Today's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

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#3440316 5-Dec-2025 08:54

Shockingly, not Florida

Raccoon passed out on liquor store bathroom floor after drunken rampage in Virginia, USA

Behodar

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#3441947 9-Dec-2025 10:51

Microsoft documentation (paraphrased):

"You can perform this upgrade automatically by entering the following into Copilot:

Convert all serialization code in this #solution from Newtonsoft.Json to System.Text.Json, using the recommended approach for my current .NET version.
- Update attributes and properties, including rules for skipping or renaming during serialization
- Ensure polymorphic serialization continues to work correctly
- Respect existing custom converters and project-level settings (for example, from the Utilities folder or appsettings.json)
- Update related unit tests and highlight any potential breaking changes
- Generate a migration summary"

Didn't we invent point-and-click GUIs so that we didn't need to type reams of text in order to get anything done?!

kingdragonfly

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#3442161 9-Dec-2025 19:09

In the UK, "Office of Communications." is "Ofcom". It is the regulator authority for the UK communications industries.

They are proposing all file-storage and file-sharing providers to scan all files, looking for known illegal content. (called hash-matching)

The proposal treat public (like instagram) and private (your personal backup) cloud storage the same.

Microsoft OneDrive, sitting ready ready to use in Windows 11, would be included. It provides backup/sync features for desktop folders.

Microsoft already uses hash-matching / automated detection on content in its services.

Ofcom’s measures would further entrench Microsoft's scanning of your files (OneDrive backups). This includes Office 365 (Excel/Word) saved to OneDrive.

Ofcom’s measures would include Google Drive and its paid expanded-storage plan Google One, meaning Android phone users in the UK.

And Apple iCloud meaning iphone and Apple-device users.

Apple has argued the legislation would enable the UK government to “secretly veto” new security or privacy protections for all users worldwide.

Even though New Zealand is obviously outside the UK, we might be unaffected directly. Global providers often apply uniform policies, so UK regulation changes might still ripple outward, as Apple has argued.

If you use Cloud storage, you may consider privacy-conscious cloud storage in Switzerland / Switzerland-friendly providers, such as pCloud, Tresorit, Infomaniak kDrive, Proton Drive.

UK Ofcom’s 2026 File-Monitoring Plan: The Quiet Push Into Your Private Files
Tech, Privacy, News - Explained

Behodar

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#3442164 9-Dec-2025 19:44

kingdragonfly: such as pCloud

I wouldn't touch pCloud after they removed a bunch of API endpoints without warning and then lied about them.

kingdragonfly

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#3442251 10-Dec-2025 11:40

Reported by New Zealand Herald today.

It's about Lumma Stealer.

Typically something that tell them to a press Windows Key + R and pastes a command.

New Zealand Herald talks about fake banking email. While that MIGHT be how kiwis are getting infected, it's not how most people world-wide are getting infected.

A new variation attackers deliver a fake-CAPTCHA or “human verification” web page that tricks the user into thinking they’re proving they are human. Often after clicking something like a “Download” or “Verify” button on a shady site.

As before that page then instructs the user to run a command via the Windows Run dialog.

I know you'll say "Only a dummy would be fooled by this infection vector" or "If you're that stupid you deserve to get infected" but have some empathy.

Or you might say "this is not new." But perhaps NZ Herald is correct that bank phishing email is targeting us; I seem to remember getting a text with a website address recently.

26,000 New Zealand devices said to be infected by malware

nzherald.co.nz

freitasm

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#3442310 10-Dec-2025 12:44

Today's Windows Updates includes

CVE-2025-62554 and CVE-2025-62557 involve Microsoft Office, and both can be exploited merely by viewing a booby-trapped email message in the Preview Pane.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

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kingdragonfly

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#3442405 10-Dec-2025 14:52

More information on Microsoft's screw up

Microsoft’s Outlook ADMX templates do not include a “Disable Reading Pane” or “Disable Preview Pane” setting.

Reading Pane options are considered per-user UI preferences, not centrally managed security controls.

So: No GPO checkbox, unfortunately.

There's a clunky registry update, which I wouldn't recommend.
Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\WunderBar

ANglEAUT

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#3442411 10-Dec-2025 15:05

Somebody is a bit pushy today! Thankfully I don't have a 32" monitor. Maybe, we should bring Clippy back? At least he was small & down in the corner. Not in your face like this.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

freitasm

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#3442414 10-Dec-2025 15:22

Using Calibri is woke!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7k8.oAd7.0JjDItlxCwnc&smid=url-share

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Biden-era move to the sans serif typeface “wasteful,” casting the return to Times New Roman as part of a push to stamp out diversity efforts.

While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork.

Seriously, what a time to be alive.

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PolicyGuy

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#3442415 10-Dec-2025 15:23

ANglEAUT:

Somebody is a bit pushy today! Thankfully I don't have a 32" monitor. Maybe, we should bring Clippy back? At least he was small & down in the corner. Not in your face like this.

If you've got a Windows-11 PC and want to turn off all the AI slop, well here's one approach ...

Tom's Hardware: This GitHub script claims to wipe all of Windows 11's AI features in seconds — "RemoveWindowsAI" can disable every single AI feature in the OS, from Copilot to Recall and more
https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/this-github-script-claims-to-wipe-all-of-windows-11s-ai-features-in-seconds-removewindowsai-can-disable-every-single-ai-feature-in-the-os-from-copilot-to-recall-and-more

Behodar

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#3442425 10-Dec-2025 16:28

We're now up to five ads before a YouTube video starts playing. How much further can they cram the wedge in?

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kingdragonfly

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#3442427 10-Dec-2025 16:45

freitasm:
Using Calibri is woke!

I was a typesetter many decades ago.

Both Times New Roman and Calibri are proprietary fonts, but everything you're likely to use, both small and massive, will already have the appropriate licenses. So both are basically free.

You can argue about the feeling that each induces, but you could also argue about the feelings induce by taping a banana to a wall and calling it art also.

There are arguments among font experts on which is more readable to sight impaired.

So basically it's Republicans saying "The democrats did it, so it's bad, and we're going to undo it."

In a funny side story, see Maryam Nawaz accused of document forgery: "The Calibri typeface is at the heart of a Pakistani scandal after investigators accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif‘s daughter of presenting forged documents to a corruption probe against the Sharif family."

deepred

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#3442428 10-Dec-2025 16:51

kingdragonfly:
freitasm:

Using Calibri is woke!

I was a typesetter many decades ago.

Both Times New Roman and Calibri are proprietary fonts, but everything you're likely to use, both small and massive, will already have the appropriate licenses. So both are basically free.

You can argue about the feeling that each induces, but you could also argue about the feelings induce by taping a banana to a wall and calling it art also.

There are arguments among font experts on which is more readable to sight impaired.

So basically it's Republicans saying "The democrats did it, so it's bad, and we're going to undo it."

In a funny side story, see Maryam Nawaz accused of document forgery: "The Calibri typeface is at the heart of a Pakistani scandal after investigators accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif‘s daughter of presenting forged documents to a corruption probe against the Sharif family."

CNN: In these polarized times, people see even fonts as liberal or conservative

"I regret to say that we of the F.B.I. are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce." — J. Edgar Hoover

"Create a society that values material things above all else. Strip it of industry. Raise taxes for the poor and reduce them for the rich and for corporations. Prop up failed financial institutions with public money. Ask for more tax, while vastly reducing public services. Put adverts everywhere, regardless of people's ability to afford the things they advertise. Allow the cost of food and housing to eclipse people's ability to pay for them. Light blue touch paper." — Andrew Maxwell

gzt

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#3442471 10-Dec-2025 18:25

Behodar: We're now up to five ads before a YouTube video starts playing. How much further can they cram the wedge in?

I'm not seeing that on my tv streamer or android phone. I don't recall seeing it on my Windows desktop although I use YouTube there less frequently. Which platform are you on?

Tinkerisk

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#3442474 10-Dec-2025 18:46

freitasm:

Today's Windows Updates includes

CVE-2025-62554 and CVE-2025-62557 involve Microsoft Office, and both can be exploited merely by viewing a booby-trapped email message in the Preview Pane.

The more employees Microsoft lays off, the faster you should say goodbye to Windows and Office – purely for technical reasons.

- NET: FTTH & VDSL, OPNsense, 10G backbone, GWN APs
- SRV: 12 RU HA server cluster, 0.1 PB storage on premise
- IoT: thread, zigbee, tasmota, BidCoS, LoRa, WX suite, IR
- 3D: two 3D printers, 3D scanner, CNC router, laser cutter

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