Posts by Lost in Cyberspace 140 posts • joined 17 Apr 2012
I've been bombarded with lots of calls about microphone issues.
Most are sorted by changing the mic source in the settings (which only seem accessible during a meeting).
The other few have been sorted by installing the latest audio drivers from the manufacturer's support page / searching for an update in Device Manager.
I lost a few novice-user customers over this... as someone who deals with consumer PC repairs, no amount of password / security resets could keep the Yahoo / BT accounts secure. BT kept saying it must be a virus on the computer, and 'the technician' (me) needed to take yet another look at the PC as it must be infected. (Nope, completely clear).
Guess who the consumer tends to believe.
And there's only so many times that you can charge a customer, or do it for 'free' before someone says enough is enough.
We've always called it Microsoft Questions rather than Microsoft Answers.
I just scroll to the final page, where the user says 'Don't worry guys... I sorted it myself. I put the DVD in and reloaded Windows'
[Marked as Solved]
You'll never find out the real reason something doesn't work, or a 'proper' way to fix it.
I deal exclusively with home users. It's been a tough week explaining where the restart button is. So far this week:
20 on BT. 5 on TalkTalk. 2 on Sky.
(EE have also put a notice on their help pages).
19 had McAfee installed. 2 had Avast installed.
Most of my customers were blaming their ISPs, some have had other technically-minded users waste hours tinkering with settings - until I explained it was more likely to be Windows 10... something is crashing and due to the 'fast boot' feature, a shut down won't clear it, whereas a restart will. It's been a long week.
I enjoy diverting my phone to HulloMail on my day off for individualised messages.
Out of hours, it tells my customers I will ring them back when I'm next working, and it tells my mum / wife / kids / school receptionist the best number to reach me on.
And I get a text equivalent of the voicemail right in the app, so I can continue enjoying my day off without listening to someone describe the error message on their screen - for four bloody minutes (until the VM cuts them off).
I would love this functionality in the Apple VM app though. If it supports out-of-hours voicemail greetings.
I've noticed that my van fob activates certain doorbells, useful if I'm visiting that particular customer but annoying if all the neighbours open their door as I walk away from the van.
My daughter thinks it would be funny to play 'remote knock-down-ginger' as we drive down the streets, but I'm not convinced that's good for my professional reputation!
Google don't force me to use them because of any underhand bully-boy anti-competition tactics, it's just that I'm yet to find a better alternative. One that doesn't involve scrolling all the way down the page and squinting to see where the organic results start, after the ads.
Symantec need to get their own security in order. Every unique address email address I ever gave Norton (for NIS, 360, Ghost, Utilities etc) suddenly started getting loads of spam a few months ago. These were quite unique, obscure email addresses - some from 2005-2006. But of course, they deny any breach or theft and don't even seem to understand the problem (because 'they didn't send it').
Let first gen buyers saturate the market, then wait for the improved / cheaper next gen models, with acceptable features and battery life.
I'm sure I can cope without a smart watch for another year or two. After all, my current watch battery has at least 2 more years life left in it before I have to consider a new battery or a new watch.
IMO companies like TalkTalk, Sky TV etc have had rogue insiders for years, stealing records. I get calls from fake Sky exactly at the time my box warranties expire. My customers get frequent calls, by name, from companies saying they have a PC problem.
It's frustrating that for every customer that rings me because "TalkTalk accessed their PCI and confirmed a virus", there must be another that just pays the fake ISP for a maintenance contract and falsely believes their PC is secure. This is not the first time it's happened.
Taboola is exactly the kind of thing that should be blocked - by law. Frequently misleading, often outright bullshit adverts. Fake pictures, questionable products... Those people don't actually endorse those hair products / diet pills at all. Now, if that was an advert for <ISP a, b or c> then someone would have been told not to do it again by now....
A free upgrade is a small price to pay to get a new Microsoft ID customer - extra audience for the Windows 10 App Store, and if you've got a desktop/laptop computer or two already on Windows 10, I suppose the hope is that your next device will be a Surface or Lumia, rather than iOS or Android...
Many people get paid at the end of the month. You get the reminder about a week to 10 days in to the month. And there's very little incentive to pay the gov any earlier than you need to, particularly if the whole amount is going on a card. I don't think it's that unreasonable to be able to pay the day before you really have to.
I think the Ecosystem is easily as important as the device itself. Google needed the manufacturers in the early days to gain market share, and the manufacturers needed Android to attract customers (I don't want a smartphone with no App Store, that would be like going back to Windows Mobile 6).
But Android is huge now, and can easily compete with iOS. Google could probably shut out all the others and start making money. I'm not sure that's a good thing for consumers though.
That's exactly the point. If people are given a Windows tablet and spend 10 mins learning touch gestures, they are by and large quite happy (the apps are still a bit behind iOS / Android though).
Force a mouse and keyboard combo upon them and most people are frustrated that it's not as easy as XP to operate. Perhaps Windows 9 will fix all this properly, in a way that 8.1 hints at.
Static IPs don't work if you move your equipment between connections (e.g a laptop that needs to be accessed remotely), transfers between landline and 3G etc.
Additionally, I distributed a remote support UVNC-SC app to over 800 clients - using a premium No-IP domain to call in - in case I ever needed to change my static IP (move to a new office, change ISP, work from home etc).
A static IP doesn't always cut it. Nor does No-IP evidently.
I'd have thought that it was a give that data was anonymised.
My problem with it is that they were deliberately trying to manipulate peoples' moods.
There are probably a fair few people that rely on seeing positive posts from others (family etc) to get through their day/week/month/year. This is bloody disgraceful, FB.
I can see Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys et al enforcing it so suppliers won't have a choice.
My library changed from barcodes to RFID sometime in the last decade (since I last took out a book), so I'm sure groceries will go that way at some point.
Now, forget about fridges for a sec - if every door in my house had RFID sensors, and every item was chipped up, I would save hours every week looking for stuff.
I drove 30 miles to a client to help them set up Photoshop - they couldn't even download and install Teamviewer or my own VNC app - just to find that I couldn't even create an Adobe ID.
So I've effectively driven a round trip to install some remote support software so I can attempt the install later. Ffs.
So, we are at 8.1 update 1 with additional patches.
2 different methods are required to get there from 8.0. The updates take ages and often fail, or confuse the user with enforced Agree buttons AFTER installation and almost-compulsory Microsoft Accounts.
Enough to make a saint swear.
I remember how easy it was to teach my classmates to write a 'wait till lessons start and then beep continuously' script for the Micros sat in the class corner / corridor / teacher's office (stock room).
Unfortunately that got stopped when the same kids started putting rude messages on the screen - it was not longer a computer fault but an obvious prank.
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