JB's Blog

They’ve finally done it…

JB Hewitt — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:14:00 +0000

For years and years I’ve had paranoid users complain to me about webcams on their laptops.

So many times I have to re-commision a laptop I have to remove the tape over the camera

No doubt they’ll still tape over it.

It’s 2011 and we’re still clicking ‘Save’

JB Hewitt — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:29:59 +0000

I had the delightful experience of informing one of my Users today that he’d lost a days work.

Scenario was I receive a call from a pleading user who had a Microsoft Project file ‘that wouldn’t open’ and I had to try and fix it. A cursory look at the file showed that it was indeed corrupt as the file-size was a pint-size 8kb and the headers were all garbage. ( Hot-tip for UNIX admins, fall in love with the file command )

The only option to recover the file was going to backups and this site only had overnight backups.

I was curious on why Microsoft Project would write garbage out to the file and talked with the User to retrace his steps.

Step 1) Logon in the morning and double click on the MS Project file

Step 2) Unplug network cable and walk into a meeting room to work with others for the day

Step 3) After a day of dealing walk back to his desk and plug in the network cable hitting ‘SAVE’

Now the Samba logs aren’t that detailed in this site but I’m guessing he hit the SAVE button prior to his machine receiving DHCP, logging on the file server, any of that jazz.

It’s an honest mistake.

To the computer literate and those that know what the floppy disk symbol of a save icon represents.

It raises a question though. It’s 2011, why do we have to keep clicking ‘Save’ files? I hope in the next decade I can look back and see progress. In the meantime, there’s dropbox.

What you don’t want to see on a Monday morning….

JB Hewitt — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:01:27 +0000

Kernel fault.

Keep it simple… keyboard frustrations

JB Hewitt — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:25:46 +0000

So I got a job handed to me from a frustrated admin who’s been trying to fix a seemingly crazy problem. It’s compounded because the problem was remote as well.

Symptom: User is reporting sporadic keys being pressed.

Troubleshooting: oh boy, here’s the list of things that were done before I had a look…

step 1) Assume hardware keyboard failure with laptop. Try to get user to clean the keyboard and look for any blockages, etc. Result: no fix.

step 2) Assume laptop’s keyboard is faulty and recommend sending in for repairs. Configure spare laptop for user whilst machine is in repair. Result: After an few hours usage the user rings back reporting same problem.

step 3) (next day) Assume some software being migrated between old laptop to new affecting keys being pressed. Search google and find numerous references to crazy trojan viruses and other nasties. Create new user login from scratch and purge user profile. Result: no fix

step 4) Assume some type of trojan, spyware, virus is affecting both laptops and begin extensive antivirus scans. Result: no fix

So keep it simple?

I was handed this job and I asked what was the original problem? By this stage it seemed quite convoluted and what’s worse the problem was intermitted at best.

I remote into the Windows laptop, looked at the device manager and notice there are two keyboards listed…. I ring up the user and ask is there anything else plugged into the laptop.

Turns out he did have a device plugged into the machine. It was an plugin for his wireless logitech mouse… turns out it was also a plugin for a wireless logitech keyboard. The keyboard had shifted around the office over time and had somehow made it into the bottom of a filing cabinet that was being bumped once in a while by the receptionist downstairs.

So next time you come across a problem, please take a deep breath and rule out the simple things first.

Personal Diary now handled by….

JB Hewitt — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:58:42 +0000

With swapping this Blog out to pure SysAdmin goodness I’ve been on the hunt for a decent personal journal solution.

I’m trying out a new App called ‘Day One’ which has Mac and iPhone support.

The key feature I love is that it uses Dropbox to sync. So you’re always up to date and have online copies of your memories. I had a quick poke in the database and it looks like the database it keeps are simple flat file XML.

Creation Date
2011-03-11T00:48:07Z Entry Text
The 11th of March and I’m going to attempt to try and journal….

The plainer the text the better the application in my opinion. Especially when it comes to things like Journals and information you want to keep longer then a year.

I hope the author will include picture support in future.

JB’s Blog relaunch… sorta

JB Hewitt — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:30:54 +0000

I’ve had this blog since 2004 and I’ve never really kept it up to date as often as I would like.

Now I have decided it’s purpose, and that’s to be a repository of knowledge for all my SysAdmin related junk. I’m going to update it as frequently as I find new and interesting tidbits of info to share with the world.

So no more personal info, no more soppy posts, just hardcore sysadmin junk.

Now here is a photo of my dog looking very, very interested in what’s happening above.