Tech Corner

[jaylach]

Note to any admin and/or moderator.I noticed that a lot of computer discussion was going on in the 'what are you doing today' and it really didn't seem to fit the thread yet several seemed interested so I figured that I'd start this thread to try to get the computer stuff out of the other thread. If it is thought that this is not appropriate please feel free to delete.

Sooo, I'll start by saying what I have without going into details. I have 6 systems.

• Desktop as my main system connected to 55 and 43 inch monitors.
• Desktop in my bedroom mainly as a backup for my data and media.
• A Microsoft Surface that is mostly for reading.
• A micro system for fun. The thing is tiny at in the area of a 2 inch cube but is stronger than one would expect.
• A Mac book Air dual booting Windows 10 and MacOS.
• An old Asus laptop running Linux Mint.

 

[MattW]

I have a few systems going at the moment.

My main system (custom-built)​

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
MSI B550-A PRO ATX
Crucial Pro 32 GB DDR4 3200
XFX RX 7900 XTX 24 GB
850W PSU
& many SSDs

Entertainment / Streaming System​

Intel NUC
Intel I3 7100U
12gGB RAM
256GB NVMe SSD

Parents' PC​

(built for them as an early christmas present this year)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI m-ATX
Kingston HyperX Predator 16 GB 3200
Asus GTX 960 4GB
650W PSU
1TB NVMe SSD


I recently switched to Win 11 on my main system after buying a new Gen 4 NVMe drive. So far, the experience hasn't been too bad definitely not overwhelming. I would prefer to stick with Win 10, but support won't be around much longer . I also need to do a deep clean on this system. Usually, I used pressurised air cans from Amazon, but I have been looking at Electric Air Blowers since they seem to do a much better job. Thermal paste and pads won't have to be changed for a while since the GPU was bought brand new, and I changed the CPU paste only at the start of this year. On my old systems, I did OC. I don't think it's really necessary on this system since it's a tad OP for the games I play. I have also been pondering the Idea of potentially going for an AIO cooler for my CPU. But anything with liquid near something I've spent a lot of money on.. Has put me off slightly, even if the AIO is the best on the market.

 

[GaryE]

Turn them all off, then turn them on again.

 

[seangee]

I'm a rehabilitated software engineer back from the days we called ourselves programmers or developers . Not done any commercial coding for years but occasionally contribute to some open source stuff when it doesn't quite meet my needs.
I stayed in software but got tired of explaining to SWMBO that that is not IT as she tells everyone I "do something in IT". So this year I got a new job doing something in IT. To be fair its almost the same thing nowadays when you work for a very large organisation. I certainly have been nowhere near a server room and our London data centre has already moved into the cloud.

I've thrown out loads recently and consolidated down to a single desktop running WIndows 11 - but multiple Linux VMs and various docker images. Chucked out all the tablets, I kept believing the hype that each new gen could be a desktop replacement but I just don't get on with them. I also have a Windows 11 laptop for when I am travelling. I still have a NUC sitting in its box because I hardly used it. I keep threatening to find a use for it but doubt I ever will with virtually unlimited VMs and dockers available.

When I changed jobs I scaled down to 2 x 27" monitors on my desk (from 4/5). My new work PC is an Azure VM so I no longer have to accomodate an extra laptop. I have a slightly ridiculous 4TB NVMe and 64Gb ram (2TB / 32GB on the laptop). Loads of SSDs lying around but hardly use them. Everything has now moved to wireless. Nothing top of the range but not too far behind. A habit from the days when we had to upgrade every 2 years to get performance and buying one gen behind is much more cost effective. These days for a home user performance simply isn't a factor anymore. NAS via VPN for the big stuff but most of my personal stuff is spread between OneDrive and Google Drive - so I can access anything from anywhere anytime. And setting up a new machine doesn't mean tedious migrations - just a deployment script for Windows, and another for Linux so I can plug in a new machine and it goes and gets everything it needs.

I also manage SWMBO's office systems. Recently chucked out all the destops and replaced with laptops so people can work from home and gradually moved their software into the cloud. Next week I'm killing off their last remaining server (remote desktop) as they no longer need to connect to the office for anything. They will be keeping the NAS for storage. They are moving office next week so am switching to all wireless and the current server room (well actually its a cupboard ) won't be needed anymore and no more messing around with switches and cabling. Anyone need some racks .

 

[seangee]

Turn them all off, then turn them on again.

In fairness it does work 9/10 times. SWMBO's staff know better than to call me without doing that first

 

[jaylach]

If we are going to talk specs my main has the following...

• 8 core/16 thread AMD Ryzen 7 CPU
• AMD 12 GB GDDR 6 Radeon RX 6700 XT Video
• 32 GB 3200 MHz. RAM
• Both DVD and Blu-ray burners
• Over 11 TB in spin drives 10 TB taken for my movie library. The other TB is for data and video conversions partitioned as separate.
• System drive is a 1 TB PCIe NVME M.2 drive with another for manual clone backups of the system drive that benchmark at 3.2 GB/sec on sequential reads
• 43 inch 4K Samsung HDTV as the main computer monitor
• 55 inch 48 LG HDTV as a second monitor. This is used for both cable TV and watching movies fed from the system along with streamed movies.
• Sound is a Yamaha SRT 1000 with 8 beam speakers, 2 woofers and 2 sub woofers.

This system is both work station and entertainment system. I can have computer or cable TV on the 55 inch LG and computer on the 43 inch Samsung.

Some may ask why I do my clone backups manually instead of setting up a mirror R.A.I.D. array and the reason is security. If I do a mirror array and something gets past my security both drives are affected. Doing the clones manually prevents this.

For security I use Windows Defender along with Malware Bytes Premium. I also use a decent Belkin router which allows me to setup a "guest access" connection. The guest access is like you would see in a fast food place. It allows me to let a visitor to get on-line while being isolated from my network. I like that feature along with having the hardware firewall the router provides.

As to my qualifications I used to have my own computer business for repair/build and web design. I shut that down in 2009. I also have 5 awards from Microsoft. Since I am 100% self taught I'm rather proud of the MS awards.

I used to have something like 6 web sites but have cut that down to 3. Oddly my highest traffic comes from the only one left that I totally hand coded way back in something like 2004. It was built just for fun and to please a lady I was living with in Florida. It is an animated GIF gallery that solved the having to always click the back button or close display pages. Everything is all on one page using the old frame tag.

Way back when I used to do a bit of application programming in BASIC and Assembly. I started to get back to that for a bit but it just isn't fun anymore as you no longer make original code. You just make calls to the OS. Just not fun for me.

 

[jaylach]

In fairness it does work 9/10 times. SWMBO's staff know better than to call me without doing that first

Actually I can't count the number of systems I've fixed just by removing all power and letting the capacitors discharge then putting power back to the system.

 

[seangee]

For security I use Windows Defender along with Malware Bytes Premium.

Several years ago I switched to ESET protect after a ransomware attack. Can definitely recommend it. Of course the wife pays and I have attached my own machines to the account . I try to keep her costs down but that's one area where its not worth compromising. I allowed myself a little smirk a few years back as the second choice on my shortlist was Crowdstrike . I dodged another bullet by not choosing Citrix for the remote desktops - mostly because it was just too expensive for such a small business.

Security is a full time job these days and then some. Years ago I switched from home rolled Linux servers to Win 2012 for continuity planning. I was reasonably good (ish) at documenting stuff but she would have been up the creek if anything happened to me. So I did everything the Microsoft recommended way so anyone could pick it up (I'm also self taught). Then the DC got hit by ransomware - fortunately it was contained to that one server but it still took me a week (between Christmas and New Year ) to get everything back up and running. That's when I realised trying to do it yourself as a part timer was a mugs game and started moving stuff into the cloud. She certainly can't afford a full time IT manager or department. As of next week we will be totally serverless, and I'm looking forward to that!!!

 

[jaylach]

Several years ago I switched to ESET protect after a ransomware attack. Can definitely recommend it. Of course the wife pays and I have attached my own machines to the account . I try to keep her costs down but that's one area where its not worth compromising. I allowed myself a little smirk a few years back as the second choice on my shortlist was Crowdstrike . I dodged another bullet by not choosing Citrix for the remote desktops - mostly because it was just too expensive for such a small business.

Security is a full time job these days and then some. Years ago I switched from home rolled Linux servers to Win 2012 for continuity planning. I was reasonably good (ish) at documenting stuff but she would have been up the creek if anything happened to me. So I did everything the Microsoft recommended way so anyone could pick it up (I'm also self taught). Then the DC got hit by ransomware - fortunately it was contained to that one server but it still took me a week (between Christmas and New Year ) to get everything back up and running. That's when I realised trying to do it yourself as a part timer was a mugs game and started moving stuff into the cloud. She certainly can't afford a full time IT manager or department. As of next week we will be totally serverless, and I'm looking forward to that!!!

Personally I don't like the cloud as to storage. I see security as my responsibility and am not about to toss it to an outfit that I don't even know if I can trust. I even disable One Drive when I install Office.

I have no problem with Eset as it has always been good but I haven't used since 2008. Is it still called NOD32? Just looked and it seems so. When I was getting my MS MVP awards up until 2010 I DID use Esset at times. When I closed my business and stopped getting NOD32 for free I quit using. Personally I always thought NOD 32 was good but I'll stick with Defender and Malware Bytes as, I think, the combo is a better choice.

 

[seangee]

Personally I don't like the cloud as to storage. I see security as my responsibility and am not about to toss it to an outfit that I don't even know if I can trust. I even disable One Drive when I install Office.

I have no problem with Eset as it has always been good but I haven't used since 2008. Is it still called NOD32? Just looked and it seems so. When I was getting my MS MVP awards up until 2010 I DID use Esset at times. When I closed my business and stopped getting NOD32 for free I quit using. Personally I always thought NOD 32 was good but I'll stick with Defender and Malware Bytes as, I think, the combo is a better choice.

Not seen it called that on the business site, didin't even realise it was the same thing. I use it for way more than AV though...
Disk encryption
Patch management (patches not just published updates)
MDM
Mail server protection (on office.com before it get to end users)
Full endpoint protection

I do disable onedrive for the company users - happy to use it for personal stuff. FWIW many of the world's biggest financial institiutions are embracing office online, including onedrive.

Unsolicited stock alert, Amazon is the market leader - Microsoft is the fastest grower

 

[jaylach]

I just don't see a need for more security than I already have with a hardware firewall, Windows Defender and Malware Bytes.

Back in 2007-2010 I DID use Nod 32 but don't anymore. During that time I got it for free through the MS MVP program and also could have Kaspersky for free at the time. Actually MAY still be able to get both free but I just don't see the need. For instance I can still get TechSmith's Snagit for free and do. It is just that, since I closed my business in 2009, I just don't seem to need the extremes anymore. I've been doing 'puter stuff since around1984 and, to be honest, I'm sort of burned out on it all. Anymore I just want to enjoy what I still have and help someone now and then. I just think the 40+ years I've dedicated to helping others is enough. Don't get me wrong as I still like helping but it now tends to be more on a one-on-one basis.

 

[MaloK]

As for specs everything I have is pretty modest and is mostly just slightly over powered, but all data supports are hard core because everything consumer grade I broil in record speed, SSD in peculiar.

I have one rig for entertainment, an old Asus P8H61 with an i7 3770, 16gig ram and a bunch of disk that are going to move to bigger ones soon.

A hi power Gaming laptop for development, that thing has like 24-26 cores. max ram dual, m.2 in raid 0. RTX video... Not bad at all, it's used to run VM's. Compile PXE bootable distributions, modify windows installation images, integrate software drivers etc...

A low power Business "tough" laptop, contains all software I need for installation and configuration on my job.

A bunch of diverse desktops, with OS ranking from Dos 6.0, Windows 3.1, OS/2, Free BSD, Linux and unix. They are all stacked in a corner, they all work when I need them. (for the fun of it).

I also have a final one, I have turned into an arcade machine with, Dual Happ Super joysticks and configured a trimmed windows 98 hacked to 5 processes including shell. It runs on an Intel Pentium D Extreme @3.2GHz a chip that is pretty rare, not too many where sold of this one. It has complete menu system that enable you to be able to play around 8000 retro video games from Atari, Genesis, Fusion, Nes, Super Nes, PSX, Coleco, Super nin, Sega master, Many arcade classics and a couple laser disk games. All running the real roms of the original game via machine emulators.

How it look before installing mother board.

As for security, I use my nose and worked so much with Windows... I can feel if something is wrong. I ran windows 7 a lot further than supposed and nothing ever happened. I use a router that is capable of stateful packet inspection and protected DNS servers, just with this, you really want to get a virus if you succeed just reaching it. I always loved to play with computer viruses, in the 90's my machines all over the business caught a bot net called Netbus and I reverse engineer their client and tarpit all their connections for ever with a linux box and a firewall called ipchains.

Antivirus on the other hand often wreaked havoc in my developments tool and utilities. I have many stored in password protected archives cause they get swiped at each time. Loll.

 

[MattW]

I don't have much regarding external storage drives. I have two 32GB SD cards for my DSLR camera and a 128GB microSD card, which holds my emulator files on my Intel NUC. So nothing for ordinary files, which can clog up my system drives. I just found the original M.2 SATA drive from my Intel NUC (120GB) and have decided to buy an M.2 enclosure from UGreen. 120GB should suffice + It's not a slower hard drive

 

[jaylach]

I don't have much regarding external storage drives. I have two 32GB SD cards for my DSLR camera and a 128GB microSD card, which holds my emulator files on my Intel NUC. So nothing for ordinary files, which can clog up my system drives. I just found the original M.2 SATA drive from my Intel NUC (120GB) and have decided to buy an M.2 enclosure from UGreen. 120GB should suffice + It's not a slower hard drive
View attachment 368532View attachment 368533

Probably overkill but my Canon Rebel T7 camera does really nice HD video along with stereo sound. I have 2 256 GB full sized SD cards for my camera to be sure to have enough space for videos. Have to admit that one of the SD cards is dedicated to the camera and the other general use unless needed for the camera.

I DO have some external drives including an enclosure that has two connections; One for an M.2 SATA and one for an M.2 PCIe. This is the one I got:

https://www.newegg.com/orico-bm2c3-enclosure/p/0VN-0003-002A5

I also DO have a couple of external spin drives that I use for an extra data backup and system images. I don't use individual enclosures though. I prefer to use a dock where I can just mount whatever drive I want whether 3.5 or 2.5 inch.

 

[MaloK]

My off line backups are a panoply of laptop hard disk that comes from unfortunate machines that died young. Ranking from 250GB to 1TB. I use a USB bridge with laptops and plug them directly SATA on desktops. While they look more fragile, laptop hard disks have solid mechanism to prevent heads from hitting plates. I was looking this up a couple years ago and was surprised many disk support this from around 2000 onward.

But still the most reliable backups are DVDs and things that are absolutely vital have multiple DVDs of each projects and besides destruction these never loose a single bit in centuries.

Today we replaced an old 7cams CCTV system with a nice Little Linux Embedded system. Configured remote access to find out... Customers internet is 8mb/s down and 0.6mb/s up...

So to speak, the demonstration of the software was quite clunky with multi 4k video was suffering. At least it when better on the phones and customer is going to adjust link speed this week.

While waiting for the software to install, I made a Tetra Stylized backdrop with PS.