* Posts by Confused of Tadley

12 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2021

I was told to make backups, not test them. Why does that make you look so worried?

Confused of Tadley

Regularly testing the restore process can be a bit inconvenient and time consuming, but does have its uses.

I heard a story from a consultant about a bank that had trouble with a restore. It was a mainframe shop, and they called in the consultant after the in-house people could not get a particular file to restore that was desperately needed.

The bank showed the consultant the script, on one of those old 24x80 monitors. Indeed the file name was in the backup script, somwhere on page 3, so it should be on the tape and it should be possible to restore it.

The consultant had another look. At the foot of page 1 of the list of files, there was a /*. Mainframe folk will know this as an end-of-file mark. All of the files listed after this had the status of comments, The consultant then had to explain to the bank exactly what 'non-recoverable' meant. The good news was she still got paid.

Microsoft to force Windows 11 24H2 on Home and Pro users

Confused of Tadley

Beware the 4k monitor

My 4k monitor black-screened after installing W11 24H2. Only a slight problem perhaps, but it was the only monitor attached to the PC.

Fortunately I had a 2k TV I could plug in, which worked fine. This allowed me to work out the most likely cause was a driver issue. An hour spent on the Intel site found and downloaded the new driver, which was released Dec 24, and all is ok now.

Microsoft declares 2025 'the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh'

Confused of Tadley

Bit it still works

My problem with upgrading to W11 is I have a perfectly useable top-end laptop of 2014 vintage, built before TPM 2.0 was launched.

It runs W10 very well, with 12GB memory, SSD and touchscreen. Replacing it for an equivalent that runs W11 would cost me about GBP 1k. While it works I will keep it, even after W10 goes out of support.

Eventually it will die, and if I still want a laptop at that stage I will have to fork out my GBP 1k or whatever. Until then the great W11 refresh will not happen for me, at least regarding this laptop.

Microsoft coughs up yet more Windows 11 24H2 headaches

Confused of Tadley

4k monitors get a free bork

Windows 11 24H2 also includes a surprise feature for 4k monitors that run on a pc with a Celeron processor, by preserving screen lifetime by showing a completely black screen.

If you have a 2k monitor that works OK. However Windows only vaguely recognises a 4k monitor is connected but treats it a 600x800 size and refuses to use it. The Intel control panel recognises the 4k exists but is unable to enable it.

The fix is to install the updated Intel driver released on 19 December 2024. It gave the option to do a clean install, which was taken.

I have no idea if installing the driver update before 24H2 would avoid the free bork, but it was handy to have a spare 2k monitor to plug in while getting the big screen working again.

Microsoft adds another problem to the Windows 11 24H2 naughty list

Confused of Tadley

4k monitors get a free bork

Windows 11 24H2 also includes a surprise feature for 4k monitors that run on a Celeron processor, by preserving screen lifetime by showing a completely black screen.

If you have a 2k monitor that works OK. However Windows only vaguely recognises a 4k monitor is connected but treats it a 600x800 size and refuses to use it. The Intel control panel recognises the 4k exists but is unable to enable it.

The fix is to install the updated Intel driver released on 19 December 2024. It gave the option to do a clean install, which was taken.

I have no idea if installing the driver update before 24H2 would avoid the free bork, but it was handy to have a spare 2k monitor to plug in while getting the big screen working again.

It's time to reveal all recommendation algorithms – by law if necessary

Confused of Tadley

Dig this

I have a FB account but use it very little. I have certainly not told FB what I would like to see. What I get on the video feed is therefore presumably a vanilla set of guff

Number 1 theme is diggers and big machinery

Number 2 theme is porn

Number three theme is comedy

Sometimes I might look at the comedy, but I am not interested in the rest.

I also get a lot of ads, and I normally say less of these. However, FB keeps giving me ads for Marsh Fuels, who supply types of fuel I cannot use. In spite of repeatedly saying less of these, FB keeps giving them to me. Marsh Fuels presumably pay for each ad presented, so this means FB are deliberately defrauding Marsh Fuels.

Every time FB present an ad from a company that has been rejected by its recipient this surely counts as fraud. I doubt FB are the only company defrauding their sponsors, but this does not make it legal. The sooner FB and others face the courts for this type of fraud the better - it might persuade them to stop doing it.

Trust, not tech, is holding back a safer internet

Confused of Tadley

Gud luck wi tha

If only someone would write a bug-free cryptocurrency wallet and exchange system and get it accepted by the community, then the Liberterians would have the stable base they need to rule the world without things descending into a patchwork of war lords. But acceptance requires a community and Liberterianism is about isolating communities so they can set their own rules. Joseph Heller had some good words to say about this type of situation.

The point is that we are in an age that largely rejects meta-narratives and while that persists we are unlikely to get the international cooperation or even a national concensus that allows effective cyber-crime legislation to be put into place. The end result of eliminating cyber-crime is something we all want but until a meta narrative that fosters international cooperation can be established again we are unlikely to see the framework needed to get that result being adopted. As they say in Scotland 'Gud luck wi tha'

Any fool can write a language: It takes compilers to save the world

Confused of Tadley

YALs to the right, YALs to the left

Every time I hear someone has solved a problem by inventing a new language, I groan 'A YAL, why is the solution a YAL'

Inventing yet another language may be fun, but by the nature of a language most will never be complete and bug-free entities, they merely drive the need for a new YAL. Surely all the innovation time needed for a YAL could better help the community by improving a class library or compiler for an existing language.

In the past I wrote a lot of COBOL (and also a lot in other languages) and remain convinced that language syntax is next to irrelevant in deciding how useful a language is. The magic is all in the translation of the human-written code into machine instructions. If only the industry could get that done well people might stop feeling the need for a YAL for each new problem domain.

Fujitsu: Dumping older workers will wipe out quarter of forecast profit

Confused of Tadley

Career Planning

The Fijitsu DX plan tells every employee from new graduate hires to those in their late 40s how committed the company is to their future. The good news for these employees is it gives guidance for career planning, including how committed they want to be to Fijitsu. Withdrawing respect can work in two directions.

People do not lose (all) their marbles the day they turn 50. Neither do they lose their skills, contacts and domain knowledge. It is always hard for those at the sharp end of a policy change, but this also brings opportunities to entrepreneurs. The over 50s are a fantastic talent pool for start-ups and established companies that care about their long term future.

Tesla disables in-car gaming feature that allowed play while MuskMobiles were in motion

Confused of Tadley

Re: Removing distraction = good

I remember about 10 years ago in Dhaka Bangladesh a level crossing (railroad crossing in US?) across a major road near Uttara had 4 sets of barriers. Apparently vehicles often broke through the barrier trying to beat the train. Rather than leave the crossing with no barrier for a day or two, barrier set 2 would be activated. And if necessary barrier set 3 then 4. Last time I was there it had been replaced with an overbridge. Much safer but less fun.

Web3: The next generation of the web is here… apparently

Confused of Tadley

Re: Forget technology

'If you search for info on' ...anything then what do you use? Most of the world uses Google or Bing. Without search then how do the leather-clad hampster fans find each other - classified ads in a newspaper?

Until a decentralised but widely useable search system becomes available then the web remains tied to gatekeepers who exist to monetise searching.

Even if a decentralised search did become available it would still need paying for, either by micro-pay per search or 'free' searching that depends on monetisation of search to pay the bills. However it may get done, most of the income would end up with one or two businesses, so no change here then.

A tiny typo in an automated email to thousands of customers turns out to be a big problem for legal

Confused of Tadley

Wedneday

I remember an organisation sending me a calendar proclaiming the middle day of the week as Wedneday. The next year the calendar used Wednesday but had some other typo.