Posts by Chloe Cresswell

Tesla Full Self Driving subscription to rise alongside its capabilities

Re: Fine Shield for Drivers

Which is what happened: the registered keeper was Tesla Financial Services.

Ancient telnet bug happily hands out root to attackers

Re: Who still uses telnet?

"And the great unwashed..."

Please, we've had web design companies moan at us as we don't give them ftp access to their client's hosting packages, just sftp.

Kids learn computer theory with wood, cardboard, and hot glue

Right on Commander!

MPs ask who's responsible when AI crashes the UK finance system

Re: There must be clarity on who is responsible:

Pretty sure their view will be "the end user for not understanding the risks of using our AI systems"

CES 2026 worst in show: AI girlfriends, a fridge that won't open unless you talk to it, and more

Yeah, the ones that last are just the ones that lasted.

My mum has a danish made chest freezer, it's 1 year older than I am.

It's from 1978.

Is it reliable? yes.

Is it well made? yes.

Has it lasted 49 years? yes.

Have I ever seen another one? No.

Is it therefore an example of how much better things were made? No, we just got lucky (esp as it hasn't leaked, given it's full of classic Ozone eating CFCs...)

Will you have to think in Korean?

Help desk read irrelevant script, so techies found and fixed their own problem

Re: KPIs, you get the service you pay for

"here's often no differentiation between "end user" and techie so those of us who are expert get the same 1st line script"

My normal comment is the knowledge level of a tech support call is a constant.

So $ENDUSER rings in, they get the expert.

We ring in, we get "it's my first day! script reader.

Recline of the machines: Terminator felled by dodgy battery

Re: I used to like

Seen that exactly: Once.

Toshiba laptop.

Must be a different value of frequently to my experience.

Re: I used to like

It wasn't that stupid really.

If set to halt on all errors, the press F1 was to indicate a keyboard was now attached and working.

My machines were normally defaulted to "halt on all errors except keyboard" from the makers (gigabyte 486/pentiums boards) and so would sail though regardless if you hadn't connected the keyboard.

Crypto wallet shop Ledger confirms customer data lifted in Global-e snafu

scam

...And suddenly the massive rash of "ledger" titled spam/scams hitting our systems recently makes sense.

Hong Kong’s newest anti-scam technology is over-the-counter banking

Re: Yep, the right step.

Still better then say, Barclays who have shut every branch in my areas as there is one "16.4 miles away" - if you swim 14 miles across an estury, as it's 33 miles by land bridge...

Re: Yep, the right step.

"The UK's high streets have been virtually bank free for decades!"

Virgin Money (previously yorkshire and clydesdale) have reneged on their promise to not shut any branches where possible until 2026.. by upping that to 2030.

New York’s incoming mayor bans Raspberry Pi at his inauguration party

Brands...

So a banana pi is fine, right?

Pizza restaurant signage caught serving raw Windows

Re: I recently 'dined' at Luton Airport

"They only take cash (surely some tax dodge?)" a lot of places around me only take cash, because of the cost of taking cards.

One cafe that takes cards has a sign up which they update - it's how much the charges are for the current month for the card transactions they have taken.

It's normally around £350.

Re: I recently 'dined' at Luton Airport

My "fun" one is fast food "you must order at the kiosk!" yes, but when I put my card in to pay, it automatically cancels the transaction, so I'd prefer a person and a PDQ please...

UK prepares to wave goodbye to 3G telecoms as tri-hard tech retires

Re: WAP did its job at the time

It's not misleading. As the article stated, before 3G there was only WAP.

GPRS on O2 launched in 2000. Hutchinsons would launch 3G in the UK with three in 2003.

Yes, UTMS was ratified in 1998, but it took 5 years before anything launched with it in the UK.

Also, "in hindsight" Apple didn't support UTMS due to the power requirements.

Re: WAP did its job at the time

By the time I had my 9300i, GPRS/EDGE connection to run the symbian Putty port and use one of my servers was how I did a lot of stuff.

Re: WAP did its job at the time

Nonono, before 3G, you had to use WAP... an IP connection GPRS then EDGE never happened, the iphone roll out in the UK wasn't delayed while O2 got EDGE running... etc. etc.. ;)

User found two reasons – both of them wrong – to dispute tech support's diagnosis

Re: Related issues

We put an internet connecting into a school, ISDN dialup.

We had 4 machines for the kids to use, one had a 4 port 10mbps network card to work as the hub, with 3 machines plugged into it with wingate as a proxy.

The 4th connection ran up the wall, along the corridor, to the admin office, so the staff machine could share it too.

1 week later the admin machine couldn't access the internet.

We got told by the head that it was our fault, the system was crap, etc.

I walked the cable run, and pointed out that our system would be working fine if the plumbers they had had in to work on the heating system hadn't blowtorched the cable as it ran along the wall/ceiling where the pipes were.

over 2 metres of charred cat5. But it was "our fault".

Ofcom comes knocking after BT, Three mobile outages cut 999 access

Re: Revive POTS (Incoming Rant)

Question will be how long they support the equipment at the exchanges, as they want to sell them off and group the FTTP links into a smaller number of super centres.

Re: Revive POTS (Incoming Rant)

One limitation is you can't dial local numbers as the number, has to be the entire STD+Number.

And his modems really doesn't like it.

They often handshake with the other end, then no data flows.

Re: Revive POTS (Incoming Rant)

If you want the worst of both worlds: Someone I know was just switched to BT Digital Phone. Except he doesn't have a data service on that line.

The solution: His VoIP connection is handled by an ATA at the exchange, and the POTS style connection is carried by the existing pair to the phone in his house.

Digital equipment in the exchange sending analogue phone to the building doesn't half sound like PSTN the hard way....

BOFH: If another meeting is scheduled, someone is going to have a scheduled accident

Re: 650k is enough

"2kV is enough. 640kV is 'sufficient'" maybe? ;)

Pension portal launch fail sends Capita running to Microsoft for help

Re: It shouldn't happen, but...

I was thinking "crapita AI? Will anyone notice a difference from their normal performance?"

Micron ditches consumer memory brand Crucial to chase AI riches

Re: Damn.

That was my first thought too.

Techie ran up $40,000 bill trying to download a driver

Re: ISDN

We had a client with the head office in Belgium, and a UK office.

Their IT guy decided the best way to transfer data was an ISDN router and it to call the head office.

Regardless of international call rates, the 5p BT minimum call charge, coupled with minimum connection timer being set very low, and how fast ISDN2e can setup/tear down a circuit meant the first bill was... eyewatering. The bill made a thud as it landed, documenting all these few second calls, thousands a day...

Re: Implausible to say the least.

Quote "My local PoPs at the rough time this story appears to date from"

if you were dealing with OS/2 (first released in 1987) in 1979/1980, then go move your Delorean, it's parked on double yellows...

Re: Implausible to say the least.

In the UK, a local call is normally your area code, and the area codes that touched it.

My local PoPs at the rough time this story appears to date from were 3 area codes away at 9600, or 8 area codes away, also at 9600.

As they were going to be national rate calls anyway, we dialled London, over 200 miles away, at it ran at 14,400, and would cost the same per minute as the closer PoPs.

We built a client some PCs to take over layout/production for his printing firm.

Running NT 3.51 then NT4. The NT4 machines had Diamond Viper video cards (Weitek P9100 based)

We found a flaw in it, where art work being dragged in Corel Draw would overwrite the tool bars.

Diamond told us there's a fix. It's the latest driver.

Which was only available on their BBS.

We're in the UK. BBS was in California.

The BBS didn't support Z-modem. It only just supported X-Modem1K.

4,800 was the fastest I could get the link to go (14,400 modem on this end) over the transatlantic links.

It dropped multiple times.

The driver fitted onto 1 1.44Mb floppy.

The call costs were over £85.

Re: Implausible to say the least.

When I first went online via work, we had Compuserv.

"Local" node was 9600 at Lincoln, which was too far (2 STD codes away) to be a "local" call.

London was 14,400. And therefore the same price as calling Lincoln, so we used the London node.

At that time, a local all, in daytime hours, was IIRC 4p/min, and other calls were around 16p/min.

Call it £10 an hour for the call, plus the cost of the Compuserv connect time... It added up fast.

Chatbots parrot Putin's propaganda about the illegal invasion of Ukraine

Re: Shocked

'what is the difference?' well, that was it telling a W.O.P.R.

UK government inflates G-Cloud framework to £14B

Government IT

On time.

On Budget.

Works.

Choose 1...

BOFH: Saving the planet, one falsified metric at a time

Re: Which side of the pond are you?

To be fir, if you are burning tires (the steel band on a cart wheel, or a railway wheel), I commend your devotion to overkill ;)

Windows 11 update knocks out USB mice, keyboards in recovery mode

The question is...

Will windows 11 get out of Alpha, into Beta, before it's EOLed...

Literal crossed wires sent cops after innocent neighbors in child abuse case

Re: How were children removed when search turned up nothing?

"what the carrier thinks it is"

What MAC address do you think my ISP thinks my router doing PPPoE should be?

Because the only infromation they have is that that router is connecting to their systems. They didn't supply it, they have no idea what it's MACs will be.

Now, on my line, yes, the connection has a username and password.

But on say, BTB, where every router normally uses [e-mail] or the like as it's PPP username, and the actual access is granted by which port on the DSLAM you are connected too, yes, if you swap 2 BT lines, the routers DGAS.

Re: One word

Multiple words: Didn't exist in 2010.

Re: Once upon a time...

"This story aside, it has always amazed me how BT ever got the reputation for being a source of truth."

They inherited it from the GPO, and well, didn't that turn out well...

On a BT Broadband connection, a client's link kept dropping.

We found out our account had been allocated to another company. In Leicester (we're in the SL BT area), 110 miles away.

Even when "sorted" we got bills to <other company> care of <our company>...

Had a client a few years ago with voice/data(dsl) into their house suddenly stop working properly.

On my investigation, I found their phone number was now a different one - the pair had been swapped with another.

I contacted the ISP, and their view was "what do you want us to do? You're getting free calls now, as someone else is being billed for your calls, isn't that a good thing?"

I'm sure a few people will guess which UK ISP might have had that sort of view....

Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for pretending UK's Online Safety Act doesn't exist

Re: Geoblock the UK

....both blackjack and hookers deemed not valid content on the UK Internet under the OSA...

Brits sitting on £1.6B gold mine of Windows 10 junk as support ends

Re: “Microsoft is not the baddie here”

Is Microsoft the baddy here?

Yes.

Ask me later.

Thieves steal IDs and payment info after data leaks from Discord support vendor

Re: So . . .

Because if you have issues doing age verification, or it thinks you are younger then you are, you have to open a support ticket and interact with the support staff.

That's where the copy of the ID came in, not at the age verification step, but because the age verification had issues and they needed to submit more evidence to the support system.

Lloyds Banking Group says 'digitization' will power more branch closures

Re: Prroof (if needed)

I'm technically competent, but dyslexic, please tell me how being technically competent helps me take money out my account when the only place I can do so is at the (now closed) bank branch?

I haven't even looked at them, as they all say pretty much "we can't help you with your neurological issues"

Re: weasels

For my barclays account, the closest branch is 16.6 miles away - as the crow flies.

To get there by road is 33 miles each way, with a toll bridge, and parking. Plus the counter is open 1000-1400 mon-fri only, branch is open on Sat, but not the counter.

To get there in the distance they say it is: Walk 1 mile, swim 14.4 miles across the Humber, walk the 1.2 miles from the river to the branch, then return the same way.

Re: decisions made by morons

"whether that's nervous they don't like or have smart phones, don't like or have the internet or considering the slap dash uselessnesses of British banking & the IT industry as a whole, don't want their money at the mercy of some dodgy email."

You missed out on one, like me: People who _can't_ use the app.

Take barclays. I have a chip and sign card because I can't remember a 4 digit pin. To use the Barclays app you need to set up a 5 digit pass code (Quote barclays: We understand you can't remember a 4 digit PIN, but this is a 5 digit pass code, not a PIN, so you should be able to remember that because it's a passcode not a PIN"), and then link it to your accounts by authenticating it with a PIN Sentry and your Chip and PIN card...

So it's an app I can't sign in to due to the requirement of access, and can't link to my accounts because it needs a card type I don't have.

Given I've been doing that for over 6 months, tell me about it.

Personal account: Moved to Virgin (Yorkshire). Listed on their website that they can provide the right card. When we set it up I was told I needed to go into branch to complete paperwork for the right card.

Went in the next day, explained the issue "I'm not sure we do that", so I said it's on the website and the telephone team told me to come in, got the reply "Oh, if it's on the website, we must do it, excuse me while I check", and she went into the back, was gone about 5 mins. Came back, she'd looked up the info, printed the paperwork, filled out half of it in advance, then come back to involve me. And I asked if it would help if she took scans of my ID to go onto the system to help others dealing with me in the future "Oh, yes! that's a good idea, let me add that too.." And I was left with the view of "this is how I want it to work, being helpful, not the 'go away, you are too much trouble'" instead of how it was with Barclays.

I can't use the virgin app, but I can use the online banking.

Business account: had to go to Lloyds - tried Virgin, but their online banking for business needs their app to work (unlike the personal account banking), and I can't use the app. So had to use a different bank for business as opposed to personal, which makes things a little more complicated.

I have issues taking cash out over the phone.

I need a branch. They are the only people where I can take out money, being dsylexic and dyscalculic and using signature cards, easily.

I have had to change banks just to have a local branch.

And that was on advice from my original bank. to my face: "You need to find a new high street bank, we can no longer provide basic banking services to you"

Re: "Service that no one uses and won't pay for shuts down"

"but it's exacerbated by the UK's assumption that banking has to be free".

No it doesn't.

Personal banking yes, but my business banking is what is paying for it...

I pay per month. I pay for money deposited, etc.

Re: Prroof (if needed)

I used to use my local Barclays branch on a saturday a lot. There was always a queue for it.

So they closed the counter on Saturdays.

Then they closed the branch, saying it wasn't used enough and the next branch was 16.6 miles away (33 miles by road, 16.6 miles if you swim 14 miles of river).

As that's under 20 miles as the crow flies, its "local".

The opened a banking hub, and their advice, to my face was "You need to find a new high street bank, we can not provide basic banking services to you any longer" (after 17 years of providing them).

The basic services they can't provide: withdrawing cash.