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‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

airforcemag.com

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Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#51

Post by praash »

omni wrote: post #38
yabones wrote: post #7

> Currently the service uses both McAfee and Tanium software packages to scan and protect service-issued endpoints like laptops. The problem isn't hardware, it's that they're using the worst antivirus known to mankind. It's not throwing money at the problem, it's about what can be removed.

The problem is definitely hardware. If you actually read the linked sources, it sounds like the Air Force bought a ton of spinning rust HDD machines in 2018 for the lowest possible price they could. They probably only have 4GB of RAM too, then, given what low end specs were like at the time. Good luck getting anything done today with those specs.

That's not actually such "low end spec" that would cause logins and mails to take an hour to process.

To me, the whole ordeal screams: software bloat, software misconfiguration, background service overload. You could snappily send mail 15 years ago, and the computational task itself hasn't grown much, besides bloated browser login windows.

Try booting a 2 GB RAM machine to some RAM-preloading Linux thumbdrive and you'll see why the problem is not "spinning rust HDDs" and "only 4 GB RAM"

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#52

Post by the_only_law »

cnasc wrote: post #46
the_only_law wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Couple that with all the security crap the DoD has to put on there (which probably spends half its time trying to grab resources from the other security software) Corporate spyware is a huge impact to performance, particularly if you have an HDD. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a computer start to lock up because some security software needs to absolutely abuse the disk.

A “boon” is something that is helpful, not detrimental

Edited

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#53

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

mysterydip wrote: post #21

The crux of the issue is in these four words: "lowest price technically acceptable." In the name of saving money, good intentions cause more waste in time and money.

I disagree. I think the crux of the issue is that modern computing is garbage.

https://www.google.com/search?q=frustrating

My, a lot of those images involve computers for some reason...

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#54

Post by the_only_law »

muttled wrote: post #49
the_only_law wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Couple that with all the security crap the DoD has to put on there (which probably spends half its time trying to grab resources from the other security software) Corporate spyware is a huge impact to performance, particularly if you have an HDD. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a computer start to lock up because some security software needs to absolutely abuse the disk.

I'm in security, and one thing I always try to stress is that if the security software is causing work stoppages, it should be treated with the same importance as an outage. Just as you wouldn't tolerate an internet connection that went down all the time. Outages from security measures are still outages.

I’d love to get my hands on some of this crap, just to watch what all it’s actually doing. God knows I can’t afford that bloatware though.

I’ve got a hint that a lot of it is doing stuff that the OS might even consider malicious.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#56

Post by muttled »

StillBored wrote: post #26
iamben wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to know WHY it takes over an hour to load Outlook? Can anyone enlighten me as to what takes the time? Is it connecting to something and periodically backing off when it can't? Scanning something? What?

Not, specifically but the article mentions at the end that the original laptops used for the win10 transition were using HD's (aka spinning rust) rather than SSDs because it was a lowest bidder situation. Given what I've seen of corp/gov IT, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the "security software" (aka virus scanners, intrusion detection, etc) then proceeds to hammer the disk/CPU sufficiently that the machine…

I've ran into issues on Lenovo computers where there's a shared power allocation for turbo boost and the GPU. Disabling turbo boost fixes issues where there's not enough power for the GPU and also helps keep the computer from going through a turbo boost/heat up/thermal throttling/turbo boost cycle.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#57

Post by Cromation »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #40
omni wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is definitely hardware. If you actually read the linked sources, it sounds like the Air Force bought a ton of spinning rust HDD machines in 2018 for the lowest possible price they could. They probably only have 4GB of RAM too, then, given what low end specs were like at the time. Good luck getting anything done today with those specs.

Ha, you're blaming hardware yet the likely reason that those systems are slow isn't because the hardware can't do things quickly, but because the modern software they run on it is bloated and slow.

You both are correct. Its a combination of shit hardware, shit software, and poor timing on daily scans that should be run after hours instead of on login. I use AF computers on a daily basis and can attest to bringin in my own laptop and using alternatives to login on my personal.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#58

Post by krono »

codyb wrote: post #6
noahth wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

Alternatively. The USAF are a bargain for a more stable world with less regional conflicts. While the Middle East is a disaster, and there are many easy to point out missteps on its record that truly are awful and horrific. It's also currently the world's pre-eminent power in a history dominated by strong militaries and during its tenure as such the world has unequivocally been more stable and peaceful than it's ever…

Beware of personal bias.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#59

Post by thatguy0900 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #15
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #3

Not to be missed in the article: The Air Force has a "chief of esports and virtual fitness"

The US army has sponsored development of games quite a lot; I remember a friend of mine who was really into America's Army, that must've been 15 years ago now.

That game was pretty fun, to play as the medic class you actually had to sit in a first aid lecture with a test afterwords. I remember the lecture actually being really entertaining and educational.

Re: ‘Fix My Computer’ Cry Echos on Social Media; Air Force CIO Responds

#60

Post by iamben »

Cromation wrote: post #50
iamben wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to know WHY it takes over an hour to load Outlook? Can anyone enlighten me as to what takes the time? Is it connecting to something and periodically backing off when it can't? Scanning something? What?

Currently a Air National Guardsmen. I've only had it take that long a handful of times. Usually when it does it is running Microsofts Endpoint Manager and trying to push updates, Scan with McAfee and Tanium, and loading a bunch of scripts in the background that are checking for compliance, setting a default AF or local Comm Squadon background, posting messages relating to the current security levels, etc. Its alot to…

Oof. Miserable. Thanks for an "I'm living this right now" reply! Appreciated!
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