GhostGum
Lynn Favin '08 writes:
So I'm sitting in the science center at 2:45am, finishing up with 5 pages of social psychology notes. I made a point to save my document on the desktop every 20 minutes, just in case something happens.Script gone wrong or malware from hell?
Well, something happened.
At 3am, a window pops up alerting me that a program called "GhostGum" has now begun. Every window I have open is instantly closed and the computer goes into a restarting program. People in the room start freaking out. 25 minutes later the computer turns back on. We find out that every user document has been wiped clean [on] the computer. No sign of it in temporary files or automatically saved word documents. Nothing.
5 comments:
Norton Ghost is a program (which I think ITS uses) that can perform disc imaging services from a server. This will have the effect you witnessed (sorry, major bummer, I've heard of this being done but there were warnings before like "this computer will become unavailable in 15 minutes, please back up your work"). It might also explain the cryptic name.
yeeaah. i'd not be surprised if it was ghost (which i'm fairly sure ITS uses for lab imaging) given the behavior and the timing. saving directly to your dragon space might save you woes in the future
Symantec Ghost runs in the mornings Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays depending on which lab you're using. I've observed that the labs are praticularly busy at this time of year, a historically dead period. Usually automatic ghosting is disabledfor reading week/finals week
Does it also run on Macs?
No, it doesn't run on Macs. ITS has a separate program called "RadMind". Unlike "Ghost", we don't have "RadMind" set up to run automatically. We only run "RadMind" when we think it's necessary. Basically, Macs are better. Use one. Buy one.
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