Nope. It’s a lower level kernel API that has to be accessed at boot via a driver. The API I was thinking of - and I use the term “thinking” loosely, here - is an API that userspace applications can take advantage of to scan files after boot is already complete.

I stand corrected. For some reason, I was thinking they used the actual Windows Defender API, which can be called programmatically from third-party applications, but you’re correct, it was a driver loaded at boot. Microsoft isn’t at all at fault, here.

The thing is, Microsoft’s virus-scanning API shouldn’t be able to BSOD anything, no matter what third-party software makes calls to it, or the nature of those calls. They should have implemented some kind of error handler for when the calls are malformed.

So this is really a case of both Crowdstrike and Microsoft fucking up. Crowdstrike shoulders most of the blame, of course, but Microsoft really needs to harden their API to appropriately catch errors, or this will happen again.

I’m an idiot. For some reason, I was thinking about the Windows Defender API, which can be called from third-party applications.

Seems like an argument for a heterogeneous environment, perhaps a solid and secure Linux server to host important keys like that.

Yep. I have a standing desk.

Right? Just getting up and doing something is so important. Whatever works to keep people from being sedentary.

It’s called “the silent killer” for a reason. Maybe you’re just tired lately from working hard, or you’ve been having headaches from eye strain, or maybe your blood pressure is at 170/120 and you’re actually near death.

That’s the shit that scares me. I’ve worked really hard to get my blood pressure way down (currently 110/60) and intend to keep it that way.

The way I see it, every little bit helps. If even a little of the waste heat can be recaptured as electricity for operation, it’s a good thing unless the conversion itself has a higher energy cost, and from what I can tell, that’s not the case with this technique.

I actually gained weight when I first got serious about the gym, and that worried me until my doctor reassured me that I was putting on muscle, not fat. These days, it’s pretty obvious in retrospect.

The real metric I pay attention to is blood pressure. As my dad’s getting older he’s been struggling with blood pressure, and I don’t want that to ever happen to me, so cardio is important.

Bingo. When my body is healthy, my brain is healthy. When my brain is healthy, my code is better.

Working out. (I do it most weekdays, too).

I work in software, and I’ve seen far too many guys in my industry who are either skinny as a rail and surviving on Cheetos dust, or painfully overweight. Had several co-workers croak unexpectedly, at shockingly young ages.

It’s a real problem in the industry. People simply plop themselves down at their computers and forget to do anything else for an entire day.

I have kids, and refuse to let them lose their dad early, so I hit the gym for an hour in the mornings, at least every other day. I do a mix of cardio and weight training. I also never stay seated for longer than 45 minutes.

Seriously, guys… If you work in the software industry, make a habit of getting up and moving around. It doesn’t actually take much to reap enormous benefits just from staying more active.

I can easily afford all the stupid shit I’d actually want on $220K/year earnings from interest.

1. Pay off the remainder on my mortgage.
2. Pay off my parents’ mortgage.
3. Buy a new house that is large enough for my family to live comfortably in, without being ostentatious.
4. Give my old home to my in-laws. They could use it.
5. Set up a fund that produces enough interest for me and my family to live off of in perpetuity. $4 million in an account that produces 5.5% interest annually would be $220,000 (pre-tax) every year, which is plenty for our needs.
6. Set up a foundation to help the poor, fund environmental projects, support social justice causes, and so on with all of the rest.

I do not need $6 billion. No one does. I don’t want it. It would ruin me. The absolute best thing I could do with it is dedicate the overwhelming majority of it to causes I believe in, rather than hoarding it or buying a bunch of stupid shit.

At this point, I’m not sure why anyone would actually buy a Tesla. The alternatives are far less expensive, the “features” of a Tesla are unpolished and dangerous, and the money doesn’t go to a megalomaniac with a god complex.

Disclaimer: someone calm me and op down.

Nope. Too busy losing my goddamn shit over this insane, dictator-making, Enabling Act 2.0 garbage.

Ah. Yeah, I don’t know of a way to get ACC on Linux.

Regarding Linux, what commercial software are you dependent on? More and more, it’s all online, even Office.

Sysadmin? You haven’t needed to be a sysadmin to run Linux for years.

It’s incredibly short-sighted of them. Windows is the gateway to easy integration, especially with 365. Drive people away from Windows, it could ultimately start driving people away from Microsoft services.

If Microsoft would just recognize that at this point, operating systems are a commodity and loss-leader, it might inspire them to de-enshittify Windows and focus exactly on the services you mentioned.

When was the last time you used it? These days, VS Code is on par with any high-quality IDE. And it works well on Linux, which is a bit of a surprise.