Tales from the Mortgage Monster: automating logins
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So, it was clearly too much work for one of the Ops Dev team members to log into the application we were using. I mean, it wasn't single sign on with everything else (but then again, Oracle-based desktop app on top of Windows 2000?) and everyone had to sign in to it separately. Some of the ops people would have two or even three instances of this app going at once, which all wanted separate logins.
So this ops dev guy decided he'd automate it. Cranks out a small VB program to send the relevant key strokes to the application. SendKeys did the job just fine.
I suppose in hindsight that wasn't a terrible WTF.
On the other hand, leaving the application on the pool fileshare that everyone had access to probably wasn't the smartest thing ever. Leaving the source code there too... even less smart, when you hardcode your admin-level credentials into it. And of course, not locking down all systems so that executables couldn't just be randomly run from any-old-where.
Some of these WTFs were later resolved. Sadly it took Citrix to nail the last hole shut.
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Bonus Round: Ascent Capture. Store login credentials in plaintext in the Registry.
One day I should collate my WTFs and start a mini-series too.
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Bonus Round: Ascent Capture. Store login credentials in plaintext in the Registry.
One day I should collate my WTFs and start a mini-series too.
It was a WTF at "Registry"
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I mean yeah, the whole registry thing is largely going thermonuclear but plaintext inside the source... though the fact it was inside a VB project might have hidden it from 95% of the company anyway.
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When has hard-coding credentials ever backfired?
We have many passwords floating around in excel file. In theory anyone who has network access could get to any of these files as long as path is available. That is an approximate number of 27,000 persons. Nobody bother to get to the file, so everything is under control.
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When it comes to WTFs, I think @Nagesh has an unfair advantage.
Filed under: Topper
Do not underestimate WTF from other countries. There are severe and many.
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awww, I miss Nagesh
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I do not. I found his stupidity, whether real of feigned, tiresome.
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I'm honestly surprised that he's gone, especially after starting to use Discourse
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He was one of its most enthusiastic supporters in the early days; he even summoned Swampy over here. He was still active on CS after he stopped posting here. I still can't say I miss him, though.
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He made a fine whipping boy.
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Too easy; like shooting fish in a barrel.
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And there's a problem with that?
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Boring. At least after a while.
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Too easy; like shooting fish in a barrel.
@ben_lubar hasn't been too active around here, either. I guess school is keeping him busy these days.
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@ben_lubar hasn't been too active around here, either. I guess school is keeping him busy these days.
Well, I'm back and I'm game, does that count?
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But welcome back, BTW....was wondering when you'd make it back.
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He was playing Evolve on Sunday. I was surprised that his ISP was good enough to allow it, but he told me it's not bad all the time, it's just like oversold by an order of magnitude.
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it's just like oversold by an order of magnitude.
so it's less overburdened than TWC. i swear their residential lines are oversold by a factor of 1k
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so it's less overburdened than TWC. i swear their residential lines are oversold by a factor of 1k
I get 100-110% of my nominal speed on TWC.
At least, on the computer in the living room, which is sitting next to the modem, so it's directly connected. My son's room has approximately 2.5 walls in between, and can only get 1/4-1/2 the rated speed via wi-fi (altho tbh 5-10Mbps is fine for most purposes except, say, downloading WoW). The big problem is downloads tend to randomly cut off and have to be restarted. Very annoying at times. I'm not quite sure where the problem is.
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we had that for a while. every five minutes, exactly the internet would drop for about 100ms, just long enough to kill your download but not too long to really notice.
we eventually tracked it down to the cable modem firmware that was about 10 years out of date. TWC had upgraded a core router that didn't like the ancient firmware.
they were rather annoyed when we won the whole give us new modem or terminate our service argument and ended up walking out of there with new cable modem
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TWC had upgraded a core router that didn't like the ancient firmware.
Two different modems, two different makers (I think). This one is Arris. I forget what the last one was.
All my Android phones suffer a common problem that doesn't have a clean solution, either: randomly, or maybe after connecting to a different wi-fi hotspot, they will be unable to connect again to the home router without rebooting said router. Two different Samsung models and an HTC. Damndest thing, and very annoying. Good thing I have unlimited cellular data, because it turns out we've been using about 10GB/mo among three people.
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At least, on the computer in the living room, which is sitting next to the modem, so it's directly connected. My son's room has approximately 2.5 walls in between, and can only get 1/4-1/2 the rated speed via wi-fi (altho tbh 5-10Mbps is fine for most purposes except, say, downloading WoW). The big problem is downloads tend to randomly cut off and have to be restarted. Very annoying at times. I'm not quite sure where the problem is.
Power-line networking. It really works, and you can run wireless extenders over it without taking up extra sockets with the right models. (Great for dealing with the heavy load-bearing walls in this house.)
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Hm. I suppose that's an idea. I was hoping someone was going to say "get a bigger antenna" either on the router or the PC. :)
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I've tried that. Power-line networking works far better.
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Power-line networking works far better.
Of course, I live in a 40yo (or so) apartment building with somewhat sketchy wiring so I'm not sure it's a good idea. (I know it's not a guaranteed indicator, but every single outlet in the apartment is loose in the wall. Plus, two years ago we had to have a new cable run into his bedroom because the existing wire to his bedroom was corroded or something.)
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If your outlet wiring is home-run back to the fuseboard*, then you should be fine.
Any badly-wired ones shouldn't affect the others - though you do want them fixed before you burn the building down!Bear in mind that your electricity meter does not block it. Your powerline network is definitely visible to everyone on your phase of your local transformer, and probably also visible to the other phases.
So your bandwidth is limited by how many other people are using it in your apartment block, and the network security is entirely down to how good the manufacturers of the kit are. Just like WiFi.
*Which it probably is as ring-final circuits are very British, and make pretty good loop antennas.
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Just got a lot of personal shit going on, years' worth of crap I've been pretending wasn't an issue when it clearly was - and now I have people in my life who won't let me avoid it any longer.
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years' worth of crap I've been pretending wasn't an issue when it clearly was
My son does this over the course of a week or two. Then there's a lot of drama and finally a stopped up toilet and I celebrate with a plunger.
Wait...you were speaking metaphorically, weren't you?
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He generates years' worth of crap in a week or two? He'll make a great software developer some day.
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Yes, yes I was. Your son probably should get more fibre (fiber) in his diet.
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Believe you me, he gets a lot of fiber. The only thing that really makes a difference are actual laxatives / stool softeners.
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I'd be asking what is in his diet making it so tough then. Something is quite wrong there :(
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Shortly after he was born, he didn't poop for, like, two weeks. Then, perfectly normal. Apparently, he was just being really efficient. The doctor didn't have a better explanation for it than that.
But these days, he just doesn't like to interrupt what he's doing, so he tries to keep it in (with varying levels of success, of course) which leads to constipation. Ugh.
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That's a fairly crappy situation :(
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No +1 for you!
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Well, shit.
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The big problem is downloads tend to randomly cut off and have to be restarted. Very annoying at times. I'm not quite sure where the problem is.
Is your WAP dual-band? If so, giving its 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios different SSIDs can stop marginally-connected clients from trying to improve their error rate by flipping bands, which often goes poorly.
If it's single-band, but has auto channel selection turned on, try fixing it to one channel. In a room 2.5 walls away from the WAP I wouldn't be surprised to see channel-dependent standing wave patterns, causing the client to drop out whenever the WAP happens to switch to a channel that puts it in a dark spot.
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All my Android phones suffer a common problem that doesn't have a clean solution, either: randomly, or maybe after connecting to a different wi-fi hotspot, they will be unable to connect again to the home router without rebooting said router. Two different Samsung models and an HTC. Damndest thing, and very annoying.
Android DHCP on Wifi is FUBAR. Give your home LAN an unusual private IP address range (mine is 192.168.119.0/24) and make sure you have plenty of DHCP leases in the pool, so that when Android decides randomly to re-use an IP address it might maybe have seen before, it will (a) not stomp some other device on your LAN and (b) probably end up with the address your LAN's DHCP server would give it if it asked.
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Apparently, he was just being really efficient. The doctor didn't have a better explanation for it than that.
But these days, he just doesn't like to interrupt what he's doing, so he tries to keep it in (with varying levels of success, of course) which leads to constipation.
He's prob
Oh fuck off Discourse if I want your advice I'll ask for it
ably stretched his rectum and is now averse to shitting because he knows it's gonna hurt. Poor little bugger.
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Yes, I'm pretty sure that plays a role.
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Is your WAP dual-band?
I can't find any indication in the admin interface, so I assume it's not.
If it's single-band, but has auto channel selection turned on, try fixing it to one channel.
Did that a long time ago. It's on channel 1--most of the other people on the neighborhood are on 6 or 11. I was wondering if 3/4 or 8/9 would help at all. The physical distance is only about 15-18 feet.
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Android DHCP on Wifi is FUBAR.
Hmm. I'm on 4.4.something so that shouldn't be an issue but I can probably try that too.
