Desk / computer workstation fettling thread

[Dadam]

Agree with wiggydiggy, it all sounds way OTT and quite a bit knee-jerky to me. Probably as much to do with a perceived support overhead of non standard peripherals as security. Presumably it's not all wireless peripherals that are banned as they allow wifi to your own router?

But not allowing the laptop to plug into a non corporate monitor is really weird. What do you do if you're away at a conference or something and need to present on an external screen? Or you're at a partner company's office? I had a long rant ready about this kind of thing but I think I'll create another thread rather than hijack your thread any more.

Re glasses, can you just put a little bit of coloured tape on your frames to differentiate them?

VESA has a plethora of standards including 100 x 200, 50 x 100 and 200 x 200. Some monitors have a proprietary stand and no the VESA screw holes though.

 

[Time Waster]

I have been looking at my personal monitor. It is not the square VESA fittings so I might struggle to get a good arm to fit. The work one is a VESA fitting monitor so that is ok. I was going to get a two arm stand but it seems like I will need two separate ones. A VESA one for work and I know not what for the non-standard fitting for my personal monitor. Annoying! It means things are not as easy as I thought.

 

[Time Waster]

Agree with wiggydiggy, it all sounds way OTT and quite a bit knee-jerky to me. Probably as much to do with a perceived support overhead of non standard peripherals as security. Presumably it's not all wireless peripherals that are banned as they allow wifi to your own router?

But not allowing the laptop to plug into a non corporate monitor is really weird. What do you do if you're away at a conference or something and need to present on an external screen? Or you're at a partner company's office? I had a long rant ready about this kind of thing but I think I'll create another thread rather than hijack your thread any more.

Re glasses, can you just put a little bit of coloured tape on your frames to differentiate them?

VESA has a plethora of standards including 100 x 200, 50 x 100 and 200 x 200. Some monitors have a proprietary stand and no the VESA screw holes though.

I will only say there is a very good reason for security.

We got told about a first lieutenant in the USAF who did plug in something that he thought was ok but not approved. By the time they found the security breach the Pentagon estimated there had been up to 6 months of a state actor having access to Pentagon systems. 18 plus months after discovering the breech they still weren't sure they had got all the malicious code out of their systems. It was a bit of an embarassment for them. That breech was due to a device plugged into his work laptop that he had innocently thought was DoD item.

Whether it is over the top I cannot comment. My employers do not think so and that means my emplyment depends on following their rules. It is what IT is!!

Yes. I'm thinking of white paint ot tippex on the inside of one pair of glasses arms to identify them. I just haven't sorted that out.

Personal monitor has a landscape rectangular bracket that actually looks like it is fixed and not a bracket you can take off. In the interim I have found a few thick books and the top is about at horizontal eye level. This then meant my work monitort was too low. A book under there and it was then a little bit higher than my raised personal. OCD then meant I went hunting for the exact book thickness to match both screen heights. My home has thicker bezels so I am measuring to the edge of the screen. Good news is all books used are past degree books or books bought to self upskill for work. I am that fussy about it.

Next step I need to improve the laptop storage. I need to easily access to turn them on but once logged on and the monitor is linked and working then I can store the laptop away but near the monitor. I am thinking of a vertical stand for two laptops between the screens. The cables come out of the sides of the laptops so it will look all messy. No idea about what to do with this.

Monitors are all HDMI which is a very bulky plug going into the laptop. I can't do anything about the work cable but are there more compact HDMI cables for monitors? Perhaps one that comes out kind of sideways from the laptop? I have a USB C plug that literally comes out a bit then the cable runs out fo that bit at 90 degrees. Very compact USB C plug.

I can't use a docking station or really do not want to as I want the low desk footprint of storing them vertically. something like this dual slot holder from Ugreen. The cable issue is going to be messy unless I can find a solution.

 

[si_c]

I have been looking at my personal monitor. It is not the square VESA fittings so I might struggle to get a good arm to fit. The work one is a VESA fitting monitor so that is ok. I was going to get a two arm stand but it seems like I will need two separate ones. A VESA one for work and I know not what for the non-standard fitting for my personal monitor. Annoying! It means things are not as easy as I thought.

Depends on the monitor, most have some way of fitting to a VESA mount - my Dell monitor for example has the screws for the mount hidden underneath the clip on stand.

 

[Time Waster]

It might be the case with my monitor but right now I have bigger issues. My laptop and monitor are not talking to each other. My old laptop and the monitor are talking together with both HDMI cables I have to hand. My newer laptop is fully updated and there is nothing obviously wrong except the monitor says no signal when everything is turned on and connected. It just stopped sending the signal through from the laptop to the monitor about hour and a half ago.

This is annoying as I have raised both monitors so my personal sertup is pretty good when sitting and my work setup is now good except for no ergo mouse and keyboard. Both work and personal monitors are raised up on thick books. My chair is at full height and 90 degrees at the knee. The eyeline is horizontal to the top of both monitors and my arms are to my side and the forearms are pretty much horizontal when typing or using the mouse. AFAIK this was looking to be a good setup until the HDMI no signal thing had left me using the laptop screen with a bent neck now.

No sooner do I feel that this is good and the spanner gets thrown into the works.

 

[Dadam]

Try a different cable. i don't know what it is with HDMI cables but they can be flaky with connections in my experience. No problem for months or years then one day they go dodgy because they feel like it. I guess contacts wear out or get dirty but they seem more prone to it than USB-C or DisplayPort.

I will only say there is a very good reason for security.

We got told about a first lieutenant in the USAF who did plug in something that he thought was ok but not approved. By the time they found the security breach the Pentagon estimated there had been up to 6 months of a state actor having access to Pentagon systems. 18 plus months after discovering the breech they still weren't sure they had got all the malicious code out of their systems. It was a bit of an embarassment for them. That breech was due to a device plugged into his work laptop that he had innocently thought was DoD item.

No doubt there are good reasons for high security, but it depends on the risk factors and is always a balance. 100% security is only possible for example by allowing nobody access to anything. There is a cost in getting the balance wrong in either direction. I'd be interested in a link to the USAF story though. I can only find one from last year where the individual was knowingly taking home classified radio equipment and doing stuff he wasn't meant to do, and one from 2017 which involved an unsecured NAS backup drive. I guess it could be that one but a mass storage device is a long way from a mouse. It's quite easy (and very common) to block USB storage devices but allow HID (human interface devices) like mice and keyboards.

 

[Time Waster]

HDMI cables tested on another laptop connected to the monitor. They work with the old laptop just not this new one. I know the cables are good. Or at least good enough to give the monitor a signal with the other laptop.

Can't give you a link as I guess it's not really well known. It was a flash drive made to look exactly like a very secured one provided by pentagon apparently so be didn't think it was dodgy. Stupid I know.

Thing is whether or not you or I see the policies as right or sensible it is contractual issue to have this high security approach. As they say the customer is always right, or they are of there's a threat of reduced levels of orders or reimbursements through the project. We also have other requirements to operate and breach those we get shut down. As in a big company ceases to operate.

Then again there's a lot more that I can't go into behind all this.

One thing that makes sense is how you're supposed to turn off your alexas or Google devices around your home working area. I always unplugged any alexa unit near where I work but somehow my son's alexa comes up with things related to my work. It doesn't hear me in the same room but it seems to record me in another room.

Mind you my mobile is near my computer so Google is probably listening too. Certainly when I see my search history appearing on many devices including work laptop history that's supposedly running on A secure VPN.

 

[Drago]

What is this 'work' thing where of you speak?

 

[Grant Fondo]

What is this 'work' thing where of you speak?

I think its what you do when not on the gaming pc?
Or something?

 

[Time Waster]

It is what us younger people do to keep you in winter fuel payments and triple locked state pensions.

 

[Drago]

It is what us younger people do to keep you in winter fuel payments and triple locked state pensions.

It's no joke. Without the winter fuel payment I'll have to chuck bricks of £50 notes on the fire to keep warm.

 

[Alex321]

HDMI cables tested on another laptop connected to the monitor. They work with the old laptop just not this new one. I know the cables are good. Or at least good enough to give the monitor a signal with the other laptop.

Can't give you a link as I guess it's not really well known. It was a flash drive made to look exactly like a very secured one provided by pentagon apparently so be didn't think it was dodgy. Stupid I know.

Thing is whether or not you or I see the policies as right or sensible it is contractual issue to have this high security approach. As they say the customer is always right, or they are of there's a threat of reduced levels of orders or reimbursements through the project. We also have other requirements to operate and breach those we get shut down. As in a big company ceases to operate.

It seems absolutely bonkers that they have such strict requirements for what you plug in, while allowing you to work from home.

That means you will be using your own internet connection and router, which is probably the most vulnerable part of the system, even when using a company installed VPN. And they simply cannot tell if you are doing things like taking photographs of the screens.

 

[Time Waster]

It's no joke. Without the winter fuel payment I'll have to chuck bricks of £50 notes on the fire to keep warm.

Well better than having shops turn them down because there's too many counterfeit 50s around. Aren't they the most counterfeited uk currency?

 

[Drago]

Well better than having shops turn them down because there's too many counterfeit 50s around. Aren't they the most counterfeited uk currency?

I don't know what you're talking about

 

[Time Waster]

It seems absolutely bonkers that they have such strict requirements for what you plug in, while allowing you to work from home.

That means you will be using your own internet connection and router, which is probably the most vulnerable part of the system, even when using a company installed VPN. And they simply cannot tell if you are doing things like taking photographs of the screens.

They do make a big deal of personal qualities like integrity. They acknowledge they can't control home working but they rely on personal awareness and integrity.

Then again you can't access the higher levels of sensitive documents except for wired desktops in certain areas on site. I guess the proprietary documents but not sensitive or higher. Seriously there's laws that apply from several countries that apply to these matters. It's heavy handed and they can't guarantee everything but there's good reasons behind all this. Not that I really have access to the serious documents and records because my job doesn't currently require it. That could change and the result would be more days on site in certain high security areas to handle them.

VPN isn't necessarily that secure but the only access I have via it is on the lower security servers. A bit of higher security is on other systems I have VPN based system access to but there's extra training and security checks to do that. Still relying on my integrity, which I think I still have enough of.

I am, as you probably realise, keeping a lot from you for probably obvious reasons. I do struggle with knowing what I can and can't say at times. There's a lot I won't say here but I do say a bit more when for example with family even extended family or friends. One on one conversation or trusted ppl. If in doubt I leave it out but Iam not perfect at that.

I simply don't see it as heavy handed rules just likely unenforceable rules. I am mostly a rule keeper than a rule breaker though.