That IT moment - smh

[thesameguy]

Middle of last year I had my first major "I'm outdated" moment when I thoughtlessly imaged a Windows 8 machine, then attempted to restore that image after running some tests. It didn't work because there are no tools which support fixing secureboot problems and I just wasn't prepared for that. I struggled for 30-40 minutes before I finally realized the problem which made me feel pretty stupid.

This morning I had my second "I'm outdated" moment, when doing the same thing I could not even generate the first image. My tool wouldn't see the source drive. System booted fine so I knew it was there, but none of my PEs would even acknowledge the system had a hard drive installed. WTF? After banging my head for 30-40 minutes (that my cap, seriously) I took the thing apart. Stuck in the m.2 slot is a Samsung nvme drive (card?). FML. I should have thought of that pretty much immediately having just spent an entire evening learning about m.2 but it never even occurred to me.

I think I've become complacent with common technologies and reliable routines. Things are changing and frankly I don't think I'm prepared. :sadbanana:

[Kchrpm]

After breaking my backup computer, and then my main computer, trying to "fix" them via software and/or hardware, I broke down and bought a Chromebook. Cheap(ish), simple(ish), does less, less that can break, and if I screw anything else up all my important stuff is either on the SD card or Google's servers, or both. I basically don't even plug in my 3 TB backup drive anymore.

[21Kid]

http://community.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Back-to-School-Lobby-Poster.jpg

[thesameguy]

Blah.

I was just told "my computer freezes 10-15 times per day" to which I replied, That's pretty much unpossible.

She insisted, so I pulled all the event logs. Not seeing a single time the computer has been rebooted in 14 days I asked I don't see how it's freezing as it's never been restarted. What do you mean by freezing? She then tells me "it stops typing for a second or two."

Since when does "freezing" mean anything other than "must be rebooted" or maybe an application/task killed?

(The problem, BTW, was her stacking papers on top of the keyboard/mouse transceiver.)

[Yw-slayer]

LOFL.

I HAVE converted my wife's ancient ASUS notebook (with Crucial M4 drive in it) and my ancient Thinkpad X301 to Chromebooks, using Neverware's Cloudready. It runs great and they both run well, although battery life is obviously a bit short now, even though I got a new battery for the Thinkpad around 3-4 years ago.

[Dicknose]

I miss terminals!

[Kchrpm]

Broken image, Mr Kid.

[21Kid]

But, it worked for me... it should work for you too. My computer must have froze.



Better?

[Kchrpm]

There it is! Quality.

[thesameguy]

Do not like.

[thesameguy]

Position Available: IT Network Specialist
Location: Gerlach, NV and Black Rock City, NV


JOB SUMMARY
Burning Man’s IT Network Specialist will help with design, deployment, and operation of the internet connectivity and network infrastructure required to support Black Rock City.


*sigh*

[pl8ster]

Do they pay you in Ecstacy, or whatever the fuck the kids are doing these days?

[FaultyMario]

Aks your boss to send you to school. You need it. We all need it. Sometimes. It's more fun the second time around.

[Kchrpm]

I thought Burning Man was supposed to be about getting away from society. I guess robust internet connectivity is needed even when you unplug.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah, off grid.

Except for your Netflix and your Facebook and your smartphone and your credit card bills.

[Alan P]

Aren't most of these 'events' now almost corporate in the way they're run these days? Could you imagine Woodstock happening now? It'd be websites and Facebook pages and tickets (+booking fee, handling fee, madeup fee, transaction fee and postage) and likely streamed to paying customers on a dedicated site.

[thesameguy]

70,000 people showing up and having fun requires a lot of planning and a lot of infrastructure. Coordinating the people who get that done requires a lot of computers.

[Kchrpm]

I cannot wait until that escape from society gets so big that they have to implement all the same rules that society has implemented.

[Rare White Ape]

There's still many ways to escape fully from society, but you need the right people, the right amount of people, and they only go on as long as you can carry on before you need to replenish your resources (i.e. you run out of money). Boom. Suddenly you need normal society again.

[thesameguy]

I cannot wait until that escape from society gets so big that they have to implement all the same rules that society has implemented.

It will implode before it gets there. Every "we gotta do this" action is met with thousands of people explaining why it's a bad idea. The systems in play are impressive.

[thesameguy]

FML, this has been killing me.

xe sr-create host-uuid=77beda08-49dd-49a6-8a53-698fb80ef231 content-type=user type=lvm device-config:device=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-36842b2b004e742001eab1c8409547f28 shared=false name-label="2x300GB SR"

[overpowered]

http://mistupid.com/people/page032.htm

[thesameguy]

Whoa, that's like bofh old! Good times. :up:

[thesameguy]

I got a call today from one of those scammers who wanted to let me know my network was infected. I knew immediately what was going on of course, so I took the opportunity to play with the caller a bit. "Oh yeah? What's the IP address of the computer? What's my Dell customer number?" etc. To her credit, they answered every question but the details were all wrong. Definitely enough to screw with the average Joe, though. Halfway through the call, I couldn't take it anymore and said, "Listen, you may not be aware of this but your call is fraudulent and what you're doing is illegal." She disagreed, and repeated a bunch of stuff she'd said before. I said, "I appreciate all that, but all the information you've given me is somewhere between inaccurate and impossible and I am telling you that you are possibly unknowingly committing a crime." Then things got a little iffy - she said "Is your name not X? Is your email address not Y?" She knew personal information, and it made me doubt by assessment - the email address she provided has only ever been used to make purchases from Dell! It has never been used anywhere else. Then she volunteered "This is in regards to an Inspiron computer you purchased from Dell" and it re-solidified my opinion... while I have purchased Inspirons from Dell, I have never done so using the email address she provided...

Turns out the scam is this:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/dell-to-customers-report-service-tag-scams/

And what sucks is that it clearly reflects some sort of data leak at or near Dell. She knew my name, phone number and my email address but did not know what I'd bought, my customer number, my purchase ID, etc. Because nothing unique to Dell or finance-related was compromised, I am wondering now if maybe the leak is with marketing people, maybe internal or external. People who would know stuff like name & number, but wouldn't have access to account information.

Very weird. I felt bad for the caller. I think she really thinks she works for Dell. A straight-up scammer would disconnect the call, but she gave me her name, an 888 call back number, and sounded genuinely offended when I told her she was committing a crime. :(

[Random]

Did you call back?

[thesameguy]

I didn't, but I know the number isn't Dell's and Google seems to think it's an IP phone with a poor reputation. When I get scam calls I always try and get information out of the caller - where they're located, names, addresses, phone numbers. I usually follow up "What's your address" with "So I know where to serve the lawsuit." :lol: This call was clearly voip and the caller was clearly foreign.