* Posts by .thalamus

32 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Aug 2010

CrowdStrike deja vu as 'performance issue' leaves systems sluggish

.thalamus

Hmmm…

Crowdstrike is a permanent performance issue in my experience. I wish our organisation would drop them.

Angry admins share the CrowdStrike outage experience

.thalamus

Re: There is a simpler fix…

I don’t understand why it isn’t more common knowledge or hasn’t been picked up by the tech media, although that might require some actual journalism instead of melodramatic pontification.

It wasn’t a coincidence that it suddenly got to the login screen and the network connected after 8 reboots when it had crashed before that consistently - then immediately crashing again at login when the driver loaded. It’s clear that Windows declined to load the driver at boot because of the boot failures. Nothing to do with a “race condition” between receiving the good update and csagent parsing the faulty file.

.thalamus

There is a simpler fix…

My work laptop was affected by this as I tend to leave it on in standby. So when I got up yesterday it was in recovery and on rebooting it BSODd with csagent.sys as the cause.

Our IT department were out all over the place fixing servers and business critical systems yesterday, so any user support for this problem just wasn’t going to happen, rightly so.

Microsoft posted an interesting recommendation (I think it was on their azure blog or forum) to reboot “up to 15 times” which would eventually allow Crowdstrike to pull the fixed update. I was sceptical but tried it - after 8 reboots I got to the login screen and the network connected (which it hadn’t done previously).

Windows has a mechanism to skip loading drivers that prevent boot after a number of failures and this was seemingly triggered after 8 reboots.

Trying to login immediately resulted in the same BSOD (I assume the driver was loaded on login too). So I did the 8 reboots again, got to the login screen again with network connectivity and just left it there for half an hour. Then I logged in and all was well.

So the fix doesn’t necessarily involve hands on - any user can perform 8 reboots and leave it on the login screen for a bit for the fixed update to be pulled. Hopefully this helps someone!

Asda IT staff shuffled off to TCS amid messy tech divorce from Walmart

.thalamus
FAIL

Re: Thought this was a UK rag, albeit online

Yeah, it annoys me too. But they made a decision a bit ago that everything was going to be written using the odd, bastardised American English as opposed to real English.

Stupid decision in my opinion. So that’s why we have to suffer it.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/22/chrome_extension_howto/

Ouch. Reinstalling Windows 10 again? By 2020, a 'cloud download' may be all you need

.thalamus

Re: sounds very convenient

Sounds like you're stuck in the 1990s. Maybe you didn't get the memo that Microsoft is a very different company now than it was under Bill Gates.

You're not a Tory are you, because they're stuck in the past too...

Stardock’s Start10 brings the familiarity of 7 to Windows 10

.thalamus

Oh, come on!

"After setup it prompts to hide the Cortana/Search box which takes up substantial taskbar space; fine if you like what it does, but a nuisance if not."

What a load of crap. You don't need this to hide the Cortana/Search box, you simply Right click on the taskbar, go to 'Cortana' and select 'Hidden'. No 3rd party junk needed to do that.

As always, research before publishing crap. :)

Android's Cyanogenmod open to MitM attacks

.thalamus

Unfortunately, CyanogenMod doesn't write test cases for anything they change, which is why they introduce so many bugs.

The general process:

'Lets add this, this looks good, although I don't understand what it actually does ha ha.'

'Yeah, it looks great that, it looks funky.'

*Copy, Paste, git commit (no attribution to the author)*

'Oh yeah, it seems to work alright, lets merge it.'

That's about the gist of it from what I've seen and experienced...

UK's CASH POINTS to MISS Windows XP withdrawal date

.thalamus
WTF?

UK != $

Headline "UK's cash points...blah blah blah"

Then the article quotes a shitload of various prices in US dollars.

If you're going to write articles about the UK, at least use our currency within said article...for consistency and accuracy more than anything else.

Cheers.

Virgin Mobile coughs to choking its customers

.thalamus
Stop

Poor cap implementation

The issue isn't really the cap itself, although 2mbit down isn't great.

The issue is that they have implemented it in such a horribly broken way that you get a burst of high speed data for a second or two, then nothing, then another burst a few seconds later.

This causes problems with audio and video streams, and makes sites load slowly in the browser.

If they had implemented the cap properly, most people would not have made a fuss. The cap which they have implemented gives you bursts, not a continual stream of data, which causes problems.

Tmobile used to cap their PAYG offerings to 384kbit/sec down. Although this was annoying and they lied about it, their cap was implemented properly and you would get a continual 384kbit/sec down.

Virgin, on the other hand, have made an utter mess over the implementation which has allowed a lot more people to notice it than otherwise would have.

Also, it took them far too long to be honest about it, and they are still lying by stating that their data is unlimited. It isn't, it is limited, by a speed cap.

Nokia's Elopocalypse two years on: Has Microsoft kept its side of the bargain?

.thalamus
Stop

Re: Hmmm

Stick a 32GB class 10 SD into it and sync some music to it and watch it all go to fuck, probably requiring a factory reset to get into some state of normality. I suffered that on several occasions with both a Samsung and Sandisk micro SD, and that occurred with both with the shipped and the 'portico' update.

The whole Xbox music thing is an utter mess and completely unfit for purpose. The syncing applications are a load of shit. The micro SDcard support doesn't work with commodity class 10 cards and every now and again the mobile baseband will hang causing texts and calls not to get through. All documented issues on the Nokia support forums too, so definitely not an isolated case of bad hardware.

Those are the main reasons why I sold my 820, that and of course the complete lack of app traction.

The OS simply isn't ready. It needs a lot more work to bring it up to standard. It's been rushed, it feels rushed and it acts rushed. Which is a pity, because I was waiting for it a long time to replace my WP7 device.

Microsoft dragging its feet on Linux Secure Boot fix

.thalamus
FAIL

Do what? 'Nobody exploits the boot-process.' - what a load of garbage.

The boot process is exploited by bootkits and some rootkits (TDL4 amongst others) to ensure their malicious code is ran before the Windows loader, making removal difficult because often even a format and reinstall will *not* get rid of the malware.

The initial infection happens in userspace, but after that, the malware is triggered on each boot.

Secure boot stops that.

Windows 8, Surface slabs ALREADY need critical security patch

.thalamus
Thumb Up

Re: Not news

Hear hear.

Every article on Windows 8 in The Register recently has been full of hate, bias and unobjective bullshit twisted to make Windows 8 look bad.

It's getting very dull and predictable, much like the fucking use of the 'fondleslab' word. Think of something new ffs.

Windows 8 'penetrated' says firm which sells to world's spy agencies

.thalamus
FAIL

Corporate Hating

Yes, Register.

We can tell you hate Windows 8 with a passion because you use *any* bullshit story possible to have a go at it...

It's getting old though, very quickly. Get over it.

Amazon lends e-books free to Prime subscribers

.thalamus

Re: Slightly longer period

Yeah, they have a habit of using those HDNL morons and the packaging is always dinged when they deliver something.

They also use City Sprint, who, to be fair, are pretty good, better than DPD who just bugger off without attempting to deliver half the time.

I do wish Amazon would provide options though, as you say.

Firefox support extended to older Android mobiles

.thalamus

Re: It's a Beta

It's more about dithering than the number of bits, and it's 24 bit colour (16 million colours), not 32.

Firefox seems to render using RGB565 on Android (16 bit) but they don't dither which is why it looks crap.

It looks much better with dithered RGB565, so I'm not quite sure why they don't do it.

Perhaps it is a technical limitation with some of the devices they support or their choice of minimum Android API version 8.

Facebook: Our phone app DID seize your email

.thalamus

Re: yeah yeah, it was a bug...

And WP7.

Google Chrome serves up only emptiness, for many users

.thalamus
Stop

Yeah, it's not an issue with Chrome, it's an issue with Google.

It has only just started happening today and affects stable, beta and dev channels, of which none have been updated today, so the problem must lie server side.

Also, using terminology 'latest' version is confusing, because there are 3 latest versions, stable, beta and dev channels.

Best to put the version number, unlike most of the muppets in that linked Google thread.

BT invites telcos to sign up to FTTP trials

.thalamus
FAIL

Yeah...

I have the same issue, my cab hasn't been upgraded, but the 'area' has apparently been enabled for FTTC.

I received a letter from BT (addressed to my address, not an unaddressed leaflet) the other day inviting me to sign up to BT infinity, so I tried and it's still not fucking available.

You would think they would have the brains to send letters to those who can get the service, not those who can't.

Ultrabook price vice prised open by flash-disk half-breeds

.thalamus
Trollface

Re: VICE...

Indeed. The unbastardised spelling.

Android hackers mull rooted mobe app marketplace

.thalamus
Stop

Kernel Bug

Thats a kernel bug.

Blame HTC for not updating the kernel regularly, because if they had updated to the latest 2.6.35 point version, that issue would have gone.

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=commit;h=e97ee080621da3c7c393a6f44118e930949e2f9e

Fanbois locked out of iTunes store, iCloud in Apple outage

.thalamus
Thumb Up

Yeah, it's getting very old that one now. And I don't particularly like Apple either.

As well as fondleslab, and various other stupid terms that El Reg has hammered to death and beyond...think up some new ones guys, or just stop trying to be funny, because you really aren't. It's *boring* now. ;)

Microsoft’s Mango update falls from tech tree

.thalamus
Facepalm

Bloatware?

Oh, so baseband, firmware and bootloader updates are bloatware are they?

If you are going to try to spread FUD, at least make the FUD accurate. Lulz.

.thalamus

...will be available soon...

Both the new HTC WP7 mango devices, the titan and radar will support wifi tethering. I assume the new devices from other manufacturers will also.

The devices that don't support it at the moment are the first gen WP7 devices which have been given the mango update.

OCZ fails to kill off Blue Screen Of Death issue

.thalamus

Vertex 2e

Had a Vertex 2e on Win 7 x64 for about a month now, no issues at all.

It seems that these issues apply to the Vertex 3 only.

The only way that you can benefit from the Vertex 3 over the Vertex 2e is if you have a SATA3 capable mainboard.

If you have a SATA2, get the Vertex 2e, as you won't get the benefit of the Vertex 3's speed boost without SATA3.

MS advises drastic measures to fight hellish Trojan

.thalamus

TDSSKiller

Kasperskys TDSSKiller will detect and get rid of it apparently.

http://www.dshield.org/diary.html?storyid=11146

Microsoft fingered for Nokia's bleak future

.thalamus
FAIL

Lol

Roger Heathcote 1, you are a funny guy, *not*. Your post reeks of condescending FUD.

I have a HTC Desire and a Samsung Omnia 7. I'll give you a clue about the one I prefer and use all the time, and it isn't the Desire.

WP7 is missing some features at the moment, that I won't dispute, but even so, it's much nicer to use than Android or iOS.

It deserves to do well.

Toxic Plankton feeds on Android Market for two months

.thalamus
Meh

Updates...not as simple as that...

It depends on the device. The Nexus S is a Google sponsored phone, running stock Android which is aimed at developers mainly, so the updates come straight from Google and it should always have the latest version of Android. The Nexus One is the same.

With devices like the HTC Desire, Desire HD, Samsung Galaxy S, <insert random Android device here>, the updates come from the manufacturer, not Google. The manufacturers are not forced to update the devices, so many devices end up being either abandoned, or don't receive updates in a timely manner and end up being stuck on an old, insecure version.

I expect most of it is down to commercial reasons, why should manufacturers update their existing devices when you can force people to upgrade by abandoning them.

Take the HTC Desire for example, it's been 6 months now since the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) source was made public, and HTC still have not released a 2.3 update for the Desire, and HTC get the source *long* before it is made public.

There are 2 ways you can ensure you will always have the latest, most secure version of Android. Buy a device sponsored by Google, such as the Nexus S.

Or...do what I do, root your device and build your own ROM from the latest Android source, it's not *that* hard to do.

Bummed-out users give anti-virus bloatware the boot

.thalamus

Highest Performing Packages

In my opinion, the highest performing free AV is Ariva. Any of the other free offerings, including MSE, will bog your system down. Avira also consistently has one of the best detection rates.

The highest performing paid AV I think is either Avira Premium and Norton AntiVirus (not Norton Internet Security). Symantec have really reduced the footprint and increased the performance of their client with the 2010/2011 offerings.

However, Avira Premium is cheaper and tends to consistently score higher than Norton on AV Comparatives tests.

Researcher outs Android exploit code

.thalamus

Not just the networks

The Android platform source code isn't being patched for current releases. That is the main issue.

Also, then you get an additional delay due to manufacturers and networks hacking about with the updates.

I would argue that you are more secure on Android if you are rooted and have a well maintained custom ROM installed, like CyanogenMod.

Angry Birds addicts crash GetJar site

.thalamus
Linux

Ads...

Rovio tweeted at the weekend that the reasons they didn't offer a paid version straight away and went for the ad supported model was that they wanted the game released worldwide, but paid apps aren't available in some countries and paid apps have never done particularly well on Android.

Apparently a paid version with no ads will be forthcoming. :)

Android rebellion: How to tame your stupid smartphone

.thalamus
WTF?

Lol

Someone doesn't like Android it seems.

Why write an article about it thought? We don't care.

BSkyB mulls UK Online closure

.thalamus
WTF?

New signups

They haven't been accepting new customers to UKOnline for about a year now.

I tried to sign up with them when I moved, but was told that they couldn't process new signups.

This was just a matter of time I guess.

Word of warning though, the SKY 'broadband' service is poor compared to the UKOnline service, so I wouldn't advise staying if you do get switched over.