Posts by Gil Grissum

Rufus and ExplorerPatcher: Tools to remove Windows 11 TPM pain and more

NO...

Upgraded from Windows 10/64/Home on my Gaming Notebook to Windows 11/64/Home to become familiar with it. Desktop runs Windows 10, is not compatible with 11 and I'm not buying a new desktop just to get 11 on it. Windows 10 Will Live on my Desktop.

Microsoft is only interested in getting people to buy new Computers with Windows 11, to make money. Microsoft has a long history of not caring about user experience.The hardware requirements are high and in this economy, how many people who are not rich, are buying new Computers? How many Companies are rolling out new Computers with Windows 11? Ya. Libre Office works fine, as an Office Suite, for me...Filling Microsoft's bank account is not MY goal. Is it yours??

We need to talk about criminal adversaries who want you to eat undercooked onion rings

Connected Crap

Things like this, are why I never bought into/subscribed to any "connected" junk, either in my home, or car. Thanks to Managers claiming "cost savings"/Productivity improvements, which never happened, I've had two contract jobs screw me. A human, at the controls, thanks!!

Ever wondered what it's like working for Microsoft? Leaked survey shines a light on how those at the code coalface feel

Re: "better deals on offer"

I stopped using Linked IN as soon as they bought it!

Old hand at NewCo: IBM re-hires former CFO to run soon-to-be-spun-out Global Tech Services division

Having been both a victim of an IBM Contract with Lenovo Server Hardware Warranty Support that was cancelled and laid off, and a Stroke survivor w/heart failure, while on a Contract at Wipro. I'm not surprised. I'm not dying for another company.

When even a power-cycle fandango cannot save your Windows desktop

Been through this sort of thing, many times before, when supporting users, who insisted they typed in the right password but it wouldn't take it, and their active directory account, got locked, but we had an Active Directory tool, that not only told us if they typed in the right password, but how many times they typed in the wrong password, before there account became locked, so we had them dead to rights, on what they actually did and how many times, they did it wrong.

Behold: The ghastly, preening, lesser-spotted Incredible Bullsh*tting Customer

There's always the idiot who claims he/she, typed in the right password, but didn't, got locked out of his/her Active Directory account, and wants a root cause analysis of why it happened. When we provide system based proof not only that he/she typed in the wrong password, but how many times, causing him/her to get locked out oftheir account, he/she shuts up, goes away, and leaves us alone.

Three years ago, IBM ordered staff to work in central hubs. Now its new CEO ponders mid-pandemic: Is there a better way of doing things?

It's funny how we were struggling to get one day a week off, working from home, which helped with Snow days, as Atlanta shuts down, when it snows. then they eliminated my Contract division and replaced us with AI. How's that going for them, now? irony.

Guess what's heading to trial? IBM and its tactic of yoinking promised commissions after sales reps seal the deal

I hope IBM has to pay and pay, here, and elsewhere. They deserve it. They kept on paying Ginny Rommetty, while losing money. WTF??

Razr sharp foldable: Samsung whips out Galaxy Z Flip – and, oh snap, it's £1,300

Not compelled to overpay for a smartphone.

Wont be getting one.

Is Chrome really secretly stalking you across Google sites using per-install ID numbers? We reveal the truth

Not surprised. Even Edge is Chromium based. Ad blocking makes some websites, not work. There is no escape.

How do you like them Apples? Cook drops 'record' 30 times* on conf call as iPhone sales up, services up, wearables up

Get in line, to buy that monitor stand.

BOFH: When was the last time someone said these exact words to you: You are the sunshine of my life?

Pointless

It's a waste of time for Helpdesk people to send out a survey about Help desk Performance. If their boss can't figure it out, then they are overpaid, and not doing their job. I'm not calling anyone to ask them any survey questions. I'm not doing anyone else's job for them, without a raise in pay, and position. I've had to send out these surveys before and they never resulted in anyone doing their job any better.

If you never thought you'd hear a Microsoftie tell you to stop using Internet Explorer, lap it up: 'I beg you, let it retire to great bitbucket in the sky'

Not hsving any problems with new Edge

No problems with new chrome based Edge.

*David Attenborough voice* And here we have, in the wild, a rare glimpse... of what may be... a positive IBM quarter

I thought working at IBM was, the ultimate position. I was wrong.

Buzz kill: Crook, 73, conned investors into shoveling millions into geek-friendly caffeine-loaded chocs that didn't exist. Now he's in jail

Working and producing a viable product.

How much cheese does one person need to grate? Mac Pro pricing unveiled

Apple is crazy. Macofalltrades.com all day.

My MacBook Woe: I got up close and personal with city's snatch'n'dash crooks (aka some bastard stole my laptop)

Hmmmmm...

I've honestly never understood the "Coffee Shop" thing, that people do, for this particular reason. I can safely and comfortably use my laptop or desktop at home in safety, with security that no one is going to run up and grab my laptop. In a Coffee Shop, this sort of thing is always possible. And of course, no one tried to stop the guy. What would make anyone think that they would? No one cares (accept the two who walked up, after). I have no need for use of a Coffee Shop or Internet Cafe. When out and about, I use my phone. Heaven help the guy who tries to run up and grab my phone out of my hand. I will still have my phone, and they will have nightmares, for life... >:-)

It's Big, it's Blue and it's down for 3Q: Whomp... there goes IBM's storage hardware revenue

"Competitive dynamics and pricing pressures. To El Reg, that means Big Blue's storage products were beaten by rivals' products more often than not." That's a great excuse for not making money while eliminating experienced techs and replacing them with millennials. Great Strategy for Ginny, as for how many quarters, IBM has lost money, while her bonuses haven't been tied to performance. Great deal, if you can get it. Any other companies just handing out bonuses that aren't tied to performance?

Facebook blames 'server config change' for 14-hour outage. Someone run that through the universal liar translator

Was finally able to change my password and login. Config problem? Wonder if it was caused by a College grad who was on an Athletic Scholarship for a sport they didn't play, bought their grades, and were hired for a job for which they had no skills? I have encountered those type of half a$$ techs, for almost 20 years. They weren't all foreigners. >:-)

Fan boy 3: Huawei overhauls Air-a-like MateBooks

Who really needs the latest Macbook Pro, when you can buy re-conditioned, save money, and still have the real thing and not a copy cat from a company that's in the cross hairs of the US Gov for being a Chinese Manufacturer?

Blue Monday: Efforts to inspire teamwork with swears back-fires for n00b team manager

Hmmmm

Ever worked someplace where on second shift, the shift lead is late to work every single day, does online shopping, personal e-mail, and social media on her PC, there's more socializing than work being done by her and her backup, and only one person (Not her or the backup) is being assigned all of the Service Desk Tickets, and doing most of the work (ME). When the one guy who's actually doing his job on his shift is no longer there to do all the work, things will get interesting...

Trolls pop malformed heads above bridge to sling abuse at Tim Cook

Well, if Tim Cook was the CEO of a Chinese company, He probably wouldn't have made this announcement. Looks like it's had the opposite effect from what he wanted. His sectual preference is of no concern to me, but his flat/yawn inducing keynotes need some help.

New Sprint CEO says he will lower axe on staff – but prices come first

Good luck, Claure. Unless you do something radical that improves network performance and customer service, I may have to look at T-Mobile when my contract is up in October of 2015. At this point, my contract is the only thing keeping me on Sprint. When that's up, it may just be over for me and Sprint.

Brits' borked Samsung kit held up after repair centre slips into administration

Re: Pop goes Samsung's glossy image.

Haters can hate on Apple all they want, but the fact is that none of the Apple stores in my area have ever "gone into Administration" and none of my Apple kit has ever had to be serviced, including a re-conditioned Macbook Pro 2008 bought in 2011, a reconditioned MacPro that dates back to 2006 and was bought in 2013, two iPhones, and an iPad 2. I can't say that for any of the Dell, HP, Compaq, or IBM computers that I've ever owned.

Cisco prepares to take $700m hit to make 6,000 layoffs

Instead of axing 6,000 people, why not axe some of the useless overpaid upper management? That would save them more money and leave the people alone who actually make the company all that money it waists paying useless upper management? Naturally, that will never happen, because upper management protects their own jobs by letting go of thousands. Microsoft. HP. Who else? It's the way big businesses work.

Verizon to limit unlimited 4G plans

And then, there are business customers who deploy thousands of mobile devices for use in the field who wonder why they are experiencing service interruptions when 500 people try to synch their devices all at the same time...

iOS slurpware brouhaha: It's for diagnostics, honest, says Apple

Apple will likely come up with some way to mask the back doors in the upcoming iOS 8. They'll do a better job of hiding it in their next iPhone versions, as well. Someone slipped up and didn't mask the back doors. Someone has likely been quietly fired and given a gag order to keep them from discussing how they screwed up hiding the back doors. Likely, they'll have received a healthy severance in exchange for their silence...

New leaked 'Windows 8 screenshot': The Start Menu strikes back

The problem with the premise that bringing the start menu back might increase interest in Windows 8, is that Classic Shell gave the Start menu back to Windows 8 and 8.1, for free, many months ago. It's a bit late in the game for Microsoft to have finally come to their senses and realized that lack of the start menu turned almost everyone off to Windows 8. They should've figured that out after the thing wasn't selling well to begin with. Will bringing back the Start menu move the needle enough to increase Windows 8 uptake? We shall see, once it appears as a download.

BlackBerry claims ugly duckling Passport mobe is a swan in the offing

They should've done an upgrade to the Z30 and made it a side slider. That makes sense and would be comfortable to hold. Nothing about the "Passport" makes me want one. I wanted a Z30, but it never made it to Sprint. Maybe Chen can sell these for cheap in the EU or developing nations. It's just not going to be popular in the USA.

Amazon's not-actually-3D Fire: Bezos' cash register in YOUR pocket

Not interested in a phone that's watching and listening to what's going on around me. I'm sure that the NSA and GHCQ would love for lines to form to buy this phone, but I won't be in any of those lines.

Microsoft Cortana EULA contains the Greatest Disclaimer of ALL TIME

Alrighty then. Won't be considering Windows Phone. And I was getting interested in Cortana. Looks like I'll be avoiding that relationship now. :-)

Oracle smacks JD Edwards help site with cease and desist order

Way to go, Oracle.

Was this bloke making money from supporting your product with a website that provided helpful information for JDE users? Nothing I've seen, indicates that he was charging for access to his website. So why dump this legal grap on him, when all he was really doing, was giving Oracle customers a reason to keep doing business with them? Ridiculous heavy handed nonsense!!

I QUIT: Mozilla's anti-gay-marriage Brendan Eich leaps out of door

Re: Do people on this forum even understand the issue?

No one really cares about the middle class or the poor, since apparently, they aren't gay or lesbians. Don't expect there to be a petition that gets Aynn Rand fired from her job or to "step down" from her job.

Ok. So Mozilla just needs to hire a gay or lesbian and that should calm the outrange G's and L's down enough for us to all get back to our lives? If you don't support same sexy marriage, you might not want to express that opinion, publicly. Just sayin.

Back off, Siri! Microsoft debuts Halo beauty Cortana

Cortana is welcome. At least she won't sound like a trans gender version of Lurch from the Adams family.

NSA plans to FREE YOUR DATA with range of cloud services, analytics

If the NSA can give us free cloud services, then why can't Obama give us free health care instead of helping his Insurance company buddies wallet r8pe us? Maybe Obamacare is secretly funding that NSA Cloud? Don't know, but I decline participation in both.

Tesla firms hot bottoms: TITANIUM armor now bolted to Model S e-cars

Short of attempting to go off roading and rock crawling in a Tesla, what sort of freeway were the two affected cars traveling on that had obstructions large enough to puncture a battery compartment from underneath the car?

Microsoft frisked blogger's Hotmail inbox, IM chat to hunt Windows 8 leaker, court told

Is this bungling clown responsible for the Windows 8 train wreck? Human stupidity has stooped to a new low.

PSST! New PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled are out there – and will be into 2015, at least

It doesn't really matter what Microsoft wants. As stated elsewhere, business customers don't rush into new OS or new PC deployments. Windows 7 is what they all want and if PC manufacturer's stop selling Windows 7 PC's in February of 2015, business customers will just wait it out until they see a significant change from the disaster that is Windows 8. No matter how much the handful of geeks that like Windows 8 think everyone should jump on board, that's just not going to happen. Microsoft blew it with Windows 8 and businesses aren't going to be pressed into buying Windows 8, no matter what Microsoft does.

Apple pushes back release date for 'dustbin chic' Mac Pro

OMG. Delays in shipping the R2D2 Edition Mac Pro? What shall we do while waiting?

Apple RESURRECTS the iPhone 4: report

Selling an old version of the iPhone in emerging markets has always been Apple's "low cost" solution. Trouble is, consumers can find Android and Windows phones with bigger displays, more memory, faster CPU's, and bigger batteries that perform better than the iPhone 4, hence why Apple's market share outside the USA is relatively small compared to Android. Consumers want more for less, not 4 year old technology for less that was behind the curve when it was introduced four years ago and even more behind the curve now. Sure, people want the fashion statement that is the iPhone, but apparently, they don't want it nearly as much as they want Androids, outside the USA.

Re: iPhone 4, 3 years later: FUBAR

You drop a phone that isn't in a protective case, it's going to break. That includes the iPhone 4. Best way to protect it is with a case. The screen and back didn't break by themselves or due to a "design flaw". The phone was obviously dropped. Only the user can take the blame for that.

Hello Moto: Lenovo grabs Motorola biz for $3bn. But Google's KEEPING the patents

This is an interesting way to keep Google's OEM partners happy, while giving the Chinese Lenovo, yet another American company. Has this become the United States of China?

BlackBerry sues American Idol host's company for 'blatant' patent infringement

As far as I can tell, Blackberry has never invented, produced, and sold an externally attached Blue Tooth Keyboard for any of their Blackberry phones, so merely claiming that a vertical slip on Blue Tooth keyboard that's not built into any phone but is a separate keyboard attachment violates any Blackberry patents, is questionable, at best. And if merely having a vertical keyboard was a Blackberry patent violation, Why didn't Blackberry sue Samsung for the Jack, Palm for the Treo, Centro, Pre, and Pre + and others who produced phones with vertical keyboards?

Blackberry has it's work cut out for it on this one, I think.

Alicia Keys throws in towel on BlackBerry's creative director job

Big surprise? I doubt Ms. Keys would have jumped ship if it wasn't sinking. She probably doesn't want to be associated with the brand now, especially considering that Blackberry has left the consumer market. From the list of things she did mentioned in this article, it doesn't sound like she did much for Blackberry. Of course, her tweeting about the role from an iPhone, probably wasn't the best idea.

AT&T takes aim at T-Mobile with $450 cashback lure

AT&T is clearly uncomfortable with T-Mobile's 2013 growth and the potential for what they may promote at CES. While you can get cash for turning in a T-Mobile phone and cash toward a new AT&T phone, you still face the same AT&T conditions services, and capped data, that were present before they offered T-Mobile customers this bribe. And the fact that they are specifically targeting T-Mobile customers (not Verizon or Sprint), means that it is in fact, T-Mobile, that AT&T is most concerned with. I don't see very many T-Mobile customers bouncing to AT&T for this offer. The short term benefits aren't worth the long term headaches.

Canadian teens cuffed over alleged Snapchat child sex pics ring

Is Snapchat still worth 3Billion?

How many incidents like this must happen before Spiegel sees the light and accepts a 3 billion or less, offer for his company? More incidents like this and he'll start feeling like an idiot for not selling for 3 billion. Greed is only good when you can take the money and run. Waiting around for more money may be proven to have been a very bad idea for Spiegel.

Death of the business Desktop

Post PC era

I've been hearing about the so-called "Death of the PC" since 1996 when Scott McNealy confidently proclaimed that his Java Station thin client was suppose to replace PC's. Problem is that thin clients and flash arrays are dependent on company's spending more money on Servers and Server management than on desktop computers and server management combined. We're not just talking about flash memory arrays, we're talking storage, and since at this time, Flash memory is much more expensive than HDD disc storage, this "Post PC era" hasn't happened and isn't going to happen any time soon. Bean counters, are the reason why. There is no cost to performance benefit in eliminating desktop computers. Desktop computers are cheap and aren't complex to manage because they have their own memory, storage, and CPU and therefore, are not dependent on a server for memory, storage, and CPU. They are only dependent on networked servers for networked connections and the internet access, e-mail, and in any networked software or additional services. And if, as in my day job, you work in a call center doing tech support for Enterprise Mobile Device Management and all of the system that you use run inside of a browser, you sure as hell wouldn't want your computing entirely running from expensive servers that would have to be deployed in greater numbers than your desktop computers, just to allow you to do your job.

Perhaps when the cost of Flash Memory reaches the cost of HDD disc storage, we can begin to think about this Post PC era situation, but until thin, while small businesses with more money than sense, could benefit from a "network computer" thin client situation, larger enterprise businesses most definitely would be wasting money in eliminating desktop computers from the work place. There simply is no cost to performance benefit in doing so, at this time.

Microsoft: Everyone stop running so the fat kid Win RT can catch up

I don't suppose the egg head genius's could've come up with a way for Windows 8's Metro interface, Windows RT, and Windows Phone could have a common code base and apps work on all three (while full desktop apps would still work in the Windows 8 desktop). That would've been an idea that made sense. That's the antithesis of Balmer. Or perhaps, Sinofsky is the one to blame for that disaster?

Selling phones? Nonsense, BlackBerry is all about THE CLOUD

I have a co-worker who had a Z10 and was extolling the virtues of the BB10 platform until he tried to side load Android apps. The next time I saw him, he'd gotten an iPhone 4S. Who's going to sign up for some BB enterprise service, especially considering that Microsoft is about to do the same thing and many Enterprise shops run on Microsoft Networks. Microsoft gets a foot hold in providing a similar service for BYOD Enterprises and that's it for BB, if they attempt to do the same. How many businesses are going to trust BB over Microsoft at this point?