Posts by Mike Bird 1 49 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jul 2009
What I found worrying was that the author permits management to decide when to implement patches that have been downloaded to thier computer via WSUS.
Zero use in doing that.
We use WSUS and all the user workstations get patches ENFORCED.
Its not a "please would you mind installing that patch .. thank you very much" its more of a "HERE IS A PATCH - YOU WILL DEPLOY PATCH NOW ! " method.
So why were they collecting " SSIDs and MAC addresses from Wi-Fi networks. " in the first place?
What has my routers's MAC address got to do with them?
Not that I even have WiFi enabled on my router in the first place of course.
Perhaps so they can detail density of wi-fi nodes in places to then vendor the information for "public/private" wi-fi clusters?
What amazes me is the people who DO NOT enable security.
Its the whole "yeah I'm tellin' the whole world about my [medical condition | life | unauthorised work absence]".
For {insert deity} sake .. enable the security and restrict it to FRIENDS ONLY !
The Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Section 1.
Unauthorised access to computer material, punishable by 6 months' imprisonment or a fine "not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale".
There has been multiple repeated access to UK private WIFI (regardless of whether it is open or not this is immaterial to the offense).
Currently they're looking at about GBP 5000 per offense.
So we have the statement
"A file of evidence was handed to City of London Police, but detectives halted their investigation in September 2008. In a statement they argued that no criminal offence had been committed because they perceived no criminal intent by the two firms."
Since when did INTENT matter in a criminal case?
IF you do the crime then you PAY the price.
As an employee your duty is to follow the law and to do what you are told by your manager. If there is a conflict then advise HR or your COMPLIANCE person or seek guidance from the in house Lawyer (or if you're really worried from a personal lawyer).
Your job is NOT to second guess your employer's technical ability about if they can be trusted with the systems.
The "Oh I can't trust them not to muck it up" excuse doesn't wash with me.
Childs should have turned over the passwords, written a formal resignation letter and/or send in an dated/witnessed letter to the Mayor if he was that concerned.
Sellers on Amazon tend to be a bit "protective" of their reputations also. I left a negative comment there on one bookstore after they sent a paperback that was not just "thumbed" but "cracked spine / ripped cover".
They corrected it but then also emailed me asking for the comment to be removed.
My view was that the comment was put there because they'd not been careful enough the first time round. Any action taken "after the fact" was still "after the fact".
yougov.gov.uk ?
- nope 404
yougov.gov ?
- nope 404 - and anyway that would be (by convention) a USA gov site.
yougov.com
- a "public opinion and behaviour" site been registered since 2009
nah-gov.gov.uk
- for the disinterested
oi-gov.gov.uk
- for those seeking attention
Make it the required and ONLY permissable card for proof of age (ie. buying cigarettes and alcohol) .. you'll have the teens queueing up to buy the thing.
Make it the only way to get a Driving Licence (you have to proove who you are first) so all the new drivers will need one.
Finally make it so that anyone who wants to claim benefits needs one.
That will put a final clamp on it .. as the benefits include Tax Credits this catches a good portion of the working population.
Personally I'd sign up for one right now (even though I'm 40, don't drive and don't claim any tax credits).
Maybe if the airlines provided seats that are realistic with legroom that someone taller than 5'6" can sit in without having their knees rammed up against the seat in front and a headrest that doesn't dig instead into my shoulders then this kind of thing wouldn't be suggested.
I'm sick of airlines treating me like a one-size-fits-all component. I'm 6'3" have a 31" inner leg and I don't fit into their midget option seating plan.
ALARM ! Your shoes have reached the end of life and will be locked out in 100 paces.
"What .. they're only 2 months old, they've got months of life left"
ALARM ! Your shoes have reached the end of life and will be locked out in 10 paces.
"oh no they're ..."...
ALARM ! SHOES LOCKED OUT
<sounds of person tripping over>
The number of times I've been emailed or called by someone who says "we got your information from a mailing list" but then when challenged says "but we don't know which one".
This process should be legislated against. If you gather information about me then you should be forced to track WHERE you obtained it. That way I can backtrack down the line and find out who has been gathering and or distributing my personal information in the first place.
Dialog box pops up ..
You have the choice now of downloading/installing another web-browser.
Its up to you.
[A - you have IE Installed - do you want to keep it?]
(ps some features/functions may not work without IE)
[B - take time to download and install <browser X>]
(ps this will take a while)
95% of people will stick with the Keep what they Have.
The other 5% (highly IT oriented) will have Mozilla/whatever installed anyway.
This completely ignores the CORPORATE environment, most of whom are on IE 6 or IE 7 for software compatibility reasons and DO NOT want their staff (or permit their staff) to mod their company computer.
"The model, who is 120lb and 5ft 10in tall, "
According to that the model has a BMI of 17.2.
According to most checks that value means the person is Underweight, but not "seriously so" (Normal would be 18.5 to 24.9)
The fashion industry people and the advertising & magazine agencies who feed on them need to be taken to a Krispy Kreme outlet and made to eat there without fail for a year.
The last time I had a McD's Quizcard was about 8 years ago, some music question which my music-mad boyfriend went "thats wrong".
We took the card to one of the UK tabloid papers and sold them it, along with the story. Got about £1000 for it.
The story being .. don't blag it on the internet, flog the story to the newspaper!
Sorry to contradict Alien8n but your statement "Under the Sale of Goods Act all goods are covered for 6 years anyway." is totally incorrect. The 6 years refers to the limit for bringing a court case in England and Wales (its 5 years for Scotland by the way as they have a different court system).
Goods are supposed to last "only needs to last as long as it is reasonable to expect it to, taking into account all the factors". Factors might include the materials the goods are made of, how much they are used, the environment they are used in. So for instance a set of cutlery should last a number of years, while a mobile phone might have reasonable lifetime of just 2-3 years and a paper/plastic kite might have a reasonable lifetime of just a few months.
A complex and expensive consumer electronics item used indoors, used with approved software / games (i.e original not copied games) and without any unauthorised "mods" to the hardware, and which is used a reasonable amount of time each day (lets say 3-4 hours per day) should have a reasonable lifetime of several years.
Sony's contention that they can get away with a one year warranty is facetious.
You should note that any claim you may have with a defective unit is with the RETAILLER (ie. the shop you purchased it in) and not the MANUFACTURER. You have a legal contract with the retailler and they are obliged to accept the laws which include the SALE OF GOODS & SERVICES ACT.
You should always retain your RECEIPT - your proof of purchase - and if possible retain any manuals (although its not necessary to retain the original box beyond a short period).
Take the item back to the store where you purchased it and ask to speak to someone. Its advisable to have everythign written down (preferably PRINTED) so you can detail the problem and also have a copy of the information here
Sale of Goods Act (UK GOVERNMENT WEBSITE)
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html
You should not have to resort to it, but if you have reached the store manager and still cannot resolve your problem then take your goods away (never leave them in the store unless you have a written undertaking to resolve the issue to your (not thier) statisfaction). Then take the problem up with the Customer Service team at the company's head office.
Additional information can be found here
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
The last avenue is a Small Claims Court action. You should read up on this separately.
In general you are not obliged to accept vouchers, or a repair. Further you should be wary of acepting a repair as this may amend your rights at a later point.
You should of course note that the information above is pertinent to England & Wales (Scottish legal system has different procedures) and that you should seek legal advise if required.
What does a CORPORATE machine (and the IT Professionals who support it) need in terms of an M$ windows operating system?
A SIMPLE interface.
Aero is "glizty and fun" - its not simple.
Anything that is more than 3 clicks or mousedrags away is too much. I have users with 50+ icons on their desktops becuase they don't want to go clicking thru directories or menus.
TRUST the Hardware
The best place to do things is in hardware. So if the HDD can support disk encryption then let the HDD do the job - don't try shoving it into the OS where it will just cause an I/O bottleneck.
Scripting
yes, powershell is wonderful. I use it myself. But thats not an excuse to have it pre-installed on every machine so that the users get to play with it and do things that I don't want them to do.
Mobile Connections
Again, M$ isn't a mobile connectivity provider, they don't (yet) make 3G datacards and they are not (in the UK at least) a mainstream ISP. So stop trying to wedge your software in between the ISP/Datacard provider and the OS. The ISP/3G-Datacard provider is the best company to make the O/S link to the hardware/service. let them do their job and you do yours.
Deployment
There are already great corporate level deployment tools. We (the IT Professionals) are using using them - we have been using them for years. We have a lot of TIME and MONEY invested in their use. Kindly leave them alone.
Remote Support
See Deployment above.
Now .. go away and provide us with Windows XP Pro v2 - which has the same Interface, the ease of use and installation but has the needed features. Not 100's of bells and whistles that just eat up the resources of the hardware that we're stuck with for the next 3-4 years.
366 staff * 30,000 Euros = € 10 980 000
Cost of the stored stock, 2million the machine 2 million and lets be generous the building, 2 million for a total of 6 million.
And before you look at me with horrified shocked expressions you must admit that at least half of you did START/RUN calc and did the math as well.
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