The Technology blog and podcast

windows 10 2004 is out with a few warnings

Hi windows 2004 is out for those that want to manually update to it.
Firstly, the latest amd drivers that work with windows 10 are available here.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-20-5-1

A note that when installing before restart removing the following tasks will make the software not do stupid things.
start dvr, start cn, modify link update, and all tasks with amd in their titles.
We don’t need to ever interact with the amd software but the amd software likes to change our keyboard shortcuts like the replace shortcut.
Next nvidia.
https://www.geforce.com/drivers
Its worth noting that the g force experience aint that accessible either and neither are their web detections.
I know some users with version 385 or 384 of the software installed, but that is with a really old card and maybe its time to update it.
Now note if you have 354 or lower and thats the last version you can ever have, then it may actually be time to update that card.
If you got that card for something its now a liability because due to issues with windows your system may screw up.
The easiest solution is to pull and throw it away and get another one or update the driver to the latest you can if you actually can do it.
I know microsoft will probably fix it but if you run 354 of the software then you are running really old software.
There are other issues in this update.
However if you don’t use more than 1 network adaptor at a time, or more than 1 bluetooth device at a time, or have a thunderbolt dock or even if you do, don’t use it then you won’t have a problem.
I actually don’t use bluetooth on my laptop its easier to plug a cable in.
There are issues with some synaptics and conexant devices, and issues with some system files in older drivers.
For older drivers update if you can or replace those devices or wait for a fix.
If you have synaptics or conexant devices that handle audio, then don’t bother.
The last 2 issues have to do with intel and vr and something to do with a mouse and gaming which don’t apply to us blind people.
The only issue I have noticed is that when starting windos the network does not immediately power and you need to wait a couple minutes after login for it to actually do what its supposed to do.
As always, www.dropbox.com has an update www.dropbox.com/release_notes will get you there then click on the latest stable.
You will not lose any settings, my only caution is if you update via media creation you will have to reinstall all your optional languages and features you had on.
Doing it via windows upgrade wizzard means you only have to install the newer features.
After updating you may get a large store apps update to.
As usual notebook manufacturers will have to catch up.
At least intel has fixed my 4th gen system so driver update works again.
As for the issues bar the ones I mentioned, the only issue that may be about is my bluetooth with realtech on my ryzen5 2nd gen workstation which I don’t use.
The network issue is a bit annoying but if I turn off all my updaters on nvda on startup it will not be a problem.
There is a small update to install after everything goes up to from windowsupdate.

And now a note on installs.
On the 2 laptops, my amd unit with realtech and amd and the intel 7th gen unit, I found installing took a while.
On the amd I used the media creation tool and the setup would stay at a percentage for a while and slowly rize.
After that you restarted 3 times and slowly things would go up on each restart.
After updating updates things would restart and then things would just work.
The only issue I had was my amd drivers needed a couple reboots to get up and running.
On the intel, everything just ran with the same as the amd, intel with intel all the way for most stuff anyway using the upgrade assistant.
On the 4th generation system, my dad’s one from 2013 I think it was 2013 the last bios is 2015 but latest drivers are 2016 so I get confused.
This one rappidly wemt up and up, with a few stoppages but seemed to just role with it.
During update of windows the system rebooted at least 3 to 4 times before finally allowing me to check the progress of the update at at least 70%.
On updating, windows needed to reboot a couple times to get settled but seemed ok after that.
Performance wize, with cortana off on the systems I guess there is a bit more.
On my amd and the 7th generation I have not noticed anything muchh.
On the 4th gen things seem a little faster.
On all systems there are a couple seconds where things take to start and shutdown but not that bad it eventually sorted itself out.
Over all I am happy with this update.
One major thing is that I havn’t needed to change any settings or even look at them because even my file associations are in tact.
I have cleaned all the stuff I don’t need but everything works and its fine.
See you later.

Comments (0)

opinion: online petitions, and blanket servey postings

Note!

Before I start my article I wish to post some administrative notices.

One of the search previders, google is stating that the site is not
fitting all mobile screen sizes well.

Also that images and text are to small, and several issues like this.

These are not critical issues so I have ignored them, but if these are
the case then maybe something may need to be done.

Nothing has errored out just yet but I could investigate if we need
extra tools etc for all this if it ever becomes an issue, comment or
email me or jared or something and we can look.

Secondly.

As you may or may not have been aware we had what looked to be an
unscheduled outage last week.

It seems to be however that we had an unannounced system upgrade as we
are now using the latest php, a thing we have been asking our previder
to upgrade for the last 1 or so years now.

I am happy we are using the latest and most stable version of php, this
should mean we have another 2 or so years before we need to be concerned
again, however it took ages to get what we needed and it could be ages
before we can get another one.

Lets hope things continue to run smoothly.\

Hi all.

As I sit in my dreery rainy office / bedroom in my house, with the front
door open due to it being needing to be fixed and in the process of
being fixed, I have been catching up on the blog and various bits of
flotsom coming accross my desk.

Firstly, I have noticed that a lot of servays have been appearing.

Asking questions like Is your blind child effected by this virus, or is
your job or your education, effected, or is your business effected, or
are your workers effected and so on and so on.

These and other such questions pop up daily from various sources,
organisations, lists of organisations, unions and other organisations
wanting to  get stats on the lockdown.

But here is the thing.

The questions in and of them selves and the links and the servays are
quite important things.

The information and the statistical data is quite important.

The virus itself is a really important topic world wide.

Here’s the thing.

Yes its logical to post that to everyone that may be interested, however
its really no good if you then chainmail it out to everyone, every list,
forum, usergroup and personal email address you have in your entire
google contact, facebook contact, twitter contact, in hopes you will get
a hit.

Granted, you could send to organisations and those organisations could
send things out to those in their databases likely to be a parent,
teacher, business owner etc that may in fact be able to answer these
questions.

But its a little harder, you can’t just blanket post.

Blanket posting will insure you get your information out there.

However, there is a slight drawback.

A large amount of your users will get the information, a large amount
who are not targeted by it.

At best they will just delete the information and accept that this is
going about as I have.

But you could potentially get your users reporting you as spam and
getting you blacklisted all over the places or unsubscribing from your
news lists or not recommending you because you fill their mailboxes up
with spammy serveys amd mail which is not targeted at them.

I have not reached that point but a few serveys have appeared on
organisations like afb, nfb, aph all at once.

These filter down to users that chainpost them all over the place.

I need to now review all my mailboxes, spam, and other things and before
I read a single mail I have to delete half the messages in there, and on
some forums report/block certain users and topics full of serveys.

Its calmed down now though but is this blanket posting of serveys a good
use of resources?

If you are from an global entity like world blind union I guess I’d
understand.

But if you are in organisation x posting to y and then z and then to all
other organisations it may be better to get targeted serveys to those in
the database the servey matched with.

Some general posting is fine to a point to and some users will pass that
about to a targeted few.

Now though I am getting serveys at least 10-20 per day most of which
don’t have anything to do with me.

It may be only 2-3 serveys posted to various places, forums, news
letters, etc, from various organisations I am on but then users will
chainpost on and on and on.

For now its all quiet but it seems quite a waste of resources if 50% of
all users may not be your target.

Others may have a view and I encourage descussion.

Next, do online petitions actually work.

News stories I have read over the years suggest they don’t.

Firstly a local news broadcast suggests that they are legally nonbinding.

That in plain english means you give a corperation a bit of paper or a
site stating you don’t like them and they can just ignore it and not do
much about it.

So these are to make you feel good.

They mean nothing, but they make the user think they have done something.

Some sites and news feeds suggest they make others take notice as it
shows the feeling of users in such things as a country where governments
use this form to gage their voters feelings.

However its known that this is just a feel good thing.

What isn’t talked about though is the down side.

To sign these you need to put your name, email address and in some case
the country you are from and your comments if any.

Now granted getting where you are from, your name and email address aint
that hard to do these days.

Some sites get you to set an account where you put a username, password,
address, phone numbers, etc and so on.

Again its not a bad idea in the scheme of things.

If you want someone’s address, phone number mobile or otherwise you can
legally easily get it.

But what seems not to be talked about is who owns these petition sites.

Where is your data going.

There is no garantee that someone is getting and using it.

Names and email addresses are bad enough for spam, phone scams and
junkmail are a bit of an issue but thats not the worse of it.

There are plenty of things someone can do with your mobile, phone, email
and physical address including, physical things like potentially kill
you or rob you.

They can also target you in online swatting, hacking, spamming and
scamming/fishing.

They can be as spaciffic as they want to.

Someone is getting your data, that someone is the company behind the
petition.

And for all we know its china or someone.

True you can find out who owns x site easily enough but as other
articles on this blog have shown with wire labs for example this means
absolutely squat.

Names, addresses and all sorts of things can be faked.

You can even make fake creditcards these days.

So now not only are online petitions just feel good they could possibly
be potentially dangerous.

Also, any user from a conciderate organisation to a concerned citizin to
an utterly spoilt brat wanting to be a troll can make one.

I have had several and most of them are written out.

However I have had a couple from whining trolling idiots that are hoping
people will sign their whinings so they feel good.

Sadly with this virus going about these guys have increased.

These trolls will ask how to get money for free, etc.

Of course you can just choose not to sign.

I have signed a few just to make me feel good even though I know it
isn’t worth a damn.

I don’t do this all the time but it does concern me that no one has
looked at the potential user impacts of these online petitions.

The only good thing with the various privacy rules and laws about
especially in the climate of covid 19 especially with contact tracing
every government company and respectible entity needs to put what they
need to access and why in simple and readable english.

If they need to breach privacy run spying or servailance they need to
within reason tell people what they are doing, where they are doing it,
why they are doing it if applicable and when they are doing it and how long.

A lot of grey about and a lot of criminals but assuming things are all
good its still something not addressed.

We do know for example that selling and buying on facebook could be bad
and setting privacy information and misconfigurations in places from
facebook to organisations can be costly.

But no one has really researched how dangerous needlessly posting our
information to somewhere that has no gain what so ever.

It is clear that someone has a lot to gain, pitty its not us, the users.

Comments (1)

comments on all the posts thus posted

Hi jared and all.
Its been a while since I commented or posted and I thought I’d better put out a blanket statement on things since the data keeps growing.
I havn’t commented on the personal just yet, mainly because there is almost nothing to talk about bar update dumps.
Amd seems to have reduced updates to a single one per month now.
Apart from microsoft, flash and java updates as well as codecs and a few misc applications like applian video and obs, not much has happened on the security front in my neck of the woods.
To all the multiple cyberchrime stories trending on the site.
Yeah not surprised.
My aunty got a email yesterday from helpdesk explaining that chriminals are using everything from fishing emails, from popular service previders like paypall, one of which my dad got, to smartphone apps to all sorts of things.
Everything from your hospital to your average consumer is a target.
I got 5 scam calls in 1 day this week alone within a 2 hour timeframe.
There are a lot more important things for me to do rather than keep things updated here but I do read, and update and fix any issues that seem to appear as I get time.
Sadly I have to deal with the virus at a more personal level.
One of my aunts has lost her job at one of the major retail stores here.
She is close to retiring so has accepted it but there are people with more issues.
Lockdown was extended as we work on making our caseload nonexistant and we seem to be doing that.
However we may have issues going forward.
While I have not had issues myself as such, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have family I needed to support within my bubble.
Its probably why I can continue to be sane and safe.
The news last night had some crazy person with a machette smashing powerlines, and windows and trying to et into houses with people in them.
The cops shot him and that was that.
However I have seen people or been told of people in the middle of the road walking about one guy was obviously drunk and was drink what looked to be a 2 letre of milk straight and was half way through.
Of course it depends where you are and what you do.
A couple of my uncles are in health and infrastructure enginiering and for them work has actually increased.
My brother himself in infrastructure and enginiering is also learning new skills and earning a wage while his girlfriend in the same company deals with international accounting and while she has a job who knows how long that is.
My dad is retired and my mum works as a doctor’s receptionist so still has a job but comes back quite tired most days.
For myself I have completed some jobs and have a possible live contract after we hit level2 or there abouts.
Some of my access companies have paused business and others have restructured to prepair for any extra work going forward.
I can thank my star that at least for me no matter how bad this lockdown gets, I will have a job as its it and to do with online mostly.
99.9% of my activity deals with testing things on a computer, or answering emails or a bit of both, or getting someone to control my computer and make it test or me running tests remotely.
Bar my university stuff that I do from time to time and the occasional live test sessions, my job is secure.
Thank god my last online job was just before the lockdown.
Still it took a full 2 weeks before I recieved my gift voucher for the supermarket.
I plan to keep this voucher till I can physically use it though.
Thats basically it.

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Time zone update

Just went in and changed the time so that posts post on time. I scheduled some stuff, but they may be off for the first day but should be OK now. I’ll be posting something shortly, and have stuff scheduled for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for taking a look and having an interest. Whether you say something or not, sharing is what this is about. See you all soon!

Comments (2)

Text Reminders, where did it go?

I didn’t formally post anything about this service, but talked about it on a diverse podcast 310 which was released March 26, 2019. I was attracted to this service, although it did have a paying component. The site was accessible, and while checking it out, reported some things.

I even found issues with it during the time change and tried to reach out to the people behind it. The problem was that I didn’t get a response.

I’m unclear when I noticed that the service was gone, and I decided to give it another look. The domain is registered, but it is no longer active.

If you go back to podcast 310 on our RSS feed you’ll see the notations linking to the site. Its not going to hurt you to go there now, but I’d be caucious because now its a parked page and someone could change that and make it a problem.

I’m saddened that this service is no longer, and I was hopeful for it because it did things that other services didn’t and still don’t do.

Did you use the service when we talked about it? What did you think of it?

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we have trapped the error subsystem

Hi all.
Well today the following tasks are completed.
1. site faq.
There is a link near the end of the site after the blogs and links section that is site faq.
In there I explain a bit about the security system and such.
As things continue to be upgraded this may or may not grow.
2. Privacy policy.
The site disclaimer is also the privacy policy such as it is pertaining to this site.
I am no lawyer so its quite simple, ie information will not be shared or sold.
Protection of email is encoded and we have ssl, captcha and 0spam and that will work fine.
We have a standard error page which covers all errors though the only error this works for is the 404 error.
We accomplish this with a plugin called 404 page.
This allows us to link a page with the stuff in it we need.
There is an advanced section which is totally visual full of unlabeled links but we don’t need it.
The other thing we have is wordpress error pages customiser or at least something along those lines.
If anyone wants the actual plugin let me know in the comments.
This allows us to customise the 403 and(hidden or forbidden access)
and, 401, login error when you have entered to many times the information for login though this shouldn’t be a problem.
Now if you have a cognitive issue there may be a slight possibility that you may not be able to solve the simple captcha but you will need to be really bad for that to happen.
If you do have that issue, or if you don’t want to put your information on here you can still login with wordpress with 2 step which may be more comfortable for you.
We also have a contact us page to now I don’t have the knowledge to make the email addresses say the various names but good job trying to copy them with a bot.
Now granted if you really want to you can copy them with your keyboard but its harder.
If you do try, you will see the word javascript and a ; character.
This should be all for the moment unless I can think about anything more.
I have held off customising login screens because these are fine as they are.
Anyway we will start conflicting with stuff as it is.
What I’d like to do is add things like an audio logo to the site maybe, and maybe sounds when you click about in standard and admin consoles but its not really needed as such.
A reminder to all that today is patch tuesday.
If you have any issues with the last update and some aparently have you should get the latest update.
Flash and adobe reader dc have updates, reader having the first update for this year.
A reminder that flash is supposed to be approaching end of life this year.
Shockwave is allready at end of life.
I plan to clear flash and shockwave off my systems once that reaches end of life.
If you need to use flash, it is recommended to use html5 or adobe air.
Google chrome has another update as does office.
Outage notes.
The following times I will not be available for any immediate support or duties.
20th feburary I will be away all that week starting on that day for a music festival.
24 april.
I will be away till the start of may on vacation but it may be a bit longer.
During this time there will be no support or updates at least from me.
Thanks for reading.

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Important announcement for 10th february 2020

Hi all.
Well as you know every time there is a podcast and in the last 2 casts jared peaks my interest on things.
Not everything is successfull but here are the things done this week and not done due to issues.
Things which are not done probably won’t be done unless there is a way about doing so.
1. security.
In addition to spam and 2 factor with jetpack, we have logic captcha with captcha booster.
This is another layer on top of the stuff we have.
This allows the site to just work without stupidness on behalf of well recaptcha and its weirdness.
We have an email obfiscation encoder which should keep email addresses secure and generate links if they don’t exist.
There is a faq, contact page and an error page created.
Oh and there is a plugin for admins to get errors.
right now my address]
mailto://
and
mailto://
Are the admin stuff.
Jared is in

america and I am in new zealand.
I can handle content messages, like errors in posts, simple plugins and configurations.
Jared can handle anything else which is not point and click.
The following ideas are trashed for now and may or may not be revisited in the future.
1. a question and answer system.
A lot of sites have one, so decided to put one in.
Visual elements in plugins I tried made me reconcidder, anyway with our captcha and other methods it should work.
2. a login pin.
This could still be a thing, I just can’t find any plugins to use.
3. a social network login.
Again due to visual nature I can not configure some of this stuff properly so its gone.
4. a contact form for admins and the like.
Visual elements and probably not worth it.
5. a message system for admins and users.
Visual again.
So will there be any more.
Probably not, I don’t see myself installing any more plugins right now for custom logins or plugins for web page errors, things should just work.
I am fully aware about the peskey healthcheck if anyone cares about php.
Technically we should really be on 7.4 however the previder doesn’t seem to either want or to move that fast so I am leaving it.
The site works and we are not a shopping network so I am focusing on passive protections where stuff just does its thing.
Thats it for now.
More announcements when we get more casts.

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security note

Hi all.

As you may have been aware of on the latest podcast I mentioned 2 factor
authentication.

So why is there a captcha?

For the record I hate captcha in all its forms.

Here’s the deal.

From an admin point of view, captcha is easier to put in than 2 factor.

For 1 thing, each user needs to make 2factor just work for them, so they
need to turn it on.

I can’t tell them to turn it on which defeats the purpose.

2.  subscription.

Many of these plugins add you to services which may need subscription.

Now thats fine but it says licenced per user for a lot of them.

What is a user?

Is a user someone that has access to those plugins configuration, 2
users, thats fine enough.

However does it mean users as in all users using it on their profile?

If its all users, then how many are writing.

is it more than 10.

Suddenly, if you went to say write something or comment, you’d get a
message from the site that I’d have to put up somehow telling you to pay
us 3 dollars a month so we can pay for the authentication!

How about, no!

Firstly I don’t know what some of these things mean about a user, and
suddenly its just a bit complex.

As a former software pirate, this sort of thing made me want to go crack it.

Now I can’t forget my morrals and make the user pay me so I can give
them access its just not in my nature to be that much of an evil bastard.

Pluss you should know by now, I absolutely loath the subscription system
a lot of things have unless its meaningfull and unless I use it.

I’m not made of cash myself and neither are the majority of the blind
either and people in general.

After going through several articals I tried wpsms and a few other things.

However you need a mobile number for reporting to and a gateway which
means somewhere along the line I would have to pay or someone would and
that would eventually have to go back to the user because I am certainly
not made of cash.

My next point was to try captchas.

After not being able to understand google captcha v3 I tried v2 invisible.

This worked but oh dear, the login just never accepted.

So try v2.

This did work but I know some have issues with v2 and the audio and I
eventually got totally annoyed and scrapped it.

I then tried math captcha.

This is out of date and while it did work it displayed weirdly and I
killed it.

So we now use captcha booster in logic math number mode.

No multiply or devide because it put out things like 27 times39 or59
devided by 24.

I had to use a calculator to log in and again we don’t want to turn off
users just keep out bad guys.

So we have plus and minus.

Plus works minus does not show minus but if you see a couple numbers =
whatever with 2 spaces in the middle then its a minus and it just works.

There is a 5 attempt login on this which hmmm if you fail it will do
something, not sure exactly what because I have the basic version which
just gives the captcha and not much else.

As an asside, I strongly reccomend all users that write here and admins
to get a wordpress account if not for your own blog but as a backup.

You may login with google and facebook and other things if you want.

I have a wordpress account, but if you suddenly screw things you will
need a backup.

If to many screw things I may just get rid of the plugin alltogether but
this is at least workable.

Its just setup and go and it just does.

Never the less I am due to talk to a blogger who uses logic captcha and
other things on their sites and has offered to help with various things,
obviously its not going to be free but we will see what we see.

I can manage up to 20 us dollars maximum for a 1 off buy in but thats
probably it.

No subscriptions, so we will see what we see.

Right now, its going to work, its local, it will work with speech, and
at least its not recaptcha.

Comments Off on security note

What have you gotten for the holidays

Hi all,

Hello all, hope the holidays went well for everyone. What did you get for the holidays as far as tech is concerned? For me, getting my new phone was much needed, and I’m happy that I got it.

I got some other non-tech related items this month, but I also know that I enjoyed a couple of other devices like the sonos speaker and the Google Home which I got when I moved where I am now residing.

If you’d like to show off what you got for your holidays, please do so. Use Wetransfer or any other file sharing service and send me an email with the audio. I’ll be sure to check it out and consider it for future inclusion to upcoming podcasts.

Of course, during the holidays, i’ll be working on my B2K and braille transcription web site and assignment, and hopefully will be submitting 17 before the new year.

This assignment has been a lot of fun. Always learning new things.

Thanks for reading and participating this year on the podcast, and see you soon!

Comments (1)

Donald Trump gets impeached, what does this mean for tech?

OK folks, I don’t mean to turn this in to a political debate here, but we all have heard that Donalt Trump, president of the United States, just got impeached. While this blog doesn’t touch politics as a whole, politics and technology have mixed where court cases have been involved or something like Russia or some metaling or lack there of have been talked about.

The point of this blog is not to turn this in to a political debate, I’ll let other blogs do that. I’m wondering what the potential impeachment process will have on the technology field and whether we’ll see more or less trouble with hacking, breaches, and the like because of it?

I’m not ready to think about that right now, I do have other pressing things that are more important to me than worrying about that indirectly, but it is crossing my mind as I hear discussion in regards to this whole ordeal of whether something like this would have an effect on hacking and other tech related activities.

Donald Trump is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. We do not think he’ll be removed, and that has been stated. When President Clinton was impeached, there was none of this hacking business going on as much as it has been for the past several years. This is why I’m bringing it up now, because of the events of the last several years since this president was braught in to office by election.

Thoughts on whether this will have an effect on the hacking scene is welcome. Thanks for reading.

Comments (2)

Iphone Its going to get interesting

Between last podcast and the release of this one which should be within a day, its been busy. Part of this journey was getting a new iphone which was desperately needed. My Iphone 5S has outlived its usefulness finally dying a horrible death because it couldn’t keep itself from shutting off wen unpluged. The phone is 100 percent, but I knew the battery was a issue.

I’d say as I said at the end of the podcast that I’ve gotten my money’s worth. I really don’t want to buy phones every year or two, and while we didn’tget money for mine, I’m OK with it. Should it be needed in an emergency where I need to have something, it may be able to do the trick,or maybe not. Whatever the case is, on upcoming podcasts, I’ll talk about my use of my new phone, the 11.

I hope that everyone has a good one, and I’ll be releasing the podcast soon.

Comments (2)

Time change

Its that time of year, the time changes and we have adjusted the blog to minus 8 from GMT to compensate for the change of time. Its too bad that the blog can’t do this itself.

We’ll continue to post and do our regular activity here, and hopefully you all are enjoying what you’re reading and hearing along this network.

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site optimisation

Hi.
Well before I plunge into the load of comments, I have started extra site optimisation.
Once a year or maybe twice, or every so often, I will be sweeping the site of all unused things like spam, database comments, etc.
This is to reduce clutter and increase performance.
A note to users on the site.
For those like me that use wordpress as a direct login to the site 2step authentication is enabled on this site and on the wordpress system.
If you login via normal userid and password method you will still be able to get in.
But if you use wordpress to login, you will need to setup 2step.
Please backup the 10 backup codes you are given incase something happens.
If you end up using all or half or well whatever, just remember to regenerate your code list and keep it on a cloud storage device.
Another note, for admins, Site info is placed with the wordpress version, php, sql, etc.
Also note, that while it gripes on, healthcheck seems to want us to have php 7.3 and according to performance tips you don’t need this.
As well as this, jetpack now handles image and page caches via wordpress cloud services.
I have noticed immediate speeding up of the system.
Later on, I may concidder extra services like cloudflare and maxcdn but as I need to get more iinvolved lets try the easy solutions.
Oh, also, jetpack should in theory update plugins when they update, so no more me having to login all the time and update plugins.

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HP launches Spectre x360 13 pre-installed with ExpressVPN

Just like an antivirus/anti-malware solution, having a VPN installed on your PC is very important. Are you ever concerned about the privacy of your online activity? Or worried about advertising trackers? Or maybe you are trying to access content that is prohibited by your government or Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Do you ever want to watch certain movies on Netflix only to find that they are not available in your country? A VPN will help you solve all the above problems. What’s more, a VPN is affordable and easy to use, especially in the case of the recent HP and ExpressVPN partnership where the VPN comes pre-installed on the latest HP performance laptop.

 

The HP and ExpressVPN partnership

Consumer VPN expert ExpressVPN recently announced its partnership with the giant tech company HP Inc. As part of the agreement, a selected number of PC’s will come pre-installed with ExpressVPN’s Windows app to help protect users’ privacy and security online. 

HP’s recently unveiled Spectre x360 13 laptop model will be the first one to enjoy this arrangement that includes a 30-day trial period to see if the VPN is a good fit for them. The product will, however, get incorporated on more HP models in the coming months.  After the trial period has elapsed, users will get an opportunity to either buy a longer plan or opt-out of the subscription. 

 

About ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the market leader in consumer VPNs. Its popularity stems from its speed, security, reliability, and ease-of-use. ExpressVPN helps users to secure their data traffic and guard their online presence against prying eyes. This VPN gives users peace of mind when they connect to untrusted or unsecured networks, such as public Wi-Fis at the coffee shops, hotels, and airports. You will be able to encrypt your network data and secure your internet browsing experience with one simple click!

 

ExpressVPN TrustedServer Technology

ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology presents a major surge in protecting consumer privacy and security by addressing key risks common with how VPN servers are conventionally run. 

Traditionally, server owners install the software and operating system during the initial set up of the server and then add amendments over time. Take note that every change made gives rise to the possible changes among servers, decreasing the trust that each one of them is using the same exact code. 

ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology ensures each of its 3,000+ VPN servers uses the most recent software. Every time the server reboots, it loads the most up-to-date read-only picture containing the whole software stack, OS, and others. This is to say that ExpressVPN is aware of everything that is running on all their servers, which minimizes the possibility of exposure or misconfiguration and greatly enhance VPN security.

 

HP Spectre x360 13 Features

HP’s newest Spectre x360 13 laptop model combines the cultivation of impressive design and mobility, with heightened security and performance features that allow users to enjoy their passions without limitations.

With 6 out of 10 PC users concerned about their privacy being compromised, the new Spectre model features a dedicated mute mic key, HP Webcam Kill Switch, and an extra HP Sure View display. It also features twice the performance of its predecessors with an extended battery life of up to 22 hours, enough to take you through the day. 

 

About HP

HP is a global IT corporation specializing in the sale of software, hardware, and other similar services. The company was founded in 1939 by engineers David Packard and William R. Hewlett. HP’s product line includes PCs and other computing devices, software, storage tools, scanners, printers, plotters, and enterprise and industry-standard servers among other imaging devices. In 2014, HP decided to split the company into two– HP, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.

People who use PC’s/laptops are mostly on the go, and this often results in the use of unsecured Wi-Fi networks. With a speedy and trustworthy VPN like ExpressVPN, users of the new Spectre x360 13 will walk with their head high knowing that their privacy and security remain unaffected regardless of whichever Wi-Fi network they are on. 

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Philmore Update: does Phil need training?

I just got an update on the Philmore Productions saga over in Chicago.

I want to ask a very important question. How many webmasters and developers do you know that do not back up their web site code, development processes, and other aspects of business?

Philmore admitted that he lost the email forwarding capability, and the code that powers his web site.

As its discussed on a telephone line, Philmore continues to display such stupidity. I don’t understand what type of brain is in his Head. This doesn’t make any type of sense. I just can’t wait to see what else he’ll admit that we probably have called in the last few months. What a tragedy!

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Scott Schober writes new book, will be out October 1

You can preorder a new book by Scott and Craig Schober
called “Cybersecurity Is Everybody’s Business: Solve the Security Puzzle for Your Small Business and Home Paperback – October 1, 2019” which looks to be a good one. Its on Amazon preorder right now, and I’m sure that bookshare may have it soon after release. The print version is running for approximately $30 while Kindle can be had for $10 right now. Here is the Amazon link to this book, and I hope we can all read it and learn something.

Did you read the book Hacked Again by Scott? I believe that this picks up where the other left off.

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About the book

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Since publication of his first book, Hacked Again, Scott Schober has dedicated himself to educating anyone who would listen by telling his own story of
being hacked in the hope that others can learn from his own mistakes. Now joined by his brother Craig, the two have set their sights on the biggest target
of all, small businesses.

There are 30 million small businesses currently operating in the United States. Some of them are single owner/operated while others collectively employ
hundreds of millions. This book is for all of them and anyone who makes it their business to stay safe from phishing attacks, malware spying, ransomware,
identity theft, major breaches and hackers who would compromise their security. We are all in this together which is why cybersecurity is everybody’s business.

Scott and Craig Schober examine a multitude of cybersecurity issues affecting all of us including:

list of 11 items
• Cyber Insurance
• Internet of Things
• State Sponsored Hacking and Spying
• Card Skimmers & Identity Theft
• Social Engineering
• Ransomware
• Phishing Attacks
• Vital Password Creation
• Robocalls
• Cryptocurrency
• Virtual Private Networks
list end

Scott and Craig Schober delve into the details of the latest cyber breaches that made headlines and continue to affect your small business and all consumers
such as:

list of 6 items
• Ashley Madison Hack
• Yahoo Hack
• Marriott Hotel Hack
• Anthem Hack
• Equifax Hack
• Uber Hack
list end

Throughout Cybersecurity Is Everybody’s Business, Scott and Craig not only contextualize the impact of these cyberattacks on your small business and daily
lives, but also provide expert insight and a plan of attack for fending off future security breaches. Through tips and advice gained since his last book,
Scott offers hope in the ever-changing world of cybersecurity.

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Lets see if we can get this book, and learn together!

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Philmore Admits … confirmation of what the network has said for months?

Hello folks,

It looks like Philmore Productions has finally admitted to what we’ve been saying for the past several months. We’ve already known that the data was shot, but in messages sent to this network indicated that the company has been running out of date software and hardware for at least 15 years. Here’s what we know.

• Philmore Productions admits to data loss, including portions of the software and web services.
• We’ve never covered the multiple dialogic cards through this process, whereby Philmore Productions has went through multiple different cards.
• Philmore Productions did not honor their word when saying they would give refunds, and reffered later to standard business practice of only refunding upon request.
• Multiple months of downtime, and admitting to a long standing bug which he admitted to actually liking.
• Finally, Philmore Productions has admitted to running out of date software and hardware, which caused performance issues, (see item above) and how the system is running faster now.

What really bothers me besides the multiple months of downtime to his customers, is still the lack of transparency. In the next upcoming podcast, podcast listeners will hear two messages in his own words about how things went wrong, what he’s been running, and what he is running now. He admits that the system runs faster, and how Microsoft went in to his computer and turned off the dialogic system as part of fixing his computer. When turning that back on, he admits to turning something on which caused the system to pause during prompts such as log in, message counts, and the like. I personally remember reporting that bug within the first months of the system, and it was never fixed. He admits within the messages the podcasters will here that he actually enjoyed this “bug” in the system and he wishes that it was back that way..

The good news, is there is now Windows 2016, an upgraded SQL database, and a new dialogic card. It took the IT department and him another day after getting the card to get the system operating now.

I’m a little concerned about the SQL database. This database is run on servers for things like WordPress, and other CMS’s across the Internet. Philmore Productions must continue to keep this SQL software he’s running up to date, or miscreants will find a way in, and if he had data problems before, he’ll have more of them now. According to reports shared with this network, the system is running faster, but the network will not pay for a box to confirm this as the network here has left Philmore many years ago and has no plans to return at this time.

Philmore Productions must learn that he’s very lucky that a lot of customers have stayed, but many have confirmed to be gone now, including some of his longest customers since the beginning. I dialed a couple of boxes at random on the 18th, and both boxes I called have been cancelled.

We called the data loss issues from the very beginning during this whole ordeal. It was not practical to have us not call this, because when the system came back up, prompts were missing, and things ended up getting disconnected because the system didn’t know what to do. The web server being corrupted was inevitable, because it had gone between network computers and I’m positive now that Philmore does not do any type of backups. This was confirmed by Philmore Productions.

I can understand not doing backups many years ago, but ever since the breach reports starting with Target happened, Philmore Productions admitted to this network that he had taken new credit card info from his customers. This was the time to invest in a dedicated hard drive or two to back up the data. Cloud services were still in its infancy then, and that was the beginning.

The Jared Rimer network has never had a data loss of critical web sites and podcast material. We may have lost some data due to us deleting it because of space, or it not being in Dropbox or Google because it wasn’t considered that important and could be gotten again. The data Philmore Productions holds is very critical, and services are now out to give the company the space they need to back up this data. Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon backup, and many others are here to serve you. Its time Philmore get in to the 21st century and invest in some solution to survive. If they have not been hit too hard by the last couple of months, then lets do it.

Philmore Productions should’ve honored their word on automatic refunds as promised all these months ago. The Better Business Bureau would not like getting complaints now on how this was never done. We link to Philmore Productions listings on one of our other articles, and since I’m not a customer, I am powerless on doing anything because I could only talk about my experience. Iit wasn’t dealing with money and bad business practices.

Running out of date software is my next biggest problem for this company. Businesses who run software like SQL, and Windows must upgrade on a regular basis. While this may be a pain, I also understand that Philmore Productions also didn’t update Windows. This is the critical reason why the system crashed and burned. I can’t imagine running this network on an out of date, unpatched, vulnerable, and outdated software and hardware. This network always ran Windows Update, and taking the computer offline to do so is critical. When my software was out of date, it got updated. It fixes bugs and vulnerabilities that could be leveraged by miscreants without your knowledge. If Philmore Productions is to learn anything, they must update Windows, the software they’re using, and the backend hardware when necessary. Philmore Productions can’t continue to neglect the security of the system and more importantly, the data he so preciously must maintain for his customers.

Philmore Productions must learn to ask the appropriate questions. The company should’ve asked the venders what card to get for the new operating system, instead of blowing money on cards just for them not to work! This is what I would do, and I hope that the company will learn from this crucial costly mistake.

Is there anything I’ve missed? Please contact me, and sound off in the comments if you wish. I’m not going to be ashamed to publish this and let the comments flow where they may. The company must learn somehow, and I am not going to be held responsible for what happens next.

Other articles in this series

• Philmore up … Philmore down … are you done with the game? September 6, 2019
• Philmore up, is this the beginning of the end? August 28, 2019
• Philmore orders new server August 5, 2019
• Philmore still down, no end in site July 28, 2019
• Philmore: … Is Anyone Home? July 20, 2019
• Is Philmore up yet? July 14, 2019
• Philmore Productions not honoring cancellations? What the hell? July 10, 2019
• Philmore: Is It Down for Good? July 7, 2019

Some of the articles in this list are not able to be commented on but this article thats posted today is the most recent, and you can comment on anything you’d find of interest between all of these.

The Jared Rimer Network is now a third party. We get reports directly from customers and outsiders. The proceeding article is opinion and updates based on how I understand it, and nothing more. The comments in this post are those of the poster and not of the JRN, or its staff, clients, or management.

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Latest outages

Hello folks,

We’ve been aware of outages across the network. The provider is aware of it, and it is out of their hands. I am unable to write any more at this time, as its an ongoing investigation. I’m hopeful we’re now stable. Please also welcome our newest contributer and check out the article on Phishing. Very valuable. Thanks again for your support.

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Philmore up … Philmore down … are you done with the game?

So its been awhile, and boy, it seems like Philmore can’t be stabilized. Going back on their word on refunds, they talk about the standard business practice of customers requesting refunds for all the downtime. While I can agree with this practice, the company made it very clear that they would do this once the system came up. They have not.

To add insult to injury, let me ask you a question. Would you use something that is not compatible with your system, or would you make sure that it is compatible? I think we have this type of problem now with Philmore productions, and it can’t be good. Turns out, that we still have a computer which continues to reboot randomly, and the cause is the dialogic card, one in which may not be compatible with the software or version of the operating system. I’m being caucious, because I do not know exactly what is going on, but we can confirm that it is not compatible.

What I’ve noticed with this company is something that I’ve seen too much with them. The programming and development of the system is comparible to others I’ve been on, but the transparency or lack thereof, has not been the greatest. Promises and no action, or promises and excuses on why it can’t be delivered.

Long time customers are choosing that this is enough, on their own. While I’ve written blogs, talked about the situations via podcasts in audio, or even in conferences or one on one, the fact is that customers are seeing what this company is really like. This can’t be a good thing for them, and we don’t know or can’t predict whats going to happen. Companies come and go all the time, whether its customer problems, or money or other issues. I’ve been predicting Philmore to be gone for several years now, and maybe this will put the nail in the coffin. I’m not sure, but its all in writing.

One of their customers posted on their bulletin board system talking about all of the past, and how they were tired of it. It was a very lengthy message which we aren’t able to get a copy of, but from what I hear, it was well thought out. The company did confirm that the data was corrupted and couldn’t be salvageable and the tech blog and podcast as well as others close to the network said the same thing.

How much worse can it get for this company? I’m not sure, but only time will tell what will really happen. Comment if you wish.

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Philmore up, is this the beginning of the end?

“Welcome to Philmore Productions, may I take your bug report?”

“Yes, I have a huge bug report, Phil. Your voice mail seems to be completely broken. I can’t send any messages out, so having you tell me to leave a voice mail in your box is going to be pointless.”

Yes folks, this is now what Philmore Productions Voicemail is like now, according to reports. It just came up in the afternoon of August 28, 2019. During my podcast break during my moving process, I’ve written several articles in regards to Philmore’s potential. It seems like now that the system, in parts, is completely broken.

Hey Phil, did you end up copying the data like you said you did? If you did, did you find out if it was corrupted? How is the corrupted data treating you?

I called it a long time ago that copying corrupted data is going to cause you a lot of problems. I even told AT&T when I ordered my service for this location, the short version of what has gone on through the years in this company. The girl I talked to said that it wasn’t good. Now, what do you plan to do? The voice mail lines that were forwarding are now back up and operating, although you were apparently supposed to have access to be able to do that when you were upgraded. Is that broken too, or are you too stupid and don’t know how anything works and you have to have companies tell you everything?

When I got in to the web hosting business, I made it a point to learn everything I can about the features I use, and where stuff is in my control panel. While I may not know a lot of stuff, and/or things move around, I’ll go look and try to figure it out before I try to bug my provider. If there is a pannel you can access, look at it, save the company some time. The fact your shit is broken isn’t doing you any good right now, and now will be the time for you to respond to this type of bug report which will certainly happen.

How many times have you said that your system is going to be up better than ever during the reports you provided your customers? I believe that your voices need to speak even louder, folks. If this is a tell tale sign that this isn’t what you expected, maybe you need to decide what is best. This can’t be good. I’m not telling people to leave, but while I’m writing this article, the voice mail bug that was mentioned in the first section of this article is fixed. I’m sure that the rest of the issues will be fixed over time, and the time is now! You said it was going to be better, but in my opinion, its now more crap.

You all will figure it out, and make your own decision. Make it the right one.

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