tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76228092024-03-09T20:47:29.883-06:00Ben's BlogA geek's ramblings...Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14513790988776402812noreply@blogger.comBlogger891125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-35413194396575860172024-02-18T19:12:00.002-06:002024-02-18T19:12:00.435-06:00Fake "I Can’t Believe He’s Gone" Facebook Posts<div>We've all seen those fake "I Can’t Believe He’s Gone" posts on Facebook. You didn't click on them, did you? I hope not.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I couldn't figure out what they were up to. This <a href="https://blog.knowbe4.com/fake-i-cant-believe-hes-gone-posts-seek-to-steal-facebook-credentials" target="_blank">post</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240205221412/https://blog.knowbe4.com/fake-i-cant-believe-hes-gone-posts-seek-to-steal-facebook-credentials" target="_blank">archive.org</a>) on KnowBe4 explains it.</div><div><br /></div><div>These posts never have the name of the deceased person in them. They have a link that you need to click on to find out who is deceased. DON'T!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjojdEAlmZ0PXucKo-JM2FcqYmd_IiMAtJiNpmdOJfQcqA-m7QAwI-beHtY1T1zmqPgfkdSrA_VX-rwYrjiJN2glLV4dFnGGbKYKzAQBN4Xw8bx69phkTx7J4y0EcO3oSF9HVt2JFuqVyUuHLtFQ60s9y680qfynuQOiZObcw__q-WngKS5WDNB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="583" data-original-width="600" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjojdEAlmZ0PXucKo-JM2FcqYmd_IiMAtJiNpmdOJfQcqA-m7QAwI-beHtY1T1zmqPgfkdSrA_VX-rwYrjiJN2glLV4dFnGGbKYKzAQBN4Xw8bx69phkTx7J4y0EcO3oSF9HVt2JFuqVyUuHLtFQ60s9y680qfynuQOiZObcw__q-WngKS5WDNB=w320-h311" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="https://www.bleepstatic.com/images/news/security/phishing/f/facebook/gonna-miss-him/phishing-posts.jpg" target="_blank">bleepstatic</a></span></i></div><div><br /></div>If you click on it, you are taken to a page that asks you to login with your Facebook credentials.</div><div><br /></div><div>It goes downhill from there.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There are more details on <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/watch-out-for-i-cant-believe-he-is-gone-facebook-phishing-posts/" target="_blank">Bleeping Computer</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240205053927/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/watch-out-for-i-cant-believe-he-is-gone-facebook-phishing-posts/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-23811313215680841802024-02-11T19:05:00.008-06:002024-02-11T19:05:00.133-06:00Integrity of Amazon Reviews<div>You'll recall my experience with <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2024/01/phi-not-so-cool.html" target="_blank">PHI-Not so-COOL</a>. It purported to have 128GB of storage but only had a low quality 32GB microSD card.</div><div><br /></div><div>I guess I'm a sucker for "deals" so I kept on looking for a USB drive with USB A, USB C, and Lightning connectors. But this time, I thought I would be smarter. Instead of just looking on Amazon, I use Google to double check Amazon.</div><div><br /></div><div>With this, I found AUAMOZ USB iOS Memory Stick Photo Stick that had several positive comparative reviews on the Internet. So I ordered it from Amazon.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Bad choice!</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the review I submitted to Amazon on 01/10/24:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>This is a complete FAKE. I ran GRC's <a href="https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm" target="_blank">ValiDrive</a> against it and it showed that it claimed 268GB but only tested as 71GB. I couldn't resist so I opened it. All this is is a microSD card in a cheap carrier.</div><div><br /></div><div>How did this get almost 6,000 reviews with a 4.1 rating? Amazon, are you asleep at the wheel?</div></blockquote><div></div><div>I even submitted pictures of the internals and the ValiDrive test results.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rUfJwZjv_-RF1HLvGTyHIKZDwZ8SQ3uSpPZ1s4qzwLzI4BvpIOGDcGQ5GEDvybpZq7rW2xgadvL1K1hQi2nkdwph3F4542s0V5WqF11EWrPV-yll-rs4PcM2bot_sskL38DX6MLNbdgl3fOCirVj9VMv7nusaMabiV-wDeoVqJhYgHQsGfnX/s4032/20240110_214542776_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rUfJwZjv_-RF1HLvGTyHIKZDwZ8SQ3uSpPZ1s4qzwLzI4BvpIOGDcGQ5GEDvybpZq7rW2xgadvL1K1hQi2nkdwph3F4542s0V5WqF11EWrPV-yll-rs4PcM2bot_sskL38DX6MLNbdgl3fOCirVj9VMv7nusaMabiV-wDeoVqJhYgHQsGfnX/s320/20240110_214542776_iOS.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuk7e3yy9Vjh-xudtwFEtFyQ_Hc7aXQh_Nxw0ukoxZ-Pgdl5Qwa-Uj_naK5p9jwuZBB_QgtCgXMCujpJ5rMb0DKlHPZK9FIPWd2GxggljglkrPeG4iQtAg9nr2SD6PwtfIs3eaV6NsiyHqxtZOGENFB-nl2gktcoedj7cyEPsN7egVtW8lmrU/s4032/20240110_214806051_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuk7e3yy9Vjh-xudtwFEtFyQ_Hc7aXQh_Nxw0ukoxZ-Pgdl5Qwa-Uj_naK5p9jwuZBB_QgtCgXMCujpJ5rMb0DKlHPZK9FIPWd2GxggljglkrPeG4iQtAg9nr2SD6PwtfIs3eaV6NsiyHqxtZOGENFB-nl2gktcoedj7cyEPsN7egVtW8lmrU/s320/20240110_214806051_iOS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipaVBBpP3wfVgBHmhD23GA040WHChPLw8wW-C2YmaF2smYNbqw-qiwMkml_OwIeeLCbcCs-k8MvN65FciHNm8mXDFtndh7ZxUqIc4fCSKn1ha3dwcVvDBfPSHnbHvio8pxUTKOT0tWxa9urnonlvPgcV2TiqK5F4YZVt0ZVFDjRvN5dOT8SgIQ/s4032/20240110_214854118_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipaVBBpP3wfVgBHmhD23GA040WHChPLw8wW-C2YmaF2smYNbqw-qiwMkml_OwIeeLCbcCs-k8MvN65FciHNm8mXDFtndh7ZxUqIc4fCSKn1ha3dwcVvDBfPSHnbHvio8pxUTKOT0tWxa9urnonlvPgcV2TiqK5F4YZVt0ZVFDjRvN5dOT8SgIQ/s320/20240110_214854118_iOS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf31paIPdP_TgjHDzmd_pQJqmgBa3cI1KwjGD2kzcmg9pxbhdnd36jnlx5Fqida79NLRoIK9AGW1rGBCEHc0fa_41jYJ_n4JfTk0TAkiplHO4fQ_9ngJdjeYTXfMXhnwHif5OsMYQ4-GrBFdzM-8cuyrh2o72rVAMwWh53Yu0eD0NjDP935AWA/s4032/20240110_215447281_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf31paIPdP_TgjHDzmd_pQJqmgBa3cI1KwjGD2kzcmg9pxbhdnd36jnlx5Fqida79NLRoIK9AGW1rGBCEHc0fa_41jYJ_n4JfTk0TAkiplHO4fQ_9ngJdjeYTXfMXhnwHif5OsMYQ4-GrBFdzM-8cuyrh2o72rVAMwWh53Yu0eD0NjDP935AWA/s320/20240110_215447281_iOS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqf46Ojvg2ByCVp3tFilmiSBxZbST6V7VQWjlqJyKcZB0X7NyiiHfWSuiU5zRie4cejl6krgzPr_NbZ85HbfF41IzIY97qYTyjBt0iNVnobdul7MK4cVaGlL4LNI7_9HUlMyI123MjnMsaFI-IwBBzLVOHoIrQeuh3iI4unvjEUt_4MfPpF9K/s797/ValiDrive.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="623" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqf46Ojvg2ByCVp3tFilmiSBxZbST6V7VQWjlqJyKcZB0X7NyiiHfWSuiU5zRie4cejl6krgzPr_NbZ85HbfF41IzIY97qYTyjBt0iNVnobdul7MK4cVaGlL4LNI7_9HUlMyI123MjnMsaFI-IwBBzLVOHoIrQeuh3iI4unvjEUt_4MfPpF9K/w313-h400/ValiDrive.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><br /><div>Amazon's response on 01/12/24:</div><div><blockquote>We couldn't post your review because it doesn't meet our community guidelines.</blockquote></div></div><div>So, I guess telling the truth doesn't meet their community guidelines.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>So I resubmitted my review on 01/12/24 omitting "FAKE":</div></div><div><div><blockquote>Doesn't Have Stated Capacity: This doesn't have the stated capacity. I ran GRC's ValiDrive against it and it showed that it claimed 268GB but only tested as 71GB. I couldn't resist so I opened it. All this is is a microSD card in a cheap carrier. You won't be able to read your data from this drive.</blockquote></div><div>Amazon replied on 01/14/24:</div><div><blockquote>Thank you for submitting a review of Flash Drive for iPhone 256GB, AUAMOZ USB iOS Memory Stick Photo Stick External Storage Thumb Drive for iPhone iPad Android Computer (Light Blue); we are sorry you did not have a positive experience. We investigated your concerns about product authenticity, and the information we have indicates that the product you received was authentic. As a result, we removed the review you submitted. This ensures that customer reviews remain as accurate as possible for the benefit of future customers.</blockquote></div></div><div>If you go read the Amazon reviews, NOBODY mentions restoring their files from the drive.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I resubmitted my review a third time on 01/14/24 trying to be more succinct:</div><div><div></div><div><blockquote>Doesn't Have Stated Capacity: It only had 71GB of capacity. If you copy files to it, you can't read them back.</blockquote></div><div>Amazon replied on 01/15/24:</div><div><blockquote>Thank you for submitting a review of Flash Drive for iPhone 256GB, AUAMOZ USB iOS Memory Stick Photo Stick External Storage Thumb Drive for iPhone iPad Android Computer (Light Blue); we are sorry you did not have a positive experience. We investigated your concerns about product authenticity, and the information we have indicates that the product you received was authentic. As a result, we removed the review you submitted. This ensures that customer reviews remain as accurate as possible for the benefit of future customers.</blockquote></div></div><div><div>I finally bought a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VNGVKGF" target="_blank">SanDisk 128GB iXpand Flash Drive Go</a> that tested and worked great. It cost twice as much as the AUAMOZ and had half the stated (but actual) capacity.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhE7KeILpOvE70LAZKVbEHyplxkOy7O6mOgskOBPq5yGJmFOyUNL3dQ7vWxu5wIHSTS8NIjB76ajTt6-QVc7XMs_8zMy6UbFbPwYJi3u65RachSlAdBtyzJnrUtzVp0ZjLFGi7aRAdBa2sRdGDy3eAPJlJI3UqoQsuDPS_NTATsmn0dxqqKzwCs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="791" data-original-width="653" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhE7KeILpOvE70LAZKVbEHyplxkOy7O6mOgskOBPq5yGJmFOyUNL3dQ7vWxu5wIHSTS8NIjB76ajTt6-QVc7XMs_8zMy6UbFbPwYJi3u65RachSlAdBtyzJnrUtzVp0ZjLFGi7aRAdBa2sRdGDy3eAPJlJI3UqoQsuDPS_NTATsmn0dxqqKzwCs=w330-h400" width="330" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Caveat emptor.</div></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-52837114231410073512024-02-04T07:29:00.005-06:002024-02-04T19:05:51.070-06:00macOS for Windows Users<a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2024/01/i-sipped-kool-aid.html" target="_blank">This</a> has been a journey but one I needed to have made.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Z_EhaNTyPsbfplhjm0mkKy__yFu-F7azx5P6NxD_jkQwiU-twyfM-iudXGbbO4kEnDKdt9ub2B2o99cDhu3SYWAe6EFtnqImvRKUzhDodniI0RDlMSOScU9-1JNWFBO8zIEFlc9NwUudUTME44n1iPnzFnuaTfwUINSzyZurZgK6Tq02hnW5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Z_EhaNTyPsbfplhjm0mkKy__yFu-F7azx5P6NxD_jkQwiU-twyfM-iudXGbbO4kEnDKdt9ub2B2o99cDhu3SYWAe6EFtnqImvRKUzhDodniI0RDlMSOScU9-1JNWFBO8zIEFlc9NwUudUTME44n1iPnzFnuaTfwUINSzyZurZgK6Tq02hnW5=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>This post is going to be my (and hopefully your) cheatsheet for macOS.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Tips:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Command-Q to quit - like the red X in the upper-right corner</li><li>Function-Delete to forward delete - backspace key</li><li>Command-Tab to switch apps - like Windows Key + Tab</li><li>Command-Option-Esc to Force Quit - Control-Alt-Delete</li><li>Option-click on the Notification Center icon at top right of the menu bar to toggle Do Not Disturb</li><li>Option-click menu bar icons - access different or expanded menus</li><li>Option-click the Apple button - lets you restart or shut down your Mac and view system information</li><li>Command-spacebar for Spotlight search - like Windows Key</li><li>Use the trackpad as right mouse button - press with 2 fingers to get the right mouse button</li><li>Use the shortcuts you're used to - use <em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">⌘</em> instead of Ctrl</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Links:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/102323" target="_blank">Mac tips for Windows switchers</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231202001510/https://support.apple.com/en-us/102323" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div></div><div><a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/10-mac-shortcuts-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">10 Mac shortcuts you need to know</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230124013243/https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/10-mac-shortcuts-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div><div><a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/taking-a-screenshot-on-mac-4-simple-ways-to-do-it/" target="_blank">Taking a Screenshot on Mac</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230927200604/https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/taking-a-screenshot-on-mac-4-simple-ways-to-do-it/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div><div><a href="https://macmost.com/clean-up-your-macs-dock.html" target="_blank">Clean Up Your Mac’s Dock</a> (<a href="https://archive.org/download/clean-up-your-macs-dock-macmost-2863/2863CleanDock.mp4" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div><div><a href="https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/mac-tips-for-windows-switchers-532241f0766d" target="_blank">Mac tips for Windows switchers</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230314132435/https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/mac-tips-for-windows-switchers-532241f0766d" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div><div><div><a href="https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/switch-windows-macbook.html" target="_blank">5 tips if you switch from Windows to an Apple MacBook</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210303023732/https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/switch-windows-macbook.html" target="_blank">archive.org</a>)</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Helpful Applications:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/chrome" target="_blank">Google Chrome</a></div><div><a href="https://setup.office.com" target="_blank">Microsoft Office</a></div><div><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/strongbox-password-manager/id897283731" target="_blank">Strongbox</a> - for KeePass</div><div><a href="https://en.softonic.com/download/cheatsheet-mac/mac/post-download" target="_blank">CheatSheet</a></div><div><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zclock-lite-topmost-clock/id1489475245?mt=12" target="_blank">zClock</a></div><div><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/onedrive/id823766827?mt=12" target="_blank">OneDrive</a></div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-66742563037166208752024-01-28T19:35:00.022-06:002024-01-28T19:35:00.242-06:00MacBrickAs mentioned earlier, <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2024/01/i-sipped-kool-aid.html" target="_blank">I Sipped the Kool-Aid</a>. And then I stumbled.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/" target="_blank">OpenCore Legacy Patcher</a>'s (OCLP) instructions are somewhat wanting. On a trip, I got a prompt that a new update to OCLP was available. Generally you don't need to install updates unless you are planning to upgrade to a new macOS that that update provides support for but, knowing me, I install them all.</div><div><br /></div><div>The OCLP updates install automatically after you accept them but I was too aggressive. I got a prompt that something couldn't install because something else was already in progress. With no guidance from OCLP, I clicked the "Retry" button.</div><div><br /></div><div>BRICK!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG2b6UiacNszRIdzjpLtrbRaBb7CsrOXQsY_RllsDrAgayRHEhAv9vCqc2PSv-t0WDJ6yoKwOfo4iXWZQRWY_JtZveD2YYhZ-RvHHAlDcLkLy088L8gQtyScyuUPEI2es4rSZz53ZL7hmQd67INHU1-NMpFuIF6pBoD4boI-u94bhpJZg4bda0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1560" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG2b6UiacNszRIdzjpLtrbRaBb7CsrOXQsY_RllsDrAgayRHEhAv9vCqc2PSv-t0WDJ6yoKwOfo4iXWZQRWY_JtZveD2YYhZ-RvHHAlDcLkLy088L8gQtyScyuUPEI2es4rSZz53ZL7hmQd67INHU1-NMpFuIF6pBoD4boI-u94bhpJZg4bda0=w400-h244" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/101666#:~:text=A%20prohibitory%20symbol%2C%20which%20looks%20like%20a%20circle%20with%20a%20line%20or%20slash%20through%20it%2C%20means%20that%20your%20startup%20disk%20contains%20a%20Mac%20operating%20system%2C%20but%20it%27s%20not%20a%20version%20or%20build%20of%20macOS%20that%20your%20Mac%20can%20use." target="_blank">Apple</a>:</div><div><blockquote>A prohibitory symbol, which looks like a circle with a line or slash through it, means that your startup disk contains a Mac operating system, but it's not a version or build of macOS that your Mac can use.</blockquote></div><div>The MacBook wouldn't boot. Basically, the on-the-fly OCLP firmware patches weren't being installed and the MacBook Air 2015 wouldn't boot Ventura.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being out of town, I didn't have the "magic" USB drive that I had used to install OCLP. Perhaps, with that I could have repatched the firmware.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I had a MacBook brick for the rest of the trip. Thankfully, I had brought a Windows laptop as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back at home, I still couldn't figure out how to repatch using the USB drive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, I just did a hard <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/reset-macbook-air-4184823#:~:text=of%20resetting%20it.-,Perform%20a%20Factory%20Reset,-To%20reset%20your" target="_blank">factory reset</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230606022828/https://www.lifewire.com/reset-macbook-air-4184823" target="_blank">archive.org</a>) on the MacBook and rebuilt it. At least that was good practice and a check on my documentation.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9XzATDjioiYIVskiMF1B7LpYLfc_ZvVbQzUL5Swdl1uoJf4hy07OdDRfzgDY1LC55EqTDzSSIMOr-4JrA5NK611s3b9DqVKbI6xmTzeC54GGeJuGZ5VnEKMVu_LBPQqP8jMg754BKcoc_-UCmXTf65Doqm51IyPA7sN0Z2Rj62Jr2_BVLCiR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="508" data-original-width="750" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9XzATDjioiYIVskiMF1B7LpYLfc_ZvVbQzUL5Swdl1uoJf4hy07OdDRfzgDY1LC55EqTDzSSIMOr-4JrA5NK611s3b9DqVKbI6xmTzeC54GGeJuGZ5VnEKMVu_LBPQqP8jMg754BKcoc_-UCmXTf65Doqm51IyPA7sN0Z2Rj62Jr2_BVLCiR=w400-h271" width="400" /></a></div><br />There are lots of links on Google about how to reset a MacBook but they are usually telling you how to erase it. The above linked <a href="http://lifewire.com" target="_blank">lifewire.com </a>article will let you reset a bricked MacBook over the Internet. Pretty cool.</div><div><div><br /></div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-34472428904415495222024-01-21T19:25:00.001-06:002024-01-21T19:25:00.133-06:00Say No to iOS AppsI had made a reservation for dinner at a local restaurant. They required <a href="https://www.yelp.com" target="_blank">Yelp</a> to make the reservation. I used the restaurant's link on their website and it worked fine.<div><br /></div><div>Then the trouble began.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day before our reservation, I got the following text message from Yelp.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHei1PztX_cgIVourhddwqmV9bqEB0hFnM_r8sH0s-F2UcEVXr2qkPLaSuYSQ7_ZcGiZZwNaW_EbuV6rZJB9wk4oWTC0xaYDp0E8chJS-yMPOY8QWMWFR6g7-HKcoUoQ4dvtPM3BJrdB4Kpv3mDDUjAzLS4hMnV5ZQAAuNUoAuj2Kf2SVsaEdS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1317" data-original-width="1122" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHei1PztX_cgIVourhddwqmV9bqEB0hFnM_r8sH0s-F2UcEVXr2qkPLaSuYSQ7_ZcGiZZwNaW_EbuV6rZJB9wk4oWTC0xaYDp0E8chJS-yMPOY8QWMWFR6g7-HKcoUoQ4dvtPM3BJrdB4Kpv3mDDUjAzLS4hMnV5ZQAAuNUoAuj2Kf2SVsaEdS=w340-h400" width="340" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Here's the web page I got when I clicked that link on my phone.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjHyRKzuccfT2kbHGvXt8nrI2Uc8gL4kMGsOjAwcB27dfCSRlykAgoiLD8fLSisgbI4n3gnNss1O-W530vJQlPvoqvq8WeFylq79EI6XzXqvWTpzqXYy081I476AHPBN3X9UZSG2ri7ES7nimDEI4rOHq69JLs_6vxg28KCzmYZaNOL9n3e2bg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="552" data-original-width="826" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjHyRKzuccfT2kbHGvXt8nrI2Uc8gL4kMGsOjAwcB27dfCSRlykAgoiLD8fLSisgbI4n3gnNss1O-W530vJQlPvoqvq8WeFylq79EI6XzXqvWTpzqXYy081I476AHPBN3X9UZSG2ri7ES7nimDEI4rOHq69JLs_6vxg28KCzmYZaNOL9n3e2bg=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><br />No, I'm not going to install an app just to confirm a reservation.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I just replied "YES".</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOawM5OukfnzPMCVtmiUx8W_SehhOoMHdZPksAFpmW7v5Vd3bncxrr5gvPzpRhFO39FmKgL9iGYDl1hMz5lKRXkD-C2z34j_OMIsnmT5_z8Rs9zk1XEgGJL9mn7f8o_mKAFbmp31daKdAiu3yCw6PxMiRdAOp_-hzJz0xedY-EcqVKV1kBDmE_" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="623" data-original-width="1122" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOawM5OukfnzPMCVtmiUx8W_SehhOoMHdZPksAFpmW7v5Vd3bncxrr5gvPzpRhFO39FmKgL9iGYDl1hMz5lKRXkD-C2z34j_OMIsnmT5_z8Rs9zk1XEgGJL9mn7f8o_mKAFbmp31daKdAiu3yCw6PxMiRdAOp_-hzJz0xedY-EcqVKV1kBDmE_=w400-h223" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>So the demand to install an app was just a bluff. Why would Yelp bluff you to install an app?</div><div><br /></div><div>I found this <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/q3h2dp/yelp_forces_you_to_download_the_app_to_confirm/hfut0f6/" target="_blank">reddit comment</a> that explains it better than I can.</div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A website can't ask your OS for a list of installed apps and then sell it to the highest bidder.</li><li>A website can't nag you with useless notifications, unless you explicitly click "yes" on a scary-looking browser dialog.</li><li>A website can't access your phone's globally unique identifiers, nor can it collect stats about your battery to determine how likely you are to buy a new phone.</li><li>A website can't scan your phone's entire storage for interesting stuff after you grant it the permission to pull one photo from a directory.</li><li>A website can't put you on the "users to eventually ban" list if your phone is jailbroken or rooted.</li><li>A website can't download ads in the background to show them even if you are offline (even though the web tech to make offline sites actually exists).</li></ul><div>Now, that's why don't I like to install apps.</div></div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-907601403286105652024-01-14T19:21:00.002-06:002024-01-14T19:21:00.137-06:00I Sipped the Kool-AidI've had an iPad for years. I've given up and moved to an <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2020/03/steve-jobs-sent-me-message.html" target="_blank">iPhone</a>, even enabling iMessage. Then I bought an Apple Watch.<div><br /></div><div>Now I've gone and bought a Mac, actually a MacBook Air 2015. I got it CHEAP!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTS17uLHLuHz1WEX2GyBGbTXuv_6SCJRF67s6E1kJv8NFhoDQMw7BdxPweKY9_29yhojBVMTUQBzcxzsoZwvLz6YZmYBTsdOWtSFbnkZ5E_EJlEutqMkwiOuyHew6Ejj0sBQF95mfyIjr9juQcvhG50RJQN3k4MYT_ST0yp2Fz3HtnRwTowXo1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTS17uLHLuHz1WEX2GyBGbTXuv_6SCJRF67s6E1kJv8NFhoDQMw7BdxPweKY9_29yhojBVMTUQBzcxzsoZwvLz6YZmYBTsdOWtSFbnkZ5E_EJlEutqMkwiOuyHew6Ejj0sBQF95mfyIjr9juQcvhG50RJQN3k4MYT_ST0yp2Fz3HtnRwTowXo1=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div></div><div>But the last macOS supported on the MacBook Air 2015 was Catalina 10.15.7. Not only haven't there been any security patches for Catalina for a while but it was 4 versions behind.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I found <a href="https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/" target="_blank">OpenCore Legacy Patcher</a> (OCLP). OCLP is my kind of hack. Apple deprecates versions of their Mac hardware by requiring new but basically insignificant hardware. OCLP updates the Mac's firmware in memory to fake that the newly required hardware is present and then the new macOS runs without complaints. Even the performance is good.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it's not for the faint of heart. As of this post, the <a href="https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/INSTALLER.html" target="_blank">installation instructions</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231222105731/https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/INSTALLER.html">archive.org</a>) are for version 0.6.6 while the current version is 1.3.0. And some of the steps are implied rather than specified.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are lots of other <a href="https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/how-to-keep-older-macs-secure-a-geeky-approach" target="_blank">guides</a> on the Internet but they all seem to assume a pretty good understanding of macOS.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, if you're game, it works great.</div><div><br /></div><div>My MacBook Air 2015 is running Sonoma 14.2.1.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-28248033868026235692024-01-07T20:10:00.003-06:002024-01-17T10:27:00.419-06:00PHI-Not so-COOLYou'll recall my experiences recently with <a href="https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm" target="_blank">ValiDrive</a> and the FAKE 512GB USB drive with USB A, USB C, and Lightning connectors. It only had capacity of 64GB.<div><br /></div><div>Somewhat later, I was out of town and had an urgent need for a USB drive. In my traveling toolkit, I had a PHICOOL USB drive with an alleged 128GB and USB A, USB C, and Lightning connectors.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDhiAWJZacipraeqSFnpyd57AYRvYP2c1yyPyVGfXZqbvm7_jUWj7Qp0_qk2_af8f-yLo5t93gDarhyDEW7LPJ5lQYZFx0f8Bb7ERO9ZKhhYSPfTGlJ5ld_xWh45qSG4ZR03ppoEJcwXZojooMbKRAHvmEGsb9MlLEkxUXwML8cuIuvzroXjML" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="904" data-original-width="830" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDhiAWJZacipraeqSFnpyd57AYRvYP2c1yyPyVGfXZqbvm7_jUWj7Qp0_qk2_af8f-yLo5t93gDarhyDEW7LPJ5lQYZFx0f8Bb7ERO9ZKhhYSPfTGlJ5ld_xWh45qSG4ZR03ppoEJcwXZojooMbKRAHvmEGsb9MlLEkxUXwML8cuIuvzroXjML=w293-h320" width="293" /></a></div><br /></div><div>Now my SOP is to run <a href="https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm" target="_blank">ValiDrive</a> on new USB drives. Again, this drive was FAKE only having 32GB of capacity and was ridiculously slow.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhra2Hd6TpqnR7yorv79LtjnpZeJGLFw9Y5eLlQrui_fyN2q7wMwZ-hK0nnDkOJ15fO-L996otk2Kkjk4PClii6x7BP5ysao8dFIkFU6qV3DxcPFUVGciIOeyBInWi6KsYR2NDm1fWq3qijx4IWMai6GtyIl2mWbMsJeNEH3du4Q5794WhEZ2oI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="860" data-original-width="695" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhra2Hd6TpqnR7yorv79LtjnpZeJGLFw9Y5eLlQrui_fyN2q7wMwZ-hK0nnDkOJ15fO-L996otk2Kkjk4PClii6x7BP5ysao8dFIkFU6qV3DxcPFUVGciIOeyBInWi6KsYR2NDm1fWq3qijx4IWMai6GtyIl2mWbMsJeNEH3du4Q5794WhEZ2oI=w324-h400" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>As I studied the PHICOOL drive I realized that I could open it. Here is what was inside.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMyQHS_ykDZkCM5q7NfS5c3J9nYS37hQhv6GMOY2N49JbW3M_CKtFpA5oln1SlG0zvhuKHY_Q5Ry_ZsqaIA6g5W0VLoyVFFFB68x5nq5zdCSFKKKoQjBsZl0ljYo1t-X1iDuaJn47pAJqJKvzrowxKo7vXeeJeLvIkVPZ4-sHmBZI7tFst7m2Z" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1207" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMyQHS_ykDZkCM5q7NfS5c3J9nYS37hQhv6GMOY2N49JbW3M_CKtFpA5oln1SlG0zvhuKHY_Q5Ry_ZsqaIA6g5W0VLoyVFFFB68x5nq5zdCSFKKKoQjBsZl0ljYo1t-X1iDuaJn47pAJqJKvzrowxKo7vXeeJeLvIkVPZ4-sHmBZI7tFst7m2Z=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br />But look at this!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6Ks-8dr2lYAd1JYHUwtWzRj6PbR_ZSbHMNYanV-YCD_hh-6Rnuw7O6PtTTlJST_gCLeJf6kKzRE1RmdxLJFD9juBJuFBic2CzXznn1kGCOxvOTCGaTBMOXhdVTFllo4LPNlyrqd7wq45vA4k3MWkUcoWb6USADJ5yiu4cq4fJAIhkptlny-Pp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1207" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6Ks-8dr2lYAd1JYHUwtWzRj6PbR_ZSbHMNYanV-YCD_hh-6Rnuw7O6PtTTlJST_gCLeJf6kKzRE1RmdxLJFD9juBJuFBic2CzXznn1kGCOxvOTCGaTBMOXhdVTFllo4LPNlyrqd7wq45vA4k3MWkUcoWb6USADJ5yiu4cq4fJAIhkptlny-Pp=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br />A 32GB microSD card!</div><div><br /></div><div>Run ValiDrive on EVERY USB drive that you buy, even on memory cards.<br /><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-45740281663726888272023-12-31T19:50:00.001-06:002023-12-31T19:50:00.143-06:00Happy New Year 2024<div>It's time for my annual New Year's post. Most of these are oldies but goodies but still very applicable even for Windows 11.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's my list of things I think you should check once a year.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqABMxTmu2mb-iysRkkuI3jRcIO4fWJV-CUN6t1rApB-SP85zSvNUDVSckn4_1Hb9pRAubKjY-VlNNr5xRlM5-wucFuXoth1FkSQqM6AMGVuEDY1FR5T0aJfhMANeBX7Ls3_YaWV27vxqsl_PoQcM9UV9UtnCd2aClhFovLJbpVC5jezdcu3q/s624/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="624" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqABMxTmu2mb-iysRkkuI3jRcIO4fWJV-CUN6t1rApB-SP85zSvNUDVSckn4_1Hb9pRAubKjY-VlNNr5xRlM5-wucFuXoth1FkSQqM6AMGVuEDY1FR5T0aJfhMANeBX7Ls3_YaWV27vxqsl_PoQcM9UV9UtnCd2aClhFovLJbpVC5jezdcu3q/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Some of the steps may be a little out of date but I think you can find your way around. If not, leave me a comment and I'll help.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2021/12/keepass-revisited.html" target="_blank">Password Store</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2018/12/paypal-preapproved-payments-update.html" target="_blank">PayPal Preapproved Payments</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2018/05/macrium-reflect.html" target="_blank">Offline Backup</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/04/sigcheck.html" target="_blank">Certificate Store</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/10/not-upnp.html" target="_blank">Router Configuration</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/03/guest-network-for-iot.html" target="_blank">Guest Network for IoT</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2019/09/just-use-windows-defender.html" target="_blank">Windows Defender</a> and <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/12/windows-defender-offline.html" target="_blank">Windows Defender Offline</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2019/01/controlled-folder-access-windows-10-1809.html" target="_blank">Controlled Folder Access</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2017/07/windows-10-system-restore.html" target="_blank">System Restore</a></div><div><br /></div><div>You'll sleep better.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-82613816981103030072023-11-05T19:35:00.002-06:002023-11-05T19:35:00.140-06:00ValiDrive<div>I've been known to eat some <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2020/07/the-crow-needs-little-salt.html" target="_blank">crow</a> and here I go again.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicLXcsVt2aPGP2SJSL4bYLp5ffiAvmtMAOnXauVBzniYSRwZ6Z6nEzvIIF23MFftirFp83SKa_94cE3ARFRAtw84snnDscAJU59sHOukiFEN13tvoYCIIzimM9_qHpZKcebXkoAaE7Kh-7-Rq3mmVbc3pndAF17KMt2safn96TeP4cGZSAYpXn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="897" data-original-width="888" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicLXcsVt2aPGP2SJSL4bYLp5ffiAvmtMAOnXauVBzniYSRwZ6Z6nEzvIIF23MFftirFp83SKa_94cE3ARFRAtw84snnDscAJU59sHOukiFEN13tvoYCIIzimM9_qHpZKcebXkoAaE7Kh-7-Rq3mmVbc3pndAF17KMt2safn96TeP4cGZSAYpXn=w317-h320" width="317" /></a></div><br />I'm a long time follower of <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/security-now" target="_blank">Security Now</a> with Steve Gibson on the TWiT network. I've also been a user of <a href="https://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm" target="_blank">SpinRite</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>But over the years, SpinRite has bumped into some limitations, e.g. disk size, speed, and no support for UEFI.</div><div><br /></div><div>Steve has been working on SpinRite 6.1 which will address disk size and speed as well as add some new features.</div><div><br /></div><div>SpinRite 6.1 was almost wrapped up when Steve got distracted with what seemed like a random project.</div><div><br /></div><div>He discovered that some of the cheap USB drives on Amazon didn't contain as much memory as they advertised. Worse, they would accept writes to sectors beyond their capacity without complaining.</div><div><br /></div><div>There goes your data.</div><div><br /></div><div>So Steve set aside SpinRite 6.1 and began developing <a href="https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm" target="_blank">ValiDrive</a> to validate the capacity of USB drives. Steve is a meticulous developer and he always make sure his code is RIGHT.</div><div><br /></div><div>I kept running into SpinRite 6's limitations and finally blew up at Steve:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg41RIhAxdLHfQJCoR7aTM4YTiWTB31EhDpBqR4org0fmWZD9r5W9fTiBaUtkb0MfNkiHiozeCTleAErsji28aEocAQBiIGBvzyPJ71tm4sFTgM0hVkb2jGPP-4RzDMCrKWUIlnwdG5yxCbY0VqBhqsVfrU_dapUtPCfq6764yfXRo5CAkA5m_o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="157" data-original-width="797" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg41RIhAxdLHfQJCoR7aTM4YTiWTB31EhDpBqR4org0fmWZD9r5W9fTiBaUtkb0MfNkiHiozeCTleAErsji28aEocAQBiIGBvzyPJ71tm4sFTgM0hVkb2jGPP-4RzDMCrKWUIlnwdG5yxCbY0VqBhqsVfrU_dapUtPCfq6764yfXRo5CAkA5m_o=w574-h113" width="574" /></a></div><br />Shortly after this, ValiDrive was released and Steve went back to working on SpinRite. Quickly, SpinRite 6.1 was pre-released.</div><div><br /></div><div>I downloaded ValiDrive and ran it on a multi-adapter USB drive that I had bought from Amazon.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was advertised at a 512GB USB drive with USB A, USB C, and Lightning connectors. I bought it to take on a trip but never used it. It came in a nice metal case lined with foam. It had neatly printed instructions and the support e-mail actually answered questions for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it was too good to be true.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmeXKhUAslW3VuZjvwdw5iLKycJL_EZkcaZ_2yEAEtrKVIkE6EFnxPn1YqJx7Kvykgc0tLnNiv5zWsL0iGdzUT0O3fnrTnRKqpe-qBrlaAceFESw5kttvOVaUX8rZAcD3Ay_qjgcPevLPdzPF5UZ_mqU1AQiWpSkJUHzA0CVi-JF2-NWg_JDj8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="905" data-original-width="1087" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmeXKhUAslW3VuZjvwdw5iLKycJL_EZkcaZ_2yEAEtrKVIkE6EFnxPn1YqJx7Kvykgc0tLnNiv5zWsL0iGdzUT0O3fnrTnRKqpe-qBrlaAceFESw5kttvOVaUX8rZAcD3Ay_qjgcPevLPdzPF5UZ_mqU1AQiWpSkJUHzA0CVi-JF2-NWg_JDj8=w400-h333" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>ValiDrive showed that it only had 64GB of capacity and was SLOW.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I ran it on 2 microSD cards that I had been using in my Wyze cameras.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_u6qygfFKfpwTEfRBttoDr4KLC_3oRlvgY9UYmqvV6YZNsXVntn0UDtodQve5cjJXyqQP-M0z0cuA3jPYbntI2KKWzHBQ2NGjLQCLKk-CyZJocTzYw829_LYzv9uQ6P72L6MZe5DuLLTfNy0a7hz-hIB-Pr5NZ8zc0tpa5_ia9IwlzNlz5zKE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="905" data-original-width="1087" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_u6qygfFKfpwTEfRBttoDr4KLC_3oRlvgY9UYmqvV6YZNsXVntn0UDtodQve5cjJXyqQP-M0z0cuA3jPYbntI2KKWzHBQ2NGjLQCLKk-CyZJocTzYw829_LYzv9uQ6P72L6MZe5DuLLTfNy0a7hz-hIB-Pr5NZ8zc0tpa5_ia9IwlzNlz5zKE=w400-h333" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglFCn-vWci0jm707u691WNyZ_25YZTRr8cvcyJHFBigrK8-GLGOsB-0zuVEfGNhnuDiEPYCt5L6LOpMiah-_8ynx40zfKcjxxbyF3ftlpbTzH_Vy6tFl5DzPnezMG_abwZkGLekZonjQqYivTiBpbfotxmvmr0Y2JZxt35HhJ8E9E0ZgQHlht0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1087" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglFCn-vWci0jm707u691WNyZ_25YZTRr8cvcyJHFBigrK8-GLGOsB-0zuVEfGNhnuDiEPYCt5L6LOpMiah-_8ynx40zfKcjxxbyF3ftlpbTzH_Vy6tFl5DzPnezMG_abwZkGLekZonjQqYivTiBpbfotxmvmr0Y2JZxt35HhJ8E9E0ZgQHlht0=w400-h332" width="400" /></a></div></div><br />They were true to size and much faster.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then came a real test - the 64GB USB drive that I use for my <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2021/12/keepass-revisited.html" target="_blank">KeePass vault</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6yYLNXN3zREzJXWEDyOoAra0fyDN9z8MH3fPgflc3kXzjN3nEk-HBPwZCe8j9n9-47ccW1zZlpXCZsYYTcV1S7MKPmoz6o1cUuXYdZTjlLRVazNtQUlzkEnEtNfNu8T99XpY8JvRAPpcKseNpdhx3BhXwP0jV-UJEe3Uoc1uZWcLW40RgoYA5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1087" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6yYLNXN3zREzJXWEDyOoAra0fyDN9z8MH3fPgflc3kXzjN3nEk-HBPwZCe8j9n9-47ccW1zZlpXCZsYYTcV1S7MKPmoz6o1cUuXYdZTjlLRVazNtQUlzkEnEtNfNu8T99XpY8JvRAPpcKseNpdhx3BhXwP0jV-UJEe3Uoc1uZWcLW40RgoYA5=w400-h332" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Perfect.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-2306938691640200072023-10-08T19:53:00.001-05:002023-10-08T19:53:00.146-05:00TreeSize FreeWhen I tried to take a <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2017/07/system-image-backup.html" target="_blank">system image</a> of my daily driver laptop, I didn't have enough space on my backup drive. I didn't remember doing anything extraordinary so I started looking for wasted space.<div><br /></div><div>I ran Windows' tools without getting much back. So I started looking for tools in my "Software" folder. I found <a href="https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free" target="_blank">TreeSize Free</a> and ran it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The answer stuck out like a sore thumb. It was in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Temp. In a future post, I'll explain what had created all those files.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back to TreeSize Free.</div><div><br /></div><div>TreeSize Free is a free utility from JAM Software. Its visualizations make the utilization of space very obvious.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4vfW1PSfI_iqzl7fQFdfVHx0hCx5BjWUGXkoFMOU3rgMWEwEGEUjQOj2SPUIT6QTD_yXfoCWV80faSmBJWepGA22sTHXTNdro6xRRMtaCqA2wgbsKixX5M6br2J3N1NokQq0IjNBbhPYK85LUPzFxiteAqZW8haDTvA_YY0JFjX8zW-2ww4G/s1024/TreeSizeFree_3%5B1%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4vfW1PSfI_iqzl7fQFdfVHx0hCx5BjWUGXkoFMOU3rgMWEwEGEUjQOj2SPUIT6QTD_yXfoCWV80faSmBJWepGA22sTHXTNdro6xRRMtaCqA2wgbsKixX5M6br2J3N1NokQq0IjNBbhPYK85LUPzFxiteAqZW8haDTvA_YY0JFjX8zW-2ww4G/w400-h225/TreeSizeFree_3%5B1%5D.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>It's available as a portable app and you can get it <a href="https://downloads.jam-software.de/treesize_free/TreeSizeFree-Portable.zip" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-53824169625482510302023-09-10T19:42:00.003-05:002023-09-10T20:56:03.995-05:00Kasa DoorbellsI've been using Ring Doorbells for several years. I had one at the front door and another at the back garage door. They were the original models but the images were fine. I liked the way that they worked with my house's original doorbell, i.e., the original doorbell chime rang when the Ring Doorbells were pushed.<div><br /></div><div>But to get access to the historical events, I had to get a subscription that was $80 per year for the two doorbells.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/04/between-rock-and-hard-place.html" target="_blank">Insteon fiasco</a>, I have been diversifying my home automation. I have two Kasa (by TP-Link) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TG759WY/" target="_blank">Smart Plug HS103P2</a>s and they work great. Kasa has a simple app but I schedule them using Amazon Echo.</div><div><br /></div><div>So when I started looking at doorbell replacements, Kasa came up. I had looked at Wyze as well but, unlike the Wyze cameras, the Wyze doorbells didn't have on device storage. I ended up getting two Kasa KD110s.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpdHJnorES2fh6MEp6LiYsME5DV4kZOGOoKR1UsXeZ2yKQ5ZIaK4wZ4PsxNKM49RqSwNR1PRrwOwXukAmV6NkNitOu86w9vKtObi5ChixzJCHsI07pjq8WMjNZDEdJADQwka7uDfTnFJvm3-3swo1qnt2lqFS-Vw_KU3IJsrE583-W_ogymTd/s1429/61eC4-SUHZL._AC_SL1500_%5B1%5D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1429" data-original-width="1091" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpdHJnorES2fh6MEp6LiYsME5DV4kZOGOoKR1UsXeZ2yKQ5ZIaK4wZ4PsxNKM49RqSwNR1PRrwOwXukAmV6NkNitOu86w9vKtObi5ChixzJCHsI07pjq8WMjNZDEdJADQwka7uDfTnFJvm3-3swo1qnt2lqFS-Vw_KU3IJsrE583-W_ogymTd/w305-h400/61eC4-SUHZL._AC_SL1500_%5B1%5D.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><div><br /></div>They have on device storage using 128 GB microSD card. With their 2K resolution, that gives me about 10 days of 24x7 video (accessible using the Kasa app). These videos can be saved to your local device.<div><br /></div><div>My front doorbell mounts on siding so I needed a appropriate wedge. I found what I needed from <a href="http://nearlynewmodels.com" target="_blank">nearlynewmodels.com</a>. It was 3D printed to my color and angle. The approach to my front door comes from one side so I used the angled wedge that came with the KD110. Interestingly, the KD110 used the same holes in the siding as the original doorbell button!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGCO3rPZNC96eSfe7RFaH89RXPJ1zwXrjZv3pwprn8Ze6RpIl0_RkXIFWUcc2tbDO09JidAfpvVE1dR4mFjij-EhmOe6IIEwxbiJgUC3y_0ALRRD675pSVDFD7TFtciZ43YNgtQsctGjn5_QkpZjLgCGyQUMbNXYOwBzeNrpbE68VHaNsLmMR/s929/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="696" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGCO3rPZNC96eSfe7RFaH89RXPJ1zwXrjZv3pwprn8Ze6RpIl0_RkXIFWUcc2tbDO09JidAfpvVE1dR4mFjij-EhmOe6IIEwxbiJgUC3y_0ALRRD675pSVDFD7TFtciZ43YNgtQsctGjn5_QkpZjLgCGyQUMbNXYOwBzeNrpbE68VHaNsLmMR/w300-h400/image.png" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div>The software/firmware for the KD100 has bene continuously evolving. When I started looking at them, the reviews were full of comments saying that you had to remove the microSD to access the videos. That was addressed by an app update before I bought.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I immediately noticed that the software/firmware didn't allow setting zones for person detection. This resulted in numerous false alerts. I finally turned off person detection and narrowly zoned the motion detection. This reduced the false alerts but I still got alerts from plants moving.</div><div><br /></div><div>I opened a support ticket with TP-Link and after only one bounce got connected to a support person who knew what was going on. He replied that they were working on a firmware update to be followed by an app update to address this.</div><div><br /></div><div>The firmware on the KD110s were OTA updated to 2.3.20 and the app updated to 3.3.500. That added a separate zone capability to the person detection feature. They are working fine now.</div><div><br /></div><div>The only shortcoming that I can find is that the KD110s don't ring the original doorbell chime. They come with plug-in chimes that you can place anywhere. Each KD110 can support multiple chimes so you could put one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom.</div><div><br /></div><div>BUT you can't buy a second chime! I've seen posts where people have actually bought a second KD110 just to use the chime. What I've done is to configure my Amazon Echos to announce the notifications.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is a capture from daytime.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHnTQkPWOrB8aXvauRjYloWJ70oifh2fkvlmhRIqEuzaLTISU2msIHY-Jsx3qt741-EQ0EtQAQqKwFUvPhY0-aVj6cG7E1rCLoCAmSLpsmrC7RTWG1TlQpVIZUD68vCTbov5sjYZPjSFXM8Dl4o0DurAblS1YbjSFJstVFx6p6NeILSdXZ2Dn/s1920/20230907_032935690_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHnTQkPWOrB8aXvauRjYloWJ70oifh2fkvlmhRIqEuzaLTISU2msIHY-Jsx3qt741-EQ0EtQAQqKwFUvPhY0-aVj6cG7E1rCLoCAmSLpsmrC7RTWG1TlQpVIZUD68vCTbov5sjYZPjSFXM8Dl4o0DurAblS1YbjSFJstVFx6p6NeILSdXZ2Dn/w400-h225/20230907_032935690_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Here is a capture from nighttime.</div><div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNM0XW-cE7pKKsSGZPCbVZ4kOazDEd9V2GOAqRIqmhCW4JbDsnrDjt_2m1NCFG8yT_iJVd_ajhfAcHc3oe1dhCP71E5kCMu92kwbckGv3vi8h_knHBYwG3otu8_w1GzB3qUWO1lJgDVm0Cb-UyrdLuHR7P2mDSs1Mr-HKFz-WYjdggYUUaWw-k/s1920/20230907_032921977_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNM0XW-cE7pKKsSGZPCbVZ4kOazDEd9V2GOAqRIqmhCW4JbDsnrDjt_2m1NCFG8yT_iJVd_ajhfAcHc3oe1dhCP71E5kCMu92kwbckGv3vi8h_knHBYwG3otu8_w1GzB3qUWO1lJgDVm0Cb-UyrdLuHR7P2mDSs1Mr-HKFz-WYjdggYUUaWw-k/w400-h225/20230907_032921977_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-66030451109739209052023-07-16T19:20:00.005-05:002023-09-14T10:35:48.672-05:00To VPN or Not<div>UPDATED 9/14/23</div><div><br /></div><div>Over Prime Day(s), there were sales everywhere for VPNs. They tempted me but then I thought through it.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I'm always interested in "good" prices but I'm not sure why I really need a VPN. Most all the web is using https now.</div><div><br /></div><div>The biggest risk (and it's not so big) is using public Wi-Fi. For example, I automatically connect to xfinitywifi. But if someone were to put up a fake xfinitywifi my laptop/phone would connect to it. The web data would be encrypted with https but DNS is still in the clear unless you're running DNS over HTTPS (DoH). This <a href="https://blog.netwrix.com/2022/10/11/dns-over-https" target="_blank">blog</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230609201849/https://blog.netwrix.com/2022/10/11/dns-over-https" target="_blank">archive.org</a>) post explains what that is and how to enable it in Windows.</div><div><br /></div><div>DoH was first introduced in Build 19628 (run winver to find your build). Between Build 19628 and Build 20185, you have to enable it with a registry entry.</div><div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Type regedit into the search box and click Registry Editor.</li><li>Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters.</li><li>Right-click on the Parameters folder and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, then name it EnableAutoDOH.</li><li>Double-click on the new key and set its value data to 2.</li></ol></div></div><div>Use one of the following DoH servers:</div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Cloudflare - Primary: 1.1.1.1, Alternate: 1.0.0.1</li><li>Google - Primary:8.8.8.8, Alternate: 8.8.4.4</li><li>Quad9 - Primary: 9.9.9.9, Alternate: 149.112.112.112</li></ul></div></div><div>To enable DNS over HTTPS in the Settings > Network & Internet menu:</div><div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Select Settings in the Start menu.</li><li>Open Network settings.</li><li>Under Network status, open the Properties menu <b>for the desired internet connection</b>.</li><li>Click Edit under DNS settings.</li><li>Select the Manual option, and then specify the Preferred DNS and Alternate DNS IP addresses. DNS providers currently supported by Windows 10 are:<br />● Cloudflare – Primary: 1.1.1.1, Alternate: 1.0.0.1<br />● Google – Primary:8.8.8.8, Alternate: 8.8.4.4<br />● Quad9 – Primary: 9.9.9.9, Alternate: 149.112.112.112</li><li>(Only after Build 20185) Select Encrypted only (DNS over HTTPS) for encryption under Preferred DNS and Alternate DNS.</li><li>If desired, you can configure the same for IPv6 (the previous steps were for IPv4).</li></ol></div></div><div>Don't miss the "for the desired internet connection." You'll need to do this for EVERY network you connect to.</div><div><br /></div><div>To enable encrypted DNS at home, you can use the above technique or your router will probably have a setting for that. Here's my router's settings:</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ineqq3_zXJ_E0D0s0HzIaTtHPyuAJJYvk7QfNz1MnJcUuuKJfqGZglk7H1seMsqSXEhbT5jER-lwJv9Bv79T2mwIuGJSJY-3Br2s44v8ZdHEFn962dyK1eRl6K_x0HaKStKvfo2Sb2cGIu9kl5df4YIqF4dSD1oSNqwFGxbdzusMBZdLMbea/s1129/DoT.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="1129" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ineqq3_zXJ_E0D0s0HzIaTtHPyuAJJYvk7QfNz1MnJcUuuKJfqGZglk7H1seMsqSXEhbT5jER-lwJv9Bv79T2mwIuGJSJY-3Br2s44v8ZdHEFn962dyK1eRl6K_x0HaKStKvfo2Sb2cGIu9kl5df4YIqF4dSD1oSNqwFGxbdzusMBZdLMbea/w400-h126/DoT.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Still simpler, for most of us, is to enable DoH in Chrome.</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Click the three-dots menu and choose Settings.</li><li>Under the Privacy and security tab, click Security.</li><li>Locate Use secure DNS, enable it and choose a provider from the drop-down menu.</li></ol></div><div>The only other risk I've found is exposing your PC's devices to a public network.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's how to disable that:</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-pkhnUfPItrJPYJLM_lm2KzqPxtVQEk4bsPeV6Ya80e9OHzgl6RYZ0JDruX7ke8TZPPgwXSPHFn2NqdyZ1BOJ_oaemP4QDkEjvbVJ_KrqVO-OTqIxiNQXdZTk7PFtVsLmJhO-BOC2tnXXC6J9ODlEnnvY8J6U6Bb22L_pvPO3pmvpVqvnaHw/s1180/Sharing%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1180" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-pkhnUfPItrJPYJLM_lm2KzqPxtVQEk4bsPeV6Ya80e9OHzgl6RYZ0JDruX7ke8TZPPgwXSPHFn2NqdyZ1BOJ_oaemP4QDkEjvbVJ_KrqVO-OTqIxiNQXdZTk7PFtVsLmJhO-BOC2tnXXC6J9ODlEnnvY8J6U6Bb22L_pvPO3pmvpVqvnaHw/w400-h303/Sharing%201.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>And then:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK736TeT6FU7hxRbpExP5JU_SyH_gYRAi7ZYOi1Spa6SdR2oOIzpar36fTRpJ6GM232usI3zwszoC8-Rn1d1t0xFCEp-yP6li4MaTXCnW6Vi5gNFD4ed6IT3Ur0ksoIXDRpGtYpnrs2GUFihjff7fAi1cMCZ0II8tfKiS2Ij_kjpNLTqc6vdF/s1180/Sharing%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1180" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK736TeT6FU7hxRbpExP5JU_SyH_gYRAi7ZYOi1Spa6SdR2oOIzpar36fTRpJ6GM232usI3zwszoC8-Rn1d1t0xFCEp-yP6li4MaTXCnW6Vi5gNFD4ed6IT3Ur0ksoIXDRpGtYpnrs2GUFihjff7fAi1cMCZ0II8tfKiS2Ij_kjpNLTqc6vdF/w400-h301/Sharing%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>The only other thing I see needing a VPN for is exiting in a different geographic location, e.g. exiting in the UK to get the BBC.</div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-69840922041967507642023-06-25T19:02:00.002-05:002023-06-25T20:11:20.611-05:00The Cloud and High Availability<div>One of my new favorite podcasts is <a href="https://runasradio.com" target="_blank">RunAsRadio</a> with Richard Campbell. The June 14, 2023 edition was "<a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt" target="_blank">High Availability in 2023 with Allan Hirt</a>".</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLr04anTgtuHgoAxVQnK1_SHjjl0IAX_P0b0z52VXyaB_3_f8vA8ZoOcC9sl1UTt1pMQ2Y_3RsgTxAfd0xxwsY5z_oByindkSZRnZ2YKLo1KMAJJQbkdPHOCtpl32hUyEvXSTKP8gRtZ88as-gQrtDxwjPM8wfU7RWSfHREvUNmnhQePNSlMrl/s505/Allan%20Hirt.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="496" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLr04anTgtuHgoAxVQnK1_SHjjl0IAX_P0b0z52VXyaB_3_f8vA8ZoOcC9sl1UTt1pMQ2Y_3RsgTxAfd0xxwsY5z_oByindkSZRnZ2YKLo1KMAJJQbkdPHOCtpl32hUyEvXSTKP8gRtZ88as-gQrtDxwjPM8wfU7RWSfHREvUNmnhQePNSlMrl/w314-h320/Allan%20Hirt.png" width="314" /></a></div><br /><div>You can see Allan Hirt's <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanhirt" target="_blank">credentials</a> on LinkedIn.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the synopsis of the podcast:</div><blockquote><div><div>What does high availability look like in 2023? Richard chats with Allan Hirt about his work with high-availability solutions today - not just on-premises but also in the cloud. Allan talks about the frustration folks had with moving workloads in the cloud during the pandemic panic, lift-and-shifting workloads focusing on getting things working quickly rather than cost-effectively. The results can be costly, to the point where some folks considering moving back off the cloud again - but does that make sense? Allan talks about creating high availability efficiently wherever you want to run your workloads!</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>Richard and Allan covered availability as manifested in the cloud. Allan is a SQL Server guru who works for Pure Storage.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some excerpts.</div></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>7:31 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=451" target="_blank">But when it comes to high availability, really, it's tough.</a></div><div></div></blockquote><div>And cloud isn't a silver bullet for availability.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>7:58 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=478" target="_blank">Like everybody assumes that there's this big red button that says I've got high availability in any cloud. We're not just talking Azure, we're talking AWS and GCP.</a></div><div></div></blockquote><div>And the cloud doesn't eliminate traditional availability issues.</div><blockquote><div>8:54 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=534" target="_blank">You know, like your platform layer, meaning Azure or GCP, like I can spin up this VM in another region when something happens is great. But the problem then winds up being it doesn't account for things like transactions in a SQL Server installation. So all the traditional things we worry about on premises still exist up in the cloud with IaaS. It's PaaS where things get different.</a></div><div></div></blockquote><div>And the cloud introduces new issues.</div><div><blockquote>13:15 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=795" target="_blank">… but now we need to think about placement of our VMs. We need to think about like ensuring that the VMs don't sit on the same host or in the same rack, which means setting certain things differently in your cloud providers.</a></blockquote></div><div>And old issues don't go away.</div><div><blockquote>15:10 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=910" target="_blank">… I appreciate the idea that if you're responsible high availability, … that doesn't go away with the cloud. … You still are responsible for [high availability] and you have to work through the additional complexity.</a></blockquote></div><div>And monitoring gets even more important.</div><blockquote><div>23:11 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=1391" target="_blank">And you really don't have a view of is it functioning well. And then you need somehow you need to be able to monitor the stuff remotely and realize we have no insight into what's going on into our systems. I saw an uptick in implementation of like a lot of the third party monitoring tools or SCOM … because people "Like we need this stuff." Whereas they didn't put too much importance on that.</a></div><div></div></blockquote><div>But cloud providers likely provide higher availability than you could.</div><div><blockquote>28:15 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=1695" target="_blank">I still think the cloud is up more than any data center I ever ran was. What I've actually told customers is Microsoft, Amazon, and Google can outspend you in building a data center. And a 24 hour staffed NOC is normal for them and expensive for anybody else.</a></blockquote></div><div>But just moving to the cloud doesn't guarantee more benefits.</div><div><blockquote>30:46 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=1846" target="_blank">So I can take my on premises VMware infrastructure, vMotion it up to Azure, AWS, GCP and vice versa all day long, right. … I think for some folks that's a good solution. … It gets you to the cloud. It works well sort of. … And so it's always interesting to see things like this is where it's more of a on premises play in the cloud.</a></blockquote></div><div>If you're not good at on premises, you won't be any better on the cloud.</div><div><blockquote>34:56 <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/high-availability-in-2023-with-allan-hirt?t=2096" target="_blank">If you sucked at virtualization on premises, you're generally going to suck at stuff in the cloud. Not always, but it's generally true because if you couldn't size and you couldn't deploy well on premises, how are you going to automate and do all this cool dev ops, dev stack ops stuff. If you had no skills to do it on premises, it's not magically going to happen in the cloud.</a></blockquote></div><div>AWS - Amazon Web Services</div><div>GCP - Google Cloud Platform</div><div>IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service</div><div>PaaS - Platform as a Service</div><div>SCOM - Microsoft System Center Operations Manager</div><div>NOC - Network Operations Center</div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-29691874892232063472023-05-14T19:01:00.006-05:002023-05-14T19:01:00.167-05:00Using Artificial Intelligence for Technology Advice<div><b>Read all the way to the end.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>AI-generated content is becoming increasingly common in many areas, including home technology advice. While this technology has the potential to be very useful, there are also some risks associated with it.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAPFygWcyoT5hcxacvcRrFp7KADSpHxjQTeQmz7d4elQ-itGWFe47XRhnvNJaOEFFP7UjBve9G4sXL6XASGYTV1DBPOgWXPvPhD02Lu9fxYdlZXYQnuz8cg7c6-z7JO4zjQWltxjRyb6pk-Uc5nslD6YcZdN4TgzdGHcSOGV7LIoTubgpYUw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAPFygWcyoT5hcxacvcRrFp7KADSpHxjQTeQmz7d4elQ-itGWFe47XRhnvNJaOEFFP7UjBve9G4sXL6XASGYTV1DBPOgWXPvPhD02Lu9fxYdlZXYQnuz8cg7c6-z7JO4zjQWltxjRyb6pk-Uc5nslD6YcZdN4TgzdGHcSOGV7LIoTubgpYUw=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>One of the main risks of AI-generated content is that it may not be accurate or reliable. AI algorithms are only as good as the data they are trained on, and if the data is biased or incomplete, the results may be inaccurate or unreliable.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another risk of AI-generated content is that it may be used to spread misinformation or propaganda. Because AI algorithms can generate large amounts of content quickly and easily, they can be used to create fake news stories or other types of propaganda.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, there is also a risk that AI-generated content could be used to manipulate people’s opinions or behavior. For example, AI-generated content could be used to create fake reviews or ratings for products, which could influence people’s purchasing decisions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, while AI-generated content has many potential benefits, it is important to be aware of the risks associated with it. If you are using AI-generated content for home technology advice, it is important to verify the information and use multiple sources to ensure accuracy and reliability.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>This was written by Microsoft's Bing interface to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT" target="_blank">ChatGPT</a>. I just copied and pasted it. This is to show you what AI can do.</b></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-40804117165473840722023-04-30T19:16:00.001-05:002023-04-30T19:16:00.144-05:00Windows SandboxI've always been interested in <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2010/03/virtualbox.html" target="_blank">Windows virtualization</a>. While I've exercised it somewhat, I haven't made continual use of it especially after Oracle bought Sun.<div><br /></div><div>Then recently while listening to <a href="https://youtu.be/HK3E4BSIkTE?t=5313" target="_blank">Windows Weekly</a> Paul Thurrott described Windows Sandbox.</div><div><br /></div><div>I knew about Hyper-V but didn't know about Sandbox.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's Microsoft's <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview" target="_blank">documentation</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230410201739/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview" target="_blank">archive.org</a>) on how to enable Sandbox. You have to be running Windows 10 or 11 Pro with virtualization capabilities enabled in BIOS (probably already enabled).</div><div><br /></div><div>Click on the Windows key and type "Windows features". Press Enter.</div><div><br /></div><div>Scroll down to "Windows Sandbox" and check the box. Click on "OK" and let the system restart.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJQHh9Z0o9Ppd3lynTBA0rhNeMpedCNZcjBMb1XjF_jTPdvKKUCB-JJj5dhFyBDeRWZJS2OZ01ss-CMpiAVNL66I9QMVqQo3enRNjNQZgxf4UeYoC3CEQDdrPdFWBuHlvYe-JBGYDA-bB695qokdTo4Ll1p2ZdtmtOfpMl6xvkf3l-eOchg/s694/Screenshot%202023-04-24%20205154.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="694" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJQHh9Z0o9Ppd3lynTBA0rhNeMpedCNZcjBMb1XjF_jTPdvKKUCB-JJj5dhFyBDeRWZJS2OZ01ss-CMpiAVNL66I9QMVqQo3enRNjNQZgxf4UeYoC3CEQDdrPdFWBuHlvYe-JBGYDA-bB695qokdTo4Ll1p2ZdtmtOfpMl6xvkf3l-eOchg/w400-h355/Screenshot%202023-04-24%20205154.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Now click on the Windows key and type "Sandbox". Press Enter.</div><div><br /></div><div>There it is.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQaX63TPfax7gBvQVPHylgGaSTk7iUIDQVfWWprUoTQRarXmsABrcyNe3TOQTWKeTP9oubE5EvJ7qraX2WcmrnkSKVTsm4VAFSgX3rXrmgijceaMrQK-4Oe3igVkN0BqkdE5vurlYX2pkCMhgtclX5HAeQDRMm6BuGjmiSvNZC6JWpbyBqFw/s1920/Screenshot%202023-04-24%20210624.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQaX63TPfax7gBvQVPHylgGaSTk7iUIDQVfWWprUoTQRarXmsABrcyNe3TOQTWKeTP9oubE5EvJ7qraX2WcmrnkSKVTsm4VAFSgX3rXrmgijceaMrQK-4Oe3igVkN0BqkdE5vurlYX2pkCMhgtclX5HAeQDRMm6BuGjmiSvNZC6JWpbyBqFw/w400-h225/Screenshot%202023-04-24%20210624.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's a pretty vanilla copy of Windows. If you make any changes, they will go away when you shut it down.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's good and bad. If you Google around, you'll find several <a href="https://www.windowscentral.com/how-configure-windows-sandbox-windows-10" target="_blank">articles</a> on how to configure the Sandbox and move data and files back and forth.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-69827248542499120832023-03-05T19:58:00.003-06:002023-03-05T21:37:07.874-06:00CMR vs SMRI'm building a new <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2023/02/windows-11-upgrade-issues.html" target="_blank">server</a>. When I built <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/05/the-trump.html" target="_blank">Trump</a>, I put 2 2TB drives into a <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/05/storage-spaces.html" target="_blank">Storage Spaces</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_1" target="_blank">RAID-1</a> configuration.<div><br /></div><div>That has worked well so I wanted to do the same in the new server.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it got complicated.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I started looking at 4TB drives for RAID configurations, I noticed terms that I didn't recognize in the specifications: CMR and SMR.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I read the reviews. I got confused. Nobody seemed to like SMR drives. What were CMR and SMR? How were they different?</div><div><blockquote>Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) drives write data on a hard disk in tracks that do not overlap. Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) allows tracks to overlap, which results in higher data densities, but slower read and write times compared to CMR drives.</blockquote></div><div>Huh?</div><div><br /></div><div>Just to add to the confusion, CMR is also known as Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR).</div><div><br /></div><div>This illustration <b>begins</b> to explain it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nHTQiOJhlP2SYvihmUHjjFAv2XsQZWhR5B-gEXHZYVi0t--0NiEH-_Z_utRiZjadPLxJ2FCpkvSg5AbatVLha5VExy6hraxOKy2djG7hnwbjWO9gr_04dieRmCGcqwTct8UEYv43MtYsdHqaCBkot26bOuUDDhwKbeB8f6ad9QyA59DXtw/s650/cmr_vs_smr%5B1%5D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="650" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nHTQiOJhlP2SYvihmUHjjFAv2XsQZWhR5B-gEXHZYVi0t--0NiEH-_Z_utRiZjadPLxJ2FCpkvSg5AbatVLha5VExy6hraxOKy2djG7hnwbjWO9gr_04dieRmCGcqwTct8UEYv43MtYsdHqaCBkot26bOuUDDhwKbeB8f6ad9QyA59DXtw/w400-h246/cmr_vs_smr%5B1%5D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>The SMR technology increases the density thereby reducing the number of platters needed for a given capacity. Less platters means less cost so you know which way the industry is going.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the SMR recording technique is accomplished by overlapping the data from one track with the adjacent tracks. Reading one track back is OK but writing one track requires rewriting the adjacent tracks at the same time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Think about that. To write a track, the drive has to cache the new data. Then it has to read the tracks adjacent to the track needing to be written and cache that data. Then it has to merge the old data with the new data before rewriting <b>all</b> the tracks.</div><div><br /></div><div>Obviously this makes writes much slower than CMR drives with discrete tracks.</div><div><br /></div><div>For "normal" usage, these slower writes aren't much of an issue. But in a RAID configuration, they really slow down the throughput.</div><div><br /></div><div>So how do you know whether a given drive uses CMR or SMR?</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's Seagate's <a href="https://www.seagate.com/products/cmr-smr-list/" target="_blank">status</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230202222229/https://www.seagate.com/products/cmr-smr-list/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>). Here's Western Digital's <a href="https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/" target="_blank">status</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230217101040/https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/" target="_blank">archive.org</a>). Here's Toshiba's <a href="https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/company/news/news-topics/2020/04/storage-20200428-1.html" target="_blank">status</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221130065945/https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/company/news/news-topics/2020/04/storage-20200428-1.html" target="_blank">archive.org</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>It's not easy.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-78897374596613740152023-02-26T19:50:00.006-06:002023-02-26T19:50:00.178-06:00Strengthening Security<a href="https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly" target="_blank">Windows Weekly</a> is one of my favorite podcasts. Recently it has added a new co-host of <a href="https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/PublicProfile/10953?fullName=Richard%20Campbell" target="_blank">Richard Campbell</a>. He also has his own podcast at <a href="http://runasradio.com" target="_blank">RunAsRadio</a>. Of course, I added that to my podcast list.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06TzGOC85DxHzpTtzsHM_NazXOLGjrjzORLVT6Iz2SC7oR1PZP1XxVrdULOjf2w4f1XFsuh1pzkACxNJYTDqi8kGDAv2JRxgFZ6cg8uyWR5XXfXRlVPKZeEJmSVuB17aBnUOyBwhInXI1hm3WOaSHQXBD2ebRDHqRMCYGKhteFWv5PhsobA/s700/runasradio.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06TzGOC85DxHzpTtzsHM_NazXOLGjrjzORLVT6Iz2SC7oR1PZP1XxVrdULOjf2w4f1XFsuh1pzkACxNJYTDqi8kGDAv2JRxgFZ6cg8uyWR5XXfXRlVPKZeEJmSVuB17aBnUOyBwhInXI1hm3WOaSHQXBD2ebRDHqRMCYGKhteFWv5PhsobA/s320/runasradio.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/jrdodson" target="_blank">Jess Dodson</a> was a recent guest on the RunAsRadio podcast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the synopsis of the podcast:</div><div><blockquote>How do you improve the security of your organization? Richard talks to Jess Dodson about the current security environment we're living in and what you can do to improve your security posture. Jess talks about how breaches happen and what you can do to detect them early before things get worse. The conversation dives into getting more resources - in most cases, improving security means having the time to work on preventative measures, like implementing multi-factor authentication, security information and event management, and setting up Just Enough Administration. And you need the time to review the activities in your network to let you stop a breach before it turns into something worse!</blockquote></div><div>It's well worth your 40-odd minutes.</div><div><br /></div><div>But Jess had a couple of points that I want to emphasize.</div><div><br /></div><div>At 21:34 she says:</div><blockquote><div><a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/strengthening-security-with-jess-dodson?t=1294" target="_blank">You've not backed up if you haven't tested your restore.</a></div></blockquote><div>I hope I'm <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preach%20to%20the%20choir" target="_blank">preaching to the choir</a> on that one. Here's an earlier <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2020/06/so-you-think-your-backups-are-safe.html" target="_blank">post</a> of mine.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then at 33:15 she says:</div><div><blockquote>[Limit] <a href="https://player.fm/series/runas-radio/strengthening-security-with-jess-dodson?t=1995" target="_blank">the blast radius of what they have access to do is as restricted as I can make it without limiting business.</a></blockquote></div><div>I think that is an excellent way to explain to management the objective.</div></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-79467010152651014772023-02-12T19:46:00.014-06:002023-02-12T19:46:00.215-06:00Windows 11 Upgrade IssuesMy "Trump" PC server is getting <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_in_the_tooth" target="_blank">long in the tooth</a>. It won't run Windows 11 so I set out to replace it sometime down the road.<div><br /></div><div>I clearly wanted the new PC to run Windows 11 so I carefully selected a tower system that supported that. In a future post, I'll detail what all I've done.</div><div><br /></div><div>But when I began to run through Windows Update on the new system, it consistently told me that it wasn't capable of running Windows 11. I ran "<a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/description-of-microsoft-system-information-msinfo32-exe-tool-10d335d8-5834-90b4-8452-42c58e61f9fc" target="_blank">msinfo</a>" (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230113050036/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/description-of-microsoft-system-information-msinfo32-exe-tool-10d335d8-5834-90b4-8452-42c58e61f9fc">archive.org</a>) and it showed that all the requirements were met. Then I ran "<a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-the-pc-health-check-app-9c8abd9b-03ba-4e67-81ef-36f37caa7844" target="_blank">PC Health Check</a>" (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230207191705/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-the-pc-health-check-app-9c8abd9b-03ba-4e67-81ef-36f37caa7844">archive.org</a>) and it too said that Windows 11 was supported.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I Googled "windows update says no windows 11 but pc health check says yes" and BINGO!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0VTeOLvZiHPgwJjmZxPYIIhe_fu8cWfqgP3Q-gMdM7v3fVomUKoO17-UO4QYEcBoD972kqeZFn9Lgg812zwa588uwhQmNu0xIKDUwNN7z-wFsTALqPydd3Fp7PomB8ZnIxKefZiH_Qsl9Yhli0Bt7mEVjpfRlCsuyqQsiHkkB72SKsCqFw/s1162/PC%20Health%20Check.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1162" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0VTeOLvZiHPgwJjmZxPYIIhe_fu8cWfqgP3Q-gMdM7v3fVomUKoO17-UO4QYEcBoD972kqeZFn9Lgg812zwa588uwhQmNu0xIKDUwNN7z-wFsTALqPydd3Fp7PomB8ZnIxKefZiH_Qsl9Yhli0Bt7mEVjpfRlCsuyqQsiHkkB72SKsCqFw/w400-h219/PC%20Health%20Check.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I'll cover the solution later but first look at that <a href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/pc-health-check-app-says-my-computer-is-compatible/25ab4f70-f549-43cb-b442-7af07c81654f" target="_blank">page</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221105063714/https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/pc-health-check-app-says-my-computer-is-compatible/25ab4f70-f549-43cb-b442-7af07c81654f">archive.org</a>). It was created 16 months ago. 421 users had said "I have the same question" AND Microsoft has locked that topic to stop new posts.<br /><div><br /></div><div>tl;dr - Ignore Windows Update. Use the <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2171764" target="_blank">Installation Assistant</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230127163928/https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2171764">archive.org</a>) to download Windows 11.</div><div><br /></div><div>You would think that Microsoft would fix that in a year.</div><div><br /></div><div>But my story doesn't end there.</div><div><br /></div><div>I ran the Installation Assistant and it churned away. Then I got this screen.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhJqtCd11Kb-JlBCYB1loUl69Y9qQsS44VsJiFVIbFpc8YnKOFl_veUN38Agla5Arzl1iEzHv1tN_Hum4BlCJbdslRZ8sPe8np1-OQJcIHCASlTqKfKGuqeyVuAqdPl5VbkzzUKIXMsPmI8n1A161xpDAVNB2xNdSPLASf17pJL3aXkcbNQ/s994/Cant%20Run%20Windows%2011.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="994" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhJqtCd11Kb-JlBCYB1loUl69Y9qQsS44VsJiFVIbFpc8YnKOFl_veUN38Agla5Arzl1iEzHv1tN_Hum4BlCJbdslRZ8sPe8np1-OQJcIHCASlTqKfKGuqeyVuAqdPl5VbkzzUKIXMsPmI8n1A161xpDAVNB2xNdSPLASf17pJL3aXkcbNQ/w400-h349/Cant%20Run%20Windows%2011.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Back to Google "We couldn't update the system reserved partition." and BINGO!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I'll cover the solution later but first look at that <a href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/all/windows-11-update-we-couldnt-update-the-system/4f055c33-cee1-4531-981d-06e6a7dae1f6" target="_blank">page</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220825123710/https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/all/windows-11-update-we-couldnt-update-the-system/4f055c33-cee1-4531-981d-06e6a7dae1f6">archive.org</a>). It was created almost 2 years ago. 299 users had said "I have the same question" AND Microsoft has locked that topic to stop new posts.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>And worse, the problem isn't new. That page links to a Windows 10 installation <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-we-couldn-t-update-system-reserved-partition-error-installing-windows-10-46865f3f-37bb-4c51-c69f-07271b6672ac" target="_blank">page</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221219075943/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-we-couldn-t-update-system-reserved-partition-error-installing-windows-10-46865f3f-37bb-4c51-c69f-07271b6672ac">archive.org</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, there is not a tl;dr solution.</div><div><br /></div><div>Microsoft warns:</div><div><blockquote>Caution: these steps are complicated, and carry some risk. This is best done by advanced users with experience using the command line. If you make an error in entering these commands, you could put your device in a no-boot situation, and possibly lose data you have stored on the device.</blockquote></div><div>Here's the solution:</div><div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Search for cmd. Press-and-hold or right-click on Command Prompt in the results, and select <b>Run as administrator</b>.</li><li>At the command prompt, type <b>mountvol y: /s</b> and then hit Enter. This will add the Y: drive letter to access the System Partition.</li><li>Switch to the Y drive by typing <b>Y:</b> and press Enter. Then, navigate to the Fonts folder by typing <i>cd EFI\Microsoft\Boot\Fonts</i>. Once there, type <i>del *.*</i> to delete font files. The system may ask you if you are sure to continue, press <i>Y</i> and then Enter to continue.</li></ol></div></div><div>The solution worked and Windows 11 installed with no more problems.</div><div><br /></div><div>C'mon Microsoft. You can make this simpler than this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-29781532598116161772023-02-05T19:26:00.001-06:002023-02-05T19:26:00.163-06:00You Need a Side ChannelHere <strike>we</strike> Microsoft go again! There's a list of Microsoft availability problems <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2021/11/unbelievable.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Don't think I'm all doom and gloom on Microsoft. It's just that even HUGE organizations struggle with subtleties.<div><br /></div><div>Microsoft's latest incident affected <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/25/network_issues_causing_outage_in/" target="_blank">Azure, Teams, and Outlook</a> for hours.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JZ_eIUQCIqN1iHaC8MHAqPi9-RG9fDYj5Y969K_P7i7Edvxc8akilp3YIBnwC45dD9eIF2nRxiS6CrTTjrDyRBH6w83S55TPU4D0RHAflm3DBhNow3Q26-YhnrjUmIwoEXEMWoHxrZmJIXv_ZSgYRG6SGCk1YWpGLHiPY_ENwjYmiLsWMA/s930/Network-problems-930x620%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="930" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JZ_eIUQCIqN1iHaC8MHAqPi9-RG9fDYj5Y969K_P7i7Edvxc8akilp3YIBnwC45dD9eIF2nRxiS6CrTTjrDyRBH6w83S55TPU4D0RHAflm3DBhNow3Q26-YhnrjUmIwoEXEMWoHxrZmJIXv_ZSgYRG6SGCk1YWpGLHiPY_ENwjYmiLsWMA/w400-h266/Network-problems-930x620%5B1%5D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Microsoft recently released their <a href="https://status.azure.com/en-us/status/history/#:~:text=Preliminary%20Post%20Incident%20Review%20(PIR)%20%E2%80%93%20Azure%20Networking%20%E2%80%93%20Global%20WAN%20issues%20(Tracking%20ID%20VSG1%2DB90)" target="_blank">postmortem</a>. I applaud Microsoft for publishing this. Could your company have done such a thorough job so quickly?</div><div><blockquote>As part of a planned change to update the IP address on a WAN router, a command given to the router caused it to send messages to all other routers in the WAN, which resulted in all of them recomputing their adjacency and forwarding tables. During this re-computation process, the routers were unable to correctly forward packets traversing them.</blockquote></div><div>Maybe your network isn't so large that this "re-computation process" wouldn't saturate your network equipment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Regardless there is a learning here.</div><div><blockquote>Due to the WAN impact, our automated systems for maintaining the health of the WAN were paused, including the systems for identifying and removing unhealthy devices, and the traffic engineering system for optimizing the flow of data across the network.</blockquote></div><div>Their network management system, including device security, ran ACROSS their network. So when the network was impacted their network management system was ineffective. Basically, Microsoft had to watch and wait for the network to settle down.</div><div><br /></div><div>A side channel network management solution would have mitigated that. And introduced a myriad of other problems, principally security.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tough choices.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-24557461432812559012023-01-29T19:47:00.002-06:002023-01-29T21:44:00.378-06:00Password Strength Testing ToolYou've probably been following the LastPass <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LastPass#2022_security_incidents" target="_blank">saga</a>. An emerging alternative is <a href="http://bitwarden.com" target="_blank">Bitwarden</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Recently Bitwarden has published a Password Strength Testing Tool <a href="https://bitwarden.com/password-strength/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's worth running your passwords through it. My day-to-day algorithm generated a rating of "Good" and an estimated time of cracking of "7 hours."</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNl8ZbRJOzDZPF_DDzTt5kBrCPPbsIiB1ivwC8vlyRsCsk9vF9Y6ySzizGhuIVA_nWHh4X5E5s52ndR9cYOtTf6M-hzgHuIa7rHGwm2D_PmHlcUoOfYsDDd_Xn_Xqr3opKaPT1TmgZVhH5c1qWYxQgkz20Bl3dzulflmcEB_yGQdtQJm0jA/s1400/Password%20Strength1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="1400" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNl8ZbRJOzDZPF_DDzTt5kBrCPPbsIiB1ivwC8vlyRsCsk9vF9Y6ySzizGhuIVA_nWHh4X5E5s52ndR9cYOtTf6M-hzgHuIa7rHGwm2D_PmHlcUoOfYsDDd_Xn_Xqr3opKaPT1TmgZVhH5c1qWYxQgkz20Bl3dzulflmcEB_yGQdtQJm0jA/w400-h86/Password%20Strength1.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I was relatively satisfied with that until I put the password generated with my client's algorithm.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxObwU0hzjGYkEZtxRkz6ueoUsI78oDRs6DLFsFNy2ICgvhnOiiiJ81uxBbN7-f7h0GdRNMjcaDSmFOjSKYXZTg8eBnMSOEMOUGRHs4X_IAcZ4L5Cw1gVVTbfKS_MZLxIOpvhW6bqKFmM1hygl2BviN7fuT-OWTD6v7Dh34mNBNNTPA9kBg/s1387/Password%20Strength2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="1387" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxObwU0hzjGYkEZtxRkz6ueoUsI78oDRs6DLFsFNy2ICgvhnOiiiJ81uxBbN7-f7h0GdRNMjcaDSmFOjSKYXZTg8eBnMSOEMOUGRHs4X_IAcZ4L5Cw1gVVTbfKS_MZLxIOpvhW6bqKFmM1hygl2BviN7fuT-OWTD6v7Dh34mNBNNTPA9kBg/w400-h86/Password%20Strength2.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Time to revisit my algorithm.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-72601754181238214522023-01-01T19:19:00.002-06:002023-01-01T22:50:52.385-06:00Happy New Year 2023<div>The start of a new year is a good time to review a few things and make sure everything is right. Here's my list of things I think you should check once a year.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_RpXr6m5i0s_WulZpcOpXywoDzPfU6zLx_SZEnhsWQzJj8qfrJ7ozOK7ImEByRCY1T6Z6ntFW-TdnE97cG0V4yzZfKqAViK5z8bNJxAqvN9KIMEVfBoyPnJwCzrhnL_LSzwMEUcdbP9epmzrNKY6jPxGX8Yc79bK0rpZlVv1YrlUUkftNzA/s626/happy-new-year-2023-text-design_47243-1765%5B2%5D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="626" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_RpXr6m5i0s_WulZpcOpXywoDzPfU6zLx_SZEnhsWQzJj8qfrJ7ozOK7ImEByRCY1T6Z6ntFW-TdnE97cG0V4yzZfKqAViK5z8bNJxAqvN9KIMEVfBoyPnJwCzrhnL_LSzwMEUcdbP9epmzrNKY6jPxGX8Yc79bK0rpZlVv1YrlUUkftNzA/s320/happy-new-year-2023-text-design_47243-1765%5B2%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>Some of the steps may be a little out of date but I think you can find your way around. If not, leave me a comment and I'll help.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2021/12/keepass-revisited.html" target="_blank">Password Store</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2018/12/paypal-preapproved-payments-update.html" target="_blank">PayPal Preapproved Payments</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2018/05/macrium-reflect.html" target="_blank">Offline Backup</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/04/sigcheck.html" target="_blank">Certificate Store</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/10/not-upnp.html" target="_blank">Router Configuration</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/03/guest-network-for-iot.html" target="_blank">Guest Network for IoT</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2019/09/just-use-windows-defender.html" target="_blank">Windows Defender</a> and <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2016/12/windows-defender-offline.html" target="_blank">Windows Defender Offline</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2019/01/controlled-folder-access-windows-10-1809.html" target="_blank">Controlled Folder Access</a></div><div><a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2017/07/windows-10-system-restore.html" target="_blank">System Restore</a></div><div><br /></div><div>You'll sleep better.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-51978056114138208482022-11-13T19:37:00.024-06:002022-11-13T19:37:00.176-06:00Office Deployment Tool - RevisitedOnce again I found myself with a new laptop and no Microsoft Office license. <div><br /></div><div>I found one of those gray market key vendors and bought a Office 2021 Professional Pro key for less than $20. It came promptly and even included a link to a Microsoft download site. (Don't rush to download.)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK6XPkCWlh5XgiE8clkBHmSVTMyYtpMk0dbBLetDmTG_pcM1FAuN1Ei9V54swVkCu4WF1cysIxcey8myH75kWD12u-gPkf9gTshfW7NGWDjEg0I02QSklb1Wib2uHQOSpTKVrYJGVZqvbYUYbEGw1u-AyDHreCV9fhxPv-0Dn0iz2CUKDwg/s800/Office-2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="800" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK6XPkCWlh5XgiE8clkBHmSVTMyYtpMk0dbBLetDmTG_pcM1FAuN1Ei9V54swVkCu4WF1cysIxcey8myH75kWD12u-gPkf9gTshfW7NGWDjEg0I02QSklb1Wib2uHQOSpTKVrYJGVZqvbYUYbEGw1u-AyDHreCV9fhxPv-0Dn0iz2CUKDwg/w400-h219/Office-2021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I don't need all the included Office apps. The legacy installation dialog would let me choose which application and features would be installed. I used to use that dialog to omit all the Office apps except Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.</div><div><br /></div><div>But now Microsoft has an Office Deployment Tool that lets you customize the installation.</div><div><br /></div><div>I recalled the solution I had found earlier and revisited my previous <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2020/01/office-deployment-tool.html" target="_blank">post</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The referenced site, MS Guides, seems to have gotten crossways with Google and probably other organizations. I used archive.org to retrieve the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210709070955/https://msguides.com/microsoft-software-products/install-office-multilanguage.html" target="_blank">instructions</a>. This post is my recap of the process and is heavily based on MS Guides.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Step 0: Uninstall all the Click-to-Run Office 365 apps that come pre-installed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Step 1: Download the appropriate version of the Office Deployment Tool from Microsoft. Use Google to find the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=office+deployment+tool+2021" target="_blank">proper download</a> and download it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Step 2: Double click the download to extract the contents of this file. It will create a new folder with configuration files (xml) and setup.exe.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Step 3: Tailor the following code as needed and paste it into a new text document.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span><Configuration></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <Add OfficeClientEdition="64"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <Product ID="ProPlusRetail"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <Language ID="en-us" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Access" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="InfoPath" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Lync" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="OneNote" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Outlook" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Project" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Publisher" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="SharePointDesigner" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Skype" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Skypeforbusiness" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> </Product></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> </Add></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span> <Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span></Configuration></span></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The above sample code will only install Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then save this as config.xml in the folder created earlier.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Step 4: Copy the code below into a new text document file.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span>@echo off</span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span>cd /d %~dp0</span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span>setup.exe /configure config.xml</span></div><div><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span> </span>pause</span></div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Then save this as install.cmd in the folder created earlier.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Step 5: Double-click on the install.cmd file and it'll run. You may have to right-click on it to run it as an administrator. I didn't have to do this.</div><div><br /></div><div>The process will even download the required bits.</div><div><br /></div><div>Step 6: After successfully installing Office, launch one of the apps. You'll be prompted to login OR enter a product key. Enter your new product key there.</div><div><br /></div><div>You're done.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-41922924719027498552022-09-30T19:34:00.001-05:002022-09-30T19:34:00.175-05:00USB-C vs Lightning - ReduxEarlier this year I shared a post on <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/01/usb-c-vs-lightning.html" target="_blank">USB-C vs Lightning</a>. It was mostly on the durability aspects of the different connectors.<div><br /></div><div>But with the recent release of the iPhone 14 Pro, there's another furor around Lightning connectors.</div><div><br /></div><div>The earlier post included the following chart:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3V0QitmZafSLH-txyXY-F38XNf-U1bfgS6G_KLQ4Wv7hDOGJZuOWZPh5oMyR-kATCnZXHzhmWieK1phWSbuDR1k8RgW9JxN2tuzecVWnpsuB2mQugb8AXpaQv_flH7AQsPmq1G2dT_L6jhzjjHKbF5e2HBpze8vjTmnjePRvNT77NZ8esGw/s1042/differences-between-lightning-and-USB-Type-C%5B1%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="1042" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3V0QitmZafSLH-txyXY-F38XNf-U1bfgS6G_KLQ4Wv7hDOGJZuOWZPh5oMyR-kATCnZXHzhmWieK1phWSbuDR1k8RgW9JxN2tuzecVWnpsuB2mQugb8AXpaQv_flH7AQsPmq1G2dT_L6jhzjjHKbF5e2HBpze8vjTmnjePRvNT77NZ8esGw/w400-h170/differences-between-lightning-and-USB-Type-C%5B1%5D.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>But I didn't pay much attention to the last row - Maximum transmission speed.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's a 40 fold increase in transmission speed when using USB-C. FORTY FOLD!</div><div><br /></div><div>And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)" target="_blank">Thunderbolt</a> is twice as fast as USB-C.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what does iPhone 14 Pro have to do with this? 48-megapixel ProRAW photos - four times as many pixels as iPhone 13 models.</div><div><br /></div><div>Full-resolution ProRAW photos taken with the iPhone 14 Pro can be close to 100MB per file.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope you're not in a hurry to offload your photos from your shiny new iPhone 14 Pro.</div><div><br /></div><div>The good news is that there's lots of talk that next year's iPhone 15 Pro will have USB-C.</div><div><br /></div><div>We can hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a good recap of the issue from <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/your-iphone-14-pros-high-quality-photos-may-take-longer-to-transfer-6740944" target="_blank">Lifewire</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220921171449/https://www.lifewire.com/your-iphone-14-pros-high-quality-photos-may-take-longer-to-transfer-6740944">archive.org</a>).</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-45905809330931016202022-06-19T19:28:00.013-05:002022-06-19T19:28:00.163-05:00The Green Light is BackInsteon users have had a bad <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/04/between-rock-and-hard-place.html" target="_blank">couple of months</a>. I gave up and <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/05/z-wave-to-rescue.html" target="_blank">moved on</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Then <a href="https://www.insteon.com" target="_blank">Insteon</a> rose from the ashes.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLu5iNZ0orBU7LLVjJcq-6eJ8HO1W2hh9VO2Jb44SLfojaaaWC-9s59for7ETgg3E_YNrmJ7z7eUPjPo0dZu2gLZmq2zVctnZ21AnZWSfTRrGM_baQzF1dOtBB9ik6K6BXKOW0f5OWd76QFBrAYnHFPB6_GManjyYJfIpdQhvhmaBMnFoVA/s913/hub-2%5B1%5D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="913" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLu5iNZ0orBU7LLVjJcq-6eJ8HO1W2hh9VO2Jb44SLfojaaaWC-9s59for7ETgg3E_YNrmJ7z7eUPjPo0dZu2gLZmq2zVctnZ21AnZWSfTRrGM_baQzF1dOtBB9ik6K6BXKOW0f5OWd76QFBrAYnHFPB6_GManjyYJfIpdQhvhmaBMnFoVA/w400-h209/hub-2%5B1%5D.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's their <a href="https://www.insteon.com/blog/2022/6/9/fnustys354bfmcmchr36wgvrn5h41z" target="_blank">blog post</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>A New Day for Insteon!</b></span></div><div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div>We are a small group of passionate Insteon users that have successfully acquired Insteon. Like many of you, our homes are powered by Insteon’s amazing dual-mesh technology and highly configurable products. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most of you discovered that the Insteon Hubs began coming back online. Our first priority was getting the hubs online immediately before we had access to this site, the email service provider, social accounts, etc. Every day more customers were giving up hope so it was critical to get that restored as soon as possible. We are aware not all functions are back online but we are actively working on it. We hope you understand this urgency and appreciate your patience. </div><div><br /></div><div>Going forward we are committed to responsibly re-building the Insteon business. Our commitment to you, as part of the Insteon family, is to listen, communicate and be as transparent as possible in everything we do. </div><div><br /></div><div>Please stay tuned for updates here as well as on twitter, facebook, reddit and elsewhere. If you are an Insteon Hub account holder, look for an email in the coming days. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you all for your patience. We look forward to sharing this new journey with you. </div><div><br /></div><div>Best regards,</div><div>Ken Fairbanks</div><div>CEO, Insteon Technologies</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div>No thanks.</div><div><br /></div><div>And here's an e-mail thread between me and some co-workers:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>A: Are either of you doing anything with the new Insteon company??</div><div>Me: Not with a 10 ft pole. The new owners seem to be well intentioned but the brand is sullied beyond reprieve.</div><div>A: That’s my thinking too. Plus I am [not] as dependent on them as some people.</div><div>B: No. Pretty much moved all to Wyze.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7622809.post-77810929268878492142022-05-08T19:52:00.002-05:002022-05-08T20:29:21.075-05:00Z-Wave to the RescueYou'll recall the <a href="https://blog.benmoore.info/2022/04/between-rock-and-hard-place.html" target="_blank">disaster</a> that Insteon caused me.<div><br /></div><div>I started off down the road to use "simple" Wi-Fi devices and bought a couple of Kasa (by TP-Link) <a href="https://amzn.to/3sHj1M3" target="_blank">plugs</a> and a <a href="https://amzn.to/3FsLwBW" target="_blank">switch</a>. They were easy to install and setup and worked fine.</div><div><br /></div><div>But every one of them was a separate device on my IoT Wi-Fi network. Long term, that could get to be a problem.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then another <strike>problem</strike> opportunity arose. My alarm system went south. But it was 20+ years old.</div><div><br /></div><div>My alarm company suggested a new system. As I was researching it, I noticed that it included a Z-Wave controller.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvLGnVRKsmciO4lb__5umttevvE_3AqagE1yzbEdOu2uh6csjqrZZZh5d8se3tKyRtfSGmogQPy9tIs2jNkFFEsP0kd_hz5HGzAlBts8kxhDYEwVBoogBznlvBoYLUX3B4NiiWPLoTA_0JRPvLTaYpf3FKo3CpKNumExIqLNmlxrqvhIsDw/s1200/1200px-Z-Wave_logo.svg%5B1%5D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1200" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvLGnVRKsmciO4lb__5umttevvE_3AqagE1yzbEdOu2uh6csjqrZZZh5d8se3tKyRtfSGmogQPy9tIs2jNkFFEsP0kd_hz5HGzAlBts8kxhDYEwVBoogBznlvBoYLUX3B4NiiWPLoTA_0JRPvLTaYpf3FKo3CpKNumExIqLNmlxrqvhIsDw/w400-h178/1200px-Z-Wave_logo.svg%5B1%5D.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />So, I stopped my Kasa roll-out after 2 plugs and ordered Enbrighten Z-Wave <a href="https://amzn.to/3MZF9sq" target="_blank">switches</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The alarm system uses alarm.com for an Internet interface. The Internet services costs $5 per month. To add Z-Wave service adds another $5 per month. At least alarm.com has a business plan unlike Insteon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Adding the Z-Wave switches to alarm.com was easy.</div><div><br /></div><div>alarm.com has a good system to create device scenes and schedule them but I wanted to concentrate my automating into my Amazon Alexas.</div><div><br /></div><div>Amazon has TWO Alexa skills for alarm. com. One is for alarm settings, e.g. scenes, and the other one controls individual devices.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioioAdH1hT4_5Qhbm63LECoXWZoWr5tpqpEL76mYcR4m1z9_xaBdQ55qB5qUv4jrv1y6zYKVxU0-HpDBUgCUHUiu3Xjx2ZuVx7YTKVnNvd_EORt9JRGc9sPouPfJM_HjgsjequfugmJv-cCVN1Yj0C57nzt29cl-7A5cMByxicHE2jLY1czA/s1536/alarm.com%20Search.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="1536" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioioAdH1hT4_5Qhbm63LECoXWZoWr5tpqpEL76mYcR4m1z9_xaBdQ55qB5qUv4jrv1y6zYKVxU0-HpDBUgCUHUiu3Xjx2ZuVx7YTKVnNvd_EORt9JRGc9sPouPfJM_HjgsjequfugmJv-cCVN1Yj0C57nzt29cl-7A5cMByxicHE2jLY1czA/w400-h251/alarm.com%20Search.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>This one is for the alarm and scenes:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmtG7oTbuce8LWGff5ctD0Inbyidzqbk1oAkpUYcoZBkBKbpE2lxWjljpoZW3IZEvDpuDw1zAQxPccJaTd_WRiDawsQguwprNYw2Dm5F1wc_dpeoxYL_UzMgoGK4cC2rK9RQ9-GRYoTPMdtVciaWpUimEXFFV3CGJR_YbMAmkz9GZLHoTpw/s2154/alarm.com%20Alarm%20skill.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2154" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmtG7oTbuce8LWGff5ctD0Inbyidzqbk1oAkpUYcoZBkBKbpE2lxWjljpoZW3IZEvDpuDw1zAQxPccJaTd_WRiDawsQguwprNYw2Dm5F1wc_dpeoxYL_UzMgoGK4cC2rK9RQ9-GRYoTPMdtVciaWpUimEXFFV3CGJR_YbMAmkz9GZLHoTpw/w456-h640/alarm.com%20Alarm%20skill.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This one is for devices:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGqRIzr01vnK5t23bZwXtNuUL7URN-SZaCOrhnuINo46rsrBjIqupBcS8hySQ9Lm4NFnDJsPNsDiRFpCJjPj3mjSdmdAG0Um5Bac0QD5DXgwfrkVsTI0S-khFbA_3QryQ60Nz9hPxUHKCMBAiZx8cIOf2SSzexr0uWH6RzXTsevsEekaMNw/s1681/alarm.com%20Device%20skill.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1681" data-original-width="1536" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGqRIzr01vnK5t23bZwXtNuUL7URN-SZaCOrhnuINo46rsrBjIqupBcS8hySQ9Lm4NFnDJsPNsDiRFpCJjPj3mjSdmdAG0Um5Bac0QD5DXgwfrkVsTI0S-khFbA_3QryQ60Nz9hPxUHKCMBAiZx8cIOf2SSzexr0uWH6RzXTsevsEekaMNw/w443-h485/alarm.com%20Device%20skill.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It would be nice if there was something more obvious to differentiate them other than inferring function from the terse text.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, initially I installed the alarm and scenes skill. With that, Alexa didn't see the individual devices. So on the alarm.com app, I created scenes for the each logical activity I wanted, e.g. "Outside Lights On".</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgkLz8lPB7JwDqGddibgW_DI_3OZs6Je4HbMbxUIdJm7_gchWj_jZ8c_HCK4n_H8YmmlVknmPc9TkNH5oJEGJtLbsW4_-c4InSxU6o9IHFHHPCq47a_2qs4wbYi5TwW39IljzHVer5mpeqxl-t9geUiBt5LTVZCpXhc_BNnx14tUfm4eHqA/s1536/alarm.com%20Scenes.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="1536" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgkLz8lPB7JwDqGddibgW_DI_3OZs6Je4HbMbxUIdJm7_gchWj_jZ8c_HCK4n_H8YmmlVknmPc9TkNH5oJEGJtLbsW4_-c4InSxU6o9IHFHHPCq47a_2qs4wbYi5TwW39IljzHVer5mpeqxl-t9geUiBt5LTVZCpXhc_BNnx14tUfm4eHqA/w400-h354/alarm.com%20Scenes.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>This caused further complications in the Alexa routines. Notice that I had to use the syntax of "Alexa ask alarm.com to run outside lights on".</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8iz6jSLSxK5eds9zwxKOyG6l_wpG9--rxseYgFWKBc9DF5iTulwYXq48epqSrRyDZWhUsAzeoZ3VmgYYpEltuUNhPq9_3zEOmHQbHgTAc123_iBw7Kp7ZBZk0qfASTMwg2YkoTWS2xXBMCfJlWONvWREm7w-6mFzsxXZYhUGGt4vbKbgeQ/s1536/alarm.com%20Routine.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="1536" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8iz6jSLSxK5eds9zwxKOyG6l_wpG9--rxseYgFWKBc9DF5iTulwYXq48epqSrRyDZWhUsAzeoZ3VmgYYpEltuUNhPq9_3zEOmHQbHgTAc123_iBw7Kp7ZBZk0qfASTMwg2YkoTWS2xXBMCfJlWONvWREm7w-6mFzsxXZYhUGGt4vbKbgeQ/w400-h269/alarm.com%20Routine.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>That works fine but there are undocumented syntax restrictions on the Alexa action command. It took lots of trial and error to get names that would clear the restrictions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I discovered the Alexa skill for alarm.com devices. With that, Alexa could see the individual devices. I haven't undone my successful work and switched to the more direct constructs.</div><div><br /></div><div>For thermostats, I'm going with Honeywell <a href="https://amzn.to/390PHZA" target="_blank">RTH6580WF</a>.</div>Ben Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12779518055843568946noreply@blogger.com0