Posts by AlanSh

Lab worker built a fake PC to nuke his lunch

Huh?

So, if he did move the microwave, what was the point of the laminated picture? This all makes no sense.

Cloudflare to fire 1,100 staff whose jobs just aren’t AI enough

I am so glad I am now retired and out of this rat race!

Chrome silently installs a 4 GB local LLM on your computer

I don't have that file

I checked on my C drive - no sign of that .bin file. I then checked in google flags and it was set to "Default". So, I've disabled it, just in case,

Alan

We've only gone and done it: Changed what you're used to

Yuk

Seems to be designed for those who can't read very well (or much). Very LARGE writing and not too many words. Pictures scattered around, apparently at random (though I am sure there's some logic in there somewhere.

Who signed off on this and how much testing did you do?

I guess there's no going back but please have a think about an update sometime soon.

Task Manager's CPU meter is an obituary for the recent past, says the engineer who built it

Re: Petzold

Yes, me too.

I've just downloaded a copy to see if I remember any of it...

Alan

Re: Petzold

Does anyone remember "Undocumented DOS"? I used that all the time back in the late '80's & early '90's.

Alan

Amazon rewards loyal Kindle devotees by closing the book on old e-readers

Alaternative O/S on a kindle?

Has anyone jailbroken a kindle and put a different O/S or reader on it?

Just wondering.

I hope the Voyage isn't included

I have a Kindle Voyage. The ONLY reason I have it is that it is the latest model that supports the Amazon Origami case - which I really like (the chinese copies are rubbish). I've ven bought spare Voyages which come with those cases (so I have 3 spare Voyages).

If I have to give up my Voyage, I will NOT be happy.

NASA safety watchdog says it's time to rethink Moon landing

Outburst?

I'm waiting for an outburst from the Orange One about how 'unamerican' the report is and how it's biased (towards what? Who knows?).

Microsoft teases ‘reimagined SharePoint experience’ with added AI

Onedrive renaming - it may work, or it may not

At the moment, if you have more that one onedrive account, the names are "Onedrive (orgainisation)", "Onedrive (orgainisation(1))", "Onedrive (orgainisation(2))" etc. Just allowing admins to rename it won't help at all - we need USERS to be able to rename it to something sensible.

Alan

BOFH: Loss adjuster discovers liability is a two-way street

Re: Boss, in an uncharacteristic fit of energy, decided to replace the water bottle in the cooler

A complete set of worfking network kit. It was only water.

Containers, cloud, blockchain, AI – it's all the same old BS, says veteran Red Hatter

C language & security

If the C (and it's derivatives) had proper memory management, we wouldn't have half the security issues we have now.

Snowflake bets $200M that OpenAI makes databases more chatty

Is it worth it?

People seem to be giving OpenAI a lot of money for something that is proven to give garbage results at times. I wonder why?

Price, battery life, performance – that's how you sell PCs

I have no interest in AI - and a rant.

I wanted a powerful PC for photo processing (Adobe s/w). The best "value" seemed to be an HP one with the top level AMD processor, decent graphics processor and 64gb of memory. I got a good deal and it works well - apart from the stupid touchpad which will insist on zooming down to the bottom left when I want to do anything. HP say it's "normal" and won't do anything.

I've looked at replacing it but there's nothing else to touch it.

So, back on topic - I really have no interest in Co-pilot or other local AI stuff. I really can't see the point. If I do want to "use" AI for anything, I'll just as a question through a browser and let the servers at the other end do all the work.

Moon hotel startup hopes you get lunar lunacy, drop $1M deposit for 2032 stay

Re: Lunar grift

Plus the interest on all those $1m investments for the next 9 years. Say 3% pa on 10 sets of deposits. Sitting pretty...

Infrastructure?

Who cleans up the waste products? Where do the drains go?

I look on at all this with interest - from afar :)

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

Yes, we have a Samsung fridge with a 10 year guarentee, 10 years and 2 days (I checked) past before the ice machine stopped making ice.

Your smart TV is watching you and nobody's stopping it

Not here

I've got a Samsung "smart" TV. All I use it for is to connect my VirginMedia box. So, all the TV sees is HDMI. I don't believe they can get a lot from that.

Self-destructing thumb drive can brick itself and wipe your secret files away

Fail

I can't see that selling well, if at all.

Google's AI is eating your email by default. Here's how to shut its mouth

I don't use gmail much

My gmail account is purely so I can set up my Android phone. It does get lots of spam which google catch, but other than that, it doesn't get touched.

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

Re: Implausible to say the least.

Yes, I used Freeserve - which was 1p/min. I could do a lot for 60p.

Alan

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

Not here

My laptop has Window 11 25H2 and I can't reproduce that behaviour.

Microsoft gives Windows 11 a fresh Start – here's how to get it

I use

Open Shell and Explorer Patcher to give me the start menu and task bar that I am used to. It also patches File Explorer to bring back the old style and can remove the second click when you right click a file to perform operations. [Those that know, will know]

Alan

Microsoft's OneDrive spots your mates, remembers their faces, and won't forget easily

OneDrive - no thanks

I have it because I have MS accounts. But I don't put any photos anywhere near it.

OnePlus leaves researchers on read over Android bug that exposes texts

OnePlus are not very responsive

We (myself and other users) have reported a bug (not sure if it's a security issue) with OnePlus's implementation of Bluetooth. It's been proven over most versions back to OnePlus 8 and does not happen on other Android implementations. So far, response from OnePlus is deafening silence.

I've gone and bought a Samsung phone because an app I use needs to connect and loses it half way through. That app (XApp from Fujifim) works fine with my Samsung - and most other phones too.

Alan

Why Windows 95 left a handy power saving feature on the cutting-room floor

Re: There's still issues today

I have checked but cannot see anything.

Alan

There's still issues today

My Scan computer (high end and only a year old) will not come back after a sleep as, when it sleeps, it shuts off all USB ports so there's no way to tell it to wake up.

It's a pain, but one I've grown to live with.

Alan

What the Plex? Streaming service suffers yet another password spill

I got that email

I was just about to send it to the register - but someone beat me to it

CIO made a dangerous mistake and ordered his security team to implement it

Why not explain the issue?

Why did Firebug not explain the issue in detail to the CIO and point out why it wouldn't work? Seems to me like a sensible thing to do.

Microsoft crams Copilot AI directly into Excel cells

Re: The only question now is...

Just don't use the "=COPILOT" function.

AWS pricing for Kiro dev tool dubbed 'a wallet-wrecking tragedy'

Why use AI?

Write your own code - and save a fortune. If you don't know how to do that, what are you doing in this business anyway.

Alan

Some users report their Firefox browser is scoffing CPU power

Done

I've set everything 'false' that I can see - rebooted the whole PC and FF does seem a bit more 'snappy'.

Alan

Ebuyer website bought by Fraser Group plc

I stopped using them

I stopped using them when they asked me for a copy of my passport before they would accept my credit card - and this was after I'd used them previously.

And no, I am not a bad credit risk - never been in debt and I don't owe anyone anything.

Alan

ESA's XMM-Newton finds huge filament of missing matter

BIG Bang

The big bang was rather big, wasn't it. I am constantly amazed at how much matter & energy there is in the universe.

Need for speed? CityFibre punts 5.5 Gbps symmetrical broadband at ISPs

I don't

My internal network is 1gb/sec - why do I need more to the outside world?

Alan

Microsoft revives DOS-era Edit in a modern shell

Easyedit?

I'll just remind everyone about my Easyedit text editor - the best one ever for DOS users. Find it here if you want to play

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/hvqjqcjdrp4xnbye7u5aj/AC3mEeqQwyF1zQhF0bZgX3A?rlkey=2nfmc8hg8z8s1ltp2ky1iy4jx&dl=1

Microsoft pulls MS365 Business Premium from nonprofits

It's a pain - but there is a better solution

I am one of those affected. No, it's not a lot, but as a charity, we don't have money to waste.

What they didn't tell you is that there is an offer called "Business Standard" which is 1/4 of the price of Business Premium and still gives you the desktop apps. It turns out the "Premium" part is all about security (from MS? Hah!!).

So, all you people affected - go and look for Business Standard - it will do what you want.

Alan

Dilettante dev wrote rubbish, left no logs, and had no idea why his app wasn't working

At least I got something out of it

Back in the late 70's, I was asked to find a payroll program for my company. Another company made a proposal which we accepted. Once in place, we were given the source code. It was all wrtten in Basic and was awful. No comments, lots of "goto"'s to jump over code or jump back somewhere. I then found it was written by someone who'd been on the same university course as me. God knows how he passed his exams.

So, I ended up rewriting it - with extensive phone calls (because I knew nothing about tax codes etc.) to my friend. But he did one good thing - introduced me to the Hitchhikers Gude to the Galaxy, which was just being broadcast on the radio.

Alan

Windows 11 24H2 now 'broadly available' ... complete with yet another 'known issue'

Where is it?

I've got a PC running 23H2 and I've never seen the invite to upgrade. It's got an Intel 8700 - maybe that's too old?

Build your own antisocial writing rig with DOS and a $2 USB key

Re: Would you like a copy of EasyEdit II?

Thanks for that link. I will investigate. I can't post the source because I use some libraries (e.g. putting overlays into extended memory) which I don't own. So, githib isn't the way, but freedos maybe.

Alan

[edit - I've had a look there, but I can't work out how to add my program.

Would you like a copy of EasyEdit II?

Back in the late 80's and early '90's, I wrote EasyEdit II - a text editor with word processing pretensions. It sold well (kept me in PC's for a few years) but, of course, got taken over by better Windows tools.

I've still got it lying around and, if you wish, you are welcome to add it to your collections. It's here https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/hvqjqcjdrp4xnbye7u5aj/AC3mEeqQwyF1zQhF0bZgX3A?rlkey=2nfmc8hg8z8s1ltp2ky1iy4jx&dl=1 - feel free to download it and play. It includes all documentation, of course.

Have fun

Alan

Privacy warriors whip out GDPR after ChatGPT wrongly accuses dad of child murder

And the fine is

4% of gross turnover I think. That should make them sit up and listen

Weeks with a BBC Micro? Good enough to fix a mainframe, apparently

Back in the day

I was working at a company in Ipswich who had just got PCs (I was netwkring them). One secretary was using Wordstar but didn't really understand about files or anything. So, anything new, she tacked onto the top of the previous letters and then just printed the first 'x' pages to produce the document in question.

Of course, the file got humumgous and I had the task of explaining that she really needed to create new documents. Not sure it worked but we did have some nice evenings/nights out together

Photoshop FOSS alternative GIMP wakes up from 7-year coma with version 3.0

Humm - really?

I just installed it and it won't load in my Fuji raw files. Not over impressed. Maybe I missed something?

Alan

This one weird trick can make online publishing faster, safer, more attractive, and richer

It's working now.

Satnav systems built for Earth used by Blue Ghost lander as it approached the Moon

What3words?

It's time they expanded their horizons.

Microsoft blames Outlook's wobbly weekend on 'problematic code change'

It's not quite fixed

I was one of those who suffered. When it did come back, all my signatures had gone. Of course, I'd stored them on the server.

Yuck!

Techie pointed out meetings are pointless, and was punished for it

I used to love those meetings

As a consultant, I was pulled into daily/weekly meetings to review progress. It always went off topic and never lasted less than 2 hours. Well, I was on a day rate, so the contract got extended more than once - not my fault, as I explained to the customer - you asked for the meetings.

Why do younger coders struggle to break through the FOSS graybeard barrier?

It may also be how they are taught

In the olden days, learning assember & the microcode was essential to producing efficient code. For example, Data General Nova's had a "Jump Through" instruction. If you jumped through a certain register, it would pass you to the address in the register and then increment it. Fantasic efficient use of code.

I am sure there are similar 'shortcuts' that the "greybeards" know and use. But anyone new, learning from college courses, probably won't learn about this, produce iniefficient (relatively speaking) code and get disillusioned when their entry is rejected.

So, who is educating the newbies on the best practices for efficiency?

Alan