Posts by Lost in Cyberspace

Uncle Sam has a datacenter waste problem

And there's me worrying...

... about my home file server PC being wasteful, with an outlay of £140, and sucking up £5 of electricity a month.

AWS postmortem: Internal ops teams' own monitoring tools went down, had to comb through logs

I'm no expert...

But when these big companies keep all their tools on one big platform, is it not putting all the eggs in one basket?

Did this not happen to Facebook / Meta recently?

Flash? Nu-uh. Windows 11 users complain of slow NVMe SSD performance

Collecting the fixes

I've been collecting these various registry fixes and putting them in one reg file. Very handy when setting up several PCs a week for home users.

Before I agree to let your app track me everywhere, I want something 'special' in return (winks)…

Re: I would like to add...

Yes, my customers frequently allow notifications. Then complain about all the 'viruses' and driver update / warnings / fake news pop-ups that got in. I delete them and switch off the feature completely.

Perl.com theft blamed on social engineering attack: Registrar 'convinced' to alter DNS records by miscreants

Inadvertently assisted the theft of a domain

I once found myself inadvertently helping someone steal a domain.

I visited a shop to help the owner/manager recover his domain from an ex-employee that set it up.

The website was definitely for the shop I was actually sat in, everything checked out... shop name, address, phone number was the same as above the door. The manager had access to the sales/admin emails so we were able to reset passwords and transfer domain ownership. The manager was a key holder, the shop was open and staff / customers were milling about.

Couldn't really get much more proof of ownership than that. Did the job, got paid, emailed a receipt.

Turns out that the 'manager' and some of the team were actually staff that were about to leave and set up on their own. He was sabotaging the website and social network accounts on the way out.

My email receipt reached the 'real' boss, who aggressively threatened all sorts of things. I tactfully reminded him that I'd done what the manager in the shop had asked me to do, and that I didn't know this person on the phone. If he could provide proof of business ownership (not a ltd company) I'd gladly switch it back and he could claim the cost from the rogue employees. I didn't hear anything else.

Who do you trust?

Smartphones are becoming like white goods, says analyst, with users only upgrading when their handsets break

Ill upgrade when there's a new killer feature

I upgraded early from iPhone 7 to XSMax because of dual sim... genuinely useful for me for work/personal.

But this XSMax will keep going until the battery dies.

Slightly better cameras, MagSafe and 5G isn't enough to warrant another £1300 yet.

Subway email weirdness: Suspicion grows over apparent Trickbot trojan delivery campaign

Re: Subway email weirdness

I gave a unique email address when I signed up for an account with Subway... the loyalty scheme is fairly generous. If I'm buying for the family, I may as well rack up enough points for 'free' subs, cookies and coffee.

The online account / app usually beats carrying a Subcard around just in case we stop at Subway on the services.

Congratulations Peebles. Felicitations Queenzieburn. Openreach is bringing you FTTP (yes, they're real places)

Some places get everything...

... most seem to get nothing.

The nearest places to me getting full fibre seem to be the ones that already have Virgin, got 4G early and are getting 5G this year.

Perhaps it's the infrastructure or population density, but the sceptic in me suggests that Openreach are going for market share.

Meanwhile, many places will be stuck on ADSL / VDSL and poorer mobile coverage for a lot longer.

Hats off to the brave 7%ers who dived into the Windows 10 May 2020 Update within a month of release

My USBs are nearly all 2004

All my fresh installs are v2004 and all good so far.

I don't want to be going back to customers after a few days/weeks to babysit an update from 1909.

No more installing Microsoft's Chromium-centered Edge by hand: Windows 10 will do it for you automatically

I like it... but

I can imagine getting lots of support calls from my novice users.

Some will dislike change, some will be alarmed by the icon looking different.

My biggest concerns, though, are the way it will force a change to the default browser, search engine and one little click of the Sync button can 'upgrade' your local account to a Microsoft account without even prompting for a password (if it already has some details saved for you). Great way to get locked out, next time the computer starts up.

Surge in Zoom support requests was 'unexpected', says tool team as it turns taps down

Not surprised

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.

What are those Windows 10 PCs running? Several flavours from 2019, by the looks of things

1903

Not sure why any device is still on 1903 though, when 1903 > 1909 is such a quick and pain-free update. Is there a reason it's not an auto-update?

UK! watchdog! slaps! Yahoo! with! £250k! fine! for! 2014! data! breach!

How do I claim?

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.

Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 7, 8.1 support forums

Never has an answer anyway.

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.

Busted Windows 8, 10 update blamed for breaking Brits' DHCP

Not just BT

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.

Yahoo! halts! email! forwarding! to! outside! email! addresses!

IMAP / POP also under attack

Several clients have informed me that access via 'Less secure apps' has suddenly been disabled too.

Yahoo is giving me so many headaches from novice users right now.

IMAP / POP also under attack

Several clients have informed me that access via 'Less secure apps' has suddenly been disabled too.

Yahoo is giving me so many headaches from novice users right now.

Hate Windows 10? Microsoft's given you 'Insider' powers anyway

Only one big request

Stop changing everything when users upgrade. The defaults, start menu shortcuts and other preferences were set that way for a reason.

Hey, Apple! 1999 just called and it wants its voicemail avatar back

HulloMail

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.

It's FREE WINDOWS 10 time: 29 July is D-Day, yells Microsoft

Only 12 months to upgrade for free...

Yep, that will be fun when I need to re-install an upgraded PC, and my client has no record whatsoever of the upgrade to 10...

Manchester car park lock hack leads to horn-blare hoo-ha

Re: The future is bright

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 drives a tenth of news traffic? That's bull-doodie, to use the technical term

Lack of feasible competition

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.

There's TOO MANY data-leaking healthcare firms, growls Symantec

Hypocrites

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').

Pre-order consumergasm will leave Apple Watches out of stock for months

Good on them

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.

BT thinks EE customers will FLEE from enlarged four-play mobe biz

Best of a bad bunch

Really it will come down to who's better out of BT/EE and Three/O2. IMO neither of the buying companies are known for excellent Customer Service... I don't know how many will jump from BT to Three.

Microsoft dumps ARM for Atom with cut-price Surface 3 fondleslab

Ideas that sounded good at the time

like the naming for almost every Microsoft product ever released?

Aged 18-24? Don't care about voting? Got a phone? Oh dear...

Re:

I wish I'd been able to vote at 16. I would have voted against the introduction of tuition fees, which came in just as I was applying to uni. It affected me, but I was slightly too young (in the eyes of the law) to actually have an opinion.

EasyGroup continues bizarre, time-travelling domain crusade

Easy...

How much is the domain worth? Is it cheaper to buy than litigate?

TalkTalk 'fesses up to MEGA data breach

As a Home PC Tech

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.

German music moguls slammed for 'wurst ever DMCA takedown spam'

Re: die die die

An automatic / statutory processing fee for incorrect requests should do the trick.

Google, Amazon 'n' pals fork out for AdBlock Plus 'unblock' – report

Taboola etc

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....

Free Windows 10 could mean the END for Microsoft and the PC biz

Microsoft ID

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...

Ailing AMD battered by goodwill, inventory charges

AMD E1

Perhaps AMD and manufacturers deserve to take a hit for all those crappy low end E1 processors they are pumping out for Windows 8 machines?

It's like 2006 all over again, when Compaq et al were sending out Vista Basic with Celerons with 80GB drives and 448MB of usable RAM.

Hong Kong mogul mulls multi-billion pound bid for O2 – report

Customer service

I always have a pleasant Customer Service experience with O2. OTOH, I have never, even once, had a remotely positive experience with Three CS. I don't trust them with anything more than my PAYG data sim now.

I know which way things would go if this goes ahead.

PEAK APPLE: iOS 8 is least popular Cupertino mobile OS in all of HUMAN HISTORY

If 64GB+ storage was the norm

then finding a free 5GB would not be an issue. Too many complaints from clients that their 8GB/16GB iDevice is full... 32GB should be entry level now.

Is Apple incubating a Macbook, iPad bastard child?

This sounds like Windows 8 territory

and look how's that's working out for them so far.

Would Apple dare to go down a desktop / ios approach?

DVLA website GOES TITSUP on day paper car tax discs retire

Re:

Agreed, The tax should be included in the fuel duty instead. But it's a way of keeping tabs on the owners but forcing contact with the DVLA at least once a year.

Scrap road tax, and just force a Statutory off/on road notification once a year instead.

Re: I concur

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.

iPhone 6: The final straw for Android makers eaten alive by the data parasite?

Ecosystem is king

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.

Apple's SNEAKY plan: COPY ANDROID. Hello iPhone 6, Watch

Re: Bah humbug

The 5s is still a pretty good phone, but given the choice I'd go with the 6 for the extra performance and features despite the size increase.

Hopefully the 7 will come in 3 sizes, without the smallest model being crippled with only 8-16GB.

Siri: Helpful personal assistant or SERIAL APP KILLER?

Re:

Love it. I piss my daughter off by shouting Xbox commands from the top of the stairs during her games.

Well, *I* think it's quite funny

What's the nature of your emergency, Vodafone?

Dubious

I thought Vodafone originally made the claim based on revenue rather than market share.

I don't think it's a good thing to highlight how much more money you make from customers, when you're a company competing in a market where your service is similar to everyone else's.

PROOF the Apple iPhone 6 rumor mill hype-gasm has reached its logical conclusion

Hmm

I'm happy with the LED flash in my iPhone, it's enough to let me know I need to check the screen.

But I could be convinced that coloured LEDs are better - if I'd had a chance to try it.

I would definitely not want a bloody glowing apple logo though. It's a bit too 'poser'.

Windows 7, XP and even Vista GAIN market share again

Re: "windows gets slower"

Just replaced HD with SSD in my laptop and shoved on 8.1 (was 7).

Boot time is now 11 sec instead of 90.

But that is a clean system, without iCloud installed now...

Re:

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.

Microsoft's anti-malware crusade knackers '4 MILLION' No-IP users

Re: Accused of providing composting info to cybercriminals...

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.

BT at last coughs to 'major outage' after broadband went titsup across UK on Sat

Meanwhile..

2 of my customers have borked Windows 8 by hitting refresh... All because their Internet didn't work.

Gah, why is it so easy for clients to do a refresh anyway?!

Facebook: Yes, we made you SAD on PURPOSE... for your own good

Missing the point, FB

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.

Overclocking to 5GHz? We put Intel Devil’s Canyon CPU to the test

Toasty

Does this mean I can turn my heating down a notch, and offset the running costs?

Internet of Things fridges? Pfft. So how does my milk carton know when it's empty?

Re: Devil's advocate says...

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.