Time to dig out that utility...
...which constantly wiggles the mouse pointer to look as if someone's active at the keyboard.
That is of course, you don't want your session to be updated. (The vast majority, judging by previous episodes).
Posts by Ken Moorhouse
4017 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Jul 2007
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Microsoft rolls out stealthy updates for 365 Apps
Rare hexagonal diamond formed by crash of dwarf planet and asteroid, scientists believe
Feds freeze $30m in cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity
Windows 11 update blocking some users from logging in
Sunday 11th September 2022 06:14 GMT 
Re: There are really an awful lot of things to complain about, but this isn't one of them
Arguably the thing to complain about is that none of this is officially documented.
It does not give confidence to end-users that IT people know what they are doing when different IT people recommend polar opposites of suggestions to solve their problems. Yes, things have been like this for many years, many versions, but there was generally some kind of official roadmap that could be consulted when making such decisions, but nowadays it is all about "some bloke on the internet tried this, and it worked."
Microsoft-employed software writers/maintainers need to remember that they are as much a part of the IT Community as the rest of us, and that, to be considered "professionals", we all need to sing from the same hymn book. At present, that ain't happening.
Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II – Britain's first high-tech monarch
Saturday 10th September 2022 06:14 GMT
Re: PO also said they have been told not to pulp or otherwise "waste" the existing stick of stamps
In some countries it is felt perfectly acceptable to obliterate the portrait of the prior incumbent. Farouk of Egypt is the best-known example.
A virtual beer if you can come up with an example where King George VI had this treatment.
Friday 9th September 2022 11:32 GMT
Re: King Andrew in the hot seat
It doesn't work in what one would think is the logical order. He is #8 in line.
(From https://www.royal.uk/succession )
1. The Duke of Cambridge
2. Prince George of Cambridge
3. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
4. Prince Louis of Cambridge
5. The Duke of Sussex
6. Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
7. Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor
8. The Duke of York
9. Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
10. Miss Sienna Mapelli Mozzi
11. Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank
12. Master August Brooksbank
13. The Earl of Wessex
14. Viscount Severn
15. The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor
16. The Princess Royal
17. Mr. Peter Phillips
18. Miss Savannah Phillips
19. Miss Isla Phillips
20. Mrs. Michael Tindall
21. Miss Mia Tindall
22. Miss Lena Tindall
23. Master Lucas Tindall
Private equity suits at Thoma Bravo pull out of Darktrace acquisition
Microsoft warns of bugs after nation pushes back DST switchover
One man's battle to get patent rights for AI inventors in America may be over
Here's how 5 mobile banking apps put 300,000 users' digital fingerprints at risk
Friday 2nd September 2022 07:43 GMT
Re: I thought on iOS...
My reading of this is that this is not to do with passwords in the keychain, it is effectively retrieving a password from a code library, in much the same way that you call a library to (say) render the properties of a button. It is just part of the underlying coding of the app.
Woman forced to sell 4-bed house after crypto exchange wrongly refunded $7.2m
Thursday 1st September 2022 15:13 GMT
Re: Santander seems to be part of a new thing where they check the name...
Actually I've had this problem with two banks... Santander was one of them. Plus another bank I have an account with who use a similar system, and had the same problem.
And don't get me started about Santander... I had a big problem verifying my identity with them one Friday lunchtime (by the time I left the branch, the queue for a cashier was out the door). Spoke to the complaints department at head office who totally agreed with my stance. Monday morning the woman who I had dealt with Friday (who turned out to be The Branch Manager) cheerfully completed the transaction using exactly the same documentation, without any further ado.
Thursday 1st September 2022 10:51 GMT
Re: hyperventilating and feeling faint
A couple of anecdotes about such things:-
Some years ago I needed to pay HMRC and I was up against a payment deadline. I went into my bank branch and was told I couldn't pay it without their paying-in slip. I asked why not. The clerk replied "Money Laundering Rules". I then said "Have you seen who it is that I am paying?" To which he had no answer.
For all this "protecting your money" malarkey, the banks don't make life easy. I wanted to transfer a sizeable amount of money into an NS&I account. They looked up the account number I gave them and they said "Ooh we have no record of this account, are you sure you wish to make this payment?" Funny thing is that if you wanted to make payment to Joe Bloggs, he's on their system. But UK's government-owned savings bank? Nah.
When I had double-checked the account details (have you tried ringing NS&I? Spoiler Alert: Don't). I had the same conversation again. "Are you sure?" "Yes" "If it's wrong we can't guarantee where your money will end up." "Yes, I'm sure."
A few days later, money hadn't been transferred. Bank says it's gone. I HAD to speak to NS&I. Noooooo. To be fair they helpfully told me that the bank hadn't quoted the account reference and so had gone into their suspense account pending return to my account. Complained to the bank, they paid me compensation for their cock-up.
Some weeks later... exactly the same thing happened, right down to the reference still not being quoted. FFS.
Lesson learned: Never PUSH money into accounts such as this. Much better to PULL it in by logging in to the beneficiary website and paying that way.
Germany orders Sept 1 shutdown of digital ad displays to save gas
Monday 29th August 2022 06:25 GMT
Re: About time digital adverts got the same treatment
When I worked in the Mechanicals department of London Underground I learned that one of the "hot potatoes" for depot staff was that whatever else needed to be switched off on rolling stock, the Advert Cut Out Switch (A:COS ) was to remain on - sod the batteries and sod anyone doing electrical work.
(For those that wonder what those abbreviations are, just below the adverts in tube cars - the cantrail - they are to identify equipment below the seats).
US imposes sanctions as Russia invades Ukraine
Micro Focus bought by Canada's OpenText for $6b
Friday 26th August 2022 19:04 GMT
Re: you guys at Opentext have my sincere condolences.
Having worked on a system managed by OpenText, I would reword that to: you guys at MF have my sincere condolences.
Admittedly OpenText inherited the dog's dinner I worked on from other developers, but this is a similar situation, taking on code written by other companies (many times removed in some cases), and this is where this kind of acquisition falls down heavily unless you take on large swathes of the subsumed company's developers.
Software companies wishing to stay independent have the ideal "poison pill" from putting off any predator: "you realise you are inheriting our code and our documentation. Good luck with that!"
How archaeologists can use AI to date our ancestors
Lloyd's to exclude certain nation-state attacks from cyber insurance policies
Ex-HP finance manager jailed after going on $5m spending spree using company plastic
Janet Jackson music video declared a cybersecurity exploit
NASA selects 'full force' for probe into UFOs
Google promises to adjust search algorithm to favor 'people-first content'
Sunday 21st August 2022 18:17 GMT
Re: My suspicion is that it's not economical for google to return no results
dbgdfgdgdgdfgdgdgdgdgfdggdgdgdgdgdgdgdg
didn't return any results, but I dare say it will once LeReg is next indexed. Along with a list of replacement keyboards courtesy of Amazon... Or maybe helpful articles on training your cat not to sit on your desk.
Mouse hiding in cable tray cheesed off its bemused user
Sunday 21st August 2022 15:38 GMT
Re: Oh, you mean "rechargeable" battery have to be manually recharged?
Has anyone invented a wireless mouse where the ball* acts as a dynamo, recharging the mouse?
*Ok, ok, yes I'm old.
===
Another idea is putting solar cells on the mouse to recharge the battery. Obv somewhere on the mouse which doesn't get covered up when the user uses it. Ok, maybe not such a 'bright' idea.
Being old I remember sunlight causing big problems with mice not working due to it interfering.
Ransomware attack on UK water company clouded by confusion
Saturday 20th August 2022 06:25 GMT
Re: They still only need to keep a record that the data has been verified
I've worked with companies that need to comply with Anti Money Laundering and other regulatory checks*. Quite simply they are scared that some kind of compliance audit or investigation asks for the underlying proof of existence of data. They balance this risk against the cost of storage and cost of falling foul of GDPR regulations and say "uh oh, let's keep it."
What is needed (with caveats) is a government system-generated hash that proves the underlying document has been eyeballed and this is all that needs to be recorded apart from the textual information contained therein. I know that something like that exists for UK Certificates (the System No. at bottom left), but is everyone that needs to know this aware of it, and can all regulatory bodies unlock that data to double-check it? (Many sources quote the top right hand alpha-numeric code, which is different). Against this, a ne'er-do-well artist can probably hack this data and bluff their way through with it. The GRO System No. is 9 digits long. It must have redundancy checks buit into it to prevent hacks, surely?
These questions, until definitively addressed, mean that staff will cover their backsides by scanning everything they think may be relevant.
===
I have a suspicion that the reason that a lot of unencrypted image files are out there is due to the use of databases where, yes, the data is encrypted, but the designers have decided that the storage cost and speed of access of incorporating the image files into the actual database is too great, and instead coded in a url to the image file itself.
*In reality, that is all companies!
Google blocks third record-breaking DDoS attack in as many months
Friday 19th August 2022 06:50 GMT
Re: 46 million requests per second.
Kennedy's assassination, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and 9-11 are three randomly selected historical events which, if the internet were at the level it is today, would have arguably stress tested it.
"Legitimate traffic" is a baseline, how much algo traffic would sit on top of that?
I can think of at least three event categories that would send search traffic through the roof.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
