Has something gon wrong with the internet?

[Aescott]

Slightly off topic, but I remember one financial year end, when the finance team was under pressure to complete the annual accounts within a strict and tight deadline. There was a power failure in the building and all the computers went off, with the exception of the mainframe server, which had an uninterruptible power supply.

After 20 minutes without power, the Finance Director decided that the UPS would run out soon, so just unplugged the server, ignoring the fact that the system should have been shut down using the established routines built for that very purpose. The routines should have been started as soon as the power failed to allow the server to shut down cleanly. But he decided against that….

The result was that, when the power was restored a short while later, it took the IT team two days to rebuild the server from backups and discs. We didn’t let him forget it…..

 

[Dadam]

I remember one critical server going down due to "cleaner intervention", though not actually unplugged to plug in a vacuum. It was on a UPS but the cleaner tripped over the cable from the UPS to the server!

 

[postman]

there must be something new on the horizon.
They're bound to be, the Post Office computer systems are renowned for their reliability.

 

[DRM]

it was a Crowdstrike update for windows machines that caused the blue screen of death. Ironic really as Crowdstrike is apparently a leading global cybersecurity firm 🤷‍♀️

You really couldn't make it up!!!

 

[Vantage]

Chris Rea did it.

 

[Seevio]

Yes, with the internet.

Not wit the World Wide Web, but that is not the whole of the internet.

Not with the internet. Things on the internet were broken but the network itself was fine. If it had been a Cisco update that caused the fault, an internet problem would have been more plausible.

 

[Emanresu]

A historical note - someone didn't like Apple products as it wasn't multi-user. So he opted for something different to reduce the number of those yellow sticky notes.

https://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal-msw.html

 

[Dogtrousers]

The fix is an easy one. I don't wish to post it here as people should always make sure it comes from reputable sources and cleared with their IT.

It takes less than a minute but requires a Fingers On Keyboard fix

If this is the fix that involves doing stuff at the command prompt in safe mode it isn't necessarily easy.

If the device is encrypted (and let's face it, in the corporate world it should be) you've got problems eg on a bitlockered device you're going to need to get a recovery key. It'll take more than a minute just to type the damn thing in.

Edit. I've been reading that it is possible to fix a bitlockered device without a recovery key, which surprises me. Dunno if it's true*. Not that I'm affected so I don't much care.

Edit: It wasn't true.

 

[Dadam]

Yes I don't fancy doing that on a load of servers. Thankfully my days of faffing at the command prompt are over (more or less*). Now I draw diagrams, write specs and (mainly) talk to people. Usually explaining the same concepts repeatedly to the same people.
* I do like to mess around with containers and stuff for R&D and just for the hell of it. i.e. when there's no pressure to get something running 10 minutes ago.

 

[Gwylan]

According to Jeremy Vine something has gone wrong and people can’t access their bank, Doctors etc. Lots of airlines grounded flights too that’s all I know been painting the shed most of the morning.

More "bear with us" lame messages heading out way then

 

[Dogtrousers]

My wife has finally got her work laptop back as her tech support took this long (and a lot of badgering) to provide a recovery key.

Once more peace reigns in the Trousers household. In the meantime she's been using my Microsoft Surface - which she detests as it's too small and fiddly, or my big old PC in my messy office which she also detests because it has a noisy fan. And she has been transferring her feelings towards my PCs and her company's tech support to me.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I see MS has been trying to deflect blame for this whole debacle onto the EU https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/22/windows_crowdstrike_kernel_eu/?td=rt-3a

It seems that EU competition laws require MS to provide the same level of access to the Operating System to security software vendors (like Crowdstrike) as their own products have, so that MS can't force everyone to use their own security products, and lock out the likes of Crowdstrike, Carbon Black and so on.

So MS are saying "The EU forced us to allow Crowdstrike, who are a bunch of congenital idiots, in to the critical boot phase" None of this is our fault.

Which is of course, total cobblers. Is it the EU's fault that you never considered this single point of failure and tried to mitigate it?

Edit: I was feeling uncharacteristically sympathetic towards MS over this, because everyone thinks it's "a MS problem" when it isn't really and you get people repeating tired untrue old saws about the insecurity of Windows, which may have been true in the 90s with good old IIS, but are simply wrong these days. So it's been a PR shitshow for poor old MS. But my sympathy for them has just mysteriously evaporated.

 

[Gwylan]

My wife has finally got her work laptop back as her tech support took this long (and a lot of badgering) to provide a recovery key.

Once more peace reigns in the Trousers household. In the meantime she's been using my Microsoft Surface - which she detests as it's too small and fiddly, or my big old PC in my messy office which she also detests because it has a noisy fan. And she has been transferring her feelings towards my PCs and her company's tech support to me.

Experience over nearly 50 years has taught me, painfully, not to attempt to help my wife in several matters.
These include, but are not limited to, anything to do with computers, software or mobile phones.
Other areas off limits are anything to do with driving, skiing or sailing.
The advice tendered is always well intended but not received that way.

 

[AndyRM]

Experience over nearly 50 years has taught me, painfully, not to attempt to help my wife in several matters.
These include, but are not limited to, anything to do with computers, software or mobile phones.
Other areas off limits are anything to do with driving, skiing or sailing.
The advice tendered is always well intended but not received that way.

I updated my mum's laptop for her years ago and got told off because "the icon looks different now".

I've not been allowed to touch any of her technology since and now "nothing works".

Sigh...

 

[Bazzer]

The effects are still ongoing.
My youngest daughter and 5 of her friends have been stranded in Turkey since Saturday. Furthermore, if we hadn't paid for her to come back on a scheduled flight this evening, there was no prospect of her returning until Saturday at the earliest.
Thanks a lot TUI for your assistance! It's been as useful as a chocolate fireguard.