Hog-Wild Computer

02/03/2026

For those having issues with Windows 11...

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HVCeepihw/

03/26/2025

11/12/2024

Going in for back surgery Thursday. Will be out a minimum of a couple weeks.

07/27/2024

Hmmm, hacked...or cloned? There's a difference.

07/17/2024

I have to throw down on "Stream" computers. They aren't just HP's, Lenovo builds them too. They are so limited in storage space that you can't update the version of Windows to the newest ones if you've had it for a while...and put pictures, documents, or virtually anything on it.

Now, you can save those off to external storage...but if you've installed programs...not so easy. Even the installation inflates Windows, and the uninstall only removes that program, not the fluff.

But, you can restore Windows, and then try to install the newest version...after losing all your favorites, and settings.

03/17/2024

Tis the season...for surge suppressors! ..as a minimum. A surge can take out the majority of your high-end electronics: TVs, stereos, computers, and the like. Anything with electronic controls. A good surge suppressor can save major bucks...and in some cases...can pay if damages make it through them. But you have to READ THE DISCLAIMER! Many have in big, bold letters, the amount covered, but that's the maximum, and excludes depreciation, and only for a year...if you register the product.

And it will not protect you from brownouts. Those happen when the generation capacity can't meet the load, and when the voltage is cut back, rather than off. It can damage electronics, but generally that damage is cumulative, rather than immediate. Oh, it might strike during a brown out, but the ones leading up to it played as much a part as the last.

A combination surge suppressor/uninterruptable power supply can save you from that. Most have a connection that can shutdown a computer should the brownout/blackout continue past a preset time. A sonic alarm goes off and that's when the battery has kicked in. That's when your computer needs to be shutting down--by the app, or by you. And remember that any Windows computer, Windows 8 or greater, turns off the screen but it is still writing to the hard disk. If it is cut off from power during that write, it can physically damage the hard disk, or corrupt it. "Attempting to repair" loops are a good indication of that.

So if you know that thunderstorms and lighting are predicted, and you have a desktop computer (or laptop with a bad battery), shutdown your computer, wait until it is totally powered off (no lights of any kind), and unplug it from power. Unplug TVs and any electronics that you care about, and get out your batteries...or just take your chances.

02/14/2024

Have had several customers ask about gaming SSDs, so I dug around for some results from companies that had significant numbers deployed. This seems to be one of the better quantifications by PC Games.

Best SSD for gaming:
1. WD Black SN850X – Best overall
2. Samsung 980 – Best PCIe 3.0
3. Samsung 870 EVO – Best SATA SSD
4. Crucial P5 Plus – Best value
5. WD Blue SN570 – Best cheap
6. Crucial MX500 – Cheap SATA SSD
7. SK Hynix Platinum P41 – Best for laptops
8. Sabrent Rocket 2230 – Best for Steam Deck

02/05/2024

If you have roaches in your house...you also have them in your computer.
Please don't bring them to my shop.

02/05/2024

If you have an older router that is a Cisco or NetGear, this might apply...but the article does says "most":

State-sponsored hackers affiliated with China have targeted small office/home office routers in the U.S. in a wide-ranging botnet attack, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray announced on Wednesday, Jan. 31. Most of the affected routers were manufactured by Cisco and NetGear and had reached end-of-life status.

Department of Justice investigators said on Jan. 31, 2024, that the malware has been deleted from affected routers. The investigators also cut the routers off from other devices used in the botnet.

IT teams need to know how to reduce cybersecurity risks that could stem from remote workers using outdated technology.

What is the Volt Typhoon botnet attack?
The cybersecurity threat in this case is a botnet created by Volt Typhoon, a group of attackers sponsored by the Chinese government.

12/26/2023

Have a new computer? Transferring your data (pictures, documents etc) can be daunting. I can do that for you, sometimes even from a 'dead' computer.

12/24/2023

https://www.facebook.com/weaponcrates/videos/2004205406460650/

11/22/2023

It would almost seem as if the larger security hacks of medical facilities/companies receive a relatively mild admonition and no real jail time, while individuals in Healthcare are threatened with the "fullest extent of the law" for an indiscretion that "might" have been identifiable as a patient.

57 months of probation is being asked for in the case of a security company CEO hacking a hospital system in order to drum up business for his company. He caused almost a million dollars in damages, comprised 200 patient records (printing them out on their printers with "WE OWN YOU" on each), and releasing PMI to the internet.

Yet a clerk is threatened with 10 years imprisonment if they so much use an annonomous example that "could" be identified to a patient.

I've wiped medical office computers for the last 20+ years, and no one is getting any data off those. I had one provider come back a year later that needed records...and my question was about backups.

The most obvious case of mishandling data that I have seen was not medical...but from a county clerk's office...and not directly. I bought a password-locked computer a couple years back, unlocked it, and found the county clerk's data from the company that had been hired to digitize their records. (Not this county, nor even one close.)

So I called the clerk's office and told them what I had. He didn't believe me...until I started reading off the first couple records. I gave him the option of erasing the drive--DOD level wipe--or sending him the drive. I did mention that he should go to the vendor and as for recompense for violation of his contract as to data security. He said just wipe it, and I figure that he kept quiet about it. Election year, and he was probably the driving force behind digitizing.