wright_is

Here is one that would fall nicely into Ask Paul on Friday, but I'm currently frustrated!!!

I'm currently moving user profiles from one partition to another (department changes) and Windows keeps complaining that it can't read the files, because the path name or filename is too long!

Why the fragging* heck did Windows Server allow the files to be written in the first place, if the names are too fragging long?

So, now, I'm going through nearly 1,900 folders and 11,000 files looking for 350 files whose names were too long to be read, then manually renaming them to something shorter and copying them across!

The source and destination path depths are the same, so it isn't that they are going to a deeper level that messes them up on the destination, they are "illegal" names where they currently are!

Windows can fire truck** right off!

* fragging: from Babylon 5, to allow characters to express themselves on a show to be aired at prime time.

** fire truck: from Jodi Taylor's "Doing Time", to allow the book to be aimed at younger readers, whilst also providing hilarity for older readers.

I'm not sure when this happened, but I just noticed that when I now move mails to folders, the appear alphabetically, regardless of case.

In the past, upper case was listed first, then lower case. So eRetail came after TWiT and Versicherung (insurance) . As I went to move an email today, the list was shown in proper alphabetical order. So Microsoft has dragged Outlook for Androids sort routine out of the 1970s and brought it up to date!

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Fold-mit-faltbarem-Display-die-nahtlose-Verschmelzung-von-Tablet-und-Notebook-4572042.html

Very interesting. At the Lenovo conference in Munich this week, select reporters were given a hands-on with 1 of 2 world-wide prototypes of the new ThinkPad X1 Fold, folding Windows PC.

The screen isn't from Samsung, but Lenovo didn't say anything other than they had an exclusive contract for the technology. The device currently runs with Windows 10, but should get 10 X by launch.

The launch is planned for H2 2020, the same timeframe as the Surface Neo.

The reporter said the hinge is solid and provides a constant radius when folding. He said, that you could feel the years of experience on building laptops, like the Yoga, come out in the device. It was in a leather case and had many of the design cues from the ThinkPad line.

He said that the fold disappears when fully open, as if the screen stretches itself in the last couple of millimetres to make the screen taught again. Although he said that it felt natural to hold it not fully open, like you would a book.

When in laptop-mode (i.e. ~90-120°), the keyboard is shown on the lower screen and Lenovo is still working on providing haptic feedback to simulate typing on a real keyboard.

The custom software for the device is still missing, as this was a first public look at the prototype.

Interestingly, heise reported at the end of last week that some navigation system makers are having problems as well.

The communications modules in their systems are from Huawei, which in turn have Qualcomm chips in them. With the current problems with the US Government, this means that they can no longer get supplies of the communications boards / the long term supply is in question as Huawei won't be able to provide the boards one the ban comes into effect.

What is Microsoft doing with the new Office icons? Are they released or aren't they? Which machines get them, which don't?

• Home PC, Office 365 Home - new icons
• Home laptop Office 365 Home - old icons
• Wife's laptop Office 365 Home (sub account) - new icons
• Android work - new icons
• Android private - new icons
• Work laptop, Office 365 E5 - old icons
• Work VM, Office 365 E5 - new icons
• Work Terminal Server, Office 365 E5 (installed today) - old icons

That is 2 separate accounts, my Office 365 Home on 4 devices and my work Office 365 E5 account on 4 devices. It is the same throughout our organisation, some users have the new icons some the old, where they use multiple devices, one device will have the old icons, others the new icons. It makes it very confusing for some users, that they have different icons for the same applications on different devices.

Why don't they roll it out per account or per tenant, instead of rolling a random number to decide if the current install gets the new or the old icons. And it isn't even the age of the installation, as noted above, the Terminal Server was set up yesterday and I installed Office 365 on it this morning.

Interesting, c't magazine in Germany has an article on the current state of the mobile market and the most searched for phones on online shops.

The P30 and the P30 Pro have risen quickly up the search rankings, the conclusion drawn is that many are speculating on massive price drops on Huawei kit because of the current crisis.

The full top 10 list of the "most wanted":

1. Huawei P30 Pro (760€)
2. Samsung Galaxy S10 Duos (dual SIM version, 659€)
3. Google Pixel 3a (399€)
4. Samsung Galaxy S10e Duos (538€)
5. Samsung Galaxy A50 Duos (273€)
6. Huawei P30 Dual-SIM (540€)
7. Samsung Galaxy A40 Duos (203€)
8. Apple iPhone 8 64GB (583€)
9. Samsing Galaxy S9 Duos (466€)
10. Xiaomi Mi 9 (465€)

Amazon Germany is offering the XBox Games Pass Ultimate at 16.99€ for 3 months, instead of 38.99€ as an introductory offer today.

https://smile.amazon.de/dp/B07SDJ9Q68/?th=1

I don't know if Amazon in other countries is also offering it. Now, if only I played games...

The German BSI (Federal Office for Security in IT) has put out a warning for 4 Chinese made Android devices, the Doogee BL7000, the M Horse Pure 1, the Keecoo P11 and the VKworld Mix Plus.

BSI had carried out a test, buying cheap Chinese smartphones from online shops and checking them for malware. The 4 models listed were found to be infected with Andr/Xgen2-CY. The malware transfers information from the device to a C&C server and also has the ability to download additional modules, such as banking trojans.

BSI reported that the malware is too deeply anchored in the device to be effectively removed by the user.

The BSI recommends users not use the Doogee BL700 or M Horse Pure 1 devices and seek to get a refund or a non-infected device through the retailer.

The Keecoo P11 has a clean update available, V3.04 (V362HH.SHWY.HB.HJ.P3.0315.V3.04), users of these phones should perform an over the air update and get the clean version. Because the trustworthiness of future updates can't be guaranteed, it is also recommended to look for an alternative device.

On the VKWorld Mix Plus, the malware was not activated.

The platforms that were selling the devices have temporarily removed them from their shops, after the results were communicated to them by the BSI.

Just a quick note, I got the June patches for my Mate 10 Pro through yesterday, so it seems the updates are still flowing, at least at the moment.

Upgrades are another matter, of course.

On my phones, the Mate 10 Pro came with the "traditional" Google three button layout (back, home and task list).

The P20 came with the traditional button layout or the long "pill" shaped single button, which I used for a while.

Then, when Pie came out, they both got the gestures navigation (swipe up from the bottom edge for home, swipe from left or right for back and swipe up and hold for task list).

I've now switched both over to the gesture based navigation, which means the space "wasted" on the buttons at the bottom of the screen can be reclaimed by the app or the home screen. I'm liking it so far.

So the question is, which navigation method do you use, and why?

Some of the new icons turned up this morning on Office 365 Home in Germany.

Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote for Windows 10 have the new icons, Access, Publisher, OneNote and Skype are still missing.