Posts by Sparkypatrick

Automatic UK-to-US English converter produced amazing mistakes by the vanload

Re: Bin there and suffered

That's not how you shape packets!

Microsoft will kill Remote Desktop soon, insists you'll love replacement

Getting closer to the truth.

Far less misleading than previous articles, but still not quite there. To be fair, with the ridiculous app names and poorly worded comms, MS haven't made it easy.

What is going is the atrocious Remote Desktop Store app, which hasn't been available from the store in a while. Now support is going to end.

The Remote Desktop Client for Windows app (installed via MSI) will remain the preferred app for Windows users connecting to Windows 365 (!) or Azure Virtual Desktop for which Windows App is a long way from being ready.

Who the fuck is responsible for these names? They'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes. Standing next to whoever came up with "New Outlook".

App stores unconvinced by Trump's TikTok ban pause, which may itself be on shaky legal ground

User content isn't the real issue. The problem with TikTok is the amount of tracking and data slurping it does. In particular through the in-app browser, which is *potentially capable* of tracking keystrokes and sending that back to China. Follow a harmless link posted by another user, then unthinkingly use the same browser session to log in to something more important.

Watchdog finds AI tools can be used unlawfully to filter candidates by race, gender

Re: And most of the rest have clearly used some form of 'AI

In a world where applications are increasingly being filtered by AI, the logical answer is to have AI format your CV to maximise your chance of getting through that screening.

Relocation is a complete success – right up until the last minute

EU lighting circuits are typically 10A. UK may be 10A or commonly, 6A. You don't use a 16A circuit breaker for protection of a circuit with switches or other items rated at 10A for obvious reasons.

I see your 15A fuse wire and raise you a nail (and sundry other conductors guaranteed to offer no overcurrent protection).

I made this network so resilient nothing could possibly go wro...

Re: Making things worse

Using a second provider seems like a good idea, but I've seen cases where it turned out that somewhere along the way, both providers were using the same trench someone just cut through with a digger. Many providers will offer the option of diverse connections where they ensure that no part of the connection runs in the same physical path or on the same part of the backbone. At a price, obvs.

Microsoft on a roll for terrible rebranding with Windows App

Re: Misquoted?

It's a client app for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 virtual desktops.

Re: Will searching for "rdp" still find it?

Searching for "rdp" will still find mstsc.exe. It will not find Remote Desktop, which is a completely different application. Which won't show up unless you have it installed (unlikely, unless you use AVD).

If you search for remote desktop and have Remote Desktop installed, then both will show up. Simples.

Remote Desktop is not RDP - and is going nowhere.

As I've said elsewhere, Remote Desktop is not RDP (mstsc.exe). It is another client for Azure Virtual Desktop (and other things depending on which version and what platform). And the article is incorrect, it has not become Windows App.

The Store version of Remote Desktop may be going. It is certainly the worst client for AVD by quite a margin. There is a version available for iOS, which handles RDP connections to Windows boxes. That may be getting replaced by Windows App, which is aiming to become the multi-platform, unifying client.

For the moment the Windows version of Windows App (confused yet?) is pretty useless as a client of AVD. It can't manage the simple task of displaying Remote Apps in alphabetical order. Or indeed, any discernible order.

MS put out a badly worded announcement that gave the impression that Windows App was replacing Remote Desktop (still not RDP), but have confirmed that is not the case. Remote Desktop client for Windows - to give the full name of the msi installed app - and its name will continue to sow confusion for the foreseeable.

Ryanair faces GDPR turbulence over customer ID checks

Re: I never fly Ryanair

Talk Talk's service may have improved, but there are still plenty of reasons to avoid them.

1. Their customer service is atrocious. This may be less of an issue if the service is more reliable and you don't have to deal with them as often, but chances are you'll have to at some point.

2. They gave me a router whose configuration included my account password (and therefor my email password) in plain text.

3. After their big breach, they insisted my credit card details hadn't been compromised. My provider replaced the card with a new number due to the attempted fraudulent activity detected in the immediate aftermath.

Regulators may have forced them to tighten up their security, but no heads rolled. If you believe they've changed their attitude to security, I've a bridge I'd like to sell you. Or a Samsung appliance.

Did you hear the one about the help desk chap who abused privileges to prank his mate?

RDP is still RDP

MS haven't renamed anything. The confusingly-named Remote Desktop Client for Windows (Remote Desktop for short) - which is a client app for Azure Virtual desktop - is being phased out in favour of the ludicrously-badly-named Windows App.

Said Windows App is, as I told them six months ago, somewhat broken and definitely not ready for use in production. Still, it is not RDP (mstsc.exe); although that is the underlying protocol it uses.

Bank boss hated IT, loved the beach, was clueless about ports and politeness

The lingo

OE = Overseas Experience

EA = Executive Assistant

NZ = New Zealand

Having bank problems? I feel bad for you son: I've got 25 million problems, but a bulk upload ain't one

Re: 10 minutes, not a second more...

I used to carry a pair of pliers with a notch melted into the cutting section as a reminder to always double (or triple) check I had isolated the correct circuit. I eventually replaced it with one that was more effective at cutting - and with better insulation - but only after the lesson was well hammered home.

White House: Is it OK to hijack, shoot down, or snoop on drones? Er ... asking for a friend

@ x7

No, you're thinking of DHL. DHS is a furniture company. Of course they don't like drones. It's not like they're going to be any use for delivering sofas.

Trump to NASA: Fly me (or some other guys) to the Moon

Re: Caveat

It may not happen often, but Bob is correct on this one point. CO2 solubility in water decreases as temperature increases.

http://www.carboeurope.org/education/CS_Materials/CO2solubility.pdf

Funnily enough, no, IT admins who trash biz machines can't claim they had permission

Re: This man is obviously a psychotic

"knowingly causes the transmission of a...command"

It's no stretch at all. Typing a command into a console session is exactly transmission of the command.

The legislation is not specific to malware. It explicitly includes the type of activity he engaged in. The basis of his attempted appeal was that the consent given by his employers to access their systems in the normal course of his duties extended to his acts of sabotage.

Common sense tells us that this is nonsense and his own admissions suggest that he understood that he did not have permission to do what he did.

User asked help desk to debug a Post-it Note that survived a reboot

Re: PBKAC

Try turning on your DVD player by pressing the power button on your TV.

NEWSFLASH Now even science* says moneybags footballers are overpaid

Crocked in Tunbridge Wells

There will be difficulties in getting accurate player earnings, as many clubs are privately held; but Spuds are publicly listed AFAIK, so no real excuse for not knowing that Kane is currently on £100,000 a week. A bargain, apparently.

User filed fake trouble tickets to take helpful sysadmin to lunches

How's that?

After sorting out an issue (I forget what) for an Underwriter, I got treated to the opening day of the third Test v the Windies at the Oval. Lunch and beers (many) for the day provided by a bunch of brokers, who seemed a bit bemused when I told them I worked in IT.

It's a day I remember fondly, though I subsequently lost my souvenir England cricket hat in Rome airport. But that's another story.

Fresh cotton underpants fix series of mysterious mainframe crashes

Re: Mobile Phones

There's no safety reason for not using a mobile phone on the forecourt, but it can cause interference with other systems.

Dead serious: How to haunt people after you've gone... using your smartphone

Re: Copyright

I'm pretty sure you can't be haunted by the living - but you can certainly be sued.

Giffgaff 'roam like at home' package means £1/min calls in Jersey

Weasel words.

They don't have to charge for those destinations, they choose to. All of them - apart from Monaco - are on Three's list of Feel At Home destinations. A service they offered long before the EU forced the other operators to follow suit.

A word of warning though to anyone travelling on a ferry or near a coast: neither Roam Like Home nor Feel At Home include the Maritime Network, which is quite expensive to use. Your phone may connect to it without warning. As I discovered the hard way.

UK General Election 2017: How EU law will hit British politicians' Facebook fight

Re: A question

Leaving the EU does not mean leaving the EHCR. They are separate institutions. We signed up for the latter a long time before joining the Common Market. We actually helped draw it up.

What's got a vast attack surface and runs on Linux? Windows Defender, of course

Re: But isn't the environment itself just as important?

"Say detonate a flashbang once in a while nearby..."

I can see the House of Commons from the end of the road (<50m). Under no circumstances would I be letting off a flashbang, if I had one.

PC repair chap lets tech support scammer log on to his PC. His Linux PC

Re: VOIP

"By the way, you win against the scammers if they call you a mother [bleep] before they hang up."

I am a winner!

I strung out the last call from the "Windows" team for a good 20 minutes before getting bored. Haven't heard from them since.

What augmented reality was created for: An ugly drink with a balloon

Why won't you serve me?

I've got the right change and everything.

Cowardly Microsoft buries critical Hyper-V, WordPad, Office, Outlook, etc security patches in normal fixes

Re: Proper procedure?

One thing to note about installing patches individually rather than as part of the Windows Update bundle, is that Microsoft don't test them that way. Obviously, they also don't test them against every possible permutation of hardware and software, which is why you need to test the patches yourself.

New plastic banknote plans now upsetting environmental campaigners

Re: "300 football fields of rainforest per hour is cleared"

That 300 football fields per hour figure isn't globally, it's just for Indonesia.

Re: best solution!

The 25,000 Jains had grounds for complaint, but were hardly the voice that "[forced] a change of Bank of England industrial processes." Try considering the over 800,000 Hindus that consider cows sacred or the 2.7million Muslims that would require it to be Halal. Or if you don't care about people's religious sensibilities, how about the estimated 12% of the British population that are vegetarian or vegan?

Squirrel sinks teeth into SAN cabling, drives Netadmin nuts

Re: Rats!

Pest control people may suggest wire wool as a means of dissuading rats, but you should bear in mind that it is a fire hazard. wire wool will burn quite readily, and quite hot. Ducts should be sealed with fire retardant, expanding foam.

I was authorized to trash my employer's network, sysadmin tells court

Inappropriate charge

It seems to be the norm in the US to go for maximum sentences or the most serious charge available to pressurise defendants to take a plea. This looks like a case of applying anti-hacking legislation to a case of criminal damage, presumably on the basis that it carries a higher tariff. It deserves to get knocked down for over-reach.

"If he is found to have acted without authorization, the question then becomes: does that make other sysadmins criminally liable for mistakes they might make unless they get explicit permission beforehand? That would create a hell of a problem."

Really? I thought getting permission in advance was called Change Control. I'd certainly be required to follow that process for any of the changes he made.

Zuckerberg thinks he's cyber-Jesus – and publishes a 6,000-word world-saving manifesto

"[W]e built social infrastructure...to empower us to achieve things we couldn't on our own."

Zuck's actually not wrong about this. Sure, we group together for mutual defence; but that's an example of a thing we cannot achieve on our own. It's also not the only reason we come together and secondary in the long run to achieving economic benefit.

The rest is deluded, self-aggrandising bullshit.

How Rogue One's Imperial stormtroopers SAVED Star Wars and restored order

Re: stormtroopers being fodder

I saw a couple of Stormtroopers close up at a Rogue One screening last week and that 'space age armour' looks a lot like plastic.

Botched Microsoft update knocks Windows 8, 10 PCs offline – regardless of ISP

Re: Only Britain? Short answer: No.

That's to purchase a download only version. I'm not sure how you imagine you would be able to achieve that without internet access.

Windows 10 will function perfectly well without an internet connection - albeit with very limited utility, in this day and age. And by 'perfectly well', I mean with a dog's dinner of a Start menu.

The big day is here and it's time to decide: Patch Flash, Windows, Office or Android first?

Re: Yay another 37-hour wait

This might help. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3200747

Lenovo downward dogs with Yoga BIOS update supporting Linux installs

Re: "Lenovo downward dogs with Yoga BIOS update supporting Linux installs"

That's Cobra pose. Nearly the opposite of Downward Dog.

Lessons from the Mini: Before revamping or rebooting anything, please read this

Re: I was assuming this would be a look at the mini...

It's bad, but it's not Maxi bad!

Google has unleashed Factivism to smite the untruthy

Re: Wut

Peace be upon it.

Basic income after automation? That’s not how capitalism works

AI is a new kind of automation.

In the past, people designed machines that reduced the amount of human labour required in a given process. Increased production created economic growth, bringing mode jobs. A high proportion of those losing jobs in one industry/workplace found new ones in another.

AI potentially doesn't just remove human labour from one process. Eventually, it is likely to remove the need for human labour at all. In the immediate term, we are already on the verge of being able to replace a large proportion of the workforce with machines that can do any job those humans are equipped to do, including any new ones that come with economic growth.

Some of those people will be able to retrain to do something that machines can't yet do, but the numbers will grow year on year that can't. If we don't find some way for those people to share in the new economy, then civil unrest is inevitable. The Terminators of the future may not serve a machine intelligence, but rather a ruling human elite.

Microsoft warns Windows security fix may break network shares

I suspect there's nothing broken to fix.

Rather that this is intentional. There's a long-standing security flaw that allows Windows to pass authentication details to SMB shares, even over the internet. That should not happen and if the fix for this issue is to make the network your NAS is on a trusted one, then it looks like they are fixing the older flaw.

About time.

Sysadmin gets 5 years for slurping contractor payments to employer

"the only person with password reset privileges on Genesis' systems."

In a company with 1200 employees? I'm surprised he found the time for anything else.

HP Inc's rinky-dink ink stink: Unofficial cartridges, official refills spurned by printer DRM

Re: Are the complainers...

Kyocera laser printer cartridges are just a toner reservoir. The printers cost more to buy initially, but the pp printing costs thereafter are very low, even using genuine Kyocera toner.

Watch the world's biggest 'flying bum' go arse over tit in a crash

'... the crew will individually release ballast'

Is that a euphemism?

King Tut's iron dagger of extraterrestrial origin

But what of the burning question?

Can it kill a White Walker?

China wants to build a 200km-long undersea tunnel to America

"Traveling in a metal tube, cramped, uncomfortable seats"

That sounds a lot like my journey to work this morning. On a train.

Whatever they do, they mustn't get Southeastern to run the trains.

Microsoft celebrates 25 years' SOLITARY SELF-PLEASURE with GROUP SESSION

Metro app versions are no use.

I want to be able to play Spider Solitaire or Minesweeper while keeping an eye on my desktop. Bring back the desktop apps!

TTIP: Protect our privacy in EU-US trade deal or ELSE, snarl MEPs

Data protection is ther least of your worries.

TTIP is basically handing the keys of democracy over to multinational corporations. All done in secret, with no mandate from any electorate in the EU.

OpenSSL 'high' severity flaw just a puny DoS risk

"what happened is the IT equivalent of preparing for a Black Sabbath gig, complete with Ozzy Osbourne biting off a bat’s head, only to be treated be an a cappella set featuring Lionel Ritchie instead."

So a complete nightmare, then.

Boffins now one step closer to male birth control pill

Re: Vasalgel FTW

Hmm, 'injected into the vas deferens' - there's your problem, right there. Or to put it another way, 'Hell, no!'