The grumpy thread

[richardmorris]

Local fly tipping championships, this one is odds on to win at the moment.

[artdjones]

My phone is about 4 years old, running on Android 7. Today I found out that my bank's mobile app no longer works with Android 7, as Google have stopped supporting it even though it was the latest version up to August 2017.

Apparently it's true that Google's motto has changed.

It used to be "Don't be Evil", but has now changed to "Don't be Evil- That's our Job".

[cobblers]

Who makes the phone? It's the manufacturer that's in charge of the android updates.

Not that Google aren't a bunch of shits. 

[HillmanImp]

Taken tomorrow off work. Was meant to be going on a jolly to Scarborough but my mates wife is in hospital so its postponed. 

So I've decided to go for a mountain bike ride round Gisburn. Really looking forward to it. But guess what, I'm unable to move more than a few feet away from the toilet, FFS. 

If I do go I'm packing some Andrex. 

[LostnotFound]

3 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Taken tomorrow off work. Was meant to be going on a jolly to Scarborough but my mates wife is in hospital so its postponed. 

So I've decided to go for a mountain bike ride round Gisburn. Really looking forward to it. But guess what, I'm unable to move more than a few feet away from the toilet, FFS. 

If I do go I'm packing some Andrex. 

At least we'll be able to answer the age old question of whether a Hillman Imp shits in the woods....

 

 

 

Hope you have a good ride tomorrow. Weather is cracking for it.

[Talbot]

Well bollocks.

I moved three weeks ago to be away from an absolutely toxic situation and to be nearer work.  Both of those have worked out.  However, we're now in the middle of the second lengthy power cut in those three weeks.

On balance, here is still better by a country mile, but it's bloody annoying when the entire building is electric only, meaning I can't even have dinner now.

This post brought to you by the remaining power in my phone, some wifi hotspot and the remaining power in a laptop battery.

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

My phone is about 4 years old, running on Android 7. Today I found out that my bank's mobile app no longer works with Android 7, as Google have stopped supporting it even though it was the latest version up to August 2017.

Apparently it's true that Google's motto has changed.

It used to be "Don't be Evil", but has now changed to "Don't be Evil- That's our Job".

Or you can look at it as your bank wanting to be absolutely sure that you're using an up-to-date OS that has relevant security in place before you transmit sensitive information over the Interwebz.

My bank has recently done the same, and I can no longer use their app on my phone.  I can, however, still use the website.  As I understand it, that's because it can use HTTPS protocol, which isn't necessarily available to the app.

Also, latest version of August 2017 is now 4 years out of date, which is a million years in internet security terms.

[artdjones]

Great, so we can all spend €3-400 or more on a phone every 3 years. Would it be impossible for Google to upgrade security on older Android versions?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

4 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Great, so we can all spend €3-400 or more on a phone every 3 years. Would it be impossible for Google to upgrade security on older Android versions?

It's not Google, it's the manufacturer not providing updates.

Android isn't just Google.  Android is the core operating system that's owned by Google but each manufacturer puts a whole load of shite on top (for some reason) and it's that that is causing the issue here as the manufacturer hasn't provided an update.

Google are shits but in this case, they're not the shits you should be directing this to.  Android is like the Wild West when it comes to OS updates...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

On a similar tech-related note, we're rolling out MFA at work and the digital literacy of our staff is absolutely shocking.  Repeated calls all day about it not working or that they can't set it up, despite the fact that we literally sent them a video of how to do it and an FAQ along with basic troubleshooting.

'Oh, my email isn't working on my phone any more.  Do you know anyth...'

'Yes.  Did you read the email that was sent to you warning you that your email might not work on your phone after we've enabled this and to simply remove the account and re-add it?'

'Yes, I read the email.  I must have missed that.'

Except it's in fucking bold.  On a bullet point.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to be too rude to them or I'll get told off - but I have a long, passive-aggressive email that my boss loves me to use when staff don't want to set it up that tells them why we are and that they have no fucking choice in the matter.  So I get to send that a couple of times a day at least...

[Remspoor]

17 hours ago, New POD said:

According to my wife, the later describes me.  

No need for details, but my grump involves being screamed at. And the fact that I seem unwittingly to have made my wife a very sad and angry and lonely person, whilst trying to do the exact opposite. 

It's part of the pattern. And nobody needs to.tell me my marriage is fucked and I should call it a day. 

It is not you that has made your wife sad, angry and lonely. She could have done this herself. She is the bully.

 

 

[High Jetter]

I binned Natwest's app, only use internet banking on a fully protected and updated PC.

[loserone]

Up to date android is fine, you just need to avoid v95% of manufacturers to achieve that.

[New POD]

20 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

It is not you that has made your wife sad, angry and lonely. She could have done this herself. She is the bully.

 

 

Today has been surreal.  I've pretty much worked all day hidden away in.my study. She was polite and calm (although, I get the feeling that she's ready to go off the deep end again), and there was none of her usual forcing me to apologise,  for whatever I'm supposed to have done.  I think it woukd be naive to think she knows that she was out of order, but hey. 

[montytom]

Not so much grumpy or maybe it is. I have the dentist tomorrow for some work really not looking forward to it. 

It needs to be done but still a daunting prospect.

 

[Barry Cade]

Why do people see a slide bed, with all the beacons lit up, with an  range rover Ebroke behind it, whilst I'm dropping the bed, as a parking place...then give me abuse when I ask them to move.

 

And why do people always join motorways at 56 MPH... GRRRRR.

[High Jetter]

20 minutes ago, montytom said:

Not so much grumpy or maybe it is. I have the dentist tomorrow for some work really not looking forward to it. 

It needs to be done but still a daunting prospect.

 

I hope it's just the regular drill

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Barry Cade said:

Why do people see a slide bed, with all the beacons lit up, with an  range rover Ebroke behind it, whilst I'm dropping the bed, as a parking place...then give me abuse when I ask them to move.

Because people are cunts.  HTH.

[myglaren]

9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I hope it's just the regular drill

Is it safe?

[Bren]

Bollocks. Neighbour caught it with his 4x4 which is also in a bit of a state. They want to go through insurance ( vehicle is leased) but that is no use to us as our car will be written off.

We haven't had much luck with this car.

[cort1977]

Not good obviously but if they write it off can't you buy it back?  

[Talbot]

11 hours ago, artdjones said:

Great, so we can all spend €3-400 or more on a phone every 3 years. Would it be impossible for Google to upgrade security on older Android versions?

Not impossible, but also not really viable, as most manufacturers customise Android for their phones, and then only update them for a while on the basis that the average phone lifetime is maybe 3-4 years at best.

If you want the latest android OS on an older phone, that's perfectly possible, you just have to install it yourself by rooting the phone and uploading a custom OS.

No different to buying a windows laptop and then finding out 5 years later that the OS is no longer supported and you need to do something else.  You can buy a new one with a new OS, ditch the old OS and install a newer one (and possibly tolerate poor performance) or just keep using the old OS with no security updates.  Phones are now exactly the same, just on a shorter lifespan.

[artdjones]

Don't let the car be taken away to be assessed. 

[Talbot]

47 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

buy it back?  

No need to.

If Bren makes the claim direct against the other persons insurer, even if they decide to write it off, they have no contractural claim to the car, so you get a payout and that's it.  They might *offer* to remove the scrap car, or indeed (incorrectly) claim that it's now their car, but you have no need to surrender the car if the claim is not being made against your own insurer.

You must (IE Bren must) however notify his insurer that there has been a material incident with the insured vehicle, but that he is taking action directly against the other persons insurer.  That has to be recorded as information only and *shouldn't* affect the premium paid, as no claim has been made.

[R1152]

11 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I binned Natwest's app, only use internet banking on a fully protected and updated PC.

To quote a friend of mine - and how do you know that really is a bank's site you're logging into? 

(he will not 'do' online banking, too prone to "man in the middle" attacks according to someone he met from GCHQ)

[Bren]

The car is my wife's. She is worried if she notifies her insurer she will get bent over - the other insurer has to admit liability.

[Talbot]

10 minutes ago, Bren said:

The car is my wife's. She is worried if she notifies her insurer she will get bent over - the other insurer has to admit liability.

it's highly likely that contracturally she will have to.  In the terms and conditions of your(her) current policy it will likely state something like "the insured party must make the insurer aware of any material fact relating to the insured vehicle", which essentially translates as "you have to tell us about everything"

I've heard of instances where a car stereo has been stolen, and the cost hasn't been worth it, so a replacement piece of glass (£10, breakers) and a replacement stereo (£30 ebay) has fixed it.  However, when later in that insured term the car was then stolen, the insurance refused to pay out as there was a material fact (the loss of the stereo) that wasn't declared, even though no claim was made.

I've had a similar situation just recently.  A minor bump where neither party was at fault. I notified my insurer, mainly to ensure the other person didn't try to make a claim against me (their damage was significantly more than mine on a much newer car).  It is recorded as a "loss", but of zero value.  It didn't affect my premiums any more than general movement of insurance prices (I changed insurers at the end of the term anyway).

The other insurer doesn't necessarily have to explicitly accept liability, however if you make the claim directly against them, with information that you(your wife's) car was parked and unoccupied at the time, then they have pretty much no option but to pay out as that's slam-dunk the neighbour's fault.  As soon as they pay out, that's acceptance of liability.

[loserone]

1 hour ago, R1152 said:

too prone to "man in the middle" attacks according to someone he met from GCHQ

Anyone from GCHQ would be questioning his threat model.  

 

Take reasonable precautions.  Don't click links from emails or SMS.  Make sure the device is patched.  Use MFA wherever you can.  But not using it at all is a pretty high impact to the A in CIA 😁

[R1152]

17 minutes ago, loserone said:

Anyone from GCHQ would be questioning his threat model.  

 

Take reasonable precautions.  Don't click links from emails or SMS.  Make sure the device is patched.  Use MFA wherever you can.  But not using it at all is a pretty high impact to the A in CIA 😁

It is frustrating because normally he sends me cheques which either means I have to post the things with a form or take a bus ride into the city nearby (it's cheaper than driving/parking) to pay them in. The one time I said "pay me with Paypal" I gave him an incorrect e-mail address thanks to a keyboard-induced typo, which he wasn't pleased about. Luckily, the e-mail address the typo produced doesn't exist. And I do know of one society that lost £20,000 thanks to hacked mail accounts and plausible e-mails asking for online payments to UK accounts that then disappear.

But yes, this was the advice he was given by a man from GCHQ when he worked in local government several years ago, and he has serious concerns with security and GDPR as well. I can see his point, as scams get ever more clever and elaborate but the truth is, my business couldn't function without managing its bank accounts online.

Otherwise, I already do the things you have suggested.

[loserone]

Just now, R1152 said:

this was the advice he was given by a man from GCHQ

No, it really wasn't.  That's my point.