COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

Isn't it amazing what resources are lurking in the corners of this site....

[PanBiker]

Our Jack has provided me with half a laptop of the same model from the firms recycling store. It has no Battery Pack, Ram or Hard Drive but has a functioning MB and Screen and it's hinges work! This one was scrapped from the lease contract when a new cleaner at the school it came from had a go at cleaning the keyboard with soap and water.
Keyboard in my existing machine works fine so that will be the swap as it is the least invasive and easiest repair route. It will also get the Ram, Battery Pack and the SSD Hard Drive. Should be reasonably painless and only about 20 screws worth.

[Big Kev]

Nice one, got to love a bit of recycycling.

[PanBiker]

Last post for a bit while I rob the keyboard from this one and do the transplant to reassemble t'other. A few more than 20 screws though, Stanley complains about 6 and 7 BA, some of these are very short 1mm - 2mm and Philips head as well. I have the small security screwdriver set out.

[Stanley]

Good luck. Bathe eyes frequently with cold water.....

[PanBiker]

Well, that didn't go well. Swapped all the bits out but the MB wont power up. So swapped all the bits back but found that the keyboard from my machine has now failed Q A Z X space and Caps Lock no longer work. One column of the matrix looks as if it is bust! I have remade the three ribbon connectors from the keyboard three times without luck. In addition the wedging trick for charging the battery has failed as well. So all in all a bit of a disaster looks like it's terminal.

Posting from the desktop machine.

[Stanley]

Well, at least you tried Ian. I have had basket cases like that in other fields and have never regretted a final decision to ditch it and move on.

[Tizer]

It's getting serious when a company like this one is compromised...
`US cybersecurity firm FireEye hit by 'state-sponsored' attack' LINK

[Tripps]

It's a joy - the interweb thingy isn't it?

My Morrisons delivery due tonight has been cancelled. They've given me a £10 voucher to soften the blow. I tried to rearrange it but no slots available.

Moved to Tesco. They wouldn't let me in to the shopping site - because my browser "posed a security risk" That's odd it never did before. I rang the 'help' (sic) line, and eventually got through to a nice Scottish lady . She was dealing with Club Card matters, but at the time any human was going to have to do.

She asked - "was there a ginger bread man shown at the top of the page"? "Yes" says I. In that case you must be connected via a VPN. Call direct and all will be well. In the event there was - as I thought_no VPN, but on a hunch, I took off the ad blocker, and was able to get in.

I shall have eggs again by Friday.

[Stanley]

That's why I do it the old fashioned way David, I shall go to the Co-op this morning with money and a shopping bag.
Anyway, what's a VPN?
My computer matter at the moment is that my smart meter monitor says it has lost contact with the network and if it doesn't improve I must contact my provider. I shall ignore it. as long as the heating and lights stay on! If they aren't getting readings you'd think they would be contacting me. Or have I got this wrong?

[chinatyke]

...
Anyway, what's a VPN?

It's what I need in China to get around the Great Firewall of China!! Virtual Proxy Network. It hides your IP address and fools others into thinking you are somewhere else in the world. It can be anywhere the VPN provider has servers. For example, I can set my location to UK and get access to BBC, Youtube, Facebook and all the other banned websites without the Chinese realising I am inside China. Of course they are illegal here so being a good law abiding citizen I won't use a VPN. Lots of other ex-pats use them.

[Big Kev]

My computer matter at the moment is that my smart meter monitor says it has lost contact with the network and if it doesn't improve I must contact my provider. I shall ignore it. as long as the heating and lights stay on! If they aren't getting readings you'd think they would be contacting me. Or have I got this wrong?

How far away from your electricity meter is the 'monitor'?
Move it closer to the electricity meter, it should reconnect. Alternatively put it in a cupboard and forget about it

[Tizer]

Alternatively put it in a cupboard and forget about it

Oh dear, and there was me thinking the whole idea was so users would see how much energy they were consuming in real time and could make adjustments in order to save money and cut carbon emissions.

Tripps, forget the VPN excuse. We use ad blockers and never had any trouble but lately we find access to web site gizmos not working properly. Either it's due to the web designers not understanding what they're doing or - surely not? - companies trying to force us out of blocking their ads

I suppose this will be the new normal in the future...
`Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine docs hacked from European Medicines Agency' LINK

[Big Kev]

Alternatively put it in a cupboard and forget about it

Oh dear, and there was me thinking the whole idea was so users would see how much energy they were consuming in real time and could make adjustments in order to save money and cut carbon emissions.

Put the kettle on. Quick, turn it off again the IHD has lit up like a Christmas tree

[Tizer]

I don't want one of them there smart thingy meters, they'll probably interfere with mi hearing aids and once I've had the virus vaccine it'll connect to the aluminium in that and I'll end up being one of them 5G antenna whatsits and it'll turn me into a shiny metal column up on Weets! Honest, I saw it on Facebook!

[Big Kev]

Screenshot_20201202-123747_Metal Pro.jpg

[Stanley]

I shall start worrying if I don't get my reading and bill at the end of the month.
I like the 'put it in a drawer' option!

[Tizer]

Thanks for the warning, Kev!

It's OK - this isn't the Barlick Co-op (at least, not yet!)
`Co-op facial recognition trial raises privacy concerns' LINK

[Big Kev]

Thanks for the warning, Kev!

Always a pleasure

[plaques]

Spooky, finished a book on the pitfalls of getting involved with any kind of criminal justice enterprises. If I knew a shop was using this facial recognition I would vote with my feet and never go in again. The risk of getting involved with false litigation could run up to six figures. In a court case the fact of being shown innocent is not sufficient to gain compensation, called the innocent tax in the trade.

[Big Kev]

I like the 'put it in a drawer' option!

Me too which is where it is. Until the technology is developed further the only current advantage of smart meters is not having to physically take readings. Variable tariffs are coming but we've had those for years, economy 7 or 'white' meters are a basic variable tariff system.

[Stanley]

How accurate can facial recognition be with masked customers?
I think that's where the monitor is heading Kev. It was only ever of interest as a comparison between using Mrs Harrison and a big ring on the hob! (Not a lot of difference actually in case you were wondering.)

[Tizer]

I was puzzled by an email message from a relative yesterday because there were no attached files shown and yet it took a while to download and it showed the message as being 23MB in size. In our Thunderbird (TB) software attached files are always flagged up by their names showing in a small pane at the bottom of the message window and can be saved from there. There was no attachment pane in this message. For safety we always have our email software set to plain text - that way you can't click on dodgy things like images that are actually linked to scam web sites. When I changed my TB settings to view the message in HTML the sub-window appeared with the file names and I was able to save them. They were normal PDF documents which had been emailed to my relative by her solicitor and she'd forwarded the message to me from her Iphone by Apple Mail.

Why did they not show up in the appropriate place in the plain text message, I wonder? The convention has always been that attached files would be be shown because many people (especially Linux users) prefer the security of plain text over HTML for viewing email messages. A google search showed that in the past Apple has sometimes disregarded the convention until enough people complained. Perhaps they're at it again!

I mention it here as a warning to other Ubuntu users. You might receive an email message from an Apple Mail user which contains an attached file that doesn't show up if you are viewing the messages in plain text. Keep an eye on the size of incoming emails to detect any large files that don't show up.

[Stanley]

Peter, is that in Thunderbird?

[Tizer]

Yes, as mentioned at the beginning of my post. I've PM'd Pluggy with a link to my post.