* Posts by Zap

131 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Mar 2008

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Firefox Quantum: BIG browser project, huh? I share your concern

Zap

No Point Unless..

There is NO POINT in doing the per process unless the task manager tells the user the heading of the tab so you know which one is bad.

However, the real thing that is needed even more than that is BETTER memory management for the user, that means to recover lost memory when tabs are closed.

Right now I have 8gb of Ram, Firefox is currently using 1.9gb, it becomes unusable and I have to terminate from task manager before it gets to 3gb because if it crashes I sometimes have to go undelete the recover files in the profile. So that is Gripe 1, not being able to use more than 3gb on an 8Gb machine with plenty of memory free.

Gripe 2 is that the memory leaks away and cannot be recovered, I have a plugin that does Garbage collection etc but it only recovers a fraction. If you need to reproduce a memory leak just use firefox, open four windows, with typical sites, epecially YouTube, play videos, open suggested tracks in new tabs. Make a note of memory usage, close down all those tabs except one in each window, now try to recover your ram. YOU CAN'T

I have Tab Memory plugin and this tab is using 13mb, if I add up all the tabs in place, they of course will NOT add up to 1.9gb nor even a few hundred MB.

The other thing they need is for the plugins, they slow the load time of Firefox, so how about the default is that they load 15s after Firefox to give it appearance of speed, give user chance to nominate some that are immediately opened.

To be honest the only thing keeping me with Firefox is the plugins, they better hurry up with this update and it better be GOOD!

Zap

Firefox needs a roll back

Often I see software that needs a rollback (Win10 to 7 a prime example), Lastpass is another (almost unusable now) and Firefox is definitely one.

I use an addon called Tab Memory usage, this usually gives a clue to which tab is grabbing memory, the worst offender are MICROSOFT websites, Outlook/Hotmail uses more than 10 times the 7.1m this page is using and it gets worse as it climbs with use.

I got rid of adblock plus and replaced it with Ublock Origin which helped.

I avoid logging into Lastpass until I need it as it makes FIrefox tediously slow even if you turn a lot of options off.

I use another addon called Free Memory 2.0 to clean up memory but it can only do so much.

I have an 8GB system, I have to terminate Firefox from Task Manager when it gets to 2.5gb to 3gb. Most of this memory has actually leaked, which is why it needs a rewrite.

As well as Memory there are CPU processes, this is where I see the best improvement in the per tab option. right now one bad webpage can take CPU usage to a constant 50% which makes the PC unusable. However, if Mozilla want to make this helpful they would to well the name the tabs a different name to the core browser, e.g. FFtab2-4 which would be the 4th tab of the 2nd firefox window (from left to right).

Lately I have just shifted some sites i visit to Opera (which I find faster to start up and with many sites too).

I do not use Google Chrome becaue it is effectively spying on me.

Is this a solution to Trump signing away your digital privacy? We give Invizbox Go a go

Zap

Lifetime VPN $30 to $40

I like the idea of the box but they are nuts if they think I am paying that mch!

Of course there is a totally free option which is to use Opera with built in VPN.

However, if you use Facebook (or any page with an FB share button), Google (or any page with Google Plus share or Google ads, or Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager). You are sharing your habits with a profile. That profile is offten hidden in flash setup files so if you delete your cookies they can link it back to your profile.

In Firefox you can use ghostery, uBlock Origin, Cookie Controller and Better Privacy to inhibit these spies.

On Black Friday I got this stack social deal for $29.99 less a code which took it to $22

https://stacksocial.com/sales/vpn-unlimited-lifetime-subscription

They do not say who it is from, it is some Russian outfit (eek) called KeepSolid, reviewed here:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/utilities/keepsolid-vpn-unlimited-1325618/review

http://uk.pcmag.com/vpn-unlimited/78538/review/keepsolid-vpn-unlimited

They do NOT support Torrents on all their servers.

'Windows 10 destroyed our data!' Microsoft hauled into US court

Zap

UK too please

I hope that millions of people join this class action against Microsoft, I am only sad that UK users will not be able to join it.

This issue was covered on the BBC Radio 4 You and Yours Consumer show, they had more people calling to complain that this happened to them than ANY other issue EVER, they have been broadcasting for donkey's years.

I have a laptop a friend gave me to repair that was ruined, it does not respond to the usual repair and recovery options. The only thing to be done is to download a copy of old OS and try to find drivers. Microsoft did not just just trash the data, they trashed the recovery partitions for the old OS.

This is NOT just about the value of lost data, Windows 10 is an advertising and affiliate platform, companies pay to advertise on the start menu and when you use the Microsoft installed icons that use 3rd party services Microsoft gets a cut of subscriptions.

So this was NOT done on some pretext for a better OS, it was done for MONEY.

I would not mind if Win10 had been more secure, the one machine I have it installed on is continuously updating, I am at the point where I can looking at how I can block updates or any Microsoft interferance with my PC by using a 3rd party firewall and blocking them on my router.

Spammy Google Home spouts audio ads without warning – now throw yours in the trash

Zap

Google is an ad company, ANYTHING they do is about ads, any tech they get into is only because it helps them sell ads.

They have already shown that they have no boundaries when it comes to ethics, hacking into consumers wireless routers and indexing their PC docs. Gather the SSID's so they could use them to invade privacy and locate people.

All in the name of delivering more relevant ads.

Today they

"Google has been ordered by the Government to explain why taxpayer-funded adverts are appearing alongside extremist material."

"The Guardian has also withdrawn all its online advertising from Google and YouTube after it emerged that its ads were being placed next to extremist material."

"David Pemsel, the Guardian's chief executive, wrote to Google to say that it was "completely unacceptable" for its advertising to be misused in this way, the newspaper reported."

GOOGLE responded:

"We accept that we don't always get it right, and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not. We're committed to doing better, and will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers."

How many times have we heard such meaningless apologies?

TOO MANY TIMES!

$17k win for man falsely accused of a terrible crime: Downloading an Adam Sandler movie

Zap

I was in LA for few months this year, the ISP sent the person I was staying with a notice that IP had been detected on torrent networks.

As it happened the wifi had been hacked, every time we changed the passwords they got back in, must have had a network sniffer.

We hid the SSID and even got a new router, still got in.

We pointed out wifi is not possible to secure and suggested they investigate themselves if they wish to take it further.

What amazed me was that there were 32 wifi SSID's visible on my laptop, biggest issue was them bumping into each other.

I hate the way these film companies go after people, it is like killing one ant and expecting it to make a difference.

The greed of studios is the root of this, instead of fighting they should embrace the torrent arena as a market, produce a product for it and price it at a price affordable for that market.

LinkedIn competitor offers to drop Russians into same legal trap that caught LinkedIn

Zap

Get the hell out of Dodge city

A service provider I use fell for this, they put servers on Russian soil, all seemed OK for a while, then came the demand for details of people using the site.

The company declined and this went on for several months, then came the raid, all thei servers were stolen by the Russian authorities and they could not get out of there fast enough.

Luckily their servers were encrypted but who knows.

Russia does NOT present an opportunity if your business is going to be blackmailed, raided and maybe execs put in prison.

So leave them to their pathetic 143m market, most of which are poor, meanwhile continue to keep up sanctions because they invade sovereign states.

LinkedIn officially KickedOut of Russia

Zap

Re: They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

Well demanding data is one thing, raiding and taking servers is another.

We have seen that Russia alleges tax fraud of $2m of anyone who goes against them, others get put in jail.

I am no fan of what the US does but this does not make what Russia do OK

Zap

They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

A service provider I use fell for this, they put servers on Russian soil, all seemed OK for a while, then came the demand for details of people using the site.

The company declined and this went on for several months, then came the raid, all thei servers were stolen by the Russian authorities and they could not get out of there fast enough.

Luckily their servers were encrypted but who knows.

Russia does NOT present an opportunity if your business is going to be blackmailed, raided and maybe execs put in prison.

So leave them to their pathetic 143m market, most of which are poor, meanwhile continue to keep up sanctions because they invade sovereign states.

Third suspect arrested over TalkTalk breach

Zap

Let a COURT deicde

They are not accepting liability?

How bloody rich is that

CLASS ACTION TALK TALK HACk

Let a Judge decide

TalkTalk's appeal against paltry ICO data breach fine thrown out

Zap

Every week on BBC consumer shows there are victims of TalkTalk Hack and the TalkTalk data sale (when IT company in Inida it appointed had employee that sold data).

One lady lost £7000,

How about a fine of £1000 per person whose data was stolen, they were saying it was arounf 159,000 customers but I suspect it is in the millions, how could they even know.

Companies of such a size can take precautions to prevent a hack and THERE IS NO EXCUSE for and IT aware company like TalkTalk to have allowed themselves to be hacked.

Never minds selling off BT wholesale (which TalkTalk are always pushing for) how about we sell off TT biz ?

IP telephony biz VoIPtalk quietly admits to possible data breach

Zap

I got email warning me of incident then one for each account that appeared insecure, I have about 12 numbers with them. Worst case for me is they use a few pounds credit on each account.

I suppose we will get calls telling us they are Microsoft and they have a fix for our windows!

I use Twilio to route calls to VoIP I have my CLI so I only answer the numbers I know.

I have same policy on iPhone, if I know you I answer otherwise you can speak to my secretary on voicemail. I look up numbers I do not know and block them if they come up on Google as PPI etc.

VMware Workstation's installer loads danger-junk, so patch it ASAP

Zap

Class Action Lawsuit fior Microsoft et al

I have been in this industry as long as Microsoft, what I will never understand is how it is just common practice to release vulneable code.

We should not need the plethora of security fixes.

When will a class action, a really big one, be started?

I suppose that now that Micro$oft is the underdog we should have pity

Apple gets judge to hit ctrl-alt-delete on $625m FaceTime patent troll

Zap

Theft and Infringement

Apple was founded on theft and Infringement with it's original GUI being stolen from Xerox Parc.

Over the years we have seen time and time again Lawsuit after Lawsuit, we could save a lot of time and lawyer fees by just assuming they are guilty.

What we really need is a percentage of future products awared as well as the penalty so that if they run out of money. It should certainly be cumulative and once you have 3 Infringements against you the CEO should be considered NOT a fit a proper person to hold a directorship of any company,

They were found guilty of theft and Infringement but because they have smart lawyers they can ask for a retrial, I hope the new Judges award DOUBLE the current fine or even 5x the penalty.

Philando Castile death-by-cop vid mysteriously vanishes from Facebook

Zap

Re: 506th person to die in a police shooting this year

Forget Belgium not even a proper country

Compare UK

population of US is about 5x larger so 69 deaths by gun would give you 345, they had over 9000, so around 3000% more

Zap

Re: @Long John Baldrick

Of course not, it is just another example of American cops, usually white, getting on some power trip and shooting a white man.

There is another video where they enhanced it and show the cop tried to lie about victim taking his taser which clearly fell to the floor in one place, then after he kills the man he picks it up and drops it near the body.

Black Murder by cop is a very real and serious thing in the US

Zap

Re: He is the 506th person to die in a police shooting this year in the Land of the FreeTM

Hogwash, trying to justify murder by police officers by muddying water with other crime is the typical response we see from racists. Two wrongs do not make a right and stop trying to bury an important issue in other stats.

THE ISSUE is COPS KIILING BLACKS,

Did you see the video where they shot the guy behind in his alimony, 8 shots in the back,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg3GrfR2wiQ

he was walking away, no aggression whatsoever.

BUT what was he doing before that I hear you say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym4tE0SQCZY

Walking away from a traffic stop

To rreally understand the disdain US cops have for black men go watch this to see Police activity in Garner Muder by Cop case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpGxagKOkv8

Then see this to see Paramedic clearly find him not breathing but saying nothing for fear of response, there is a way dead bodies move, the look of the face, lifeforce has gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11EWyT--LU

Coroner determined it was Homocide

A NYC Grand Jury would not indite the cop that murdered him

Cop even wanted his job back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_8nBLM_xj0

To me it is ALL about having guns and ammo freely available.

Having a gun gives you a feeling of mortal power

America has had 23 amendments to their constition, but no President will ever be allowed to restrict guns.

In same year when UK had 69 killed in UK by guns over 9000 killed by guns in US.

If UK cops arrested people for such petty things our legal system would collapse.

And as for the two cops murdered in Dallas, whilst I do not approve of such action I understand it and I expect we will see more of it until the US grasps the nettle and deals with the BLACK MURDER BY COP issue it clearly has.

Zap

Interesting things about this video are the way the Officer realises he is screwed and tries to pretend he asked the guy about weapon and the woman immediately corrects him to say no sir you asked him to produce ID and Insurance.

The other thing is the way they hold a gun on her, armed with a mobile phone.

I have worked for 3 Amercan companies and spend some time living over there, they may not like it to be mentioned but they are racist.

I saw glass ceilings for black people in 2 companies and one was openly racist.

The way they remove the vote from ex cons means that all Police have to do is arrest someone for repeated dope use and they lose voting rights forever.

The way the Police behave in America is SO different from the UK, in the US it is all about power and control rather than Law and Order.

In the UK I have always felt the Police work for all citizens, in the US I saw them as a very dangerous bunch of facist thugs where unlawful killing was just tolerated.

I hope America has some sort of new law to stop this murder of black males, the list is now getting very long, the most tragic of which for me was the murder of Eric Garner where the whole event was filmed and after being given a banned and lethal choke hold by a police officer, he is handcuffed while saying a plethora of times he can't breathe and left to DIE.

Parliament takes axe to 2nd EU referendum petition

Zap

What it shows is that people can use bots with proxy IP addresses, that is fraud.

What I find amazing is the losers want to run the vote again because they do not like the result.

I have not heard such kwap since errr, the EU doing the same thing when Ireland voted on the Lisbon treaty.

I predicted this would happen and I do think there will be a deal offered and a further referendum in the next two years.

Official: Microsoft's 'Get Windows 10' nagware to vanish from PCs in July

Zap

Nonsense

"Without those fixes, you'll be better off unplugging your machine for good."

That is Nonsense

All you need to do is make sure you run a protected environment

This kind of scaremongering is just what Microsoft wants

Even without all the advertising, affiliate products and bloatware issues as an operating system Win10 has no compelling reason to upgrade.

It is slower, slower to boot and to operate. You could not get me to upgrade even if they were giving it away, oh shit they are giving it away!!

I do not know when the next version is out but I am quite happy to stay with Win7, I installed a dual boot so I can be technically competent in Win10 but if Microsoft does not want to move people to Linux they better speed up their product and give an option to remove all this crapware.

They say the enterprise version does not have this but would you honestly believe there is not some kind of service collecting data that they use for their advertisers.

"Crucially, Microsoft will continue to push out security fixes for Windows Vista until April 11, 2017; Windows 7 until January 14, 2020; and January 10, 2023 for Windows 8 – unless you cut a special deal with Redmond for longer support. Without those fixes, you'll be better off unplugging your machine for good."

'I thought my daughter clicked on ransomware – it was the damn Windows 10 installer'

Zap

The Real Scandal of Windows 10

The Real Scandal of Windows 10 is that it has been morphed into nothing more than an affiliate and advertising platform.

You have to opt out of your data being shared in over 120 locations and guess what, Microsoft sets them back to shared when you do a routine windows update.

What did you think that Amazon, eBay and all that bloatware was put there because they were trying to be helpful.

All those new apps like the music and Video apps that gets Microsoft a commission.

One thing that also bugged me was that Microsoft no longer allows you to opt out of sharing your usage pattern data.

There is NO OPT OUT all you get to choose is minimal.

I am forming a complaint to the EU Data Commissioner

The combination of this data to their advertising means you can effectively be identified and you cannot opt out.

So much for privacy.

The 'new' Microsoft? I still wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

Zap

Class Action

Can someone tell me when there will be a class action?

I mean to be fit for purpose an OS has to be secure, to write an insecure version of Windows once, or even twice with different version might be acceptable, but Microsoft does it with every version.

How much is it costing users and businesses in lost productivity

Zap

Re: As they say...

I so agree

Windows 10 is an advertising and affiliate platform, a bit like Chrome is for Google.

Users have to make over 120 privacy settings changes to stop their data being shared and when you allow Windows Update to work it changes some of those back to share the data.

I am in the process of documenting this behaviour (it seems to be time based) before making a complaint to the EU data commissioner.

Maybe they thought I would not notice but I set EVERYTHING explicitly to do not share as well as using the setting for each section to do not share.

Zap

everything hinges on trust

I will NEVER trust Microsoft again either personally or professionally, in fact I am advising clients to dump them at every opportunity, but WHY?

So last year I signed up for OneDrive, I got 15gb of free storage

Recently I got an Email from Microsoft saying that they were reducing my free storage from 15gb to 5gb and I had to get my shit off their servers by August.

They did say I could avoid this with a one year trial of Office 365, no thank you.

Now my data was growing and at some point I would have started paying for data but it is the principle of the thing.

Nobody wants to have a gun put to their head, I do NOT want or need Office365, I am happy with Office 2010.

I will get all my files off and move them to Mega.nz where I get 50gb free but I will NEVER TRUST MICROSOFT again.

Ironically I had a client asking me about moving 485 to Office365, my advice was to move all users to OpenOffice and we are now working on a migration plan.

I do not know what idiot at Microsoft thought this would work for them but they should be fired, as a brand Microsoft is polluted for me now.

US data suggests Windows 10 adoption in business is slowing

Zap

I will NEVER upgrade to Win10

What those figures do NOT tell you is how many were new PC's and how many were upgrades, if you deduct the new machines you are left with a disturbing number of people that have upgraded.

I installed a dual boot of Win10 on my Laptop

What I found was an OS that gave me no tangible benefit to upgrade and a lot of reasons not to.

It is slower to boot, slower to run, shit got moved around for no good reason and no benefit to anyone but Microsoft.

The ONLY benefit was a slightly smaller footprint in disk space which is probably due to the wasted space of WINSXS in older version.

Win10 is nothing more than an advertising and affiliate platform, pretty much the same as Chrome is for Google.

Now the biz version may be less so but still there is no compelling benefit and for a corporation there are all the costs of training, support and management.

I am happy with Win7, anyone can see by installing a fresh install of Win7 that it runs inside 2gb but add all the Windows updates, it then runs like a dog and needs 4gb. This is clearly Microsoft trying to force people to upgrade by messing with registry, (they were caught doing this before), but it is not going to make me shift to Win10

Even if Microsoft stopped providing updates I would stick with Win7, I would just make sure security around it is safer.

If Microsoft forces a move I am at the stage where I would rather shift to Linux (much as I hate it)

If Microsoft want people to upgrade they need to provide compelling benefits, there are none.

Win10 is a polluted brand for me, a bit like Windows Millenium was.

So they need to get the next version to be lean and mean, I suggest they give developers really slow PC's so they are forced to write efficient code.

Google and HMRC face Parliamentary grilling over £130m tax deal

Zap

That works out at just 3% tax

Can we all have such a deal, I am sure every worker, self employed person, Manager, Company Director and shareholder would LOVE to pay just 3% tax.

Google has 83 subsidiaries, the main purpose of them is to avoid tax (according to EU Minister).

Google is starting to damage its brand now with all this Tax Avoidance

I think this is also a competition issue, Google has a dominant market position and its competitors have to pay tax at much higher rates.

My Message to Google is

PAY WHAT YOU REALLY OWE

Meanwhile I am advertising on Facebook, Yahoo/Microsoft and doing SEO so you get didly squat!

Universal Credit: The IT project that will outlive us all

Zap

How it really is

So just before the ConDem Govt got in there was a project due to go live that finally got Job Centres off the mainframes, the project was scrapped without reason, same reason as the school improvement projects and all the others. Govt wanted to say "we did this"

So in a job centre when someone signs on they still key the data into the mainframe and another system, any cock up on data entry on either and you do not get paid.

I was speaking to some people in the DWP who were telling me of the nightmare this new system is. First things first, you want to MIGRATE a number of systems into one, first thing you need is a data dictionary from all the disparate system #fail , so historical data from claimants would be lost if they transferred to Universal Credit.

Mostly it just does not work, staff report entering staff data on the initial 0800 claim line and not being able to save data due to an "application error", when this happens they are supposed to email IT but they can't carry on, one said was near the end of the day and had to log out, data lost.

This was just the initial data collection required to get a form, it took 2 months to get a form sent manually.

I did an calculation for a few friends who are on ESA and PIP, one was in a supported living accomodation, calculator made no allowance for the fact that they were disabled and supported living is one step from a care home. So it wanted to cut their money because it went over the benefits cap.

For the other it said they would be £20 better off a month on Universal Credit??

Why??

I thought this was an IT system that brought together different systems from DWP and Local Authorities, so how come you get more money if you go on this, is it a bribe to get people on and then to screw them later?

I know people who are on ESA and PIP and BOTH, as it is we are paying two different 3rd parties (ATOS and MAXIMUS) to medically assess them, WHY? Especially when GP is ignored.

I just do not see any "benefit" to the state in this system.

Just another doomed Government IT project where the most basic things have not been done

Server retired after 18 years and ten months – beat that, readers!

Zap

Re: Commodore 64

Michael Palin: Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.

Graham Chapman: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, ay Gessiah?

Terry Gilliam: You're right there Obediah.

Eric Idle: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?

MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

GC: A cup ' COLD tea.

EI: Without milk or sugar.

TG: OR tea!

MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.

EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

TG: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness."

EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.

GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!

TG: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!

MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

EI: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.

GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!

TG: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

MP: Cardboard box?

TG: Aye.

MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

TG: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

MP: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.

ALL: Nope, nope..

PS. My CPM box has been running 28 hours a day since 1972 and we are keeping it running till 3072

Zap

Re: Disk Magic

I used Ghost (on Hiren Boot Disk) up to last year but for GPT I have now had to find alternatives.

My laptop does not use GPT so used Ghost to clone Win7 to a second primary partition, then hid one, upgaded 2nd to Win10 then unhid and made dual boot Win7 or Win10.

Can't stand Win10 so in Win7 most of time, it will see me out till I am personally decommissioned.

Win10 is just an affilate and advertising platform for Microsoft, same way as Chrome is for Google but worse.

Zap

Re: old kit?

I have a few of those old floppies some of them bootable.

Zap

Not Surprising

There are loads of systems like that in medical sector, running software that can't be replaced, I have seen them in USA and UK.

Key thing was to keep it in its era, not upgrade the OS so it could do it's thing.

I have migrated a few such systems to VM's of their former environment

Dell: How to kill that web security hole we put in your laptops, PCs

Zap

Dell vs The Register

Hey Dell, how about you bloody ASK before grabbing my System ID without my permission.

Hey The Register, How about you get rid of those 16, yes 16 tracking Beacons installed on THIS PAGE that Ghostery is kindly blocking for me!

YOU TRACK ME AND THEN SELL ON MY TRACKING INFO

At least with Dell it is not deliberate, it is just incompetence.

Universal Credit white elephant needs 'urgent breakthrough' says MP

Zap

Too big to fail so we will not call it failed

The problem with the NPFIT (Renamed Connecting for Health) was that staff would not cooperate, why should they, it would make them redundant.

They brought in LSP's who were promised multi billion pound contracts, they had no clue how medical data is structures, they figured that HL7 would define all the data but the IT staff refused to give them the access control data, sometimes because they did not know it and sometimes because they wanted to mess them around. It is not as simple as saying "this guy is a consultant he must have access" clinicians can only see data that they need to see and things like HIV results have very special access control.

Still most of the figures you see banded about about £20bn were projected 20 year costs. Less than 3bn was actually spent and a lot of it is still in use every day in the NHS.

Now the Univeral Credit system is going through the same thing, the aging system still runs on mainframes and they are dragging their feet over exporting data. Of course the new system has not been designed to accomodate that data and nobody wants to lose it.

Then you have the various "interested parties" who want to delay delay delay.

It does not help that the DWP staff are spread across so many sites, do they have been developing around various workflows of different areas (JSA, ESA, Income Support etc) but completely failed to create the integration.

It is too big to fail because IDS will not resign.

Yet in the last month he has LIED TO PARLIAMENT when he denied that data existed for death figures but the DWP had already told ICO they existed but it did not want to publish them because WE MIGHT GET THE WRONG IDEA!

http://i.imgur.com/AwJ2qQi.png

Imagine if all data was not published on this basis!

There have been many petitions to get Iain Smith to resign go sign the petition and it might actually happen although his bald head and slippery nature has led to him being called Teflon with civil servants.

https://www.change.org/p/hm-courts-and-tribunal-service-publish-stats-showing-how-many-people-have-died-after-their-benefits-stopped

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/benefit-cuts-deaths-revealed-how-5939071

http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/over-235000-signatures-yet-dwp-wont-release-benefit-related-death-figures

Apple to devs: Watch out, don't make the Watch into a, well, a watch

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WTF has it got to do with Apple, surely it is up to the USERS (you know the one's paying for the bloody thing) to decide what they do and do not like.

This is why I am NOT a fan of Apple, all the success of the iPhone etc is because of the App developers that Apple exploit.

If you really want to understand Apple mentality get the low down from this interview with one of their senior engineers

Apple Engineer Talks about the New 2015 Macbook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZ8ek-6ccc

EU: Competition Commissioner met Google chief Schmidt

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Google has done a lot more than this article shows or the EU realises to create a dominant position.

The changes it made to Google Analytics mean that website owners only have a fractional subset of data UNLESS they advertise with Google. You used to get 250,000 keywords and history to the beginning of time, now you get a few thousand (not even the best) and over a few months.

That in itself is anti competitive because a website owner can't use that information (gained from a dominant browser) to advertise on Bing (Yahoo).

In addition to that they cut off access to mobile search which has now overtaken desktop search, they used to provide this but no more.

Google bots amass data with their search engine, spy with their browser and toolbar tools on other browser, it is no wonder that nobody else has a chance to compete.

ON top of that they avoid their taxes via Luxembourg, the solution that is to slap a new rate of VAT at 60% on the business they do with British companies, that could be avoided if they paid corporation tax on their UK business.

The Google Mantra is Don't be Evil but the full version is

Don't be evil, only we are allowed to be evil.

The BBC wants to slap a TAX on EVERYONE in BLIGHTY

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Silly Tony Hall

Tony Hall is being silly and it is just wishful thinking that will probably bring the end of the license fee sooner rather than later, a day I hope never comes.

I listen to BBC Radio a lot, well Radio4 but I watch very very little BBC and what I do watch I download.

I do not watch ITV or SKY either, can't stand the ads, so I got myself a NowTV (rebadged Roku) box and installed something called Plex which gives me a Netflix like interface on my content. Sorry Auntie, I do not need a license for this as it is not live TV and even if the law was changed, I would not pay, on principal. The BBC has priced themselves out of the market, they need a whole different approach, make it free if you agree to receiving marketing info by post, email and online.

You would not need to enforce it (getting rid of the Capita Goons you see on YouTube) and could offer value added programming for a subscription, still with no ads in programmes.

Now that I have tested Plex I will buy a box like the Amazon Fire TV or a better Roku. I can download content with Amazon Prime but also add all my other content on a PC share, it is all done wirelessly.

What the BBC needs to do is commission its channels for use outside the UK on a paid service, it can do this via the services out there or get its own Roku type box.

The issue here is the technology and the BBC needs to get with it, it needs to get rid of Flash Player online, use all the other ways of streaming.

They have no right to impose and they can Foxtrot Oscar if they think they can force people to pay.

EasyGroup continues bizarre, time-travelling domain crusade

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Really all this bullying does is damage the EASYjet and other EASYgroup brands, I do not like being bullied and I do not like bullies.

I own hundreds of domains (used to own thousands and traded them) and people have to pay if they want a brand, BUT Easygroup should just go rebrand something unique, e.g. EeezyJet, i.e. a word that does not exist.

Really has damaged their reputation for me for even trying this nonsense.

IDIOTS!

Wi-Fi beam-steering tech could KILL OFF fixed home networks

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On the one hand I do not know how we would cope without WiFi, but sometimes I wonder if we are all being Microwaved albeit on a low setting.

With dramatic increases in diagnosis of everything from Cancer to Autism and ADHD, then the increase in Paedos and gender variances, one has to wonder if there are links or is it just what we are dumping into the sea and landfill (water table).

Either way, I like as much as possible on a cable where I can protect it from hackers and get a decent speed without nuking my environment

Super-cookie crumbles: Verizon vows to kill off hated zombie stalkers

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Interesting that there is such a means to monitor people, so 1984 can be switched on in due course.

Many people do not realise that there are LSO cookies which cross browsers and track you. Some retargetting cookies use them when other cookies have been deleted. In Firefox you can get plugin to see them. The sites I see using them a lot include Yahoo, YouTube, & eBay but many others do too, they just edit the default file.

If you use Chrome or any Toolbar or even the Browser toobat search you can expect to be tracked, let's face it, Google is an advertising company, so what do you expect!

Google's attitude is collect the information into the notorious "logs" and figure out later how to make money from it.

Uber reveals fresh passenger data spaff – and city officials are OK with this

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What i think is unfair about UBER is that they do not have to go through the same regulation as other Taxi drivers, e.g. in London. That makes it unfair.

Further more we have seen poor security which potentially means a rapist or murderer could be yyour driver.

I am all for competition but not for unfair competition.

Time and time again data like this can be added to other information in the public domain to remove the anonimity.

I for one will NOT be using Uber on the data issue alone.

Saudi Arabia to flog man 1,000 times for insulting religion on Facebook

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Devil

How dumb is it to be worried about محمد

I do not really care what Saudis do their own citizens in their own country.

There was a time when I would respect others right to practice their own religion in our country but that respect is not reciprocated. They think that respect means that I believe, NO, it means I respect that they believe, even if Mohammed (which they can't even agree on an english spelling for so to clarify I will say محمد ) is just a fictional character in a book, like Spiderman.

Now I just see it as a primitive religion practiced by dumb people and exploited by power hungry fanatics.

Also because of their slaughter last week, an act of cowardice against unarmed civilians, not only am I going to share hundreds of offensive images of محمد (my fav is the one with the sheep and satan) but I am going to blog them and use software to spread millions of them.

They may be offended but I say get over it كسها.

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How dumb is it to be worried about محمد

I do not really care what Saudis do their own citizens in their own country.

There was a time when I would respect others right to practice their own religion in our country but that respect is not reciprocated. They think that respect means that I believe, NO, it means I respect that they believe, even if Mohammed (which they can't even agree on an english spelling for so to clarify I will say محمد ) is just a fictional character in a book, like Spiderman.

Now I just see it as a primitive religion practiced by dumb people and exploited by power hungry fanatics.

Also because of their slaughter last week, an act of cowardice against unarmed civilians, not only am I going to share hundreds of offensive images of محمد (my fav is the one with the sheep and satan) but I am going to blog them and use software to spread millions of them.

They may be offended but I say get over it كسها.

Gangnam Style BREAKS YouTube

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Better Parody

I get the IT link ot EMC but I think there are better parodies.

Kim Jong Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cG7ZVBXQII

Lego Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2CZBBM7zBw

Obama Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwh8kWuire8

Eton Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FtZkVRkusQ Featuring Cameron Crew

Eastern Europe Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY1MVQeeStY

'Snoopers' Charter IS DEAD', Lib Dems claim as party waves through IP address-matching

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So easy to overcome

Whenever they come out with these ideas it always shows they know sweet FA about technolofy.

So what happens is that the whole population is monitored and has their privacy invaded while the actual villains use a VPN like this https://bitly.com/vpn01 which has 44,000 IP addresses to choose from and allows you to state your locations.

Even if they did not spring $60 for that they might just grab one of the less secure 20,000+ proxies advertised every day.

Maybe that is the idea, get people to use these VPN services and then have MI5 hack the VPN provider.

I have used these to watch BBC TV while abroad and in my work or just when I do not like the idea of being snooped on.

iPhone sales set to PLUMMET: Bleak times ahead for Apple

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Nice problem to have

49m phones, when will analysts realise that their biggest problem is analysts who hype up the expectation then put in the warnings. It is all a game to get people to buy and sell Apple shares so the companies they work for can make a killing.

If phones were lower than expectations it might be because they bend or was that really a scare story started by Samsung as some have reported.

I like the Iphone6 being bigger, it means old gits like me can actually see it.

I still hate the OS, so many things missing from my crappy old phone.

UK.gov mulls three-point turn on three-point turn thanks to satnav. Weeeeeeee. THUD

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Stupid Government.

New drivers are bad enough, if we remove these filters then there will be more accidents

What they could do is have a second test for motorway driving which seems essential as nobody seems to understand the keep left rule.

If the Government want to tinker with the roads then make all motorways 4 lanes, with only cars allowed in the right two lanes, the left two lanes being reserved for Lorries, Vans, old people and idiots.

Retaking of test is just a way to rake in more money from citizens.

Ten excellent FREE PC apps to brighten your Windows

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Classic email mistake from The Register

After all these years have the owners of The Register lost the plot?

Do you not know anything about email marketing?

Your emails are often opened because of the Subject line, but then you fail to follow through because the thing you promise in the subject line (this page) is buried down below. At the very least it needs to be "above the fold" meaning either the first item or at least visible without scrolling.

Your whole job is to distract busy people and make them visit your site, so this failure to follow through is huge. It make you look as if you are promising something that is either not delivered because it is hidden.

Hopefully you will do better in future.

DEATH by COMMENTS: WordPress XSS vuln is BIGGEST for YEARS

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It is complete and utter rubbish to suggest that 86% of Wordpress sites include this plugin.

Apple surges in on the BYOD wave

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Will Never buy Apple for Biz

Several years ago Apple brought out a bunch of Server products for the business market under the brand Xserve

We had a lot of Apple fanboys saying we should buy some, we had Dell, IBM, HP, Fujitsu and a few others.

The Apple kit was quite reasonable in price but knowing what Apple is like once you use or depend on their kit there were reservations, but it is always the management and support that matters, so we waited.

Then a Apple pulled out of that market

ww.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/08/apple_xserve_server_dead/

There were lots of comments about it being an experiment but you can't have your company IT depending on an Experiment.

Now they want to get in bed with IBM, well the same thing applies; Support and Management, I can't see any value in Apple, oh I am sure that there will be the usual fanboys that don't mind bending over and taking it hard, but no thanks.

Data protection laws come to the rescue of poor, underpaid UK MPs

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Alert

The real MP Crime

This is terrible but it is a lot worse than you think.

We had MP's abusing their expenses, flipping properties 3 times (Hazel) each with a new expensive flat screen TV at our expense, yet the total fiddled was estimated at £6,000,000

So we spent £10,000,000 to create IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) they are not fit for purpose, they are not independent and it is these clowns who say MP's should get a £11,000 rise (more money than a Health Care Assistant at your local hospital gets.

It was Blair who increased their Salaries and put this expenses system in place.

We still can't sack these bar stewards and below the MP's we have the completely rotten Civil Servant infrastructure, these are the people that tell new MP's who come with good ideas "that is not how we do things around here".

Then the whips step in, vote with the party or we will leak you playing with small boys or hiring a nanny from outside the EU with no visa. They are so anti-democratic, telling MP’s to vote against the wishes of their constituents.

MP's that are a professional politicians should be banned, you should have to have worked for at least 10 years doing something in the real world, does not matter what job.

MP's insult our intelligence, they forget it is the voter who elects them not the party. Consider the EU vote, Labour insults our intelligence by not even giving us the option to vote while Cameron will renege on whatever promises he makes as he did with the Scottish the day after their referendum by putting in this English nonsense that kicks it into the long grass.

DO THESE IDIOTS THINK WE ARE STUPID

That is why I will vote UKIP, not because I agree with their policies but because I know they will expose the shams wherever they find them, just like Farage does in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJHETdxwv8Y

Of course if I had a choice, to quote Richard Burton in this film

"I would bring the whole edifice down on their unworthy heads"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RcukyYDcxEA#t=51

I would make every MP have to get a sponsor, we all know they are on the fiddle with private companies giving them non exec directorships, so why not be open about it, but the other change I would make is to take away their ability to vote, the HOC would become a debating chamber, any MP could propose new law but WE would vote on it. Very easy to do, then we really would get the laws we want and deserve. No expenses, no costs from the public purse. no £250,000 on portraits of themselves. Zero, Nada, Nichts, rien de tout!

But for now UKIP is the only way to send these clowns a message that we have had enough of them.

Yes it will mess up politics, imagine if Labour got most votes but had to work with UKIP, you would get exposure of every little trick they tried to pull.

I can't wait!

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