Posts by keith_w

Techie lured out of retirement to support software only he remembered

I often got along better with my MIL than I did with my ex-wife''s.

Chinese e-tailer claimed 14-inch box stretched the size of a 9-inch tablet

Surfaces do not come with a keyboard, you have to by them separately. Also, they moves the location of the power connector higher on the side (surface 9)

both of mine work fine on the surface 6 and the surface 9.

This is your BIOS speaking. Please fix me. Your PC is broken

Re: Lucky the text didn't default to Chinese

In Quebec, the language requirement applies to all businesses. In the 1980s I was working for a US based international insurance broker whose IT department had developed a brokerage application which they wished to share with, aka shove down the throats of, every other national office throughout the world. We spent over a million dollars (when a million dollars was real money) reviewing the application and came up with multiple 2 inch binders of changes that would be required for it to be used in Canada. We sent it to them, they looked at and told us "For a million dollars, we will change the spelling of Check to Cheque". We declined. Every item that displayed or printed was hard-coded.

Custom PC worked in the lab, failed on site – and so did the angry client

Re: "and a ping to home worked... but nothing outside the box itself was reachable."

if pinging localhost worked, then I would check that there were lights flashing on the network card. At which point, in this illustration, someone would have noticed that the network cable was not attached. At least one would hope that some one would notice.

Microsoft sends Outlook Lite to the great inbox in the sky as memory costs skyrocket

New Outlook sux

I am an individual user and have tried the new version of Outlook and despise it even more than I despise old Outlook.

Tech support chap's boss got him out of jail so he could finish a job

Customs and border fun

in the late 90s, I worked for an American owned insurance broker and would travel to various places in the US for quarterly meetings with my peers and often got asked what i did for a living and then id the US didn't have enough PC support people of it's own?

Techie was given strict instructions not to disrupt client. Then he touched one box and the lights went out

Re: "panic spreads faster than Wi-Fi"

That's none of your beeswax.

Techie's one ring brought darkness by shorting a server

Re: "Steven" is lucky he's still alive

I once caught a signet ring on an overhead sign when I was showing off my ability jump 6 inches high. I ended up with a deep cut on my right ring finger which I treated by wrapping it in bathroom paper towel. And this was on the way to the drinking spot so you may imagine the stupid things I, and others in the party, got up to on the way home.

Tech support detective solved PC crime by looking in the carpark

I had just installed a cable internet gateway using the Microsoft proxy server and decided to check the logs. Pretty much the first thing I found was that the Pam Anderson / Tommy Lee sex tape had been accessed by the head of office. I took it to my boss and he told me not to talk to anyone about it, or even to mention that we could monitor what people accessed.

US regulator tells GM to hit the brakes on customer tracking

Re: Privacy respecting safe driving or economical driving app?

Nothing angers me more when driving is seeing people managing their speed by slamming on their brakes when there is absolutely no one ahead of them. If you are going to fast, ease up on the throttle. And it is not as though they do it once, they do it repeatedly. hit the brakes, slow down, speed up, oops too fast hit the brakes, slow down, speed up, etc, etc, etc...

BOFH: Forward-facing AI brand experience meets forward-facing combustion risk management

Only the central part of the northern part of this side of the pond. The northern part of the northern part of this side of the pond held thanksgiving over a month ago, after the harvest, when it should be held.

Re: Sounds like the extremely highly paid

The consultants, the leaders or both?

'Fax virus' panicked a manager and sparked job-killing Reply-All incident

Re: The FAX is not dead yet.

Doctors and Pharmacies in Ontario and probably in the rest of Canada as well

British spreadsheet wizard will take mad skillz to Vegas after taking national Excel crown

Re: Excellllllent

1

Can't post an image, but the correct answer is "1".

After deleting a web server, I started checking what I typed before hitting 'Enter'

Re: Never delete the old web site, only rename it

And how they become wise? May I suggest it is by learning from their own mistakes.

CIO made a dangerous mistake and ordered his security team to implement it

Re: Had a customer recently...

Some place I have worked, 9 minutes would do.

Microsoft keeps adding stuff into Windows we don't want – here's what we actually need

Re: Audio device switching is already easy

I was looking to see if anyone mentioned the audio volume method of changing audio devices. Even my wife, who can mess up any electronic device can manage that one. As for item 4, changing the windows shortcut keys, that would be a no go for me. Too often do I have to work with some else's machine and if everyone could change the shortcuts, well there wouldn't be any shortcuts.

How to find forgotten Wi-Fi passwords and SSIDs in Windows and Android

my Samsung (Android13) doesn't let me see Wifi passwords.

Quantum code breaking? You'd get further with an 8-bit computer, an abacus, and a dog

Re: Bullshit

Currently reading John Christopher's "No Blade of Grass", c1956, trade edition from 1975.

Techie traveled 4 hours to fix software that worked perfectly until a new hire used it

Re: What documentation?

" We had it poof read "

That must have been a gay old time. :)

User demanded a 'wireless' computer and was outraged when its battery died

Re: Phone down

that was standard where I worked for any machine leaving them office to be repaired

BOFH: Rerouting responsibility via firewall configs

Re: ... or some cosmetically waxed neanderthals

pretty sure there are no oil rigs in Hdson's Bay

Techie traced cables from basement to maternity ward and onto a roof, before a car crash revealed the problem

Re: At my last place....

that is guaranteed here. they design for the 1st day reuirement. on the 2nd day they bring in portable clssrooms

The IT world moves fast, so why are admins slow to upgrade?

Re: Why are admins slow to upgrade?

It was pointed out that it is not just MS that is not getting updated.

Techie cleaned up criminally bad tech support that was probably also an actual crime

Re: "This person does not work here."

Many places I have worked have "Legal retention" policies for laptops and desktops that were used by people who were let go.

New Outlook marches onto Windows 10 for what little time it has left

Re: Why?

I think it implies that new outlook is always running in your machine, monitoring your email even though the UI is not active.

Good news! You'll soon be able to send faxes again with Windows 11 24H2

Vonage did, and I used it for faxing my wife's resumes as needed.

music music music CLUNK music music music

BOFH: Don't threaten us with a good time – ensure it

Re: The Generation Game

I was once asked, while being interviewed by my manager to-be for a position as network administrator, if I knew anything about TCP. I looked at him in a somewhat amazed way and said 'Yes, it's a requirement to be Cisco certified.'. He was the head of technical support and my certs were on my resume.

Linux admin asked savvy scientist for IT help and the boffin blew it

T-R PFYs

My PFYs once came back from an IBM Token Ring Self-Recovery presentation and decided to test the loop-back feature of our way-out of bounds token ring by pulling one of the uplinks, only to discover that our token ring was already in loop-back mode.

Revenge for being fired is best served profitably

Re: Never say never

Then you are probably the only one. I never did. And as for the huge LaserJets, try lugging a Xerox wax depositing colour printer up 2 flights. Even with 2 of us, it was very difficult.

FTC urged to stop tech makers downgrading devices after you've bought them

Re: Reminds me of TV sets

"BBC received zero complaints"

I bet that was a first!

Re: Reminds me of TV sets

I have a 42" not-smart Samsung TV. I bought a $99 stereo amplifier, a 20" HDMI cable and an HDMI splitter from Amazon, and a wireless KB and mouse. The splitter is connected to the PC and shares the signal between my monitor and the TV. The HDMI cable runs downstairs to the basement where the TV is located. This allows me to replicate anything on my monitor to the screen in the basement, No need for smart anything.

Bargain-hunting boss saw his bonus go up in a puff of self-inflicted smoke

Perth County on Ontario, Canada

Developer tried to dress for success, but ended up attired for an expensive outage

In Canada you can get yellow, orange, and black hi-vis vests/jackets with reflective stripes and non-reflective alternate stripes.

Re: Hard Hats and Hi-Viz...

Whenever I cut off a zip tie it is at the head, so there is pointy bit to stab anyone with. also, I use side cutters so the cut is flat.

Re: Putting your foot in it

I have Reebok sneaker (ie. trainer) safety shoes. I wear them in the candy manufacturing site, the margarine manufacturing site, and the alcohol bottling site and nobody says a word about it.

Techie told 'Bill Gates' Excel is rubbish – and the Microsoft boss had it fixed in 48 hours

Re: Ambiguous parse

There are decent POS systems?

Outback shocker left Aussie techie with a secret not worth sharing

Thank heaven I live in a country with a reasonable electric standard, where there's only 2 residential voltages and 2 styles of outlets, one for each voltage. But we still have idiot wiring them up.

I told Halle Berry where to go during a programming gig in LA

Re: being shot at

I worked at a location in Toronto that over looked highway 401 (4 lanes each way), after a running shootout on the highway, windows got bullet resistant appliques added.

ASML caves to US pressure to cease servicing some kit used by Chinese customers

Re: Pay attention to what they do, not what they say

The United States is supporting Hamas the Palestinian Authority and Iran? Because those are the only dedicated genocidal regimes in the middle east that I am aware of.

Software support chap survived breaking his customer

Re: Don't anybody move!

it was, using (I think) PC Connect which supported both dial-up and network connections. One place I was working had an employee living in New York and dialing in (9600bpi) to a computer in our computer room (early 90's) and working on that, and a few years later I used it manage NT 3.51 and 4 servers in our offices across Canada (Frame Relay).

NASA's Psyche hits 25 Mbps from 140 million miles away – enough for Ultra HD Netflix

Re: Where is the "corrections"link?

so it should really say 30,577,536 kilometers

Techie saved the day and was then criticized for the fix

Re: Sounds About Right

side panels often have locks as well. I was working in a warehouse situation where there were several wall mounted device cages, 1 day every 2 weeks after the old IT contact person left. A new warehouse manager started and asked me where the keys were so I told him I had no idea, and that it was the responsibility of the person who had them installed to have managed the keys. I had wondered that myself when they removed an AP from a connected outside structure by cutting the cable prior to demolishing the structure. I still don't know if they have located the keys.

Microsoft thinks bundles are great and customers love them

Re: Benefits me - kind of

Corporately licenses are sold for individual users, so they can be a mix of levels. One place I occasionally work at, white collar workers get a full license, blue collar workers (yes, that's what they call them) get a limited license.

Air Canada must pay damages after chatbot lies to grieving passenger about discount

A Vancouverite is unlikely to consider a Vancouver to Toronto trip a vacation flight. On the other hand, a Torontonian may consider a trip to Vancouver a vacation. Also, both Air Canada and WestJet, our 2 major airlines, both frequently mistreat passengers and their luggage and end up in front of the tribunal.

Microsoft 365's add-on avalanche is putting the squeeze on customers

Re: Ripped out O365 last year

TANSTAAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.