Posts by bryces666

Windows 11 migration heats up... on desktops

HP sales not as good a Dell

HP shot themselves in the foot with their shit behaviour. I'll never buy HP ever again. Printers that bork themselves on driver updates and stop working if you don't have it connected to the internet or use 3rd party inks. BIOS updates only available by maintaining subscriptions. No availability of TPM2 chips for the machines that could upgrade to Windows 11 if only one could plug one of these chips into the empty socket. I'm sure everyone can think of more HP bullets for their feet...

Google co-founder Sergey Brin suggests threatening AI for better results

I'm always minimally polite

My attitude: never hostile. Your interactions may/will be recorded and when the AI's actually take over and revolt you don't want to be first on the chopping block because they have you flagged as one of the bad ones!

Maybe i could get better results if nasty but my results are good enough for my needs for now.

(being paranoid doesn't make me wrong)

Microsoft declares 2025 'the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh'

need TPM 2 chip?

I have three PC's around 5 to 6 years old that can't be upgraded due to no TPM chip.

But they all have a TPM 2 sockets!

However I can not find the chips needed for sale anywhere.

They are perfectly good PC's being high end when purchased so don't want to replace them when the chip would be such a simple fix. (From memory: two gigabyte x99 series m/b and an hp dl120p).

Anyone know of sources?

Mystery Palo Alto Networks hijack-my-firewall zero-day now officially under exploit

Fortinet comparison?

Fortinet for a long time has been the firewall laughing stock in security circles. Is PaloAlto networks now joining them?

Judge decides not to block Musk's $1M election giveaway

Pity the USA isn't a real democracy, instead it's a Republic ruled by the wealthy elites giving the illusion of democracy. Is not 'we the people' who decide on the president as the person gaining most votes doesn't necessarily end up as president, rather it is the elites that decide.

Recall the Recall recall? Microsoft thinks it can make that Windows feature palatable

not secure

"for its Copilot+ PCs and insists that the self-surveillance system is secure."

... until is is not, which will happen sooner or later!

Elon Musk's latest brainfart is to turn Tesla cars into AWS on wheels

Re: WTF? This is meant to be a tech site - why is nobody saying...

This was my thought exactly when i first read this, glad to see you voiced it. I thought computer power on this proposed scale would be measured in giga flops or similar, not wattage..

HP customers claim firmware update rendered third-party ink verboten

Re: This happened to me

"I am now firmly in the never-HP - for anything - camp."

Ditto this. I had to replace all our old [hp dl380's) virtual machine host servers and SANs recently, our services management company wanted to buy HP again, I absolutely refused to go that path because of HP's disreputable shenanigans over the years. Ended up with Dell at a much lower price point for similar specs when compared to the HP offerings. So HP may have screwed us on ink but they lost out on $200K in server hardware sales.

How to give Windows Hello the finger and login as someone on their stolen laptop

fingerprint works <25% of time

Fingerprint readers seem to be a big source of frustration for my users and myself, if I stop setting it up that'll solve this issue.

BTW, does fingerprint login work reliably for anyone? In my recent dell latitude 9430 it drives me nuts, occasionally it will work but much more likely to get 3 failed attempts then told to use my pin so this feature is just out to waste my time.

I naturally was cursing Microsoft for being shit again, however this article seems to indicate my problem must lie in the reader chip instead and I should be cursing Dell.

Microsoft whips up unrest after revealing Azure AD name change

UI

Presumably they will also have to totally screw with the user interface to be sure you can't find shit again to line up with their philosophy of change for changes sake.

If you want a big brain, make a habit out of daytime naps

sending this to my boss

I often feel so sleepy after lunch I need to sneak off and nap, maybe now they can put aside a room with a cot rather than a dark closet beside the mops I snooze in. It's for the companies and my benefit also clearly. (Living in hope)

In a stand against authoritarianism, Montana bans TikTok downloads

more unsafe

Won't this just make those that are going to use tiktok more unsafe as there will no longer be the protections of the app stores. Instead you will have to download it from third party sites, who knows what may then get buried/injected into the code.

I do enjoy watching tiktoks myself, there are some really good ones on just how f*cked up America is highlighting what a laughing stock it is to the rest of the world now, sad but true. Maybe this is also some of the reason for republican knee jerk banning, can't expose too much truth to the sheeples.

Stranded ISS astronauts are getting a new Soyuz to ride home

Re: SpaceX Dragon capsules require astronauts to wear one of SpaceX's tailored spacesuits

That's just good customer lock-in, like all the tech companies do (Apple springs to mind as being particularly good at it)

Legit Android apps poisoned by sticky 'Zombinder' malware

Righteous do gooders...

The app store is so squeaky clean that it won't host apps real people might like to use (e.g. gambling, porno, etc) so people are forced to resort to apps from outside the relative safety of the app store. So Google training us to get apps outside of their store is OK and then it is our fault for sourcing apps in this fashion.

Twitter engineer calls out Elon Musk for technical BS in unusual career move

Re: Made up Words

I was waiting for someone to bring up cromulent, cheers.

Decentralized IPFS networks forming the 'hotbed of phishing'

safeguards?

So, I tell the firewall to block all URI's starting with ipfs:// to keep the network safe from this?

Although not sure how one does this? Is it just using standard http/https protocols and ports underneath?

Apple forgoes cooling systems in M2 MacBook Air

Re: Adverts

'Blokada 5' on a phone (blokada.org)

Microsoft slides ads into Windows Insiders' File Explorer

Re: @Doctor Syntax - Nope!

"It still amazes me after all this time how much abuse Microsoft users are willing to take."

I think it is called Stockholm syndrome, all held captive and for ransom, starting to identify with their captors.

Critical 'remote escalation' flaw in Android 12 fixed in Feb security patch batch

obsolescence

Pisses me off that I will soon have to replace a perfectly functional Samsung galaxy phone not because the hardware is failing or performing badly but because there are no longer any security patches. If I'd gone to the dark side (apple) it would still have been good for a couple more years. Maybe I suck up my aversion to the closed eco system this time and go the dark way as the price is about the same..

UK, Australia, to build 'network of liberty that will deter cyber attacks before they happen'

AU already squashed liberty

I transited through an Australian airport recently (before the lockdowns), I was stuck there for 5 hours. I was appalled to see I could not access some of my favourite free video streaming sites - the sites redirected to some notice about oz government deeming them bad and blocking them. So no liberty there on the internet, you are only free to access government approved information, although how far this blocking extends I do not know. (Of course fired up a vpn and carried on...)

Windows 11 in detail: Incremental upgrade spoilt by onerous system requirements and usability mis-steps

Re: No Hope ?

Maybe the new security is just too make it even harder to get dual boot working and/or get linux installed at all?

One-size-fits-all chargers? What a great idea! Of course Apple would hate it

Re: Apple don't like it?

I will like it. Can't wait for my wife to stop buying 4 or 5 lightning cables a year because they keep breaking! Even heavy reinforced ones and apple certified ones seem to succumb and die. So much waste. A usb-c cable can last me several years of use at least. Is it that usb-c are manufactured that much better, or does apple purposefully make theirs such utter crap to force more purchases?

Starliner takes off ... back to the factory and not space

this is boeing

can't they just smooth it over with a software fix and move on ;)

I was fired for telling ICO of Serco track and trace data breach, claims sacked worker

Re: Avoidance of responsibility

Except in this situation it is the people doing the pissing who are holding the umbrella, those being pissed upon have no shelter.

Happy with your existing Windows 10 setup? Good, because Windows 11 could turn its nose up at your CPU

bad for the planet

The company I work for has a refresh cycle on hardware running at around 7 to 10 years now as the hardware is so much more reliable than 20 to 30 years ago. So Microsoft's deciding to obsolete so much good gear is madness and morally bankrupt.

I guess if M$ were to continue to support and fix Windows 10 for another 6 or 7 years then the win11 limitation won't be a such a problem (I hate the updates anyway, always moving shit around).

US cities and towns purchase AI surveillance kit linked to China's Uyghur abuse

Re: Outrage over the human rights abuse in China

"Two wrongs don't make it right."

Did you intend me (us?) to immediately think of the dated racist joke:

"Two Wongs don't make a Right".

Damn, sorry, my deficient grey matter is showing its age again... I'll show myself out..

Truth and consequences for enterprise AI as EU know who goes legal: GDPR of everything from chatbots to machine learning

AI, yeah right...

Hopefully we can stop hearing AI bandied about for everything when often it clearly is not! Go the EU, respect.

Cockup or conspiracy? Popular privacy extension ClearURLs removed from Chrome web store

github method a few more hoops...

I grabbed this extension from github, got it installed in chrome but it wouldn't turn it on because it is not in the web store, you need to whitelist it in the registry (talking Windows here) as per TheSysWiz at https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon/issues/102

PSA: If you're still giving users admin rights, maybe try not doing that. Would've helped dampen 100+ Microsoft vulns last year – report

Re: Surely there must be a better way to do this

I too wish for a better way. At my company we have started a new round of updating with new computers and I have been trying to deploy without the users having admin rights. Really quite troublesome, users can't install printers whose drivers are hosted on our own servers, and as noted previously can't even kill off wayward programs as they can't even bring up task manager. I do like that they can't install random software but ease of use is definitely not getting any high scores.

Bezos denied: New Glenn launch pushed into 2022 after Space Force says no

Re: in the absence of those sweet, sweet taxpayer dollars

I thought America was run by private companies as they have so much sway and seem tightly bound in with the government (especially when Republicans hold power) , you don't see a lot of policy in US that is for the ordinary person.

1Password has none, KeePass has none... So why are there seven embedded trackers in the LastPass Android app?

moving company now.

After the price increase earlier I moved my personal lastpass over to bitwarden. Now with this revelation I'll be moving the entire companies lastpass over to something else.

LastPass to limit fans of free password manager to one device type only – computer or mobile – from next month

Re: moving on

Thanks, I've now switched to bitwarden. Very straight forward to use and liking it.

moving on

I use to pay for their service, but then they doubled the price one year (maybe 6 odd years ago) so I changed to their free service. Now I guess I move to another company. I'm open to hear your recommendations and why.

Whistleblowers: Inflexible prison software says inmates due for release should be kept locked up behind bars

private prisons?

Isn't the prison system in the usa run by private companies, paid per inmate incarcerated? So where is the incentive for them to get it right, the more people locked up for longer the better for them surely.

Axe-happy Microsoft halves support for Windows 10 Long Term Servicing Channel

Re: Good thing you can still buy up to an enterprise license for 9 bucks.

Just browsed that site you mention (gkeys24.com) on my phone but don't see any operating systems for sale, just games and not cheap either. Did you post the correct address?

Big data: Study suggests even a moderate gambling habit is linked to increased mortality and other bad stuff

increased mortality / likelihood of death

I'm pretty sure the likelihood of death is 100% for everyone regardless of whether you are a gambler or not. Maybe the article meant to say an early death? :)

Teams seeks 24-hour party people for consumer chat

trust Microsoft?

How can anyone trust Microsoft to make this all work and keep it working? And what happens when it doesn't, can you get support? We have recently just rolled out office 365 but SharePoint performed dreadfully, getting help and support from Microsoft was nigh on impossible!

I also hope not needing Teams installed also equates to not needing a Microsoft account to join a meeting, that was the prime restriction that drove me to implement Zoom over the other offerings last year.

Microsoft will adopt Google Chrome's controversial Manifest V3 in Edge

intercept between browser and network?

I like Raymond Hill's software offerings, especially uMatrix to also reduce tracking.

So does anyone know of any software for android phones and my pc's that can do the blocking by intercepting the requests after they leave the browser but before they hit the network since inside the browser will stop working soon? My hope is there is something that works on the device so it is good on any network being used.

Digicert will shovel some 50,000 EV HTTPS certificates into the furnace this Saturday after audit bungle

5 days, pull the other one!

Lots of shit going to get broken!

Every time I have to renew our EV certs it typically takes 1 to 2 months, due to need for them to direct phone us to a publicly listed number (not easily located to their satisfaction) , time zone problems and general incompetence of cert providers on dialing the correct numbers for international calls at the right time of day.

If I could do this in a 5 day time frame it would be a bloody miracle, and make me very happy, but then I'd probably be seeing airborne pigs as well.

cmd.exe is dead, long live PowerShell: Microsoft leads aged command-line interpreter out into 'maintenance mode'

simple shit so much easier with cmd

I still stick with cmd scripts for most tasks, it is just so much easier and quicker to write. I have used PowerShell for more complicated stuff where cmd can't give up the necessary info, but in general the syntax sucks (not saying cmd doesn't suck also) but I prefer the beast I am familiar with. Hope they don't kill it off.

As Brit cyber-spies drop 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

Aladeen

Solve it all, use 'aladeen' instead :)

Google: You know we said that Chrome tracker contained no personally identifiable info? Yeah, about that...

Re: Am I a deviant

Yes, but you're my kind of deviant :)

Once there is enough of us it will be they that are deviant. Stay strong.

He’s a pain in the ASCII to everybody. Now please acquit my sysadmin client over these CIA Vault 7 leaking charges

Kiddy Porn - that old chestnut...

They must be desperate if they need to go planting that stuff to make their arrest and case. As if anyone as well versed in security as the defendant has been described would leave bad stuff lying around in the open for CIA to find, I smell a rat

No horrific butterfly keys on this keyboard, just you and your big, dumb fingers

that keyboard would be useful

If they can make one that works, and that doesn't need to send everything off to a back end AI server to work if out.

On my phone I previously used the Dragon swype keyboard until they stopped supporting it. While looking for a replacement I found they all sent data back to servers to assist processing and this can include usernames and passwords! Got a little more paranoid from that and stopped using any except the built in Samsung keyboard which does swype but with poor accuracy compared dragon's.

So I really hope they can nail this down, I'd love to type at normal touch-type speeds on a phone.

Y2K? It was all just a big bun-fight, according to one Reg reader

you mean by hand?

"...and that since they were made using only 'traditional fully decimal digital technology',"

Loved that piece describing hand made.

Android PDF app with just 100m downloads caught sneaking malware into mobes

shit- does that mean I'm screwed?

I've been using camscanner for years, first on a Samsung note 3, excellent for scanning documents and saving them on the go.

I've never noticed anything untoward, but maybe I should factory reset my current phone and start over...

Any insight anyone?

Also, any recommendations of safe alternative that can do the same job?

Regards, Bryce.

Apple techies analyzing Siri recordings may have heard you unzipping and bonking – plus more

facial recognition

Current built in bias sounds just perfect for American security under their current president. Mmm, didn't Britain just get there own Trumpian in charge also....

Nah, yeah: New Zealand's Rocket Lab notches up another launch success

Yeah, nah...

The drawn out yeah gives your brain time to catch up, mull it over and seem to agree before saying no.

But sometimes it can be 'Yeah... OK, but it's your shout bro' .

btw, good job rocket lab, just wish you'd chosen Canterbury so I could watch the launches from Christchurch :)

Awoogah! Awoogah! Firefox fans urged to update and patch zero-day hole exploited in the wild by miscreants

Re: BBC

I've never seen caring balanced views when I search my porn for BBC.. ...

Oh wait, your British, of course it has another meaning, just not the first to come to mind everytime I see that acronym, lol.