Misc. Ramblings

Sometimes, well-intentioned policies make it impossible to do the things we need to do. We, like millions of other people, have to login in to our network to get access to the resources there (mostly the file servers and e-mail). In order to maintain security, our Information Technology office has set a policy of requiring password changes every so often (sorry about being a little vague here but I don't want to give out information that could be used to hack our network).

Well, this morning, when I logged in, I got the screen saying I need to change my password. OK, no problem, I've been doing that for at least 10 years so I know how to do this. So I fill in the change password form and press enter. But nothing happens. I try clicking on the enter button but I can't get the mouse pointer to display on the change password screen. It's as if the window does not exist. But it does because I can slide the mouse pointer behind the screen (where the mouse pointer disappears from view) and out the other side. But I can't get the focus to be on the password change screen. Even using alt-tab doesn't do any good.

So there was nothing I could think of other than rebooting. But when I tried to login I got hit by another policy decision. I can't log in more than once and somehow, the network software somehow believes that I logged in. Even though my password has not changed.

I can't log in because I'm already logged in and I can't change my password because I can't get logged in. You know, sometimes it's really hard to like using computers...

Sigh. Fortunately, I can still access my PC (but not the network) so I can do some work.

Aloha!