Downside up ...

If you are a windows user, you may (or likely may not) know that if you press ctrl+arrow (in any direction), it will rotate the display.

To be honest, I can't remember when this was introduced, but like many windows shortcuts, it took some considerable time before it became a 'known fact'.

Now, one hapless colleague in our computing department was not respected for their technical ability. Often wandering around in a daze, they were better known for their disappearing acts rather than their teaching.

At one point, before flatscreen monitors, a colleague and I had managed to acquire 21 inch CRT monitors for our desks (long story, but in 1999 they were impressive). Jealous, this colleague would often ask us to source one for their use.

Eventually we became fed up, mainly as they hogged desk space and we changed to some nicer monitors with inbuilt speakers. To say that we were technologically superficial, is a fair statement.

So, I let the hapless colleague have my old monitor, they were a happy soul, unaware of my ulterior intent.

I waited a while, let them settle, become accustomed to their new toy and accept that it is reliable. Before I released my wit upon them.

So, i applied the short cut, ctrl+arrow, and inverted the display. They wandered into the staffroom, confused they asked everyone what was the matter with their monitor. Having tipped off the teccies who were used to my pranks and liked a laugh, they feined helpfulness and blamed all sorts but were bravely unsuccessful in fixing the issue.

At this point, I waded into the situation and offered to help, everyone backed off, hapless colleague looked dumbstruck as i tipped the monitor over 180 degrees and said "I am sure if you leave it like this for long enough, it will flip back".

The teccies smirking backed off, hapless colleague dumbfounded sat down and started working on their computer.

In a while they left the staff room to teach another session; giving me the chance to pop over and press ctrl+arrow again.

I guess they rotated their monitor back, who knows, after this, other colleagues would wander over and press ctrl+arrow when the hapless soul was out of the staff room and they would come in, shake their head whilst rotating their monitor.

Eventually they asked for a new (smaller) monitor, which we happily supplied. We resisted the temptation to continue with their torment, I am sure we were doing something else to them by this time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wikipedia editors never walk alone: Hillsborough changes can be traced ... from @ConversationUK

Image
By Andrew Smith , The Open University According to the Liverpool Echo , UK government computers have been used to make offensive comments on the Wikipedia page detailing the 1989 Hillsbourgh Disaster over a number of years. The newspaper reports that revisions to the page have been made from computers using the government’s secure intranet since 2009. They include insults to Liverpool fans and a comment suggesting that fans were responsible for the football ground disaster, in which 96 people died. This case highlights the continual issue of trolling and cybervandalism on Wikipedia. It also shows how journalism is using good, technical forensic tools at the disposal of every cybercitizen. Cybercitizens can be good or bad So many of us use Wikipedia on a daily basis that it is one of the most visited websites in the world. Yet not that many of us really understand how it works. Wikipedia is based on the principle that the community can create, edit and refine pages covering
Read more

If airlines offer in-flight Wi-Fi, they should invest in an extra black box for security ...

Image
Yijun Yu , The Open University and Andrew Smith , The Open University In-flight Wi-Fi is one of the most sought-after facilities for air travellers these days, now that laptops and smartphones are so common and so much of our working and personal life revolves around online services. But a US Government Accountability Office report has suggested that many in-flight wireless networks could expose the plane to being hacked or remotely controlled . In fact it’s of such a concern to US authorities that when a well-known computer security expert made an admittedly ill-thought-out joke about doing so on Twitter, he was promptly arrested, his computers confiscated, and subsequently banned from the airline . And all he was suggesting was to make the oxygen masks drop down. So it would appear that the stuff of Hollywood may jump from fiction to fact: Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore starred in the 2014 film Non-Stop , where a passenger hacking the aircraft’s internal wirel
Read more

Highlights and lowlights of 2014, a golden year for cybercrime from @ConversationUK

Image
Looking back, 2014 was not a good year for keeping things safe under digital lock and key. If a score was being kept, it might seem that the cybercriminals are in the lead, despite the valiant efforts – and own goals – from the cybersecurity profession worldwide. Cast your mind back to March , everyone was panicking about the HeartBleed bug. Based on an error in code upon which the majority of the world’s secure servers relied, experts had plenty of time to fix the issue. Sadly there was an array of conflicting information about changing passwords, leading to widespread confusion. While most IT administrators made sure this was managed in a professional manner, it created a stir that seemed to set the tone for the year. In May , online auction giant Ebay admitted to having been compromised. The site said its systems, with personal details of tens of millions of users, may have had been vulnerable for months. Everyone was advised, indeed forced, to change their password. In the
Read more