* Posts by Chloe Cresswell

820 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Aug 2007

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BOFH: HR tries to think appy thoughts

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Once again, the BOFH wins hands down

your comment was just in time for me to fix it, thanks.

But also: could be worst, could be HP or HPE people in the office. Then there will be a half hour wait while they get to a useable state ;)

(No, I haven't ben diagnosing a HP server and having to reboot a lot with their ultra fast UEFI.. why do you ask...)

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Once again, the BOFH wins hands down

If they survived... (the phones, or the HR people? Well...)

The most important experimental distro you've never heard of gets new project lead

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

A folder that is the structure for the application? Interesting idea.. Seen that somewhere before, probably with a ! in the name, right RiscOS?

How do you explain what magnetic fields do to monitors to people wearing bowling shoes?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I'll never forget this one

To be fair, those are at least accurate!

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I'll never forget this one

Or the classics:

"The Internet is down." meaning "I accidentally took my printer off line"

"The Internet is down." meaning "I fiddled with my registry and now my computer won't boot"

"The Internet is down." meaning "I forgot my password" and

"The Internet is down." meaning "My favourite porn site isn't responding"

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: "My mouse is going the wrong way"

How quaint.

Tech trainer taught a course on software he'd never used and didn't own

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: been on many courses where the trainer has no answers

You beat me to that one, Both my Mum and Dad were teachers and well, yes.

Hm, why are so many DrayTek routers stuck in a bootloop?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Firmware updates

.co.uk came back up yesterday evening, was up this morning, and down by around 1000 again.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Correct, current firmware for this unit is 3.9.9.9_BT

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Draytek.co.uk didn't respond, then after a few hours gave a login box, then later moved to a baracuda "this website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered this service. There are several actions that could result in being blocked including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data." message, before coming back to normal.

draytek.com didn't respond either, but came back up before the co.uk site.

And that link doesn't tell me which modem code it's running, hence needing the UK site.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Had this issue on Sunday with my "untrusted" network which uses an older draytek, now have an openwrt running device in place.

Was at a client yesterday with a 2862 (iirc) which I need to upgrade the firmware on, but I couldn't as the draytek websites were down, so I couldn't get the file.

We have 2 more out there we don't know if are just not being attacked or if are patched atm. But thankfully we'd already moved most sites to something more powerful.

Oops, they did it again: Microsoft breaks Outlook with another dubious update

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Microsoft was founded

To quote a.s.r.

All software evolves till it can send email... except for microsoft exchange.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: That _is_ the answer!

"The Register asked Microsoft how it validates its changes and what assurance it could give customers that this issue won't be repeated. The company is yet to respond."

Maybe they asked by email? ;)

UK's biggest mobile operator starts 3G switchoff, hopes it won't catch out April fools

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

EE

I had a letter from EE last week because of our 2 G devices which according to them we "need to upgrade to atleast 4G".

None of our devices using 2G can't use 4G.

The reason they are on 2G is that is the only EE signal they can get.

So to paraphrase the letter "you don't need to upgrade your devices, it's just our network is shit where you are"

CISA: We didn't fire red teams, we just unhired a bunch of them

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: PR for the Win!!!

My first thought to this:

"Purple alert! Purple alert!"

"What's a purple alert?"

"Well, it's like not as bad as a red alert, but a bit worse than a blue alert -- sort of a mauve alert."

How Google tracks Android device users before they've even opened an app

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Banking apps

Normally by making the experience so bad you go somewhere else...

Please fasten your seatbelts. A third of US air traffic control systems are 'unsustainable'

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Musk

"He later admitted he'd mistaken Verizon's network for another FAA network provided by defense contractor L3Harris." This is the only part I found hard to believe. Admitting? Him?

Altnets told to stop digging and start stuffing fiber through abandoned pipes

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: rare occasion

They put a new roundabout in on a duel carriageway near me. Digging it they found a cable.

Unmarked. BT (openreach wouldn't have that name for a year or so afterwads) were called. "No ours:"

Finally someone called NTL:Telewest/Virgin... "Yeah, thats the primary feed from the head station to that town, cut that and you kill all our services".

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Asbestos

"poor record keeping" this was demonstrated to me when they did work on the mains feeder down the road next to my house - I live in a corner terrace. I came home to no power, and no warning.

I spoke to the guys doing the work, foreman was called over, opens his map, and it shows my power being fed though the front of the house from road X.

In reality, the feed comes in the side of the house, half way along it's original length, from road Y.

This map dated from the mid 60s. It was corrected in 2014.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

We had this for a fibre in london - duct in the (middle) of one road, duct in the road with the office on it. 3 metre gap between the 2 systems.

Microsoft's updated Windows battery indicator rollout runs out of juice

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: FFS.

The ones that do, yes. The ones without the white border don't have it.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: FFS.

Doesn't apply to modern LED traffic lights?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: FFS.

I'd also point out that traffic lights are in a fixed order, where as the chances of MS leaving something alone for more than a version these days is rare?

Google binning SMS MFA at last and replacing it with QR codes

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

I was originally with Lloyds, when EMV was introduced, their solution to my issues was to advise me to write the PIN on the back of the card...

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

7726 "spam" also resolves to 1186, depending on the layout of the keypad.

BANK is obvious? 2265 or 8865?

Anything that needs a pattern/etc only works so long as the keypad is the same on every device.

Unfortunately, we have 2 different keypads in use in the world, adding machines (used on computer keyboards) and telco (used on phones) and the numbers are in a different order.

As for using a word: I have both dyslexia and dyscalculia. To mangle Eric Morecambe: I can remember all the right numbers/letters, just not necessarily in the right order...

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Having the number written down and carried with the phone makes it less snatchable?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

Virgin money staff the other week "you know you can just choose a number you can remember?"

....and if I could remember a number, you'd think I have done that years ago, instead of needing a chip and sign card. Seriously, I find them all as bad as each other.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

Was it?

". I can install it, but I can't secure it (I can't remember numbers, the apps for my banks want me to use basically a pin to secure it), and then you have to link it to your account by validating it with your chip and pin card, which doesn't work with a chip and signature account..." No, no it wasn't.

And as my bank says, it doesn't mitigate the need to remember them, you need to do that _AS WELL_ as having biometrics setup.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

Well done. Now do it with out setting up the number first? Because you can't. And the app even says "we will ask you for the number to confirm it is you at times, even with fingerprint/face recognition in use"

Also, how does sliding the faceID option work to link my chip and sign account to the app?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

I don't have a PIN for my cards, I can't remember them.

So for me, I'd have to carry that number written down to add it to the number sent to me...

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: What do I do with a QR code?

We have this issue on a site. Parent company had a breach, everything locked down.

New m365 accounts for all staff, must use MS authenticator app (ok).

To set up a new user, we need to download the app. If they have been provided an iphone, you need an apple account to download the app.

To add the apple account, you need access to the email.

To access the email, you need the app....

It worked for all the existing users when it was setup, as they already had access to their email to jump through the hoops.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

Oh, banks are great at this.

I'm dyslexic with dyscalculia. I don't use PINs, as I can't remember them (in the right order).

Barclays on their app. "We understand you can't remember PINs, but this is a 5 digit passcode, and as it's a passcode, not a PIN, you should beable to remember it".

This was from their accessibility department.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: UK Banks

"but the *preferred method* is via the Bank App." Yeah, preferred is great... when you are one of the people who can't use the app. I get told all the time "contact us via the app" "do this via the app" I can't use it. I can install it, but I can't secure it (I can't remember numbers, the apps for my banks want me to use basically a pin to secure it), and then you have to link it to your account by validating it with your chip and pin card, which doesn't work with a chip and signature account...

HP ditches 15-minute wait time policy due to 'feedback'

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: "many of our customers were not aware of the digital support options we provide"

I have used the HP digital support system. And after 20 mins, it gave me a telephone number and told me to ring it.

First thing on ringing the number? A message asking why don't I try the digital support options..

Why AI benchmarks suck

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Benchmarks and statistics lie

I stick with the quote from the NT forums on compuserv back in the day:

Never trust a benchmark you didn't rig yourself.

BOFH: Engage Hollywood Protocol – because nonsense always looks legit

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Superb plot twist

Will this GUI also respond to the keyboard, and go twice as fast if two people are typing on the same keyboard?

Openreach tests 50 Gbps broadband – don’t expect it anytime soon

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

While my needs are different, so my upgrade from FTTC to FTTP was to get higher upstream speeds, when I went from Zen VDSL2 (offically 80/20, over the last few years it's dropped to 56/19), to Fibre (900/100), the price went _down_.

Arrr! Can a sailor's marlinspike fix a busted backplane?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Should have tested the wave forms.

That was terrible, take your upvote!

Tired techie botched preventative maintenance he soon learned wasn't needed

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

So no degradation in performance from them then....

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Gravitational attraction

"** In England, the first floor is the one above the ground floor" Which is fun in Scunthorpe Steelworks, as the lift is american.

So the lift has an off by one error...

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

"well made computer" memories of Demon's new servers going off line in the night when someone didn't check the floor loading, and the 2 sun racks relocated themselves in a vertical direction into the crypt of the ex-church that was their office space....

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Well.. sometimes someone uses a forktruck... and the results speak for themselves. I'm not 100% sure what else they did to it, as it was in the box the right way up when shipped, and the wrong way up when arrived...

BT unplugs plans to turn old cabinets into EV chargepoints

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Location

We have one on the edge of a roundabout, behind metal fencing. So you couldn't legally get near it with a car to charge. Hasn't stopped it being knocked _flat_ twice...

They've only gone and made Doom run in a PDF file

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: How much ink?

This replaced a 2 colour copier, as it you could use black and one other colour depending on which cartridge/dev/drum was slotted in. We had red and green options. Compared to that, this was amazing when coupled with Corel Draw! 3... And it's clip art gallery which we had the CD version in a single speed CD ROM... and manual/gallery book, which you could have used to prop up a car!

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: How much ink?

Fiery was normally the RIP unit that controlled them - we had a "little" Firey XL which was the brains of a colour copier - the copier was roughly average sized (1.5x4 metres) for the time, the Firey sat to the side and was the size of a tower server. The cable between the two was impressive, it was about 2cm in diameter.

Tesla recalls 239,382 vehicles over rearview camera problems

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

"possibly commercial vehicles" Mercedes-Benz Arocs

New Outlook marches onto Windows 10 for what little time it has left

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: The outlook of Outlook...

Old a.s.r line: "Magic 8 ball says: 'Outlook not so good' - But Microsoft ship it anyway"

Just when you thought terminal emulators couldn't get any better, Ghostty ships

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

or Opencore Legacy Patcher...

Dude, you got a Dell, period! RIP XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Employee of mine: I just realised something - the new Dell nomenclature... The top of the shop machines are going to get known as dumps.

Dell Max Pro - DMP - which is going to get pronounced "Dump"

Elon Musk's galactic ego sows chaos in European politics

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Names.

It's interesting how Musk is happy to use Stephen Yaxley-Lennon's chosen name of tommy robinson, but always deadnames his estranged daughter.

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