The Only Thing More Screwed Up

Than Windows XP's networking is Windows Vista's networking, which at this point I deeply desire to punch in the face.

It's the usual Microsoft problem, of course: A dumbed-down user interface over what is actually a fairly powerful system, such that when you need to do something unusual, or something has gone wrong, you can't, because while the system is perfectly capable of doing what you need, the user interface designers didn't think of that.

So I somehow got myself into a situation where I couldn't disconnect from a VPN because my computer insisted that said VPN didn't exist - at the same time that it showed that I was connected to that VPN.

Disabling all network interfaces solved that problem.  Of course, if you do that, it forgets what your network is called.  I mean, no-one would ever want their computer to actually remember something trivial like that, right?

Also, once you've disabled the interface, that only half-registers in the user interface, so you can't enable it again.  You can disable it again, if you wish, though I hardly see the point.  You can also ask the system to diagnose your network problems, at which point it will highlight to you the fact that your network interface is disabled, and offer to enable it for you...  Secure in the comfortable knowledge that you can't punch a piece of software.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:16 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 236 words, total size 1 kb.