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spaghettiwestern

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HP bricks ProBook laptops with bad BIOS delivered via automatic updates — many users face black screen after Windows pushes new firmware (www.tomshardware.com)

On May 26, a user on HP’s support forums reported that a forced, automatic BIOS update had bricked their HP ProBook 455 G7 into an unusable state. Subsequently, other users have joined the thread to sound off about experiencing the same issue....

spaghettiwestern ,

HP laptops are garbage. This is the hinge of my HP X360 laptop after 6 months of occasional use: i.imgur.com/LhZWBIt.jpg

spaghettiwestern ,

Must depend on the model. I’ve been running Mint on that (repaired) X360 for years without significant problems outside crappy Realtek wireless module issues.

spaghettiwestern ,

HP has known the hinges are defective since they introduced them. There are so many people having problems a class action suit was filed about it.

spaghettiwestern ,

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this doesn’t look like this has anything to do with Syncthing vulnerabilities. Instead it looks like a hack that uses a preconfigured Syncthing installation to transfer sensitive data. Disturbing nonetheless.

A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back (www.windowscentral.com)

It’s a nightmare scenario for Microsoft. The headlining feature of its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which is supposed to drive millions of PC sales over the next couple of years, is under significant fire for being what many say is a major breach of privacy and security on Windows. That feature in question is Windows Recall, a...

spaghettiwestern ,

It’s also important to remember that Microsoft has no monetary incentive to force people to use Windows Recall.

With that in mind, there would be no reason for Microsoft to automatically enable Windows Recall in an update down the line. If it does happen, the user will be able to instantly tell thanks to that that visual indicator and turn it off again.

This article is nothing but propaganda. There is huge monetary incentive to force people to use Windows Recall and collect their data, and Microsoft routinely uses Windows Update to enable data collection. They began that practice years ago on Windows 7. It’s a ridiculously simple matter for MS to disable the visual indicator and force This Week’s Plan on their users to monetize their data.

Windows Central pretends to be critical of plans to enable a feature that can be made into malware by Microsoft in a couple of minutes, but then back peddles and says it can’t be done (utter BS) and if it could be, it wouldn’t be that bad.

spaghettiwestern OP ,

The word is “bribes.”

spaghettiwestern OP ,

Rents in my area have gone up 60% in the past 4 years and lots of people I know can no longer afford to rent the homes they own, nor could they afford to buy them now. A fixed rate mortgage makes housing expenses stable for decades. That’s something that is almost never considered when comparing renting and owning.

spaghettiwestern ,

A feature, not a bug of an oligarchy and an economy run by effective monopolies.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Another tip: On Android phones, Tasker can be used to automatically activate Wireguard tunnels to your own or a commercial VPN host. Taskernet.com has one project that activates WG when off specific wifi networks, and another that I wrote that allows you to activate a tunnel on demand only when you open specific apps. Great if you want to access a home server occasionally (without detectable open router ports) or want an extra layer of security when running a financial app.

New Louisiana law will criminalize approaching police under certain circumstances (apnews.com)

Critics of a new Louisiana law, which makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of a police officer under certain circumstances, fear that the measure could hinder the public’s ability to film officers — a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable....

spaghettiwestern ,

Yet another reason to avoid the deep south.

spaghettiwestern ,

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. - Francis M. Wilhoit

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

And the world was shocked because he is someone the law protects but does not bind.

Trump is currently being protected by Supreme Court justices who are literally deciding whether he’s bound by any law. You can bet that same conservative majority would make sure he’s protected by all of them.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Who are you talking to? Nobody has the power to do that

How embarrassing for you. If he is a member of a Bar association, he can be disbarred.

Americans are choking on surging fast-food prices. "I can't justify the expense," one customer says (www.cbsnews.com)

Kevin Roberts remembers when he could get a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys for $10. But that was years ago. When the Virginia high school teacher recently visited the fast-food chain, the food alone without a beverage cost double that amount....

spaghettiwestern ,

If you’re selling a product that you can’t produce by paying employees a lousy wage, you have to pay what’s needed to produce a salable product. This is the way business works everywhere and is true for both skilled and unskilled labor.

These companies have radically increased their prices while allowing the products produced to go to shit, and their customers are doing what customers always do when faced with crappy products and high prices. We’re going elsewhere.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Servers are paid below minimum wage because they receive tips.

Not true everywhere. For instance Washington requires servers be paid the full minimum wage of $16.28/hr before tips.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Windows 11? Let’s see here…

Spyware/malware since that infamous Windows 7 update sending everything (including passwords) to Microsoft. Ads spread across the UI in W11. Simple features hidden or disabled. Bing Internet search results in the Start Menu that can’t be disabled unless you edit the registry. Search engine in the Start Menu cannot be changed. Numerous other previously simple settings changes that now require registry edits. Menu items gone, and others that still exist but inexplicably have been removed from the Start Menu search. Edge browser forced down your throat no matter what you set as the default browser. Upgrades that you can’t do at your convenience and forced restarts that happen even if you have open files that you’re editing. Long (sometimes really long) upgrade restart times. Forced Microsoft account use to install and use the OS & Internet access required to even install the OS. Absurdly inflexible hardware requirements that make no sense for most people. A taskbar that can’t be moved. Numerous programs and garbage spread through the OS that cannot be removed or disabled.

Besides that, what’s not to like?

spaghettiwestern ,

Regular users are absolutely forced to use a Microsoft account, no matter how tired you are. People shouldn’t have to be techies to keep their information private.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

A tomshardware.com article about how to bypass the account requirement from February of this year:

tomshardware.com/…/install-windows-11-without-mic…

It requires numerous steps to bypass the account requirement or the creation of special installation media. I ran into the Internet and account requirements when installing W11 on a VM in January.

Perhaps the screenshots you posted were accurate at some point or in some situations, but you need to do better research before accusing others of spreading misinformation, and it is you who needs to stop spreading misinformation.

FCC Imposes Nearly $200 Million in Fines on US Wireless Carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) for Illegal Location Data Sharing (neuters.de)

The carriers sold “real-time location information to data aggregators, allowing this highly sensitive data to wind up in the hands of bail-bond companies, bounty hunters, and other shady actors,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement....

spaghettiwestern ,

Where do you think you are? The E.U.?

spaghettiwestern ,

Linux is actually becoming easier to deal with than Windows in many cases. Microsoft has removed so many settings from the GUI that editing of the Registry has become required even for simple things. That’s much less user friendly IMO than backing up and editing a text .conf file.

spaghettiwestern OP ,

A sentencing hearing broke down this week over a disagreement about a sentencing enhancement for a self-employed handyman from Texas who admitted to using a metal whip and unloading a can of bear spray on officers during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Taake had been on pretrial release for a pending child-solicitation case in Texas when he went to the Capitol ready for violence, armed with bear spray and a metal whip, prosecutors said.

Only the best people.

spaghettiwestern ,

I would think that after watching Musk’s magic touch lose over 70% of the value of Twitter and nearly half of Tesla’s value (since the nearly $300/share price last year) the shareholders may be realizing the emperor has no clothes.

spaghettiwestern ,

I hope the Dems keep forcing a vote. Make the GQP assholes go on record for taking Arizona back to 1864 again and again. It’ll do wonders for the GQP majority in November.

spaghettiwestern ,

There are a number of ways to access your Linux drives from Windows (I did it regularly when I ran Windows) and if your drive hasn’t been wiped your data is probably all accessible. Here’s a link that should help: howtogeek.com/…/3-ways-to-access-your-linux-parti…

Why do we have to do the health insurance company's job for them?

Just so tired of almost every time a doctor submits stuff to insurance, we have to be the ones to make multiple phone calls to both the doctor’s office and insurance to iron everything out, figure out what the issue is (it’s always a different issue), and basically be the go-between for the office and insurance. What am I...

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

We have all become unwilling, unpaid employees of every company in their pursuit of higher profits. It’s a feature, not a bug.

Corporations have discovered that there is no real downside (for them) when they don’t function. Customer satisfaction no longer has much of an impact on their profits because the few companies left in each sector are doing the exact same thing.

IMO this is yet another side effect of unchecked corporate power. It’s the same reason prices have risen so rapidly and corporate profits have reached 70 year highs. We are dealing with near monopolies and the billionaire class who created them. Until our government addresses the problem it’s not going to get any better.

In other words it’s not going to get better in our lifetimes.

spaghettiwestern ,

It’s beyond belief, but insurance companies do the same thing to amputees.

spaghettiwestern OP ,

She’s daring Smith to appeal. He should oblige her.

spaghettiwestern ,

Windows went a step further on my machine. I thought it had just screwed up my bootloader, but when I went to restore it my Linux partition was completely gone. Windows Update had deleted the partition.

Malware is right.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

So we need to evacuate the entire East Coast and Gulf Coast (hurricanes), the Midwest (tornadoes), the West Coast (fires), and any city built next to a river? Really?

spaghettiwestern ,

Sometimes a comment comes along that’s so full of bullshit it’s kind of impressive.

spaghettiwestern ,

Depends on the phone. Oneplus has a 65 watt charger.

spaghettiwestern ,

Hey, somebody’s gotta pay for the highest corporate profits in 70 years.

spaghettiwestern ,

My last job was with a Fortune 100 technical company in a sales position. No one used a docking station and no one bothered with an Ethernet cable. Neither did any of the customers we dealt with. People with desktop computers were wired up but most everyone else used wifi all the time.

spaghettiwestern ,

Not my last job with a Fortune 100 company. Nearly all of us used wifi all the time. Our engineering and software development groups did use desktop computers with Gig E though.

spaghettiwestern ,

Lol! One Ethernet cable in a conference room? What if someone else is using it? Next you’ll proudly state that you carry an Ethernet switch everywhere you go. But, you be you.

spaghettiwestern ,

And in the offices I worked in nobody had a docking station. They aren’t everywhere.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Don’t most of (maybe all) dell and lenovo laptops come with ethernet ports by default ?

Nope. Ethernet ports are gone.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Sorry to hear your company doesn’t care about productivity.

My company produces networking equipment and actually knows how to implement reliable wireless and wired networks. If your company’s wifi network is unstable perhaps hiring a competent network design and implementation company would have been more cost effective than throwing more equipment at the problem.

spaghettiwestern ,

Assumptions, assumptions… My company is a communications company and actually produces networking equipment. Almost no one uses Ethernet because we have the knowledge and experience to implement reliable wifi. Perhaps your company should hire us since they’ve done such a bad job with their own implementation.

spaghettiwestern , (edited )

Lordy, I ain’t never heard about one of them before. You’re a genius!

Now look around your office and see how many people are using them. There’s not a single person in my sales office, whether sales or engineering that bothers with a dongle because we actually have a well designed, fast wifi network. It’s called “reliability” and you and your company should look that up.

From the responses here it sounds like many companies need to do the same.

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