Webshots: how bad is it?

[achilleus]

Hi all...Thanks in advance for any input...

Many users in my company have installed the program Webshots on their W2k Pro machines...My question is; has anyone noticed any issues with this?...Does it effect system performance much?...Any known security trouble?... AJ
SA
HS

 

[mudskipper]

Most machines that I have seen with it are HORRIBLY bogged down! It will vary a bit in the amount of performance hit that you will take, but I still cringe every time I see it!

Just my personal opinion!!!! ----------------------------------------
Groucho Marx said it best...
"A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five."

 

[drumdip]

I hate it. We support 2000 + users and it constantly bogs or freezes the machine. This is a symptom...in a network environment...while running many other apps at one time...this memory hog routinely browses the web for new wallpaper...installs...and activates...all while you are trying to perform some other critcal work function...Bad Bad Bad..

 

[JLSigman]

Definitely get rid of it. It completely clogs up the works. Jennifer Sigman
Code-borrower extraordinaire
"They call us public servants for a reason..."

 

[achilleus]

Thanks for the input! I am going to dump it.

Is there a way to block it at the network (firewall) level? Does it use a certain port? AJ
SA
HS

 

[gcorjin]

I'm using webshots for more than one year on my Win2K Pro machine and I haven't noticed any kind of problems. Of course it will take some system resources (about 2.3MB of RAM), but I get in exchange a nicer desktop, which I enjoy.

 

[JLSigman]

Probably could try to block the IP for Webshots... I don't know if it uses a specific port or not. Jennifer Sigman
Code-borrower extraordinaire
"They call us public servants for a reason..."

 

[forecoms]

I also cringe every time I see Webshots. Every PC I have seen it on has had problems - locking up, slow and generally not nice.
Some users have problems but don't realise it.
I for one will not allow my clients to use it.
Regards
Alan White

 

[ejstrom]

I also won't allow webshots. Unfortunately almost all users who have it say it makes for a nicer desktop. Tell them to use it at home where they can decorate with there own money and time not the stockholders.

500 users at 10 minutes a pop = 5000 minutes or 83 hours
83 hours at $25.00 an hour = $2075 straight from stockholders pockets.

 

[gcorjin]

ejstrom, your calculation looks a bit weird.
i'll give you a better example: 500 users @ 3 minutes = 1500 minutes = 25 hrs. 25 hrs x $25 = $625 straight from stockholders pockets (per day...). what's all this for? let's say, the daily windows start/shutdown? ask your stockholders to bill that to m$ft...
then check for msn and other "windows gadgets", tell your it system users they're not allowed to get a coffee break or chat once a while, otherwise the stockowners will get very mad...

 

[devastator]

Workstations are called WORKstations for a reason. They need to be regulated as to what software can be loaded by the employee / end user if any.

Otherwise you could just run out to Best Buy and purchase a bunch of PreSORRY-E-O's for your network with all the preloaded games and fun software and keep your network administrator busy 24X7 and put your business out of business.

 

[RabidPenguin]

Although I do not use Webshots myself, I have past experience with it and never found it to use an excessive amount of desktop resources. I think the major problem with Webshots is its ability to automatically "phone home" and download images. What some users may not understand is that while their single computer doing this is no big deal, on a corporate scale having potentially thousands of computers daily downloading images could very easily cause excessive network traffic. It is one thing to spend a couple minutes dressing up your desktop, but it is quite another if doing so means actual company operations is slowed down. Basically all Webshots does is provide an easy way to change wallpaper and screensavers. If I had this kind of issue, I would circulate a memo to employees explaining that Webshots is no longer allowed on company computers, and explain why. You might also explain how to manually change the wallpaper, easy enough to do, this way the employees understand your issue is not with them but with Webshots. They will appreciate the way you handle the situation and most will likely comply. As for the ones who don't, CAN 'EM! lol, just kidding ;-)

 

[ejstrom]

My apologies, I meant no harm or to offend anybody

Although this is not the forum for this, our workstations never go off, they have been on for over 24 months.(we use a scheduler to clear the ram and temp files every night @ 2am) MSN is deleted by a network crawler along with AOLIM, ICQ, bonzi buddy, gator, wether channel tickers, e-trade ticker,anybody with ebay cookies or home shopping club and all the other happy messengers and tickers including webshots, a log file is created and disciplinary actions are taken as there is zero tolerance for IT abuse. In the northeast there are 100's of people in line for jobs everywhere

I am ending my participation in this thread as we have beaten it to death

 

[RabidPenguin]

"In the northeast there are 100's of people in line for jobs everywhere"

<rant>
This topic is straying but what the heck, it goes where it goes. ejstrom, I must say if you call instant messengers an IT abuse you really have no clue. Instant messengers take email one step further. The ability to instantaneously communicate with anyone, anywhere using nothing more than an existing corporate intranet and the internet is a priceless advantage that many companies have already discovered. The worst thing that can happen to a company is to employ an IT manager who thinks he/she is God and the employees are cattle. Any manager, IT or otherwise, who is worth anything knows that the employees are what makes the company. Rules and regulations are of course necessary but the attitude shown above is frankly disgusting. Quality, knowledgeable employees are both priceless and irreplaceable. What is replaceable is the IT manager who does not understand this. I don't want this to become a head butt match but I can't stand reading stupid postings. </rant>

 

[WildHare]

RP, there are good points to your arguments, but EJStrom has a good point too - it's one thing to allow an IM vehicle WITHIN a corporate network to allow employees to ping other employees (although in many cases the phone will do just as well) but I have seen many cases where people at WORK spend a lot of their time IM'ing with &quot;outsiders&quot; in a non-work related manner. I think this is the kind of thing that EJStrom is concerned with, and you must admit he has a point - just as a company has a right to at least <suggest> that personal phone calls on company time be handled with some discretion, they have a right to monitor and control what the employee does with the computer on his/her desk, which, after all, is a COMPANY asset, not an EMPLOYEE Asset. UPS probably wouldn't care to have its' drivers run around in UPS trucks on weekends helping people move...

And I don't think your use of the word &quot;stupid&quot; was warranted, IMHO.

Jim Me? Ambivalent? Well, yes and no....
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