Ditto

and then put in that heat shrinky cable cover stuff and it'll look like the genuine article

I would have wished for the same, but to be frank, they've been utterly useless with our onsite infrastructure. All they've done is provide hugely expensive quotes with new equipment, cable tests and excessive project management charges. Throughout, they've not provided a single credible shred of evidence of the underline causes of our problems other than the IP related comment in my last post. for balance, remote 1st line support is excellent - so if you've got a PC or MS software related issue, they're great. But for our tiny back-end core infrastructure, it feels a though we have been utterly abandoned and our only way forward is via the charities bank balance.

I'm going to show have much I am not a Network person here! As I understand it, we have a router which may have minimal firewall functionality, but that than connects through to a switch/patch panel. From there, cabling goes to 2 other switches supporting up to 40 network point and supporting 2 or 3 APs. In terms of a DHCP scopes, I wouldn't know how to check that but we did have the following statement from our 'technical consultant' who visits once a quarter. 'There are delays in the devices receiving IP addresses from the Draytek router and sometimes they don't receive an IP address at all. Since then, one of our switches died (wouldn't power up) and a colleague was walked through pulling/inserting cables on the 2nd switch/ patch - this was a 'technically blind' process, the colleague has no idea about what he was doing, just asking as a bizarre 'remote' service! I have made my dissatisfaction about that and that they should have come on site - they're only 30 minutes away. Now, as it happened I was in the office this week along with several others, using the boardroom. This room has never had a good reputation for WiFi, and recently just our CEO and a major donor were in and they couldn't get connected to the internet and I believe it was the day the switch popped it's clogs. I and everyone else in the room got perfectly good Wifi, strong and stable. They fact this was after the switch died and re-cabling, I doubt it is a coincidence. It's not all good though, a 2nd half of the building is without any WiFi whatsoever.

Not a Bromcom user, but the performance issue does seem to be cropping up a fair bit. I see from an early thread some monitoring was going on - anyone know the results of those? Generally, identifying the problem first is a requirement to resolving the issue, so those results could be key.

For me it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. Firstly, I'd like to see a judgement as to whether they have abused their dominant position and depending on that conclusion, take appropriate action. If the answer is yes, the 3 year contracts need to be dismissed and changed to 1 year. Guidance on what would constitute 'fair notice' for a renewal of 3 years should then be provided for the next renewal cycle. The use of an 'independent adjudicator' sounds just like more work and stress on schools and likely to be a disincentive for schools meaning ESS have the outcome they want for many schools. And seriously, for the CMA to spend 6 months to get to this point - well, disappointing would understate it. Given earlier published CMA statements, I presume there is more to come - or is that it?!

Now's there's an idea - would it warrant a thread of it's own?

The Watcher on Netflix. Engrossing at times, well acted throughout. If you like moderately tense thrillers, it may rock your boat. It's good, but maybe a little too implausible at times and ultimately disappoints me at the end - but perhaps the completer/finisher aspect of my personality profile. Given that's it's based on a true story, might be worth following up how that came to a conclusion - indeed if it did... I'm going to watch Witcher next, just because it's one letter different

It's quite amusing when you Google image search "LS340 mitsubishi"

Apricot XEN-PC, but after Mitsubishi bought Apricot computers.

I managed, unusually, to avoid a cynical comment, especially when you see the impact of recent rate increases on their profits. But historically those rises are countered by an increase in saver rates, and I haven't checked those. Martin Lewis would support a switch for a free £200. As for rates, not sure if Nationwide are any better at predicting future rates than anyone else, but if rates rose and stayed at higher levels, signing up for the 10 year deal would prove a good move. The additional benefit you get is stability and predictability. If rates dropped significantly in the 10 year period, it's worth knowing the costs of exiting the 10 year deal. As there 2-5 year rates are higher than the 10, it would suggest they think the higher levels are for the mid term period, but not at those levels for a decade.

Got a letter from Barclays today, although it is dated 3rd Nov. It's saying they are dropping there Standard Variable Rate (SVR) from 4.49% to 3.49% above above the BofE base rate. I was initially bemused by them sending to me as I'm on a tracker rate, but it's because it's the rate they charge if I borrow against the property as Mortgage Current Account Reserve - which I don't. But a) I'm not sure of their rates are in line with the market, b) whether it's because rates are higher generally or c) whether it indicates pressure on higher raised is easing. In they letter they say the reduction is to help customers with rising living costs, so perhaps I should take that at face value.

They'd be OK across the border in Scootland wouldn't they?

Just in case anyone was wondering about the source of "Dozens", I suspect it's from the "Daily Mail", so that passes the recent phenomenon (mahna mahna) for fact checking

I'm looking for some advice around audit time limits with M365 products. I have discovered a private folder of mine on SharePoint that is accessible to a number of colleagues that it should not be. I have asked our support team to provide a list of who has access, when the access was provided and who provided it. They have returned of list of those who has access, but have said they can not provide the other details due to being able to only look back 30 days in the audit. Is that likely to be the case or should there be logs that provide the answer? I'm on a E3 license if that's relevant. They are also claiming as the newish IT provider they can't see what the previous provider did - but from my perspective they took over our licenses so I'd hope for a continuum of data.

Booster done. Pfizer again, but this time targeted at variants 4 and 5. Pfizer is the only one I've ever had! That's four since Jan 2021. No symptoms currently but they set the expectation it is likely to be stronger than before.

Agreed - not an Oric.

I don't think this is right, but because of the black and white - Oric? If no, is that a trackpad of some sort?

Although not really applicable in this case, it does remind me of Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Has the impact of the monitoring/logging invalidated the data you have collected? What is the challenge you are trying to resolve?

Not a picture, but a BBC Newsround video clip. A "BBC expert explains why we see the Moon differently throughout the year". Her final sentence states that the 'Worm' moon is so called because "earthworms come back to the surface to give birds something to eat". I don't think that's good example of natural history education! The 'worm' animation isn't too convincing either! Would never have happened in John Craven's day...

My Moto G5 has (had) a 128Gb SanDisk SD card and it is reporting 'SD card not found', please reinsert. I suspect it's dead! I have tried cleaning and re-seating but no joy. I have tried to read on a PC, but I understand as it is formatted for 'internal storage' it's unreadable to Windows. Has anyone any experience of trying to data recover this situation. The phone is linked to a Google account, but I don't know if the backup includes what's on the SD card. I have plugged in a new SD card and it reports that it can see this SD Card and it is for 'transferring photos and media' -i.e. not yet configures for internal storage. But, it also reports 'SanDisk SD card is missing' - so it is aware of the dead SD card even when it is not present at all. There is a 'forget' option, but you loose all data allegedly. Installing the apps again is not a big deal, but loosing some app data would be mildly annoying.

Hard to tell from the photo, but that could well be one less wood pigeon.

Is the consensus that GPU prices are finally coming down? With Xmas around the corner, two gaming teens at home, and present for self overdue, what would got for in: Budget - up to £250 Midrange - up to £500 You're paid too much - let's limit this at £1000 And is Black Friday (not that it's 'a day' anymore )worth waiting for?

I dunno - just the one chip must be a saving on a whole portion.

I've just been catching up with the reports from those losing their jobs with Twitter. It's brutal, very sad and probably isn't following redundancy laws. I've been with a couple of companies where significant redundancies were made, but I have always dodged the bullet. Forced linear ranking of your own team, knowing putting together that list, those at the lower end are likely to be on the hit list - not a pleasant task. I've been in an office where colleagues can't login, assume they've left caps-lock on, only for the phone to ring and they disappear in to an office for a few minutes, only to return with a cardboard box, some in tears, to say a brief farewell to colleagues as they are escorted to the front door by security. Horribly it has always been at this end of the year, just before Xmas. If anyone has friends, family or other caught up in this, they have my sympathies. However, almost every colleague that I kept in contact, who had that horrible experience, went on to new and invariably better jobs, so stay positive and be optimistic .

I intended this to come across as constructive and I apologise in advance it it does show the right level of empathy. I had prepared a lengthy reply that reflected on 30 years of mortgage experience, including the full saga that @elsiegee40 expressed earlier in the thread. Then I reviewed some of your earlier posts to try to get a better picture of your circumstances. To me, it seems clear that you need to change job and get a better salary that reflects your skill levels, which are clear from your Edugeek posts. That might be brutally blunt, and I know we can get emotional connected with our schools, but I think it needs to be said. On the face of it, it's a win-win as it'll increase your income and should allow you to access a much better mortgage deal. Is their anything preventing from trying to secure that new job? As I say from the outset, that comment is meant to be constructive. I can see your circumstances are very tough, but to pinch from another Edugeeker's earlier post, if you need to PM, please do. My inbox is always open and I'll help wherever I can.