The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Tuesday, January 07, 2020

The Heisenberg Notification Center of Windows 10

So it's been a few months since I received the Corporate Overlord's mandated managed Windows 10 laptop and among some of the annoying aspects of it are these little notifications that briefly pop up and then disappear. I'll have it on so it can do its thing (if I don't have it “phone home” at least once every three weeks, the Corporate Overlords will assume it's been stolen and have it remotely wiped next time its turned on) and I'm doing my thing when this little chime rings out. I then have to stop what I'm doing as this small box slides into the lower right corner of the screen, and by the time I get my gaze to the box, it slides quickly out of view, only leaving me with a glimpse of something or other updating or needing updating or I need to update or who knows what. I can't read it in time before it slides away into the bit bucket.

And as far as I can tell, there's no real way to recall them, nor any way to configure the notification to remain on the screen longer than it takes me to glance at the lower right corner of the screen (as if I could modify anything on this “managed” laptop anyway).

Sometimes, I question whether I'm seeing things or not. I'm finding the whole experience a bit unsettling.

It could be an omen, or it could be that someone just forgot to water the poinsettia

Just outside my office at the Ft. Lauderdale Office of the Corporation is this rather sad looking poinsettia:

[A picture of a nearly (if not outright) dead poinsettia. During Christmas vacation, my aunt on MyFaceMeLinkedSpaceBookWeIn linked to an article about keeping poinsettias around because they can be used to filter the toxins out of the air. I hate to think that this is what is happening to this poor poinsettia (never mind us!).]

I'm just hoping it's someone just forgot to water the poor thing.

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