Posts by Captain Scarlet

UK.gov flings £95m at public sector superfast broadband rollouts

Re: As a matter of interest

Probably a load of people to investigate if something is worth something, by the time they find out its not all the money is already gobbled up.

Detroit sh*t shifter's operating costs waste away with Oracle's cloud

department 15 to 17 per cent in operating costs

Next year I bet Oracle raise prices by 15 to 17 per cent.

Fire chief says Verizon throttled department's data in the middle of massive Cali wildfires

Re: All Verizon need now is a fire...

In the UK I believe the fire services department can charge for inspection visits if they have concerns (So I am told, however I could be wrong).

If this is true and they can charge for such services in the US, they should just inspect them whenever they are annoyed and want to annoy someone else.

Internet overseer continues wall-punching legal campaign

"The lack of transparency on who owns domains"

Yes because those domain owners doing bad things with their domains, really give their actual details when registering domain names.

Face-PALM: US Patent and Trademark Office database down for 5 days and counting

Re: Viral?

From the looks of it because they mention maintenance, an upgrade went Belly up and they are now restoring from Tape after failing to rectify the issue.

I could be wrong, as I don't know how much data it holds, how they backup and whether they use Tape for backups.

SuperProf gets schooled after assigning weak passwords to tutors

Re: All tutors from the tutor pages will be given a year's premium membership...

It sounds like most tutors have actually paid already, so its not really as free as it sounds.

London's Gatwick Airport flies back to the future as screens fail

Re: "no redundancy in the internet link"

As they are on Vodaphone why don't they use their mobile network instead in the event of a fibre cut.

(Ok below the belt as its likely nearby equipment may also be affected by the fibre cut)

Boss regrets pointing finger at chilled out techie who finished upgrade early

That wasn't TetraCS (ERP) was it?

The name sounds is very close but can't find anything on Google. (Tetra CS which used to use CISAM data files before going SQL before being brought out by Sage to become Sage Line 500)

Yeah I'm suspicious, did they manage to survive the PFY's iot controlled smart desk?

Can, can, can you buy it, CANCOM? Brexit's made it cheap(er), man: Firm inks OCSL deal

Re: "For me "taking back control" is about holding our own parliament to account,

Where can I get my "Coalition of the Stupid" pin badge?

Re: Rule Britannia

Ah you've obviously just thought everyone such as myself voted Leave because Gove and co told us to.

Believe what you want but you are wrong.

Extreme Networks? Extreme Share Price Crash, more like

Re: loyal customer for ~19 years

"Extreme is going out of business"

Not likely, they are still making purchases to stay relevant.

Where I worked decided to ditch Extreme for Cisco (Still not sure why, our Summit 5i's lasted literally forever, Summit 48's were rock solid, our newer Extremes such as X450 went way before they had even been run in). Our wireless controllers were replaced and because Motorola sold to Zebra who then sold to Extreme, we have some Extreme branded stuff back, annoying they aren't Purple, but I am tempted to bring in some paint to rectify that.

Is Apple going ease off its HomeKit chokehold? Sure looks like it...

Re: I say no

@JohnFen Hmm I wonder if you are using a device which Lazy Game Reviews on Youtube has been playing about with?

Phased out: IT architect plugs hole in clean-freak admin's wiring design

Re: Whilst the overload wasn't clever...

In my youth when a UPS had tripped because of a fault, the management card screamed about an input fault. Being a PFY, I went and thought thats odd and pressed the button to reset the UPS power input without thinking the UPS itself could be faulty.

What followed was a lightshow from the 16Amp power input cable which had melted before my eyes and hoping it would retrip itself which is did shortly after. So for me its possible the UPS may have tripped but someone inexperienced might have commanded the device to try again, as thats exactly what I did and I will never ever do ever again.

Intel: Yeah, yeah, 10nm. It's on the todo list. Now, let's talk about AI...

Autonomous vehicles will run on data just as today's vehicles run on gasoline

So basically we are going to have peddle cars in the future (As I can't see Data acting as a trickle charge)

Bank on it: It's either legal to port-scan someone without consent or it's not, fumes researcher

I thought the scan was done in the browser on the loopback address (Someone stated in the comments above), in that case I think you should be able scan yourself :P

OpenAI bots thrash team of Dota 2 semi-pros, set eyes on mega-tourney

Re: How about

Yeah it will need to have at least one of the character controlled AI bots will respond with ping spam on the mini map and scraming idiot down the mic every 10 seconds.

HPE supercomputer is still crunching numbers in space after 340 days

Hmm maybe because it adds weight?

Re: "SSDs fail at an alarming rate in space"

Had SSD "failures" here, except if you slap power on them and leave them for a few hours almost all of them start working again.

US Homeland Security warns of latest hacker craze – ERP pwnage

"segregation of duties"

I fecking hate SOD, I'll be off before an auditor make changes to their overcomplicated grid system again.

Sen. Ron Wyden: Adobe Flash is doomed, why is Uncle Sam still using it?

Re: Accessibility

:O when you had the likes of HomeStarRunner, RatherGood (The Adventures of the Blode), Weebl and Bob, Foamy the Squirrel you can see what Flash allowed people back then to do.

When video was impossible Flash was an excellent tool for producers bringing media entertainment to us with 33/56k modems (Although ascii art was pretty cool from this time period as well). Like anything created back then, it could do a lot (Probably to much) and it has paid by being grouped with Java.

I'll continue ranting how less interactive Strongbad emails are now on Youtube since back in my day you had to find all the hidden clips.

Tech team trapped in data centre as hypoxic gas flooded in. Again

"When was the last time YOUR server room was cleaned?"

Erm 2009, the henry hoover found a dead rodent which meant lots of paperwork, never again

Notes/Domino is alive! Second beta of version 10 is imminent

Yeah have to agree, administering Domino is actually rather simple, once you know its not like any other mail system (I learnt from doing the courses on http://www.waresource.com/ which I found much better than the help files).

The biggest issue for me I seem to remember, was Notes would appear to freeze processing something (For instants a massive mail folder a user hadn't used in a year, Notes would need to generate the view), the user would kill via task manager and then wonder why I was whinging at them why didn't you use the Ctrl + Break Key.

Crumbs. Apple has tweaked the MacBook Pro keyboard

Re: "I almost fainted."

What no it has hdmi? Havent bothered with VGA for years (Although we have a hdmi to vga converter just in case).

Every bloody mac that has been here before has had thunderbolt and mini thunderbolt

Re: "an improved third-generation keyboard for quieter typing"

No I don't think you will stop people such as me moaning about Apple.

Although I had a shock yesterday, someone with an Apple mac wanted to use a projector, they had an HDMI port. I almost fainted.

Party like it's 1999: Packets of death, code exec menace Cisco gear

Re: Thankfully

Or use crusty old 79xx series phones which don't appear to be affected.

One two three... Go: Long Pig Microsoft avoids cannibalising Surface

"certain to go missing at some point in its life"

That should make up for lost revenue from their lack of store items

Surface 3's

As this had a sim card it was perfect for what management wanted and exactly what a bit of CRM software required.

Bloody charging the thing is a pain (Has to be a charger at least 2.5 Amp, has to be a specific quality cable or it doesn't charge (Amazon basics usb cables oddly we found worked perfect)), building the thing with standard MS SCCM tools is a bloody pain.

They don't want a more epensive version and with the sim card removed from most models means once people drop them they are impossible to replace with the same thing.

I feel they will just do the same thing for their student grade surface and fear someone will go Aha thats what we need.

Forking hell. It's summer, and Windows 10 is already thinking about autumn

"find all the bugs for the enterprise rollouts"

Cobblers, we still find lots of bug in the Enterprise version (1703).

Outage outrage: TSB app offers users a TITSUP* encore

People like to to yell my life is ruined on Social Media.

Leatherbound analogue password manager: For the hipster who doesn't mind losing everything

Re: Captain Scarlet: Name > website / Phone No. > password

Not being a Mac user I'm not sure. KeePass has an unofficial port but I don't know how well that works. Any MacOSX users want to recommend?

A safe to store the book in I'm not 100% sure on, if someone breaks into the safe I think they would take everything in it including the book.

Have a thumbs up for the draw comment, yes I meant drawer.

Re: Name > website / Phone No. > password

Yeah I recommend using a standard A5 paper book to anyone I think will be confused by a password manager.

I recommend remember your email and bank passwords and put anything else in the book (As a password can easily be reset if you can access your email account)

Try to keep it in alphabetical order and use one page per site.

Stating the book is for passwords is a bit silly, if its in the home in a draw hopefully it will be missed if burgled.

Cops suspect Detroit fuel station was hacked before 10 drivers made off with 2.3k 'free' litres

Maybe they remotely locked the doors and broke the Tanoy as well?

ZX Spectrum reboot firm boss delays director vote date again

Re: Debt collectors

We know who to expect on the next series of "Can't pay we'll take it away"

HP Ink's UK profits tumble nearly 85% – of course Brexit to blame

Re: HP's disgusting con

Personally year on year I print less and less, buying original inks for an ancient printer just doesn't make sense.

Israel cyber chief's 'pants' analogy for password security deemed, well, 'pants'

Re: passwords should be treated like underpants

Oddly I don't find the smell or urine that nice.

Re: Advice: Use a password manager

Yes its called a paper book, its not convenient compared to software but actually its what I recommend to older computer users (As password software tends to confuse).

Sorry I just realised I called you old, have a beer icon.

Re: passwords should be treated like underpants

Oh you are one of those types who can be smelt from the other side of the building.

WPA3 is the magic number? Protocol refresh promises tighter Wi-Fi security

Re: ROFL

@Ian Hmm I used to have a TP Link AC750 and it only reset a few settings each firmware update (I think it was a v2 model). The Archer C9 AC1900 has on every firmware updated told me it will reset settings to defaults and it has done exactly what it said.

As I use them as a wireless bridge (Can't get powerline working due to crappy wiring), pain in the backside to re-setup the WDS bridge.

Re: ROFL

To be fair TP-Link do regularly update their routers, but as they demand everything be reset to defaults every time I tend to get grumpy (Might be because I have some cheap one and they want to punish cheap people like me).

Netgear do still provide updates (Based on a DGN2200, however most updates break at least one management interface link and if you click it a protection mechanism kills the web server rendering it useless)

Our ancient Draytek Router though still receives updates

SUSE Linux Enterprise turns 15: Look, Ma! A common code base

People with to much time on their hands.

Software engineer fired, shut out of office for three weeks by machine

if the machine makes a mistake

Hangon, the script ran perfectly.

The humans inputting the data are to blame as it wasn't updated.

Trainee techie ran away and hid after screwing up a job, literally

Re: Key word is "Trainee"

PFY Tea Runs, hang on to them otherwise they will be replaced with a deadful Klik machine.

We all were PFY's once, nearly killing ourselves on something electrical (Me on a UPS which decided to melt all its cables whilst sparking and not re-tripping fast enough).

Atari accuses El Reg of professional trolling and making stuff up. Welp, here's the interview tape for you to decide...

Re: Eviscerated!

Damnit we need additional conversions on https://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html to cover scoring just like this.

A pretty and helpful user interface? Nahhh. Is that really you, Samsung?

Re: More stuff

By default I can't find a way to uninstall Apple's bloatware.

New Windows Server preview ships with an AI crystal ball

Re: See below for details

Yeah I saw that and assumed it must be on the link, which I couldn't be arsed to click.

Ailing ZX Spectrum reboot firm kicks crisis meeting into long grass

Re: Why?

Simple, Nostalga and probably having a device where the hundreds of games were supposed to be properly licensed.

Probably same reason people brought the Nes mini and Snes Mini and if they ever get a Mega Drive soc machine to sound correct I'll probably get that.

UK footie fans furious as Sky Broadband goes TITSUP: Total inability to stream unfair penalties

"I hope to god we are getting compensation for this"

If you need compensation when the connection goes down, why use any consumer ISP (Even the best service in the world can't cover you from everything). When I used to work on HellDesk for an ISP, I used think every time as I was being yelled at, if they were losing millions of pounds every second why wouldn't they spend a few hundred pound per month for a connection with backup and an SLA.

BOFH: Got that syncing feeling, hm? I've looked at your computer and the Outlook isn't great

Re: Human deviousness

Oddly I didn't actually name the bats (There is a male bat called George).

My Rubber Mallet is lost somewhere under the false floor (Where once the rubber degrades the bastards who stole my server room have a collapsed floor for a meeting room), I would replace it, but I don't think they would kill SSD's very well.

Pwned with '4 lines of code': Researchers warn SCADA systems are still hopelessly insecure

Re: SCADA systems running windows

"It was completely off the network"

If it was me I would also disable any I/O ports which werent required by physically disabling them (Unsolder the connector and blank out the slot)