Posts by Antron Argaiv

Brit mathematician lets AI agent loose with credit card – cue password leaks, CAPTCHA chaos and more

No, Simplified English is used when interacting with other drivers, and consists solely of hand signals.

Microsoft boss tells investors the company is working to 'win back fans'

Re: No thank you M$...

Probably runs snappier as well, without all that baggage.

Hope your holiday was horrid: You botched the last thing you did before leaving

Re: "That Box Full Of Old Tech You Should Probably Have Thrown Out But Kept Just In Case"

Thick yellow cable is essentially RG-214 and works great for low loss HF feedlines. Have some feeding my 40m inverted vee as I type. Bonus: crimp on N connectors.

User found the perfect formula to make Excel misbehave

Re: Maths

I will admit to having heard the term, and it's use in finding primes, but not the details of the implementation.

I will admit to having learned something today. Thank you!

Microsoft updates the Windows Update Experience: You can hit pause now

This guy gets it.

Several times I have opened my backpack at home and found a very warm laptop with a dead battery. Guess I closed the lid and walked off too fast...

Well, if I close the lid and walk off, the laptop loses internet. Does Windows need internet for this update? Who knows? Is this (employer supplied) laptop one of those that you can do that successfully with? Has Corporate IT configured it so updates will work if you close the lid and walk off? Who knows?

One of the things I have learned through years of working with Windows as a user, is: don't do *anything* that might disturb it when it's modifying itself. Yeah, it's *supposed* to be OK, but just because you got away with closing the lid and walking off, and it successfully finished the update last time, doesn't mean you won't be confronted with a borked machine when you open the lid again *this* time.

And if it's so smart, how come Windows can't do its updates in the backgound? And as long as we're wishing, revert if it fails, and try again? Ever get anything helpful when you reply "yes" to the question about Windows helping you to resolve some problem? Me neither.

Anyway, not my problem any more. Retired, and Windows is almost entirely a thing of the past for me.

Ahh! The "Windows Update Experience".

End of the work day, time to head home. Shut down the PC...what's this? "Don't turn off your PC, Windows is updating"

F*ck. Hope they hurry or I'll miss my train.

Yeah, not one of their brightest moments. So glad I'm retired.

[Those who don't want to hear about Linux may stop reading here]

I get a little red dot in the status panel, telling me I have an update available...which I can examine before installing. Unless it updates the kernel, no restart is required, and even if one is, I have a choice of when to do it. How hard is this, Microsoft? If a bunch of scraggly hackers, led by a penguin, can manage to build a decent OS, why can't you?

Microsoft tackles quality control issues. Just kidding, it's encouraging experienced workers to leave

Re: Removing objections

Calculate salary / (40 * 52) = your current hourly rate. Multiply by 3 and use that as a starting point for consulting rate.

Don't forget to bill for travel time.

PowerPoint punishment sent users into an infinite loop after lunch

This "locking the PC when you stepped away" was not a thing back when I started working (dinosaurs roamed the earth and used 24x80 CRT terminals connected to an Eclipse S130). We were professionals, and respected each other's workspaces.

Only during my last few years of employment, did the "zero trust" policy become the general rule. I don't think it is a good thing when companies in the knowledge business treat their employees as potential adversaries. You get much further with trust and respect, but it does have to go both ways. I sense, as I get older, a slow but steady decrease in the quality of the workplace, from wages that don't keep up with prices, increasing number of CEOs with increasing numbers of houses and yachts, and the general enshittification of the workplace experience.

Eventually, this will not be my problem. But it will be for people who are just starting in the field.

To fix this Wi-Fi network, we'll need a crane

My laptops plug into wired E'net whenever possible.

WiFi is a distant second choice.

Support tech caught by 'Technician Aura': the bug that only hides when you're watching

Re: We call her Ruth

You simply need to be...

...Ruth-less

Yeah, the old GSM phones were notorious for their "tickety-tick-tick-tick" interference on any amplified audio...like in a conference call orran audio presentation.

French cops free mother and son after 20-hour crypto kidnap ordeal

Re: Crypto is "digital gold"?

I had mine cast into a toilet.

May as well get some use out of it

Shoe company says it's getting into AI infrastructure and yes this is the top

Re: They should be great at it!

SWMBO loves them. I don't think they have disintegrated yet.

I have a pair, amd they are fairly comfortable. I wear them only inside though.

Windows Update is a torture chamber for seldom-used PCs

Re: "If Microsoft wanted to make a real improvement in its OS"

You would think...

...that a company which has been in the OS business for nigh on 40 years, would have "gotten it right" well before now.

Apparently, it takes longer for some companies.

Microsoft locks out VeraCrypt and WireGuard devs, blames verification process

Re: Why do people keep working with Microsoft ?

I gave up on them around Win2000. I had played with Linux simce the 1990s, but around then, Open/Libre Office became reliably useable, and that was the turning point for me. A multibillion dollar company that can't seem to get it's sh*t together for home users isn't going to be something I rely on. I'll take my chances, thank you, with the OS made by a bunch of dedicated hackers. I'll even send them some money occasionally, though they give away their work for free.

Even the software guys at work drifted towards Linux for development, though work required Windows for email and calendar. If Linux ever gets a full fumction c.one of Outlook and Teams (minus all the bugs), Microsoft is toast.

/Linux only since the 2000s

Artemis II astronaut: 'I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working'

Just heard on the NASA YouTube 1605Z 8 April

"Reid, we're going to go ahead and sync your email now..."

At this rate, they may be lucky enough to have their Outlook working as they parachute into the Pacific...

"Don't shut off your PC, Windows is updating!"

Update:

After spending 4 hours at an AT&T corporate cellphone store last night, and going through all the steps (multiple times) of attempting to transfer an eSIM to the watch again, then returning the watch to the Apple store down the way, and having the same problem with the new watch (sealed box, opened in front of the AT&T employee), they finally decided the problem was worth escalating. And, no surprise, the level 2 guy was unable to make it work! I now have a case number, and promised resolution date.

...and a crapload of new charges on my next AT&T bill, due to the "let's open a new plan and try again" ideas from the service folks.

TBH, I started suspecting it was a software problem after the first three telephone support people couldn't get an eSIM to transfer to the watch, but I am a patient (some might say, stubborn) person, and figured my best chance to get this working was to maliciously follow the process until it was obviously not going to achieve the desired result.

Re: Something that might supprise all y'all ...

Isn't "twice around" enough to say they're in orbit?

If not, why does NASA keep saying they are (well, until the TLI burn at least)?

My understanding is that they are now in a "free return" trajectory, and if they do nothing more, they will loop around the moon (not orbit, that requires another burn) and head back to earth. I watched the Artemis I mission, and they did a burn to enter lunar orbit, and another (TEI) burn to head back to earth.

Re: Daisy daisy...

Plug here for the "curiousmarc" YouTube channel...he and his merry band of extremely talented hackers managed to resurrect an Apollo Guidance Computer and actually re-ran the Apollo 11 lunar landing code. They are currently reproducing, with original and custom made replacement equipment, the entire Ground-to-Apollo communications link, with audio, video, telemetry, computer up and download, and ranging.

It's worth a watch, but be warned, it's a rabbit hole you can't escape.

As someone who has spent over 8 hours since last Friday, on AT&T's help line, trying to get SWMBO's new Apple watch to accept an eSIM from its iPhone sibling, I feel their pain.

Best I can figure, is that AT&T's eSIM servers give you ONE download, and then consider the SIM to be installed, whether or not it actually is. The people on the help line are solicitous and knowledgeable, but I believe they are contractors, since they do not seem to be able do very much involving AT&T's servers without putting me on hold and calling someone. Because they have no authority to work with the backend databases, we have been trying different approaches and that's been quite time consuming.

One last try tomorrow afternoon at a physical AT&T location and I'm giving up. I am quite tired of looking at the damn watch and seeing "NO SIM" staring back at me. How hard is it to transfer a fucking file by Bluetooth into a device?

(oh, and, yes, I have tried turning them both off and on again...several tens of times at this point)

Microsoft tells crusty old kernel drivers to get with the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program

Controlling the hardware is not an unreasonable ask for an OS developer...as long as the requirements are reasonable.

By my reckoning, Microsoft has been in the OS business for over 30 years, and their products seem to have developed signs that their engineers and managers have little to do but add "bells and whistles" to what should otherwise be fairly basic products: a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation tool, email, and a networked operating system. One could be forgiven for thinking that all of these products are basically "solved problems", requiring little more development effort than bug fixes and the occasional improvement to keep up with the times. Microsoft has managed, with every release, to add features no one has asked for and to introduce more problems than they solve. And, yes, I realise that a multibillion dollar corporation has a strong will to survive, and the accountants insist on an ever increasing share price. But, at the cost of pissing off the users? Seems self-defeating.

Linux (sorry, *GNU/Linux* to keep a certain poster satisfied), on the other hand...makes no bones about requiring a certain level of competence in their users :-) I believe there's a coffee cup with a saying to that effect. Linux may not be for everyone, but to me, it's a heck of a lot better than trying to keep up with Microsoft's delusions that everyone needs what they're pushing this week.

Re: More landfill

Can confirm: my HP LaserJet 5 still works well on my Mint 22 system, unlike in Windows, where HP has declined to support it because "too old...and no DRM/forced toner purchase"

BOFH: Are you ready to raise our expense account limits now?

Worked as a product development angineer for a smallish company -- we regularly made one or more parts orders every day while building prototypes. Company gets bought by multinational megacorp. Shock! Horror! You can't do that! We are introduced to the new Purchase Request System. One must humbly request the purchase of parts, using the appropriate form, and explaining what the parts will be used for (along with the usual account and project numbers). That Purchase Request must then be approved by Higher Authority (did I mention said Authority is a beancounter in a faraway country?)

Yeah, that worked about as well as you might imagine. When I retired, they still hadn't worked it out. Said megacorp was a mostly software business, and consequently, engineers didn't buy much...the odd memory stick or HDD, but the idea of EEs and MEs ordering parts to build or test prototypes...daily...on their own authority (gasp!), was an unacceptable deviation from the norm. Needless to say, the impact on our development schedules of all this required process was unfortunate. Our management was powerless to change things, their management was told to "make it work" or something, and we would periodically get emails from someone in another country asking us what this part was for. When we replied that we had entered all that information on the purchase request, the person replied (and I am not making this up), "oh! I don't have access to that field".

Retirement is wonderful, thanks!

Engineer sabotaged hardware then complained when it didn't work

Retired EE here.

You'd be surprised at the number of mechanical engineers who don't understand how to cool electronics. Simply putting a heat sink on a part is not enough, you need to have airflow over it, in the direction of the fins, with cool air. And that air needs to come IN to the enclosure, but it also needs to go OUT. Adding a fan without a way for the warm air to leave the enclosure won't do the job. And hot air rises, so it's helpful to put the air intake at the bottom and the exit at the top -- and those openings need to be approximately the same area.

There's a great book on the subject, called "Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks", by Tony Kordyban.

If you love your boss, imagine how much more you'll love their AI twin

What happens when the AI version decides everyone deserves a significant salary increase (or decrease, for that matter)?

Calling out corporate BS? There's a steaming pile to aim for

We had a Bullshit Bingo app on our Palm handhelds while I was at 3Com in the 90s.

I doubt the those in the upper echelons of management truly appreciate the disdain in which they are held by the folks that actually do the work.

While you're here, could you go out of your way to do an impossible job?

Same here. Our local IT guys were great and completely understood our situation. When we got bought by a multinational megacorp, their powers were slowly stripped from them, all in the name of "zero trust" (which is a wonderful way to tell your engineering employees that they're valued contributors), and Corporate IT responded to your tickets with a multi-hour delay, as they were literally multiple time zones away.

We were actually supposed to request permission to install non-approved software on our PCs. The process was glacial (I tested it), subject to false positives when testing for malware (they used some online scanner) and basically a PITA. I decided to risk summary termination and installed whatever I needed to do my job (as did the other engineers). In spite of all the scanning, inventorying, etc, nothing was ever said to me.

Re: In the area....

I always had good relations with our equipment vendors. That story is why.

Of course, now, you no longer buy test equipment direct, it comes through distributors. HP (well, Agilent, or Keysight, or whatever they're calling themselves now) and Tektronix are shells of their former selves. No hope there any more. When we called Tektronix and asked if we could swap the scope with a 3.5" floppy drive on the front for the same model with a USB slot, the answer was that we'd need to buy a new one. Gee, thanks, guys.

Re: it happens within companies too

I can top that.

My son is in the US Army. Many years ago, when he was deployed to Iraq, his unit, and all their gear, including weapons (but not ammo), went through the standard TSA process, scanning all their gear (including weapons) before boarding the chartered aircraft that was to take them overseas. To a war zone.

Note that I said "chartered"...the only passengers on that plane were soldiers. He said it was surreal having to place his weapon on the X-ray belt.

Nanny state discovers Linux, demands it check kids' IDs before booting

The OS is not at fault here.

It's the content, and that's only avaialble with a network connection. So...age verification should not be done in the OS, but at the time of connection to the ISP...which, of course, would impact revenue, so we can't have that.

Blustering Blackbeard's PC was all at sea, sysadmin got him shipshape in seconds

Re: Walk-trhough diagnose

Fluke makes some very nice meters. Some of them even have a logging mode, you can leave them connected and they will periodically sample and record voltages, and even time stamp the samples.

However, the application to read the data off the meter:

- is licensed and sold ($$$ IIRC)

- requires Windows of a certain vintage

- requires Excel of a certain vintage

- is marginally supported (I think it's written by a third party)

- will only import from the meter into an Excel spreadsheet thorugh some archaic Windows magic which MS no longer supports

The IT department of my former company did not permit "lab computers", because accountability; required all machines to be running the latest version of Windows, no exceptions; charged for MS Office installs (again, latest version only); strictly controlled what software is allowed to be loaded on machines; and required all machines to lock after 5 minutes of inactivity.

I think you can see why this quite useful feature of the meters we bought remains unused...

HP logic analysers with their touchscreen controls. In the lab, pointing out the issue on a trace, and the screen switches to the setup screen as soon as your finger hits it.

I disliked that "feature" very much.

Palantir’s lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff

Re: Musical chairs in real 4:4 time

Ah! The joys of hot-desking.

SO glad I retired when I did.

(when I started working, I had an 8'x10' cube)

Accenture tells staffers: If you want a promotion, use AI at work

Re: True Insultants

"If you can't be part of the solution, there's good money in prolonging the problem."

Despair.com "Consulting" poster

Work experience kids messed with manager's PC to send him to Ctrl-Alt-Del hell

I remember when one did not need to lock one's computer when away for a bit.

My first workstation was connected directly to the Internet and I had my own mailserver.

How times have changed...

Linus Torvalds: Someone ‘more competent who isn't afraid of numbers past the teens’ will take over Linux one day

Re: 19.19

I was born in the US, but lived abroad for 6 years as a child. DDMM and MMDD are still constantly an issue for me, even in retirement. I prefer YYYY-MM-DD

Linus Torvalds and friends tell The Reg how Linux solo act became a global jam session

..and shortly thereafter, the flamewar :-)

Re: Amazing, the article actually mentioned GNU

I hate to bring facts into this flamewar, but Linux made a design choice when they included proprietary drivers.

Yes, Linux to this day contains proprietary binary blobs.

The choice was: write network and display drivers from scratch, with minimal documentaion and no cooperation from the vendors (many of whome are in China), or make deals to include binary blobs and deliver an OS with up-to-date support for popular network and display devicest. The Linux developers held their noses and opted for the latter approach, even though they would have preferred to have all-open drivers.

It's just not reasonable to expect open drivers for highly proprietary chips where even "legitimate" developers can't get full chip documentation without licenses and NDAs. Many of these manufacturers write (or wrote) their documentation only for the market they were targetting: Windows PCs. Getting any other support from them was...unlikely. I know, I have tried. And often, the Windows drivers were...less thn perfect (I have heard them called "barely functional" and sometimes worse).

Personally, I think they made the right decision, as I remember the "good old days" when getting a network or display card up and running involved a whole lot of messing about, and you had very limited choices about which hardware would work.

Re: Missed it all

There's a point to be made here:

Windows, for WAY too long, had no native TCP/IP stack, and required a third party memory manager (QEMM, anyone?). Linux had both, from early on.

Around 1994, my employer had me doing schematic capture on a 486, running Win3.1. Open too many pages in ViewDraw, and the OS would crash. I got tired of this, brought in a spare HDD I had at home, and installed (Slackware?) on it. Set it up for dual boot, and used it as a remote X display off our Solaris system (10BASE-T network), which also had Viewdraw, but was faster and did not crash. That was the moment I realised that Linux was far more useful to me in getting my work done, than Windows. Linux was free and worked better, even then, than the OS my employer had paid for.

Re: Amazing, the article actually mentioned GNU

JFC, Eric, give it a rest.

Re: It's a remarkable thing

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

Nobody's ignoring the contributions of Gnu...what do you think the "g" in gcc stands for? Linux is a team effort, always has been.

Re: I know

Linux is free enough for me.

I remember downloading diskette images from ftp.tsx-11.mit.edu It was great when Walnut Creek CD started selling CDs of Linux for like $10. Yeah, I'm old. Started playing with Linux around 1993, and it's been my daily driver for years.

Thanks, Linus and friends.

Your AI-generated password isn't random, it just looks that way

Re: why ... would anyone ask an LLM to create a password

If I needed a random string, I'd go here:

https://www.random.org/strings/

Any number of these sites show up when Googling "generate random string". I would probably do some additional testing, and not use it for anything really secure (because we have NSA for that) but it's probably more trustworthy than some AI bot.

If Microsoft made a car... what would it be?

Ditto.

Add:

Multiple time zones, Windows and Office versions, & languages

Shouty client people constantly bitching about how they wanted things and why hadn't their comments been addressed yet

Track changes and comments enabled

Multiple simultaneous editors (in different worldwide locations)

One poor Sharepoint server

And, finally, the obligatory tight deadline

It was an unmitigated disaster and an experience I would not like to repeat.

(the client terminated the project before completion)

Lot of haters here.

You have two options with a Linux car:

1. Get it configured as a committee of nerds think it should be

or

2. A truck dumps a pile of parts and a couple of cans of paint in your driveway, with a one page set of instructions

I may see the humor in the above as I've just been configuring an Asterisk PBX for "fun"...

:-)

Re: Kia, seriously

My satnav is a $25 Garmin I got used off Goodwill, with free traffic and map updates for "life" (it doesn't say whose, mine or the gadget's). But it works well, even when SWMBO's phone can't get a signal, and it's miles better than anything a car manufacturer would include (and it doesn't send my movements to anyone). Also, I can remove it when I need it elsewhere or when I'm leaving the car for a while.

Son once had a BMW. Map updates were some number of hundreds of dollars and required a trip to the dealer.

Re: Trabant!

Friend of mine had several Corvairs.

Detroit trying to duplicate the VW Beetle's success, but with MORE POWER!

Enforcing piracy policy earned helpdesk worker death threats

Re: Chilling story

Even more cynical in the US.

Your only resort is "Human Resources", whose one and only job is to keep the Company out of court. They may very well decide that YOU are the problem, and the easiest way to keep you safe, and the Company out of court, is to send you packing.

Tech support chap invented fake fix for non-problem and watched it spread across the office

Re: CRT Monitors...

I always used a long screwdriver and a clip lead between it and chassis ground. Push the screwdriver tip under the anode cap, wait for the SNAP! and proceed.