the lackey goes out and gets the page but then wraps it up in a BETA corporation packing box. Now when he goes through the gate, he tells the guard that he has a box from BETA corporation which is just fine. In internet terminology, what this looks like is that up in the address bar--the place where you type www,google,com or www,portableapps,com (using commas to avoid automatic link parsing)--rather than seeing those addresses, what you see is www,abcd,com/biglongrandom*(&$)#*%394s'flh.... So your network admin sees www,abcd,com when you were REALLY at www,xyz,com, which is a means of keeping the school from seeing that you were at www,xyz,com when you weren't supposed to be. This is something done by a website, not a portable application. However, PortableApps.com does nothing of the sort. At the very least, your school needs to reclassify this website. PortableApps.com is NOT a proxy website. It never has been. It never will be. It is a legitimate software website.

Now back to the school's ability to monitor your computer usage.

1. Portable applications do not in any way bypass network monitoring (the "gate guard"). Your web browsing history is 100% as visible as it would be using the browser installed on the computer using the same settings.

2. PortableApps.com is NOT a proxy site, nor does it help users to subvert web filtering. There have been a few forum threads of users asking for help to do so, and the community here has not gone out of its way to help them, and from what I've seen, they didn't really get an answer.

3. If your school uses VNC as you seem to think, then they are able to see 100% of what they could see if they were sitting right over your shoulder. You can't monitor any more closely than that.

4. The specification here for host cleanup does not include the MRU (Most Recently Used) list. This means that although all of the settings for the program are cleaned up, there is still a log on the computer that indicates what program was run and when. If they wanted to know what programs you ran, it's there.

5. The argument that "we know you did something but we don't know exactly what" applies to normal program use as well. There is no way that they have the time or resources to know EXACTLY what every user on every computer is doing all the time. However, they can get a decent idea, and portable apps do not hinder this process.

Now, while it is understandable that your school's administration and system admins have important jobs to do and can't take the time to make exceptions for every single student's usage habits, blanket bans out of ignorance are only acceptable in the very short term. There is no such thing as a secure, networked computer, period. However, you don't see them pulling the plug on the internet, do you? There are threats everywhere, but jumping at shadows leads to backwards thinking. Present your case in a reasonable manner, and show them that you're not trying to subvert their system. DEFINITELY don't use the "your software sucks" line, because then you'll just come across as a rebel and a punk, which gets you nowhere. If that doesn't work, perhaps you could put them in contact with John but I'm not sure how he'd feel about that so try reasoning with them yourself first.

Good luck Smile

q

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

BvF7734
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...

Great comment!! I must add something though... The comment about "we know you did something but we don't know exactly what" would imply that in addition to network logs, they also have a auto dump of IE logs to the central monitoring database that then displays the users actions. While I can not confirm nor deny this (frankly internet usage was text based on the World Wide Web pre www,whatever,com and via 1200 baud modem on a old mac classic when I was in High School) it makes the most sense that they know that he did something but not sure how he did or what he did. By using something that defies the logging of the actions, he has accidentally bypassed their security and therefore is in violation of said policies. This can be argued ad infinitum ad nauseum... However the point still stands that the school system is using a service that not only tracks network logs but more than likely tracks IE usage through plugins that report back individual usage. So instead of using an IP and MAC to identify someone, they are using the logged in users creds to identify specific usage.

Don't take this as a statement to discredit what you have written... It is a well written and positive piece! I just bring up the plausible reasons for the issue to begin with.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say will be exaggerated or mis-quoted and used against you.

qwertymodo
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Well, without knowing the

Well, without knowing the absolute specifics of his school's system, I was simply referring to the most common and likely setup, as network level logging catches basically everything, while workstation-level log dumping does not. No offense taken.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

Bahamut
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Resistance is futile.

If I learned anything about this sort of thing in high school it's that very few people are willing to work with you. Rather than discuss the issue, they'll just say "no". It makes little difference how well you craft your argument or how right you are or how noble your intentions are. Once they realize what you are doing, and especially if there is some "bump in the road" (e.g. their overzealous anti-virus program flagging the portable app as malicious or even suspicious), they start to feel threatened, and the easiest and safest thing for them to do is to shut you down. Like I said, you could 100% correct and have nothing but good intentions, but to work with you is not something they want to do. It creates more work for them, and they get no benefit from it. For them, it would be all pain and no gain.

Vintage!

Pyromaniac
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I totally agree with you.

I totally agree with you.

qwertymodo
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I actually learned two

I actually learned two things... one, that you are right, but two, it is actually possible to be more stubborn than them Wink My high school tried to tell me that despite having taken Calculus I and II my junior year, I still didn't meet the math requirement for an honors diploma... took me all 4 years to convince them otherwise. Let me tell you, the second most satisfying moment of my entire time in high school was the look on my principal's face when finally the "a-ha" moment hit him and he was like "Oh, THAT'S what you mean! Sure we can do that."

...uh...yeah...

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

13579
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THANKS

Wow. You've got to be one of the most helpful people I've met on the internet.

Since tomorrow is Friday I'm going to assume that meeting will be tomorrow. I'm going to go print your post out, re-read it a few times, try to memorize the main points.

I've been building computers and tinkering with them since I was eight or nine or so, but I've never had any experience with networks (Even now I'm on dialup internets, living in the middle of nowhere for the lose). You've cleared up a good deal of things for me there, thanks.

I'd always believed logs were kept at the network level, and I'm sure that's how their network works. I have no idea how using portable firefox would alter anything, unless they only automatically grab the logs of Internet Explorer.

And thanks for pointing out that portableapps doesn't leave anything behind once it's closed. I had assumed that, but I've never outright read anything that confirms it.

Though I personally didn't need it, you explained everything extremely well. I might have to show this to my father.

When I got home today, there was a discipline referral in the mail. For some reason he thought that them saying I couldn't use portable applications on a flash drive meant that I couldn't use anything that connects to the USB port.

After I tried to explain the concept of portable applications and how such things work, he started going in circles with questions that made no sense.

"So, have you used this fox-fire or line-ex from your USP or USD drive or whatever since then?"

Word for word. Not sure why he thought Linux was involved, though I did show him the other day that you can boot an operating system from one. Then tried to explain the difference between an application and an operating system.

Thanks again, hopefully this goes well.

qwertymodo
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Good luck

Wow. You've got to be one of the most helpful people I've met on the internet.

Well I don't know about that...

Personally, I find that taking the time to politely explain something to someone who needs to know allows me to feel good about myself by feeling smart, but rather than bragging about it to people who don't give a rip about what I know, instead, given the appropriate time and place, I can also be helpful and considerate, rather than the know-it-all jerk I sometimes became in my early teenage years, and actually achieve something beyond self promotion ...and wow, that was all one long sentence, though still mostly grammatically correct! Wink

But anyway, good luck.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

Pyromaniac
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Some things to think about...

If you think that they just outright won't believe you, just don't bother with them. If they offer you a contract saying that you can't use portable apps, I say you sign it immediately. I had to sign a contract or simply not use a computer at all. I talked to my counselor after not using school computers for like four months and told her how all my school projects had been piling up (since it was towards the end of school). She told me that the school thought I was being stubborn by refusing to sign any form of contract. She also said that every day that passes without signing the contract, I seem more of a threat to their computer security.

And to MODs who read this post, I think maybe you should make like a letter or something to like schools saying something that says how safe and legal and I don't know, just how plain good they are. This guy's problem was nearly identical to mine and I think that if you had some newsletter with like a government "seal of approval", maybe when problems like this happen, we can easily appeal and show that letter to them.

I hope all went well with your meeting.

horusofoz
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Agreed

I think the idea of a letter telling system admins exactly what is a portableapps and how it interacts with the host system and cleans up after itself would be helpful. However I think it would be better to have a page that explains it maybe with a little background info on PA being open source and exactly what FOSS is.

I know there is already https://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a_portable_app but I think it would be good to have a version of this page that is pitched toward system admins. Tell them the advantages of not having to install software to host pc every time, that the internet logs can still be monitored and how, etc.

Also if possible maybe a couple statements from recognized individuals etc confirming the usefulness or PortableApps and how it can make life easier for the admin and lastly how it doesn't affect host system. Maybe notes from people at download.com, sourceforge, Microsoft, FOSS foundation, system admins of major organsiations such as Harvard, etc

Wat do you guys think?

PortableApps.com Advocate

Pyromaniac
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I saw that site too

but I don't think it has all the information that an administrator needs to not "punish" someone for using PA.

qwertymodo
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Don't we have link banners

Don't we have link banners for "verified virus free" from trusted third-party websites? Those would go nicely on that page. I don't know if we specifically have the ones I'm thinking about but I mean like the ones you always see from CNet and SoftPedia, etc.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

rab040ma
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As one who has been bitten by

As one who has been bitten by an autorun/autoplay that made something run automatically that I didn't want to run, I tend to consider them security risks, no matter whether they have been corrupted by a Trojan or not. (I don't suppose you could get things to work if you deleted the autorun file?)

It sounds like the autorun alarm brought your habits to their attention. Too bad.

If they are going to play their "control" game, I'd recommend against trying to bypass the policy behind their backs. You can get into too much trouble for something that is very innocent. With their policy all they have to say is "you tried to run something not on the list", not "you tried to run something that damaged our network". In other words, they get you for violating the policy, not for doing something bad, which means they elevate policy violation to the level of sabotage and theft, regardless of whether you actually do or mean any harm.

One way of thinking of this is that they are teaching you what it is like in the "real world", where things aren't always fair. Your ideal career might take you to a company where they have similar unfair or ignorant policies, and you might do well to get used to it now, not do risky things like trying to bypass their restrictions.

Which leaves as your only alternative (to using the software they have selected for you) that you petition to have the PA platform and apps added to the list of approved apps. Maybe not all of them, but certainly the ones that are well known and tested, have clear licensing terms, and do things better and more securely than their choices (e.g. Firefox). The same would apply to other software. Make a specific educational case for it, such as how you would use it as a learning tool, and how it is better as an educational tool than their choice, how the licensing is clear and won't cost them anything (in other words, point out that the FOSS licensing model is an antidote to misuse of more restrictive software and can be a part of a strong moral stand against piracy). Acknowledge that the school administration has a responsibility to make sure the computers are not misused, and that they have the right to control their own network, no matter how arbitrary that control might be. Emphasize the security of the PA apps, the fact that they are cryptographically-signed (so they could be safely added to most "allow" lists), do a consistency check upon launch, and are thoroughly tested. Get one or two teachers to endorse your petition, both from a security/usability/technical perspective, and from the perspective of "petition for redress of grievance". Be prepared to give up some PA tools (e.g. the autorun function, or tools that might block their surveillance or get you through their firewall restrictions to a proxy), perhaps even identifying them yourself. Suggest ways they could monitor the apps for compliance, or even point out how that might be easier with these apps than their choices.

I predict that your school will use the "teach them that the real world is not fair" approach and deny your petition, but you might be lucky. At the very least you can get the experience of creating that sort of petition and working through the bureaucratic nonsense that goes with it. Definitely a learning experience. You might be able to get extra credit for it. {grin}

MC

gmbudwrench
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May have been mentioned

But...., have your school admins visit this site in their offtime, have them get aquainted with what is produced here and let them see for themselves. Want to sell a car? You have to let the potential customer have a test drive, kick the tires, whatever, might just be worth a shot.

cale250
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I would have to agree

I agree totally with gmbudwrench (though I am commenting a bit on an old post). Have the admins check the software out- they might even find it useful!

My school even endorses PortableApps and encourages their use (that is, minus the games). A copy of Audacity Portable has been installed onto almost every computer in the district; the school admins spend more time playing Frets on Fire Portable (one of my personal favorites) than actually fixing our other problems, but that's another story. If anything, they're more worried about us pirating software off the computers rather than installing applications.

As for the network monitoring, network policy is governed by not one but two systems in my district: one from Lightspeed and the other from some other company (can't remember right now); both prevent virtually any proxy activity on any browser (including FF Portable). As far as I can see, since you're on a similar set-up, they should have no issues with the monitoring.

Our district has middle-power IT specialists at a building called the Learning Resource Center; if your district has a similar structure, try talking to them. They usually know their stuff a little better than the school's individual admins (no offense to anyone), and they might help debunk a couple myths about the software.

EspaÑaks (not verified)
Kinda late to say this, but:

In Spain in general, internet security is VERY relaxed. It wasn't in my shcool. I knew if I used PApps, someone would call my attention. I, before doing anything, asked the propietary of the computers for the permission to use PApps, because they were faster even running of a slow pen drive (as mine) and much faster than his pirated & virus-bloated Xp SP1, M$ Office & Explorer (anyway, there were outdated FF 1.X & 2.X installed in the computers but we weren't allowed to install extensions). He even recommended all my classmates to get a pen drive & install there at home PApps (even he was almost totally ignored, damn them), because he also knew PApps.

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I ran in to a similar problem

I ran in to a similar problem when i was in a trade school.The It guy walked in to the classroom and saw i was using portable firefox ( the school's pc's only had IE ) also he had never even heard of portable apps or any other usb run software.So after a long meeting with the teachingIT and adrimistration staff i was reminded of the internet and computing agreement we had to sign to take the course which was.

Students are prohibited from installing anything on school computers
only teachers are allowed to install firefox
The school's agreement and discount agreement with Microsoft,Adobe,Autodesk etc. prohibited the installaton of competing software on the school's computers.
Now putting aside my dislike of internet explorer the school's explorer was outdated i think 4 or 5 ..maybe 6 ...no tabbed browsing etc.The course work required quite a bit of browsing and internet work and ie wasnt cutting it.

So in my own defense i stated that

1 Ihad not instaled anything to the school computers ( which would require an admin password which i did not have )

2 None of the companies the school signed deals with made portable versions of their software therefore they were not technicaly competing products.

3 specifically that MS Office had no .odt support so MS wasnt a competitor

And lastly that my USB stick was my own property and not part of the school's computer system and the apps could run on any of the school's computers with no installation which proves that nothing had been installed to any machine.

so after the meeting and proving it on over 10 computers i was left alone.

Just some points to make if anyone ever runs in to any of these problems.

crux
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That's great.

It looks like these agreements are written with the word "install" because large software firms have made mandatory installation the norm. They can easily rewrite them to ban anything they want.

NathanJ79
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Could have sworn...

13579According to them, it was stated in the network agreement that I signed that I had to use the software they provided, though I remember reading through said agreement and it said nothing about that. I've asked to see a copy.

I could have sworn it was in this thread I read about the woes of a PA.c user who had been denied/refused access to PA.c apps based on a no-compete agreement signed by the owner of the computer network with Microsoft, but in reviewing the posts here, I don't see that stated explicitly. Could have sworn it was here. Unless it was edited?

Anyway, a no-compete is a nasty agreement, but they do exist, e.g. Microsoft would license dozens or perhaps hundreds of copies of Windows and Office to an organization like a public school, with the stipulation that software that competes with Microsoft software, e.g. OpenOffice and AbiWord, or Firefox, not be used on those machines.

If that were the case, you really wouldn't have a limb to stand on; as even though the flash drive is your property, it's executing code on a machine not authorized to run it. Even less would "but Firefox is better than Internet Explorer" be a valid reason. While true, it's entirely beside the point.

It's hard to develop a strong analogy for this situation, but in my best attempt, I offer the Xbox 360. Pretty impressive machine. Tri-core PowerPC with three cores running at 3GHz, 512MB GDDR3 RAM shared by both GPU (on board, I think it's a 500MHz Raedon of some measure) and CPU. Full HD support, 1080p video with up to 6 channels of audio, not quite Blu-Ray level, but near enough. Impressive hardware indeed. You could do a lot with that running Windows, and then you could load Firefox or whatever you wanted, but Microsoft doesn't want you running Windows on it; they sell you an Xbox 360 primarily and solely to play games, because the console is sold at a steep loss, and they expect to make the money back by selling you games for it, which are overpriced, but they make up for the console being underpriced. Again, it's not a very good analogy, but it's the best I got.

I am just glad I've never used a computer under a no-compete agreement. Of course if the no-compete applies to the OS and the Office suite, you can of course get under and around that by booting to a live Linux distro. Unless the cost of the computers was comped by Microsoft as well... and unless the no-compete says you can't have any computers in your network running non-Microsoft operating software. Guess it depends upon how the no-compete was written. Which is why you should never "conditionally" own something like a computer; it should be "yours" outright, if you can help it.

It all just comes down to respect, my point, what I'm getting at, and that's why I love what they do here at PortableApps.com; you can run your software your way on any Windows PC in the world, and the launcher takes steps to respect the computer it runs on.

qwertymodo
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@13579 How'd it go?

@13579

How'd it go?

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

lacer_24@msn.com
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Joined: 2009-06-08 23:48
You are at SCHOOL!

I'm a little late on the boat but opinion still stands. I feel your pain but why are you so concerned? Is it because someone told you that you couldn't? if you don't like the rules, don't use them. You shouldn't be on the computer at school anyway...
...Here's a tip, how about you ask them why they allow users to put USB drives in the computers in the first place...then you can take the right away from everyone.

-Lacie

qwertymodo
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I feel your pain but why are

I feel your pain but why are you so concerned?

School computers often only have IE (as I believe his did). Wanting to use Firefox is a perfectly natural response to this. His concern was to avoid IE's idea of security.

Humor aside, however, I use portable applications literally everywhere I have a computer to work on. We are not talking about games here, or other time-wasting endeavors. PortableApps have a legitimate purpose at school like anywhere else. I couldn't count the number of times I've sat at a public workstation with no way of opening ODF documents other than to upload them to GoogleDocs.

Yes, there are rules for a reason, but as the status quo changes, so must the rules in order to keep up.

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

LinkSlayer64
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Joined: 2009-01-06 16:44
Hi, I go to a trade High

Hi, I go to a trade High School myself, and am in a trade that revolves around computers. I just want to wish you good luck, considering how lucky I have it, because even my teacher has marveled at the things I had (including letting her access her e-mail because the blocker blocked it lol) see the problem with admins and school security is they don't want you doing anything illegal, and lots of people would use these to get to p*rn, anything, but hey I can get wherever I want with an https proxy on IE! by the sounds of it you weren't using this as a way to shirk off or what-not, so I only hope you don't get in trouble. Schools have bad kids, and because if what the bad kids do, it restricts the creative freedoms of the good kids, and it sucks we have some people like that but we do, and hopefully your bossy admins can see that you are not one of them (We are lucky to have a few admins, quite nice in fact, actually I've played Halo with him XD and even my Information Technology teacher gets annoyed by him he can be a little trigger happy, but I believe, him have gone to my school, realizes there will allows be a way around things, and luckily in our case, only the smart ones (such as me *brags*) know the ways, and who knows, maybe you in the end might convince someone you know more than them for once, cause some people just were never kids with creative ideas and interests themselves.)

"Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock'n'Roll." -Shigeru Miyamoto

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