The computing stuff rant thread

[ian]

Chrome used to break with every other release, which I why I mostly use Safari these days. It's modern life to need at least two browsers... Safari seems pretty stable these days.

A quick, temporary fix to many of these issues is to use a private/incognito window.

[SoreTween]

Just for a change, Microsoft you bunch of total shitbiscuits. Windows 10 on an elderly relatives computer has decided not to be a windows UI any more, all programs open maximised and there's no way to un-maximise them. Worse, the fucking tile screen appears when the start button is pressed. Lastly,the task bar is totally useless as there's no buttons for the running program(s). It's kinda like it has gone into tablet mode but according to the settings it hasn't. Nor is it in full screen start menu.
So far my Google fu has failed to find what is going on and how to switch it back.
I hate Windows 10 so much.

[citoyen]

A quick, temporary fix to many of these issues is to use a private/incognito window.

I was going to try that but it seems to be working again today so whatever it was, it was apparently just a temporary glitch. 

Chrome is so annoying, I really don't know why I continue to use it.

Actually, I do - it's because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to go through the rigmarole of setting up Safari with all my shortcuts and bookmarks. 

[Mr Larrington]

Hurrah: the drop in speed afflicting TowersNet is not down to the new PC
Bah: Because the big bugger in the Estate Office is also doing its backup at 90 Mb/s

So it’s one of two network switches or the string connecting them

[Diver300]

Windows Fax and Scan on Windows 10, and an EPSON ET-2720 printer and scanner, why won't you tossers talk to each other so that I can scan?

You managed it a week ago, and for months before. The printer will print from the computer, it'll even run the scanner to pretend that it's a photocopier.

Having turned them all off and back on again, along with the router and the wireless access point, and uninstalled and reinstalled the printer a couple of times, an all I get is "No scanners were detected" while an image on screen is taunting me, as it's a scan of the bit of paper that's been sat in the scanner since I used it last week.

Then I've been told by family that my workaround of using a DSLR camera is wrong. I should have downloaded and used a phone app, because that's "easier". Obviously the fact that I know how to use a DSLR already, means that nothing, but nothing could possibly go wrong with installing an app, finding how to use an app, getting the data to my computer from the app. Or that wrangling all of that could possibly be slower than using the camera that just works as if I haven't wasted enough time on the scanner already.

[Mr Larrington]

Oh goody!  A new version of Calibre!  Install same.  Oh, it will not DeDrm my latest purchase*.  This is because the DeDrm plugin dunt work with Calibre v5.  OK, I shall remove the old version and reinstall v4.23.

Waaaah!  Can't install because Something has fscked the security settings on C:\Program Files\Calibre.  System restore.

“System restore did not complete successfully.  Microsith has not changed any Stuffs!”  Lie.  The fscked folder has gone.  Reinstall Calibre.  Import new bok.  Jibble metadata.  Send to Kindle.  Bok now accessible.  Hurrah!

Also the keyboard threw a wobbly halfway through.  FFS, it's only 30 years old   Picking it up and putting it down again seems to have fixed it

* A Song For The Dark Times aka Rebus 23.

[TheLurker]

keyboard threw a wobbly ....  Picking it up and putting it down again seems to have fixed it

It just needed a cuddle.

[Mr Larrington]

Pfft!  It's old enough to get married, buy BEER and hire an expensive sports car.  And it was made in Scotland, from girrrders. It should be over the needy stage by now.

[Mr Larrington]

Put shiny new SSD into USB caddy, attach to PC.  “That ent no disk” sez the PC.  As does a different PC.  Undignified sub-desk grovelling to remove old spinning rust and put shiny new SSD in its place.  “No, m8.  Nothing to see where D: used to be”.  Repeat on other PC only with less sub-desk titting about and Lo! that PC can’t see it either.

Is it therefore safe to assume that the wretched thing is DOA?

[TheLurker]

Excel. Nuff sed.

[DuncanM]

Excel. Nuff sed.

Using XLS. It went out of date in 2007. PHE didn't exist in 2007.

[Chris S]

Excel. Nuff sed.

Using XLS. It went out of date in 2007. PHE didn't exist in 2007.

We have two clients who are parts of state organisations, and they still run Windows NT servers.

[barakta]

I think whatever PHE was created from just translated all their IT over... I think my friend has worked for PHE and predecessor since before 2007 and had NHS "stuck on Exploder 6" issues for years.

[Greenbank]

Your shiny/swishy iPhone banking app that uses the latest and greatest iOS and flashy stuff probably ends up talking to something that talks to something that talks to something that probably screen scrapes balances and transaction IDs off a TN3270 session from a mainframe that is older than every current bank employee.

There is so much ancient software/hardware out there that is absolutely critical to so much of modern day life running smoothly you really don't want to know.

Blaming a single ancient piece of software entirely misses the point of how IT works in general.

[Polar Bear]

A computer only ever does what it is programmed to do.  I worked for 25 years in IT where we had a rigorous regime of reviews at all design, development and test stages plus pre live testing including user acceptance and operational acceptance.

Folk I still know in the business tell me that I would have split my head open many many times banging it against the twin pillars of saving time and money.

If only the morons in charge had even the slightest incling of what they were doing.  If we were approaching Y2K now and not 21 years ago I would expect all manner of disaster to befall us.

[citoyen]

There is so much ancient software/hardware out there that is absolutely critical to so much of modern day life running smoothly you really don't want to know.

Yep, just ask the AUK committee...

[Mr Larrington]

Excel. Nuff sed.

Using XLS. It went out of date in 2007. PHE didn't exist in 2007.

In 2007 the French health service, or at least the bit I saw, was still running Windows 95.

[Tim Hall]

A socially distant colleague had trouble with her network connection and consequent inability to print. She phoned the support company we use who, after trying a several of things, suggested she move desks.

[ian]

A socially distant colleague had trouble with her network connection and consequent inability to print. She phoned the support company we use who, after trying a several of things, suggested she move desks.

Many years ago, I asked our technical support if it would be possible to print to my home office printer (networked) while connected to the VPN (because it was annoying having to disconnect). After about fifteen tickets and updates, they finally advised me that I would be able to 'print to the office printer.'

Which was true, I can print to the mothership from here and while connected to the VPN, but I don't fancy the better part of a 45 km trip to find out that printer is out of paper. I don't think that's the solution you are looking for, ian.

Never did sort out the VPN issue, but I have two computers and only one of them is on the VPN, so I have to email documents to myself on the other computer (because no LAN innit) to print them. MLIR.

[Greenbank]

A socially distant colleague had trouble with her network connection and consequent inability to print. She phoned the support company we use who, after trying a several of things, suggested she move desks.

Reminds me of "We can't send emails more than 500 miles"

[Kim]

Many years ago, I asked our technical support if it would be possible to print to my home office printer (networked) while connected to the VPN (because it was annoying having to disconnect). After about fifteen tickets and updates, they finally advised me that I would be able to 'print to the office printer.'

Which was true, I can print to the mothership from here and while connected to the VPN, but I don't fancy the better part of a 45 km trip to find out that printer is out of paper. I don't think that's the solution you are looking for, ian.

Never did sort out the VPN issue, but I have two computers and only one of them is on the VPN, so I have to email documents to myself on the other computer (because no LAN innit) to print them. MLIR.

Given the shitshow^[1] of a routing table that barakta's ork laptop ends up with when it's connected to the VPN, it's best not to ask these sorts of questions.


_{[1] Ork subnets and approximately half the IPv4 internet go down the VPN.  Everything else ends up in the bit bucket.}

[Greenbank]

My VPN client routes an entire /8 down the VPN, but then we do own the whole of that /8. (And no, I mean a publicly routable /8 not a private one like 10.x.x.x)

But then the rest is an utter shitshow (including several /24 subnets and single IPs of that same /8).

$ netstat -rn | grep vpn_gw_ip | wc -l
137

[ian]

I swear once-upon-a-time in whatever VPN client we used that there was a tickbox labelled 'allow local network access' or somesuch that let me do just that. Then we moved to Cisco and it's evidently not a thing or a solvable problem.

[DuncanM]

I understand the point that everything runs on ancient hardware, and gov't stuff is worse than most (a friend was trained up in COBOL to keep her bank's systems running, and I once had a job developing maintenance systems to go onto Navy subs and ships which was 5 steps behind the latest version of SQL - I forget which version of Windows they were on but it was definitely out of support). The whole concept of taking an open easily readable file format like csv and turning it into a proprietary binary unreadable format like xls still boggles my mind.  At least xlsx has open data structures. At some point they will run out of columns in xls and then they will really be in a mess!

[ian]

For all the criticism of Excel (and everyone loves to hate it, somewhat deservedly) it does make for quick and easy data analyses that don't require programming skills. I did something this morning: data, a couple of pivot tables, some graphs, job done in 15 minutes. It is what it is.

Of course, for more extensive analyses it's not the tool, it's a bit like pulling a trailer with a car, it works for smaller loads (at the expense of handling and your engine might start to complain), but once the load gets big enough, get a lorry. Otherwise, your towbar falls off. But that's not the fault of Excel (or your car).

As for errors, all it takes a mistake a line of Python or SQL, and you're in the same mess. That's why there needs to be a process and QA on these things.