The computing stuff rant thread

[Feanor]

It’s a bit like that sub version of Skype that recently turned up in W10 and is in startup and can’t be stopped. If it did any checks it’d realise my PC has no webcam and no microphone. So fuck off with the video conferencing software starting up every bloody time.

Does Skype still do that evil peer-to-peer thing where it turns your computer (and copious amounts of network bandwidth) into a node to route other people's phone calls?  That would explain this behaviour...

Supernodes.
No, when MS bought Skype they changed all that and used their own servers as supernodes.

[Kim]

It’s a bit like that sub version of Skype that recently turned up in W10 and is in startup and can’t be stopped. If it did any checks it’d realise my PC has no webcam and no microphone. So fuck off with the video conferencing software starting up every bloody time.

Does Skype still do that evil peer-to-peer thing where it turns your computer (and copious amounts of network bandwidth) into a node to route other people's phone calls?  That would explain this behaviour...

Supernodes.
No, when MS bought Skype they changed all that and used their own servers as supernodes.

I suppose that counts as an improvement.  Probably necessary if they ever wanted to make inroads onto corporate networks.

(I never really saw the point in Skype.  Its main feature always seemed to be that it was the VOIP thing people had heard of, rather than being actualy good at anything.)

[Bledlow]

Mrs B went sour on Skype when it dropped the connection to her mother's phone, then barred her mother's phone number. And Skype support said it was barred because it was identified as potentially dangerous because a connection had been dropped. And Skype refused to refund her unspent money, until threatened.

[chrisbainbridge]

I know suppliers need to have details of compliance with everything under the sun including anti-slavery compliance, etc BUT why do they have to send it as a 5 sheet excel file which does not format properly, does not autosave the answers and requires multiple mouse clicks for simple yes no answers?

I replied with a strongly worded email comparing the file to the work of a GCSE level intern!

[grams]

The nerds that make phone apps need to enforce it taking 40 minutes of wibbling panic before initiating any sort of phone call like it did in my day rather than perpetually being a single touch away from making someone else's phone ring.

[Kim]

Natpest: Stop sending me emails every few minutes saying there's an unread statement in your webby SCIENCE's inbox.  There isn't.  I read it 40 minutes ago, after receiving the first 27 notification emails.  (And very dull^[1] it was, too.)

The email looks genuine, in as much as it's outsourced to mailjet.com.  No phishy links, and it's got the last three digits of my account number^[2].  I'm suspicious they're coming via a data centre in north west USAnia, and the filesystem's gone read-only due to the disk array being on fire.



_{[1] 'Dull' being the optimal state for bank statments.
[2] Interestingly, this is a joint account with barakta OTP, who isn't getting any notifications.}

[neilrj]

[2] Interestingly, this is a joint account with barakta OTP, who isn't getting any notifications.[/sub]

I get notifications (from HSBC) if I don't used my online credentials to check our joint account, we studiously ignore several reminders and this ends up spawning a paper statement, and as 'recent bank statement' still seems to satisfy ID requirements in many places we let them send one, then toggle account back to paperless, rinse and repeat.

[TimC]

Aargh. Trying to upgrade the office computer from 16Gb RAM to 31Gb. Crucial sticks (2x16) delivered, installed - nothing. Not even a POST. The mobo (ASRock Z170-ITX/ac) is capable of handling 43Gb, and the 1.2v 3200MHz sticks are in spec. Tried single sticks in each port in turn; no joy. Installed them in another computer; they're fine. The mobo is fully up-to-date on all drivers and BIOS, and ASRock confirm that they've tested it with memory overclocked to 3866MHz (I'm not using any overclocking). Crucial have no ideas. The Corsair 8Gb sticks I'm trying to replace work perfectly, in single or dual installation. I'd bin Crucial and go to another make, but since I bought these sticks RAM has gone up by around 30%. Bah!

[nuttycyclist]

Just before the price hike I meant to upgrade my home device.    I now keep putting it off for legitimate instead of can't be arsed reasons.

[Jaded]

Aargh. Trying to upgrade the office computer from 16Gb RAM to 31Gb. Crucial sticks (2x16) delivered, installed - nothing.

2x16 = 32

 

Thnxbai

[Kim]

Natpest seemed to stop sending emails around midnight.  Touch wood.

Unrelated rant: The VDSL modem became mysteriously wedged at 9:13 this morning (blinkenlights were good, but it wasn't PPPOEing, and the web GUI / SNMP were unresponsive).  Barakta didn't notice, and proceeded to attempt an $ork video call at the same time as $other_ork laptop was doing Windows updates, over the fallback cellular connection.  The result is best described as 'hearing people's rubbish internet'.

I cycled power, and all is well.  Hopefully that was a random act of our-favourite-telco or something, rather than the hardware failing.

[TimC]

Aargh. Trying to upgrade the office computer from 16Gb RAM to 31Gb. Crucial sticks (2x16) delivered, installed - nothing.

2x16 = 32

 

Thnxbai

Ah - that's the issue!

[Mr Larrington]

I am very much afrit that one of the SSDs in the big box upstairs has died without warning. Slowed to a crawl while emptying the Anbaric Dustbin and failed to appear post-reboot.

Fckles!

Edit: It came back after another restart but I don’t think it’s happy.  Backing it up again right now just to be on the safe side.

Edit 2: Just ordered a replacement just in case it continues to engage in tomfoolery.  Bah!

Edit 3: It’s being delivered by fucking Yodel.  Arsebiscuits!

[chrisbainbridge]

Why is it that so much software opens a new window to put in a password or some other data BUT does not put the cursor focus in the box.
Every time I login at work I have to move the cursor 3-4 times in order to get to the correct places.

[barakta]

Ah yes, text field focus... Really Annoying!

[FifeingEejit]

Why is it that so much software opens a new window to put in a password or some other data BUT does not put the cursor focus in the box.
Every time I login at work I have to move the cursor 3-4 times in order to get to the correct places.

Dunnoh, we seem to have got round that by forcing every supplier to have to work with imprivata, meaning either you never see the login screen or it dumping your username and password into the wrong window if it doesn't focus like that and thus rejected accreditation.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[ian]

So my colleague left and he diligently filed all his handover stuff tidily on Sharepoint so we could all access it.

What did IT do the moment he left the building?

That's it, delete it all.

Morons.

[FifeingEejit]

Malloc(employee)
While(employed) {}
Free(employee)

Accounts get destroyed pretty sharp for us, need to make sure shared stuff isn't within the departing account...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[ian]

That's deeply, deeply stupid.

[TheLurker]

Malloc(employee)
While(employed) {}
Free(employee)

Accounts get destroyed pretty sharp for us, need to make sure shared stuff isn't within the departing account...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Ah well, there's your solution.  Get them to use .Net.  Garbage collection *will* be run.  Eventually. 

[ian]

Telling everyone that yes, all these kinds of things must be kept on onedrive/sharepoint/whateveritscalledthisweek because of this very reason, people leaving etc. and then deleting all trace within a day or two of them leaving isn't very bright, it's not like they give a shit about space.

[Afasoas]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/retention-policies-sharepoint?view=o365-worldwide#when-a-user-leaves-the-organization

[grams]

The nerds that make phone apps need to enforce it taking 40 minutes of wibbling panic before initiating any sort of phone call like it did in my day rather than perpetually being a single touch away from making someone else's phone ring.

Just did this again FFS. Basically:

• If you post an Instagram/FB story (first mistake)
• And someone likes or comments on it
• That like shows up as an instant message conversation with them
• The only way to clear the red dot for which is to go into the conversation
• The UI for which has a one touch "force a stranger to stop what they're doing and have a nightmarish awkward video call with you" button in the top corner. Exactly where you're likely to brush it when you put your phone away

FFFS

[TheLurker]

What kind of company supplies a backup utility that *doesn't* do the simplest, "I have to back up $bignum bytes of data. Are there at least $bignum bytes of free space on the target drive?" check before merrily starting the backup?    Hmm, that question was probably rhetorical, wasn't it, eh, Micro$oft?

[Mr Larrington]