LifeHacker today has an article on how to get a good number of eBooks from Microsoft.

@scottalanmiller said:

Doing some extreme email cleanup. My inbox is way, way too backlogged!!

I really want to hit CTRL-A / SHIFT-Delete some days.

The new firmware update has cause many - including myself issue. In March 2016 I purchased new ink from iKong on Amazon and didn't really need it until about the end of July.

Last weeks update 'broke' the cartridges I have. Moving forward, I went back to my order to find that the item is not available any longer. There were other listed cartridges reported to work with the new firmware.

Going over the reviews from others that had purchased the iKong pack (950xl/951xl) reported having contacted iKong and had received new cartridges free of charge with updated chips which would work.

As these were less than 1 year old and the experience from others, I contacted iKong and received an apology and offer to try a new set.

The new set should be here next week, and I am out nothing. If they work it's still a good value for the $18.oo spent as the seller / maker has made good on their product.

We will see if they work and for how long. I'm not completely of the mind that it's iKong's place to apologize as the whole debacle starts with HP. However I believe they are going above and beyond in the attempt to make it right.

A minor discussion broke out in the thread What are you doing right now about the use of a USB Thumb drive to run Linux Mint from.

Short Background:
I've used USB drives for LIVE sessions of Linux, but there are times that I want my bookmarks, my tools, and my documents when I take a walk and do not include my laptop. I also have a older ASUS laptop that I intend to use from time to time.

Most of the time I may use another persons laptop, so to have a large USB device (hard drive) just isn't practical since it could receive shock from movement. Or become snagged on cords and such.

So I have a SanDisk 16GB 'Micro USB thumb drive.

I get enough space on it to install Linux Mint 17.1 xfce and have the tools I want to carry with me.

However, Scott stated in the thread WAYDRN:

You don't want a full install onto USB stick. You want to image the Live image to there instead.

LIVE versions have their place. However there are additional tools I wish to be able to carry around with me and have access to, even when I don't carry my full computer. Why is this such a bad idea, and how can I get around it? USB drive are 'cheap' but I don't want to have to replace it every year...

Business Stuck With Massive Bill After Phones Hacked

CLARK COUNTY, KY (Lex 18) - A Winchester small business was stuck with a crippling phone bill after the company president said the phone system was hacked.

On payroll day for New Moon Medical President Ben Worthington had to be very sure about each check he writes. Because of what happened one night a few weeks ago, he's pinching every penny.

"We found out that somebody had hacked the phone system and used the system to dial international calls," Worthington explained.

He said he learned the hackers made more than 200 calls in 2 hours, to be exact. Each call went to the same phone number in Buenavista, Cuba.

Since a few comments were made over on What are you doing right now; I thought I would start one about configuring Windows 10 Updates and how to prevent the restart mid-day without any warnings.

Under Settings, Update and Security, Windows Update, click on Advance Options. The first option is to chose when updates are installed. My system was set to Automatic, but has now been changed to Notify.

The only other important change I have done was mentioned some time ago about how Microsoft now uses your computer to update other computers in your network, or internet. This I have turned off.

Now - beyond these two items, I am not sure what other options there are,... but am looking.

@MattSpeller said:

Hunting for a sale on electric trolling motors, bought a boat on the weekend

Here ya go.

Internet, TV service provider Windstream files for bankruptcy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Internet service provider Windstream, which provides Internet services for thousands in Lexington, has announced it has filed for bankruptcy.

Windstream filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to address debt issues which were "accelerated" following a judge's decision against a company subsidiary.

"Taking this proactive step will ensure that Windstream has access to the capital and resources we need to continue building on Windstream’s strong operational momentum while we engage in constructive discussions with our creditors regarding the terms of a consensual plan of reorganization," Windstream president and CEO Tony Thomas said. "We acted decisively to secure the long-term financial stability of Windstream, and we are confident that, upon completion of the reorganization process, we will be even better positioned to invest in our business, expand our speed and capabilities for our customers and compete for the long term."

Thomas said the bankruptcy filing will allow them to continue servicing its customers. Lexington is one city where Windstream offers television, phone and internet services to residential customers.

Windstream provides residential services in 18 states.

This was an interesting one this morning, and took me about an hour to resolve.

The Group Policy Client Service failed the logon. Access denied

Issue with this computer / user started yesterday when called to get the User password reset. Got that done, and all was good for the day.

Called in again today for a password reset,.. but then this was the error message when I remoted to the computer.

Found a MS article which stated, drop from the domain and rejoin. Did,.. twice. didn't work. Went so far as to roll the computer back to 12\4 and run updates.

In doing this, I also looked for the domain computer account to see if it was being removed.. Oddly, it seemed to remain,,... but more so, it was disabled.

Re-enabled the computer, and now all is okay.

The biggest question is why? Why would the computer account have been disabled between yesterday and today?

Just got back from lunch.. Other than missing a cloud burst (physically a cloud burst... rain), I' having a few chocolate chip cookies because well,...

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

@pete-s said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

EU Commision proposes USB-C as mandatory standard for chargers.

In an effort to curb electronic waste:

"USB-C will become the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles."
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_4613

Apple is furious at EU plan.
https://news.yahoo.com/apple-furious-eu-plan-standard-142010661.html

Apple user: Can I borrow your Lightning cable?

Get away from the idea that you want 1U and use NAS

you add a failure point that way...

As @coliver stated, you can possibly have lower costs by having internal storage.

Look at xByte for boxes too.

@Minion-Queen said:

Thank you @joy! @gjacobse is going to help out too! Hopefully @scottalanmiller and I can check back often!

Ready and waiting.... Someone step out of line.... Just,.. HEY...

New secret-spilling hole in Intel CPUs sends company patching (again)

Researchers figure out how to obtain the "fuse encryption key" unique to each CPU.
DAN GOODIN - 11/16/2021, 8:21 AM

Intel is fixing a vulnerability that unauthorized people with physical access can exploit to install malicious firmware on the chip to defeat a variety of measures, including protections provided by Bitlocker, trusted platform modules, anti-copying restrictions, and others.

The vulnerability—present in Pentium, Celeron, and Atom CPUs on the Apollo Lake, Gemini Lake, and Gemini Lake Refresh platforms—allows skilled hackers with possession of an affected chip to run it in debug and testing modes used by firmware developers. Intel and other chipmakers go to great lengths to prevent such access by unauthorized people.

@MattSpeller said:

@Dashrender @RojoLoco @scottalanmiller If you ever feel like killing a day to run around buying beans and shipping stuff across the globe, let us know.

lol -

@scottalanmiller takes on second 'job' as Coffee exporter.

@JaredBusch
No,.. there are large format Lasers as well.. but about double to more the price.

@MattSpeller said:

@scottalanmiller pics!

Pics nothing... Send food... It's lunch time,.. but I could take a late breakfast....

@johnhooks said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@ryanblahnik said:

You'd want a soldering station that can hold the iron in a set position as you work.

Often little alligator clamp kind of things. Nothing fancy.

Yup. I've got one of these and it works really well.

I should get one,.. But you would be surprised what you can do with a pair of pliers and a rubber band.