Today's Headache

09:58.18 - Wednesday 20th August 2003   (Link to This Entry)

W32/Sobig.f@MM - I'm having enough fun with W32.Blaster.Worm without another collection of rotten-arsed code causing me grief. This morning I received several message bounces in my capacity of server administrator from a client account containing the aforementioned crud. As far as I can make out they're bounces from the far end that have been returned but diverted to me because my user's mailbox is full. I think.

Oh, and I got another scan notification on the server as well, seems someone's been nosying round, again. Nice way to wake up I suppose.

NTL: Technology Maimed #2

21:46.40 - Wednesday 20th August 2003   (Link to This Entry)

It's quite difficult but I'm trying not to laugh at my mate in the next town over but it's hard to keep a straight face in the.. uh.. face of such ineptitude. I shall recant it herewith. Kev is trying to upgrade his NTL package from 600K to 1Mb. You'd think it was easy, after all I managed it online within about two minutes and was surfing in the fast lane straight away, but not for Kev. Oh no.

You can tell you're in for an experience when you select "Upgrade your Broadband Internet Service" and it asks for your postcode instead of your account details. WTF #1 right there! Of course, Kev being such an old hand he registered his cable modem yeeeears ago and as such his postcode produces the message "There is no Cable service in your area", which is certainly news to Kev, sat staring at the cable modem next to him.

Anyway, he rings up Customer Services and they say he's an 'OffNet' customer. WTF #2! He gets put through to another department and it turns out they only handle dialup, so he's given yet another number which turns out to be an automated server instructing him to go back the the number the first dialled. Huzzah!

So now they're going to send him a CD so he can register the Cable Modem he's been using for the past few years. Are we happy yet? Hahah!

In the meantime we try the online approach again: I enter my postcode and get to a completely unrelated page that finally asks for my account details - shouldn't this have been the first bloody step? I post Kev the URL and he enters his details - and something happens! Oh...

Although your cable modem (Mac address: 00:00:00:00:00:00) allows you to access the internet, you account was not fully registered as an ntl:home Broadband Internet account. You do have a dial up account, but your dial up account (username) details can not be currently used to authenticate your cable modem details.

But! Even though he has an account username and password, and even though the page can pick up his Mac address, thus identifying his modem, he still can't upgrade the package. WTF #3!

So he rings the 0845 number again and... closed. If you see an article about an NTL callcentre being wiped out by an axe-wielding maniac in tomorrow's newspaper, you know why.