* Posts by Adam JC

299 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Nov 2012

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PCIe 7.0 pegged to arrive in 2025 with speeds of 512 GBps

Adam JC

Re: And, as with anything, faster means hotter

I am not even remotely qualified to understand optical transistors, but can't help but think two things..

1) Doesn't an optical signal have to be converted back to a digital signal at some point?

2) A PCB is full of corners and bends - does an optical signal *actually* improve latency and bandwidth over the same trajectory?

Zero trust? Not yet a must for most IT departments

Adam JC

Re: Not as easy as it looks

That's the entire point of Zero Trust.. you have to put your faith in SOMETHING to perform it. It's installed on all endpoints and all server(s), has the ability to allow an application to run, but 'ringfencing' it's capability to run outside it's own environment/sandbox.

For instance, you can allow 'Sage_Accounts_v27.8_Update.exe' to launch & communicate with the necessary Sage IP addresses, for acrtivation, etc - To write to the C:\Program Files\Sage\* directory but block it from doing anything outside those specific parameters. Traffic, whether encrypted or not encrypted, is only allowed out if you explicitly allow it.

It's no different to implicitly trusting Sophos, ESET, Webroot, et al - With the same role, except ZT functions in a completely different manner.

Adam JC

Re: Not as easy as it looks

Have just rolled out zero trust (ThreatLocker) to around 480 endpoints consisting of around ~30 clients as a 'litmus test'. (MSP).

The 'learning period' for the software, whilst it scans frequently used software and behaviour coupled with preparation, and working with the vendor is absolutely essential. It's incredibly logical to configure no matter the platform and it's not quite as scary as most sysadmins think. Once you've got a set of baseline policies, most can be applied across your entire client-base and the more you do, the larger the definitions and policies for ZT get and the slicker it becomes.

Already in the first month we've caught 7x attempted cryptolocker infections that *MAY* have been caught by Sophos Intercept X previously, but TL definitely did. Most ZT solutions incorporate some sort of auto-elevation by policy, to allow software like Office, Sage, LOB software, etc to obtain temporary elevation without having to make people local admin, so it's an added bonus for our helpdesk.

Your app deleted all my files. And my wallpaper too!

Adam JC

Re: Concepts are hard to understand

"As a user I simply cannot be arsed to go through the weird hierarchy of directories that Windows tries to impose on me. There's the issue with my "main" user directory being on a remote computer, so I cannot access files if the network craps out _again_,"

FYI, F5 on the keyboard brings them all back in <1 second :-) Redirected Desktop/Documents/Downloads has been a default setup for us for nigh on 9 years. Makes crypto infections easier to recover from and includes everyone's files in the backups for when things go walkies.

Out of beta and ready for data: 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS is here

Adam JC

In the UK they're readily available from the usual sources on a 2-3 day lead time. We use them as SBC's for 3CX in plentiful numbers and haven't had any issues:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-ARM-Cortex-A72-Bluetooth-Micro-HDMI/dp/B07TC2BK1X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2DL0Q6Z2FRKAL&keywords=raspberry+pi&qid=1644247155&sprefix=raspberry+pi%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-3

Microsoft rolls out Files On-Demand with tighter macOS integration – but it defaults to 'on' and can't be disabled

Adam JC

Re: Over my dead body

Bad news.. OneDrive has been built into standard images for the past year+. OneDrive has nothing to do with MS Office...

OVH blames hour-long global outage on human error during 'routine' network reconfiguration

Adam JC

I still find it mildly horrifying that a single configuration change by one engineer can bring an global network as vast as OVH's. You'd think there would be some safeguarding in place, alas.. not.

Openreach out and hike prices on legacy fixed-line products: Broadband plumber pulls trigger after Ofcom gives the nod

Adam JC

Cheeky bastards

Openreach have a phenomenal amount of audacity in raising prices on 'legacy' products to subsidise FTTP deployments when they're quite happy to cream the government handouts from grants left right & centre for a huge majority of their expansion. Not to mention that calling a product 'legacy' when it's still in such massive widespread use and FTTP is still a massive minority in comparison to actual live circuits, I don't really think it's fair to call time on a service and anyone who thinks copper is going to be pulled entirely from service in 2025 is living in a dream based on current timelines.

I know SOGEA is here to bridge the gap, but as a service provider it's a steaming pile of turd and from all the Openreach engineers I've spoken to, they are absolutely dreading it as it's a logistical nightmare to try and identify spare pairs with no dial tone on. I dread to think how the Kellys/Quinn subcontractors are going to deal with it as they're a nightmare for stealing pairs to complete a job with a clearly audible dial tone, let alone an active line WITHOUT a dial tone on it!

Qualcomm heads for rural Dorset to test agri-bots (and maybe a nice jar of Scrumpy)

Adam JC

Re: Fitness for purpose?

I partially agree with you to be fair. Agricultural accidents tend to end up being fairly horrific in nature and it's an extremely hazardous job, often lone working with huge pieces of machinery there's a lot that can go wrong.

Also, having spoke to several farmers who are customers, I can confirm their tractors are 99.9% GPS guided and fairly automated already. If we have the technology for a Tesla to complete a 50 mile drive autonomously, I'm sure we can get some tractors/combine harvesters to run around a field of their own accord without human intervention.

Microsoft promises end-to-end encrypted Teams calls for some, invites you to go passwordless with Azure AD

Adam JC

Re: "Microsoft", "cloud", "passwordless authentication"......................

If you have a firm grasp of the whole concept, it's actually a damn site secure than having people type passwords in. It's an order of magnitude more secure to use a hardware token or authenticator to avoid phishing and as an MSP, from a helpdesk perspective it would save the number of calls on a daily basis ten-fold if we didn't have to do password resets, locked out accounts, etc. I know there are solutions out there, e.g FastPass to work around this but they cost mega bucks.

I, for one, am looking forward to Azure passwordless auth becoming the norm as it'll reduce our workload and make things more secure for the end user.

Apple now Arm'd to the teeth: MacBook Air and Pro, Mac mini to be powered by custom M1 chips rather than Intel

Adam JC

Re: RAM built into CPU.

If you want removable components, you're looking at the wrong product. Apple's new gear has been soldered-in for a while and non-upgradable anyway.

You would need a Mac Pro which isn't even in the same league as a Mini in terms of price, or performance.

Dynabook Portégé X30L-G: So light, you might even forget about its terrible keyboard

Adam JC

But... how will we all run Windows on Apple's new ARM-based Mac's? :-(

BT: 'Because of the existing underlying supply of the 4G equipment, most of our 5G (NSA) so far is with Huawei'

Adam JC

Well, it worked a treat for our rail networks so what could possibly go wrong?

..

Oh, wait.

What the duck? Bloke keeps getting sent bathtime toys in the post – and Amazon won't say who's responsible

Adam JC

Re: Review stuffing

To be fair, how would Amazon even be able to verify this if the account is still at the stage where it's bloating it's reputation up?

Rogue ADT tech spied on hundreds of customers in their homes via CCTV – including me, says teen girl

Adam JC

Re: And this is why I don't do cloud based access.

Ubiquiti cameras are absolutely piss-poor in almost every conceivable notion. Value for money, quality, interopability (No ONVIF!), you name it - Their networking kit is ace, but their CCTV stuff belongs in the same place as their equally pathetic VoIP phone escapade they briefly embarked on and that's in the bin.

Adam JC

Re: And this is why I don't do cloud based access.

Almost every single camera manufacturer offers a non-cloudy offering;

- Geovision/Hikvision (Taiwanese/Chinese.. make of that what you will)

- Dahua (Also Chinese.. see above)

- Axis (Swedish - Very expensive and poor value for money)

- Samsung / Hanwha-Techwin - (South Korean - Moderately expensive)

- Bosch - (German - Insanely overpriced and I believe some of their units are actually made in China now anyway)

- Mobotix - (German - Horrifically expensive, pro-grade kit)

The others are almost all rebranded kit. All of the above come with local recorder solutions which you don't have to even supply an internet connection to. Some have cloud options but again, you don't have to use them :-)

Xiaomi what you're working with: Chinese mobe-flinger proffers two Redmi Note phablets for UK market

Adam JC

Play Store?

I can't believe the article misses this.. but with Huawei phones now being shunted from the Google Play store, how does that leave Xiaomi? Presumably in the same boat, meaning this will be a complete and utter flop over here for most people that aren't slightly techy?!

Mayday! Mayday! The next Windows 10 update is finally on approach to a PC near you

Adam JC

Windows Search

The gang has also worked on improving completely unfucking Windows Search

FTFY. Windows Search was so.. so very broken.

Microsoft attempts to up its Teams game with new features while locked-down folk flock to rival Zoom... warts and all

Adam JC

That's interesting.. I was under the impression so long as SOMEONE in your organisation had a license, then you're fine unless you want the PSTN dial-in features or premium shenanigans. I also thought Teams was being made free for the next 90 days? (Or perhaps indefinitely, I may be wrong).

Admins beware! Microsoft gives heads-up for 'disruptive' changes to authentication in Office 365 email service

Adam JC

It's all good news except...

Those with archaic (In fact, some recent not-so-archaic) photocopiers that don't support SSL/TLS for outbound SMTP when scanning-to-email are the scourge of the earth, but unfortunately they're also extremely common. I've lost count of the number of times we've had to set up an SMTP-relay for these cretinous things! :-(

Apple drops a bomb on long-life HTTPS certificates: Safari to snub new security certs valid for more than 13 months

Adam JC

Re: Commercial Products

Who knows.. maybe it'll force a lot of software dev's to implement support for LetsEncrypt? There may even be some benefit to come out of all this bollocks.

Is everything OK over there, Britain? Have you tried turning the UK off and on again? ISPs, financial orgs fall over in Freaky Friday of outages

Adam JC

You can't really be *truly* carrier-resilient on VoIP, certainly not for inbound calls. The CLI has to terminate at a physical POP somewhere and if the carrier is Tier 1, like Gamma, and suffers an outage like that, you can't reroute calls - In-fact, you can't do jack shit except perhaps have a backup trunk with another provider, but even then your incoming calls are still fubar!

You spoke, we didn't listen: Ubiquiti says UniFi routers will beam performance data back to mothership automatically

Adam JC

Re: Of course I do

Article seems to skate around the fact this doesn't just affect their routers, but every single UniFi device. (Access points, mFi, UniFi switches, etc).

LastPass stores passwords so securely, not even its users can access them

Adam JC

Re: Stormy Cloud

Bizarrely, neither did our LastPass account. We use it on all staff mobile phone(s) and laptops/PC's both in and out of the office. Even if LastPass servers were to wobble, I can always (and have always) been able to access the vault on my phone, or on my laptop with no internet connection whatsoever. I'd imagine the not being able to access whilst offline was a PICNIC / PEBCAK error rather than a LastPass one...

Adam JC

I must point out the obvious - I presume it's at least backed up somewhere remotely in case of a complete PC meltdown/fire/electrical surge...?

Go on, eat your fibre, new build contractors. It's free! OpenReach lowers limit for free FTTP connections

Adam JC

Re: No FTTP here

I can 100% confirm it's not Zen, as we sell their connections and they don't apply traffic shaping to any of their services, either residential or business and never have done.

Put the crypt into cryptocoin: Amid grave concerns, lawyers to literally dig into exchange exec who died owing $190m

Adam JC

Re: Crohn's Disease + Indian Food = Easily Faked Death

Being someone with crohns disease who's had a perforated bowel and sepsis in the UK - And even then, almost died as a complication - I'd be horrified to fall seriously ill in India. Having said that, the circumstances are almost impossible to raise suspicions...

Apple tipped to go full wireless by 2021, and you're all still grumbling about a headphone jack

Adam JC

Okay, here's why it's useless to me..

My previous phone, a Samsung Galaxy S8, could not even receive enough charge to maintain it's battery life whilst using it as a sat nav in my car using a wireless charging pad.

Conclusion? Useless! Until Qi or whatever the latest standard is, can provide the same oomph as a qualcomm quickcharging charger's out put the technology is dead, especially as phones are getting hungrier and juicier in terms of power requirements.

If tsoHost is lecturing us on sleep hygiene, Brit outfit really does have hosting back to front

Adam JC

Re: Yet another nail in the coffin for TSO

Without sounding like a shill, take a look at 20i - We switched from 123-Reg, to Heart Internet and then onto 20i and have settled on them for years now. Same folk who started 123-reg & Heart Internet started it up and we're shifting people across from TSOhost to them for free. They have a cPanel/WHM migration tool which sucks everything across, which unfortunately i don't think works on TSOhost but does work for IMAP mailboxes which is the most painful bit usually.

The safest place to save your files is somewhere nobody will ever look

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

To be fair, anyone with half a clue includes the NK2/Autocomplete lists in any data transfer/migration :-)

Switch about to get real: Openreach bod on the challenge of shuttering UK's copper phone lines

Adam JC

You do realise that ~80% of UK households have a cordless DECT phone attached to their landline, right?

Guess how that behaves once the power is cut...? :-)

You better get a wiggle on then: BT said to be mulling switching off UK's copper internets by 2027

Adam JC

Almost every single home I've ever visited in the last 10 years has a cordless DECT handset except my Gran's house who insists on a 'land line' hard-wired phone.

Guess what else doesn't work in a power cut...? :-)

P.S - If you've ever seen an FTTP ONT, you'll see that there's a small battery backup attached and they have standard BT telephone ports on the bottom of said ONT to supply a dial tone if local power has failed.

Adam JC

Re: Just a standard analogue telephone line?

No, not by a long shot.

ISDN will be switched off in 2025 and you won't be able to order any new ISDN circuits from January 2020.

Cu in Hell: Thousands internetless after copper thieves pinch 500m of cable in Cambridgeshire

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

Of course it does, as do cell towers. Crikey, we roll our own FTTP stuff on a smaller scale and we try and budget for at least an two hours of run-time in order to allow us to scramble a generator to site if needs be.

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

Ah, that's where you're wrong my friend.

BT FTTP deployments use an ONT that has one (Sometimes a pair) of POTS telephone sockets on the bottom of them for voice. They also couple them with a tiny battery pack to keep the ONT going for, well, I'm not sure how long actually.

When is a phone not a phone? When it's an Android security key

Adam JC

"We're essentially allowing multifactor authentication using your Android device as a security key, so you don't need a separate device," said Jennifer Lin, director of security for Google Cloud, at a press briefing on Tuesday."

What the heck? I've been using Google Authenticator extensively for all of our 2FA stuff (Except for DuoSecurity for RDP) for years... is this is a new product, or are they just attempting to re-release the same thing under another name?

Before dipping a toe in the new ThinkPad high-end, make sure your desk is compatible

Adam JC

Re: Two things are wrong

Yes, the new docks are Thunderbolt/USB-C - If they put them on the bottom of the unit, you'd end up like the Apple Wireless Mice where you can't use them whilst they're being charged as they had the genius idea of putting the charging connector flush to the bottom surface of the mouse! :-) It's hardly a major pain in the arse and requires a much smaller footprint 'dock'.

Heart Internet stops beating, starts Monday with big portion of FAIL

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

Heh, yeah - Seems they've found a sound business model if they've done it 3 times over. It's clear the people who took over Heart didn't keep up with the times, I'm keeping a very close eye on 20i to ensure they don't do the same!

Also... as an IT Service Provider, I distribute our clients over many, many geographic locations and providers (Some on AWS, some on Azure, some on OVH, some hosted privately, etc) and have our own site and DNS/nameservers spread over several providers so that in the event of an outage, we're not sat flat on our backside and clients are none the wiser!

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

I remember 4-5 years ago when Heart were at their peak. Super snappy response times, answered the phone quickly with any issues. Then things started slipping a few years later... slower responses to support tickets, promises of LetsEncrypt implementation... more promises... and more.. then the speed of our sites started to plummet and silly things like IMAP mailboxes were all optional added £££ extras.

I'm not going to name them for fear of being called a shill, but I moved to a company founded by the guys who originally started Heart Internet and.. guess what.. LetsEncrypt capable and their domains are 1/2 the price of 123-Reg and Heart Internet.

Also just noticed, it's 18:01 here in the UK and... I'm getting a HTTP503 on https//heartinternet.uk and some of my old old clients are still pointing to Heart for their DNS, which doesn't bode well..

Dixons Carphone profits drop 24% amid hack 'n' high street struggles

Adam JC

Re: Where else are you going to buy a TV?

John Lewis is where I bought my first Samsung Ultrabook a good few years back. It's the only time in my life I've ever heard a sales rep talk himself out of a juicy sale! An elderly lady behind me was clueless, looking at a £2500 odd top of the range Macbook Pro, he asked her what she wanted it for and she said she's never really had a computer before but one of her daughters friends told her Apple were easy to use and 'the best of the best'.

He proceeded to sell her a £500 odd Core i3 with a 250GB SSD and sent her on her way. I had some major issues with my Samsung ultrabook (WiFi card was duff, they shipped a swap-it replacement to my work the following week with another brand new model and the keyboard looked like it had been ran over by a forklift). All said and done they gave me a £100 off voucher and all my money back and no hard feelings. Never have I ever received that kind of response from a high-street retailer before!

Not so private eye: Got an Axis network cam? You'll need to patch it, unless you like hackers

Adam JC

Re: Attack Vector

Genuine question, what possible need would you have to expose an IP camera to the internet other than in standalone configuration? I also install CCTV and the IP cameras themselves are usually on an entirely different VLAN & Subnet, with zero outbound access to anything via ACL other than a few manufacturer IP's for firmware updates. (And certainly not accessible in-bound via the internet!) The NVR would be the only device exposed directly to the internet.

PC nerds: Can't get no SATA-isfaction? Toshiba flaunts NVMe SSD action

Adam JC

The only real-life application we've seen improvements with NVMe drives vs 6G SATA SSD's is with graphical design machines, doing heavy Illustrator/Photoshop crunching where files can reach 60-80GB a pop!

Adam JC

Re: What do I need to specify on my next motherboard?

Perfect for schools! Everything important is redirected, just need an OS on there, Office and a few basic programs. :-)

Um, excuse me. Do you have clearance to patch that MRI scanner?

Adam JC

Re: The Need For Speed

This is an interesting comment, as a lot of the NHS in the UK used to be linked together by an internal network known as 'N3' (Mostly supplied/interlinked via Zen I believe) and is now known as 'The Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)', meaning they are all interconnected semi-internally. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the Layer3 access implications but such a network does indeed exist in the UK healthcare sector.

Windows Notepad fixed after 33 years: Now it finally handles Unix, Mac OS line endings

Adam JC

Re: but just like vi you know that notepad and wordpad will always be there.

I'd say the fact it took 30 years to fix means they did have better things to worry about ;-)

I do agree though, if I have to reinstall Windows, Notepad++ is always one of the first slew of utilities to go on there.

Guess who's still most moaned about UK ISP... Rhymes with BorkBork

Adam JC

The Zen Fibre 2 (Up to 80Mbps) is £42.99+VAT/month - It's cheaper than BT and that *includes* line rental. BT Business Line rental is £18.99+VAT at the moment so £25.00+VAT for (Truly) unlimited fibre and £17+VAT for line rental is hardly 'astronomical'. Also coupled with the fact that BT stiff you £5+VAT a month on top for a single static IP and Zen offer one for free... (And a proper router capable of handling more than 3 smartphones and a single PC, like a FritzBox or a Draytek, not a ShiteHub6!).

Adam JC

Actually, Zen Unlimited Fibre 2 is £42.00+VAT/month if you take line rental + unlimited FTTC with a static IP. (BT charge £5.00+VAT *Extra* for a static IP on their business fibre service - Quite how in this day and age a static IP in business isn't standard is a mystery) so Zen are now cheaper than BT Business fibre and have been for a fair while... which makes selling it much easier as it's a bonus :-)

As a matter of fact, having just checked BT's site - 76Mbps/19Mbps fibre unlimited is £27.00+VAT/month & £15.90+VAT/month line rental £5+VAT/month for a single static IP = £47.90+VAT/month - In comparison Zen is a flat £42.00+VAT - I should know, I've migrated three customer sin the past 48 hours from BT and it wasn't that long ago that BT were infact cheaper...

Amazon warns you have 30 days before Music Storage files bloodbath

Adam JC

Re: Too expensive for Amazon

Ah, I should probably mention, my business partner *is* family (He's best man at my wedding) - Therefore I consider his spouse family. I think my grandma is also fair game for family, so no ToS violation here :-)

Adam JC

Re: Too expensive for Amazon

If we're going down that route, you can start factoring in how I dropped my TV license for Netflix.. that's £150/year better off. I also don't solely use my internet connection at home for Spotify, so a moot point. My data plan is 20GB (Of which streaming is actually not taken out of this allowance, bazinga!) and I don't solely use my mobile phone for Spotify.

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