Garacesh

Resident Evil started off strong, but to be honest, I felt like it ended pretty 'meh'. I ended up caring much more about the flashback of the 2 main characters as teenagers than I did about the 'current day' parts of each episode. Pretty bland in some areas, and relying a lot on 'it's cool because it's big' rather than building legitimate stakes and tensions.

Sorry guys, I've been moving house (and jobs) Yes, the issue is absolutely an issue with Sophos, and the Network Threat Protection module. I didn't have a solution before leaving beyond "enable the bit that lets you overwrite settings for 4 hours', disable NTP, and do whatever it is you had to do. It didn't seem there was a way to disable it using the available options in Sophos Central

I watched the first episode of Resident Evil last night. Not really enough to get a proper bead on it yet, but it looks promising. There's still plenty of ways they could muck it up, sure, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

No, no, you don't understand.. My army are supposed to be a solid grey colour. It's camouflage.. Against.. er.. spaceship walls?

Basically my work mantra. If I remember your name, it's because you've broken too much stuff

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU- Y'know what. It is the Antivirus. Somehow, for some dumb reason, Sophos has started stopping clients pulling data from across the network. Can't even do basic file transfers. As soon as I disable tamper protection and uninstall it? Boom. Job done. But this isn't just SIMS. I literally can't copy one folder from the C: of one host to the C: of an affected host. I get about four files in and transfer speed drops to nil. This probably explains the MSOffice issues we've been having, too, where Office won't load content in files randomly.

AV is Sophos, but there's no correlation between it working and not working regarding the AV. Every machine we even attempt to install SIMS on has Sophos on, as it's part of the task sequence. Pretty sure everything in SIMS is done by hostname. I'll dig through, but I've only ever seen clients referenced by hostname - certainly that's how we do our deployments, though how Solus references things internally are beyond me. .. I suppose except the sims share, that's mapped as a drive and referenced by drive letter. But that can't be it, as Solus still installs/deploys to computers when there's no user logged in, so it's not going to be using a drive letter. The bit that's bugging me is how intermittent it is. Our machines are all identical. Same image, same GPO's, same software mostly (there's a few inconsistencies, ICT have extra software for example, but nothing that's producing any correlation). If this were something to do with the way our domain was set up, why would 30% of the machines update successfully? Then again, if the error were truly intermittent, it wouldn't keep failing as it does on the same machines repeatably. Although the position # of stream changes each time.

Having this issue on about 60% of our computers that run SIMS here, clients just refuse to take the Summer 2022 update. The errors we've had so far ar: Error while reading message framing format at position # of stream (state: ReadingEnvelopeChunkSize) Error while reading message framing format at position # of stream (state: EnvelopeEnd) The socket transfer timed out after 00:01:00. You have exceeded the timeout set on your binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout. The most common error by far is the ReadingEnvelopeChunkSize one. I don't know if it's related, but somebody with more SQL knowledge than I might be able to join some threads together. A couple of weeks ago we started having major issues with SIMS. It would bomb out for absolutely no reason, whenever the heck it felt like it. Errors were intermittent and non-reproducible. I spoke with our SIMS support and they had a poke around, they couldn't find the actual problem. They advised I run the SIMS reindexing patch (22573) and the 'Update all table statistics with fullscan' patch (20647), and a routine in SIMS that produces a list of errors in the db, which it automatically fixed some of. They also recommended I install the SQL Server Service Packs, which had never been done. So I did. Now we're having issues where SIMS won't deploy properly, and also FMS where as finance do.. er.. FMS-y things, I have no idea truth be told.. It will generate blank records that then kill all functionality until it's restarted. This happens every couple of.. processes? I'd like to say something a bit more concrete except our business manager is off on holiday now lol. The timing seems rather coincidental to me, but I'm not convinced. ESS said they'd seen this issue before but never actually figured out what it was. They said it was "environmental", but reimaging fixed the issue. We did a few test machines last night. One of them installed SIMS fine. One of them didn't. Same ReadingEnvelopeChunkSize error. Really at a loss of what to do now. I know next to nothing about SQL. The only thing I can think of is to run DBCC CHECKDB WITH PHYSICAL_ONLY but I want to check that with ESS first. Heck maybe we already did that as part of the reindexing patch? Has anybody ever seen this before? Any ideas? Our staff here are pulling their hair out about it and obviously having only 30% of the staff machines able to use the MIS is a massive issue...

Valid point. We ban Chinese steel because it is 'unfair' (insofar as the Chinese government subsidise the production but other governments don't) so there's an argument for that. But having looked into it some more it definitely seems like they're gunning for the human rights angle. Now maybe, maybe the allegations against Dahua are true, and they've developed algorithms/AI/whatever specifically to identify Uyghur peoples then I get that. But has anybody leveraged such an accusation against Hikvision? How can we realistically hold a company responsible for how people use their products after they've left the factory? Are we banning Global because folks stab other folks? What if the 're-education' camps use Microsoft products? Are we gonna ban Windows? I don't see lorry's getting banned after the spate of terrorist attacks using them? Yes, slippery slope, logical fallacy, invalid argument, I know. My point isn't necessarily to use these as actual talking points, just to highlight the absurdity of banning surveillance kit because it's being used to surveil in a way we don't like.

This is my main issue with this proposal. TPTB could put as many backdoors into the kit as they like, but if the kit is VLAN'd and firewalled off so it isn't reachable from and can't talk to the great unwashed internet at large, risk is mitigated. I know there's been a large proponent in years since gone to start net connecting this stuff, and with CCTV it does make sense because why wouldn't you want site team to be able to look at the cameras if the alarm goes off? But at that point surely you're connecting your NVR/PVR/CCTV Server etc to the internet and not the cameras themselves. And if we're coming at it from the human rights standpoint, well okay, that's why economic sanctions exist. Ban people from reselling kit, but any current stock is bought and paid for, and banning it outright implies anybody currently using it needs to rip it out and buy a replacement setup for no good reason. The companies already have the money, why are we wasting more?

Quite a lot of mattresses on Prime sale.. Taking recommendations My current one is a Nectar and I've only had it maybe 2 and a half years but it's gone proper saggy where I sleep. Thinking of going to hybrid instead of full foam, but no idea what's good or what isn't (Nectar were supposed to be good but I've found a lot of reviews with the same issues..)

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G for £296? I've upgraded to the 'mainline' series, using an S22+ at the moment, but my previous phone was an A-range and they're super - and they definitely don't skimp on the battery! Your main loss is in screen brightness and colour clarity, but I found I didn't notice it being a problem. Edit: Lol looks like @Dos_Box and I had similar ideas.

My current script is: # Windows 10 Default App Removal Script # App list retrieved from a vanilla install of Edu 21H2 # (Get-AppXPackage).Name | Sort # (Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -Online).DisplayName | Sort # Commented app ID's will not be removed $apps=@( # "1527c705-839a-4832-9118-54d4Bd6a0c89" - File Picker # "c5e2524a-ea46-4f67-841f-6a9465d9d515" - File Explorer # "E2A4F912-2574-4A75-9BB0-0D023378592B" - App Resolver UX # "F46D4000-FD22-4DB4-AC8E-4E1DDDE828FE" - Add Suggested Folders to Library "Microsoft.549981C3F5F10" # Cortana # "Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin" # "Microsoft.AccountsControl" # "Microsoft.AsyncTextService" "Microsoft.BingWeather" # "Microsoft.BioEnrollment" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.CredDialogHost" - Cannot be removed, part of Hello UI Setup # "Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.ECApp" - Cannot be removed, part of Hello UI Setup "Microsoft.GetHelp" # Help and Feedback "Microsoft.Getstarted" # Microsoft Tips # "Microsoft.HEIFImageExtension" # "Microsoft.LockApp" "Microsoft.Microsoft3DViewer" # "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge" # "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable" # "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient" - Cannot be removed "Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub" # Preinstalled 'Get MS Office' app "Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection" # Solitaire game # "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes" "Microsoft.MixedReality.Portal" # "Microsoft.MSPaint" # "Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.1.7" # "Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.2.2" # "Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.1.7" # "Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.2.2" "Microsoft.Office.OneNote" # Preinstalled OneNote "Microsoft.People" # "Microsoft.ScreenSketch" # New Snip & Sketch app, replaces Snipping Tool "Microsoft.SkypeApp" # Preinstalled Skype # "Microsoft.StorePurchaseApp" # Required for Windows Store functionality # "Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.0" # "Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00" # "Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00.UWPDesktop" # "Microsoft.VP9VideoExtensions" # "Microsoft.Wallet" - Required for Windows Store function # "Microsoft.WebMediaExtensions" # "Microsoft.WebpImageExtension" # "Microsoft.Win32WebViewHost" # "Microsoft.Windows.Apprep.ChxApp" # "Microsoft.Windows.AssignedAccessLockApp" # "Microsoft.Windows.CallingShellApp" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.CapturePicker" # "Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost" # "Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager" # "Microsoft.Windows.NarratorQuickStart" # "Microsoft.Windows.OOBENetworkCaptivePortal" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.OOBENetworkConnectionFlow" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.ParentalControls" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.PeopleExperienceHost" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.Photos" # "Microsoft.Windows.PinningConfirmationDialog" - Cannot be removed # "Microsoft.Windows.Search" # "Microsoft.Windows.SecHealthUI" # "Microsoft.Windows.SecureAssessmentBrowser" # "Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost" # "Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost" # "Microsoft.Windows.XGpuEjectDialog" "Microsoft.WindowsAlarms" # "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator" # "Microsoft.WindowsCamera" "microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps" "Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub" "Microsoft.WindowsMaps" # "Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder" # "Microsoft.WindowsStore" "Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI" "Microsoft.XboxApp" # "Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI" - Cannot be removed "Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay" "Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay" "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider" "Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay" "Microsoft.YourPhone" "Microsoft.ZuneMusic" "Microsoft.ZuneVideo" # "MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS" - Cannot be removed # "MicrosoftWindows.UndockedDevKit" - Cannot be removed # "NcsiUwpApp" - Network Connectivity Status Indicator Universal Windows Platform App # "Windows.CBSPreview" - Cannot be removed. Part of Windows Feedback # "windows.immersivecontrolpanel" # "Windows.PrintDialog" "Microsoft.Advertising.Xaml" # Microsoft.BingWeather and microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps dependency prevents removal, last in list to compensate. ) foreach ($app in $apps) { Write-Output $app Get-AppxPackage -Name $app -AllUsers -ErrorAction Continue | Remove-AppxPackage -ErrorAction Continue Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -Online | where DisplayName -EQ $app -ErrorAction Continue | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -ErrorAction Continue $appPath="$Env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\$app*" Remove-Item $appPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction Continue } Edit: Oops, originally it said # App list retrieved from a vanilla install of Edu 20H2 but it's not, it's from 21H2

And also that IIRC removing Solitaire broke W10 something awful in the early builds lol. Though it's been safe to remove it for a while, now.

Yup, this too. Our store only has, I think, one app in it, which is MS Whiteboard (Smartboard? Something with board in the name..) You want to keep it in there, and just hide it as best you can if you're not using it.

I'm concerned that there's the potential for OP to take away the wrong message from this so just to clarify what I (and I feel others) are thinking.. I, like many others, use Discord daily. Without a doubt it's my #1 tool to communicate with others, in both a semi-professional (as in 'it's work stuff, but I don't operate as an agent of my employer') and personal capacity. You've seen the ubiquitousness of Discord on the internet, identified its main strengths and hypothesised how they might be leveraged to help you fulfil your role. You've clearly put in the work, and it's obviously been a nice little passion project. You've hit a snag or two, and figured out how to work around it. To be fair, I think it's pretty cool, and from a 'you've had a problem and worked to build a solution' perspective, it's great. Definitely the kind of forward-thinking and not-afraid-to-try attitude I'd be looking for if I were hiring. BUT, it's a huge case of 'wrong tool, wrong job'. When there's so many tools now that operate over email (something your staff are already familiar with), and do LDAP or O365/GSuite integration, that are purpose-built for helpdesk ticketing, it just doesn't seem like the right play. I just hope you don't think we're all sat here taking the metaphorical poo all over your hard work because we're all old-timers that aren't forward-thinking enough or embracing emergent technologies

Yeah. I can really appreciate that it has a lot of useful tools.. Screen sharing to help remote support, voice chat in lieu of phone calls, text chat in lieu of emails, ticketing bots, roles and permissions are probably useful for different levels of access, @everyone pings to notify of issues instead of an all-staff email. Definitely good tools to have. But Aforementioned data protection issues are a given, now maybe you decide there's a business case for it and it's an acceptable risk, I just prefer to limit wherever possible. Plus as I said, I don't like to mandate third-part services for support. We run Spiceworks on-prem and staff just send us an email, goes to my tech and I, we can accept it (which is something discord doesn't really have but I suppose you could probably kludge a setup like reacting to the initial message to say "I got this one") and that works pretty seamlessly for us. It would be nice to have some of the extra tools but I'm not convinced Discord is the right play.

I personally wouldn't use Discord for a helpdesk because I'm disinclined to mandate folks sign up for third-party services to receive support - plus we block discord here anyway under social media. That being said, there are a number of ticketing bots out there that do work very well, plus the ease of attaching images, so I can see the appeal. Whatever works well for you and your team.

We use ColorVeil here too. Seems to have been well received.

I accidentally answered the phone. That was a mistake. Now I've had four calls already today. Two 020 numbers, an 01334 and an 0161.

Too long for me to edit it, oops. Just dropping this here in case anybody runs into the same issue at any point: When running Get-AppXProvisionedPackage (and other such tools, like Get-WindowsCapability, I assume this will affect any cmdlet that uses -Online), Windows would try to spawn and execute Appdata\Local\Temp\GUIDGUID-GUID-GUID-GUID-GUIDGUID\DIMSHOST.EXE The solution was an exception for: Publisher: O=MICROSOFT CORPORATION, L=REDMOND, S=WASHINGTON, C=US Product name: MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® OPERATING SYSTEM File name: DISMHOST.EXE Version: * (And above)

I did a test for the first time in I don't know how long last night because I felt grim, only one line.

Ah, interesting. Thank you for the correction

Huh, weird. It's 21H2 I'm trying to build and it just does not like it. Edit: Lol looks like it's AppLocker. My bad!

Bit of a necrobump, have MS changed how you list the installed packages? I'm putting together a new image for over the summer and that means updating the package list. (Get-AppXPackage).Name | Sort works just fine and gives me a nice list The other command I have on file - (Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -Online).DisplayName | Sort - throws a The request is not supported error.