The Mad Bull’s Blog, Version 3

Bwoy, things sure can change, huh? Way back in the day, I used to eat, sleep and breathe IT related stuff. Nowadays, I am having issues with my own PC.

I decided that I would install and fool around with PHPWiki, right? First I had to get a web server up to scratch on my PC though, right? So I was mucking about with IIS. It was giving me some issues where it wouldn’t run VBScript though, some permission problem. I was trying to get that fixed for awhile, and I decided to make a few changes to the Windows components installed on my PC.

Next thing I notice, my web browsing speed has gone WAY down! Now networking has never really been my thing, I have always found it a bit of a bore. I mean, I know enough to help myself, but I think setting up and maintaining networks every day of life would probably make me kill myself. I always did prefer writing code and mucking about with databases. Anyway, I did some investigation (comparing settings and stuff with another PC). It seems I have turned on something named Teredo (apparently it allows one to do IPv6 over IPv4, but when I first saw it I was like “OMG, is that some virus or what?! ).

Anyway, ever since it was loaded, my PC is dead slow (web-wise). At least, I think it is the problem. Still cant be sure, I haven’t run an “ipconfig” command on my PC in awhile, so I can’t be sure exactly when Teredo was loaded unto my PC. It could have been just now, or months ago! (Update: I have removed the Teredo now, and web browsing speed has gone back to normal) Come to think of it, I also noticed a number of services running that I had no idea about! What the hell were they doing on my box? Research showed that they were ok, they were related to some CD burning software I had loaded, but can anyone tell me why you need a service running all the time for burning CDs, which is normally not done every day! Only God knows, I’m sure! Maybe I will just format the rass PC and start over. I have been planning to do that for awhile now. Since I have another Windoze PC here now, why the hell not?

Still, what gets me is this? Back in the day, I used to know something about so many areas in IT. Now, its like even silly Windows is posing a problem from time to time. You know what though? I think that this change has resulted from the trend over the years for companies to lock down and compartmentalise everything I/T-related. Back in the day, I was given free rein because I worked in I/T. I could get extra PCs and hubs, etc. etc. to work with, I could experiment and learn anything I wanted to!

Now, if I want to do something as simple as getting a PC to join the Windoze Domain, I have to beg someone to do it for me because I don’t have the appropriate access rights!

Shit, to even get access to a Windoze share to look at an Access database I am supposed to support, I have to get the permission of the top security guy, and I have to get approval from this one and that one, and then I have to schedule with someone else to test the simple changes I have made, and someone else to put the change into production, yadda, yadda, yadda. Its all very frustrating. (Update: I have since resolved this issue, had to get the user to login on my PC, then I copied their database to my PC and had them log off, then I put in my fix, had them log back in on my PC so I could copy the database back to the restricted fileshare and that was it. I still don’t understand why it was such a problem to give me access to the drive though. :roll:)

Now when everything is locked away, you face a two-fold challenge. You eventually start to forget what you knew already, which is why they say, “Use it or lose it.”, and what you know becomes less important anyway, as new versions of the software and operating systems are constantly emerging. Since you can’t just experiment and learn things at work anymore, if you want to really learn stuff, you have to shell out megabucks to buy PCs for home to do your learning and experimenting there. This sucks, and also its not always possible.

Not that I don’t recognise the need for all this bureaucracy and security and ting at work, but I still don’t like it. Its all seems like a big load of bullshit! Cho.

Anyway, thats my rant for the day. Enough snarky bitchiness. I have to go get ready for work now. I have to go in 1.5 hours early so we can change the config on a server at work, before everyone gets in and we start to affect them. I went to bed early because of it, but trust me, I hardly slept at all, for some reason. I think its going to be a LONG day! (Updated: Actually, all went well at work, and it wasn’t such a long day after all All that my tiredness really affected was “Lost“. I fell asleep during last night’s episode, most likely due to the fact that I was sipping on a couple of Rum Punches (powered by J. Wray & Nephews’ Overproof White Rum) during the show. Dem was some irie rum punches, bwoy! They packed a hell of a punch. :grin:)

TTYL.

Tags: General, How Awful //