Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)

[The Man]

Ctrl-C Alt-Tab Ctrl-V Tab Tab Alt-Tab Right-Arrow Ctrl-C Alt-Tab Ctrl-V Tab Tab Alt-Tab Down-Arrow Left-Arrow

Repeat x28 times.

That was basically our procedure for loading software form old and onto new programable controllers when they needed to be replaced. The dedicated loading software was in Japanese, so none of us actually knew what steps we were performing, just Enter, Enter, Left-Arrow, Down-Arrow, F10, Type "RReg" (no quotes), Enter, Enter.... The only way you knew it work was if the equipment came up again. That went on for a few years then we finally got an English version of the dedicated loader. That went on for about 7 years then we finally got a general PLC software development package (GX Developer).

 

[arthwollipot]

No. I'd use an automation tool.

I'd love to use an automation tool. I dream of being able to use an automation tool. There is no automation tool for this. There is only zen.

 

[arthwollipot]

Brilliance in scheduling: today the company sent out its much-touted Very Important internal employee survey, on the topic of the business and how to improve the business and everyone must participate and it's very important. The survey email is from a third party independent firm, and contains a link which is the only way we're supposed to access the survey so we can be tracked and nobody can take the survey multiple times.

Today also marks the start of our aggressive security testing, during which we've been told we'll be receiving fake phishing emails attempting to lure us into clicking on links and doing bad things, for which we'll receive re-education courses and similar punishment.

Hmmmm. Who wants to gamble? Was this just a stupid scheduling oversight, or is somebody being tricksy? The survey people get dinged if we don't participate enough, and I imagine the security people want to generate as many successful lures as they can to justify their increasing budget requests.

With my extensive experience with bureaucracy, I can say with near-certainty that the two initiatives were managed by different sections, who simply didn't consider that they might need to coordinate to avoid conflicts. In my experience, Security is especially bad at doing things without consulting anybody on what the impact might be.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

I'd love to use an automation tool. I dream of being able to use an automation tool. There is no automation tool for this. There is only zen.

If you haven't mentioned it yet, maybe you should say what app (or kind of app) you are doing that in? QA testers have automated a ton of stuff.

 

[arthwollipot]

If you haven't mentioned it yet, maybe you should say what app (or kind of app) you are doing that in? QA testers have automated a ton of stuff.

Heh. Not likely. I'm copying from an Excel document into Cisco Unified CM Administration. It's a great bloated nightmare of a UI that we use to manage VoIP phones. Trust me - the sequence I described is the fastest and most efficient way to assign speed dials.

 

[Sideroxylon]

With my extensive experience with bureaucracy, I can say with near-certainty that the two initiatives were managed by different sections, who simply didn't consider that they might need to coordinate to avoid conflicts. In my experience, Security is especially bad at doing things without consulting anybody on what the impact might be.

Halon’s Razor variation?

 

[catsmate]

I'm currently sitting in a cubicle doing a software install.

The person in the cubicle next to me is on her speaker phone.

She's talking to the person who's two cubicles up from the row we are both in. The other person is also on her speaker phone.

I'M SOMEHOW HEARING FOUR SIDES OF A TWO SIDED CONVERSATION!

Twenty years ago I knew a sales guy who insisted on listening to his voicemail on the speaker.
Did you know that on Meridian 'speaker enable' is a per-box setting?

 

[novaphile]

Heh. Not likely. I'm copying from an Excel document into Cisco Unified CM Administration. It's a great bloated nightmare of a UI that we use to manage VoIP phones. Trust me - the sequence I described is the fastest and most efficient way to assign speed dials.

You may have already mentioned that you don't have KeyPass, but I'd like to let you know that KeyPass allows you to automate long sequences like that.

So you'd be able to reduce that set to a couple of mouse clicks.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Heh. Not likely. I'm copying from an Excel document into Cisco Unified CM Administration. It's a great bloated nightmare of a UI that we use to manage VoIP phones. Trust me - the sequence I described is the fastest and most efficient way to assign speed dials.

Those are just windows apps, so they can be automated by quite a few tools. I don't know how well controlled the format of your spreadsheet is so can't predict how useful it would be to automate.

 

[arthwollipot]

Those are just windows apps, so they can be automated by quite a few tools. I don't know how well controlled the format of your spreadsheet is so can't predict how useful it would be to automate.

It would be an absolute bloody nightmare. The spreadsheet is filled out and sent to us by the client. We give them a template to use, and it has very clear instructions on how to fill it out.

Also, we are a locked-down SOE so any new tool would require a business case and approval at several levels of management and security. We can't even write and execute basic MS Office macros.

 

[arthwollipot]

Remember this?

We just had a new card printer installed in one of the smartcard offices. It doesn't work. I've already had to turn away and re-book someone for next week because we are fully booked up for this week.

An identical brand-new printer in our other smartcard office is jamming every second or third card. Really getting stuck in there, too. To the point that trying to remove the card makes a very bad crunching noise.

A service call has been made with the vendor. Because this damn thing is doing nothing until it's been looked at by a licensed technician.

These new printers were supposed to make things easier.

 

[CORed]

With my extensive experience with bureaucracy, I can say with near-certainty that the two initiatives were managed by different sections, who simply didn't consider that they might need to coordinate to avoid conflicts. In my experience, Security is especially bad at doing things without consulting anybody on what the impact might be.

IME, security people often seem to be so obsessed with security that they prioritize it over everything else, including the ability to get any work done at all.

 

[JoeMorgue]

IME, security people often seem to be so obsessed with security that they prioritize it over everything else, including the ability to get any work done at all.

Indeed. Security software especially is become as much of a work stoppage then the occasional security problems, naming no Bitlockers, I mean names.

A stand alone work station, turned off, in a locked closet, with no network connectivity, and no user accounts on it is truly the only truly secure system.

 

[TragicMonkey]

A stand alone work station, turned off, in a locked closet, with no network connectivity, and no user accounts on it is truly the only truly secure system.

Not entirely secure. It would still be vulnerable to rust, moisture damage, insect attack, meteorite strikes, lightning, fire, earthquakes, and the inexorable beatdown pressure of time to name just a few of the common dangers. The only true absolute security is found in the haven of nonexistence: a system that doesn't exist cannot be harmed. I suggest you tell people that workstation is in the locked closet, without actually having a workstation at all. Then you can relax in the sweet assurance of ultimate safety.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Another weekday, another idiot wanting me to explain why a piece of data isn't in the database. Honey, I don't know. My role is strictly limited to getting data out of the damn thing, I have zero insight into or control over what gets put in. "But I need..." butters no parsnips with me. Seek your answers in the Land of People Who Give a ****, which is very distant from where I am and I don't care for travel.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Remember this?

An identical brand-new printer in our other smartcard office is jamming every second or third card. Really getting stuck in there, too. To the point that trying to remove the card makes a very bad crunching noise.
A service call has been made with the vendor. Because this damn thing is doing nothing until it's been looked at by a licensed technician.

These new printers were supposed to make things easier.

Does this "printer" look something like this?

[IMGw=300]https://www.dhresource.com/0x0/f2/albu/g8/M01/DE/64/rBVaV1zPvTWAewF-AADtbLg8CvQ027.jpg/micro-cut-paper-and-credit-card-shredder.jpg[/IMGw]

 

[JoeMorgue]

I'm done with printers. Why is anything being printed? It's 2021 near literally every human being is carrying a supercomputer linked to a global network on their person at all times that can store, display, and retrieve any document they could possibly need.

 

[Norman Alexander]

I'm done with printers. Why is anything being printed? It's 2021 near literally every human being is carrying a supercomputer linked to a global network on their person at all times that can store, display, and retrieve any document they could possibly need.

They need to be A4 or quarto sized, as do my pockets.

 

[Wudang]

I'm done with printers. Why is anything being printed? It's 2021 near literally every human being is carrying a supercomputer linked to a global network on their person at all times that can store, display, and retrieve any document they could possibly need.

And why are so many documents sent to people using landscape monitors in formats designed for printing in portrait formats?

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm done with printers. Why is anything being printed? It's 2021 near literally every human being is carrying a supercomputer linked to a global network on their person at all times that can store, display, and retrieve any document they could possibly need.

Except nobody accepts digital documents, they demand paper. I'm about to buy a new car, it took me days to assemble all the necessary documents needed. Titles, tax receipts, proof of insurance, etc. And I'll end up with even more once I get the car. From the dealer, from the DMV, from the city, et al. All of whom use millions of dollars worth of computers...but print everything important and require printed everything.