Author: Henny Staas
Laptop battery
Laptop battery I work at an investment bank, part-time on the IT helpdesk. After the Windows 11 24H2 update rolled out, the complaints flooded in: My laptop battery went from 7 hours to barely 2 hours overnight! Sound familiar? Microsoft quietly changed one default power setting that drains up to 40 % extra battery on…
Read MoreMicrosoft slow after update
I work part-time on an investment bank’s IT helpdesk, 35 years of experience in IT in banking. Every time Microsoft pushes a big update, the same thing happens: Computers that were fine yesterday become sluggishApps take forever to openFans spin like jet engines doing nothing Sound familiar? Before you reinstall Windows or buy a new…
Read MoreDatabase crimes
The 40-year-old database crime every bank (and most companies) still commit in 2025 I’ve worked with banking systems for 35 years. Every single one of them, without exception, still stores contact details like it’s 1985: 1 field for Phone1 field for Mobile1 field for Fax (yes, really)1 field for E-mail Result? Receptionists have 27 Post-it…
Read MoreInternet scammers
Digital Thieves Last month a customer at my bank’s helpdesk almost paid €400 because his printer stopped working. Here’s exactly how the scammer, or digital thieves, did it. I work at an investment bank’s IT department, part time at the helpdesk.A while ago a very nice gentleman called in total panic: his printer suddenly stopped,…
Read MoreThe WhatsApp job scam
The WhatsApp job scam offers a quick job, but it could have cost me a lot of money. Full Story + How It Works Last year I got added on WhatsApp by a stranger:“Hey, quick online job, €50 for 40 minutes of easy tasks” I played along or a while to see where it goes.Here…
Read MoreInstall 5 major databases on Windows
The complete step-by-step guide to install MySQL, mariadb, sql server, postgresql, and sqlite on windows After 35 years installing databases in investment banking (where a failed install could cost serious money, I wrote the guide I always wished existed. This 77 page PDF shows you, with exact screenshots, how to download, install, configure, and test…
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