Posts by James O'Shea 2095 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2007
Hmm. Indian Flankers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-30MKI work better than Russian Flankers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27 The Indians are also, allegedly, better than Felons, or would be if there were more than two and a half dozen Felons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-57
"Microsoft has long told customers they won't have the option to forgo the passwordless push,"
One of my cousins has a Mac, and MS Office. Over the weekend, he got a message from his personal OneDrive that he needed to sign in. Except that there was a problem: the password did NOT unlock OneDrive. He got an error message (8004de44, he called me to fix the damn thing) and a request for a 'security key' (the Mac doesn't have a fingerprint reader) and could not activate. Changing the password made no difference. He could access OnDrive in his web browser, just as he could access his MS account, and MS Office; he had a OneDrive Business account, which works. MS 'support' were less than helpful. The personal OneDrive works on a Windows machine and on an iPad as well as in Firefox, Brave, and Vivaldi. Apple support said that this is an MS problem, not theirs, especially as it works on the iPad.
In Ye Olden Daze of just passwords there would have been no problem. Probably.
i do train those whose systems I admin. Family, friends, users at work. Some listen, some don't. Those who don't listen tend to feel the results. When they come crying, I point out that if they'd listened, they would not have this problem. Evolution in action, that's what it is.
I got a case with a lanyard not to protect against thieves, but so that the device wouldn't fall and break the screen; the lanyards work as anti-theft systems as a bonus. Those who don't get lanyards, or who don't use them and break screens or have stuff stolen (breaking screens is far more common), as a result, get zero sympathy from me.
My iPad and laptop are with me pretty much 24/7. The iPad in particular is connected to the car system by USB; I play music on it while driving, and have the maps up if necessary. I unplug it from the car USB and put it next to the laptop in my carry bag. And I have two phones; one is configured as a hotspot so that the laptop has a live Internet connection, which does NOT depend on a coffee shop or whatever wifi. If someone steals one of the phones, I'd be on Find My in under five minutes, probably under one minute. Apple Pay is on both phones and the iPad.
And the phones are in pockets, with zip closures, in the bag when not in use, and have lanyards. And the bag is itself secured adequately with a GOOD strap properly placed; snatch and run ain't happening. Besides, it's usually in the car until I get to my destination, then it's with me in the parking lot until it's in the building with me. The odds of the bag being stolen are... quite low.
Thieves go for the low-hanging fruit. Those who take proper precautions aren't attractive targets.
Install an ad-blocker on various devices. Use a DVR to record TV, and fast-forward past ads. I haven't seen an ad on my normal systems for years. Where possible, I put ad-blockers on every computer I use; if I can't put an ad-blocker on it, I keep the usage down to a minimum.
Apple's built-in password manager checks for reused passwords, flags them, and says why. It also looks for passwords that have been compromised, flags those, and tells why. Several 3rd-party password managers do much the same thing. if your password manager doesn't do this, or if it does but you don't pay attention, you're an idiot.
Yes, it's what they deserve. Think of it as evolution in action.
Around here, all my banking apps (one for checking/saving, one for the credit union, two for credit cards) require at least two steps to get to the login. And the websites associated with them are quite bolshie about security. No, they don't just autofill. My passwords are locked up in either Zoho's or Apple's password managers. Both of them require multiple steps to access; with Zoho, I must fire up an access app... which requires a password, which is NOT autofilled. And has an MFA of its own. And lives on my iPad, so they'd have to steal it too. With Apple, I must log in with my Apple ID... which does NOT autofill and which requires a password or biometrics. I have it rigged to demand a password; it's a 15-item password, ten characters, two of them caps, four numbers, and a symbol. Yes, it's annoying to get into the password manager. It's supposed to be annoying. (The ten characters spell out something in a non-Indo-European language, except that it's deliberately misspelled. A thief would have to guess which language and how I misspelled it and the caps and numbers are not necessarily where most people would expect them to be...) Website passwords are NOT stored in the browser. And, oh, I have three browsers loaded on each of the devices, and I use different browsers for different tasks. The websites themselves will be in the cookies for only one browser. Guess which one. Do it fast, before I nuke the phone remotely.
If a thief gets access to my unlocked phone, he gets access to email and texting, but he had better move fast before I fire up Find My on the iPad or the other iPhone and spin up Lost Phone. (Note that Find My also lives on Macs, and in icloud.com, which is readily available from Windows, Linux, or even Android systems.)
You are far too kind. He should be rebranded as a shepherd, and exported o New Zealand as being surplus to requirements in the UK. I don't have anything against Kiwis, but they are about as far away from the UK as you can get without leaving the planet. If/when Herr Muskrat gets his Mars thingy working, he can be exported to Mars.
Trust me, there are people who are lots worse than he is. There is, for example, the gentleman who insists that there are 678 aliens living in the solar system right how. They're refugees from the Antares system; Antares is a red supergiant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antares Any life on any planet in the Antares system would be... special. Antares is also about 550 light years away. The only way to get here from there would be the Dray Prescot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dray_Prescot_series method. And, in any case, 678 is an awfully precise number. M'man posts on USENET, notably in talk.origins and rec.arts.sf.written, and he's not the kookiest poster in either newsgroup. (And, yes, he's quite serious.)
It's down now. (11:00 Eastern.)
I get to be paid to visit El Reg because a certain project can't be accessed. Gee. Did I tell the 'C' bos to NOT set things up in the cloud? Didn't I say so _in writting_? Why, yes I did. I can't wait to see whose fault this is.
And if they did so, then it would be simple to set up a VPN to get around this.
Are the UK authorities going to ban access to VPNs set up from outside the UK (Nord comes to mind pretty much instantly; they're in Panama and the Netherlands, IIRC.)? Because if they aren't, it would be trivial to get a VPN and then just ignore officialdom.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that 4Chan has no official presence in the UK? If this is so, then how, exactly, is a UK organization planning on collecting even one penny from them? As I understand it, wouldn't HM Boyos have to bring suit in 4Chan's legal residence? I suspect that the odds of a UK org getting legal cover in the US for something like this to be near zero. It's not like Apple, or Google, or Microsoft, all of which actually have UK-based arms which can be hit; I rather suspect that 4Chan isn't even a registered company in the UK.
And, besides... VPNs are your friends.
damn senators are THINKING TOO SMALL. Build the battleship Michael from Niven & Pournelle's book Footfall. Michael was built to carry _four_ shuttles. See https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQQZwZn55rU/VPqIy3fjrUI/AAAAAAAAAW4/5magVZgUGd4/s1600/michael_by_william_black-d8eudqd.jpg, https://www.reddit.com/r/StarshipPorn/comments/2ujhlw/battleship_michael_climbing_to_orbit_1024x768/, and https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryStarships/comments/14r1sx6/michael_nuclear_pulse_battleship_from_footfall/ for more. And we could use the two senators' fat heads as shielding when we need to launch, and, more important, to land. Gotta love nuke pulse spacecraft. Just don't be behind them.
I had already resolved to go with Ubuntu and Apple for my computing needs, other than a few legacy systems running Win 10, 7, and XP, and a few VMs with Win 10. Win 11 was already banned, even from VMs. I will be moving away from legacy Windows and Windows in VMs ASAP..
Thanks for making the decision so easy, Sad Nad.
at the office, we are not going to Win11.
1. Win 10 machines which must be used will be moved to the 'special' network, which has no external access and is extremely locked down. There are other legacy machines already there. Legacy hardware/software will be replaced ASAP.
2. All other Win10 machines will be converted to Ubuntu.
3. New machines going forwards will be Ubuntu or Mac. Note that I have several quotes from Lenovo for desktop and laptop systems which ship with Ubuntu preinstalled, not Windows anything. HP (ick) and Dell (double ick) have been less forthcoming. It would appear that the future, around here at least, is Apple and Lenovo.
4. We are also moving on from MS server solutions. Our old WinServer 2016 and 2019 systems are being replaced by nice new hardware, running Linux server software. We like ADDS and GPOs... just not enough to stick with them unsupported, or to pay extra just because MS wants 2016 and 2019 gone. We will have all servers replaced by December.
5. the only real reasons to keep MS Office were Excel and Outlook. Excel is being replaced. Outlook... well, MS just 'increased security' on Outlook; older Mac systems are getting notifications that some accounts, notably Gmail accounts, require that the user update to the latest version of macOS. Simpler solutions for most legacy Macs were to delete Gmail accounts from Outlook or just to delete Outlook. As the legacy Win10 systems are locked down with no external access, the Outlook problems do not affect them. The last remaining MS Office installs will be on machines which are locked away from external connections and which will never, ever, be upgraded. (They will also never, ever, see MS adware.)
Congratulations, Sad Nad. You have succeeded in making this company Microsoft-frei, or at least it will be in the foreseeable future. Good job. Do carry on. Apple, Ubuntu, and Lenovo sales should send you a gift basket.
The company I work for put a lot of stuff on tablets, both iOS/iPadOS and Android... and at first there were a lot of Android users. The number quickly fell as the Android users discovered just how bad Android on tablet was, and just how little app support there was. Meanwhile, the iPad users loved their machines; an attempt to put MS Surface systems out fizzled, and most Android tablet users went to iPad. (Users thought that Surfaces were MS versions of iPads, only more expensive and less usable and easier to break. There have been improvements in Surface usability and reliability since the first units came out, but the damage was already done. It's a bad look for MS when Apple does it both better _and_ cheaper. It's a worse look for Android when MS is considered superior, even if Surfaces were expensive, unreliable, and not as easy to use as iPads.) The company will be dropping Android support for its specialised apps in December.
I don't care about Jonny Ives and his thinness obsession. I do care about being able to hold the damn device, and a proper case gives me something to grip while protecting the device. This is why the colo(u)rs Apple dreams up for the various devices mean nothing to me; they'll be inside a case. My iPhone 16 has a transparent case, not because I wanted to see the 'Space Black' color, but because that case was available and did what I wanted and wasn't outrageously priced. My iPad has a keyboard case, because I wanted a keyboard; I think that it is 'Silver' or some such color, but I haven't actually seen the back of the device since I put the case on it and I simply don't care. Yes, both are bulkier than they were without the cases. And yes, both survive falls much better. Which is what I care about. My current Windows laptop is showing its age, and will be replaced by a MacBook Pro. Which will get a protective case, as one way that the Lenovo is showing its age is the scratches and scrapes on the device.
Jonny Ives and his fanbois, including his fanbois at Lenovo, can kiss my ass. Thin Is Not In.
I usually buy a case for a new phone when I buy the new phone. I learned my lesson with my very first smartphone, an Android, which didn't have a case... and which I dropped in the parking lot in front of the store as I was walking to my car. Minor cosmetic damage, but enough to ensure that I turned right around and got a case for it. Which hid the damage. Too bad that the phone itself was utter shit, but I didn't know that then. (No, it wasn't as a result of my dropping it; assorted fora, in those dim and distant days, had lots of threads about how bad that thing was, I merely had not done proper due diligence before buying, I never made that error again, either.)
I blame Mother England., For both. Damn Sassenach.
To be sure, if I were offered the choice of Jughead Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or The Orange One, I'd go with Jughead every time, but he's not on offer over here. Pity, that. And he's not really Sassenach, being German with some Danish by way of Greece. Now, if he'd show some Teutonic efficiency and get rid of a certain Prime Minister, thereby Making Britain Great Again, I'd really want him to take over over here. That's not likely to happen. Really great pity.
Memo to UKans: would you consider a trade, straight up, you take The Orange One, we take Jughead? Please?
Exits, to "Charlie, He's My Darling".
I'll take the job. If, and only if, I can do it remotely while sitting on the beach here in Deepest South Flori-duh. And if the salary is direct-deposited into the account of my choice in the Caymans. We just won't tell The Orange Guy, so that he isn't tempted to slap a tariff on it.
The first thing that I'll do is to rip out all Microsoft software. All of it. Down to OS and networking. Unless, of course, Redmond sends a nice brown envelope containing three years' pay to my Cayman account. Then I'll wait six months and then rip out all Microsoft software.
Adobe, Oracle, and Broadcom get the same treatment. I figure that the staff will have lots of work for the next few years, and by that time, there'll be an election and the new guys will want their own guy in my seat.
And certain 'think of the children' regulations will softly, silently, vanish away as there won't be any enforcement, all the staff will be too busy with the reorg. Nothing will move at the Home Office until the reorg is done, but that's business as usual at the HO, so no one will notice.
If you need me, I'll be on the third beach chair to the right on Miami Beach, sipping a rum and Coke and reading El Reg. (Real Rum, too, none of that gay Puerto Rican spiced rum.)
Two of my throwaway gmail accounts are getting 'bounce' messages indicating that mail cannot be delivered. The alleged destination address which doesn't exist would be of the format [username]@google.info, [username]@googlemail, [user]]random symbol][name]@gmail.com, or similar. Note that the two throwaways in question have very different usernames and have never been used to send mail to the same sites. It appears possible that someone has a list of gmail usernames and is playing silly SMTP games.
Throwawy accounts using Yahoo or Outlook addresses do not have this problem.
I await notification from Google that there's a security problem and they can't verify my account and my account is locked unless I give them a cell phone number, which is not going to happen.
1. Macs have been doing this since 1985. (shift-option-hyphen...)
2. MS Word, on Macs at least, has had an autocorrct feature for this since sometime in the 1980s. Possibly 1985, but it's been a while and I'm not sure and can't be arsed to look it up. And MS Word on Windows has had it since at least the 1990s. Again I can't be arsed to look it up. (Type two dashes, get an emmdash...)
3. I think that LibreOffice has this, too. Again, I can't be arsed to look it up.
4. Where implemented in the past, it was a built-in feature, not something that had to be added, annoyingly.
So... MS is copying, badly, features that Apple had 40 years ago and which were implemented in Word at least 30 years ago. And are doing this instead of restoring the ability move the bloody taskbar to the sides or the top. Hoo-bloody-ray for bloody Microsoft.
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