Random Musings 😏, Part-30
Soul Letter #82
Hello👋 folks, Shubham here.
I am back with another edition of Random Musings.
My Life is Bugged 🐞
Remember the data deletion bug we were dealing with at our office last year?
Well, it’s still active (it’s been more loyal than people).
Almost a full year has passed — during which we bought Sophos firewall and Endpoint solutions, upgraded to the latest version of Windows, and tried every possible fix in the rule book — but still no success.
I spoke to IT support at both Sophos and Microsoft; however, they left me stranded with the usual MNC-style responses. Sophos detected a few malicious behaviors, pointing to Microsoft’s default libraries being exploited — but said they couldn’t do anything: “Speak to Microsoft.”
Microsoft, on the other hand, claimed they don’t consider third-party findings credible and simply suggested formatting the systems.
Cred_4b detection by Sophos, particularly when tied to rundll32.exe, usually signals credential theft activity. While Sophos occasionally detects malicious behavior, it fails to prevent data deletion.Thanks to ChatGPT, I did manage to find several suspicious entries — scheduled tasks, DLLs, registry alterations. Still, the problem remains unresolved.
A mild suggestion: never blindly believe what ChatGPT blurts out. Always cross-check with other data points or AI models like Gemini or Copilot. I found multiple instances where different AI agents gave conflicting information — and I genuinely didn’t know who to trust (interesting times ahead).
Anyway, yes, the deletion issue is overwhelming. It’s definitely affecting our operations, and at times, it even ruins the customer experience. The mental toll is real — mornings start rough, and the potential damage it can cause is beyond imagination.
The more I read about Windows online, the more I realize just how vulnerable it actually is. The new-age malwares are scary.
Sometimes I honestly feel like an idiot having to explain our issues from scratch to any new person. It’s like they assume I’m dumb for running into these 'simple' problems.
And their brilliant advice? 'Format the system' or 'get a genuine antivirus.'
Great—because of course, we never thought of that ourselves.
But all this stress has made me reflect — sometimes, things are simply out of our control. All we can do is show up and keep doing the work.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s this: when the data doesn’t get deleted, it feels like a luxury. Kind of like when you have a blocked nose and suddenly realize what a gift it is to breathe normally.
In fact, a friend told me to treat it as God’s blessing — it helped me move on from my breakup (one year after my wedding fiasco as well).
Self-help gurus say, “What you say, you attract.” So if you constantly talk about your problems, you might just be manifesting more of them.
Because of that, I usually avoid speaking about it too much — but I do talk with a few colleagues, family, and friends. We may not always find a solution, but it feels good to offload.
People often say the next war will be fought over data — and honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if entire cities or countries were brought to a digital standstill.
Sorry to break your illusion. I was just like you — believing that my 500-rupee antivirus was good enough to secure me for this life. But turns out, it’s just a gimmick.
So, please keep a backup of your important data. You never know what might hit you, no matter how many precautions you’ve taken.
"There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that don't know they have been hacked."
— John Chambers, former Cisco CEO
Bookshelf 📚 (Spoiler ahead — skip to the next section if you’d rather not know)
I recently finished Penguins Stopped Play by Harry Thompson.
Yes, the penguins did interrupt the author’s cricket match in Antarctica, just as the title suggests.
Funny, right? Well, Harry Thompson was an acclaimed British comedy writer, TV and radio producer, novelist, biographer—and avid cricketer.
So, how bored does someone have to be to conjure up the idea of playing cricket in Antarctica?
A bunch of mediocre cricketers who didn’t make it to their university team—because apparently, skill is more important than passion. But instead of giving up, they put together their own team of wannabe cricketers with one simple goal: to just play the game.
Years down the line, this noble gesture eventually fueled a desire to schedule a tour to play cricket on every continent on Earth. The whole idea of a village team challenging random professionals is completely mad—especially since no host ever saw them as just a bunch of amateurs from an English village. They were taken seriously, which only made things more absurd.
Leaving the cricket bit aside, the logistical challenges, ad hoc problems, players’ nationality issues, teammate fallouts, and match cancellations—the book is full of chaos, all of which Harry effortlessly turns into humour.
While reading the book, I felt like one of the team members on the tour, accepting Harry as my captain. It was a once-in-a-lifetime journey.
They partied throughout the tour. Initially, the parties were filled with excitement and fun, anticipating what lay ahead. But as the tour progressed, the celebrations took on a bittersweet feeling, marked by the realization of the impending end.
After the final landing is when Harry realizes nothing will ever be this awesome again.
Everything looked happy enough—until the end. It turns out Harry (who never smoked) developed lung cancer :(
Before beginning his treatment, he went to a match to hand over the kits, already having made up his mind that he wouldn’t play. However, a few of his ex-teammates were stuck in traffic while others got out. Someone had to bat to avoid a declaration—and yes, our Harry padded up.
It’s such a heart-shattering moment because he knows this will be his last game.
He died within days of completing the final manuscript and the publishing deal.
It’s a fun, unusual story about cricket, travel, and doing something just because you love it. Given Harry’s command over language, it gets tricky at times, and you might miss a few references. Also, the playing XI keeps changing throughout the book, so it’s hard to keep track of who’s who.
Here’s my favorite quote from the book,
After twenty-seven years, I have another, harder, battle to fight now, and I must leave the Scotties to it. If you’ll forgive the crap cricketing metaphor, I can see the line of slips waiting for me, twenty yards back. I haven’t the licence to make a single mistake; my only chance is to carry my bat through to the end. And of course I won’t be wearing a helmet. I want to see exactly where I’m going. It’s a tough task, but perhaps it’s not completely impossible.
Spoiled by the Feed
I don’t have a personal IG account; however, I manage our office’s and book club’s IG pages, which means spending considerable time on the platform.
A new trend that bothers me is the IG posts about the latest movies and web series.
Pages post the climax reels, key dialogues, memes, and other spoilers that could ruin the movie for anyone.
Within days of its release, the final race of the F1 movie was flooded on Instagram.
A similar thing happened with the web series Panchayat’s new season. All the character assessments, along with their trademark dialogues, were served on IG by several renowned pages.
A single post has enough clues for any sane person (like me) to connect the dots.
With the volume of data online, it’s next to impossible for moderators to flag such content. A few creators are complete idiots—they post such content only for views, while other genuine pages post authentic reviews. However, at times they dive too deep, which acts as a Schrödinger spoiler (you know and don’t know the spoiler at the same time).
I hardly watch web series anymore. I’m also glad that in my college days (10 years back—Yes, I’m old), IG wasn’t this evolved, so we got to watch things at our own pace without the pressure to complete them ASAP.
With reading, the advantage is that books aren’t as glamorous as cinema. Yes, they are gaining traction now, but still, you won’t find spoilers—except maybe for the renowned ones.
I was watching a video the other day where they were comparing old IG with today’s. Earlier, our feeds contained content only from the people we followed. It wasn’t overstimulating—after a while, the same photos would start repeating. Today, if you make an account and even without following anyone, your feed is endless (keep scrolling, mates). In fact, nowadays there’s a higher chance that you don’t even see all the photos from the people you do follow.
Tough times to be a movie buff.
I’d love to know your views in the comments — does this bother you too?
Hope you enjoyed this edition.
Signing off for today :) Until next time, Houdoe! 🙋♂️