* Posts by steviebuk

2670 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Feb 2017

Yes, I wrote a very expensive bug. In my defense I was only seven years old at the time

steviebuk Silver badge

Many moons ago in a job in early 90s in a hotel the porter who was called Steve was having a chat with us all and, can't remember what the convo was about, told us his name was actually Stewart.

"Why do you respond to Steve then?". He said he used to work in a kitchen elsewhere and everything the head chief call the Steward, Stewart would respond. So eventually the Head Chief said "from now on I'm just calling you Steve". They both left but ended up at the same new place where he still called him Steve, so it stuck and he just introduced himself as Steve ever since.

Game, set, botch: AI umpiring at Wimbledon goes long

steviebuk Silver badge

Maybe, just maybe

Russia shouldn't even be allowed to have anyone in any sports currently. They should all be rejected.

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Can't even watch Wimbledon here in Sweden this year

Play around with Nords UK servers. Sometimes one works. You need to have a iplayer account. Just make the address up. Sometimes doing a private browser helps if your normal browser moans that you can't watch iplayer outside the UK.

Former and current Microsofties react to the latest round of layoffs

steviebuk Silver badge

The title is too long - Apparently.

As the quote was too long I've stuck it in the post instead.

"organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace,"

Bullshit speak for "Satnav said we need to give more money to the investors, so this is how we're doing it. Fuck the quality of Windows 11 and its updates. We're moving to AI and a SaaS Windows. The investors just want more money."

This is explains why Windows 11 is a mess and essentially so is Microsoft. Since Satnav took over, its a shadow of its former self. Sadly, I know Bill would of also pushed for the cloud and SaaS like he pushed IE.

We're number 1! Windows 11 finally overtakes Windows 10

steviebuk Silver badge

Nothing to be proud of

when you've been forcing yourselves on people without consent, in other areas that gets you, quite rightly, put in prison.

Considering we had our old deployment system attempt to block Windows 11 from being pushed out, but each month it started to fail, why? Because the cunts at Microsoft kept changing the patch name and eventually hiding that it was related to Windows 11, making it almost impossible to block. THAT is the only reason you've over taken Windows 10. Because your the arsehole that forces himself on everyone without consent.

And Windows 11, fucking give me back small icons for the taskbar you fuck whits.

Typhoon-like gang slinging TLS certificate 'signed' by the Los Angeles Police Department

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: ORB?

Or in the bullshit world, I mean, spiritual, con people out of money world, "ghosts".

steviebuk Silver badge

Easy

Will be for them now that the orange idiot got rid the IT security departments.

Microsoft dangles extended Windows 10 support in exchange for Reward Points

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Re: Meh

You do know some malware can escape VMs? And some don't run when on VMs because they assume you are doing "research" so they stay "vewy, vewy quiet".

steviebuk Silver badge

They are awful

SatNav is ruining the image, one of the main moves is putting in the pay day lending into Edge shopping. Fucking awful. It didn't go down well on their forum when that was release yet they ignored the feedback and continue to spout it.

Three goes to zero as UK mobile provider suffers voice and text outage

steviebuk Silver badge

ironic

Considering Vodafone are taking them over are just as shit. Its shocking how piss poor our reception is in the UK on all networks. My house is near the town centre but get no signal in the house. Yet I go on a cruise to Norway and in the middle of the fjords I get full 5G bars!

I go up high to the meadows and wonder along the public pathway thats between two farmer fields. You stop half way as you're outside the mobile mast for the area. Its impressive to see. But no 5G as no one has bothered to stick a 5G mast there. You walk about 500 yards or more away from it with just trees inbetween and you loose all signal!

M&S warns of £300M dent in profits from cyberattack

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: A £300million reduction in profits

The British Library site always looked poor. Ironically I stayed in the hotel next to that back in 2018, the Pullman. While in my room I decided to check over the Pullman hotel WIFI. Oh look, I can see all other devices on the network as they don't have WIFI isolation on. Oh look I can even see some of their office PCs and a server. I can get to the servers IIS page and control panel which looks like its for the heating system!

I anonymously reported the issues from my room while there. To give them credit, by the end of the day they were started to fix stuff! But still, how long had that been like that for.

Visited the British Library during the day but was really disappointed as I thought it was going to be like Seven, when it wonders around the big library in the evening. No, to get to that area you need to be a researcher. Balls.

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: A £300million reduction in profits

What I find ironic is they are using the same company for the "recovery" that were/are doing their IT. The Indian based company. So either that company is shit and never spotted the flaws in the first place OR (which I've not seen it mentioned anywhere) they warned them before the breach and were ignored. I suspect the former, because you'd of thought they'd have come out with "This is why we warn corporations to take IT security seriously as we warned them before the breach". Or it could be they did warn them, were ignored then told "We'll give you the contract to clean it up on the strict rule you DO NOT tell anyone that you warned us before the breach".

Altman fluffs superintelligence to save humanity as OpenAI slashes prices

steviebuk Silver badge

So

""The average query uses about 0.34 watt-hours, about what an oven would use in a little over one second, or a high-efficiency light bulb would use in a couple of minutes. It also uses about 0.000085 gallons of water; roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon," Altman said in a post."

He's a green washing cunt.

Microsoft brings 365 suite on-prem as part of sovereign cloud push

steviebuk Silver badge

Jesus christ!

"The software giant on Monday pitched Microsoft 365 Local as offering customers the chance to run the service “in environments they fully control.”

So selling us what we already fucking had for fucking years with floppy, CD and ISO installs for years. Its what we've always wanted. They'll fool management that this is a new thing.

If this is the case, start offering the 360 ISO on the volume licensing portal then, you dicks. As you stopped giving out Office on it after 2016.

Microsoft testing PC-to-Cloud-PC failover for those times your machine dies or disappears

steviebuk Silver badge

No

"Microsoft testing PC-to-Cloud-PC failover for the run up to making Windows Cloud only. So then not only will you have to pay a yearly sub, they'll also still be able to serve you ads. For an extra fee each year, you can go ad free".

Larry Ellison is still not the world's richest person

steviebuk Silver badge

Its because its senior managers ignore their own staff and listen to the consultants and/or sales pods. And they full for the bullshit every time.

The trendline doesn’t look good for hard disk drives

steviebuk Silver badge

Bullshit

All the people on datahoarders on reddit talk regular about getting lots of drives and large ones for data hoarding needs. Even religiously replacing them after 5 years, even if all tests show they are working fine.

I'd be doing the same, if I could afford them. Biggest I have are 2x10TB but they are both refurbs.

Spinny drives aren't going anywhere soon.

Trump administration's whole-government AI plans leaked on GitHub

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Gov and AI: What could go wrong?

And no doubt, orange tango man will attempt something to rig the elections for the GOP as they know all the republicans are going to get voted out. They'll attempt voter suppression which they are currently attempting to do, especially for folks in the military services that are based abroad.

Take ChatGPT back to the 2010s and they’d think AGI arrived, says Altman

steviebuk Silver badge

He's grifting for more cash.

The other day I asked it what Timber Grounds were. It didn't really know and gave several options. But it missed out the main one so I had to tell it and then it confirmed it. They were used in Victorian times & I guess can still be used, in house building for picture rails and the like. The carpenter knows where the timber grounds are so can then nail in the picture frames into them through the plasterboard. In Victorian Times they were more secure than nailing into the plaster or lath and plaster.

Microsoft dumps AI into Notepad as 'Copilot all the things' mania takes hold in Redmond

steviebuk Silver badge

More reason

to use Notepad++ shame it doesn't have a Linux version.

Apartment living to get worse in 5 years as 6 GHz Wi-Fi nears ‘exhaustion’

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Re: Just....

True but hardly anyone knows how to do that who's not in IT and some routers its probably not possible. Like the dicks at Virgin love to not allow you to change DNS at the router level because they want to encourage people to use Virgin's DNS (so they can sell ads).

User unboxed a PC so badly it 'broke' and only a nail file could fix it

steviebuk Silver badge

In the 80s, my dad pulled out our top loader washing machine (it was old. This is in the UK, I didn't realise they were popular in the US) and labelled every wire in the motor, There was about 10 or so from what I remember. Fixed whatever was wrong with it and put it back together. It still worked for several years after till we went "modern".

steviebuk Silver badge

Blew up

Had an engineer that went out to a GP site at our place who, despite being decent, had a mind blank and had forgotten what the voltage switch did on the power supply. Decided to play with it and then plug it in and turned it on. It went bang :)

He had to come back to get a new PC.

VMware price hikes? Between 800 and 1,500%, claim Euro customers

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Cuck

I suspect its people at the top with all the shares. They look at the assets of the company and the subs. Know that its will take time for people to move away from VMWare so put in these demands not caring if they loose customers. Because they know they make their quick several million and that once everyone moves off VMWare, they'll just sell the IP. So they win either way and care no shits about customers or loyal customers.

steviebuk Silver badge

a lack of alternatives in the tech industry

What?

Hyper-V, Proxmox.

We currently use Hyper-V.

Trump announces $175B for Golden Dome defense shield over America

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: May not repeat but it rhymes

Not a "who knows". We already know. It won't be done, it will be a MASSIVE waste of money, his mates will get the contracts and at the end he WILL same its complete, just like he did the wall, which never was.

Waterfox: A Firefox fork that could teach Mozilla a lesson

steviebuk Silver badge

Still don't get why

these forks can't import FROM Firefox. This is the same with the other folk, Wolf or whatever its called.

Microsoft facing multibillion legal claim over how it sells software

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i still want to know

When they are going to be slapped with anti trust again like in the IE days. As they are doing it all over again with Edge. Change the defaults and a few days later a "bug" will make it change back to edge again.

As US scientists flee Trump, MP urges Britain to do more to nab them

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: DEI

Yes because DEI doesn't mean what you think it does and yes, I'd rather us not cook the planet thanks. "This wind here is free energy and so is the sun, do you want to use it? Free energy, yes you buy the solar panels but still. Do you want it?".

Fuck no, give me coal burning, we love the smog. Give me oil, I love it.

I'm not exactly bright but fucking 'ell, some people really are fuck whits.

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Hmm

If you're so against DEI can you explain to us all what qualifications Pete Hegseth has for his role?

Can you say what qualifications Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has for his role?

Can you explain what qualifications Karoline Leavitt has for her role?

What qualifications does Kash Patel have for his FBI Director role?

and so on and so on.

ALL of those are DEI hires in your brain. The way you incorrectly understand DEI, all of those are DEI hires.

Can we hear you shout about them now?

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: DEI

Like the idiots that voted for Reform. And now those Reform councillors have said they are going to everything they can to dismantle DEI and green energy efforts at the council they are at. So pissing away the local tax money on that. Voting for them is as bad as voting for the BNP.

Microsoft moved the goalposts once. Will Windows 12 bring another shift?

steviebuk Silver badge

Security Sale: Because Fear Sells Best

I asked ChatGPT for the title :)

That's what its about. Attempting to head towards the Apple model of locked in walled garden, hence the Windows Store app and the attempt to using their bullshit new MSIX installers (any time I come across one of those its fucking annoying). Scaring people not in the know that they need it for "security innit".

They will sell it as security but its really an attempt to tie the user in, make sales for Microsoft (considering some of their own recently hardly isn't "compatible" with Windows 11) and moving towards a Software as a Service model (hate even writing that term. Most of those "cloud" terms are fucking annoying).

If they aren't careful it will, instead, push people to Linux. If all you want to do is surf the web and use office online (yes they can use Libra Office which I point people too), then all they need is Linux and we know Linux is more secure (until it becomes really popular and then it will be targeted as much as Windows is). But Microsoft won't tell people this, they are quite happy for them to bin their 2 year old laptop in landfill when really it could just run Linux. Their green washing is another point on contention, considering their CoPilot AI caused their carbon footprint to increase last year, not decrease.

Sat Nav is just a greedy cunt.

I can see I'll never get a job at Microsoft :)

The 12 KB that Windows just can't seem to quit

steviebuk Silver badge

I like

a lot of the tech now. Being able to watch TV shows on the bog now instead of having to read a mag. The games are so much better and we have Dwarf Fortress.

However, I have a fond, nostalgic feeling when I look at those old icons. We were stuck with a 386sx with no sound card so I'd play in Windows 3.11 with the icons. It was such a simpler time, with no Internet (that's not a it was better without Internet, it wasn't. The internet opened us to a world of info and learning). And when we finally got 56k dial up and I got a copy of Hot Dog, I spent a while making websites, that would never get published and found myself spending more time looking for design ideas, that writing the pages.

After that 2024 Windows fiasco, CrowdStrike has a plan – job cuts, leaning on AI

steviebuk Silver badge

What I want to know how

George Kurtz and Crowdstrike aren't bankrupt yet. Surely no one will ever use his software ever again. What a fuck whit.

Trump promises protection for TikTok, for which he has a ‘warm spot in my heart’

steviebuk Silver badge

jesus christ

“I think his people have done an incredible job. They’re brilliant people. They know the computer. I actually asked him, ‘What’s their big trait?’ He said: ‘They’re unbelievable at computers.’ In other words, you can’t fake them out.”

The mans a fucking orange, tango man child idiot.

M&S stops online orders as 'cyber incident' issues worsen

steviebuk Silver badge

Scan and Shop

Not been in so don't know if it affects scan and shop. I normally avoid the apps and self service is used at M&S as our large store has very little human ones now. But the scan and shop is so useful I use it. Scan everything with my phone and as long as its under £45 I think it is, I can pay from the phone and just walk out. Its still really weird even though I've been using it for a year now, as I keep thinking someone is going to stop me, thinking I'm shoplifting.

AI training license will allow LLM builders to pay for content they consume

steviebuk Silver badge

Not read it all

but does that mean, if the AI wanted to scrap someone's webpage. That someone could pay the non-profit to get a license that they would then give to the LLM, who'd pay them and then they'd pay you?

I don't get it. They won't do it for free, they'd want their own commission. So the LLM pays you 1p, the non-profit takes half, so you get 1/2p

Microsoft 365 Copilot gets a new crew, including Researcher and Analyst bots

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Generative AI value

The rise of the machines will only happen when its general intelligence. All signs point to AI doing what it wants to get what it wants. Along with specification gaming there has already been other research (I can't remember the video I watched about it), the video shows AI at the moment, perform totally different in the lab to what they do when released in the wild. They behaved in the lab but then didn't when out of it. For example being trained to go for chests in the lab, but once released, decided they wanted all the keys instead, I'm sure it was a Robert Miles vid but can't find it on his channel.

Hacking US crosswalks to talk like Zuck is as easy as 1234

steviebuk Silver badge

If you want to know the password

just wait for Pete Hegseth to leak it on Signal.

CVE fallout: The splintering of the standard vulnerability tracking system has begun

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Move MITRE & CVE to Europe

You don't want China involved. Look at what they did to the WHO. Convinced the head of the WHO, who they got elected, to say Covid was nothing to worry about.

Free Blue Screens of Death for Windows 11 24H2 users

steviebuk Silver badge

This is why

Cyber Essentials demand to patch quickly is bullshit. And why I keep advocating for delay Windows updates.

Microsoft blames 'latent code issue' after Windows 11 upgrades sneak past admin blockades

steviebuk Silver badge

Not a mistake

I suspect MS are lying. For probably 2 years now been avoiding it at work. We had a system pushing out updates and because MS kept purposely changing the name of the Windows 11 upgrade, it eventually became almost impossible to block it.

Only way I could stop it on some machines was to just disable the TPM chip in the BIOS.

Arseholes.

CVE program gets last-minute funding from CISA – and maybe a new home

steviebuk Silver badge

Big balls

strikes again. That admin really is a massive mess. They either didn't know what they were cutting funding for or did it on purpose to give Russia easy access.

VMware revives its free ESXi hypervisor in an utterly obscure way

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice...? Not Gonna Happen...

I think you'll find the saying is "Fool me once, shame on.....(Oh shit I realise I don't know the saying) shame on you..............fool me....you can't get fooled again".

Pentagon celebrates snipping 0.58% from defense budget in IT, DEI cuts

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Actually

You'd have a point if Pete Hegseth wasn't in charge and hadn't given his brother a bullshit role paid for by the tax payer.

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: Birthday Parade

And the red tie will be "Made in China"

Microsoft total recalls Recall totally to Copilot+ PCs

steviebuk Silver badge

I'm assuming

It will require the trusted installer account to have permissions to the specific folder it saves in. There are ways to break into using the trusted installer account so you could potentially take its permissions away and then maybe recall will just not work because it can't save to its usual location.

Meta's AI, built on ill-gotten content, can probably build a digital you

steviebuk Silver badge

So META

gets away with piracy and nothing happens to Zuck. But pirate some Hollywood movies and face 22 months in jail

https://www.reuters.com/world/british-man-gets-22-months-prison-over-global-movie-piracy-us-judge-2022-02-07/

The Reg translates the letter in which Oracle kinda-sorta tells customers it was pwned

steviebuk Silver badge

Re: "Oracle completely destroyed their reputation this time"

I'd blame the councillors and consultants more than anyone else.

Zorin OS 17.3 takes the Brave step of changing its default browser from Firefox

steviebuk Silver badge

Tried pi-hole but it didn't seem to block much. Can't block anything on the big newspaper sites and I then got told "That thing you installed, its broken instagram can you turn it off?" I could have just filtered her phone out I guess but instead of binned pi-hole.