* Posts by VinceH

3483 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Nov 2009

FireEye warns 'massive' ransomware campaign hits US, Japan hospitals

VinceH

Re: "You can tell a person a hundred times to back up his data"

What I've found, as well, is that even after you've told people until you're blue in the face that they should back stuff up, and after they've finally learnt that lesson the hard way, and start backing up regularly... eventually, they stop.

Windows 10 needs proper privacy portal, says EFF

VinceH

Re: Not listening ...

I'm glad to say that I'm now slightly further out of it than I was before.

I finally set up a desktop PC that I've had for just over a year - and while it came with Windows 8, it is now running Linux Mint instead. I can't do everything I need on that, so I have to keep Windows on the laptop* - so I'll be using Windows when out at clients, or when doing some work at home - but that's an awful lot less than before.

* And I've just purchased a new laptop, running Windows 7 Pro! \o/

McDonald's launches wearable then pulls it after kid feels the burn

VinceH
Headmaster

Re: Scolded

You contest it? You're arguing against that being what happened?

Or did you mean to say you contend it?

Microsoft to overhaul Windows 10 UI – with a 3D Holographic Shell

VinceH

"Here's what Microsoft reckons Windows Holographic will look like on a modest Intel NUC box, running at 90 frames per second:

Youtube Video"

And here's what they expect the average Joe User to think it will be like to use:

YouTube video

VinceH

Don't worry about it - the only people they're fooling is themselves.

VinceH
WTF?

Re: They have to be joking

"To all the naysayers above: it's not a horrible VR headset they're talking about, it's look-through AR. You should still be able to see through the UI to reach your coffee."

Like the woman in the video looked through them to pat the head of her dog, with her hand about six inches away from its head, you mean?

Oh, wait, it was a VR dog. So WTF was the actual point of that bit?

Lab-grown black hole proves Stephen Hawking's radiation claims – physicist

VinceH
Thumb Up

Re: I'm confused

Well it's no Symphony of Science - but, yeah...

Tim Cook's answer to crashing iPhone sales: More iPhones

VinceH

"Cook reckons smartphones are equivalent to TVs, in that people will own more than one, with consumers unable to resist buying them thanks to features such as Siri."

Well, if I look at myself as an example, he's sort of right. I do own more than one smartphone.

However, the reason for that is simply because I had my old one for so long, and it's suitably battered, that it's not worth anything if I wanted to sell it (especially when newer, cheaper phones are better) - so I may as well keep it as an emergency spare. It's either that or lanfill. I expect I'll have the current one for a similarly long time, so it'll end up in the same boat.

Accountancy software firm Sage breached in apparent insider attack

VinceH

Re: They Can't Limit Access to Your Own Data

That appears to be a somewhat different situation, since the defendant installed software to deny access, hence falling foul of the computer misuse act - but it could prove to be a useful case to refer to if the problem ever led to a legal case.

VinceH

Not even desktop software on a "subscription" basis, IMO - but that's another thing Sage are doing (as noted in the article).

When it started, I asked their Twitter bod about what happens when the sub ends (bearing in mind you have a legal obligation to maintain your records for a minimum of six years after the fact); would you still be able to access it (i.e. would it at least become read-only)? The answer was no.

You can get around that by ensuring to export reports for just about everything - but loading the software and drilling into it to find stuff, if it's ever necessary, is a darned sight easier than searching through loads of PDFs.

Baffled Scots cops call in priest to deal with unruly spirits

VinceH

Pictures Videos or it didn't happen.

If anything is a good case for the police having bodycams, this is it.

More gums than Jaws: Greenland super-sharks live past 400 years old

VinceH
Coat

We're gonna need a bigger an older boat.

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook ads

VinceH

"What part of *NO ADS* and *NO INFO TO ADVERTISERS* does this company not get?"

With you on the no information to advertisers - but ads I'm fine with provided they meet certain criteria:

* No bloody Flash. Plain text or simple JPEG or PNG banners, please.

* Not served up with Javascript - or if they are, those scripts must be running on the server of the site I am visiting.

* Not served up from another domain/server.

* Not going to slow my browsing session to a crawl - which is usually either because the remote server is slow (see the above point) or the Javascript is a convulted, inefficient, buggy mess (see the point above the above point).

* The size of the file is kept as small as possible (I sometimes browse on my computer using my mobile phone to provide an internet connection - so I have a monthly 'un'limit to consider).

* Keep them unobtrusive; no obscuring the page content, or other such shenanigans.

* Keep them relevant - and that shouldn't be based on what you think I like because you've tracked me (no info to advertisers, remember); it should be relevant to the page I am reading.

Most of those points are pretty much covered by adhering to the first three - and adverts that do that will mostly appear on my set up >now without me taking any steps to allow them.

Business users force Microsoft to back off Windows 10 PC kill plan

VinceH
Pint

The upvote I've just given you? Please pass it on to the 80 year old woman. You can have this -->

VinceH

"It's beginning to look like that MS wants all the home users to go use someone else's operating system while getting the money from the Enterprise."

They could make that easier, then, by not having their OS bundled on most systems sold to end users,

VinceH

Re: Did anyone else...

What's worse, is it reads as though Microsoft want to be shot of Windows 10... but they've been persuaded to keep it by [business] users.

I thought I'd woken up in some kind of weird parallel universe - but I don't remember being in a group of people including John Rhys-Davis and Kari Wuhrer.

VinceH

Re: 'Fraid not

"This is death by a thousand cuts."

The thing with that, though, is that it's supposed to be a punishment or torture - inflicted on you by someone else.

Yet Microsoft are doing it to themselves.

The curious case of a wearables cynic and his enduring fat bastardry

VinceH
Pint

Re: Fruity watch wearers

"After all, who want to look like a 5km individual fun runner?"

I see what you did there. Have an upvote and one of these -->

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook's ad-blocker buster: It's a block party!

VinceH

"I have not once advised someone on a purchasing decision because of something I saw in an advert."

I have done, but my advice follows my own behaviour: when I'm making my own purchasing decisions I tend to research what I'm looking for (even if it's just looking at all the different options in a shop or shops at the time because I want/need something that day) and make my decision based on what appears to best fit my requirements.

VinceH

Re: The 'We thought you might like' conundrum

""Now if I open amazon @work I can see penises!!"

Just put yourself in my shoes. I once purchased a Michael Jackson DVD on behalf of my nephew. Jackson's stuff kept appearing for ages after in my recommendations.

I still wake up in cold sweats now.

*Shudder*

VinceH

Re: The 'We thought you might like' conundrum

"@Ropewash - don't mind us, sweetie, we're all liberal-minded around here! 8-}"

Just don't show us the pictures... PLEASE don't show us the pictures. ;)

Idiot flies drone alongside Flybe jet landing at Newquay Airport

VinceH

Re: MALWARE ALERT!

"Not with adblock it isn't."

Nor NoScript.

"Can I now feel slightly less guilty about adblocking a site I like?"

Yes. For me NoScript was always more about security than ad-blocking, anyway - ad blocking is a nice side effect - so I feel less guilty to start with.

Hilton hotels' email so much like phishing it fooled its own techies

VinceH

Although not an email, and a bank not a hotel, HSBC have exhibited a similar level of facepalmery re a survey thing that was on their online banking back in January, which appeared when you logged off.

I made a remark on the Twitter along the lines of filling in the survey so I could make a point of saying how crap their tablet-centric log-in was*. Their Twitter person/people replied to say there was no survey... I went back to their website, looked at the source, pointed out to them, and they confirmed that there was.

* They've since changed it, and it's now unfriendly to keyboard users. Twits.

Julian AssangeTM to meet investigators in London

VinceH
Trollface

"Assange continues to argue for his release, claiming he is arbitrarily detained and that under United Nations regulations should be freed."

I'm quite sure he is at liberty to leave the embassy whenever he wants to.

VinceH

Re: Ministerio de Movilidad Humana

No, the real salt will be when Sweden says "no further charges, off you go." Then he gets arrested by the UK for dodging court and bail, and the US doesn't request extradition.

(Whether that will be the case or not, I don't know - but it would be priceless if the twat gets ignored.)

Facebook to forcefeed you web ads, whether you like it or not: Ad blocker? Get the Zuck out!

VinceH

Re: Simple solution... @Alister

Or he could simply have/come from a large family, covering a wide age range. Some of us do - I have over half a dozen siblings who between them have over twenty kids. Ages range from young enough to still be in nappies all the way up to mid-twenties.

And that's without considering my cousins and their kids.

Google password fill effort could kill Android malware's best tricks

VinceH

Re: A bit light on details

"how does only ever signing in once improve security?"

It doesn't - security and convenience have to be balanced; the more you have of one, the less you have of the other, and the trick is to get the balance right.

ISTM the article is speculating on what other changes Google could make in future as a result of this "OpenYOLO" stuff: "may be paving the way to" ... "an underlying benefit could be" ... "It could feasibly allow"

Breaking 350 million: What's next for Windows 10?

VinceH

Re: Windows 10 did especially well

Yes, it was - I've seen source code with that sort of stupidity in it.

I should have posted that paragraph separately and used the joke icon.

VinceH

Re: Windows 10 did especially well

TBH, the suggestion that "Windows 10 did especially well" is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the nonsense in that article. I'm not entirely sure when the author is speculating on the future or talking about the past - he seems to switch tense in random places.

While the overall piece seems to be trying to speculate on how Microsoft can sell the OS - either on its own or via OEMs on new hardware - it almost entirely fails to address the issues that lead many of us to be "upgrade hold-outs".

Microsoft's pushiness gets only a brief mention, and there's no mention at all of the telemetry. Any problem with failed downgrades to Windows 10 - of which there have been plenty - appears to be blamed on the users owning "old PCs".

But hey, us hold-outs (and no mention of those who finally took the step over to Linux) apparently have short memories - because we're going to so easily forget the upgrade hell Microsoft inflicted on us.

Yeah, right.

And I've finally realised the real reason for the jump from 8 to 10, skipping a 9. We've come to expect a bad-good-bad-good cycle with Windows versions. 8 was bad, so we expected the next version to be good - Microsoft knew otherwise, so they deliberately jumped the version number up by one to give us a heads up.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update is borking boxen everywhere

VinceH

Re: It aint just this upgrade

The only problem with having to rely on muscle memory is that Microsoft has a habit of making unnecessary UI changes, and like moving things around to keep everyone on their toes.

VinceH

Re: It aint just this upgrade

"Used to switch to the US layout on my GB machine at random until i realised you need to change both locale and input settings. Buggy pos"

Hmm... I'd say more than half of the Windows 10 computers I've looked at have had a similar issue - in this case, computers in the UK which, after Windows 10 was forced on them, had the locale set incorrectly to US, which was affecting things like the keyboard layout. There's one user I can think of in particular, though, who didn't come to me with that problem.

However, I've just joined two random dots in my head. He does seem to have another issue; whenever he uses Google Docs, his spreadsheets default to US currency, and I have to keep showing him how to change it. I now wonder if this is related. (And I wonder if he does have the keyboard layout problem and has never mentioned it).

The developer died 14 years ago, here's a print out of his source code

VinceH
Facepalm

Re: Portrayal of computer tech guys in films/tv. @Jamie Jones

' "Enhance" :-)

https://youtu.be/gF_qQYrCcns '

That is priceless - especially because I was becoming increasingly appalled at how ludicrous what they were doing was, until the penny finally dropped.

VinceH

Re: Portrayal of computer tech guys in films/tv.

"welcome to the wonderful world of CSI New York (judging by the Gary Sinise)"

Ah, Sinise, yes. I was trying to remember his name so I could hopefully work out what the show could be, but I completely blanked - so thanks for identifying it.

I thought I'd seen an episode of one of the CSI variants and concluded it was rubbish - but I've just checked, and it was NCIS: Los Angeles; a cross-over episode with Hawaii 5 0. It was a two parter, where part one was a Hawaii 5 0 episode, and part two was NCIS:LA.

Despite the excessive Microsoft product placement, I quite enjoyed Hawaii 5 0 - but the second part of that two parter was just too awful!

VinceH
Facepalm

Re: Portrayal of computer tech guys in films/tv.

"Especially when compared to this kind of stuff which almost makes me want to puke and laugh at the same time."

"I'll create a GUI interface using VisualBasic... see if I can track an IP address."

I'm so glad I wasn't drinking anything when I watched that! Prime example of clueless writers throwing in random 'tech' words in the hope that the majority of their audience won't understand anyway, so won't know how ludicrous it sounds.

Sadly, the program/film isn't identified, so I don't know what to avoid. (I don't fancy reading YouTube comments to see if it's mentioned there).

BBC detector vans are back to spy on your home Wi-Fi – if you can believe it

VinceH

Re: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

"So how do they know which SSID belongs to me?"

Because we're all going to be really helpful and change our SSIDs to show our postal addresses, aren't we?

VinceH

Re: Magic?

Well, it does sound like they're on a Crusade.

Three times as bad as malware: Google shines light on pay-per-install

VinceH

Re: Adobe Flash

Easy enough to check...

* visits Adobe's download page for Flash *

I had to enable javascript to check, but now you get "added value" - you get the opportunity to opt out of downloading two items now, rather than just one: Not only the McAffee Security Scan Plus scareware, but also True Key by Intel Security (some kind of password manager).

Microsoft: You liked Windows 10 so much, you'll get 2 more in 2017

VinceH

Re: I don't suppose...

Even if they did put out an update like that, given their recent behaviour would you trust them not to revert in a future update? I wouldn't.

Hackers unleash smart Twitter phishing tool that snags two in three users

VinceH

Re: Okay

Quite. I'd say the victim is only a victim if the content of the page they've visited actually compromises them - just going to the page might not achieve that, depending on what the user is running.

VinceH
Coat

Re: Hmmm

When you put it like that, I wonder if the Daily Mail might be a preferable read.

Oh, hang on, no, the operative word there is "read" ;)

Mozilla 404s '404 Not Found' pages: Firefox fills in blanks with archive.org copies

VinceH
Thumb Down

"Aren't you all a bunch of naying nellies. Did any of you even try it? It still displays the 404 page but you get a bar at the top of the page if there is an archive entry wherein you can click to view said archival page."

Perhaps they didn't feel the need to try it because the article told them what it does... inaccurately, by the sound of it:

The "404 No More" feature uses copies of webpages from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to replace 404 "not found" errors with something more useful. If you visit a link to a page that's disappeared, Firefox will fetch from archive.org a version of the page before it vanished.

Perhaps your criticism should therefore be directed at El Reg for incorrectly describing what it does, rather than readers for reading it.

West country cops ponder appearance of 40 dead pigeons on A35

VinceH

There is another possibility, of course. While quite a distance apart, and although some of the road network down that way can be difficult for those without experience, those two particular towns are quite easy to navigate between: A30 for most of the trip, then (IIRC from the last time I was near St Austell) down the, erm... 390?

So if the Lion followed the roads then it should be a simple matter of reading the road signs.

Does anyone know if lions can read? Oh, or for that matter, drive? Mind you, the opposable thumbs help with gripping the steering wheel, so we're back to that problem again.

I'm definitely starting to think any conspiracy theories connecting these incidents are bunk.

VinceH

"Conspiracy theorists might suggest that the lion spotting might have something to do with the pigeon mystery. However, the apparent use of the feedbag to transport the pigeons coupled with the lions presumed lack of opposable thumbs work against this theory."

Yeah, that and the fact that St Austell and Honiton are close to 100 miles apart.

That said, I don't know how far a typical lion roams, so perhaps the lack of opposable thumbs is the best evidence against that theory.

Classic Shell, Audacity downloads infected with retro MBR nuke nasty

VinceH

Re: A good example

You forgot that it should mention "small number of users" that were affected.

VinceH

Re: Download Only From Sources You Can Trust

Sometimes a joke is funnier when its nature is less than obvious to some.

Forget security training, it's never going to solve Layer 8 (aka people)

VinceH

Re: Logic Fail in Article

I'm reading "answered" as "dealt with" - I get much mail that I don't need to answer, but do need to act upon, and that usually involves the contents of an attachment.

Those attachments come from different sources and are usually PDF files, but occasionally they are Word files, and on rare occasions I've received Excel files.

I use Sumatra for PDFs and OpenOffice for Word/Excel, so I feel much safer about opening them than I would if I used Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office - but thinking about it, these attachments often go to someone else first and he forwards them to me, and he almost certainly uses those. I should have a word next time I speak to him, to check and, if so, see if I can begin the process of weaning him off them.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update: This design needs a dictator

VinceH

Re: Why does my mind do these things?

Because both are based on sayings that originate from the same story?

300 million pelicans? Pah. What 6 billion plastic bags really weigh

VinceH

Re: long life bags

What else are they going to do on long journeys?

123-Reg goes TITSUP – again

VinceH

Re: TITSUP

TITSUP still works if you consider the U as standing for Unusual instead of Usual.

Windows 10: Happy with Anniversary Update?

VinceH
Thumb Up

"Windows 10 is a service allowing Microsoft access to the users' computers and so to the users themselves."

Quite - though I think Teiwaz's way of looking at it is more fitting!