For the past few months a number of customers have found that they are unable to get a monitor shipped to Minnesota from Amazon. It recently happened to us and we decided to look into it more. We don’t have a definitive answer, but it may be because of this state statute: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/115A.1318 from 2006 Read more about Unable to Purchase a Monitor from Amazon?[…]
One of our clients recently received an email from a supposed domain register in China. The message looks similar to below: This appears to be a domain scam where the send is trying to scare the business into purchasing their domain in China to protect their business name. In researching this scam, we found mention Read more about China Domain Scam[…]
We have been dealing with a server issue on and off for the past few months where Tomcat becomes unresponsive, but still appears to be running. Traditional service monitoring wasn’t detecting the crash, but our users were. This looks bad!
Windows Server doesn’t show Disk Perf monitors by default, but it can make sense for some servers to have. Luckily, it is easy enough to add and it doesn’t require a reboot! Open an “Administrative Command Prompt”Start -> Run -> Type “CMD” -> Right-click the icon and select “Run as administrator” Type “diskperf -y” and Read more about Missing Disk Performance Monitors in Task Manager?[…]
If you were a systems admin in the early days of DOS and Windows, you may remember the deltree command was able to delete a directory and all files and directories below that point of the tree, hence the name. You may also notice that deltree doesn’t exist anymore in modern Windows operating systems, even Read more about What happened to the old “deltree” Command?[…]
Microsoft has been going backwards in regards to consumer freedom by forcing users to create/log in with Microsoft account on a new machine. Last year the Home version of Windows changed the requirement. This year the requirement has come to the Professional version. We heard from so many complaints that we decided to try to Read more about Windows 11 setup without being forced to use a Microsoft Account[…]
We recently received a Rokid Air and after playing with it a bit, we learned something about the adapter that can be purchased separately. When you first plug in the adapter to the glasses, a screen eventually pops up. It lists the WiFi SSD (Lollipop-something), the password and the IP address. After connecting your iOS Read more about Rokid Air Adapter[…]
A client of ours has a server with a built-in RAID controller that seems to be failing. The server is due to be replaced soon, but until then we had to come up with a “quickfix” over the weekend. First, we took a good backup with Windows Server Backup. Then we went into the BIOS Read more about Windows Server Software Mirror of Boot Volume[…]
We are now offering a VPN Guard service! With this service, we can:1. Block most advertisements2. Block known malware servers3. Block Tracking agents4. Block Porn sitesThe VPN runs on Android and newer Chromebooks, iOS, Windows and MacOS. We are charging $3 per month, per device. Let us know if you are interested.
There is a new Windows 10 bug that seems to show up randomly. If you see a yellow “No Internet Access” error triangle in the Windows 10 system tray and can’t connect to the internet in some apps but can browse the web as you normally would, you’ve got the bug. Microsoft acknowledged this bug Read more about How to fix the Windows 10 version 2004 network connectivity bug[…]
A number of clients have told us about some current scams they have been hit with. The most recent involved an innocent Google search for the Charles Schwab login page. It appears that the scammer was able to get an “advertisement” in through a “drive-by attack” and our client didn’t notice the page URL was Read more about Anatomy of a recent Malvertising attack[…]
Zoom has recently become one of the “go-to” options for video meetings. Zoom was designed to be easy to use and not require too many settings to work. However, some of the default settings can cause issue for your meetings! Edit 3/31/2020: Since these complaints are getting some traction, Zoom may change the defaults. In Read more about Check these Settings on Zoom before you give out your meeting address![…]
After installing vnc4server and trying to connect, you will probably see a grey screen with some check boxes. To resolve this, install some more packages: $ sudo apt-get install gnome-panel gnome-settings-daemon metacity nautilus gnome-terminal And then add the following lines to the bottom of your ~/.vnc/xstartup: gnome-panel & gnome-settings-daemon & metacity & nautilus & Kill Read more about VNC on Ubuntu[…]
The Phixnozar iPad Keyboard with touchpad surprised us as to how well it works. The keyboard does not feel too cramped and the touchpad is decent for this price range. We tested this with the iPad Pro 2017 (A1701), but it should work with the 2019 iPad 7th generation (A2197 / A2200 / A2198), 2019 Read more about Phixnozar iPad Keyboard[…]
With the current COVID-19 news on our minds, it’s a good time for a reminder about keeping our phones/tablets clean! After all, it does no good to wash our hands and then immediately put them on our grubby screens… How would you clean your phone? Many people’s first thoughts are to use Clorox or Lysol Read more about Don’t use Bleach/Disinfectant Wipes on your Phone![…]
The Pepper Jobs XTENDTOUCH is finally back in stock! This 15.6-inch full HD (1080p) IPS panel with 10-point capacitive touch screen is a portable monitor that has mini-HDMI and USB-C inputs. It also has a built-in battery that will charge USB-C devices as well as run itself. We have tested it with various Windows laptops, Read more about Pepper Jobs XTENDTOUCH Portable Touch Monitor[…]
A client of ours has been seeing significant slow downs with their server for quite a while. We have been working with them and their vendor to try to determine what it might be. The most recent change we made was to replace their aging HDD’s in RAID 1 with some SSDs. It was not Read more about Upgrading from HDD to SSD in a Dell PERC H310 (and probably others)[…]
Update 02/17/2020: Nexdock has updated their design to include a touch panel as the current model is non-touch. This is the NexDock 2. It is basically a laptop shell that requires some other source of intelligence to power it. We have tested it with a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and 10, a GPD XD+, a Read more about NexDock 2[…]
If you are a gadget vendor or a customer and would like us to review your device, please contact us!
Previously Untangle required a purchased SSL cert. Now you can do it with LetsEncrypt! While this is unsupported by Untangle, you are unlikely to break anything permanently. Just follow each step and double check the commands. We have installed it on dozens of client’s UVMs and not had a problem yet. The only issue with Read more about Lets Encrypt Untangle with DNS verification[…]
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sivel/speedtest-cli/master/speedtest.py | python –
To restart Windows graphics drivers, press Win+Ctrl+Shift+B. The screen will go blank for a split second and a short beep will sound. When it comes back, everything will be as it was with no data loss or game crash.
This is easiest with GUI access, you can also click the icon at the top right corner of your top bar. Depending on which version of desktop you are running, click either the Settings icon or the “System Settings” option in the menu. Click the “Details” option in the left sidebar or click the “Details” Read more about Ubuntu Upgrading[…]
Tech Rescue Remote Support Downloading and running this file will automatically log in to our support system. Please call your technician when ready. Unlike the Windows version, downloading and running this file does not automatically log in to our support system. You will instead see a 9-digit number and a shorter password that you will Read more about Quick Remote Support[…]
In most cases, the bad guys create fake advertisements filled with malware and try to slip them past security checks at large ad networks. These infected ads can then sneak malware onto a web user’s computer, even if he or she doesn’t click on the ad. It’s really a cat-and-mouse game. Ad networks have to Read more about Malvertising Drive-By Attacks[…]
A client process kept failing because the mapped drive was randomly being lost. This fixed the issue by mapping the drive using the machines local service account. You will need SysinternalsSuite to make this work. 1. Open an elevated cmd.exe prompt (Run as administrator) 2. Elevate again to root using PSExec.exe: Navigate to the folder Read more about Force Map Network Drive with Local System Account[…]
I think the 2017 Equifax breach is going to be a lot bigger than they are trying to make it seem. First of all, just before this happened, they were trying to lobby congress to make them less accountable for security issues like this. Equifax put out a website to test if your information was Read more about Equifax Breach[…]
It appears that there is a bug in versions of Outlook beyond 2010 that makes the “All Mail” folder not show up, even when subscribed to it in the IMAP settings. It turns out, as long as you are subscribed, you can create a new folder named “All Mail” under the GMAIL heading and refresh Read more about Missing Gmail “All Mail” Folder in Outlook 2016[…]
In setting up a very old Windows XP box to automatically reboot each night for a customer machine, I ran into the above error code. This appears to be an issue with a corrupt RSA file. To delete the corrupt file and have Windows recreate it do the following: 1. Double-click My Computer, and then Read more about Error 0X80090016 Keyset does not exist, Task Scheduler is not performing tasks (Win XP)[…]
If you have seen this error: You may be able to fix it like this: 1. Close VMWare Player 2. Edit the file ~/.vmware/preferences file. 3. Create or edit a line to include: mks.gl.allowBlacklistedDrivers = “TRUE” 4. Start VMWare Player and the error should be gone.