Unsupportable Random Thoughts Thread

[Dreamstalker]

Maybe not 'block' C-A-D, but rather use it as a payload trigger?

[Deserted]

I don't know. The intention of C-A-D was supposed to be an unspoofable signal to the system, but... well, maybe things have changed, I don't know.

Wikipedia talks about it some, including how various systems handle it (and certain similar key combos). (Fun side note: Ctrl+Opt+Del on OSX Server supposedly pops up an alert saying "This is not DOS." )

[Buzzard]

Back in the days of MS-DOS and GW-Basic, there was a programming example for catching key combos, including CAD, and shunting it off to some subroutine instead of resetting.

The mechanisms will change in the modern Windows environment, and are seldom implemented, but they still exist in some form. See also: RansomWare

[Jay 2K Winger]

Him: "I need my password reset. I'm too old, I forgot it."
J2K: "Ah, age has nothing to do with forgetting passwords. I know plenty of young people who have forgotten theirs. Especially with how many passwords we're expected to remember here."
Him: (laughs)

[Mental_Mouse]

The thing is, these days OSes are far more complex, and they need to clean stuff up before you shut down, on pain of filesystem corruption or worse. So they need to intercept it and give the user a chance to exit programs, and the OS a chance to shut system processes down cleanly. But that also means that if your system is sufficiently hosed, it may not be able to manage that response....

My usual problem with my prior system was overheating -- as I eventually discovered, a couple of fans had failed on my motherboard and graphics card, and when the system overheated it could still move the mouse cursor (because that's really-low-level), but the OS proper couldn't even field CAD.

[lordlundar]

A constant one with my work and always a good source of humour:

Background: I do bank system refreshes, desktop and laptops. Part of this is final configuration which requires the user to sign on. Now there's a second sign in for a file encryption service that is used for really secure documentation and this is on top of at least two other layers of encryption already. Now for bank branches, this extra encryption is rarely, if ever used as the documents that require it tend to be corporate secure information. However, it is required that every machine has it installed and a profile set up for the user. This means that the last time the user would typically use it would be the last refresh. So cue the following exchange:

*The user signs in to their system*

Me: Okay, now sign into your [encryption service] profile.
User: Oh gee, I can't remember it because I can't even remember the last time I used it.
Me: (after laughing a bit) not surprising. Most users don't because it would likely have been either when you had to reset the password or when the system was refreshed. Give it a guess and if it doesn't work we'll recover the profile.

I have done over a hundred of these refreshes and roughly 90% of the time that exchange happens.

[Dreamstalker]

I don't know. The intention of C-A-D was supposed to be an unspoofable signal to the system, but...

On occasion, something happens to mom's laptop so as to render C-A-D unusable (system doesn't recognize it, I have to hard reboot).

She does have the laptop sitting on a quilted placemat and the fan is running full-tilt all the time, so I suspect--as I always have--that it's simply overheating (one of many things wrong with it that she alone is responsible for). Yes, she leaves it on 24/7...no wonder. It wasn't designed for that. I bought her a cooling pad once but she didn't think she needed it...somehow it's more effective to complain at me She won't use my desktop because a bootloader is too confusing--the screen tells you exactly what to do to get to [OS], just read it.

...and she routinely sets her coffee cup on the laptop keyboard...I'm waiting for the inevitable blowup when something spills and she remembers that she opted out of the damage warranty. I definitely cannot fix that.

[Buzzard]

Oh yeah, heat kills these little portable lap-burners. I'd say it's time to blow off a heat sink, and see what hair/fibers are plugging up intakes. The quilted mat... is the poor thing getting any airflow, even without dust?
The coffee... I'd recommend a spillproof keyboard, but how does one spillproof a laptop without removing cooling or ability to get back into the thing?

You've got a willful technophobe. "I don't want to learn something new or change what I'm doing. FIX IT for me." (Good luck with that. I've had limited success with me own mum)

I'm remembering a guy I used to know. He was always having trouble with his router going down and doing funny things. When we started diagnosing, the source of the problem became evident. The router was kept in a closed drawer with no possible airflow or cooling potential. It'd run until it got hot enough, long enough, then start malfunctioning. After it was brought out to reset, it had a change of air and a chance to cool a bit, so it'd work for a little while again. Strangely enough, when it was relocated out of that drawer, it worked fine.

[Dreamstalker]

It probably isn't getting air, especially in summer. While I'm checking the vents I probably should back up everything and do a factory reset...although when I told her I was going to do this and she should back up everything she said "I don't have anything important except my emails"...what about your catering invoices? Oh I get it, you want me to do your backups...but I don't know exactly what you want to keep.

I have seen silicone laptop keyboard covers (I'm trying to find one for my Vivobook Flip but no dice)...methinks it's time to forcibly drag her and the laptop to the computer store although I know there will be some reason why she "can't" use it.

The hot coffee cup on the wrist rest is not helping matters I'm sure. I even bought her a cupholder that clips on the edge of the table...no idea what happened to it.

(part of me is tempted to decide on a weekly tech-support rate and just withdraw that during any week when I'm cleaning up her mishaps to the exclusion of anything else I need to do...I cannot waste 10 minutes walking her through something that's on three post-it notes when I'm at work)

[Buzzard]

With a few of the people I do tech support for, I'll install TeamViewer so I can remote in from wherever I happen to be hanging my hat instead of making the trip out to ... wherever. My rates for remote service are a lot cheaper than if I've got to burn some fuel.
There's some things that I just won't try to fix for some folks anymore though. Yes, I'm a bad son, but there's enough grey hair on my head already, damnit.

[Dreamstalker]

I once tried to set up a script that would let me check the laptop status over the network and update anything that needed it, but she kept closing out the update process and eventually I gave up trying. Now I just try to stealth everything when she's in the shower...but if that necessitates a restart then I get flack about how I 'lost' her 15,000 Firefox tabs (gee, maybe that's why FF is so slow?)

This really has gone far past the point of 'free' support...

[Buzzard]

Ugh. And Firefox has the option to automatically reload the last session with all tabs. It's what I use, even if I do have way too many tabs open...

My own has a laptop that's theoretically fast as hell... until she put so much crap on it that every. effing. thing. runs. so. sl

ow.
I've cleaned things a few times and brought back some functionality for... a day, maybe. I give up on that one.

[Dreamstalker]

Mom inexplicably has a lot of start tabs that go to pages behind a login. Some hum merrily along as she has her password saved, some (banking, etc) won't play at all even if she set FF to remember the password...even if I could override that I won't. How hard is it to just set the site homepage as a start tab and input a password like normal?

[Buzzard]

... There are ways to make it work, but... NO, just no. Even with my current lack of bandwidth, the extra hassle of making that crap work isn't worth the time. (Red Checkmark wireless after the highspeed data limit gets hit) With any kind of connection, login as normal and actually DO stuff.
FF will remember passwords, but that only works on some sort of login page. Banking sites are almost universal in having session cookies that time out and trying to reload the page after expiration is just... not going to work. Having multiple tabs for the secure site would work...-ish, but the extra memory/CPU load starts adding up fast.

[Ceir]

A quick note to anyone who has written or ever will write a password generator: do not make it spit out passwords in a sans-serif font. If you must use a sans-serif font, passwords should not be able to contain any combination of I, l, and |.

You are why I used to send all my emails in Courier.