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Blog
Security Suites software in 2020
Bizarrely, after being perfectly happy with the my home NAS for months, BitDefender on one of my Windows machines today decided to prevent me from accessing the NAS’s shares. I could only access the shares if I turned BitDefender firewall off. The configuration options in this product are sparse and the firewall section offered no way to allow SMB access. …
Wifi 6E – Step change or step in the same direction?
Tech news sites have been widely reporting the latest moves to get the latest WiFi 6E standard approved. What is WiFi 6E and should we be excited about this forthcoming standard? WiFi 6E is an extension of the existing WiFi 6 standard which is a bit of a rebranding exercise for 5GHz Wifi in its 802.11ax form. The difference is that WiFi …
Macs moving to Apple silicon
Macs are moving to Apple silicon. Here’s Apple’s press release: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/06/apple-announces-mac-transition-to-apple-silicon/ I thought about using “CPUs” in the title instead of silicon but I realise the wording of Apple’s press release is deliberate. Not only is the entire architecture moving to ARM but Apple can now use system-on-a-chip packages (where processor and graphics are integrated on the same silicon) such …
Wifi issues and USB3
After a few days specifying a friend’s office Wifi, my MacBook Pro (ironically) started failing to connect to any Wifi network within range at home. I looked extensively for solutions and tried to reset preferences files in the way that worked on other people’s Macs in the past. Nothing worked. I resorted to restoring my Mac from a Time Machine backup, …
Windows 10 – a view
Like all versions of Windows and for both work and personal interests I have kept a close eye on the new Windows 10. When the initial free upgrade offer came along I jumped on it and upgraded all of my three Windows machines to Windows 10. Subsequently I returned all of them back to the Windows version they were running …
Netspot Pro on Mac
I took advantage of a special offer through Parallels (via their marketing emails) for a bundle of Mac software for £30. There was a version of Acronis TrueImage and a PDF editing tool, but what really caught my eye was Netspot Pro. I’d had some experience with the free version of this Wifi survey tool, mainly on Windows but didn’t …
Zalman ZM-VE300
I’d had my eye on this external USB hard disk enclosure for some time, but it took a particular set of circumstances to coalesce before I bought one. The ZM-VE300 is an enclosure for 2.5″ hard disks or SSDs, but its special feature is the ability to present itself as a virtual optical drive. The great thing about this is …
The state of home WiFi
Pretty much everyone with an Internet connection at home of a workable speed uses Wifi for every device that can use it. In the UK, the ISP market is carved up between TV and Telephone companies. What few small proper ISPs that remain in business are fulfilling niches. And the more the big companies dominate the less real choice consumers have. …
Revisited: USB Flash Drives with a write protect switch
My work sometimes takes me into the domain of forensic examination of computers and often finds me digging around virus infections. It is for just these sorts of purposes that a USB Stick (aka Flash drive) with a write-protect switch is essential. This is something that is getting very rare indeed. Trekstor CS I’ve looked previously here at examples from …