Posts by BPontius

Sysadmin summoned to explain italics – to a user with at least two degrees

Re: No explanation

Similar to one I heard in one of Richard Feynman's physics lectures; A lady was pulled over by a cop. The cop said I clocked you going 60 mph. The lady responded sharply; 60 mph, impossible I have only been driving 10 minutes!

Microsoft says 8 GB of RAM should be enough for anyone running Windows 11

Re: "8 GB of RAM should be enough for anyone"

Fancy pants!! I get characters sticking together above 60 x 90 in green monochrome text. Need to change the print fluid in my monitor.

Re: If you don't want to do anything

Be going through NVMes like the chewing gum flavoring!!

If you don't want to do anything

Running Windows 11 25H2, I have disabled unneeded services and startup programs, uninstalled features and apps including Edge, Bing and Copilot\AI I don't want, running an AV\security suite taking 171.1 MB and a sound driver/control program take 45 MB. Writing this comment with only the browser running (906 MB) Windows 11 takes up ~6 GB of RAM. Microsoft's own documentation requires Windows 11 have 1 GB of free RAM for operation, an equal minimum amount of drive space for paging. Even running only a browser is going to be slow.

Microsoft how do you run minimum 16 GB RAM Recall on an 8 GB RAM Copilot++ system? A 4GB system is even more ridiculous even without AI, you are talking out of both ends Microsoft!!!

DEF CON bans Meta-style 'pervert glasses'

Privacy at a public gathering?

"The vast majority of the talent and agents at our events felt that these were a violation of their privacy..", there is no expectation of privacy at a public gathering like DefCon, conventions, trade shows, Malls, stores...etc.!! Caught recording in the restroom, changing room or taking voyeuristic\peeping shots with any kind of camera, you should be banned and deserve to be prosecuted!

Just because you don't see glasses, cell phone or a camera does not mean you are not being recorded. Jewelry, pens, shirt buttons, buckles, purses, backpacks, briefcases...etc. all can hide a camera.

Windows 11 Start menu changes trickle into Beta, movable taskbar still MIA

Re: It's not MIA - it's in the darned registry

A false equivalency, the existence of the registry key in Windows 11 does not indicate the existence of the function(s).

Internet Explorer browser, Cortana and Timeline have been removed from Windows 11, yet their registry keys remain. No amount of registry editing will restore them..

Law firm insisted on one password to rule them all

Hope he resigned and the firm got hacked and went insolvent soon afterwards!!!

Dark patterns in Windows are steering users to Edge: Mozilla-commissioned report

IE to Edge

The same behavior as in the Internet Explorer days! Avoided IE like the plague and have the same with Edge. I removed Edge, Bing and Copilot from Windows 11, good riddance to bad rubbish!!!

User crippled a network while trying to learn Nmap

Nobody looked to see what the laptop was doing, they just shut it down? Couldn't have been too difficult to see that Nmap was running, network logs would have clearly shown port and ip scanning. They bought his virus story even with no virus found, no investigation into other causes. The admins are severely lacking in investigative and troubleshooting skills, with zero curiosity.

Court tosses Microsoft's appeal in pre-owned software licenses spat

Weak Microsoft

Obviously Microsoft hasn't a clue what their argument is!! It's licensing violations, oh no, no it's copyright infringement, no wait it's bulk licensing violations.

Windows 95 detected installers by looking for magic words and hoping for the best

We are but imperfect humans

Terribly sorry we are such imperfect beings with flaws and weaknesses that torment you so. Perhaps you should return to your planet of flawless beings and perfect software.

Windows 11 can now turn back the clock when updates go bad

Re: Access from bootable USB stick with updates Windows RE?

Running Windows 11 25H2 and do not have problems with updates. I have two minor issues with the file explorer flashing and incorrect readings in Task Manager, but nothing that has affected Windows 11 usability. Rarely have I had issues in the 31 years of Microsoft providing updates, so it is not Microsoft's coding!!

The possible number of hardware components, firmware, BIOS, drivers, software...etc. combinations in modern PCs is nearly infinite, more than the number of stars in the observable Universe. Impossible for Microsoft to test so many!! There are multiple versions of Windows in an ISO, your activation key provides only a small piece of the puzzle. A Windows Home install will be vastly different to a Pro, Education, Copilot Plus, or IoT. There are numerous possible combinations in an Windows 11 Enterprise install depending on their infrastructure...etc., the hardware drivers combinations alone are to many to count.

Force Microsoft into compliance with what? The PC industry has never had one unifying standard, it has always been a hodgepodge, for the first 40 years it was Microsoft, IBM and Apple defining PC "standards" and you can see how unified it all is. In essence Microsoft already defines much of the PC industry standard(s). Their Government Anti-Trust lawsuit was pretty much a sham, they are still up to the shady practices they were before.

I have used DISM and SFC to repair the system and they DO work (run DISM /restorehealth first then SFC), also a recovery disc does help restore a system, from personal experience. Look to see if some of her startup programs can be disabled, run Disk Cleanup to remove driver, update and cache files. Update drivers from manufactures websites (motherboard, networking, sound...etc), investigate if she needs a BIOS update. Just some of the possible solutions to what you describe. I know how frustrating it can be, not trying to trivialize your situation.

Turn on System Protection

Turn on System Protection and Windows Updates will automatically create a restore point before updating. You can manually create restore points, some drivers and software also create one before installing. The Point-In-Time restore seems to be a duplicate of system restore IMO.

Micron locks in historically high memory prices for five years

The squeeze

I hope the bottom falls out of the AI chip market and all your profits turn RED, greedy....*expletives*!!!

Microsoft wants safer C# without turning it into Rust

Why not learn to write well written, secure programs instead of relying on compilers with tons of guard rails and safety protocols to catch sloppy programming? I am not a programmer but I do know that a lot of the problems with software security and stability lies with the quality of the programmers code.

Microsoft lets users exile floating Copilot button after interface rage

Thankfully able to uninstall Copilot, Edge and Bing, good riddance!! Microsoft put all this agentic AI, Recall and Copilot in the Recycle Bin and empty, users do not want it!

"We got a learning disability here?" -Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

Microsoft beefs up Remote Desktop security with ... hard-to-read messages

Security?

Having Remote Desktop & 'allow remote access to this computer' enabled by default is the opposite of secure Microsoft!

May also want to reconsider having defined and enabled by default, remote access to registry paths. Security?

You can now run WSL on Windows 95, in case you're crazy, too

At a loss

Struggling to find a reason to run Windows 95!!

Decades-old Linux UI bug fixed by dev younger than the window manager

Unbelievable!

This article is basically saying that Linux is shipping unfinished software and this lady is running a 16 year old Linux windows manager. But there is no outrage at Linux being left unfinished, comments are towards Microsoft. Lots of outrage in comment sections about legacy elements still lingering in Windows 11, but no criticism of the same legacy elements lingering in Linux. Ridiculous argument that software should be declared finished and used for years or decades untouched and unchanged! Updates fix bugs and improve performance, which is needed when vulnerabilities are used for attack or exploit.

I have no argument with stopping the feature bloating in software to exploit more money from consumers, but giving them little value!

Zombie Microsoft bugs rise from the dead, pave way for crims and ransomware scum

Any organization that runs an unpatched 14 year old OS and database server(s) deserves to be hacked, NO sympathy!!!

IPv6 carried half of internet traffic – for one day, according to Google

Re: We're going to run out of IPv4 addresses soon, the IEFT says

They are talking about running out of IPv4 address to buy, NOT running out for traffic. As in they have all been allocated. We HAVE run out, any that become available carry big price tags!!

Apple signs meaningless deal to make some less-important parts in America

On-the-take-Trump

Trump is the only one benefitting from these "deals" under his delusion of "America First"! Nearly half the price of an iPhone is pure profit for Apple, this stupid deal is only going to increase the cost of the iPhone which Apple will tack on to the retail price. What a freak'in scam!!!

Artemis II takes a rain check on return to launch pad as NASA fixes loose wire

Broken!

There is no way they will have a new core booster ready by 2027, it took two year for this one!!

With NASA's history ignoring the safety of the astronauts during the Shuttle Era, first the on going booster O-ring issues that nearly caused a shuttle to be lost before Challenger due to both O rings being severely breached. Second the casual attitude towards the foam impacts, despite foam impact denting a solid rocket booster they blew off the danger of the Columbia foam strike.

With Orion there is serious concern from many that the heat shield could fail during re-entry, but NASA chose not to fix it due to costs and launch schedule. Sound familiar?! Nearly three years to ready another rocket and there are still leaks connecting it to ground support. They will lose another crew before or during returning to the Moon, due to NASA's broken culture.

Out-of-band getting out of hand as Microsoft pushes hotpatch for Bluetooth

The rest of us

When do the grunts that don't hot patch get the problem(s) fixed Microsoft?

The rest of us would like to have these problems fixed also!

Smart mirror shows dumb Windows in elevator

It is a read error people, reboot and have mommy change your diaper, GADS!

Microsoft to auto-launch Copilot in Edge whenever you click a link from Outlook

Microsoft, shove Edge and Copilot with a continuous bitwise, non-parity, unmasked operation up your most significant bit!!! Comprehend?

Microsoft gives Windows laggards the 'gift of time' wrapped in licensing fees

I also lived during those times and Alien Doctor 1.1 is VERY correct being able to boot from CDs by the early\mid '90s!! DOS could be loaded from the CD into memory before the game is loaded. How do you think floppy drives boot? It wasn't until 2001 with the release of XP that DOS was integrated into Windows.

You seem to be the one hallucinating!!

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

That manager has no business being in management or IT support if he ignores such a basic security step!!!

Management threatens us with our jobs over rules and policies, yet they blatantly ignore the same policies. A former employer I worked at during the pandemic mandated masks to be worn at all times in the open office floor plan. Yet repeatedly management and executives ignored the policy spending the whole day without masks, but threaten write ups if we were without.

Notepad++ declares hardened update process 'effectively unexploitable'

Yeah right!

Invincibility has been claimed before and it didn't end well; LifeLock, the V-Chip, Titanic, Linux\Open Source...etc.

Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 26H1, but you can't have it

Respectfully disagree, every version of Windows had it's share of issues. The Service Packs shows they were hardly angels.

I remember running Windows 3.x and XP and it was hardly paradise!!

Re: What a coincidence…

Second that!! Let us hope it dies alone and forgotten.

Attackers finally get around to exploiting critical Microsoft bug from 2024

Get "round to it"

That's about par, the U.S State Department uses PCs running Windows 7, an OS unpatched for six years. But the State Dept. insisted they were safe in a 2025 security audit. Military is at least two years behind patching it's systems. Not a recent problem either, going back to Pres. Reagan's Presidency. Secret Service, FB and many other agencies are riddled with unpatched systems, running out dated software and legacy hardware.

The pandemic showed clearly how outdated State and county systems were.

Sweet dreams

Microsoft's Valentine's gift to admins: 6 exploited zero-day fixes

What the *@#$!

Gift WT...? Windows users are not your royal subjects that must gravel and cry at your feet in appreciation of vulnerabilities being patched. If you are so hard up for cash (NOT) from the loss of revenue from Windows, then charge ~$35 - $50 dollars for a product\license download and stop giving it away! Then stop the absurd pretense that you are struggling so requiring ads in Windows for well known Microsoft services and products. Just like product recalls for cars, food, toys...etc., you are responsible for fixing Windows 11 and Word, stop perverting it into some benevolent act you are gifting to Microsoft prodcut users!!!

Why is The Register limbo'ing itself to Microsoft's level? Shame!

Microsoft warns that poisoned AI buttons and links may betray your trust

Get rid of AI!!

Big Tech, take responsibility for your AI contamination and clean it up yourselves!! Bunch of cowards to pawn it off on the users to fix YOUR screw ups, remove the AI!!

Old Windows quirks help punch through new admin defenses

Only in testing huh?

Windows Administrator Protection is available in Windows 11 25H2. Do your homework before publishing these articles!!!

Challenger at 40: The disaster that changed NASA

Not enough change

NASA has a seriously flawed safety culture and too many layers of management with a strict hierarchical structure that filters unwanted feedback. It was said that it was changing after Challenger, but the same mentality and layered management lead to the Columbia loss. Now there are talks of problems with the Orion heatshield cracking on reentry, but NASA dismisses the problem. Sound familiar?

What if Linux ran Windows… and meant it? Meet Loss32

You live in a different reality than I do. I read tech news every day and i have not heard of any hint or movement in the divesting of PCs, laptops and tablets due to subscribing to apps on any platform. So it is pure propaganda that users and businesses are delaying hardware upgrades for Windows 11 and staying with Windows 10? If they don't own the PC then they would be leasing their PC(s) and it would cost them little to nothing to upgrade to a new PC (pretty standard and common for IT hardware leases) and not the hundreds to thousands of dollars people don't want to spend for ONE new PC.

I have yet to run into any of the 99% of people that don't care about owning their own PC, quite the opposite. Many want to own a PC, it is being able to afford one! The last job I worked at had hundreds\thousands of PCs and laptops and all were owned by the company, which regularly upgraded said PCs\laptops as I saw pallets and pallets of laptops and PC hardware arrive. YOU are the one out of touch with the real world!!!

Ancient telnet bug happily hands out root to attackers

All eyes on the code

So what happened with all those eyes on the code that makes Linux so secure?

Gone unnoticed for 11 years, obviously not many eyes were even looking!!

Ransomware attacks kept climbing in 2025 as gangs refused to stay dead

STOP PAYING THE RANSOM YOU DUMMIES!!!

Come fall all the birds started flying south for the winter, except one stubborn bird. When it began to snow he decided he'd start flying south.

In the cold and wet weather his wings began to get heavy and icy causing him to crash into a barn. Still dazed from the impact a cow in the barn pooped him.

Soon he realized the poop was warming him up and started to sing. The cat on the farm heard the bird and dug him out of the poop and ate him.

Morale of the story. People who poop on you aren't always your enemies and the people who get you out of the poop aren't always your friends.

If you like the poop your in keep quiet.

One criminal, 50 hacked organizations, and all because MFA wasn't turned on

Struggling to understand why trade secrets, legal and corporate information was stored on a cloud sharing platform. Such information should be stored at HQ in offline storage under restricted usage. The Military and Government complains about being hacked, but has sensitive and secret information on public\Internet accessible servers, no encryption, no extra safeguards, no VPN.

"Are we learning yet?" - Terminator 2

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

Awful memories

In my brief time in tech support, I encountered so many people with such attitudes. I would always think; "Why did you call?". As much as I enjoy computers and technology, In retrospect I am glad that my IT career never took off. I don't have any tolerance for enduring such treatment from people who call me for help.

'PromptQuest' is the worst game of 2025. You play it when trying to make chatbots work

Oh the memories playing on mainframe dumb terminals and teletype machines, also later laboriously typing the code for a Star Trek game into a "luggable" Osborne PC (~20 pound portable PCs with a tiny green monochrome screen and two 5 inch floppy drives). In the old spaghetti code Basic, back when open source code was a common occurrence in magazines and books (long before internet).

Microsoft research shows chatbots seeping into everyday life

Just turn it off!

Microsoft, Apple, Google et al., then STOP stuffing AI agents and chatbots into anything and everything! You created this mess, step up and take responsibility by cleaning it up!!

Windows boss defends 'agentic OS' push as users plead for reliability

Microsoft, I hope your vision of agentic AI for Windows 11 bites you on your corporate posterior and bleeds profusely!!

Windows 11 26H1 is coming ... for new processors only

26H1 is for PCs with Snapdragon AI chips, calm down!!

52-year-old data tape could contain only known copy of UNIX V4

Why do we need a 52 year old OS?

Microsoft Task Manager now tasking PCs with running multiple copies of itself

Batting 1000

Microsoft also botched hot patching for some Windows Server 2025 devices with KB5070881 out of band update. Quality is not a priority at Microsoft!

ISPs more likely to throttle netizens who connect through carrier-grade NAT: Cloudflare

Re: CGNAT is more widely used than you may think

No, it is down to the carrier has not upgraded to support IPv6. France has good IPv6 adoption at 86%, where the U.S is only 52%, the U.K is 50%. (according to Google IPv6 statistics)

Japanese city passes two-hours-a-day smartphone usage ordinance

By whom and how do they enforce this ridiculous ordnance?