The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

I've never had any complaints regarding any of the behavior of the Classic Shell start menu, so I'm not sure in what way a different, paid utility could be "better" than it?

(On the other hand, I have paid, and significantly more than a sandwich each, for replacements for Win7's barftaculous search interface, and for a replacement file manager.)

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

n_slash_a:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops. Plus, budget savings.
Captcha: distineo... if you use Windows, it's your destiny to get your computer loaded with crap until totally busted.
You are correct, since the company would have gone under years earlier due to sky-rocketing costs of the Helpless Desk due to an avalanche of questions "Where is the Start Menu?"

Or they could use a couple of neurons and test their users. If the users are high grade idiots (likely so) and cannot imagine how to work without a stupid button at the lower left corner, install Gnome 2, Cinnamon or any other Windows-like interface. Done! If you make a fuss over something you don't have to use and can replace instead, you are the idiot.

As a real world example, I bought a new microwave a few months back, and a medium state-sized chain store had the best prices. All their store computers had some form of Linux on them, with classic Gnome 2 desktop, and by the looks of it, was over 5 years old. The two clerks I dealt with used it with no fuss at all... just using web applications under Firefox. The first was a 20-something salesman, the other a 50-plus woman.

They don't 'sudo', they don't install apps. Come on, if you can't browse Firefox, use Thunderbird without seeing Windows logo on a round button on the corder, you don't know how to use a computer, you're just a trained monkey, and likewise can be trained again (forced?) to do it on a similar desktop environment.

Pawprint · 2013-06-13 Reply Admin

bgodot:
flabdablet:
snoofle:
Filtering executable files is a great idea, but it should never be extension based. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to mail a batch or executable file to someone for legitimate purposes only to have it blocked. Invariably, you just rename it myexecutable.gif and state in the email to rename it. It's the ONE thing users seem to understand how to do.

Not since Windows XP decided to hide extensions for known filetypes by default. Myexecutable.gif is no good, since all the naive user will see in Windows Explorer is myexecutable; use myexecutable.exe.renamed instead, or double-zip it with a password on the inner zip envelope so that scanners can't see there's a .exe inside.

The first day I'm working on a new machine, I turn off hiding of file extensions. Because of the quantum entanglement nature of the Windows code base, this also changes when you save a file in notepad as "hosts." to save it without any extension "hosts", vs. saving it as "hosts..txt"

Do people STILL not know this? To save a file in Notepad without Notepad tacking on an extension, merely place it in quotes. In other words, to get a file named hosts, not hosts.txt, simply enter "hosts" (WITH THOSE QUOTES) in the file dialog.

It's been this way since Windows 95.

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Jo Dope:
>>Windows 8 is already hugely different than Windows 7
The start menu is full screen now. People jump on the "We hate Windows 8" bandwagon so quickly these days that it's really boring. The problems with 8 are usually dumbasses that don't care to learn something very mildly new.

Although not having all those regression bugs that break important things that worked fine in Windows 7 would help.

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Your Name:
moving through space:
Jo Dope:
>>Windows 8 is already hugely different than Windows 7
The start menu is full screen now. People jump on the "We hate Windows 8" bandwagon so quickly these days that it's really boring. The problems with 8 are usually dumbasses that don't care to learn something very mildly new.
Perhaps. But it could also be that twitter and facebook feeds along with "10 things you won't believe you didn't notice in famous movies", the weather and Hotmail emails I've been ignoring are not important enough to dominate my entire screen surface on what is supposed to be a productive machine. Face it: 8 was dumbed-down tremendously in an attempt to capture the iCrowd that buys a new touch device every 3 months and others who can't spend ten minutes away from their social media.

It's got nothing to do with that, actually.

Microsoft saw the "Apple App Store"/"Google Play Android Market Whatever It's Called Now" model where the OS vendor got a nice fat 30% slice off of all application sales. Everyone in Redmond simultaneously facepalmed -- they've had their OS in the dominant position on the desktop market for decades now and they're not skimming anything off the top. How do they get in on this?

Well, they can't just start saying that every application on Windows must go through their Windows App Play Market Store or whatever; that would kill the golden goose. Nobody will buy Windows if it doesn't run the collection of software that they've been building up since 1995. So they allow such "legacy" software to run in "legacy desktop mode" and bundle their Windows Store for the new "Don't Call It Metro" interface. Design the OS to kick the user into Metro until they're sufficiently trained (seriously, even the bundled PDF reader does it, ffs!), require all Metro apps to be distributed through the "Windows Store", and there you go!

Developers would surely love the ease of releasing apps through this method, users will get used to using Metro and want to purchase applications that work with it (or at least use the Windows Store to buy applications), and Microsoft will skim 30% of the purchase price off of every copy of Photoshop or Calladuty or whatever.

Only it looks like the users aren't going along with the plan. Too bad, I guess.

Bingo. But you forgot that Microsoft gets to mine and sell data that is stored in the cloud, and the FBI gets to search said data without a warrant.

Added bonus: get a jump start on small competitors who store their data in the cloud - full access to source code and marketing plans! Yay!

chubertdev · 2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Jan:
Belgian Email Virus:
Hi, This is a virus. Format your hard drive and then email me to all your friends.

I think that you have those steps backwards.

da Doctah · 2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Severity One:
I'd love to know what a "Machiavellian filter" is.

Stops all of the following: + Anything tagged as being from Prince, Prince and the Revolution, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. + Anything from Charles, Prince of Wales, or his two sons. + Anything from Prince Albert of Monaco. + Any phishing email claiming to be from a deposed Nigerian prince. + Movies including "The Prince and the Showgirl", "Prince of Tides" and the animated "The Prince of Egypt". + Books including "The Prince and the Pauper" or anything by Dinah Craik or Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry. + Pictures destined for archival in hard copy (see what I did there?)

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

da Doctah:
Severity One:
I'd love to know what a "Machiavellian filter" is.
Stops all of the following: + Anything tagged as being from Prince, Prince and the Revolution, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. + Anything from Charles, Prince of Wales, or his two sons. + Anything from Prince Albert of Monaco. + Any phishing email claiming to be from a deposed Nigerian prince. + Movies including "The Prince and the Showgirl", "Prince of Tides" and the animated "The Prince of Egypt". + Books including "The Prince and the Pauper" or anything by Dinah Craik or Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry. + Pictures destined for archival in hard copy (see what I did there?)

What about frogs which, in previous form, had attracted the ire of a magic practitioner? What about oily residues left by tactile events?

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
When I was just a lad, fucking around with Sub7 (you remember that delightful tool in the script kiddies box of tricks??) to see what it could do, I sent a school friend an email with some shitty flash game executable in it, into which the Sub7 server was hidden.
Accompanying this, I sent a mail saying "Absolutely do not open this file... it will compromise your computer and give me a back door to do absolutely anything I want with it. No seriously."

Literally 10 seconds later, "Ding" the server had contacted my IRC account to let me know that stupidity is alive and well, even in a school for apparently gifted kids.

As punishment I made all his video output go upside down.

Why did you send it to him if you didn't want him to fucking open it?

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops. Plus, budget savings.
Captcha: distineo... if you use Windows, it's your destiny to get your computer loaded with crap until totally busted.

yea, like you can't write a malicious executable to run on linux on double-click. You're so smart...

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Didakos:
Smouch:
Joe sounds like a moron for not configuring the mail sever anti-virus to remove any executable image attachment.

You would be surprised to see that, sometimes, they don't allow you to do it. It happened to me in the past: I configured the mail server to block all executable attachment, and a secretary (not in charge of anything) started shouting at me because "the emails were all broken". After hours of work, I realised that "emails broken" meant "all executables I send around are not going through". I checked with her manager why would they ever need to send such files, but they didn't come out with an answer. They just insisted to be allowed, as the secretary was becoming hysterical, screaming at the top of her voice.

At the end, I found out that the executables she absolutely needed to send were those idiotic PowerPoint slides with non-funny stuff.

So, if hysteric shouting gets stuff done around there, why didn't you hysterically shout then (in the opposite manner)?

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

faoileag:
snoofle:
Filtering executable files is a great idea, but it should never be extension based. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to mail a batch or executable file to someone for legitimate purposes only to have it blocked. Invariably, you just rename it myexecutable.gif and state in the email to rename it. It's the ONE thing users seem to understand how to do.
But it works, doesn't it? The "50" wouldn't be able to cause any damage by simply clicking on an attached .exe, but the one person who's expecting an executable from Snoofle ("Here, check out the latest iteration of executable X before I put it online") knows you are a trusted source and only has a bit more work to do before he can run the application you've sent him.
Although it would probably be even better not to send the application by email at all, but instead to put it into an https-secured donwload area and then just send the link (for more security: just the name, keep the url a shared secret). After all, putting things into the cloud seems to be the thing to do these days :-)

Right - I already see emails with "click this link to see my awesome birthday card for you", which then shows some sparkly form to satisfy your craving and then injects gofuckle of stuff in the background. Good suggestion, though.

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

Quanta:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops

Nothing at all would've happened if they'd used Linux desktops. No work, no email, no browsing, nothing.

You think people who are too dumb to know that executable email attachments shouldn't be opened would know how to use Linux for their day-to-day business needs?

You think an IT department who cannot configure their mailserver to filter executable attachments would be able to configure Linux desktops?

INB4 ERMAGERD UBUNTU IS TEH EAZIEST LINUX FAR EAZIER THAN WINDOZE!

Dude - if Linux is used even nearly as much as Windows, dudes would be creating malicious executables for it all over. Stuff executes on Linux on double-click, just like on Windows.

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

luptatum:
Quanta:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops

Nothing at all would've happened if they'd used Linux desktops. No work, no email, no browsing, nothing.

You think people who are too dumb to know that executable email attachments shouldn't be opened would know how to use Linux for their day-to-day business needs?

You think an IT department who cannot configure their mailserver to filter executable attachments would be able to configure Linux desktops?

INB4 ERMAGERD UBUNTU IS TEH EAZIEST LINUX FAR EAZIER THAN WINDOZE!

Dude - if Linux is used even nearly as much as Windows, dudes would be creating malicious executables for it all over. Stuff executes on Linux on double-click, just like on Windows.

Man, what web browser do you use that sets the execute bit on downloaded files automatically?

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

remember:
They didn't have to run anything. I'm not going to bother to look it up, but there was a time when MS-Outlook was so stupid that it would run an executable without the user having to click on it.
I think that included screen saver installs and stupid stuff like that. The popular anti-virus method was to disable the preview pane.

Stupid Outlook.

You just made that up. There's no such behavior and/or option in Outlook. Stupid you.

2013-06-13 Reply Admin

luptatum:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops. Plus, budget savings.
Captcha: distineo... if you use Windows, it's your destiny to get your computer loaded with crap until totally busted.

yea, like you can't write a malicious executable to run on linux on double-click. You're so smart...

Well, you can, but then you'd need to set the executable bit yourself, what I believe most dumbed-down users have no idea what is, let alone how to do it. Every file is executable in Windows.

And it won't be able to much more than wipe your home folder, as critical and compromising operations require superuser priviledges, so the user must also input his password. Windows typically runs on admin mode.

And If you want to compromise the system in a serious way, steal bank passwords and such, you'll most likely need to exploit a system flaw, which is quite difficult, considering the wide range of Linux systems and configurations. Even the most used ones (Ubuntu, Mint) can vary widely due to different releases and how frequently updated, and most flaws are patched quickly. Windows features no more than a dozen major releases under considerable usage today, most of them grossly unpatched.

So, yeah, you can write malicious code, as you can do for phones, digital photo frames or uranium enrichment centrifugues... just the barrier to entry is a few orders of magnitude higher.

And yeah, I am smart, thank you.

2013-06-14 Reply Admin

StephenCleary:
Around 2008, due to the recession (which in my state had already been going on for ~20 years), I decided to go back to college. Desperate for cash, I spent a summer working at Wendy's, the only place that would even consider hiring me due to my BS in CS.
On a side note, Wendy's food really stands out compared to other large fast-food franchises. The only (fast food) burgers I would even consider are Culver's and Wendy's.

I was the grill guy, though technically I wasn't flipping burgers (the burgers had a two-sided grill). But I did flip the chicken. :)

Anyway, one day our register system went down with a .NET exception! Apparently, they were running some funky WinForms-on-embedded-.NET for their touchscreen registers. The manager acted like that happens all the time, wrote down the call stack, and called them up. It was a basic NullReferenceException right at startup, so I also suggested that they should do unit testing (or any testing, really) before a rollout.

So don't leave us hanging like most other TRWTF stories! What was the response?

2013-06-14 Reply Admin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhv-2clxlJ8

chubertdev · 2013-06-14 Reply Admin

anonymous:
And it won't be able to much more than wipe your home folder, as critical and compromising operations require superuser priviledges, so the user must also input his password. Windows typically runs on admin mode.

You think users won't enter demand admin access to their own machine, and then put in the admin password to see the dancing bunnies? Must be nice living in a bubble.

2013-06-14 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
anonymous:
And it won't be able to much more than wipe your home folder, as critical and compromising operations require superuser priviledges, so the user must also input his password. Windows typically runs on admin mode.

You think users won't enter demand admin access to their own machine, and then put in the admin password to see the dancing bunnies? Must be nice living in a bubble.

Did anybody said anything about giving root/sudo access to the users? I didn't. Kids aboard? Use the child safety lock.

2013-06-14 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
You think users won't enter demand admin access to their own machine, and then put in the admin password to see the dancing bunnies? Must be nice living in a bubble.

You give admin access just because someone demands it? That's interesting.

"And what's the business need for you to have admin access? Hm. Let me run this by the security team, as per policy." ... refer, refer, refer ... "Sorry, the security team said I'm not allowed to give you that access. Here's the escalation path, if you're not satisfied with that decision."

chubertdev · 2013-06-14 Reply Admin

trtrwtf:
chubertdev:
You think users won't enter demand admin access to their own machine, and then put in the admin password to see the dancing bunnies? Must be nice living in a bubble.

You give admin access just because someone demands it? That's interesting.

"And what's the business need for you to have admin access? Hm. Let me run this by the security team, as per policy." ... refer, refer, refer ... "Sorry, the security team said I'm not allowed to give you that access. Here's the escalation path, if you're not satisfied with that decision."

I don't, but someone who doesn't want to get fired because the PHB wants everything will. Welcome to the real world.

2013-06-15 Reply Admin

Your Name:
lucidfox:
You mean, you PAID MONEY for a Start menu replacement?
Stardock Start8 works better than Classic Shell and costs less than a sandwich.
No, it's true, give it a go; the first thirty days are free.

sudo make startmenu

2013-06-17 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
trtrwtf:
chubertdev:
You think users won't enter demand admin access to their own machine, and then put in the admin password to see the dancing bunnies? Must be nice living in a bubble.

You give admin access just because someone demands it? That's interesting.

"And what's the business need for you to have admin access? Hm. Let me run this by the security team, as per policy." ... refer, refer, refer ... "Sorry, the security team said I'm not allowed to give you that access. Here's the escalation path, if you're not satisfied with that decision."

I don't, but someone who doesn't want to get fired because the PHB wants everything will. Welcome to the real world.

I'd give them access - if someone up the escalation path says I should. I would expect to be fired if I gave them access against explicit instructions. But that's the real world when you're under SEC controls.

2013-06-17 Reply Admin

The real WTF in these comments is people that have such a huge problem with Windows 8's modern UI. You barely have to use it, especially if you're a basic user. Pin the applications to taskbar, just like in Windows 7. If you needed start menu even daily, you were doing something wrong. Even on smaller resolutions you can get 15 applications on the taskbar.

Oh, and you even get quick start and switch for the first ten of them! Whoo!

Now, how many are going to say "I didn't know that"? You probably still save files and shortcuts to your desktops also, right?

xaade · 2013-06-19 Reply Admin

Quanta:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops

Nothing at all would've happened if they'd used Linux desktops. No work, no email, no browsing, nothing.

You think people who are too dumb to know that executable email attachments shouldn't be opened would know how to use Linux for their day-to-day business needs?

You think an IT department who cannot configure their mailserver to filter executable attachments would be able to configure Linux desktops?

INB4 ERMAGERD UBUNTU IS TEH EAZIEST LINUX FAR EAZIER THAN WINDOZE!

What linuxies fail to realize is that if all idiots followed their advice and managed to successfully run a linux OS, then all of the sudden their OS would be targeted and their OS doesn't have the anticipated protection that Windows does.

It's like linux is the aliens in War of the Worlds.

Plus, given their OS can be fully configured from the ground up, there's not much to stop from the whole system getting literally fried.

2013-06-20 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
Jan:
Belgian Email Virus:
Hi, This is a virus. Format your hard drive and then email me to all your friends.

I think that you have those steps backwards.

Nop, it's a Belgian virus, it's not very well thought out ;-)

2013-06-21 Reply Admin

xaade:
Quanta:
anonymous:
Nothing of this would have happened if they used Linux desktops

Nothing at all would've happened if they'd used Linux desktops. No work, no email, no browsing, nothing.

You think people who are too dumb to know that executable email attachments shouldn't be opened would know how to use Linux for their day-to-day business needs?

You think an IT department who cannot configure their mailserver to filter executable attachments would be able to configure Linux desktops?

INB4 ERMAGERD UBUNTU IS TEH EAZIEST LINUX FAR EAZIER THAN WINDOZE!

What linuxies fail to realize is that if all idiots followed their advice and managed to successfully run a linux OS, then all of the sudden their OS would be targeted and their OS doesn't have the anticipated protection that Windows does.

It's like linux is the aliens in War of the Worlds.

Plus, given their OS can be fully configured from the ground up, there's not much to stop from the whole system getting literally fried.

Speaking for myself, I'm fully aware that if Linux became top desktop OS, there would be tons of malware being written for it.

Even so, users would be more secure than with Windows. Permissions, different kernel and package versions, very frequent updates would make thiefs life quite more difficult... agriculture already taught us that plagues hit harder on monocultures.

And Linux configurability only makes a difference if you're a power user, as you'll take advantage of it. If you're just "an idiot", you'll fry it just like you'd fry Windows. My brother already demonstrated that countless times in the past... monthly busted Windows due to plenty of stupid shareware games and IE toolbars.

2013-06-22 Reply Admin

pscs:
Well, while Jane was pretty dumb, the employees who opened the attachment were far dumber.
I mean, it's not like they could say 'I thought it would be OK', or 'I didn't know it was dangerous'

I think there should be a test before letting anyone use email or the Internet.

Something like a test email 'You have just won $50,000,000, press here to claim', with the button taking you straight to your termination notice.

Actually, that's not a bad idea for companies wanting to downsize - use 'gross stupidity' as the reason for firing them.

:) :) :)

2013-06-24 Reply Admin

While it's a nice story, this is obviously fake. When did you see a worm virus that did ANYTHING besides propogate? People just don't write real viruses these days.

2013-06-24 Reply Admin

Ahhhh, Jane. As much as we deride her sort they do in a way keep us in business.

Back when I had to do IT support I worked in a large academic environment which meant that, not only did the managers have technical superiority they also outright outclassed 'support staff' (Anyone without a PhD including cleaners, catering, IT and gardeners.)

Although IT support could wield some control over other support staff, such as your day to office folk, the academics demanded administrator rights on their Window's boxes. Some of them were well behaved, some of them were even pretty sensible in using their computers.

Some of them just liked to use the work's network to torrent pr0n all day.... and of course some of them were just Jane.

Now this wasn't too bad most of the time, if they screwed up a machine I was getting paid to sort it out, hell if they didn't screw up their machines on a regular basis we could easily cut IT support in half.

Of course sometimes you get the dreaded Uber Jane, I had one such user who we will call U.J.

U.J. Persistently misused the network, un-installed security software and over-rode update settings we would put in place to the point that U.J. was becoming a real problem.

We just had to tell U.J. "I'm sorry but I can't make an exception for you this time, you cannot have admin rights until you argue it out with Dr Myboss."

"Don't be so impertinent you little Oik!"

And of course this was the problem with all the academics, even the relative safe and secure ones needed the comfort of having admin access so that they were superior and in control, knowing that they would never have to ask for permission from some underling, even though the need to never arose.

Of course U.J. did start pulling political strings and ended up in an argument with Dr Myboss... and got admin access back and proceeded to screw up more machines.

The funniest part was the statement from U.J. to Dr Myboss that "If your people set things up securely in the first place this sort of thing wouldn't happen!"

Now of course, anyone reading is now having the inevitable internal rant so we won't go into how stupid that statement is on the surface.

There is a deeper level of stupid here, the place I was working in specialised in training up the software developers of the future.

2013-07-12 Reply Admin

I'd say the meaning of Machiavellian filters is:

The guys that do the real work, can't connect to the networks or execute any file at all (unless being enabled to do so case-by-case).

The managers can send, receive, and execute whatever they wish.

2016-12-02 Reply Admin

another story: a Government agency wanted to "raise awareness" of viruses, so they made a virus website...but they didn't just have information about how to avoid or fight viruses, they had ACTUAL WORKING VIRUS EXECUTABLE FILES that ANYONE could download and use to infect other people's computers! they certainly succeeded in "raising awareness"...

The Email Virus

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