this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Privacy
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They can't detect if you boot into Linux; but they can detect the presence of external storage devices and scan their contents. It is best if you do not plug in your LiveUSBs or disks while the system is [ONLINE] (Meaning while the device is booted into any default operating system)
Chances are if your hardware has not changed; the capabilities have also not changed. I do however have a few tips for you:
It depends what they use for monitoring. If they use Intel vPro then they can technically take over from any operating systems since it runs at the TPM/firmware level.
I had no idea this type of thing existed! Scary!
https://petri.com/intel-vpro-platform/
I'm assuming that unless told otherwise; they have no such capability in the BIOS. It IS probably a public school and IT department that isn't that clever/resourced.
They are very dumb. I am not just being mean I met the head of IT personally and he is an idiot, but students from some of the computer classes were responsible for some of the configuration, meaning some competent people looked at it.
Edit: The bios was password protected last year so it isn’t stock at least.
Something tells me your intentions aren't innocent(you want to be able to act maliciously at school or on the school network), or you have an overinflated sense of ego, the head of IT likely didn't give two shits about explaining anything to some brat. You're going to have to face some harsh realities pretty soon. Expecting digital privacy on a school issued device on the school network is asinine thinking.
I wanted to do goofy stuff last year like the 4 line script that only uses tons of resources, but I have no intention to be malicious in any way. They now have a whitelist instead of a blacklist for website blocking, meaning many educational sites are blocked by accident. My teacher’s website was blocked for most of last year. We are required to use MS Office even though it takes 3-4 times as long as LibreOffice to load. I don’t want to be hackerman or to play csgo in class, I just want basic functionality on the computer I have to use.
Well your easiest option would be to buy the another laptop.
Or you could just use a different hard drive and install Linux. (and switch back the old drive once you need to give it back)
But if the bios is password locked I don't know what they might block in there
Is this a school owned device? Goofy 4 line script that uses tons of resources, so that script that unnecessarily and intentionally taxes the laptops hardware, purely innocent right? Any chance why they might not want you to do that?
That's pretty standard across any respectable industry. You're given suitable alternatives, if everyone could use whatever applications they wanted then it would be a nightmare.
It unnecessarily taxes the cpu. CPUs don’t die except for cracked dies and improper thermal solutions. Do you think that was really going to do anything to it? Also it isn’t like I can’t do that already, so all their shit does is make it harder to do legitimate work.