tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-199415952024-03-16T11:52:53.300-07:00Information Technology NotesNotes on databases, operating systems, programming and scripting. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-32297912759868285642023-09-24T11:26:00.006-07:002023-09-24T15:53:24.802-07:00How To Install Photos Legacy, and Microsoft Windows App StoreMicrosoft is upgrading well-known apps such as Paint and requiring an app store download to install the legacy Paint app. For those with MS Windows login accounts not using an email address, using the Microsoft app store will encounter issues. It appears Microsoft is focused on forcing installs from their app store, along with sign-in via an email address.A couple apps you may want to download Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-59300209275820138222023-07-17T17:45:00.018-07:002023-07-21T15:26:16.587-07:00File History in Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows File History is a type of backup will periodically copy files to another location or another computer. If you lose the files, you can restore from the backup copies. The backup copies will be saved at a destination file store location. The destination location is often a network drive or on a locally attached USB drive which can be quickly removed each evening. A locally Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-20053852996098191652023-04-15T09:15:00.001-07:002023-04-15T09:15:02.427-07:00One-liner: Python webserver to display filesGo into linux directory that has the files you want to serve.Start the webserver in the directory of the files you want to expose:$ python3 -m http.server 8321Test it from another machine by using a web browser and going to the hostname:port:http://some-host-name.duckdns.org:8321To persist the webserver after you log out of the shell, use nohup:$ nohup python3 -m http.server 8321 &Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-34289529757243065472023-03-19T10:04:00.005-07:002023-03-19T10:04:34.754-07:00Who Needs the Optional Features in Microsoft WindowsMinimizing the applications and services on your computer can help to reduce the hacker attack service. If an app or service does not exist and can not be started, then it can not be exploited. The consumer desktop version of Microsoft Windows is good at keeping backward compatibility. This unfortunately leads to increasing hacker attack service and bloated installations.Microsoft Windows 10 can Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-40770788444521644192023-02-04T15:50:00.004-08:002023-03-19T09:44:55.620-07:00Hide Icons On Microsoft Windows Desktop Anyone updating applications may notice that links to start the app often appear on the desktop. While these can often be easily deleted, if they are instead hidden then the next time the app is updated the link is likely to remain and stay hidden.Microsoft has been pushing icons and shortcuts to the desktop. A recent Windows 10 patch rollup put a Microsoft Edge icon on the desktop, and it Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-51517001205999071822022-10-26T08:46:00.007-07:002023-01-31T16:24:09.753-08:00DNS For Malware BlockingThe Domain Name System protocol maps a human-readable hostname to an IP number. The DNS protocol can be leveraged to filter these lookups. While an application can use a hard-coded IP number, hostname lookups can have any logic or filtering applied by the DNS resolver.People have effectively self-hosted the Pi-hole solution at home. Typically it is configured to reduce ads which can improve Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-59884796912407024152022-01-02T10:00:00.023-08:002022-04-27T21:14:34.569-07:00Tar and Curl in MS Windows 10I wanted to scp a deep directory structure to a unix machine. In MS Windows 10, I tried to use the File Explorer to click once on the directory and right-click to use the SendTo and choose "Compressed (zipped) folder". That did not work and there was no error message. It simply failed silently.I opened a PowerShell and found, to my surprise, that both curl and tar are now in Windows 10. To put Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-7988956906471323622021-12-14T17:08:00.056-08:002022-12-29T17:09:24.856-08:00Remove Apps From MS Windows 10Microsoft is push-installing many more applications in Windows 10. A user may remove some applications by clicking the Start button then right-click on an app and choose uninstall. The uninstall option is not available for many apps installed by Microsoft.This list of MS Windows 10 PowerShell application removal lines can work on some versions of Windows, and may depend on the current naming and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-20278120269789543582021-10-18T07:45:00.005-07:002022-02-28T15:30:44.384-08:00Disable Windows 10 Search AdvertisingThis post covers two topics which are similar though separate - File Explorer search box suggestions; and Start Button search advertising. In Windows 10, the File Explorer shows suggestion pop-ups when you begin to type in the File Explorer search box. While tolerable, it becomes annoying if you frequently search. If you prefer for the File Explorer search box to return search results after Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-14127967611331593032021-10-16T14:30:00.151-07:002023-10-15T19:31:58.151-07:00How to mine Monero on Ubuntu LinuxPlease refer to the recent post about setting up a Monero pool miner on Microsoft Windows. That post provides some background information along with how to use wallet software.Now let's focus on running a miner on Linux Ubuntu 20.04. We will use the same public key address as the previous post. We will simply change the identifier in the start file to allow both the Windows and Linux miners to beUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-76847130457237983172021-10-12T16:00:00.014-07:002023-11-04T15:16:01.513-07:00Tuning Microsoft Windows for CPU Cryptocurrency MiningThis post covered setup and basic configuration of a Monero crypto miner on Microsoft Windows.The PC had 16GB of RAM, and rarely used more than 9GB of RAM. In the Performance tab of Task Manager, under Memory, it shows the amount of RAM in use and the amount compressed. RAM compression uses a small (and typically unnoticeable amount of CPU to compress RAM pages which are not being used. While Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-28423944487459406502021-10-10T19:10:00.008-07:002021-10-17T19:36:28.474-07:00How to mine Monero on Microsoft WindowsIf you are interested in trying to try out mining a cryptocurrency, this guide can be used by most people - even those with low internet bandwidth and a weak or old computer. You will learn the mechanics of how to mine a cryptocurrency through a pool, though don't expect to make much money.Bitcoin was the original cryptocurrency, with the proof of work software released in January 2009. Proof of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-43059070405904557192021-10-09T17:40:00.148-07:002021-10-10T10:38:59.435-07:00Microsoft Windows File Explorer CustomizationThe File Explorer in Microsoft Windows allows access to various context-sensitive menus by right-clicking the mouse button. You may customize many of the menus. This post will show you how to modify the context-sensitive menus for "new" file, "open with", and "send to".The "new" menu may already have items for BMP image and several other document types. Look at your configuration by going to an Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-24691662942024820942021-07-26T10:58:00.019-07:002023-09-03T16:50:56.847-07:00Microsoft Windows Core Memory IntegrityMicrosoft Windows 10 memory integrity, or "core isolation", uses hardware virtualization to protect memory used by Windows system processes from manipulation (often by malware). This is generally a good security feature to enable, though it may interfere with older device drivers. This option is not automatically turned on by some vendors, so you will need to check this yourself. Read about Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-27997811519283051602021-07-19T12:43:00.008-07:002021-07-22T18:46:39.884-07:00Ubuntu logon info and message of the day (motd)This post will show you how to determine your public-facing IP address from the command line.Upon an interactive logon, Ubuntu prints some brief machine information. This includes a header, sysinfo from /usr/bin/landscape-sysinfo and a summary of available patches.You may add your own scripts by creating a bash script in /etc/update-motd.d and set the execute permission on the file. The files in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-38647355188926092502021-07-02T11:13:00.005-07:002024-03-16T10:23:52.980-07:00Fix Corrupt Microsoft Windows FilesAnyone who suspects they have corrupt Microsoft Windows system files (possibly from virus or malware) may try the built-in tools before re-installing the operating system. If you suspect Microsoft Windows Update is not running correctly, you may also try to repair it.This Microsoft document describes file system checker tool with DISM and SFC. The following examples are for Microsoft Windows 10.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-11727691941306830392021-06-20T08:00:00.004-07:002021-07-22T18:46:58.501-07:00GSM data security in GPRS 2GMobile carriers have been phasing out older mobile technologies and frequencies. This makes older service using GPRS 2G less prevalent. One form of attack is to purposefully force downgrade to the older 2G service, which has weaknesses. This paper of June 2021, Cryptanalysis of the GPRS Encryption Algorithms GEA-1 and GEA-2, describes how the 64 bit security is effectively only 40 bit. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-68645640850157259922021-02-11T18:34:00.025-08:002021-11-17T17:02:48.394-08:00MS Windows 10 Border WidthMicrosoft made super-skinny border widths on Windows 10. While there has been a couple years for this design mistake to be corrected, it appears this will not be changing in the pending release of Window 11.It is well past a reasonable amount of time for Microsoft to fix the super-skinny window borders.The skinny window borders make it challenging to place and align windows. It also makes it Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-59098520352466938082020-07-16T21:08:00.004-07:002021-07-22T18:47:10.536-07:00Tweak Windows 10 Privacy Settings With SpydishGrab a copy of Spydish and tweak your Microsoft Windows 10 privacy settings. Take control of your PC.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-20531813435049913162020-06-17T20:06:00.001-07:002020-07-15T21:36:45.850-07:00Linking Microsoft Access and DBeaver To PostgresIf your desktop is Microsoft Windows, you may have Microsoft Access already installed. With an ODBC driver, you can link it to Postrgresql running on Linux.
To download the latest ODBC driver, go to https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions/ and choose "msi". Choose the most recent version for your Windows machine. If you don't know if your desktop is AMD or Intel, press the Windows Start Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-71433646858965580162020-06-13T20:19:00.000-07:002020-06-17T19:35:10.276-07:00Install PostgreSQL on Ubuntu 20.04Let's install a recent version of Postgresql on Ubuntu 20.04. You will need a unix account with sudo privilege. At the end of this post we will do some introductory database commands.
Get familiar with the Linux install:
$ uname -aLinux d990 5.4.0-37-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 3 18:57:02 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ lsb_release -aNo LSB modules are available.Distributor IDUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-30563383576194306602020-05-10T18:17:00.002-07:002020-05-10T18:21:38.815-07:00Ubuntu Linux High CPU For Swap ProcessWhat do you do if you just installed a fresh Ubuntu 20.04 server, and after installing some packages with "apt" you notice high CPU usage from the swap process?
If "top" shows kswapd0 persistently using high CPU, and "freemem -d" and
swap are ok, you can try to adjust the swappiness in file sysctl.conf
and reboot.
$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness60$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf$ cat /etc/sysctl.confUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-34375037518426567502020-05-10T16:18:00.016-07:002022-11-05T18:23:27.973-07:00Install Ubuntu 20.04 ServerThe server version of Ubuntu had previously been tuned for server-oriented workloads. This is reportedly no longer the case, so a primary difference between Ubuntu 20 server and desktop is that server lacks a graphical user interface.
Download an image from the Ubuntu releases page. Most everything is 64 bit. Note that "AMD" means it works on the AMD and Intel instruction sets. You can use the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-8925550805141684722020-04-26T14:03:00.015-07:002021-12-19T22:41:03.432-08:00Install Apache On Ubuntu LinuxInstall the Apache web server on Ubuntu Linux. You will need to be able to install software and start services, so this example uses a Linux account with full sudo. In this example the Linux user name is "testuser".
$ lsb_release -aNo LSB modules are available.Distributor ID: UbuntuDescription: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTSRelease: 18.04Codename:&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941595.post-57175872220500646542020-04-18T20:21:00.002-07:002020-04-18T20:23:14.632-07:00Install Raspbian on Raspberry Pi B+This will guide you through installation and configuration of a Raspberry Pi B+ with the Raspbian operating system so the device will be accessible on your network. Readily available for around $35, the Raspberry Pi ecosystem is fast-becoming a hobbyist workhorse.
Download Raspbian zip file from www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian. This example uses "Raspbian Buster with desktop" of FebruaryUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0