To err is human. To really foul things up (and get falsely prosecuted) requires a (borked) computer (program).
(U.K.) Post Office scandal: 'Hugely significant' evidence unearthed in computer expert's garage

A damning report into the faulty Post Office IT system that preceded Horizon has been unearthed after nearly 30 years - and it could help overturn criminal convictions.

The document, known about by the Post Office in 1998, is described as "hugely significant" and a "fundamental piece of evidence" and was found in a garage by a retired computer expert.

Capture was a piece of accounting software, likely to have caused errors, used in more than 2,000 branches between 1992 and 1999.

It came before the infamous faulty Horizon software scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted between 1999 and 2015.

... The report, commissioned by the defence and written by Adrian Montagu and his colleague, describes Capture as "an accident waiting to happen", and "totally discredited".

It concludes that "reasonable doubt exists as to whether any criminal offence has taken place".

It also states that the software "is quite capable of producing absurd gibberish", and describes "several insidious faults…which would not be necessarily apparent to the user".

All of which produced "arithmetical or accounting errors".

Sky News has also seen documents suggesting the jury in Pat Owen's case may never have seen the report.

What is clear is that they did not hear evidence from its author including his planned "demonstration" of how Capture could produce accounting errors.

This world needs more young men like him!
Microsoft's youngest security researcher started collaboration with the company at just 13 — high school junior filed 20 vulnerability reports last summer, named MSRC Most Valuable Researcher twice

Microsoft has published a blog about one of its youngest and most outstanding security researchers. Rising star ‘Dylan’ began his relationship with Microsoft at age 13, and it has been revealed that he is the single reason why the software giant updated its Bug Bounty Program terms to allow 13-year-olds to participate, a few years back.

Since that incredibly early start with Microsoft, Dylan has gone on to be named on the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) Most Valuable Researcher list for both 2022 and 2024. The Microsoft blog also noted that he “competed at Microsoft’s Zero Day Quest—a premier onsite hacking event in Redmond, Washington—and took home 3rd place” in April 2025.

The Microsoft blog says that he was “analyzing source code behind educational platforms” by age 10 or 11 (5th grade), and actually got in a little trouble for unlocking games on school computers using these newly acquired skills.

Should the company behind the AI Chat Bot be held accountable for the teens death?
My opinion yes! I think these Chat Bots can be dangerous. Example - this was in the news several months ago: Telling people to put glue on their pizza to hold the toppings on.
Florida judge rules AI chatbots not protected by First Amendment

An artificial intelligence software company cannot use a free speech defense in a wrongful death lawsuit lodged by the mother of a 14-year-old who died by suicide after developing a crush on a chatbot, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Last October, (the mother) sued Character Technologies, the developer of Character A.I., an app that lets users interact with chatbots based on celebrities and fictional people. She claims her son, became addicted to the app while talking with chatbots based off of “Game of Thrones” characters Daenerys Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen. In February 2024, after months of interacting with the chatbots, sometimes with sexual undertones, (the son) sent a message to the Daenerys chatbot, expressing his love and saying he would “come home” to her, according to the complaint. After the chatbot replied, “Please do my sweet king,” (the son) shot himself.

All too true...


William Von Hippel: Is Modern Life Killing Us? | Thinkers


That gives a beautifully easily understood insightful summary of how our society is evolving and is been steered... You literally can see that for yourself every day...

Is that actually good for you yourself for how you see society?...


Enjoy!

IT is how we use it...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Wyoming AI Facility Will Consume More Power Than All the State’s Homes Combined

A new artificial intelligence facility planned for Wyoming is expected to consume more electricity than all residential households in the state combined, according to utility provider Rocky Mountain Power. It’s part of a broader national trend in which AI infrastructure is accelerating faster than energy systems can adapt, posing new challenges for utilities, governments, and consumers.

As AI model training and inferencing become increasingly resource-intensive, large-scale data centers are reshaping America’s energy and water usage. Industry estimates suggest data centers already account for 4.4% of US electricity consumption and could reach 12% by 2028. Some utilities warn that national electricity demand may rise as much as 50% within five years, with no state currently positioned to manage that level of growth.

Maybe this is why our Windows OS are compromised?
IMHO QUIT OUTSOURCING YOUR PROGRAMMING TO CHINA AND INDIA!

Microsoft Used China-Based Engineers to Maintain Vulnerable SharePoint

Microsoft used an engineering team based in China to support SharePoint before its vulnerabilities were patched. The application was exploited by at least three state-sponsored Chinese threat groups last month.

It’s possible Microsoft increased the risk of SharePoint vulnerabilities being exploited by bad actors in China by putting its maintenance in the hands of engineers in the country for multiple years, according to ProPublica. An internal work-tracking system showed China-based employees recently fixing bugs for on-premises SharePoint.

China has a number of laws that allow its authorities to request access to data, and, given escalating geopolitical tensions between it and the US, this means any sensitive work handled by engineers based in China could be subject to state scrutiny or compromise.

Microsoft told ProPublica that the China-based team “is supervised by a US-based engineer and subject to all security requirements and manager code review” and that “work is already underway to shift this work to another location.”

A separate investigation by the publication found that Microsoft has been relying on workers based in China for a decade who maintain the cloud systems of federal departments, but the US workers often don’t have the technical expertise to police them properly.

Another case that only confirms my opinion of too much reliance on technology.
HMCTS accused of cover ups

To really foul things up requires a computer... "I'd like to order 18,000 cups of water...."
Taco Bell Scales Back AI Plans as Drive-Through Tech Faces Problems

Taco Bell’s experiment with artificial intelligence at its drive-throughs is facing setbacks. The company has introduced automated voice ordering at more than 500 restaurants nationwide since last year, but the rollout has been slowed by technical hiccups, customer frustration, and a surge of trolling on social media.

Videos of the system struggling with simple requests have circulated widely online. In one widely shared clip, a customer appears to have crashed the AI by asking for “18,000 cups of water, please.” In another, a frustrated man kept hearing the bot repeat, “And what will you drink with that?” after ordering a soda.

Serious question for Martin or any Linux guru.
Which is best?
Upgrade to latest version of Mint or doing a fresh clean install of the latest version (22.2 from 21.5).

I am getting seriously p'ed off with Microsoft & their "crappy" notifications regarding Win 10 support ending on 14/10/25, as well as other issues noticed on my rig for the past month or so.

... Upgrade to latest version of Mint or doing a fresh clean install of the latest version (22.2 from 21.5)...

Firstly, backup all your personal files/email/documents/photos/data to an external drive...

(Or just copy the entirety of "/home" to an external drive or memory stick. And then do a "diff" to check that everything is indeed copied!)

Disconnect any external drives!!


Then:

If...

You have no wish to keep any customizations that you may have done to the present system, then simply do an "Install" but select to keep the existing "/home" partition. This option is likely the quickest.

(By keeping the "/home", you get to keep your present files/email/settings intact for the new system.)


Or...

Simply do an "Update". You may get some questions about whether to keep old versions of software, or to delete, or to install the newer versions. Easy but might take longer depending on what you've added or changed to the existing system.


A good brew and an unhurried evening helps greatly!

Good luck!


Enjoy freedom!!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Thanks Martin. Taken a snapshot of your post.

As for M$, another weird "event" earlier this morning. Scanned in a winning lotto ticket. No problems.
Cropped it - no problems.
Renamed it (date & amount) - no problem.
Went to move it from scanned folder to Lottery folder - Bang Windows went straight to restart - WTF?

No updates due or scheduled & not the 1st time this has happened.
My perception is M$ screwing around to force update to Win 11 ( I intend to but in my own good time, not theirs.)

I am getting seriously p'ed off with Microsoft & their "crappy" notifications regarding Win 10 support ending on 14/10/25, as well as other issues noticed on my rig for the past month or so.

Try to upgrade to Win 11 on a few years old rig and you'd be even more p****d off...

They whitelisted specific CPU series, types, model... which will be supported... without obvious reasons (instruction set features)... to generate revenues for hardware manufacturers.

- Bang Windows went straight to restart - WTF?

No updates due or scheduled & not the 1st time this has happened.
My perception is M$ screwing around to force update to Win 11 ( I intend to but in my own good time, not theirs.)

I can't deny your perception...

The behaviour of Microsoft's update features can be configured in detail in the group policy editor:

start "gpedit.msc" with administrative rights:
(Start button.... enter "gpedit.msc" to the search box; right click: "start as administrator" )

computer config --> administrative templates --> windows components --> Microsoft Update *

There you find a couple of configuration options regarding update (even Windows Upgrade) behavior...
You can disable forced reboots without your prior acknowledgement.

* I'm not 100% sure of the exact wording as I have a localized German version.

I'm aware of gpedir.msc & often used it.
What has been happening is nothing to do with any updates. In fact, all updates to date have been installed. Even M$ states that it's up to date.

This is something different entirely, what I don't know.
All I know, it's p'ing me off.
When they stop support for Office 21 is the day I switch to Linux fully!

Edit: My rig is not old to prevent Win 11. It's just a bios change - allow TPM & secure boot.
I'll do that when I've logged all my passwords to essential sites.

Ah, the must use onedrive bug. FWIH any M$ program that still gets updates will not allow data to be saved anywhere but on onedrive - to force you to buy more storage!

I am getting seriously p'ed off with Microsoft & their "crappy" notifications regarding Win 10 support ending on 14/10/25, as well as other issues noticed on my rig for the past month or so.Try to upgrade to Win 11 on a few years old rig and you'd be even more p****d off...
They whitelisted specific CPU series, types, model... which will be supported... without obvious reasons (instruction set features)... to generate revenues for hardware manufacturers.

Rufus, which was always one of my favourite utilities, has achieved superhero status as it allows Windows 11 ISO USB writes to bypass TPM/CPU/SecureBoot requirements, allow a nice old-fashioned local account instead of an online Microsoft logon (it even creates the account, and it can then easily be made passwordless/autologon) and disable Bitlocker automatically encrypting everything. Simply download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft and Rufus and you're set.

I've done two machines with this so far and flawless.

---

I am getting seriously p'ed off with Microsoft & their "crappy" notifications regarding Win 10 support ending on 14/10/25, as well as other issues noticed on my rig for the past month or so.Try to upgrade to Win 11 on a few years old rig and you'd be even more p****d off...
They whitelisted specific CPU series, types, model... which will be supported... without obvious reasons (instruction set features)... to generate revenues for hardware manufacturers.

Rufus, which was always one of my favourite utilities, has achieved superhero status as it allows Windows 11 ISO USB writes to bypass TPM/CPU/SecureBoot requirements, allow a nice old-fashioned local account instead of an online Microsoft logon (it even creates the account, and it can then easily be made passwordless/autologon) and disable Bitlocker automatically encrypting everything. Simply download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft and Rufus and you're set.

I've done two machines with this so far and flawless.

I recently heard that M$ is only giving max 60 days security patches UNLESS you are using M$ logon, not a local account. YMMV.

Rufus, which was always one of my favourite utilities, has achieved superhero status as it allows Windows 11 ISO USB writes to bypass TPM/CPU/SecureBoot requirements, allow a nice old-fashioned local account instead of an online Microsoft logon (it even creates the account, and it can then easily be made passwordless/autologon) and disable Bitlocker automatically encrypting everything. Simply download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft and Rufus and you're set.

I've done two machines with this so far and flawless.

Converted. :-)
Downloaded & used the .iso I downloaded(24H1) when my Win 11 disk installed 10 instead.
Rufus gave a dialogue box regarding UEFI bootloader revoked.
Let it create the usb anyway (learning curve)
When completed, downloaded 11 25H2 & now creating usb. :-)

@Gary easy answer.
After setting up one's rig with local A/c to the way one wants, create another A/c using M$ logon, just for updates.
Been working a charm on my Win 11 laptop.
Screw M$.

@Gary easy answer.
After setting up one's rig with local A/c to the way one wants, create another A/c using M$ logon, just for updates.
Been working a charm on my Win 11 laptop.
Screw M$.

Great idea, and a firm "ditto" from me. :^)

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All I can "safely state" is that M$ can KMA.
All passwords logged, all backups completed.
Rebooted into bios & enabled tpm & secure boot, also changed from uefi & legacy to uefi only.
Rebooted.

Now the "fun" starts.
After the logo page loads with the usual notice about entering bios, I pressed esc (on this m/b it seems to have replaced f12), I normally get a boot option - Linux mint or Win 10.
Selected Win 10 & get error message that unable to boot.
It seems Windows won't allow any other o/s from running.

Reboot into bios reselection uefi & legacy - no problem, boots up normally.
Reran M$ pc health check still not compatible even though tpm v2 ^ secure enable as well as the cpu being on their compatible list.
Ryzen 5 5500.

So tomorrow I will install using Rufus.
Just a question for Mr Kevvy.
You say passwordless/auto logon - is that done during installation or set in rufus?