General Computing Randomness

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Jul 08, 2024 9:54 pm

SMART status on this drive is good (94%). running over a year's worth of Windows Updates now; going to try some intensive games next.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Tue Jul 09, 2024 4:34 am

ran MS Flight Simulator without issues for the very first time! (also sorta fixed the miserable download speed - i had to delete the old install and reinstall, so i had the program updated in 5 hours instead of 12) also tried Serious Sam 4 and TRAIL OUT and all worked fine - i think this is on a good trajectory, thanks for your help.

next steps are to diagnose the other HDDs i had in this system. i had purchased an M.2 drive in case this Samsung EVO 870 was bad, but since it looks fine, i can replace the old 3TB HDD (that is likely damaged - where the games formerly resided) with this.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Jul 10, 2024 10:33 am

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 9:13 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 8:00 pm just wanted to say i finally got around to this (over a year later...) and yes, it turns out deleting/formatting the MBR partition _might_ be all that was needed. haven't booted into Windows yet - undergoing an automatic disk repair. this SSD may be in bad shape after the power surges. will update later...

UPDATE: 40 minutes later, it booted back to that same screen... and again... and again... then it booted into Windows?
If you're concerned about your SSD potentially failing, consider using the free and open-source CrystalDiskInfo utility.

Noice! Thanks - downloading and checking now. I have a ton of SSD's in my system and can't remember which ones are new vs old.

One is at 100% and the other at 64%.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:56 pm

FWIW, Windows setup can just sudden get corrupted. Before you blame your hardware, run SFC /scannow at your admin powershell and let it run through to make sure your Windows setup is okay.

I was having a weird problem that every window I open on desktop is flashing madly and system flashes between normal and "not responding". I thought it was DisplayFusion causing the problem, but disabling it didn't help. I even rolled back the NVIDIA GPU driver. Ended up doing the SFC thing and that seems to have reduced it, and turning transparency effects back on finally fixed it.

(Another tip: don't run debloater scripts without understanding what they do. Seems these debloater scripts also disabled EVERY bit of usability as if they are eyecandy, even ClearType. )

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:36 pm

i installed the M.2 drive (in M.2 port #1 of 2) and it did not show up in BIOS. reseated it several times, no luck. i tried the other M.2 slot (#2 of 2) and it worked just fine. i fear the power surges killed M.2 port #1.

checked my surged D: drive (a 3TB HDD) and it says the filesystem is "RAW" - so now i have to repair that disk. (will not be using it anymore - i just want to get some non-Steam games off it)

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Jul 11, 2024 5:56 pm

never had a gaming laptop, and i don't think i will, due to heat (from exhaust venting), battery life and size/weight. (and anyways, i'm finding the Steam Deck is the actual answer here)

my laptop preference tends towards the 'executive' type (small 13" screen and long battery life) where Steam does not exist as an install (need to stay focused somehow)

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Jul 12, 2024 5:36 am

Turns out my previous report of fix was premature. Ended up doing a Windows reset, which took multiple hours AS WELL as a Chrome reset. But at least the individual windows are not flashing like mad. Will be now doing a FULL backup "just in case" anything happens.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jul 19, 2024 1:19 pm

Mass IT outage hits airports, businesses and broadcasters around the world

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:26 pm

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:49 pm

It's good to be newsless. I had to look that up and it didn't affect me unless it was behind all the problems with Schwab this morning. Schwab having all of the problems is all but ubiquitous, so I had no reason to believe it was for anything different.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Jul 19, 2024 9:34 pm

It affected me. I was looking forward to sleeping in on my day off and enjoying a whole day of gaming with my game group, and my boss called at 7am telling me to come into the office (note that I haven't been in the office in 4 years). I knew the shit had REALLY hit the fan then.

Spent 14 hours walking from PC to PC manually fixing them (this thing hosed PCs in such a way that there was no good way to automate the process or do it remotely). Entire hospital basically crippled.

I will say, however, I was really surprised at how quickly the chaos was contained. Downtime procedures went into place, the clinical staff didn't freak out, everyone was calm, professional, and got to work fixing the issue. By the end of the day we had fixed somewhere north of 5000 devices, and had all critical care and patient rooms up and running. Have to go back in tomorrow for 6 hours, then possibly back again on Monday for a full 8 hour shift. But expectations are that it will be spent just mopping up stragglers.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 1:21 am

You'd think a big modern company with all that money would invest in quality control and testing stuff before shoving it out to basically the country. Someones on the hook / phone for this one.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:53 am

YellowKing wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 9:34 pm It affected me. I was looking forward to sleeping in on my day off and enjoying a whole day of gaming with my game group, and my boss called at 7am telling me to come into the office (note that I haven't been in the office in 4 years). I knew the shit had REALLY hit the fan then.

Spent 14 hours walking from PC to PC manually fixing them (this thing hosed PCs in such a way that there was no good way to automate the process or do it remotely). Entire hospital basically crippled.

I will say, however, I was really surprised at how quickly the chaos was contained. Downtime procedures went into place, the clinical staff didn't freak out, everyone was calm, professional, and got to work fixing the issue. By the end of the day we had fixed somewhere north of 5000 devices, and had all critical care and patient rooms up and running. Have to go back in tomorrow for 6 hours, then possibly back again on Monday for a full 8 hour shift. But expectations are that it will be spent just mopping up stragglers.

Sent a joke text to my old work about having no stress in my life after finding out about this from this thread.

My boss found out the new me used a less than optimal way to solve the problem and she does not have the authority to get rid of him and pitching a fit to her boss, HR, and corporate. Corporate should fire him on the spot for what he did and with no documentation. They won't. I would

but I like my old boss which is why I gave the so much time to try and find someone so much better than the new clown turned out to me.

Sooooo glad I'm not part of the circus.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 8:53 am

Daehawk wrote:You'd think a big modern company with all that money would invest in quality control and testing stuff before shoving it out to basically the country. Someones on the hook / phone for this one.

Yeah, I'm not sure how in the world this got past QA. Because it's not like it only affected some specific patch version of Windows, or had an issue with one particular driver. We made a lot of "You think you're having a bad day, what about the guy that pushed this..." jokes yesterday.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:48 pm

We’re still fighting this. They’re dragging every available engineer in to help users walk through recovery of their systems. We had about 40k PCs killed by this.

So I’m going to be spending the next week fighting the fires on this.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sun Jul 21, 2024 1:11 am

hentzau wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:48 pm We’re still fighting this. They’re dragging every available engineer in to help users walk through recovery of their systems. We had about 40k PCs killed by this.

So I’m going to be spending the next week fighting the fires on this.

Oof. Besides referring to the underlying company as "Cloudstrike," Chris Titus provides a helpful overview of the situation below:

One would hope that most CTOs and IT admins are able to remove Crowdstrike from all of their systems, and immediately transition to something else ASAP. Because this was total negligence on their part, that will cost their customers significantly. Trust is hard to gain, but even harder to regain once lost, so I suspect their goose is cooked one way or t'other.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:06 am

The irony in our case is that we retired Crowdstrike months ago, and a script was pushed to remove it from all the PCs. Which it did......partially. At least enough so that they no longer checked in. What it didn't remove is its ability to get Crowdstrike updates, so they got the update anyway and crashed.

So had someone fully validated the removal of the product several months ago, we would have never been affected. As it stands, they kind of half-assed it and figured the remnants weren't hurting anything.

Thank God we had fully removed it from our domain controllers last year.

We took care of the issue really quickly. Troops were mobilized on Friday, and by Saturday at 5pm we had recovered enough PCs to declare business as usual for Monday. We'll still be cleaning up machines that were in locked offices and the like for a couple of weeks I'm sure, and we're going to have to get a process in place to fix remote devices.

I don't want to know the cost to the business from this though. We had to pull in hourly people for massive overtime, had to pull people in from other cities and pay travel/hotel. Not to mention just the cost of losing business while systems were down. What a mess.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:23 pm

I’m sure your lawyers are already lining up for the fire sale proceedings. Crowdstrike is going to exist as a concern only in the way that Takata does: to pay out settlements and wind down corporate operations.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Jul 22, 2024 6:59 pm

I spent all day today walking users through repairing their systems. Each one takes at least half an hour. I finally started doing them in groups of 10, that sped things up a bit, but was more stressful. We still have over 4K systems we have to repair. So much for me getting any work done this week.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:50 pm

The perils of being salary.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Wed Jul 24, 2024 10:33 am

I was pleasantly surprised when my company and work laptop had no issue. (Guess we don't use it.)

I did have to take my girlfriend to urgent care Friday and every PC I saw had a blue screen of not quite death. (Recovery screen). Yeah that company is probably toast...

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:42 am

My mother works for a government contractor. She said their computers were fried all of last Friday.

I was really disappointed that my company escaped unscathed. No surprise there since nothing they run is up to date but I really wanted to see them scramble...have I mentioned how much I hate my company?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Jul 24, 2024 4:13 pm

I’m pretty sure there are others around…

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Jul 24, 2024 6:24 pm

I don't think this has been previously posted...

Thought folks here might enjoy this story: Hackers Exploited a PC Driving Sim to Pull Off Massive Disney Data Breach

BeamNG.drive is one of the world’s most popular driving simulators for good reason. While racing fans can appreciate its driving mechanics and environments, those with less patience or driving skill can find enjoyment in its unrivaled crash physics. Unfortunately for Disney, one of its higher-ups is (or was) a BeamNG fan who wasn’t careful enough with data security—and accidentally turned the game into a vector for hackers to pull off a major data heist.

The hackers behind the event are self-described furry hacktivist collective Nullbulge, which is apparently some kind of pornographic term. According to PCGamer, Nullbulge published a mod for BeamNG that contained a Trojan, or a kind of malware that allowed Nullbulge to remotely access computers it was activated on. One of the people to unwittingly install it was a Disney software development manager, who also had the company’s Slack channels active on the same computer.

Through unspecified means, hackers used this access to begin downloading everything they could from Disney. Data transfers reportedly included everything from employees’ personal info to assets for unannounced video games in development. In total, over one terabyte of data was pilfered before the Disney employee noticed and cut off the flow. But the damage had already been done.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Jul 25, 2024 12:48 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 6:24 pm I don't think this has been previously posted...

Thought folks here might enjoy this story: Hackers Exploited a PC Driving Sim to Pull Off Massive Disney Data Breach

BeamNG.drive is one of the world’s most popular driving simulators for good reason. While racing fans can appreciate its driving mechanics and environments, those with less patience or driving skill can find enjoyment in its unrivaled crash physics. Unfortunately for Disney, one of its higher-ups is (or was) a BeamNG fan who wasn’t careful enough with data security—and accidentally turned the game into a vector for hackers to pull off a major data heist.

The hackers behind the event are self-described furry hacktivist collective Nullbulge, which is apparently some kind of pornographic term. According to PCGamer, Nullbulge published a mod for BeamNG that contained a Trojan, or a kind of malware that allowed Nullbulge to remotely access computers it was activated on. One of the people to unwittingly install it was a Disney software development manager, who also had the company’s Slack channels active on the same computer.

Through unspecified means, hackers used this access to begin downloading everything they could from Disney. Data transfers reportedly included everything from employees’ personal info to assets for unannounced video games in development. In total, over one terabyte of data was pilfered before the Disney employee noticed and cut off the flow. But the damage had already been done.

you missed the best part

The hackers (or solo hacker, as some believe) told The Wall Street Journal that the hack was revenge for the 2017 shutdown of children’s online game Club Penguin back in 2017.

(tho it was probably just hacking whomever happened to install the mod)

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jul 30, 2024 1:46 am

Any idea how to copy paste say a web address in a Samsung tablet? I've been wondering ages now.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Jul 30, 2024 2:10 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2024 1:46 am Any idea how to copy paste say a web address in a Samsung tablet? I've been wondering ages now.

To copy a URL from your browser, tap and hold on the web address in the address bar at the top of the screen, which should bring up a menu with various options. Select the "Copy" option from the menu to copy the web address to your tablet's clipboard. To paste it elsewhere? Just open the app or location where you want to paste the web address. Tap and hold in the text field where you want to paste the web address, which will again bring up a menu with various options. Then select the "Paste" option from the menu to paste the web address you previously copied.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jul 30, 2024 3:12 am

Thank you . I had it once then lost it but now should be able to do it again.

Also anyone notice youtube on tablet has no way to see history. ..? You have to Google search for it get there from there. I saw many posts online say they removed the ability from within yt.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Jul 30, 2024 9:44 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2024 3:12 am Also anyone notice youtube on tablet has no way to see history. ..? You have to Google search for it get there from there. I saw many posts online say they removed the ability from within yt.

Just install and use the NewPipe client instead, which still includes and provides History functionality:

NewPipe.net wrote:Do you like watching videos on YouTube but want an intuitive, feature-rich and privacy friendly app for that?

NewPipe has been created with the purpose of getting the original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and questionable permissions.

The application is open source and you can check on it at GitHub.

As stated above, NewPipe is a free and open source Android app. But this means you will not find it listed on the Google Play Store, since Google wants you using their bloaty, ad-laden Youtube client. So the simplest and easiest way to install NewPipe and keep it updated on your Android device is to do so through an F-Droid client, such as Droid-ify. F-Droid is an open-source app repository for Android devices, and a great alternative to the Google Play Store, as it specifically focuses on providing free and open-source software (FOSS) apps, many of which -- like NewPipe -- are unavailable through the Google Play Store.

Here's a tutorial that walks you through how to install the Droid-ify F-Droid client on a Samsung tablet:

Step 1: Enable Unknown Sources

Before installing any app outside of the Google Play Store, you need to enable the installation of apps from unknown sources.

Open Settings: Go to the home screen and tap on the Settings app.

Security: Scroll down and select Biometrics and security (or just Security on some devices).

Install Unknown Apps: Look for Install unknown apps or Unknown sources.

Select Your Browser: Choose the browser you will use to download the APK (e.g., Chrome).

Allow from This Source: Toggle the switch to allow installations from this source.

Step 2: Download the Droid-ify APK

Open Your Browser: Launch the browser you selected in the previous step.

Visit the Droid-ify GitHub Page: Go to the following URL to download the APK:
- [Droid-ify GitHub Releases]( https://github.com/Iamlooker/Droid-ify/releases )

Download the Latest APK: Find the latest release and tap on the app-release.apk file to download it.

Step 3: Install the Droid-ify APK

Open Downloads: Once the download is complete, open the Downloads app or the notification panel to find the downloaded APK.

Install the APK: Tap on the app-release.apk file. You may see a warning about installing apps from unknown sources. Confirm that you want to proceed with the installation.

Complete Installation: Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Once you've installed Droid-ify, then simply follow the provided instructions from NewPipe to add the NewPipe repository to F-Droid, and you should be good to go with the more privacy-friendly and ad-free NewPipe Youtube client.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Tue Jul 30, 2024 5:47 pm

I don't use YouTube client on my phone (Android) but I just looked, and if you click the 'You' button on the bottom ribbon, literally the first thing on the page is history.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 18, 2024 4:19 pm

Ugh, I just discovered that my phone stopped receiving security updates five months ago. Given that I can't replace it, I'll just have to get by. That's one thing I'd really like to see changed - for how expensive phones are, forced obsolescence after just a few years is unreasonable.

That's ok - in a year, I'll have five PCs in this house that are also end-of-life, and ineligible to upgrade.

Time to go back to paper and pencil?

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sun Aug 18, 2024 5:08 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 4:19 pm Ugh, I just discovered that my phone stopped receiving security updates five months ago. Given that I can't replace it, I'll just have to get by. That's one thing I'd really like to see changed - for how expensive phones are, forced obsolescence after just a few years is unreasonable.

That's ok - in a year, I'll have five PCs in this house that are also end-of-life, and ineligible to upgrade.

Time to go back to paper and pencil?

If replacing your phone isn't feasible, consider switching to LineageOS, a free and open-source operating system for Android devices. This option not only provides regular security updates but also offers a cost-effective way to breathe new life into an otherwise functional older phone. You can find a complete list of supported devices here, and each device page provides installation instructions.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:37 pm

Thanks - but mine isn't listed.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Sep 28, 2024 6:53 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 4:34 am ran MS Flight Simulator without issues for the very first time! (also sorta fixed the miserable download speed - i had to delete the old install and reinstall, so i had the program updated in 5 hours instead of 12) also tried Serious Sam 4 and TRAIL OUT and all worked fine - i think this is on a good trajectory, thanks for your help.

next steps are to diagnose the other HDDs i had in this system. i had purchased an M.2 drive in case this Samsung EVO 870 was bad, but since it looks fine, i can replace the old 3TB HDD (that is likely damaged - where the games formerly resided) with this.

the Samsung EVO 870 SSD again flipped out and gave me 'bad boot sector' errors last month. i ran another chkdsk /f /x and it's working fine again. this drive was also fried in the surge and is most certainly a candidate for replacement, but i'll wait until i have a job.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Mon Sep 30, 2024 11:04 pm

I think there is an ssd specific tool for testing. I tjink it has crystal in the name or something but I can't recall it.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 30, 2024 11:08 pm

CrystalDiskMark

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Mon Sep 30, 2024 11:27 pm

That's it.
Try running that if you haven't yet.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 9:01 am

If you want a proper HD and SDD test and revive utility, there's always GRC's Spinrite. It's been around FOREVER, and it works. It works so well, Norton tried cloning it. Yes, it costs $. But you get forever upgrades. I bought like 4.0 a decade or two ago. I just got 6.1 upgrade free.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 11:20 am

Just saw this on PC Gamer: Microsoft's latest Windows 11 update is reportedly a borkfest that breaks mouse, keyboard, WSL 2 and Wi-Fi functionality

Be afraid of the Windows 11 KB5043145 optional update. Very afraid. For reports are in, claiming that it unleashes a borknado of problems if installed.

According to various sources, including HKEPC and Windows Latest, update KB5043145 for Windows 11 versions 23H2, and 22H2 is causing problems including outright bluescreen crashes, loss of keyboard and mouse functionality, USB ports on the blink, plus WSL 2 and Wi-Fi issues.

Windows Latest says that Microsoft has confirmed it is aware of the problem. However, there is no word on any official remedy, for now. As an optional update, KB5043145 is not supposed to download and install automatically, though some reports indicate that may be happening anyway.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Oct 20, 2024 11:58 am

Been building my friend's pc last night and today. This new stuff was much easier than an older system...t0o a point. They really dont label stuff well at all with in the stuff that comes with it or the online manuals.

Like if I didn't know what a fan plug is Id be shit out of luck and theres like 4 in this case alone. Then the front panel is simply a big blug now but so is the one on the mobo and it can fit two ways...so Im going by my knowledge on that one too. Then ya got usb gen 2 version 3 c usb gen 2 version 3.2 ...and the gen c is not labeled on the mobo of course and Ive never seen one so found that online at least.

Im now down to simply installing the PSU and cabelling it up which should be a breeze and booting to see if it all lisghts up all spins and no error beeps. He will format the nvme and installed Win 11 on it himserlf..which Im more than hhappy to let that go lol.