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The lonely tech post thread.

I remember saving hard to buy a 20Mb HD for an Archimedes that my dad owned and trying to explain to him how many floppies it held, that blew his mind and he properly freaked out when the iPod was released.
 
I really wanted an A590 for my Amiga, which was a hard drive and RAM upgrade, but as a teenager, I couldn't afford one. My Mum had a 486 which obviously had a hard drive, but also had a mono orange and black screen as colour screens with high enough resolution to use Pagemaker were to expensive.

Didn't get a PC with hard drive until our house got robbed and they took my GameBoy and all the very cheap games I'd bought from the market. As most of them were very obscure, the insurance company paid full retail on all of them, which funded a huge part of purchase of a Pentium 100.
 
Is it possible to write an Excel macro that would give you recurring four weekly dates?

My pension is paid every four weeks, so what I want is a macro where I put in the start date, and it produces the dates for the next year.

Yes, I know I can just tick it off on the calendar, but some of the clever types out there like to do these kind of things. :)
 
Is it possible to write an Excel macro that would give you recurring four weekly dates?

My pension is paid every four weeks, so what I want is a macro where I put in the start date, and it produces the dates for the next year.

Yes, I know I can just tick it off on the calendar, but some of the clever types out there like to do these kind of things. :)

Surely you just need to enter a date in A1, then =A1+28 in A2, and drag down?
 
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Is it possible to write an Excel macro that would give you recurring four weekly dates?

My pension is paid every four weeks, so what I want is a macro where I put in the start date, and it produces the dates for the next year.

Yes, I know I can just tick it off on the calendar, but some of the clever types out there like to do these kind of things. :)

Enable the developer tool bar (right click on a blank bit of the ribbon), then open visual basic. Insert -> Module

Sub GenerateFourWeeklyDates()
Dim startDate As Date
Dim endDate As Date
Dim currentDate As Date
Dim i As Integer

' Input the start date
startDate = InputBox("Enter the start date:", "Start Date", Date)

' Input the number of occurrences (adjust as needed)
Dim numberOfOccurrences As Integer
numberOfOccurrences = InputBox("Enter the number of occurrences:", "Occurrences", 12)

' Clear existing data in column A starting from row 2
Columns("A:A").ClearContents

' Set the initial date
currentDate = startDate

' Generate dates for the specified number of occurrences
For i = 1 To numberOfOccurrences
' Output the current date in column A
Cells(i + 1, 1).Value = currentDate

' Move to the next four-weekly date
currentDate = DateAdd("d", 28, currentDate)
Next i

MsgBox "Dates generated successfully!", vbInformation
End Sub

Close the editor

Click Macros and select your new macro.

I'd like to claim credit for this, but it was ChatGPT :)
 
Fuck. Blew the exam. 658 needed 700. That shit was hard. First time I've actually run out of time at the end of an exam. Thought I had time, but didn't allow for case study at the end. Need to set up a proper MDT lab. It's just the level of detail that's needed. I get it, it needs to be hard, think I reviewed all the content from cbt nuggets for this, even if I didn't watch every video (read transcripts). First cert I've failed. :(
 
IT team teams chat is not for mentioning issues you find or asking questions got it, thanks boss.

I get that the CFO for some obscure reason is in the chat group but if I can’t ask questions in it and we can’t chat randomly about topics it serves no purpose

I have applied to half a dozen jobs the last couple of weeks but it’s a slow period I think
 
IT team teams chat is not for mentioning issues you find or asking questions got it, thanks boss.

I get that the CFO for some obscure reason is in the chat group but if I can’t ask questions in it and we can’t chat randomly about topics it serves no purpose

I have applied to half a dozen jobs the last couple of weeks but it’s a slow period I think

We had a private WhatsApp in my last place. :D

I tried starting a teams group at my current role for the 3 of us who do GP desktop support. My colleagues appear not to like each other, they responded privately to me.
 
IT team teams chat is not for mentioning issues you find or asking questions got it, thanks boss.

I get that the CFO for some obscure reason is in the chat group but if I can’t ask questions in it and we can’t chat randomly about topics it serves no purpose

I have applied to half a dozen jobs the last couple of weeks but it’s a slow period I think

We had a private WhatsApp in my last place. :D

I tried starting a teams group at my current role for the 3 of us who do GP desktop support. My colleagues appear not to like each other, they responded privately to me.
 
We had a private WhatsApp in my last place. :D

I tried starting a teams group at my current role for the 3 of us who do GP desktop support. My colleagues appear not to like each other, they responded privately to me.

My boss and our pet contractor (who’s been here for a very long time he just wanted to move away from the pleb stuff we’re his replacements) really do not get on. Proper fight on a teams call a few weeks ago
 
Reminds me of an astoundingly terrible conf call I was on with a customer. Huge fight between teams and personalities on the customer side, ending with one person accusing another of being racist and saying they would be reporting them to HR.
The bystanders decided we should close the call. Never spoke to either of the fighting customer people again.
 
It's not what I'd call annoying but I do notice the number of screens you need to go through as you sign into a website. The best of them show your user name and password and you just click Join and you're in. Others (like Microsoft surprise surprise :) ) have a screen to enter your user name then click and another one to enter your password with a box to tick if you never want to see that screen again (which is a lie) and click. As I say not really annoying but a few million people signing on every day that's a lot of unnecessary clicks :)
 
It's not what I'd call annoying but I do notice the number of screens you need to go through as you sign into a website. The best of them show your user name and password and you just click Join and you're in. Others (like Microsoft surprise surprise :) ) have a screen to enter your user name then click and another one to enter your password with a box to tick if you never want to see that screen again (which is a lie) and click. As I say not really annoying but a few million people signing on every day that's a lot of unnecessary clicks :)

If your signed into Edge then this is less of an issue. Probably not much help for you, but it's what I tell people at work.

Although thinking about it Brave seems to remember as well. Maybe because it's also chromium based?
 
So proper noob question, but it's not something I've had to deal with much before. A lot of PCs I look at are almost out of space because there are so many users profiles. I don't know if it's just our environment or the windows system properties, user profiles is always unstable, but it's a nightmare to clear them out.

How bad is it just to delete them from the C: drive without using the tool? Ideally I'd just run a powershell script to remove them all and they can be regenerated when they people who still use the PC log in.
 
So proper noob question, but it's not something I've had to deal with much before. A lot of PCs I look at are almost out of space because there are so many users profiles. I don't know if it's just our environment or the windows system properties, user profiles is always unstable, but it's a nightmare to clear them out.

How bad is it just to delete them from the C: drive without using the tool? Ideally I'd just run a powershell script to remove them all and they can be regenerated when they people who still use the PC log in.
It's only bad if the profile is not syncing and the user loses a file on their current machine, but then you probably wouldn't go fishing through old machines to find a lost file. Deleting the files will only mean that the next time that user logs in it will pull the profile down again meaning a longer startup time and more disk thrashing on startup but it's not a problem really. There will be cruft left in the registry regarding the old users but that shouldn't be an issue. You could run something like windirstat on the drives to find the largest folders and delete those first.
 
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My boss is annoying me, I've got to rebuild some hosts and clusters in Vcenter, this is usually easy as we have done loads, but this last batch are know to be problematic/

Its mostly going well but all the information, issues and fixes im trying to retain sometimes I hit a blank spot, I usually ask for help.

Today we had an hour long 1 on 1 working meeting, he was silent doing something else for about 35 mins of it, when he eventually got to me I asked for his help and he was like

'But you should know this you have done it before'

I tried to explain the blank spot and could he just please help me as I'm wasting time, he eventually did.

Why do people have to be pricks about things?

As I'm a contractor I hope I didnt raise my voice in exasperation too loudly, but im annoyed as fuck and that isnt a good sign, Ive got to keep my mouth shut lol.

/rant.
 
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You should be able to deploy a gpo or a scheduled task as well

Yes I should, but I don't get to play with toys like that any more. :(

I've asked the team above, but I'm not holding my breath and a lot of machines at the site I'm working at have less then 10% free. Lots of profiles and they use Teams a lot, which bloats them.

It's only bad if the profile is not syncing and the user loses a file on their current machine, but then you probably wouldn't go fishing through old machines to find a lost file. Deleting the files will only mean that the next time that user logs in it will pull the profile down again meaning a longer startup time and more disk thrashing on startup but it's not a problem really. There will be cruft left in the registry regarding the old users but that shouldn't be an issue. You could run something like windirstat on the drives to find the largest folders and delete those first.

Thank. I know startup time is longer, but that's ok (or at least not my problem) . It was more ghost reg settings and the like I was worried about.

My friend ChatGPT can knock something to delete everyone but the current user.
 
"feedback back to the [AV product] about any issues"
"Do we have an account manager or an email"
"No just use the random support email"

Gee, thats helpful. Just email the random helpdesk email with feedback instead of you know - you (the reseller) dealing with the account manager in a nice cosy relationship.
 
Waiting on tenterhooks about this bloody job application. Which is silly really given I've not been in my current role. There's many things about being a field engineer which are great, there's generally not much pressure, I get to potter around and set my own schedule and nobody seems to check on me. And yet I want to trade it for something that's going to be a shit load more stress, will require significant amounts of learning in my own time and they won't pay me anymore, for a year at least. :D
 
My partner is away this weekend and I have a change window to attempt to swap the router out and replace it with the new OPNsense setup. Rather embarrassingly I've failed miserably to do the most basic thing of getting internet to it from Virgin's modem. Currently sulking and reset opnsense to start with a blank canvas. It seems to be taking forever. Luckily I've not made any changes the old Omada setup, so hopefully I can just switch cables when I don't get this working tonight.

Edit. Bang. I must have changed something when I was clicking round exploring. I'm at least seeing my gateway. :)
 
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My partner is away this weekend and I have a change window to attempt to swap the router out and replace it with the new OPNsense setup. Rather embarrassingly I've failed miserably to do the most basic thing of getting internet to it from Virgin's modem. Currently sulking and reset opnsense to start with a blank canvas. It seems to be taking forever. Luckily I've not made any changes the old Omada setup, so hopefully I can just switch cables when I don't get this working tonight.

Edit. Bang. I must have changed something when I was clicking round exploring. I'm at least seeing my gateway. :)
When my Ladyfriend came to stay, part of the arrangement was that she'd be WFH on the Monday. So I wasn't best pleased when she started getting DNS errors just after lunch.

Cue me doing the full diagnostics routine and rebooting shit before I realised it was a Plusnet problem. Oh well, at least I didn't shout and throw things 😎
 
Eeek. I found out this morning I've got an interview (or rather two) for the Tier 3 Infrastructure Specialist - Trainee. I've got three weeks to prepare for the first one and not really sure where to start. The job spec is quite vague on duties, but I had a chat with someone on the team before applying, who says they're after someone to get pretty proficient with the 365 stack, they are currently most on-prem and a lot of that won't change for a good while. There's also an expectation that you know a least the basics of everyone's role to assist/cover if needed. If I get it, I've got to pass the Microsoft Azure Administrator, Security Engineer, Security Operations Analyst & Identity and Access Administrator in a year. Oh and AZ900, but I'm less phased about that.

I'm not sure where to focus my efforts really. I wasn't a million miles of getting the MD 102 Endpoint Administrator but feel if I set myself that goal, that will be all of my time consumed. I've got to learn a load more about ITIL. I've said I've used vSphere, M365 and Windows Server a fair bit, which certainly isn't a lie, but I'm not using them much at the moment as desktop support. There's also a technical interview and I'm not sure at all what sort of format that will take and how to prepare for it?
 
I just got myself an RTX4080 super, this is what being single and not having kids is all about, I do feel a bit sick though at the cost but im hoping to sell my rtx4070 for quite few quid.
 
I just got myself an RTX4080 super, this is what being single and not having kids is all about, I do feel a bit sick though at the cost but im hoping to sell my rtx4070 for quite few quid.

That's pretty awesome. Is that for 4k gaming?

If I get this job I'm giving serious thought selling my 3080. As I'll barely get the chance to use it for the next 12 months. Still I bought it second hand, so the hit won't be quite as bad.
 
I cancelled the order, i cant justify a grand for a gfx card , my 4070 does everything i need for now, just got over excited for a min.

That makes sense. You'll get a much greater improvement if you wait for the next gen and the 4070 is not shabby. You can always use DLSS for 4k stuff it struggles.
 
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