I delete most of my posts after a month or so to keep my blog manageable and to organize my reblogs. You have my permission to reblog whatever deleted post I made. It wouldn't be on the internet if I wasn't okay with it getting shared.
Here are some of the major resources I've made and some of my sideblogs in case you're looking for something that I reblogged, plus my answers to the tech questions I get most frequently:
Oh hey since you just reblogged a post about this, can I get some tech advice? I have two old Dell laptops that are running slow bc (I suspect) dell has some chip installed that can tell if the charger is Dell brand and throttles the cpu if not. And they have since stopped recognizing their chargers. If I install linux, will that fix the issue? Or is it a hardware problem?
So there's not really a way that Dell can do that but realistically the computers are probably just running slow because they're old (5 years is the usable time we estimate for business laptops; after that they may continue *working* but they'll likely be too slow for our customers to consider them good work computers without some significant upgrades). But if they aren't recognizing the chargers there are 3 possibilities I can think of off the top of my head:
1 - It's a battery issue, not a charger issue. Over time batteries fail and will stop holding a charge no matter how long they're plugged in. The solution to this is to replace the battery, which you can usually do for between 20-45USD on amazon
2 - It's a charger issue. Your AC adapters may have both independently failed, it's possible! Low-cost non-OEM chargers often don't have particularly long lifespans, and replacing them may be the way to fix this.
Second possible charger issue is that it may be the wrong power level for the batteries. Sometimes you might look up something like "Lenovo e15 charger" and you'll see one that looks right but it turns out you've ordered a 45w instead of a 90w, and that is a pretty big problem. You need to make sure you're getting something with the exact specs for your specific computer. Here's an article about it.
3 - It's a charging port issue. This is one of the more common problems we see on older computers; basically over time with enough plugging and unplugging the port that connects your charger to the motherboard comes loose. This is something that can be a relatively cheap and easy fix in some cases, or a really difficult fix if the thing is soldered directly to the board. Here's a video of someone replacing the charging port on a Dell Laptop for a general idea of what kind of work might be involved in fixing this.
Okay! Now for some basic troubleshooting! Please test for the following:
If the computers don't power on at all while the AC adapter is plugged in then the issue is either the AC adapter or the power port.
If the computers power on while plugged in but they don't hold a charge, the issue is the battery.
If the battery holds a charge for some amount of time (over an hour) but takes forever to charge, then the problem is that you aren't using the correct AC adapter.
If the battery doesn't charge, the computer doesn't come on, and it's the correct AC adapter you can possibly test the adapter with a voltmeter, test the adapter on another computer with the same power requirements, or disassemble the computer and check the power port connection to the motherboard.
But yeah if the computers are powering on at all, right off the top of my head I'd guess either it's a battery issue or a voltage issue with the adapter.
Linux would not help at all with those issues (though hopefully you've got someplace to start looking to resolve those problems now), but if your computer is running slow because it has older hardware that was designed for a different era of computer use (which can be as recent as 5 or so years ago depending on the specs) then a Linux install will likely help. Though keep in mind that if you do an OS swap you will not be able to run any of the programs you currently have for those laptops on those laptops. I think that Linux is good and want more people to use it generally, but I recommend Linux to new Linux users primarily when the computer they're thinking of installing it on is used mostly as a web browsing machine. An old computer with Linux Lite will generally run faster than an old computer with Windows, but if you're trying to get the old computer to play modern games it isn't going to be fast with either OS.
Ah, I'm not seeing it on Wikipedia but digging around in some forums I found info on this. Dell does in fact have a bullshit data connector with their AC adapters that lets the motherboard know that it is a proper adapter. This is apparently something that is more common on home-user models, so I haven't personally run into it.
Here's a video on installing a 3rd-party software to turn off throttling on Windows, here's some info on how to do the same if you do get around to installing Linux. And here's your general reminder to be careful about installing anything you hear about from a rando on the internet.
*sees that there's a g-free version of a food that I like that I wasn't aware of*: eeeeeeeeee!
*reads the ingredients*: FUCK.
I'm not going to say that it's every time but it's so fucking often.
I am *exhausted* and I am *hungry.* (and that isn't even getting into the ones that *don't* label their xantham gum as being corn-derived, so if it's not from a brand that I know uses corn-free ingredients the xantham gum alone is enough to get me to cross these off my list)
Oh hey since you just reblogged a post about this, can I get some tech advice? I have two old Dell laptops that are running slow bc (I suspect) dell has some chip installed that can tell if the charger is Dell brand and throttles the cpu if not. And they have since stopped recognizing their chargers. If I install linux, will that fix the issue? Or is it a hardware problem?
So there's not really a way that Dell can do that but realistically the computers are probably just running slow because they're old (5 years is the usable time we estimate for business laptops; after that they may continue *working* but they'll likely be too slow for our customers to consider them good work computers without some significant upgrades). But if they aren't recognizing the chargers there are 3 possibilities I can think of off the top of my head:
1 - It's a battery issue, not a charger issue. Over time batteries fail and will stop holding a charge no matter how long they're plugged in. The solution to this is to replace the battery, which you can usually do for between 20-45USD on amazon
2 - It's a charger issue. Your AC adapters may have both independently failed, it's possible! Low-cost non-OEM chargers often don't have particularly long lifespans, and replacing them may be the way to fix this.
Second possible charger issue is that it may be the wrong power level for the batteries. Sometimes you might look up something like "Lenovo e15 charger" and you'll see one that looks right but it turns out you've ordered a 45w instead of a 90w, and that is a pretty big problem. You need to make sure you're getting something with the exact specs for your specific computer. Here's an article about it.
3 - It's a charging port issue. This is one of the more common problems we see on older computers; basically over time with enough plugging and unplugging the port that connects your charger to the motherboard comes loose. This is something that can be a relatively cheap and easy fix in some cases, or a really difficult fix if the thing is soldered directly to the board. Here's a video of someone replacing the charging port on a Dell Laptop for a general idea of what kind of work might be involved in fixing this.
Okay! Now for some basic troubleshooting! Please test for the following:
If the computers don't power on at all while the AC adapter is plugged in then the issue is either the AC adapter or the power port.
If the computers power on while plugged in but they don't hold a charge, the issue is the battery.
If the battery holds a charge for some amount of time (over an hour) but takes forever to charge, then the problem is that you aren't using the correct AC adapter.
If the battery doesn't charge, the computer doesn't come on, and it's the correct AC adapter you can possibly test the adapter with a voltmeter, test the adapter on another computer with the same power requirements, or disassemble the computer and check the power port connection to the motherboard.
But yeah if the computers are powering on at all, right off the top of my head I'd guess either it's a battery issue or a voltage issue with the adapter.
Linux would not help at all with those issues (though hopefully you've got someplace to start looking to resolve those problems now), but if your computer is running slow because it has older hardware that was designed for a different era of computer use (which can be as recent as 5 or so years ago depending on the specs) then a Linux install will likely help. Though keep in mind that if you do an OS swap you will not be able to run any of the programs you currently have for those laptops on those laptops. I think that Linux is good and want more people to use it generally, but I recommend Linux to new Linux users primarily when the computer they're thinking of installing it on is used mostly as a web browsing machine. An old computer with Linux Lite will generally run faster than an old computer with Windows, but if you're trying to get the old computer to play modern games it isn't going to be fast with either OS.
Are programs like CCleaner actually useful?
No absolutely not do not install a registry cleaner it can significantly fuck your computer. It isn't *likely* to significantly and irreparably fuck your computer, but it's more likely to significantly and irreparably fuck your computer than it is to help with performance in any way.
Sisters of Mercy - Poison Door
Happy World Goth Day to all who celebrate.
Sometimes you read a fic where the author is clearly and intentionally writing dead dove content like:
These garbage boys are going to torture and gaslight each other until they’re inextricably intertwined 😈 they are going to make each other the most fucked-up and worst versions of themselves 🔪 they will be so codependent and broken they will never be able to be with anyone else after ☠️
And, like, this is probably written by a pretty normal, well-adjusted person. Genuinely. The dove is dead but the author knows that the dove is dead because they killed the dove. On purpose. Gleefully. They were like “wouldn’t it be fucked up if…” and then wrote the if.
But then sometimes you read a fic where the author is like:
uwu these soft boys are soooo cute and in love 🥰 they’re so sweet and pure and good 💕 I just want them to be cutesy-wutesy and in lurveeee forever 😍 this is my new fic about soft boys being soft 💋 this is the height of romance 😘
And then the fic is. Not. The relationship is THE must fucked up, manipulative, passive-aggressive shit show where both characters are being awful to each other, but in the most socially-acceptable heteronormative way where you could 100% picture a friend of a friend telling you this bizarre story at a party while you’re sitting there like wow 😬 straight people are wild who acts like that?
I don’t read fics like that often, but whenever I do I’m always like................... 👀 you good? You doing okay? You seem to think this kind of behavior is, uh. Normal. And, uh, romantic? But these characters certainly seem to hate each other. Not in the narrative, in the narrative they’re super in love somehow but uhhh. Um. You good?
There is such a chasm between people writing something fucked up on purpose vs someone writing something fucked up on accident. And the latter is where things are not tagged properly, and they’re infinitely more disturbing imo.
Things that will make your computer meaningfully faster:
Things that are likely to make internet browsing specifically meaningfully faster:
Things that will make your computer faster if you are actually having a problem:
Things that will make your computer superficially faster and may slightly improve your user experience temporarily:
Things that do not actually make your computer faster:
This post is brought to you by the lady with the 7-year-old laptop that she refuses to leave overnight for us to run scans on or take apart so that we can put RAM in it and who insists on coming by for 30-minute visits hoping we can make her computer faster.
There are people saying "what does this mean" so:
If you are using an older computer and it is tortuously slow and you can't upgrade the RAM or swap in an SSD but you *can* install software, I would strongly recommend installing Linux.
The vast majority of people these days use computers primarily for web browsing and occasionally use an office suite. Most people don't even store their music or photos on their computers these days. If your computer is basically an internet machine that you don't use for anything other than browsing and basic word processing/spreadsheets, then there is no reason not to switch to Linux.
I would recommend installing Linux Lite, which is a well-supported, widely-used distro that most computers built within the last twenty years should be able to run. It's called "Lite" because it is an operating system that requires minimal processing, storage, and memory to run.
To do this you will need:
Here is the Linux Lite help manual, I've linked you directly to the step-by-step installation guide. If you get to a step that you don't understand, search the terms that you're unfamiliar with phrased as questions like "why do I need an ISO to install linux?" or "how do I enter UEFI BIOS on my version of Windows?"
Follow the instructions for installing Linux Lite, and then you can install software on your new OS. Linux Lite comes bundled with Libre Office, which is a free office suite like Microsoft Office that has programs similar to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. It installs with Chrome, so I would recommend installing Firefox and uninstalling Chrome as soon as you're able to get on the internet.
After that you can pick and choose from a wide variety of linux-compatible software and you can use your computer as a regular computer. I'd say that it's probably a good idea to be picky about what software you install, and to try to keep your computer as lean as possible if you're trying to get a longer life out of an old device.
There are a lot of people in the notes who are saying "my computer can't even load four tabs" or "my computer can't even open the software I need to do this" and if that is your computer I think you've pretty much got nothing to lose from installing Linux. If your computer is essentially unusable in Windows then it's probably not going to be *less* functional in Linux, unless you're keeping the computer the way that it is for some very specific software you're using.
A lot of people think that they can't uses Linux because it's entirely in the command line or doesn't have a graphic interface or something, but most linux distros only look about as different to users as windows does to mac or vice versa.
This is what the Linux Lite default desktop looks like:
It's got a start menu and a task bar and folders on the desktop, same as any other computer. It's very easy to use and has the help manual installed right there as soon as you're up and running so that you can troubleshoot your way through any issues.
Really, seriously: if your computer is slow as fuck and all you use it for is web browsing, this will make your computing experience significantly better without having to buy anything but a thumb drive.
People are reblogging just the first section of this post and asking what these things mean, so I'm reblogging this in hopes that they'll see the comprehensive update in the notes.
I am going to an infosec conference.
I am going to an infosec conference that I have attended regularly since 2006.
I am going to an infosec conference where a minimum of four of my former coworkers will be in attendance.
I am going to an infosec conference where I got to know the guy who got me this job in the first place.
I am going to an infosec conference because I want to go, because this is a thing that I've been doing every year that it has happened since I was a teenager.
I am going to the infosec conference *for free* because I volunteer for the infosec conference, and I will be helping at the reg desk of the conference.
While putting together the program for the infosec conference - which is one of the ways that I volunteer for the conference - I saw that one of the talks is an in-depth report on an exploit in a program that is foundational to my company's biggest customer.
So when I was in a marketing meeting with my boss and my manager I asked if they wanted me to go to that talk - on my own, at the infosec conference that I'm already going to be attending (the infosec conference that I was going to for years for fun before I started working even peripherally in tech) for free, which means at zero cost to the company - to see what the exploit was and report back on if we need to improve our security practices for that customer and the response I got was:
So anyway I am going to enjoy myself at my infosec conference that I've attended for the last almost two decades and I will enjoy sitting at the reg desk and shit-talking my boss with all of the coworkers who have moved on to better jobs. (And I'm going to go to the talk and make up a sheet of notes and email it to myself from my work account and say fucking nothing about it until one of them inevitably brings up a problem with something mentioned at the talk, at which point I will forward them my notes with a smiley-face emoji)
*****THIS SAME CUSTOMER GOT HIT IN THE SOLARWINDS HACK WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT VENDOR TRANSPARENCY ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME JESUS CHRIST
A while back we were having some issues in the office because of a combination of personal stuff for the staff and a massive problem with a big customer and I was checking in with my boss and my manager to give them a chance to vent somewhere that *wasn't* the daily all-staff meeting where they were getting in fights and also so I could attempt to route tickets based on how overwhelmed any individual person at the company was so anyway I had called to comfort my boss and give him some space to yell and talk about his frustration with various employees and offer to take some stuff off his plate and he redirected his yelling to me by saying "I don't get you; you're probably the smartest person I employ but you just don't take any pride in your work, you've got no follow-through."
Dude, you still call me your assistant/secretary/receptionist and you tried to claim that I was an overtime exempt employee because my title is "purchasing manager." I have asked you to give me tech work for years, and when you don't I end up doing low-level tech work for our customers anyway and you just can't bill for it. I recently did a services writeup and explainer for a customer who needed it for cyberinsurance and offered to do the same for all of our contract customers and you told me it wasn't worth it because they wouldn't understand it. I wrote you three ebooks about security and you think I don't have any follow-through because the only ebook you want us to publish is about why our customers should give us money. You don't want to publish the other ebooks because you don't want the customers to think they can do anything without calling you for help.
In the last six months he has hired three technicians who have less hands-on experience with hardware, networking, and security implementations than I do. All of them started at $10k more than my annual pay and he's fired two of them because they couldn't actually do the work, then bitched about the costs of onboarding new people who don't stick around.
I stay here because it's easy work with decent benefits that pays okay and lets me work from home but this man is fucking testing me.
It’s a bummer how Octavia Butler died so young and has ended up serving as this generic Black Woman author who people cite but don’t actually read. I wish the world and been different and she’d lived it longer so she could be properly honored as American Fiction’s most Highbrow Pervert and Master of Unsettling Alien Sex Scenes. “Parasitism is sexy,” she says. Yes, ma’am, we know you think that.
I am going to an infosec conference.
I am going to an infosec conference that I have attended regularly since 2006.
I am going to an infosec conference where a minimum of four of my former coworkers will be in attendance.
I am going to an infosec conference where I got to know the guy who got me this job in the first place.
I am going to an infosec conference because I want to go, because this is a thing that I've been doing every year that it has happened since I was a teenager.
I am going to the infosec conference *for free* because I volunteer for the infosec conference, and I will be helping at the reg desk of the conference.
While putting together the program for the infosec conference - which is one of the ways that I volunteer for the conference - I saw that one of the talks is an in-depth report on an exploit in a program that is foundational to my company's biggest customer.
So when I was in a marketing meeting with my boss and my manager I asked if they wanted me to go to that talk - on my own, at the infosec conference that I'm already going to be attending (the infosec conference that I was going to for years for fun before I started working even peripherally in tech) for free, which means at zero cost to the company - to see what the exploit was and report back on if we need to improve our security practices for that customer and the response I got was:
So anyway I am going to enjoy myself at my infosec conference that I've attended for the last almost two decades and I will enjoy sitting at the reg desk and shit-talking my boss with all of the coworkers who have moved on to better jobs. (And I'm going to go to the talk and make up a sheet of notes and email it to myself from my work account and say fucking nothing about it until one of them inevitably brings up a problem with something mentioned at the talk, at which point I will forward them my notes with a smiley-face emoji)
*****THIS SAME CUSTOMER GOT HIT IN THE SOLARWINDS HACK WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT VENDOR TRANSPARENCY ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME JESUS CHRIST
sometimes the executive function fairy godmother finally shows up, whacks you, and then you’ve got to run around like cinderella on a midnight deadline trying to get things done before time runs out and your brain makes it illegal again
Like genuinely it is unquantifiably fucked up insane horror how many times the U.S. government has deliberately created fascist dictatorships and enabled genocides and funded terrorism all over the world in order to just weaken other nations or force them to depend on our own military for help, and how this isn’t a conspiracy theory but openly available public information, but neither right wing nor left wing journalism breathes a word about it and there’s no ongoing outrage or backlash against it from within this country nor is it discussed in most public education settings. It only ever gets addressed at all by independent authors, comedians, cartoonists and bloggers. It gets passed around in clickbait articles as Fucked Up History Trivia though it still continues even now and the aftermath of even the earliest cases is still killing and oppressing people. There are entire generations of multiple countries growing up in poverty and misery because of Henry Kissinger alone.
we should globally ban the introduction of more powerful computer hardware for 10-20 years, not as an AI safety thing (though we could frame it as that), but to force programmers to optimize their shit better
my favorite infosec conference is back in person this year and needs a physical program so I got to do art for it again which was so nice. I decided to work with tiling as a theme and I ended up making a bunch of really saturated tiled fields that I desaturated to be page backgrounds. Here are the saturated versions. The one with the hat is the simplest because it is the front and back cover and actually got to keep its bright colors on the front but it had the con logo over it.
“Lemmy Kilmister” is a good name for a heavy metal lead singer bc it actually sounds more fake than just “Lemmy” even though Kilmister was his real name and Lemmy wasn’t
