Why is the InterWeb slowing down?

As the use of Linux has increased exponentially in the last three years, the use of the Linux file-system is causing some problems to InterWeb service providers. Linux could, in fact, be responsible for the 'slowing down' of the InterWeb that many users are experiencing. How is this possible? It's the 'sticky bit' that is to blame.

In Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, the 'sticky bit' is used as an ownership access right flag that can be assigned to files and directories. Although the kernel ignores the sticky bit on files, when Linux computers are connected to the InterWeb, these sticky bits start to flow through the pipes that connect the InterWeb together. Or do they?

Because of their 'sticky' nature, many of these bits get stuck to the interior of the pipes. Because most of the pipes can handle a lot of InterWeb traffic, this has not been a problem, up until now. Sticky bits are starting to clog the pipes, and the build up of 'stuck' bits and bytes is now starting to slow down InterWeb traffic. Sites take longer to load, and small packets of data (like short emails), may get stuck and delayed or even lost forever.

One researcher thinks he may have an answer, and has developed a 'statin like bit cleanser' which he thinks can unblock the system. Dr. William Brush is preparing to release his bit cleanser into the InterWeb pipe network later today.

Traffic should start to speed up – but beware: the unleashed torrent of sticky bits and bytes may pour out, uncontrollably into your computer. Should you notice this flood, the best thing to do is to immediately turn off your InterWeb access before irreversible damage is caused to your furniture and carpets.

Review of NetRunner 2014.04

Once Apple made the decision not to support my MacBook 2,1 with the latest version of their operating system, I decided to remove OS X and use an Open Source alternative. I've been looking for a Linux distro for my elderly MacBook for some time, and have played with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Gnome, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and others. The problem I ran into, was that the more fully featured versions of Ubuntu ran slowly on the MacBook's 2Gb of RAM, while the ones that ran quickly lacked the polish and cutting edge features that I have come to expect from Linux desktops these days.

However, I now believe that my search is over and that I have finally found a fully featured, beautifully presented and responsive OS for my MacBook: Netrunner 2014.04 with the KDE desktop environment. Netrunner can be downloaded from here and is free.

It is important to note that while I am using Netrunner on a MacBook, it will work with PC based hardware as well. Give that ageing laptop a new lease of life!

Netrunner comes in two variants: the one I have installed is based on Kubuntu. There is also a 'rolling' distro based on Arch. I chose the one based on Kubuntu, because I am familiar with Ubuntu-based configuration tools and the multitude of powerful and easily installable software available in the Ubuntu repositories. I also use Kubuntu on my more modern 8 core desktop machine, so I am familiar with KDE.

I booted my MacBook from the Netrunner DVD, as the creation of a bootable USB key for Mac hardware requires you to jump through many hoops, and have access to a working version of OS X, long formatted out of existence on my machine. Booting from the DVD brings up a live Netrunner environment which allows you to play with the OS, check that your hardware is working, and gives you a feel for the distro before you decide to commit to an installation. The installer is well designed and makes things like disk partitioning very easy for the novice to Linux.

As Apple have decided to make the firmware for the iSight camera (the webcam installed on the MacBook) proprietary, this is the only hardware that does not work 'out of the box' under Linux. This is easily fixed once you have installed the OS to the hard drive and have connected to the internet: simply follow the instructions here to install and load the firmware, and 5 minutes later your webcam will work in Skype and other applications.

Intel based MacBooks use EFI rather than BIOS which slows the boot time in Linux considerably, so here is a tip: If your Macbook spends 30 seconds with "white screen" before GRUB loads the OS, try booting from your Mac OS X install disc, select language, then click Utilities->Terminal, and enter:

bless --device /dev/disk0s1 --setBoot --legacy

(this assumes that the bootloader is on sda1, otherwise /dev/disk0s2 if it's on sda2, etc.)

This will speed up your boot time considerably.

The Netrunner desktop, at first glance, looks like a conventional KDE desktop. KDE has some similarity in terms of desktop layout as pre-Windows 8 versions of the infamous Microsoft operating system, so Windows users making the move to Linux will feel at home here quite quickly. There are some differences to a conventional KDE desktop however. Firstly, the KDE start button and start menu has been replaced by a widget called Homerun Kicker. I was so impressed with the speed and sensible layout of this system, that I immediately installed it on my Kubuntu desktop system as well.

In Netrunner, pressing the 'meta' key (otherwise known as the 'Windows' key or the 'Apple' key on MacBooks) launches the start menu. This a great timesaver, as you can simply start typing to find a document, file or application. This can be configured in Kubuntu as well, but not as easily, because the meta key can only be used in conjunction with other keys in shortcuts. This attention to detail and ease of use is something that sets Netrunner apart.

I use the terminal a lot. I prefer to use it to quickly install software, edit configuration files and generally manage files and data. Netrunner comes with a nifty terminal application called Yakuake. It drops down from the top of the screen like the terminal in 'Quake' when it is summoned using the F12 key. Very nifty, very handy for power users. Again, I have installed it on my Kubuntu desktop as it is extremely useful.

Software pre-installed includes KDE Dream Desktop, which allows animated video wallpapers, Steam (gamers will love this), Firefox (features an 'instant start' on machines with 2Gb or more of RAM), LibreOffice office suite, Thunderbird email client, VirtualBox (computer emulation), VLC video player, Clementine music player, Krita pixel paint and Karbon a vector image creation program and many others. Full details can be found on the Netrunner site.

I had previously installed Kubuntu on the MacBook. It ran OK, but was a bit slow at times. Netrunner flies in comparison. I can heartily recommend this distro to anyone who wants a sleek, fast and functional replacement for OS X or Windows.

Savaged by the Goblins of Redmond

Windows has always had a horrifying and peculiar fascination for me. Version 3 crashed a lot, 3.1 was little better. I used OS2, with it's built in version of Windows 3.1 for work that required the dreaded Microsoft operating system. OS2 was rock solid, and I found myself using Windows less and less. Then Windows 95 was released – lauded as a proper 32 bit operating system, it was a bit of a cheat, built on 16 bits and ported up. It was better, but still suffered from blue screens of death, rebooting after practically every software install, random freezes and crashes.

It was about this time that I first became interested in Linux. I installed RedHat, tinkered with it for a while, before settling down with Mandrake and the KDE desktop. Ubuntu, when it arrived, was a revelation to me: for the first time I could see Linux going main-stream – a complete desktop operating system, powerful, easy to use and rock solid.

I still installed the new versions of Windows that came out – after all, I had to keep up with technology and many of my clients were trapped in the usual cycles of Windows despair: upgrade hells, driver problems, virus and malware attacks. So I installed and played with Windows 98, Windows Millenium, XP, Vista and Windows 7. While there were eye-candy tweaks and stability improvements, Windows never impressed me. Vulnerable to attack, prone to crash, multiple reboots required.

I had some issues with Ubuntu too: the change from the Gnome 2 desktop to Unity was, in my opinion, a retrograde step. I played with Mint for a while before settling down with Kubuntu, and the KDE desktop.

Recently I had cause to return to the Windows experience, like a dog returning to it's own vomit. A client, running Windows 8 was having problems installing Skype. Could I sort it for her?

Windows 8 is one of those rare human creations: a total turkey. An abortion of an operating system. A septic carbuncle on the festering backside of computing. An operating system, built for everyone, pleasing no-one. Microsoft introduced 8 as a new computing paradigm, a quantum change from previous versions that would carry the Windows flag into a new digital age. The Age of Convergence. 8 was to be an operating system that unified a common interface to desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone platforms. A grand idea, let down by poor implementation, bad design, and a stunningly corporate lack of concern for the people who were going to be using it.

Windows 8 looks like it was designed by a modern artist paying a homage to Mondrian. It's all colourful boxes, without substance or usability. Like Unity, it requires users to adopt a totally new way of working – in Windows case, programs have been replaced by apps, which run full screen. One has to learn new techniques of working, replacing all those hard learned skills that previous versions of Windows had in common. Designed for the smartphone generation, kids with limited attention spans, 8 sinks down to the depths of the lowest common denominator. For those who have invested time, energy and money in learning to work Windows, 8 is nothing less than a catastrophic mistake.

My user had recognised the limitations of Windows 8 and had installed a shell extension which allowed her to go back to the classic Windows 7 look, with her programs, widgets and system tray information easily accessible. She had even told me that she was more than willing to pay money to downgrade to 7 which she felt more comfortable with. She handed me the laptop, and left me to it.

It was running like a dog. I didn't expect 8 to be a greyhound, but surely it wasn't an overweight pug? There must be something wrong. A quick look at Internet Explorer and the system tray pointed me in the right direction: multiple toolbars on the browser, garbage running in the system tray and a torrent of pop-ups  which offered to fix non-existent errors, update my drivers and allow me to play extremely poor quality arcade games.

I sighed, and reached for Malwarebytes. The quick scan found over 500 separate nasty bits, even though Windows 8 has Microsoft Security Essentials built in (I was told this when I tried to install it), and AVG was running, up-to-date and the latest version. After the first tranche of malware was removed, I ran a full scan and found a further 80 odd problems. I then started to uninstall all the rubbish toolbars that did have an uninstall option, along with seven or eight other programs that can only charitably be described as excremental detritus of the very worst quality.

After several reboots the laptop was running a lot quicker and the pop-ups had been consigned to the severest levels of digital hell, hopefully to spend the rest of eternity alongside their creators. I fixed a problem with my clients Microsoft ID, installed Skype and was informed by the App Store that a free upgrade to 8.1 was available. Never one to miss an opportunity to be astounded, humiliated and confounded by the Goblins of Redmond, I clicked on the install button.

3 hours  and 4 reboots later, I was presented with a brand new login screen which asked me all the questions I had already entered into Windows 8. I had to re-enter my client's Microsoft ID, click on a button to verify her email address (this had already been done) before it would allow me into the new version of the Start screen. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss... as The Who once sang. It all looked jolly familiar, except that the  Skype, Mail, Contacts and Calendar tabs had no icons, just colourful squares with little crosses on them. Clicking on them resulted in a blue flickering screen and a swift return to the Mondrianesque wonders of Metro.

Now I'm not a man who can be trifled with in this way, and I immediately brought the Great Guns of Google to bear on the problem. Well, well, well. Funnily enough, many thousands of other people have this problem following the upgrade, and not all of them have managed to solve it. Try uninstalling the apps and then re-installing them, suggested one happy chappy. It had worked for him. I gritted my teeth and did just that.

They un-installed fine, but re-installing them just brought up a helpful message saying that 'installation has failed: error code 0x80070005'. I let a helpful obscenity escape from my overheating mind – it fled through my neuronal pathways, down the corridors of my throat and came out through my pursed and narrowed lips. Bollocks. Well, there must be other things I could do to fix this. I would not be beaten – I would emulate Gandalf, standing in the path of dark, demonic hordes, shaking my staff and shouting, “They Shall Not Pass!”

Maybe a sacrificial visit to the Goblins of Redmond would help. I accessed the Microsoft Support website where I learned the following helpful information:

“The error code 0x80070005 is also described as "ACCESS DENIED." You may receive this error if you don't have the appropriate permissions to install a particular update. This can also happen if malware is on your computer.”

There were two recommended ways of fixing the problem. Firstly, log in as an administrator. I checked my client's account. Yes, she was an administrator and logged in. Secondly, check for malware. Hang on, I'd already done that. But I checked again and this time the scan came up clean. The Goblins were playing hard to get. Back to the Great Guns of Google.

I won't bore you with the various attempts I made over the next few hours trying to get this problem resolved, suffice it to say that I failed and the Goblins triumphed. Finally I placed my metaphorical tail firmly between my legs and in desperation I installed Yahoo mail on my client's machine, logged her into it (thankfully her email account is with Yahoo!) and then downloaded and installed the desktop version of Skype which she could use from her desktop panel. She is happy. I'm not quite so over the moon.

Windows 8 succeeds in removing the user from the experience of computing. When you are running Metro, you have no way of knowing if you are connected to the internet or not. So when a web page fails to load, multiple clicks of the mouse are required just to check your network connection. Because there is no system tray, you can't easily find out what is running on your machine. It's as if Microsoft have decided that users should be deprived of any technical information, obviously because we poor mortals are unable to understand that information must come from somewhere and arrive somehow. Perhaps the Goblins really want us to believe in magic?

Bollocks.

Reclaim Your Sense of Safety From Hoaxers

A virus that will 'burn your hard drive' if you click on a logo. Black vans outside schools abducting children. People stealing dogs from front gardens to use as bait in dog fighting. Young women being kidnapped at motorway service stations and gang-raped as part of an initiation into gang culture. We've all seen warnings about these scenarios in email or Facebook status form. Well meaning individuals pass these on because it is a natural human quality to warn friends and family of imminent danger. What's wrong with that?

All the above scenarios and many, many more are hoaxes, started by individuals who have a warped sense of success. The more reposts and forwards they get, the better they like it. Some of these stories have gone round the world: the planned kidnapping of a young lady from services on the M3 becomes a truck stop in Australia. The wording stays the same, just the geographic locations change.

Quote: This actually happened a few weeks ago right here near Fairfield in Brisbane. It was early evening and a young lady stopped to get petrol at a Quix. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol. The cashier told her "Don't pay for your petrol yet.....walk around the store for a while and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police and they're on their way".

Quote: This actually happened a few weeks ago on the M3 FLEET SERVICES!!! It was early evening, and a young girl stopped to get petrol. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol.. The cashier told her, 'Don't pay for your petrol yet......walk around the store for a while, and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police, and they're on their way'.

One of the ways human beings assess risk is through 'salience': the ease with which information comes to mind. For example, you are more likely to assess air travel as a risky activity if there has recently been news about a plane crash, despite the fact that air travel statistically remains much safer than travel by car. Equally, stories about kidnapping or child murders will raise our perceived risk of these things happening, despite statistics which show that both of these remain highly unlikely. If we live in a climate of fear, we stop our kids from going out to play and we don't go out at night. What kind of society do we want to live in?

How can we stop this? First and foremost, common sense. For example, if you Google the first two lines of the email/status above, you will be pointed to several sites which debunk this information. Secondly, if you are asked to forward the information to all your friends and the people in your email address book, you can be practically certain that you are the victim of a hoax. Spend a little time processing the information: for example the post about the M3 kidnapper contains the information that the perpetrator was caught by the police, confessed that he was just about to kidnap and gang-rape the young lady, but was released because all they could charge him with was trespass. Does this seem likely? He has just conspired to commit a serious crime and was attempting to do the same. He would have been charged with conspiracy or attempted rape.

This is our country, and we have the right to live in it unafraid and without having to spend our lives in dread of the supposedly terrible things that are happening all around us. Let's reclaim our lives and our space for ourselves and our children.

Why Mint Debian is better than Ubuntu

After several very happy years with Ubuntu I’ve decided to do something special: delete it and install Mint Debian instead. Over the last 5 years or so Ubuntu has made massive strides and made Linux easy to install and relatively easy to use. The Linux user base has increased dramatically. Funnily enough, this is precisely why I have decided to change my distribution of choice.

 The thing I really love about Linux is the fact that it has taught me to become a better, more skilled computer user. If things don’t work ‘out of the box’ then you have to tinker to get them to work. This teaches you all sorts of things about how computers and operating systems work and interact, and in the process you learn valuable skills.

 After installing the latest version of Ubuntu (12.04 LTS) I twiddled my thumbs awhile and wondered what to do. While Ubuntu is easy to use, Unity (the default Ubuntu desktop) is not everyone’s cup of tea. I hate it. I have found that the simplistic interface and the lack of customisation have resulted in the kind of patronising arrogance shown by Apple and Windows: ‘we know what the consumer wants best. Do it our way or not at all’. I might install Ubuntu on my mum’s computer but it will no longer reside on mine.

 Installing Mint Debian was a breath of fresh air. Having to manually partition the drive and choose a root partition for installation, using a Cups server to install my Dell laser printer and get it working, configuring Samba shares and updating Thunderbird. No longer ticking boxes, but ‘getting under the hood’ and coming to grips with the way the operating system works. I’ll let you know how I get on!

Natty Dread

The latest version of the Ubuntu operating system, Natty Narwhal (11.04) is now available for download. This release marks a radical departure from the vanilla Gnome desktop previously enjoyed by Ubuntu users. If you have appropriate hardware (any recent 3D graphics card) you will (eventually) boot into a new desktop environment: Unity.

It is somewhat ironic that Canonical have decided to call something which is proving so divisive in the community "Unity". Unity is purported to be the computing interface which will continue Ubuntu's movement into mainstream desktop computing. "Easy, Intuitive, Simple, Stylish, Fast, Clean, Streamlined" are the words being used to describe it. "And now you can even decide how you want it to look. Simply choose between our new and classic desktop experiences..." says the Ubuntu website.

My own (and many, many, others) experience of Ubuntu 11.04 has been a little different. Not so much Natty Narwhal, more Natty Dread. I dread starting it up, and have found it to be truly dreadful.

Installation

I first upgraded my existing, flawless and beautiful 10.10 installation using upgrade manager. This eventually gave me the new Unity desktop which promptly and regularly crashed every few minutes. Eventually I bit the bullet, smiled grimly and ruefully, and went for a new, full installation.

The Ubuntu installer is a thing of beauty and I am well used to it, having seen it recently many more times than I would care to. At the end of the installation, you are prompted to reboot. If you have a proprietary graphics card (and who doesn't) you are then presented with an ugly, old fashioned X Window prompt which informs you that as you do not have the requisite hardware to run Unity (I did! I do! No really, I do!!) you will boot into Ubuntu Classic (the old Gnome 2) and you do.

It is at this point that most casual users flirting with Ubuntu and tempted to move from Windows will give up and return to the blandishments of Mr William Gates. It would make much more sense if you were asked, during installation, if you wanted to run Unity and install the appropriate video drivers for your graphics card. Because you are prompted to do this anyway, once you have reached the classic Gnome 2 desktop. But you have to go through the motions and another reboot before you are presented with your shiny new Unity desktop.

Everywhere and Nowhere...

I know my way around Gnome 2 and thus, I am used to being able to find and launch applications, navigate to files and folders, and change system settings with a few clicks of the mouse. I was hoping to find Unity equally user friendly - but in fact it is a nightmare hodge-podge of layers of overkill carefully crafted in denser layers of impenetrable obfuscation. Navigating in Unity reminds me of the first lines of the song "Hi Ho Silver Lining", made famous by Jeff Beck: "You're everywhere and nowhere baby, that's where you're at...". Everywhere, because by default the Applications icon on the Launcher opens showing applications, well, everywhere; nowhere because unless you are lucky enough for one of the six icons shown to be exactly what you are looking for, you have to take a deep breath and dive through more piles of dross.

You can't always get what you want...

System settings should be easy to find, right? No. Some genius decided to put them on the log-out menu. It wasn't until I was desperate to get out of Unity that I found them - by accident. And again, you are presented with everything without an opportunity to drill down to what you really need.

I noticed that some of the applications I have grown to rely on were not showing in the system tray. Some Googling and Ubuntu Foruming later I found out that there is now a 'whitelist' of 'approved' applications that can have an icon in the system tray. Us poor deluded users are no longer allowed to choose for ourselves which applications we find useful or necessary. This is now decided by the faceless bureaucrats at Canonical who are no doubt better equipped than ourselves to choose our applications for us. In fact, the whitelist can be circumvented by some dedicated terminal hacking, but less experienced users will again find themselves floundering when applications they install fail to show up in the taskbar. They will assume that these applications do not work. They do, you just can't do anything useful with them! This makes me want to spit. Coupled with this, every couple of hours the menu features of the system tray icons freeze and this requires a reboot to get back full functionality.

Ch... Ch... Ch... Changes....

One of the things I have come to love about Linux in general and previous versions of Ubuntu in particular is that everything is configurable. Usually, if you don't like things you can change them. The Unity Launchbar is a massive step backwards for those of use who value individuality: almost nothing about it is configurable. You can't change the position. You can't get rid of it. You can't change the icons for better looking ones. OK, you can make it smaller (if you install Compiz Config Settings Manager, find the Unity plugin and configure it). You can make the icons blink instead of pulse. But that's about it. By default it will show you icons for all your running applications, rather than those running in your current workspace, and there's no way to change that either. The workspace switcher icon does not let you know which desktop you are in or which other desktops have running applications.

It really ,really pains me to say this: the Windows 7 taskbar is more configurable and offers you more choices than the Unity Launcher. Ouch.

Classical Gas

Having found Unity frankly disappointing, I knew that I had an ace up my sleeve. I could just log out of Unity and log into the familiar, powerful and inspirational Gnome 2 desktop by selecting 'Ubuntu Classic' from the logon screen. Ahh! Back to sanity! Back to my useful eye-candy; my favourite time savers like the desktop cube. I could hardly wait. My hot little fingers, desperate for a fix of Ubuntu normality, flicked with impeccable expertise through the logoff/logon procedure. Yes! There it was! The classic Ubuntu desktop I have come to know and love so well. Honey, I'm home!

Wait: what's this? There don't seem to be any desktop effects enabled. Well I'll just enable them then. But the desktop effects tab has gone. Because, I am told in manic Googling and Foruming, we users don't need it anymore. Desktop effects are 'on' by default. Except they arent. So I open Compiz Config Settings Manager and disable desktop wall, enable desktop cube and cube rotation. I'm told that I need Open GL. I accept. I'm told I need compositing. I accept. Bang! All my window menus and borders disappear. The desktop cube doesn't cube and doesn't rotate. I look at my graphics drivers. Aha! I'm told that the Nvidia driver is downloaded, installed and activated (but not currently in use).

Never seen this before! How the hell do I tell the system to use the driver? Perhaps an uninstall and re-install will help? Bang! Five minutes later I'm staring at the blank screen of a computer that refuses to boot at all. Despite booting from a live CD, no amount of tinkering with xorg.conf will allow me to boot. Finally, it's back to the familiar, beautiful, Ubuntu installation screen. More Googling and Foruming tell me that the message that the driver is activated but not in use is a known bug. Well, now I know.

I have now given up trying to configure Ubuntu classic with desktop effects. When Compiz is enabled as the window manager, the system leaps into Unity. When  I select Metacity, CCSM loses all it's settings and resolutely refuses all requests to enable the cube without compositing. With compositing all the menus and borders disappear. No two ways about it, Ubuntu Classic is well and truly broken.

How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?

So after all this, am I giving up on 11.04? Is Natty Dread the death of my relationship with Ubuntu? Well, not quite. I will stick with it for at least a month to see if updates bring back the functionality I need. In the meantime, I will explore other options like Gnome 3, other distros and will not be recommending Natty to my customers and those who want to ditch Windows.

Unity doesn't work because it takes away choice. It takes away freedom. It destroys individuality. These are all the things Linux is renowned for. These are the real reasons why Linux normally beats Windows into a cocked hat.

I hope and expect to see huge improvements in Natty over the next few weeks. The good thing about Linux is that there are many people out there who want to make it work. There is an immense amount of goodwill in the Free Software Community. Ubuntu will need every single bit of this over the next few weeks.

Edit, Saturday 7th May:

I have found the solution to some of the problems detailed in this article, including (finally) getting desktop effects enabled in Classic. This, and other fixes are detailed in my post to the sticky in Ubuntu Forums, which you can find here.

Let the Bottom Fall Out of PC World

PC World do some generic re-manufactured ink cartridges for a variety of printers. Good value, you may think, when asked to pay the frankly obscene prices charged by the printer manufacturers.

Having to do a lot of printing some months ago, I popped into the Exeter branch of PC World and purchased two colour and two black printer cartridges for my Canon Pixma iP1800.  The approved Canon cartridges cost £19.99 each for colour, and £15.15 each for black. The PCW Essentials ink cartridges cost £14.99 and £13.99 each respectively - so a considerable saving seems to be possible. Great! Approx. £70 from Canon, approx. £56 from PC World. Saving approx. £14 (or 5 pints of good bitter in my local pub). Rejoice!

Well, not quite. When I installed the first set of cartridges, they seemed to work OK. The colour was a bit iffy, certainly not up to the standard of Canon's output. But you pays your money...

Then the black cartridge started a slow leak - splodging inky droplets onto every page, smudging into what looked like dirty lines over each page. No amount of cartridge/roller cleaning would get rid of it. But I soldiered on (by this time the 5 pints of bitter were gone, drunk in a desperate bid to alleviate my disappointment).

Finally, the cartridges ran out. I replaced them with the second set. Black worked fine! "Huzzah!", I yelled in the approved theatrical Shakespearian manner. But the colour cartridge? Nada. Nuffink. Pining for the fiords.

So I repacked it into its shiny PC World packaging...


...and took it back to the store.

I was dealt with by a very nice young lady. She asked me for my postcode. I gave it to her. She said she couldn't find any record of this purchase under my address. I said, "so what?". "How do we know you purchased this item from us?", she demanded. I pointed out that the item was packaged and branded by PC World and I couldn't have purchased it anywhere else. She then asked my to go through my bank statements and bring in a photocopy of the transaction, otherwise she wouldn't give me a refund.

I had already driven 14 miles to Exeter PC World. I told her to forget the whole thing, and to keep the defective cartridge as a pleasant reminder of good customer relations. I also asked her to check the average amount that I spend at PC World per month, and that I would now be shopping for essential computer supplies elsewhere.

PC World have forgotten the important truth that good experiences are remembered, and bad ones reported to others. I won't be using them again - and have already sourced replacements that are less expensive online. PC World Essentials? Rubbish products, rubbish quality. And rubbish customer service.