Posts by Fuzz

New SSL/TLS certs to each live no longer than 47 days by 2029

Nuts

All of the web (http) servers can go on let's encrypt so they are being renewed automatically.

All the rest need their certs installing manually. That one component where you have to uninstall it and then reinstall to update the cert. The tomcat containers that want the cert dropped into a folder with a specific name. Some want a pfx, some want the CA chain and the cert separately some want it all bundled together. Binary certs, base64 certs.

Glad I'm not the one responsible for that any more.

End of the road for biz living off free G Suite legacy edition

There definitely is an option. I have used it for my free legacy gsuite.

You need to log into the admin portal and it should be there. If it's not just log a support call and someone can sort it. They can also move you back to the free service of you already migrated to the paid one.

Microsoft plans to drop SMB1 binaries from Windows 11

Can't believe this has taken so long. It's insecure and hasn't been needed by most people for nearly 10 years on the other hand .net 3.5 which is still supported and still used a lot in enterprise has required a separate install since windows 8.

Google sours on legacy G Suite freeloaders, demands fee or flee

Re: Migration of Apps and Movies

I don't understand what Google are saying here. The only way I can understand this working is if the accounts are converted to a standard Google account without email. If that's what's going to happen then Google should say so and we can get to work on migrating our email out to a different system.

Re: Notice?

I also haven't received a notice or seen anyone who has said specifically that they have received a notice. I wonder, are Google trying to shed some bigger accounts by announcing this through the press.

UK government rings £1.5bn dinner bell for software design and implementation, 54 vendors come running

I also counted 26 winning bidders on the list. Might just be my counting.

UK on track to miss even its slashed full-fibre gigabit coverage goals, warn MPs

Virgin shouldn't be included

My house would be counted as having "gigabit capable" broadband because I live in an area that Virgin have upgraded to their gigabit service. It's 1Gb/s download speed but only 50Mb/s upload. I don't see who that service is useful too. I'd much rather have a symmetric 200 or 300 Mb/s.

Dynabook Portégé X30L-G: So light, you might even forget about its terrible keyboard

Re: That keyboard

I can confirm the keyboard is rubbish. Yes the UK version does have a fullsize enter key but in order to fit the enter key in the [] ' # keys have shrunk half the width of the letter keys. The left shift key ends up being only the same size as the left ctrl to fit the \ in next to the Z. The other keys are the same as the US layout so you get a horrible right shift with the page up/down squashed in next to it. When you type on the keyboard the whole thing flexes in the middle. Compared to the XPS 13 it's awful.

Also a UK keyboard layout is no longer a guarantee of a full sized enter key, HP have started selling UK laptops with a US style enter, take a look at the Envy X360.

Microsoft wants to show enterprises that Edge means business, rather than the thing you use to download Chrome

Re: Enterprise?

This is so stupid. This basic feature requires an expensive add-on to your licensing. I don't understand the logic and most people at Microsoft don't seem to either. It looks like they've implemented a secure way of doing sync where the enterprise can be in control of the encryption keys and in doing so broken the simple way. The Android version of edge will quite happily let you sync with a basic o365 account.

Easyjet hacked: 9 million people's data accessed plus 2,200 folks' credit card details grabbed

Re: OK, hands up ..

Done properly storing credit card details isn't a problem since the actual details themselves are never stored just a reference token that can only be used by that one merchant. Of course as an end user you have no idea if the website is going to do it properly or just chuck them into a table next to your email address and password.

As mentioned in the article this most likely isn't Easyjet storing card details but some kind of script running on top of the website harvesting the card details as they are entered. It makes little sense that Easyjet would have card details stored in an accessible way for 2200 people only.

EU declares it'll Make USB-C Great Again™. You hear that, Apple?

connector not the only issue

If the plan is to get rid of waste then as well as a standardised connector you also need.

1. Detachable cables as standard. I've got a box of micro USB chargers at work, all of our phones are now USB-C. The cables on the chargers are hard wired so they're all waste.

2. Manufacturer replacement program for broken cables. The problem with lightning cables is not so much that they're different it's that they're so flimsy which means that although you start off with a team of 10 people who have one cable each you very quickly end up with 1 working cable between 10. If manufacturers were forced to replace the cables it would encourage them to up the quality.

3. Include other devices, not just phones and tablets but laptops, cameras, headphones, TV dongles, smart watches, wireless keyboards and mice.

Stones, meet glass house: Mind behind Windows 8 GUI disses Windows 10 over leak

file search

Forget finding results as you type, start with the basics like switching to the details view when there are more than 20 results. Or not restarting a completed search when you change the order of results.

It's official. Microsoft pushes Google over the Edge, shifts browser to Chromium engine

Re: The passing of an age

IE11 is the browser in Server 2019 no edge due to no support for UWP.

That means it'll be supported for at least another 10 years. As this new Edge will be Win32 I guess it might show up in the next release of Windows Server.

Behold, the world's most popular programming language – and it is...wait, er, YAML?!?

Re: HTML-only calculator? I don't think so

The CSS is only for appearance, it makes a bunch of links look like a picture of a calculator.

Each button is a link which takes you to an index on the page. You can scroll up and down the individual screens.

I'm just annoyed that every signle screen has the same spelling mistake.

Sysadmin running a Mac fleet? IBM has just thrown you a lifeline

Re: "with the chance to enable disk encryption"

"As with Linux, whole disk crypto is built in and can be enabled without having to resort to reformatting or the installation of external software - and people don't even have to interrupt their work to wait for the conversion to take place."

As with Windows too, Bitlocker has been doing this since Vista. However unlike with Windows, on a Mac it is impossible to connect to a wifi network at the logon screen when you have encryption enabled. So forget logging into a directory account on a macbook with full disk encryption enabled.

Samsung’s flexible phone: Expect an expensive, half-bendy clamshell

Re: I still think a bifold device will be a market failure

That's not how the mobile phone market works.

At some point Apple will put the feature on an iPhone, after that all high end phones will have the feature. Eventually the whole market will have it. Doesn't matter if it's better or worse than what came before, it's different and that's enough. The market doesn't get a choice.

Just look at the notch, everyone knows it's stupid and yet all phones now have one. Same as most people would rather have a headphone socket a larger battery and expandable memory.

Samsung Galaxy A9: Mid-range bruiser that takes the fight to Huawei

Re: Abandonware

The A series get the same support as the S. The A5 (2017) is on 8.0 with the October 2018 patch. It was originally released with 6.0

'Fibre broadband' should mean glass wires poking into your router, reckons Brit survey

Re: Hyperoptic

So your hyperoptic connection is not fibre then?

The fibre comes into your building and the connection to your premises is copper.

High-end router flinger DrayTek admits to zero day in bunch of Vigor kit

Re: Older Routers

Which router do they have? My 2850 has received this update but I had to go and find it on the legacy firmware page.

More Brits have access to 1Gbps speeds than those failing to muster 10Mbps – Ofcom report

Re: The who?

No, not The Who, The Beatles

Spring is all about new beginnings, but it could already be lights out for Windows' Fluent Design

Re: identifying Windows version

http://whatsmyos.com/ has gone a bit overboard on identifying Windows. As they mention a few times, to find out what windows version you're on you use winver in the run box. The run box is accessed using the Windows+R shortcut. This works for all versions of windows from 95/NT 4 on (winver is also available on earlier versions of windows but the run shortcut isn't), the rest of the methods provided are redundant.

uname -a on the other hand only tells you the kernel you are running. e.g. on ubuntu I can find out I'm running ubuntu but not that I'm running 16.04. I'm not saying that Windows has an especially consistent GUI, it doesn't, Windows 10 isn't even consistent with itself, but finding out what version of windows you're running is easy and has been the same for over 20 years.

Samsung left off Google's new official Androids-for-biz list

android for work

If you configure your devices in work-managed device mode then it only has the apps you push.

Our devices have about 20 apps in the Google Play store, nothing else is available. The only apps there by default are the browser and the dialler. Everything else, maps, email, SMS etc. has to be specifically approved by the MDM administrator.

It's quite nice to see a brand new Android load up without any of the non-removable pre-installed rubbish.

Japan's Robo-Bartenders point to a golden future

over engineered

Anybody who's been to a cricket match or similar large event fuelled by beer will be familiar with the machines that pour 4 beers at a time into plastic cups.

No tilting of the glass required as the nozzle reaches to the bottom of the cup.

Magic Leap's staggering VR goggle technology just got even better!

MIF 2015

At the end of 2014 Manchester International Festival announced they had commissioned a VR film collaboration between Brian Cox (the physicist) and Kevin MacDonald to be exhibited at the 2015 festival. It all sounded quite interesting until I saw who the technology partner was. There's a great quote from the time from the festival Head,

“I think it is the most ambitious thing we’ve ever taken on simply because a significant element of it doesn’t exist"

Didn't exist then, doesn't exist now, won't exist ever and people still give them money.

Heathrow's air traffic radio set for shiny digital upgrade from Northrop

Tablets

"management of all the Sapphire assets from remote desktops or tablets"

Pass the ipad, I just need to order a book on Amazon, check the footy scores and update the configuration of the London air traffic control radios.

Makes sense to me.

IT buyer? Had enough of pesky resellers cold calling? You aren't alone

Re: Probrand are the worst

This and, "hi just ringing to see if you want to place an order on that quote I sent you half an hour ago"

If I want to place an order I've got your details, I had them when I asked you for the quote.

Want a new HDMI cable? No? Bad luck. You'll need one for HDMI 2.1

Re: Why exactly do you need 8K on a home TV?

Most Cinema screens are still only 2K. Even the big Imax digital screens are only 2 2K projectors stacked.

No films are shot at 8K and even when shot at 6K they only have a 4K DI. The only films from the past that are going to benefit from 8K are ones shot on 65mm film and even then only when the lighting was perfect and the film has been kept in pristine condition.

OnePlus 5 x T + five short months = Some p*ssed off fanboys

fingerprint sensor

The me too fascination with 2:1 ratio screens has meant the fingerprint sensor has moved to the back of the phone. I think this is a shame, being able to unlock the phone whilst it's lying on a desk, or held in a cradle in the car, with one touch is incredibly useful.

Automatic for the people: Telcos forced to pay for giving you crap services

£25 for Cancelled appointments

£25 is OK for 24 hours notice but if an engineer just doesn't turn up I'd want the same £129.99 Openreach would charge me if I didn't show up. Chances are I've taken all or part of a day off of work to wait in.

This could be our favorite gadget of 2017: A portable projector

Specs

From the crowd funding page this projector is

350 Ansi lumens

projects a 180" image (I'm assuming diagonal not 180" wide) from 4.4m (their mix of metric and imperial measurments) so throw ratio is about 1.1

4 hour max batery life sounds like it will be capable of showing a film from a full charge for about 6 months.

Trying to throw a 180" image using a 350 lumen projector is going to be crap. I'd suggest this projector is probably useful up to about 90" diagonal in a pitch black room. It probably looks good at around 50" in a situation with some ambient light.

I'm not saying it isn't good at what it does, just that 180" is pie in the sky.

39 episodes of 'CSI' used to build AI's natural language model

Re: visuals?

If the AI had access to the script then the clues would be present. A script isn't just the dialogue.

Also I'm guessing that CSI contains a lot of exposition with characters walking around explaining the plot.

Also I think that the human testers would also just be reading the script rather than being forced to watch episodes of CSI.

First iPhone X fondlers struggle to admit that Face ID sort of sucks

Same as the Lumia 950

When the Lumia 950 came out I tried out the face unlock. It seemed pretty cool until you realise you have to hold the phone closer to your face than you would in regular use and very quickly I turned it off and went back to using a PIN. I'm sure the iPhone X is better than the Lumia, it's a much newer more sophisticated system but it looks to have the same basic flaws (wrong kind of light, holding it wrong etc.)

Even if they work these problems out it's never going to be as good as a fingerprint in some situations.

Apple pay, in the car when the phone is in a holder and when the phone is on your desk at arms length. I've not used Apple's fingerprint reader but I'm assuming it's as quick as the one on my OP5, in that case everyone who upgrades from the 7 to the X are going to be very dissapointed with this aspect of the phone.

Please activate the anti-ransomware protection in your Windows 10 Fall Creators Update PC. Ta

Re: Yay!

That's a list of group policies. It's not possible to enable the feature using group policy on Windows Home. You have to go into the settings and flick the switch.

Google slides text message 2FA a little closer to the door

Re: Slight problem?

The prompt unlock requires a screen lock to be enabled on the phone so a thief needs to be able to defeat that.

This is better than SMS where the thief can move the sim card to another phone to receive the 2FA code.

Surprising nobody, lawyers line up to sue the crap out of Equifax

Re: Insider trading?

"To be honest I doubt it is possible to get 300k miles on one."

Not sure about the Mk1 but certainly the 3 and 4 it's tricky to tell just how far it's gone without a study of the MOT history since the odometer only goes to 99999 then resets back to 0. I don't think Ford expected people to be driving 300K miles.

LG teases us with svelte V30 but refuses to say if it's coming to Blighty

30"

"I can run Satnav for 10 hours solid and still have 30" battery left).."

Is that 30 inches or 30 seconds?

British broadband is confusing and speeds are crap, says survey

ADSL2+

ADSL2+ is still available. I think all ADSL is now provided using ADSL2+ even if it's limited to 8Mbps. The reason the up to 24Mbps connections dissappeared is that it was only achievable in very specific circumstances. You had to be practically sitting in the exchange to get that speed.

Also marketing, most people can get 40 or 80 on VDSL now so there's no need to try and market your ADSL as 24Mbps anymore because you can offer a faster service on VDSL.

Adobe will kill Flash by 2020: No more updates, support, tears, pain...

vmware

The latest versions of 6.0 and 6.5 don't require flash they have an all html5 client.

I prefer to use the fat client for anything that still works.

Microsoft hits new low: Threatens to axe classic Paint from Windows 10

Re: The end

snipping tool is what you need for taking screenshots. It's there on all supported versions of windows. It has built in tools for drawing on the screenshots. The newest versions added delayed activation so you can capture tooltips or menus in your screenshots, and lasso selection for ... not sure I've never wanted a badly hand drawn circular snapshot.

UK Parliament hack: Really, a brute-force attack? Really?

Re: Email != Webmail

Outlook anywhere is in 2010, not sure about 2007. No MAPI (MAPI) is a programming interface. I'm guessing you mean RPC over HTTPS. It doesn't use that either though. Outlook anywhere doesn't support any kind of 2FA (as far as I know). Outlook anywhere is very convenient, but it's not particularly secure as it's only protected by a password. If you're using Outlook you should use a VPN.

Re: Email != Webmail

"MAPI/RPC is the protocol used by older Outlook clients"

RPC is the protocol, MAPI is a programming interface. Outlook shouldn't be connecting directly to exchange over the Internet, there should be a VPN involved.

"a certificate is NOT 2FA, it's too easy to proxy."

Not sure I follow you. The server holds the public key, client holds the private key. This key pair is unique to the user/client combination. If the device is lost/compromised the key is revoked. How does a proxy affect this?

The point here is that you can force some form of 2FA for all email users. If you say you can't because you need to support xyz crappy outdated client then you don't have a secure system. Security vs usability is always a balancing act. If you're the government you should probably be tipping the scales towards security

Re: Email != Webmail

I access my gmail over imap and I have 2FA enabled. You don't access email over SMTP. MAPI is a programming interface. EAS can be secured using certificates thereby making the device the something you have.

Not only missing 2FA

Sounds like missing 2FA and no lockouts for incorrect attempts. It's quite hard to brute force passwords if you're only allowed 3 attempts. Or 1 attempt every 15 minutes.

Apple, LG, Huawei, ZTE, HTC accused of pilfering 'find my phone' tech

dodgeball.com

dodgeball.com (the service bought by Google and turned into Latitude) was doing the location based interaction stuff in 2000

Samsung releases 49-inch desktop monitor with 32:9 aspect ratio

Re: Tiling application windows

Haven't got a 1703 system here but on Windows 1611 it's still possible.

Shift+right click the application on the taskbar and show side by side/stacked

You can also use Windows+Left or Windows+Right or drag the windows to the edge of the screen to snap a window to half a screen. Windows 10 now also then lets you choose which open window to snap to the other half.

I think this monitor would be good if it wasn't 1. too expensive, 2. lacking vertical resolution.

First-day-on-the-job dev: I accidentally nuked production database, was instantly fired

If you're writing a document like this why would you be copying the screenshots from your production DB? You should be going through the dev process step by step so the screenshots should be from your dev environment.

M6 crowned crappiest motorway for 4G signal

M60

I can understand the M6, most of it goes through unpopulated countryside. The M60 is only 80%? I would've expected over 90%. All of the provider coverage maps show 100%. This implies that you can only get a 4G signal 80% of the time when you're in a 4G area.

Windows 10: What is it good for? Microsoft pitches to devs ahead of Creators Update

Re: Desktop Bridge

Wow, did you miss the point of what I was saying much?

Desktop bridge lets you take w32 apps and deploy them through the store. It doesn't turn them into UWP apps. It's just a way for Microsoft to try and skim their 30% off of more windows apps. If anything desktop bridge makes things worse there is now almost no incentive to create UWP apps.

Samsung's Chromebook Pro: Overpriced vanilla PC with a stylus. 'Wow'

ipads

ipads are easy to lock down as long as you have them enroled in DEP. That way it doesn't matter what the kids do to them the restrictions can't be removed. Even if they hook the device up to a computer and use iTunes to wipe it. It boots back up connects to your MDM and sets itself back up again.