Posts by steviebuk

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

So...

...this is where all IBMs money has gone. With Apple fighting the Right To Repair bill in the US (lets hope they lose) how does IBM go about fixing their Apple kit that is out of warranty?

As according to Apple you're not allow their schematics and you're not allowed to buy branded spare parts from anyone. And you're not allowed to send your screen to China and have it reglassed because when it gets to the border, they'll confiscate it claiming it's a knock off as it has an Apple logo on it.

https://gizmodo.com/right-to-repair-advocate-has-iphone-screens-seized-by-b-1825973376

Zip it! 3 more reasons to be glad you didn't jump on Windows 10 1809

Re: Regressions

Yes. That happened when SatNav took over and he fired loads of developers that had been there for years.

Forgotten that Chinese spy chip story? We haven't – it's still wrong, Super Micro tells SEC

I assume if it's untrue...

...couldn't all those companies sue? Aren't they all big enough that they can afford to sue? And by not does this, possibly mean its true?

Hmmm.

SQLite creator crucified after code of conduct warns devs to love God, and not kill, commit adultery, steal, curse...

Alcohol

"Be not addicted to wine."

So all other alcohol fine then?

:)

An Android or iPad? or some other brand? "Yeshua" brand?

Haunted disk-drive? This story will give you the chills...

Re: Not me

Yeah, didn't think of that :)

Not me

"something we can all get behind on a Friday."

I don't drink.

Silent running: Computer sounds are so '90s

That last video

Does anyone know if that was a House track back then without the lyrics? I'd only ever heard it without the lyrics. Wondered if he'd stolen that and put his lyrics over the top but looking on Wiki it looks like the whole thing was his. I just remember the tune, not the lyrics being in a few house mixes back then.

Oz to turn pirates into vampires: You won't see their images in mirrors

So Australia is....

...even more under the thumb of Hollywood. Despite for money then? How many brown envelopes has it taken to get this through?

Microsoft points to a golden future where you can make Windows 10 your own

Re: What about the stuff that we really don't want...

Cortana can't be removed but you can disabled it. The dicks appears to turn it back on when there is a new build thought

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search]

"AllowCortana"=dword:00000000

UK defence secretary ponders £50m hit to terminate Capita recruiting contract

Re: "Don't government contracts have some sort of get-out clause"

There is competence in the civil service. It's just the competent ones are drowned out by the arse kissers and schmoozers who piss all the money away. All they want to do is make a misleading name for themselves as "Getting things done" (the blind sheep ignore that they fucked it up in the process) so they can then move on to the next sucker that employees them at 90k a year for producing fuck all.

LuminosityLink spyware mastermind gets 30 months in the clink, forfeits $725k in Bitcoin

Not really.

He's more like the manufacturer who is knowingly selling his arms to terrorist. Thats the problem.

RIP Paul Allen: Microsoft cofounder billionaire dies at 65 after facing third bout with cancer

Never knew him personally...

... obviously but he's part of Microsoft history even if he did leave early. Its the end of an era.

RIP

It is 2018 and the NHS is still counting the cost of WannaCry. Carry the 2, + aftermath... um... £92m

Re: £150m deal was signed with Microsoft to update systems to Windows 10

Talk to the Council in the US that switched to Linux. I like Linux but they dumped it after a few years because of the cost of training etc.

Re: NHS upgrades antiquated IT systems to Windows 10?

Don't get me wrong. I like Linux but some distros aren't user friendly and would require training. Then having to code apps for it.

The Reg needs an edit button.

Re: NHS upgrades antiquated IT systems to Windows 10?

Then the millions required for training and development of applications that will run off those Linux systems.

Re: Correct me if I'm wrong ...

No. Some trusts did, most didn't. SPT went with crapita and now regret it.

Scanning an Exchange server for a virus that spreads via email? What could go wrong?

I like...

...the get out. Technically not his fault and surely why should you get into shit for that because of the virus. After all, he wouldn't of deleted the mail for that day if they hadn't been infected.

Re: Sweet memories...

That's what I always point out to people. I wasn't involved in any fixes, I'd just finished college. But the amount of people that say "That Y2K thing was bollocks wasn't it. Nothing happened". Especially so called comedians. Yeah nothing happened because people worked fucking hard to fix the issues before they could happen. Tits.

Microsoft Windows 10 October update giving HP users BSOD

This surely...

....now means they need to seriously look at stopping forced updates so we can go back to updating when we want and know the updates are safe.

Your pal in IT quits. Her last words: 'Converged infrastructure...' What does it all mean? We think we can explain

Re: I think I get it now

5) Hire consultants like Clive Longbottom to buzzword you into how it's all so great and you should "get onboard" and because you're a buzzword addict but secretly don't understand any of them, you just agree with the purchase despite everyone warning you against it.

The good news: PC sales went up a little worldwide, say Gartner crystal-ball-gazers

Gartner....

...who've been giving praise to Equifax for years.

So I don't trust anything Gartner says.

I find your lack of faith disturbing, IBM: Big Blue fires photon torpedo at Pentagon JEDI cloud contract

Funny

“IBM knows what it takes to build a world-class cloud,”

Ahhhhhh ha ha ha ha

World's largest CCTV maker leaves at least 9 million cameras open to public viewing

Re: It's not CCTV

I think this is like arguing Tannoy is a speaker system in supermarkets etc, when it's in fact a brand name, like Hoover. Unfortunately over the years CCTV has just become this. Any camera that can watch your property, whether it's closed circuit or not is classed or seen as CCTV.

Most people want to remote view CCTV in these times so most CCTV ends up, in some way connected to the Internet.

Whats worse is when you have a so called "CCTV company" come in and install kit. Never bothered to put on SSL on any of the websites for the CCTV cameras, give them internet findable IP addresses, give the logins piss poor easy to guess or brute force passwords for the PVR boxes and set them up near lights so the light ends up blowing the picture out at night. That's whats also worrying, is the racket/cowboy/girl CCTV installers.

The problem is...

...lots of Chinese stuff is cheap. So Clever Dog cameras where mentioned to me recently and I reluctantly got some to watch the cats due to the price & ability to save locally to SD card (yes I know I loose the footage if someone comes in an nicks them). The software is shockingly shit, the motion detection is useless and the cameras are unreliable for connecting to them. I fear what they are doing while on my internal network. I might sit with wireshark one evening and see if I can see if they are doing anything they shouldn't be.

Read the T&C of the company who runs Clever Dog and they essentially say "Our stuff should be secure. If it's not and someone breaks into your cameras or our servers, then it's not our fault. And we aren't liable"

Trouble is the big name cameras are expensive, mostly require cloud subscriptions (which is not what I want) and don't really do what I want. It's annoying as some years back in the XP days I had a Logitech web cam that you could remotely move. Then had some free CCTV software (up to about 3 cameras then you had to pay) that had the ability to detect motion, you could sit and watch what it was seeing as motion as colours on the screen. It was really accurate but alas, the camera is no longer supported and it's so long ago I can't remember what that quality software was.

Microsoft deletes deleterious file deletion bug from Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Re: An untested fix to an untested feature

And when SatNav joined and wiped out half the employee base.

Microsoft yanks the document-destroying Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Re: If this was an Apple product

I disagree. I still have Windows 7 on my ThinkPad but there are some nice little features of Windows 10 that make it enjoyable to use. Shame those features aren't in Windows 7. Still sticking with that on my Thinkpad for now.

One madness with Windows 10 I don't understand is alot of the privacy and the Bluetooth default. Discovered it at work today or what issue it can cause. Sets itself to allow any Bluetooth device to connect even if not specifically paired. What issue did that cause today? The Bluetooth moused used by the person in front of the user I had a call out for was fucking interfering with their laptop causing the call of "my mouse is moving on its own".

What are Microsoft doing?

And on slightly unrelated moan with Office 365 and the shitty exchange spam filter. Tell it to block all yahoo.jp addresses yet it still lets them through ):o(

On the seventh anniversary of Steve Jobs' death, we give you 7 times he served humanity and acted as an example to others

Re: Do his material contributions...?

And ended up being overpriced. The "away" trips found on YouTube are really interesting though. Especially when Joanna Hoffman calls out Steve on his "Relation Distortion" bullshit.

The funny thing with Steve Jobs is he appeared to just get lucky with most stuff. Most of the stuff he was involved with failed when you look into the history of it.

Still funny...

..even after the weekend :)

One thing I will say, I'm glad I didn't have to work for him as I'd truly have hated him, however, because I didn't and because I grew up in the very late 70s and 80s, these people have been part of my history. Seeing them on the news over the years etc, they became so recognisable. Jobs, Wozniak, Bill, Steve Ballmer etc. So although he was a true 2868 (look it up on a phone with letters to work out what that spells, starts with a c), I have a very weird "Its not the same without the old crew in place" feel.

Its hard to explain what I mean as I really disliked the man but maybe it's a nostalgia thing. I didn't know I wanted to do computing till I got into college. Now I do it as a job its my hobby too and I love looking at the past history. The early computing and he was a part of it, despite being an arsehole, I see Apple when I see him. I hated Apple back then, I still hate it now, but it doesn't feel the same Apple without his bullshit. Like Microsoft isn't the same without Bill Gates there.

One thing I thought he did right, assuming I read it correctly in his book, was when he came back to Apple. Getting rid of all the differently numbered systems. Like Apple Mac 1.23b, Apple Mac 1.30 (making up the names as can't remember them) and just sticking with 3-4 main areas.

Rambled on now. Probably not made any sense. Almost deleted this post like I did the other day. Sometimes I do ramble shit.

Very...

...funny and accurate. Although I disliked the tit I read his book. His wife said she wanted it to be accurate, walts and all so it does mention alot of his arsehole moves.

You wanna be an alpha... tester of The Register's redesign? Step this way

So...

...is it live now then? Was going to request we get an edit button for the comments. I'm always hitting submit too quickly and then realising after how much a tit I sound because I didn't spell check. Sometimes I also comment from my mobile and it's an arse to type on that.

Convenient switch hides an inconvenient truth

Surely this shows...

...why you should get the electrician in to check the circuit and not do it yourself as a bodge fix.

The only way is up, baby: IBM UK sales down, profit down, headcount down

Do a contract for TSB...

...allow everyone to see their systems still go down. Everyone then thinks "IBM must be shit then? Not the same as they were in the 80s". Word spreads and no one buys your service.

To many fucking times. There are a lot of cocks in management.

Day two – and Windows 10 October 2018 Update trips over Intel audio

Edge is also...

...the best way to get infected. Not the most secure as they keep claiming. I uploaded a YouTube vid of a link I knew was bad of a fake Office 365 login page. Chrome and Firefox actively blocked on Windows 10. Both IE and Edge allowed access to the site and allowed you to fill in your credentials.

Shocking.

Will they ever go back to the new way of releasing Windows 10 updates? It clearly isn't working and is creating more issues than fixing it seems. And will we ever get back the option to ignore updates or will we continue to be forced to update. Microsoft aren't what they used to be.

Screwed SAP salesman scores $660,000 jury award

So a company that..

....made roughly 3 billion Euros (can't find a symbol on the keyboard) last year still won't cough up.

Arseholes.

Brit outfit IT Lab snaps up Office 365 and SharePoint pro Content and Code

Can't....

...really blame a person who starts up a company agreeing to sell it for a few million if it means you never have to work again. We all love Martin Lewis and even he did it. But he's one of the rare ones who's nice and seemed to sort out his staff after the sale with some nice bonus'.

But when it happens to the company you're in, you do then fear if you're for the chop especially if there are duplicate roles. At that point you hate it when this happens. But again, you can't really blame a founder for selling out so they never have to worry about money again, as I think we'd all do it.

Rookie almost wipes customer's entire inventory – unbeknownst to sysadmin

My story, again...

....being the security minded person that I am but also no expert I was working at a place with Follow Me printing. On Ricoh devices. Looking through the server one day spotted the option "Purge print jobs on logout" Ooo, that would be a good idea to switch on. Purge them from the MFD, good security and all.

So I set it and forgot about it. Then calls started to appear in our main 2nd line queue. "My print job has only half come out then disappeared". "I sent my print job a few times but it only partly prints". Oh shit. I realised what had happened, grabbed all the calls and quickly closed them, then fixed the issue (turned the option to purge back off).

I hadn't put in a change request, although don't think they were enforced at the time. It turned out people would go to the MFD, swipe their card, start printing then swipe to logout before the print job had finished. Or their job was so long that the MFD would timeout their session and automatically log them off. And of course, their print jobs would then be purged.

Oops.

No one noticed the calls come in so I kept quiet & quickly closed them. Made up some excuse for the users :) although all those extra closed calls helped my stats for the week.

New Zealand border cops warn travelers that without handing over electronic passwords 'You shall not pass!'

Is that Amber Rudd?

"A Customs spokesperson told Radio New Zealand “We're not going into 'the cloud'. We'll examine your phone while it's on flight mode”."

What are you talking about? My Samsung uploads the photos on my phone to the "cloud" but they also stay on the phone. So unless someone configures it to only use cloud storage, you'd still have access to all my cat photos, even in flight mode you fucking idiot. Understand the tech you're investigating.

Haven't updated your Adobe PDF software lately? Here's 85 new reasons to do it now

This is annoying and interesting

Annoying as I've just learnt a bit more about Group Policy so played with trying to deploy Adobe DC (that was a mistake. Although ended up finding a good guide). Got it working so annoying that now need to apply a patch. But interesting as can now see what an update does to the deployment.

Too true. So many of these companies get rid of the good & well paid people so they can replace them with cheap interns.

UK ruling party's conference app editable by world+dog, blabs members' digits

Doubt it. You can argue that you thought it was a "feature" or "it appeared to be a massive security hole but I wasn't sure so I tried to edit their profile & sure enough I was able to. Yes I took an image of the change as evidence it was an issue. I then reported it and stopped using it. Why did I make a change, take an image and post it on Twitter? Because too many companies deny these bugs exist so I needed proof. Just look at the TV licencing issue recently? That secuirty hole was pointed out to them with evidence yet they publically denied it was an issue.

A web where the user has complete control of their data? Sounds Solid, Tim Berners-Lee

Just...

...bring back GeoCities. That's where my own content once was. With all the bad "Under Construction" and animated gifs. Tried to code it in HotDog but my 386sx back then was so shit it couldn't even cope with HotDog.

Ah the 90s and having no money. (The 90s was good, having no money wasn't).

Facebook: Up to 90 million addicts' accounts slurped by hackers, no thanks to crappy code

I don't...

....dislike Facebook itself. It's a system, it's useful for some people (family members keeping in touch with people across the world) and from a programming point of view having done a little years ago and being shit, it amazes me how complex these systems get, but I choose not to use it in the normal sense of use it.

I used to use Friends Reunited before Facebook become so big. I hated how people from school on there were the same knobs they were in school. I also hated how narcissistic it seemed to make people. Have avoided it ever since. I now only use it when a site insists the only way you can login with them or post comments is via a Facebook account so then a dummy one gets created & used.

I understand they should be keeping everyone's data private etc. but the service is free, people choose to use it. I bet loads of the users that currently use it would stop if it suddenly introduced a subscription model. But I guess all users do have a right to moan when Facebook is only worth what it's worth because of all it's users, free or not.

I'm surprised Zuckerberg is still even there. With all that money I'd just get out while you still can before it all comes crashing down like MySpace. And I just couldn't be arsed with the aggro. But then that's probably also why I'd never succeed in business.

AI-powered IT security seems cool – until you clock miscreants wielding it too

Re: William Gibson

All they care about is saving money. If using AI means they can do away with real people and wages then they'll do it. It's why sales teams have gotten away for years selling shit to the gullible in business'. Because the person paying normally falls for their sales pitch and sees it as a "saving". Ignoring the fact pretty much all of them put their prices up after a year or charge stupid amounts of service or change request charges.

Former Apple engineer fights iPhone giant for patent credit and denied cash, says Steve Jobs loved his 'killer ideas'

Re: He shouldn't also forget that Steve said....

I'm going on what I've read and from the film Pirates of Silicon valley which Steve Wozniak said was quite accurate.

I knew about the earlier invention of the mouse.

The Lisa was actually a commercial failure. Looking at the early system that Jobs got hold of, most appeared to be failures. The Apple 2 could of gone that way if Steve Wozniak hadn't convinced Steve Jobs to allow expansion. Reading Steve Wozniak's book he claims Steve Jobs didn't want to allow the computer to be upgradable, but when Wozniak convinced him otherwise, it was what helped keep Apple a float for years because the Apple 2 was where most of their money was coming from.

He shouldn't also forget that Steve said....

...."Good artists copy, great artists steal". A quote I know he didn't invent but the point is, maybe that's what Apple will point him to. "Yeah we are great artists so stole your patent". Funny that quote considering Jobs went mental at Bill Gates for Windows claiming he'd copied Apple's idea to which Bill pointed out they'd both been to see the Xerox OS. And Jobs going mental over Android.

Unfortunately for this guy and the way the American legal system works, I suspect Apple will just continue to drag out the lawsuit until he can't afford to fight it anymore.

Perfect timing for a two-bank TITSUP: Totally Inexcusable They've Stuffed Up Payday

Welcome to...

....the cloud. It's a bit overcast today so you may not be able to login.

I'll get my coat.

Android Phones are 10: For once, Google won fair and square

And...

...I'd probably say the locked down nature of the iPhone. The fact Steve Jobs took it to court to make Jailbreaking illegal but thankfully lost. At least it's easier to flash an Android with a custom ROM than an iDevice.

A story of M, a failed retailer: We'll give you a clue – it rhymes with Charlie Chaplin

Anyone got...

...another way of explaining it a bit more easier for us that aren't accountants? I'm interested in accounts, despite being shit at maths but didn't understand some of this. All I knew was they'd priced themselves out of the market long ago due to everything being way overpriced. But seeing what other purchased did to them was interesting. I know some investors buy up companies that they see as cheap purchases cause they know they can make more money breaking a company up.