tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56682364880225144472024-03-04T23:26:19.803-05:00Consumed Consumer . orgShopping our way out of anything :) Dispatches from the trenches of consumerism.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-38810826600353268312023-08-03T15:30:00.002-04:002023-08-03T20:13:06.881-04:00Best Fruity Fiber<span id="description">Having recently purchased a bunch of fruits (red grapes, cherries and apples) in Chinatown at deep discounts, I was curious to learn what was the best value not only in terms of price discount but also in terms of fiber vs sugar.</span> <a name='more'></a>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a title="low fruit prices in Toronto's Chinatown" style="padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right; display: block;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0Y6hDPdTyI8gxThT090N5n46DsLXX_KQaOqazAh146_eMEZsdeu94xCxcxMg7tdgfcNCzzVY4cWONFrcyg6EkNs0O7_d3KHmk_amSiLYuQmaWXRBFwJDYcK_hgMIMjU7lxsjiOFzO99P0duomCFLHXBHeWpnSNWsdjs2E7eN08eFL-WL19hg4gRIkFg/s4032/FruityFiber.jpg"><img border="0" alt="Chinatown Toronto Food Prices" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0Y6hDPdTyI8gxThT090N5n46DsLXX_KQaOqazAh146_eMEZsdeu94xCxcxMg7tdgfcNCzzVY4cWONFrcyg6EkNs0O7_d3KHmk_amSiLYuQmaWXRBFwJDYcK_hgMIMjU7lxsjiOFzO99P0duomCFLHXBHeWpnSNWsdjs2E7eN08eFL-WL19hg4gRIkFg/s320/FruityFiber.jpg" width="320" data-original-width="4032" data-original-height="4032" /></a></div>
<p>So what did I get?</p>
<p>Five apples for $1, 2 boxes of 454 g of red grapes for $1 and one big box of cherries (1.36kg) for $5. The apples are quite large (#4174 Royal Gala from Chile / Frusan), the cherries are labeled as Okanagan Sunrise Canada No. 1 and the grapes are Mexico No. 1 Illume; however, in Chinatown stores often pick select good fruit manually, often using different packaging than the original. The question on my mind is which provides the most fiber for the least sugar burden.</p>
<p>So I started a <a title="Fruity Fiber Google Spreadsheet (ib)" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XN2jCRCAKsAoEvVJ-AmsHtaJlsSXE5EuB6OhQSkPQtQ/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Google Spreadsheet</a>. </p>
<p>It looks like with these deals, I paid $0.05/g of apple fiber (aka fibre), $0.13/g of grape fiber and $0.12/g of cherry fiber. Apples and cherries are comparable in terms of fiber at 2.4%, 2.17% respectively, but grapes leave much to be desired, with only 0.93% fiber. Apples and grapes are close in terms of Glycemic Index at 44 and 50, respectively, while cherries sit on top at a mere 29.</p>
<p>The prices for grapes should be easy to track, but at this time in the season, most of Chinatown sells at $0.99/lb while Loblaws has them “on sale” at $2.14/lb. Meanwhile, Loblaws has dropped in the list of “repsected grocers” from the 8th place to the 13th, while its discount brand No Frills fell to 5th right behind Food Basics, previously at 9th (msn-vtd).</p>
<p>Adult males need about 38g of fiber per day while females need 25g (hl-22). Most raw fruits and vegetables contain significant amounts of fiber, and especially chickpeas, lentils, split peas, oats, apples, pears, almonds, chia seeds, Brussels sprouts, and avocado. </p>
<p>It is worth remembering that fruits alone cannot sustain a healthy body and mind. While even Steve Jobs reportedly went through a “fruitarian” phase, a more recent tragic case of an “influencer” who died following her extreme diet is a cautionary tale (ft-zhdrt).</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="The Nutrition and Health Benefits of Red Grapes By Kate Bratskeir" href="https://www.livestrong.com/article/509099-nutrition-benefits-of-red-grapes/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ls-grapes</a>, <a title="Apples 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits: Apples contain key nutrients, including fiber and antioxidants. They may offer health benefits, including lowering blood sugar levels and benefitting heart health." href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/apples#nutrients" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hl-apples</a>, <a title="Cherry Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits By Barbie Cervoni MS, RD, CDCES, CDN" href="https://www.verywellfit.com/cherries-nutrition-facts-calories-and-their-health-benefits-4110123" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vwf-cherries</a>, <a title="Glycemic Index Research and GI News from University of Sydney" href="https://glycemicindex.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GI</a>, <a title="22 High Fiber Foods You Should Eat by Kris Gunnars" href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/22-high-fiber-foods" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hl-22</a>, <a title="Chart of high-fiber foods" href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/high-fiber-foods/art-20050948" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mc-chrt</a>, <a title="Influencer Who Only Ate Raw Fruits and Vegetables Dies" href="https://futurism.com/raw-vegan-influencer-dies" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ft-zhdrt</a>, <a title="Costco voted most respected grocery retailer as Loblaws, Sobeys fall: survey by Alicja Siekierska" href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/costco-voted-most-respected-grocery-retailer-as-loblaws-sobeys-fall-survey/ar-AA1eJmVv?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e5040de6e60f40709513805b2bc51c52&ei=208" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msn-vtd</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:43e92fc4-7ce7-4cde-a6cd-0c011e65c947" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=food" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'food' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">food</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=health" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'health' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">health</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=nutrition" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'nutrition' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">nutrition</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=foods" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'foods' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">foods</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fruit" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fruit' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fruit</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fruits" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fruits' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fruits</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fiber" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fiber' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fiber</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fibre" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fibre' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fibre</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=healthy" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'healthy' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">healthy</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=vegan" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'vegan' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">vegan</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fruitarian" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fruitarian' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fruitarian</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fruity" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fruity' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fruity</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=chinatown" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'chinatown' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">chinatown</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=supermarket" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'supermarket' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">supermarket</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=shopping" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'shopping' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">shopping</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0Chinatown, Toronto, ON M5T, Canada43.6529286 -79.39805799999999215.342694763821157 -114.55430799999999 71.963162436178848 -44.241807999999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-43503078580306065112012-07-15T19:12:00.001-04:002023-01-25T21:20:10.824-05:00Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod in-app purchasing cracked<span id="description"></i><b>WARNING:</b> This article is old and the content is outdated; it is only kept here for reference purposes</i>. A Russian hacker has managed to <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you're on the main site): That's my reply to apple. That's not a proxy from now. It's an appstore emulator." href="http://youtu.be/2pnxj-Y_JVE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">crack the authentication</a> for in-app purchases on the iOS platform, which means that customers can now get a free ride on apps that previously used to charge an arm and a leg..</span>
<a name='more'></a>
<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UVd4iT65ww8/UANOcUefezI/AAAAAAAAT9g/xlqXht9eNwY/s1600-h/love-apple%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="love-apple" style="border-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; float: right; display: inline; background-image: none;" border="0" alt="love-apple" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ghwLY5zb42M/UANOcp4L8lI/AAAAAAAAT9o/CsbPiaS2s7g/love-apple_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="210" /></a>He has even made a <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you're on the main site): Reply to apple. IN-APP PURCHASES ARE STILL FREE AND REQUIRE NO JAILBREAK" href="https://youtu.be/2pnxj-Y_JVE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">second video</a> (after the <a title="YouTube Video (opens to the right if you're on the main site): First instructional video was removed after an Apple copyright complaint" href="https://youtu.be/iSuo4xEucqE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">first</a> one was deleted) which he calls “app store emulator”. It still does not require a jailbreak and can be completed by novices in three steps using any iOS device; it works on all versions, from 3.0 to 6.0. These are the steps involved:</p>
<div align='center' id="RKnCRAVh" title="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">
*** <a href="javascript:decryptText('RKnCRAVh')">Show encrypted text</a> (we received a takedown request on January 28, 2023, and rather than fight it, we password-protected most of the original content, even though it is too old and it does not violate any rules) ***
</div>
<p>According to Alexy V. Borodin aka ZonD80, the cracker, only developers using their own servers to verify in-app purchases are able to dodge the hack – <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/07/13/how-a-flaw-in-apples-in-app-purchase-process-enabled-more-than-30000-illegal-virtual-transactions/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">TNW</a>. In <a href="http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/07/13/apple-responds-to-hacked-in-app-purchasing-system/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Loop</a>, Apple made this statement:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The security of the App Store is incredibly important to us and the developer community,” Apple representative Natalie Harrison, told The Loop. “We take reports of fraudulent activity very seriously and we are investigating.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You may also install hacked apps using Installous 5 on Cydia. The source is http://cydia.hackulo.us </p>
<p>Sources / More info: <a title="In-Appstore.com - Free In-App/NewsStand purchases for every iDevice. Requires no jailbreak!" href="http://www.in-appstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">inappstore</a>, <a href="http://zond80.tel/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">zond80.tel</a>, <a title="deleted" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSuo4xEucqE" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">video</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ZonD80" rel="nofollow">ZonD80</a>, <a title="Russian blog i-ekb.ru" href="http://i-ekb.ru/2012/07/sovershaem-vnutriigrovye-pokupki-v-lyubom-ios-prilozhenii-besplatno/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">first noticed by</a></p>
<div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:be271385-5107-400b-8040-e75c7171c40e" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a title="Consumed Consumer" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/">ConsumedConsumer</a> <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=apple" rel="tag">apple</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ipod" rel="tag">ipod</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ipad" rel="tag">ipad</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=iphone" rel="tag">iphone</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ZonD80" rel="tag">ZonD80</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=cracking" rel="tag">cracking</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=itunes" rel="tag">itunes</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ios" rel="tag">ios</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=jailbreak" rel="tag">jailbreak</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=apps" rel="tag">apps</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=in-app" rel="tag">in-app</a></div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-8216242259930867982023-01-11T14:30:00.001-05:002023-01-11T14:30:43.301-05:00Cheap Lenovo Mouse Fingerprint Reader Combo<span id="description">I have recently purchased a Lenovo mouse and fingerprint combo and it may be useful to you as well.</span> <a name='more'></a>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a title="great fingerprint reader on average mouse" style="padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right; display: block;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcczpmWB1y74iNxcf1s7jXDyIKMcHvdZq6ix5qMpPowUBgBTH4JEYolHM1A_UMafUmjURQGia_oKghYYU5gE5Xrj84JIVeheLoBK1FXjzZkFJM5ULe5ync_dRUCHyeqiSaMPjqH5zl5ZYjhIFEdShpVtp7f2fVPyf4pLjZ8fREQ0cnGd0JlcwvpVo/s967/BiometricMouse.jpg"><img border="0" alt="Lenovo Optical Mouse with Fingerprint Reader" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcczpmWB1y74iNxcf1s7jXDyIKMcHvdZq6ix5qMpPowUBgBTH4JEYolHM1A_UMafUmjURQGia_oKghYYU5gE5Xrj84JIVeheLoBK1FXjzZkFJM5ULe5ync_dRUCHyeqiSaMPjqH5zl5ZYjhIFEdShpVtp7f2fVPyf4pLjZ8fREQ0cnGd0JlcwvpVo/s320/BiometricMouse.jpg" width="320" data-original-width="967" data-original-height="721" /></a></div>
<p>I ordered this mouse off Lenovo’s website on December 13<sup>th</sup> and got it on the 26<sup>th</sup>. It was difficult to find whether it has Linux support at that time, but here’s the info from linux-hardware (short answer: NO). </p>
<ul>
<li> ID USB 06cb:0089 </li>
<li>Class ff-00-00 </li>
<li>Vendor/Name Synaptics </li>
<li>WBDI Fingerprint Reader </li>
<li>USB 061</li>
</ul>
<p>The same website found it to be part of the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>HP ProBook 4540s</li>
<li>ThinkPad T420 4236EF4</li>
<li>Microsoft Surface Pro 2</li>
</ol>
<p>The original price was, supposedly, $64.99, but after Boxing Day discounts, and CA$2.99 taxes it came to US$18.53 or CA$25.98. Ordering this <a title="Lenovo Fingerprint Biometric USB Mouse Pointing Devices (4Y50Q64661) | ASIN B07D3N3QHJ | 4.5 stars / 119 ratings | since August 29, 2018" href="https://amzn.to/3X3xHlw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Biometric Lenovo mouse off Amazon</a> costs currently US$27.50 or CA$30.79 with free shipping.</p>
<p>Both the mouse (1600 DPI) and the fingerprint reading functions were entirely PnP under Windows 10. The mouse is clunkier and more cumbersome than the Microsoft mouse it replaces and took some getting used to, but I like that the fingerprint reader is not readily visible – it’s quite hidden, actually – which is an extra layer of security, given that most fingerprint readers are vulnerable to all sorts of physical attacks; it’s best if a potential attacker doesn’t notice it. Furthermore, it can be easily removed or disconnected from the laptop and re-added as needed.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Amazon’s Choice and #1 Best Seller in USA is a tiny <a title="TEC Mini USB Fingerprint Reader for Windows 10 Hello, TEC TE-FPA2 Bio-Metric Fingerprint Scanner PC Dongle for Password-Free and File Encryption, 360° Touch Speedy Matching Security Key, ASIN B08DCFMSLG, 4.4 stars out of 418 ratings | since September 3, 2020" href="https://amzn.to/3W5RUWy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TEC Japan USB Fingerprint Reader, TEC TE-FPA2</a> which goes after its own discounts for US$20 (CA$26 today) with free shipping in USA, or CA$28.74 + $5.02 shipping in Canada. It’s a bit more expensive and without mouse functionality but according to its Q&A it does have Linux support (plug and play). It shows up as “ELAN WBF Fingerprint Sensor”.</p>
<p>Lenovo website has a nice support page and we can find previous issues on Microsoft answers (msa-sgx, msa-wbdic10). The mouse is currently not available through the Lenovo website, though it might reappear in the future, but it does have a very detailed support page (sln-530). </p>
<p>If you’re not interested in a combo, the “TEC Japan” USB “dongle” is probably your best bet; however, if you like the mouse combo, it’s hard to find a better or cheaper device than the Lenovo one, provided that they will still be selling it.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Device 'Synaptics Synaptics WBDI Fingerprint Reader - USB 061'" href="https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:06cb-0089" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lho-usb06cb</a>, <a title="SOLUTION: Synaptics WBDI (SGX-enabled) Fingerprint Reader 'Device Can Not Start (Code 10)' - Lenovo Yoga/Ideapad/Thinkpad" href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/solution-synaptics-wbdi-sgx-enabled-fingerprint/f9d70fb0-c7f7-4907-833d-fb43a04f4118" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msa-sgx</a>, <a title="Synaptics WBDI fingerprint driver not working on Lenovo Ideapad 520 after Windows 10 1803 Update" href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/synaptics-wbdi-fingerprint-driver-not-working-on/7c1ce89e-89e0-4dbe-a7c4-b6188e095188" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msa-wbdic10</a>, <a title="Lenovo Fingerprint Biometric USB Mouse - Overview and Service Parts" href="https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/acc500030-lenovo-fingerprint-biometric-usb-mouse-overview-and-service-parts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sln-530</a> </p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:b4097a91-6e6d-4547-84b2-72383886fd63" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=mouse" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'mouse' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">mouse</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=biometric" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'biometric' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">biometric</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=biometrics" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'biometrics' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">biometrics</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=shopping" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'shopping' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">shopping</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=lenovo" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'lenovo' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">lenovo</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fingerprint" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fingerprint' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fingerprint</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fingerprint+reader" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'fingerprint reader' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">fingerprint reader</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=input" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'input' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">input</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-72453349977050168732014-08-27T01:00:00.002-04:002022-12-01T11:17:15.622-05:00How To Quickly Set Up Your VPS<span id="description">After discussing options in <a title="Choosing Your First VPS" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2014/08/choosing-your-first-vps.html" rel="first">choosing a cheap, low-end, learning VPS</a>, we take a look here at how to set it up for secure use, for when you get a so much for so little, you want to make sure it’s only yours!</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-suzLx43a3kM/U_ynCVBPXDI/AAAAAAAAVyk/JDq7VPxgpLs/s1600-h/linx-vps%25255B11%25255D.png"><img title="linx-vps" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="linx-vps" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wXIIKgpHjWQ/U_ynENA0QXI/AAAAAAAAVys/hmdFx6jzXp4/linx-vps_thumb%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="213" /></a>These are the commands I issue when I first login to a VPS – (I used +bryan and the associated HackerNews discussion for estimating consensus). The “$” is there to signify the prompt – you don’t need to replicate it when issuing commands.</p> <p>Most VPS control panels offer you the ability to reset (change) your root password. Nonetheless, start by changing it to something long and complex you can either remember or retrieve later.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ passwd</p> </blockquote> <p>Next, update and upgrade:</p> <blockquote> <p>$ apt-get update && apt-get upgrade</p> </blockquote> <p>Fail2ban is a daemon that goes through your logs and blocks suspicious activity as it occurs. Nano is a text editor that’s more visual and less intimidating than vim. Other intrusion detection tools you might want to consider are rkhunter (RootKit), psad (analyzes iptables log), lynis; to check your setup try <em>privesc</em>. </p> <blockquote> <p>$ apt-get install fail2ban nano p7zip-full htop sysstat</p> </blockquote> <p>Optionally, if you would like <em>nano</em> to display line numbers edit <em>/etc/nanorc</em> and uncomment <em>set const</em>. If you find that fail2ban uses too much memory, append the <em>ulimit</em> command to /etc/default/fail2ban or simply issue:</p> <blockquote> <p>$ echo “ulimit –s 256” >> /etc/default/fail2ban && service fail2ban restart</p> </blockquote> <p>Create a new user. “Deploy” is a seemingly popular term, but on my boxes I tend to use another username. The command <em>adduser</em> makes it easy. If you would rather use a different username, be sure to change it throughout the rest of the commands. If for some reason “adduser” won’t work, use <em>useradd</em> and be sure to create the home directory.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ adduser deploy</p> </blockquote> <p>To login securely to your new box, require public key authentication (previously covered in <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2010/10/hacking-dns-323-and-dns-321-nas.html#4">hacking dns-323</a> and <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2012/07/box-resuscitation-2-clean-up-and.html#ssh">box resuscitation</a>).</p> <blockquote> <p>$ mkdir /home/deploy/.ssh <br />$ chmod 700 /home/deploy/.ssh <br />$ nano /home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys</p> </blockquote> <p>Now paste the contents of your public key (starting with “ssh” as puttygen outputs it), then change the file permissions:</p> <blockquote> <p>$ chmod 400 /home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys && chown deploy:deploy /home/deploy –R</p> </blockquote> <p>Open a new terminal (Putty) window and login to the new server with the deploy user and your private key. If successful, set the password for this user. You will use this password for administering the server.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ passwd deploy</p> </blockquote> <p>To ensure that the deploy user can gain sudo, you need to issue the command</p> <blockquote> su -
<br />usermod -aG sudo YOUR_USERNAME
<br />exit </blockquote><strike><p>$ visudo <br />..and comment the existing user/group grand lines, adding</p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Courier New">root    ALL=(ALL) ALL <br />deploy  ALL=(ALL) ALL</font></p> </blockquote> <p>If you get an error for “visudo” (this might happen in a minimal Debian install) you need to <em>apt-get install sudo</em>.</strike> Now to secure SSH, you need to edit sshd_config as follows.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config</p> </blockquote> <p>Look for and modify the lines below as necessary, uncommenting them if necessary.</p> <blockquote> <p>Port 37474 <br />PermitRootLogin no <br />PasswordAuthentication no <br />DebianBanner no <br />AllowUsers deploy@<IP> deploy@<another IP></p> </blockquote> <p>Changing the default port makes it a bit harder for script kiddies; note that some recommend using a nonstandard value below 1024 as otherwise you might inadvertently make it easier to have your box pwned. In the last line, replace <IP> and <another IP> with actual IP number if you always log in from a fixed IP; if not, ignore that line altogether. </p> <p>For the changes to take effect, SSH needs restarting. </p> <blockquote> <p>$ service ssh restart</p> </blockquote> <p>To set up automatic security updates, issue the following:</p> <blockquote> <p>$ apt-get install unattended-upgrades  <br />$ nano  /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic</p> </blockquote> <p>Make sure the following can be found in that file:</p> <blockquote> <p>APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1"; <br />APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1"; <br />APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7"; <br />APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";</p> </blockquote> <p>You might also want to edit the “allowed-origins” section of <em>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades</em> and comment out (with //) anything but security updates. To ensure everything works as intended, install Logwatch to monitor and email you logs:</p> <blockquote> <p>$ apt-get install logwatch  <br />$ nano /etc/cron.daily/00logwatch</p> </blockquote> <p>Add this line, replacing as needed with your actual email address:</p> <blockquote> <p>/usr/sbin/logwatch --output mail –mailto indeliblebonobo @gmail.com --detail high</p> </blockquote> <p>Now that your server is updated, operational and stable, consider starting a Journal file, where you write any changes as you make them. You may keep it locally or on the box. You could also save a snapshot of the running processes.</p> <p>The above steps are things that most sysadmins will do with their boxes, for starters. The following are less general and more specific to my preferences.</p> <h3><a name="automating"></a>automating</h3> <p>If you have to move to another VPS or configure many servers, the above is quite tedious. One way to avoid the tedium is using tools such as Puppet or Chef. Both are, however, quite complex and make sense only for large scale infrastructure deployments. Fred from Practical Ops wrote a great guide and “recipe” (po-ans) for doing all the above with Ansible, a much simpler and easier tool. I use <a href="https://github.com/ibonobo/5minbootstrap" target="_blank">my own Ansible recipe</a> based on his, on a desktop Linux box (or another VPS that is already set up) doing the following (some have managed to <a href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/137360497979/my-attempt-to-install-ansible-under-cygwin-was" target="_blank">install it on Windows under Cygwin</a>):</p> <ol> <li>Login to your server and set the root password (<em># passwd</em>) </li> <li>Git the recipe: <em>$ git clone <a href="https://github.com/ibonobo/5minbootstrap.git">https://github.com/ibonobo/5minbootstrap.git</a> && cd 5minbootstrap</em> </li> <li>Edit<em> bootstrap.yml</em> changing the variables – at least email & deploy_password (as explained) </li> <li>Edit <em>hosts.ini</em>, replacing <em>127.0.0.1</em> with your new box IP address and <em>2222</em> with the SSH port you are starting with. </li> <li>Copy your public key in ssh format to “ibonobo.pub” – if on linux, <br /><em>$ cp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub ./ibonobo.pub <br /></em>otherwise in Windows copy it from puttygen and save as ibonobo.pub. </li> <li>Install Ansible on your workstation (see link below, in Sources) then run it (on Linux: <em>$ ansible-playbook -i hosts.ini bootstrap.yml --user root --ask-pass</em> </li> </ol> <p>To change: I do not want to set a fixed IP, I would like to be able to log in from any IP.</p> <h3><a name="optional"></a>optional</h3> <p>For a low-end box, Apache may be too demanding, so I completely removed it. Nginx or OpenLiteSpeed are far better suited for this situation.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ service apache2 stop && apt-get purge apache2 apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2-common && rm -rf /etc/apache2</p> </blockquote> <p>If you get some error message about that last command / directory, you can find the correct directory with <em>$ whereis apache2</em>. Some people uninstall even the following: <em>sendmail* exim4* bind9 samba xinetd</em> (don’t! unless you really know what they do and what you’re doing).</p> <p>Another optional step is installing Network Time Protocol and setting its timezone. This however may not be needed / possible when sharing a linux kernel.</p> <blockquote> <p>$ apt-get install ntpdate && dpkg-reconfigure tzdata && nano /etc/cron.daily/ntpdate</p> <p>ntpdate pool.ntp.org</p> <p>$ chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/ntpdate</p> </blockquote> <p>Again, this step may not needed/possible with OpenVZ, but if being synchronized to the correct time is very important for your application, consider using NTPd (apt-get install ntp).</p> <p>Most of the time, all that’s needed is setting the timezone, which you can check with <em>$ cat /etc/timezone</em>. To change it, <em>$ dpkg-reconfigure tzdata</em>.</p> <p>If you will be using this box for webserving and want the latest versions, consider using Dotdeb. For Nginx alone, <em>add-apt-repository ppa:nginx/stable</em>. To get Nginx up and running you might want to <em>nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default</em>, then modify <em>root</em> to point to your website directory and the following line (index, etc) to include other default files you might have, such as <em>index.php</em> or<em> .htm</em> etc then (re)start the nginx service.</p> <h3><a name="dotdeb"></a>dotdeb</h3> <p>If starting with a Debian minimal install, you want to configure some webserving services, you might want to rely on dotdeb rather than the official Debian for updates, as dotdeb serves these faster than Debian. That delay could sometimes make the difference between an exploit being used against your server and a worry-free patch being installed.</p> <p>The easiest way is to add these to your sources.list:</p> <blockquote> <pre>deb http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie all
deb-src http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie all</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I prefer to put them in a .d:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>$ nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dotdeb.list</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Obviously, if your distro is something other than Jessie, replace “jessie” above as necessary. If you’re not sure, do one of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>lsb_release - </li>
<li>cat /etc/*-release </li>
<li>cat /proc/version </li>
<li>uname –a </li>
<li>uname –mrs </li>
</ul>
<p>If you issue apt-get update at this time, you’ll get an error message. To add the keys, do </p>
<blockquote>
<p>$ wget -qO –  <a href="https://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg">https://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg</a> | sudo apt-key add -</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(though dotdeb recommends:)</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>$ wget https://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg
$ sudo apt-key add dotdeb.gpg</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Keep in mind that testing is what makes Debian so stable, and dotdeb is only suited for servers focused on webhosting.</p>
<h3><a name="sigs"></a>sigs</h3>
<p>You might not know this, but the most important services on your brand new server readily tell anyone who might be asking what they are and what version. In an ideal world where we are all friends that’s fine, but for an attacker, that’s a godsend, as they can target their efforts more easily this way. The lines to add to configuration files will be displayed in “typewriter font,” while the <em>commands</em> will be in <em>italics</em>.</p>
<ol>
<li>Apache2 HTTPd – append the 2 lines below
<br /><font face="Courier New"><em>$ nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf</em></font>
<br /><font face="Courier New">ServerTokens Prod
<br />ServerSignature off</font> </li>
<li>Nginx – append the line below at the very end (to remove the server/software name you will need to compile from source; see rmsign link below for details)
<br /><em><font face="Courier New">$ nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf</font>
<br /></em><font face="Courier New">server_tokens off;
<br />more_clear_headers 'Server';</font>
<br />add the last line only if compiled from source as stated above </li>
<li>PHP – edit the following four files and set the lines that follow in each
<br /><em>$ nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
<br />$ nano /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini
<br />$ nano /etc/php5/cli/php.ini
<br />$ nano /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini
<br /></em><font face="Courier New">; Decides whether PHP may expose the fact that it is installed on the server
<br />; http://php.net/expose-php
<br />expose_php = Off</font> </li>
<li>Postfix replace the first line with the second
<br /><em>$ nano /etc/postfix/main.cf</em>
<br />replace <font face="Courier New">smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Debian/GNU)
<br /></font>with <font face="Courier New">smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name</font> </li>
</ol>
<p>Some people prefer configuring a server through either ISPconfig or Webmin and its derivatives; varnish/php-fm/nginx/MariaDB, others prefer APC (php opcode cacher) and don’t use varnish with low-memory machines.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that securing a server is a demanding task; the above is what most people do as a start. Some of the links below will surely help with further tasks. For more customization, mostly a long .bash_aliases file, see the <a title="Bash Aliases FTW" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2014/08/bash-aliases-ftw.html" rel="next">next episode</a>.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers" target="_blank">wiki-ports</a>, <a title="My First 5 Minutes On A Server; Or, Essential Security for Linux Servers" href="http://plusbryan.com/my-first-5-minutes-on-a-server-or-essential-security-for-linux-servers" target="_blank">+bryan</a>, <a title="Getting started with Ansible" href="http://docs.ansible.com/intro_getting_started.html" target="_blank">ansible-gs</a>, <a title="My First 5 Minutes on a Server (with Ansible)" href="http://practicalops.com/my-first-5-minutes-on-a-server-with-ansible.html" target="_blank">po-ans</a>, <a title="Chef turns infrastructure into code. With Chef, you can automate how you build, deploy, and manage your infrastructure. Your infrastructure becomes as versionable, testable, and repeatable as application code." href="http://www.getchef.com/chef/" target="_blank">chef</a>, <a title="Puppet is IT automation software that defines and enforces the state of your infrastructure throughout your software development cycle. From provisioning and configuration to orchestration and reporting, from initial code development through production release and updates, Puppet frees sysadmins from writing one-off, fragile scripts and other manual tasks. At the same time, Puppet ensures consistency and dependability across your infrastructure." href="http://puppetlabs.com/puppet/what-is-puppet" target="_blank">puppet</a>, <a title="Ansible is a radically simple IT automation engine that automates cloud provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and many other IT needs. t uses no agents and no additional custom security infrastructure, so it’s easy to deploy — and most importantly, it uses a very simple language (YAML, in the form of Ansible Playbooks) that allow you to describe your automation jobs in a way that approaches plain English." href="http://www.ansible.com/how-ansible-works" target="_blank">ansible</a>, <a href="http://www.webmin.com" target="_blank">webmin</a>, <a title="Optimal settings for VPS with 512MB ram (memory issue)" href="https://xenforo.com/community/threads/optimal-settings-for-vps-with-512mb-ram-memory-issue.47686/" target="_blank">xenforo</a>, <a title="How do I see how much free ram I really have? $ free -m (look for buffers/cache under free column, in MB)" href="http://www.linuxatemyram.com/" target="_blank">l8mr</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_lightweight_web_servers" target="_blank">wiki-comp</a>, <a href="http://www.dotdeb.org/" target="_blank">dotdeb</a>, <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/NTP.html" target="_blank">ntp-guide</a>, <a title="How to setup a VPS as web server" href="http://blog.bokhorst.biz/6507/computers-and-internet/how-to-setup-a-vps-as-web-server/" target="_blank">marcel</a>, <a title="The Perfect Server - Debian Wheezy (nginx, BIND, Dovecot, ISPConfig 3)" href="http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-debian-wheezy-nginx-bind-dovecot-ispconfig-3-p4" target="_blank">ispconfig</a>, <a title="How To Migrate from an Apache Web Server to Nginx on an Ubuntu VPS" href="https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-migrate-from-an-apache-web-server-to-nginx-on-an-ubuntu-vps" target="_blank">apache2nginx</a>, <a title="Removing Signatures From Various Packages" href="http://www.howtoforge.com/removing-signatures-from-various-packages" target="_blank">rmsign</a>, upd f2bl <a href="http://support.moonpoint.com/os/unix/linux/centos/fail2ban-logging.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="Fail2ban Logging">1</a>, <a href="https://www.the-art-of-web.com/system/fail2ban-log/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="System: Monitoring the fail2ban log">2</a>, <a title="How to show all banned IP with fail2ban?" href="https://serverfault.com/questions/841183/how-to-show-all-banned-ip-with-fail2ban" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">3</a>, <a href="https://askubuntu.com/questions/505029/how-do-i-tell-if-my-brute-force-protection-fail2ban-is-running" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="How do I tell if my brute force protection (fail2ban) is running?">4</a></p>
<div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:15919c9e-bed0-4452-9ab6-8da26a6290db" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a title="Consumed Consumer dot org, the home of Consumer related information and news" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/ rel=" tag?="tag?">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=vps" rel="tag">vps</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=security" rel="tag">security</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=server" rel="tag">server</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=configuration" rel="tag">configuration</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=configure" rel="tag">configure</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ansible" rel="tag">ansible</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=sysadmin" rel="tag">sysadmin</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=system+administration" rel="tag">system administration</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=box" rel="tag">box</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=pwn" rel="tag">pwn</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=pwnd" rel="tag">pwnd</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=pwned" rel="tag">pwned</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-4612755130874288592022-08-02T07:00:00.006-04:002022-08-02T07:00:00.215-04:00Resolving System Interrupts CPU hell on beefy Gaming Laptop<span id="description">I recently had an issue with my laptop caused most likely by some software conflict or update. It's not the first time it happened so I document it here in the event it happens again. I'm also not the only one going through this, hopefully it is useful to others as well.</span> <a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; " href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IT5y063W4e78tu553DGnjeqiCXPPefgTCsFiHneuT0Rlwev7YRYdyezFFUE8nqiPXg0iYWTIBjH__XrJCmoBj51_dcvC_5-tdPmC_w7HjyeqLt47SGPQX6Bfhs07fvuNKNEKaUwmeGOYMSKalUuk3t6KJ1qEQOsXKnZzQX7oTn5ZApqOPOpoDRzt/s3091/SystemInterruptsHell20220801.jpg"><img style="float: right; display: inline;" border="0" alt="Task Manager System Interrupts high screenshot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IT5y063W4e78tu553DGnjeqiCXPPefgTCsFiHneuT0Rlwev7YRYdyezFFUE8nqiPXg0iYWTIBjH__XrJCmoBj51_dcvC_5-tdPmC_w7HjyeqLt47SGPQX6Bfhs07fvuNKNEKaUwmeGOYMSKalUuk3t6KJ1qEQOsXKnZzQX7oTn5ZApqOPOpoDRzt/s320/SystemInterruptsHell20220801.jpg" width="320" align="right" data-original-width="3091" data-original-height="2726" /></a>My laptop, which had a relatively strong AMD CPU, several GB of fast SDD with 32 GB of RAM and an nVidia dedicated card was only able to cope with one task at a time, which took a few seconds, no matter how simple. It seemed to have started with some Windows Update, though I’m not exactly sure which. Here’s the last few updates (all on Windows 10 21H2):</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems" href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/july-12-2022-kb5015807-os-builds-19042-1826-19043-1826-and-19044-1826-8c8ea8fe-ec83-467d-86fb-a2f48a85eb41" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KB5015807</a> (22-07-26) </li>
<li><a title=".NET 6.0.7 Update for x64 Client" href="https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/main/release-notes/README.md" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KB5016405</a> (22-07-13) </li>
<li><a title=".NET Core 3.1.27 Update for x64 Client" href="https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/main/release-notes/3.1/3.1.27/3.1.27.md" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KB5016404</a> (22-07-13) </li>
<li><a title="Cumulative Update for Win10: June 14, 2022—KB5014699 (OS Builds 19042.1766, 19043.1766, and 19044.1766)" href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/june-14-2022-kb5014699-os-builds-19042-1766-19043-1766-and-19044-1766-5c81d49d-0b6e-4808-9485-1f54e5d1bb15" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KB5014699</a> (22-06-17) </li>
</ul>
<p>I’m not entirely sure what caused it. It may have been one of the above updates or a slew of Microsoft Store apps I switched to (from using Portable regular installs). I may have picked Nvidia and AMD apps that messed up the apps pre-installed by HP. It’s still a mystery.</p>
<p>So I started by re-installing the nVidia GeForce Experience as well as the AMD stuff. That didn’t solve the problem. It all took a very long time as the system seemed to constantly fight and double-check itself. I couldn’t even take a screenshot of the system interrupts problem, had to use my phone. So I bit the bullet, went to HP’s website and downloaded and installed the latest BIOS update: F.14 Rev.A, 13.2 MB, Apr 26, 2022.</p>
<p>I’ve also found Dumo quite useful (registration number: 91090073066094078108065096074097079097080093081050046050053).</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GLXs8YxMecAxSWumlcNMoTZRCFCquZDtw-UyVxT32P7Wf66CKdWWQQImYrefq0r4ljaL22pUpVK-QjHaKULNcA5HJhe5lixNDzoc4J6FdmYoeMQYSo5IcJ0ds9S2LDcfXhyOydPZXscUkeSd7NgxhFFPj0LaLrRsm6QVsHWY03wv4HDQd5EDwP-q/s906/DUMOlist2022-08-02.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="screenshot of DUMO drivers list" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GLXs8YxMecAxSWumlcNMoTZRCFCquZDtw-UyVxT32P7Wf66CKdWWQQImYrefq0r4ljaL22pUpVK-QjHaKULNcA5HJhe5lixNDzoc4J6FdmYoeMQYSo5IcJ0ds9S2LDcfXhyOydPZXscUkeSd7NgxhFFPj0LaLrRsm6QVsHWY03wv4HDQd5EDwP-q/s320/DUMOlist2022-08-02.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>Once the BIOS upgrade completed I took a system snapshot.</p>
<p>*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="HP Pavilion Gaming - 15-ec0001ca" href="https://support.hp.com/ca-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-ec0000-laptop-pc-series/29322788/model/31536219?sku=8GH43UA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hp-support</a>, <a title="Licensed to SharewareOnSale" href="https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/dumo-portable" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dumo</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:a1f07b42-f907-4553-89d4-a289380715d7" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=software+conflict" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'software conflict' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">software conflict</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=system+interrupts" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'system interrupts' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">system interrupts</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=windows" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'windows' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">windows</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=system+slowdown" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'system slowdown' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">system slowdown</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=windoze" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'windoze' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">windoze</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=drivers" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'drivers' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">drivers</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=drivers+hell" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'drivers hell' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">drivers hell</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=bugs" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'bugs' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">bugs</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=bug+hunting" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'bug hunting' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">bug hunting</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=troubleshooting" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'troubleshooting' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">troubleshooting</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=tech+support" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'tech support' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">tech support</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=computer+fix" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'computer fix' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">computer fix</a>, #<a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=computer+trouble" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'computer trouble' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">computer trouble</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-66393009256472756892022-02-26T17:30:00.020-05:002022-04-07T16:05:32.834-04:00Best Free VPS Virtual Private Server (Cloud) providers<span id="description">Having briefly discussed how to choose a virtual private server (VPS), we have experimented with a number of (hosting?) providers, some providing limited-time free service, some providing rock-bottom prices, and we are now ready to make a recommendation. We started this overview in 2020 and finished it in 2022.</span>
<a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZZ3BwV-HtxTrf9rOsOEMp-vfzpVFiXXo-Mujb-u0_PhyphenhyphenZtvlJVXdrzm7V_sjv_ltzAZtjHLxMNSxkcGADxxoKy-dUMMvoBDYf8DLPSrFIapuuuOa5lxp3BZ_9hKneg1JcneMH5SrAwE/s1600/EvolutionHostOSs.JPG" rel="nofollow"><img style="float: right; display: inline;" border="0" alt="Evolution Host OS choices screenshot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZZ3BwV-HtxTrf9rOsOEMp-vfzpVFiXXo-Mujb-u0_PhyphenhyphenZtvlJVXdrzm7V_sjv_ltzAZtjHLxMNSxkcGADxxoKy-dUMMvoBDYf8DLPSrFIapuuuOa5lxp3BZ_9hKneg1JcneMH5SrAwE/s320/EvolutionHostOSs.JPG" width="311" align="right" height="312" data-original-width="574" data-original-height="576" /></a>Our <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2014/08/choosing-your-first-vps.html">previous overview, dating back to 2014</a>, mentioned a few providers and their prices. It is fascinating to see that 128MB of RAM may have been considered sufficient even for a “learning experience”. Today’s “beginner” offers tend to be much closer to 1GB.</p>
<p>We have tested a number of providers, some having gone belly-up. Here’s what we learned.</p>
<h3><a name="euserv"></a>EUserv</h3>
<p>EUserv is a German provider that has been offering free IPv6 VPSs for quite a while. When we first set up our own, back in 2019 or 2020, it was completely free but often unusable because of very high loads (likely run by rules-breakers). Today, it costs a couple of euros to set up but from then on it’s free, provided that you “renew” monthly in a 5-click process. There is no tech support apart from their forum, where any request must include the server IP. </p>
<p>Their server was advertised at one point as:</p>
<ul>
<li>Processor : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 V2 @ 3.30GHz</li>
<li>CPU Cores : 1</li>
<li>Frequency : 1889.025 MHz</li>
<li>Memory : 976 MB</li>
<li>Swap : 976 MB
<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the free offer is a “Vserver” with the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Processor (vCPU)         AMD/Intel</li>
<li>Frequency         1 CPU 1 Core @ 1000 MHz</li>
<li>Virtualization Type         Linux Container</li>
<li>Architecture         64Bit</li>
<li>RAM         1024 MB DDR3-RAM</li>
<li>Harddisk Type         1x 10 GB SATA</li>
<li>BIOS Type: CSM</li>
<li>Network connection    connection speed to network    1x 1 GBit/s ¹</li>
<li>Connection speed         1 GBit/s ¹</li>
<li>Bandwidth         1 TB ¹
<br />1 - Peak bandwidth. All servers share the connection of the host system. If the inclusive traffic is exceeded, the connection becomes capped to 1Mbit/s, if no additional traffic is purchased by customer.</li>
</ul>
<p>The following services are advertised:</p>
<ul>
<li>remote Rescue-System    24x7 SSH access without booting from harddisk</li>
<li>Remote Reboot    reboot server 24x7 via customer control panel</li>
<li>Free Reinstall    reinstall server 24x7 via customer control panel    yes</li>
<li>Free OS-Change    change operating system via customer control panel    yes</li>
<li>Reverse DNS    personalize Reverse DNS-entries of IP-addresses    yes</li>
<li>IPv4-Addresses    not provided for Vserver FREE</li>
<li>additional IPv4    1.00  EUR per IP / mo    yes, optional up to 16</li>
<li>IPv6-Addresses    free of charge    1x /128</li>
<li>additional IPv6    1.00  EUR per IP / mo    yes, optional up to 16           </li>
</ul>
<p>The forum seems to indicate that reboot or reinstall my need support manual intervention. Also, pay orders incur a 2 Euro setup charge.</p>
<p>The following OSs are currently supported:</p>
<ul>
<li>CentOS 6.9 - 64bit - minimal v2</li>
<li>CentOS 7 - 64bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>CentOS 8 - 64bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Debian 10 (Buster) - 64Bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Debian 11 (Bullseye) - 64Bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Debian 8.8 (Jessie) - 64Bit - minimal v2</li>
<li>Debian 9.0 (Stretch) - 64Bit - minimal v2</li>
<li>Fedora 30 - 64bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>OpenSuSE Leap 42.2 - 64Bit - minimal v3</li>
<li>RockyLinux 8 - 64bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS (Xenial Xerus) - 64Bit - minimal v2</li>
<li>Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) - 64Bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo) - 64Bit - minimal v4</li>
<li>Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) - 64Bit - minimal v4</li>
</ul>
<p>Again, switching OSs requires tech support manual intervention and according to the forum, it takes about 10 days for forum requests to be serviced.</p>
<p>Such an IPv6 server requires some serious config Kung Fu in order to become useable, since we unfortunately still live IPv4 old skule. </p>
<p>First, to connect TO the EUserv server from an IPv4 Windows machine, (i.e., one that does not get an IPv6 address), you need to use <a title="In computer networking, Teredo is a transition technology that gives full IPv6 connectivity for IPv6-capable hosts that are on the IPv4 Internet but have no native connection to an IPv6 network. Unlike similar protocols such as 6to4, it can perform its function even from behind network address translation (NAT) devices such as home routers. Teredo operates using a platform independent tunneling protocol that provides IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) connectivity by encapsulating IPv6 datagram packets within IPv4 User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets. Teredo routes these datagrams on the IPv4 Internet and through NAT devices. Teredo nodes elsewhere on the IPv6 network (called Teredo relays) receive the packets, un-encapsulate them, and pass them on." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teredo_tunneling" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Teredo</a> (ms-teredo). This will only work if you have the Pro version of Windows or higher (it won’t work on Home). If you have Windows Home (or similar), you can install Linux in <a title="Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and Innotek VirtualBox) is a type-2 hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">VirtualBox</a>/<a title="VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with headquarters in California. VMware was the first commercially successful company to virtualize the x86 architecture." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">VMware</a> or <a title="Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables (in ELF format) natively on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2019." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">WSL</a> then install and enable Miredo.</p>
<p>You can also use tunnelbroker.net from he.net who also provides several certifications – here’s the first “certification” (he-v6cert). Once you register and create your tunnel, you will have to perform the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>netsh interface teredo set state disabled</li>
<li>netsh interface ipv6 add v6v4tunnel interface=IP6Tunnel localaddress=***.***.***.***</li>
<li>remoteaddress=216.66.38.58</li>
<li>netsh interface ipv6 add address interface=IP6Tunnel address=2001:470:1c:3e::2</li>
<li>netsh interface ipv6 add route prefix=::/0 interface=IP6Tunnel nexthop=2001:470:1c:3e::1</li>
</ul>
<p>***.***.***.*** is your IP address which you can use later to access the tunnel and eventually modify it. Additionally,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may also need to set an IPv6 DNS server. You can do this under Network and Sharing Center / Change Adapter Settings, select your NIC and right click for Properties, double click Internet Protocol Version 6, and enter an IPv6 DNS server, such as 2001:470:20::2.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Secondly, to enable the EUserv IPv6 server to connect to IPv4 addresses, you have to add <a title="DNS64 describes a DNS server that when asked for a domain's AAAA records, but only finds A records, synthesizes the AAAA records from the A records. The first part of the synthesized IPv6 address points to an IPv6/IPv4 translator and the second part embeds the IPv4 address from the A record. The translator in question is usually a NAT64 server. The standard-track specification of DNS64 is in RFC 6147." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6_transition_mechanism#DNS64" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DNS64</a> servers (typically) to <strong>/etc/resolve.conf</strong>. Such servers are provided by trex (trx-dns64) and more can be found in mutin’s list (gh-mtndns). If using Trex, the two lines would be</p>
<ul>
<li>nameserver 2001:67c:2b0::4</li>
<li>nameserver 2001:67c:2b0::6</li>
</ul>
<p>This last solution has a few shortcomings, but it works in most cases.</p>
<h3><a name="UmaxHosting"></a>UmaxHosting and PSK</h3>
<p>I got a pretty good deal from these guys at around $7/year. I worked for a couple of years quite alright, but they folded after having charged me for the 3rd year, without providing a refund. Some forum posts accused them of being “another Colocrossing puppet host” based off Buffalo (LET-scam). </p>
<p>According to that post, other scams are: alavps.com, www.finalhosting.nl, freerdpserver.com, www.freeupload.net, ohosti.com, vpswala.org.</p>
<h3><a name="freecloud"></a>FreeCloud</h3>
<p>It is possible to create a free account with a major provider and use their free but limited resources to create virtual hosts. Limitations vary with each one and you run the risk of using up what’s free and getting charged.</p>
<p>If you feel adventurous, they list their free offers, though the limits are not always clear (ibm-free, ocl-free, azr-free, gcp-free, aws-free). For most, you will need a credit card or, at the very least, a student email address (current student status).</p>
<h3><a name="evolution"></a>Evolution</h3>
<p>When tired of “free” or “nearly free” VPS hosts, one might want to look into paying for a real one. <!--We found one, but they were unresponsive.--> Here's one host with the most positive reviews and reasonable prices: Evolution. Their <!--a title="Evolution Host's DDoS protected VPS hosting platform offers a highly flexible hosting environment for all of your projects. Deploy an HDD or SSD VPS in seconds." href="https://evolution-host.com/vps-hosting.php" target="_blank"-->VPS Hosting Starter plan is typically 5 Euros monthly, with the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>1 CPU Core at 4Ghz+ </li>
<li>1GB DDR4 RAM </li>
<li>20GB NVMe SSD Storage<sup>1</sup></li>
<li>1Gb/s Port<sup>2</sup></li>
<li>10TB Monthly Transfer<sup>3</sup></li>
<li>Advanced DDoS Protection </li>
<li>Linux Distributions (Ubuntu 14.04* 16.04* 18.04* 20.04, CentOS 6.9* 7.7 8.0, Debian 8.7 9.4 10 11, Fedora 21 27, OpenSUSE 15.1, Scientific 7.4, Windows Server 2021R2 2016 2019; *x86)</li>
<li>Europe (Frankfurt, London, Warsaw, Helsinki, Roubaix, Strasbourg), US (Dallas, Virginia, Hillsboro), Canada (Montreal) and Asia (Singapore) locations</li>
</ul>
<p>(As noted before, in low memory (RAM)/ low storage situations an x86 OS may perform better than its x64 version, though they are slowly disappearing; some small limitations in some locations.)</p>
<p>There are also more expensive plans and certain features are customizable - we could not try any of their plans nor have we been paid for mentioning them.</p>
<p>Whatever you choose, it is unlikely that you will be able to “mine crypto” or use TOR with a free or low cost VPS, but you can certainly use one for development or testing purposes.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. The virtual dedicated server (VDS) also has a similar meaning. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS. For many purposes they are functionally equivalent to a dedicated physical server, and being software-defined, are able to be much more easily created and configured. They are priced much lower than an equivalent physical server. However, as they share the underlying physical hardware with other VPSes, performance may be lower, depending on the workload of any other executing virtual machines." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wiki-vps</a>, <a title="Forum EUserv _ VPS / virtual private servers _ Virtual servers - general" href="https://forum.euserv.com/index.php/board,39.0.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eus-forum</a>, <a title="https://www.euserv.com/en/virtual-private-server/root-vserver/v2/vs2-free.php" href="http://www.euserv.de/?pk=c6a543f647b62b9" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vs2-free-euserv</a>, <a title="How to enable Teredo windows 10 Created on March 16, 2018 by asax98" href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-enable-teredo-windows-10/c383ab58-e0e0-432f-90af-5795116d69bc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ms-teredo</a>, <a title="Welcome to the IPv6 Knowledge Certifications. Our first step on the path to IPv6 certification is a simple one." href="https://ipv6.he.net/certification/cert-main.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">he-v6cert</a>, <a title="PUBLIC SERVICE: DNS64 NAME SERVERS | TREX is making DNS64 resolvers available to Finnish end users as part of a research project in association with the Finnish Future Internet programme and Internet Testbed Finland. Resolvers are recursive DNS servers used by web browsers and other programs to map hostnames to numerical addresses and vice versa. The DNS64 specification defines a method that the servers use to convert IPv4 addresses found in A records into IPv6 addresses that the resolvers serve in AAAA records when there would otherwise be no AAAA record." href="https://www.trex.fi/2011/dns64.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">trx-dns64</a>, <a title="List of Top Public Recursive Name Servers on GitHub by mutin-sa" href="https://gist.github.com/mutin-sa/5dcbd35ee436eb629db7872581093bc5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gh-mtndns</a>, <a title="The following is a list of self-declared free VPS providers that are just phishing your data, without any further information after you have ordered their free VPS plans. Under the service section your order is always in the status of pending, and you have also no chance either to delete your order or change it." href="https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/3090243" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LET-scam</a>, <a href="https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/3089076" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LET-vs2</a>, <a title="IBM Cloud free tier: Create your account at no charge. Try over 40 always-free products with no time limit." href="https://www.ibm.com/cloud/free" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ibm-free</a>, <a title="What's included with Oracle Cloud Free Tier? Two Oracle Autonomous Databases with powerful tools like Oracle APEX and Oracle SQL Developer, Two AMD Compute VMs, Up to 4 instances of Arm Ampere A1 Compute, Block, Object, and Archive Storage; Load Balancer and data egress; Monitoring and Notifications" href="https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ocl-free</a>, <a title="Create services included with Azure free account: During the first 30 days after you've created an Azure free account, you have $200 credit in your billing currency to use on any service, except for third-party Marketplace purchases. You can experiment with different tiers and types of Azure services using the free credit to try out Azure. If you use services or Azure resources that aren’t free during that time, charges are deducted against your credit. If you don’t use all of your credit by the end of the first 30 days, it's lost. After the first 30 days and up to 12 months after sign-up, you can only use a limited quantity of some services—not all Azure services are free. If you upgrade before 30 days and have remaining credit, you can use the rest of your credit with a pay-as-you-go subscription for the remaining days. For example, if you sign up for the free account on November 1 and upgrade on November 5, you have until November 30 to use your credit in the new pay-as-you-go subscription. Your Azure free account includes a specified quantity of free services for 12 months and a set of services that are always free. Only some tiers of services are available for free within certain quantities. For example, Azure has many virtual machines intended for different needs. The free account only includes access to one type of VM for free—the B1S Burstable B series that’s usable for up to 750 hours per month. By staying in the free account limits, you can use the free services in various configurations. For more information about the Azure free account and the products that are available for free, see Azure free account FAQ https://azure.microsoft.com/free/free-account-faq/" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/create-free-services" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">azr-free</a>, <a title="Google Cloud Free Program - 0-day, $300 Free Trial: New Google Cloud and Google Maps Platform users can take advantage of a 90-day trial period that includes $300 in free Cloud Billing credits to explore and evaluate Google Cloud and Google Maps Platform products and services. You can use these credits toward one or a combination of products. All Google Cloud customers can use select Google Cloud products—like Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and BigQuery—free of charge, within specified monthly usage limits. When you stay within the Free Tier limits, these resources are not charged against your Free Trial credits or to your Cloud Billing account's payment method after your trial ends. oogle Maps Platform monthly credit: Google Maps Platform features a recurring $200 monthly credit (see Pricing for Maps, Routes, and Places). The monthly credit applies towards each Maps-related Cloud Billing account you create. Learn more about Google Maps Platform Billing Account Credits." href="https://cloud.google.com/free/docs/gcp-free-tier" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gcp-free</a>, <a title="AWS Free Tier - Gain free, hands-on experience with the AWS platform, products, and services" href="https://aws.amazon.com/free" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">aws-free</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:f5889fb0-c16b-4def-92ba-5061220a7419" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a title="Consumed Consumer org" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/vps" rel="tag">vps</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cloud" rel="tag">cloud</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/virtual+private+system" rel="tag">virtual private system</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/virtual+workstation" rel="tag">virtual workstation</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/virtual+server" rel="tag">virtual server</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/virtualization" rel="tag">virtualization</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cloud+computing" rel="tag">cloud computing</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/internet+services" rel="tag">internet services</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/virtual+private+server" rel="tag">virtual private server</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-10941595368836769982010-11-27T19:54:00.001-05:002021-10-10T12:51:44.808-04:00Investing and Finance: Gold,man, Sucks<span id="description">A few years after the first major meltdown of this millennium, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to coalesce into a better understanding of what happened. For better (a select few) or for worse (most of everybody else), Goldman Sachs played a central role in the collapse.</span><a name='more'></a> <p>Depending on who you choose to believe, Goldman Sachs is either a tremendously successful investment outfit or a monument of corruption and profiteering. </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TPGoQF9wHCI/AAAAAAAAQ74/k_rJcopWQGo/s1600-h/blankfein%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="blankfein" border="0" alt="blankfein" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TPGoRNB4fRI/AAAAAAAAQ78/ibk4ecvp2no/blankfein_thumb%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="140" height="140" /></a>Back in February, Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story published in NYT (<a title="A Dying Banker’s Last Instructions" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/your-money/27money.html" target="_blank">1</a>) suggesting that Goldman Sachs obtained insurance from AIG on favorable terms because of a friendly relationship – there was talk of a merger a while back – then worked against the insurance giant, precipitating its downfall. The tone is more accusatory, contrasting with the earlier celebratory article signed by Jenny Anderson and Landon Thomas (<a title="Goldman Sachs Rakes In Profit in Credit Crisis" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/business/19goldman.html" target="_blank">2</a>) which had stated:</p> <blockquote> <p>Money soothes a lot of concerns, of course, and Goldman has had plenty to spread around. Through the third quarter, Goldman's $16.9 billion compensation pool — the money it sets aside to pay its employees — was significantly bigger than the entire $11.4 billion market capitalization of Bear Stearns. </p> </blockquote> <p>Consider a few choice quotes from the former:</p> <ul> <li>A.I.G. executives wanted some of its money back, insisting that Goldman — like a homeowner overestimating the damages in a storm to get a bigger insurance payment — had inflated the potential losses. Goldman countered that it was owed even more, while also resisting consulting with third parties to help estimate a value for the securities. </li> <li>In just the year before the A.I.G. bailout, Goldman collected more than $7 billion from A.I.G. And Goldman received billions more after the rescue. Though other banks also benefited, Goldman received more taxpayer money, $12.9 billion, than any other firm. In addition, according to two people with knowledge of the positions, a portion of the $11 billion in taxpayer money that went to Société Générale, a French bank that traded with A.I.G., was subsequently transferred to Goldman under a deal the two banks had struck. </li> <li>Goldman stood to gain from the housing market’s implosion because in late 2006, the firm had begun to make huge trades that would pay off if the mortgage market soured. The further mortgage securities’ prices fell, the greater were Goldman’s profits. </li> </ul> <p>Slate joins the party describing how Goldman Sachs fared in the public chastising done in the Senate toothless public inquiry (<a title="Goldman Sucks: The Senate tries to get the bankers to admit they sold America a pile of crap." href="http://www.slate.com/id/2252137/" target="_blank">3</a>):</p> <ul> <li>If Team Goldman wasn't going to talk about its business, the senators would talk about it for them—using Goldman's own words. Levin first quoted an e-mail from a Goldman trader describing the instruments as "junk." He later cited references to the so-called "crap pools"—again, a Goldman employee's words—that the firm tried to sell. He also managed to repeat the phrase "shitty deal," used by another trader in an e-mail to describe a security Goldman Sachs was selling, more than a dozen times. "When your employees say, God, what a shitty deal. God, what a piece of crap. How does that make you feel?" Levin asked Goldman CFO David Viniar. Viniar replied: "I think that's very unfortunate to have that on e-mail." </li> <li>Even as senators slipped away to cast their votes on financial regulatory reform along party lines, they united in bipartisan support of populist grandstanding. Sen. John McCain asked Blankfein if he realized that Americans were hurting, and what he planned to do about it: "Has Goldman tried to do anything to help smaller banks?" Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., compared Wall Street to Las Vegas, telling one Goldman employee he "had less oversight than a pit boss"—prompting Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to take offense: "In Vegas, you know the odds. On Wall Street, they manipulate the odds while you're playing the game." Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., noticed another difference: "People in Vegas are betting with their own money." </li> <li>But that's a separate question from whether investment banks should be able to bet against their own clients. Because there's no law against being a jerk, public shaming would have to do. "You say nothing you heard today troubled you," Levin said to Blankfein toward the end of the hearing. "That concerns me, and it concerns a lot of people in this country. You shouldn't be selling junk. You shouldn't be selling crap. You shouldn't be betting against your own customer you're simultaneously selling to." It's not a crime. It's just a shitty thing to do. </li> </ul> <p>Back in my University days, I got a t-shirt from them for attending one of their recruiting presentations. It was all white with a small black square, featuring the firm’s logo. I liked its simplicity. Yet the deals and their inherent moral ambiguity are nothing but simple. Some (including me) believe that some of the apparently contradictory moves the firm makes can be justified through “Chinese Wall” rules and regulations which force the corporate advisory hand to know nothing about the trading / brokering hand (<a title="In business, a Chinese wall or firewall is an information barrier implemented within a firm to separate and isolate persons who make investment decisions from persons who are privy to undisclosed material information which may influence those decisions. This is a way of avoiding conflict of interest problems." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_wall" target="_blank">4</a>).</p> <p>The Economist has mostly superlative articles about them (<a title="On top of the world: In its taste for risk, the world's leading investment bank epitomises the modern financial system" href="http://www.economist.com/node/6855910?story_id=6855910" target="_blank">5</a>, <a title="Bombmakers bombarded: The world’s pre-eminent investment bank has more than just image problems to worry about" href="http://www.economist.com/node/16591203" target="_blank">6</a>, <a title="Into the whirlwind: As Goldman Sachs faces its greatest challenge, an important new history shows that the American investment bank is no stranger to adversity" href="http://www.economist.com/node/12295116?story_id=12295116" target="_blank">7</a>, <a title="A price worth paying" href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/07/goldmans_record_payout_over_subprime" target="_blank">8</a>) while the rest of the press (<a title="Business Week" href="http://bx.businessweek.com/goldman-sachs/" target="_blank">9</a>, <a title="Guardian" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/goldmansachs" target="_blank">10</a>, <a title="Financial Times" href="http://www.ft.com/indepth/goldman-sachs" target="_blank">11</a>, <a title="NYT" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/goldman_sachs_group_inc/index.html" target="_blank">12</a>, <a title="Goldman Sachs: the culture of success by Lisa Endlich" href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=BDionNrrBqwC" target="_blank">13</a>). There is even a blog dedicated to badmouthing them (<a href="http://www.goldmansachs666.com/" target="_blank">14</a>). Wikipedia presents a rather scary list of GS alumni:</p> <ul> <li>Henry H. Fowler - 58th United States Secretary of the Treasury (1965–1969) </li> <li>Robert Rubin - Former United States Treasury Secretary, ex-Chairman of Citigroup. </li> <li>Henry Paulson - Former United States Treasury Secretary. </li> <li>Joshua Bolten - former White House Chief of Staff </li> <li>Jon Corzine - CEO of MF Global, Inc., Former Governor of the State of New Jersey. </li> <li>Michael Cohrs - Head of Global Banking at Deutsche Bank </li> <li>William C. Dudley - President of the Federal Reserve Bank's New York Branch </li> <li>Jim Cramer - host of Mad Money on CNBC </li> <li>Ashwin Navin - President and co-founder of BitTorrent, Inc. </li> <li>George Herbert Walker IV - member of the Bush family and current managing director at Neuberger Berman </li> <li>Robert Zoellick - United States Trade Representative (2001–2005), Deputy Secretary of State (2005–2006), World Bank President. </li> <li>Mark Carney - Current Governor of the Bank of Canada [128][129] </li> <li>Michael D. Fascitelli- President & Trustee of Vornado Realty Trust. </li> <li>Neel Kashkari - former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability </li> <li>Charlie Haas - Wrestler, who is working for World Wrestling Entertainment. </li> <li>Malcolm Turnbull - Australian politician, former federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. </li> <li>John Thain - former Chairman and CEO, Merrill Lynch, and former chairman of the NYSE. </li> <li>Robert Steel - Former Chairman and President, Wachovia. </li> <li>Reuben Jeffery III - Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs (2007-) </li> <li>Romano Prodi - Prime Minister of Italy twice (1996–1998 and 2006–2008) and President of the European Commission (1999–2004)[130] </li> <li>Mario Draghi - governor of the Bank of Italy (2006- )[130] </li> <li>Massimo Tononi - Italian deputy treasury chief (2006–2008)[130] </li> <li>Guy Hands - CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners </li> <li>Dambisa Moyo - Zambian economist and author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way For Africa </li> <li>R. Scott Morris - former CEO of Boston Options Exchange </li> <li>Lawrence Bancroft - President and CEO Bivium Capital </li> <li>Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga - Nigerian Finance Minister </li> </ul> <p>Are all these individuals in positions of power a sign of conspiracy, or simply a proof of the cohesive culture at the firm fostering “competitive co-operation” and ultimately massive success?</p> <p>These are not questions to answer here, on this blog. What we shall try to find though is answers to a few simple questions. If basic finance concepts are foreign to you, start with the Sketchpad (<a title="The Sketchpad: Personal Finance on a Napkin" href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/your-money/carl-richards-gallery.html" target="_blank">17</a>), where all the important concepts are drawn simply, in diagrams, on napkins. Try to follow the advice of a dying banker and keep your money in passively managed investments, such as bonds and index funds (<a title="A Dying Banker’s Last Instructions" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/your-money/27money.html" target="_blank">18</a>). You can then yearly rebalance your portfolio, by selling the winners and buying more of the losers. Finally, Gold continues to be hot; one way you can ride it is with gold certificates which can be purchased from almost any bank. The present Gold Fever is a symptom of the deep distrust most people have in our financial / banking system and the way it is managed (<a title="Gold Fever: Pondering the Causes" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/business/26norris.html" target="_blank">19</a>). In his op-ed on Ireland’s bailout, Paul Krugman suggests that there is no need for a bailout (<a title="Eating the Irish" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html" target="_blank">20</a>): Iceland, who did not pass on bank losses to its taxpayers, is doing much better now.</p> <p>Finally, I owe you a correction. Gold, after all, is not that bad. Just Gold-man Sucks.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TPGoR8Dk_eI/AAAAAAAAQ8A/GfjyrF_xmdY/s1600-h/Gold%20-%205yrs%5B10%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="Gold - 5yrs" border="0" alt="Gold - 5yrs" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TPGoS5zjbMI/AAAAAAAAQ8E/jpQtQ8sB_Sw/Gold%20-%205yrs_thumb%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="163" /></a></p> <p>Sources / More info:</p> <ol> <li>http://goo.gl/0tpFm </li> <li>http://goo.gl/xcDNl </li> <li>http://goo.gl/Tpvl7 </li> <li>wikipedia:Chinese_wall </li> <li>http://goo.gl/4A69z </li> <li>http://goo.gl/uAELk </li> <li>http://goo.gl/TlX1P </li> <li>http://goo.gl/DWeV0 </li> </ol> <ul> <li>15. wiki:Goldman_Sachs</li> <li>16. wiki:subprime_mortgage_crisis</li> <li>17. http://goo.gl/bbyTP</li> <li>18. http://goo.gl/chTfw</li> <li>19. http://goo.gl/wZ326</li> <li>20. http://goo.gl/7yRRX</li> </ul> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:55499c5f-14d7-47e4-a702-54065fc3011f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer . org">Consumed Consumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=investment" rel="tag">investment</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=investigation" rel="tag">investigation</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=conspiracy" rel="tag">conspiracy</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=corruption" rel="tag">corruption</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=greed" rel="tag">greed</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=wall+street" rel="tag">wall street</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=retirement" rel="tag">retirement</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=gold" rel="tag">gold</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=nest+egg" rel="tag">nest egg</a></div> Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-91300709557993267602021-03-25T05:00:00.001-04:002021-03-25T05:00:01.766-04:00Instagram is Top Privacy Invasive App<span id="description">Privacy is a concept long sacrificed on the altar of convenience. More legislative attention improves temporarily the situation, until the large conglomerates learn their way around it. We look at a recent analysis made by pCloud.</span> <a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="Signal, the WhatsApp-like communication app is the safest in terms of privacy invasion, according to pCloud, while Instagram is the worst" href="https://blog.pcloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/pcloud-instrusive-apps-the-apps-sharing-your-data-with-third-parties.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; display: inline;" border="0" alt="top safest apps in terms of privacy according to pCloud" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9QQAwef0WsMWqbN66mC7t-DysDTyU_nT_6Vtk932U5tK8oWz0ZbKkdz277KVv6QfFCiZblPKFUkAwRMZLxtlBpbuP0WsEl5fGe37hc-047wTiingg5SLtq7e9uEgxRsEsFmkABSPRf8/s320/safest-apps-to-use-to-protect-your-personal-data.jpg" align="right" height="320" data-original-width="700" data-original-height="853" /></a>Not long ago, Apple forced apps publishers to make extensive, almost exhaustive disclosures through labelling in terms of the information they were collecting and how they were using it. This is far more than most consumers have the patience to read, but it allowed researchers and lawyers to delve into these disclosures and make comparisons.</p>
<p>As one would expect, both Facebook and Google are not doing well, as their entire business model is based on monetizing the vast amount of information they collect on various “users” to the benefit of their clients/customers: advertisers. And that’s a model others try hard to emulate, which is why over 50% of all apps share your data with third parties.</p>
<p>One such analysis is published by pCloud (link below). Here’s the top 10 worst apps for privacy:</p>
<ol>
<li>Instagram</li>
<li>Facebook</li>
<li>LinkedIn</li>
<li>Uber Eats</li>
<li>Trainline</li>
<li>YouTube</li>
<li>YouTube Music</li>
<li>Deliveroo</li>
<li>Duolingo</li>
<li>eBay</li>
</ol>
<p>Of the above, I try not use Instagram much – and one could avoid using it altogether through <a title="Hootsuite: Schedule Posts for Twitter & Instagram" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hootsuite.droid.full" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a>, which also allows the scheduling of posts for Twitter. Facebook can be entirely replaced with <a title="Frost is a fully functional web wrapper, with many unique and native features" href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.pitchedapps.frost/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Frost</a>, an open source “web-wrapper” app that allows the use of multiple accounts. UberEats is unnecessary, given that its functionality can be obtained through the regular Uber app. YouTube can also be replaced by <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2019/05/get-youtube-premium-free.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NewPipe, as we have previously explained</a>, which allows saving videos as a video or music file and background play. </p>
<p>Most of the apps above can also be used via a mobile web browser – especially Duolingo and eBay, though obviously using Chrome has its own privacy downsides. Other such apps further down the list include Reddit, Twitter, Walmart.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, in terms of the safest apps, we find Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom (I suppose after lawsuits Google is taking kids’ privacy more seriously), Skype, Zoom, Buzzfeed and Discord.</p>
<p>These lists encourage me to use my web browser more. How about yourself?</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Invasive apps by Ivan Dimitrov | March 5, 2021" href="https://blog.pcloud.com/invasive-apps/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pcld-invapps</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:4fe3f02c-b584-40ae-9281-242795251874" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=analysis" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'analysis' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">analysis</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=pCloud" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'pCloud' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">pCloud</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=privacy" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'privacy' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">privacy</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=convenience" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'convenience' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">convenience</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=confidentiality" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'confidentiality' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">confidentiality</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=advertising" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'advertising' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">advertising</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=internet" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'internet' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">internet</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=web" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'web' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">web</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=google" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'google' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">google</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=facebook" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'facebook' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=instagram" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'instagram' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=signal" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'signal' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">signal</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=chat" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'chat' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">chat</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=information" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'information' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">information</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=collection" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'collection' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">collection</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-10053469153047233682021-03-24T15:16:00.002-04:002021-03-24T15:25:28.960-04:00Pre-Diabetes and Dietary Advice for Weight Loss<span id="description">Given a recent study on weight gain during the pandemic, we look at conventional wisdom advice on dealing with weight gain and the omnipresent menace of diabetes.</span> <a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="Surprising signs of Diabetes and some of pre-diabetes (belly fat)" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3-WG3zpI0R-Wwgi7Xg7RwE5J-DKHTejMfWbAVE-_JKezZNala0V2x-QRazsb29Q43UlKhvAYcFxBsGRbXEtS2oOPDowYTrtxq_AZnrsfx8PgkhbxFTl02pYNyq_B7TYJDoPoYVB15jE/s1024/pre-Diabetes-signs.jpg"><img style="float: right; display: inline;" border="0" alt="composite image of signs of diabetes and pre-diabetes" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3-WG3zpI0R-Wwgi7Xg7RwE5J-DKHTejMfWbAVE-_JKezZNala0V2x-QRazsb29Q43UlKhvAYcFxBsGRbXEtS2oOPDowYTrtxq_AZnrsfx8PgkhbxFTl02pYNyq_B7TYJDoPoYVB15jE/s320/pre-Diabetes-signs.jpg" width="320" align="right" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="1024" /></a>A recent UCSF study tracking 269 people between February 1 – June 1, 2020, found that US adults gained an average 0.59 lbs (0.27kg) for every 10 days spent in lockdown (insdr). About 61% of US adults reported unwanted weight gains since the pandemic started, which is scary, considering that USA was already the most obese country and everybody else is in a race to catch up and surpass it. It seems that stress has been going through the roof while people were unable to exercise as they used to. There has been a boom in “home exercise” contraptions, but that is clearly not as useful as revisiting <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2014/09/how-to-eat-poorly-more-sugar-less-fat.html">old advice on diet</a>.</p>
<p>There are many signs that indicate that one should be concerned about diabetes, the most obvious being obesity. Even without <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2010/04/bmi-bca-blood-pressure-and-my-health.html">monitoring weight</a>, increased abdominal fat is an obvious sign that shouldn’t be taken lightly.</p>
<p>Leslie Beck imparts the following advice (tgm-prediab):</p>
<ul>
<li>choose whole grains: “One-hundred-per-cent bran cereals aren’t technically whole grain since they contain only the bran portion of the grain. But since they’re a concentrated source of fibre that’s lacking in refined cereals, they’re good choices. Plus, they have a low glycemic index.”</li>
<li>add magnesium-rich foods: “pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, hemp seeds, tempeh, tofu, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, cooked spinach, Swiss chard and 100-per-cent bran cereal”</li>
<li>limit added sugars: “Some brands of ‘no added sugar’ jams, for example, have 5 g of sugar (one teaspoon worth) per serving from fruit juice concentrate, an added sugar.”</li>
<li>be active: “Aerobic exercise, high-intensity interval training and resistance training have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in prediabetes.” – at least 150 min / week</li>
</ul>
<p>We have had some moderate success with a few apps for abs training at home, though we found them full of ads and not exactly suitable for cardio. It is particularly jarring that swimming pools are closed everywhere. As much as some of us hate running, that may very well be the best candidate for regular cardio exercise.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Have prediabetes? Dietary changes can prevent Type 2 diabetes by Leslie Beck | Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on Twitter @LeslieBeckRD" href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/article-have-prediabetes-dietary-changes-can-prevent-type-2-diabetes/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tgm-prediab</a>, <a title="US adults gained an average half a pound in weight for every 10 days spent in lockdown, study finds | Bill Bostock Mar 23, 2021, 9:25 AM" href="https://www.insider.com/americans-weighed-half-pound-heavier-every-10-days-lockdown-study-2021-3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">insdr-0.5lbpr10days</a>, <a title="One year later, a new wave of pandemic health concerns | March 11, 2021" href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year-pandemic-stress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">apa-stress</a>, <a title="Breaking the prediabetes chain" href="https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/prediabetes-diet#takeaway" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hl-prediab</a>, <a title="3 Reasons It’s Harder For People With Type 2 Diabetes To Lose Weight | Dec 1, 2017 | Sarah Hallberg" href="https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/3-reasons-its-harder-for-people-with-type-2-diabetes-to-lose-weight" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vhl-3rsns</a>, <a title="Understanding Prediabetes and Excess Weight Brochure" href="https://www.obesityaction.org/get-educated/public-resources/brochures-guides/understanding-prediabetes-and-excess-weight-brochure/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">oac-prediab</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:6a91ea51-ff36-4fa0-b3e9-df18a13fdee8" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=diabetes" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'diabetes' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">diabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=prediabetes" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'prediabetes' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">prediabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=pre-diabetes" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'pre-diabetes' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">pre-diabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=diet" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'diet' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">diet</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=nutrition" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'nutrition' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">nutrition</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=food" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'food' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">food</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=weight+gain" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'weight gain' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">weight gain</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=weight+loss" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'weight loss' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">weight loss</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=weightloss" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'weightloss' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">weightloss</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-24420953056870307012021-01-03T22:20:00.015-05:002021-03-24T15:16:56.329-04:00gaming laptop upgrade I: cloning SDD drive to 1TB NVME<span id="description">I purchased <a title="HP Pavilion Gaming 15 Laptop, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD, 15.6" Full HD, Windows 10 Home, Backlit Keyboard (15-ec1010nr, 2020 Model)" href="https://amzn.to/3o6xhtc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">my gaming laptop</a> (<a title="HP Pavilion Gaming 15-ec0751ms Laptop AMD Ryzen 5 3550H 2.1 GHz up to 3.7 GHz 8GB DDR4 2400 MHz 256GB NVMe PCIe SSD" href="https://amzn.to/3ncYzgh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">.ca</a>) in a hurry, at a time when many others were buying theirs, and was unable to get all that I wanted. Compromises had to be made. But this past December, I took the plunge and upgraded the memory and the hard drive (which was already quite fast, but a little too small).</span> <a name='more'></a>
<p><a title="HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-ec0000) - disassembly and upgrade options by LaptopMedia Feb 26, 2020, 3:28" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR-hXtur_ww" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; display: inline;" border="0" alt="the HP Pavilion 15z-ec0xxxca motherboard view" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vbwpLPmKSxq0eTh6XQj2SUK39iVYjFDEdW2lfpu1oxY1LZcGkIUVAX_gcvhNY1-6AQM-9i2YHv9bW2_mpE23kHelSAFdMVcl01JlR9Cv51Yu8tldu0eGlsVldXrfehTBefbM3Fqp-Gg/s320/hp_pavilion_15zec0xxxca_mobo.jpg" width="320" align="right" data-original-width="2048" data-original-height="2045" /></a>As of this writing, the <a title="Hynix PC4-21300 DDR4-2666 SDRAM SO-DIMM 1333MHz HMA81GS6DJR8N-VK" href="https://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/638583738835566592/i-have-an-8gb-memory-module-in-my-laptop" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">memory</a> is still in the mail. Let’s start with <a title="SSD Upgrade | HP Pavilion Gaming Ryzen 5 4600H | 15-ec1024AX | Disassembly Reassembly | Jugaad Tech | Aug 19, 2020 | 7:17" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9ab1L_qzIs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">exposing the mobo</a>, which can be found in numerous YouTube videos, this HP Pavilion Gaming laptop being quite popular.</p>
<p>The existing storage device was a 256GB NVMe PCIe SSD, which was quite fast, but not large enough. Normally, one simply buys a regular SATA SSD, such as the <a title="Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E2T0B/AM) USD200" href="https://amzn.to/3rNioOJ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2TB</a> (<a title="Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD (MZ-76E2T0/AM) [Canada Version] CAD350" href="https://amzn.to/3b4Tvs0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">.ca</a>), or the <a title="Samsung SSD 860 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E4T0B/AM) USD500" href="https://amzn.to/38avA8t" target="_blank">4TB version</a> (<a title="Samsung 860 EVO 4TB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD (MZ-76E4T0/AM) [Canada Version] CAD700" href="https://amzn.to/3pPKJlP" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">.ca</a>), replacing the dummy drive that can be seen in the right margin of the motherboard photo, but I decided instead for another NVMe drive, the <a title="Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S1T0/AM) [Canada Version] $300" href="https://amzn.to/3rJcU7A" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">top of the line 970 EVO Plus</a> when I happened upon a sale at <a title="Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S1T0/AM) [Canada Version] (B07MFZY2F2) - lowest price to 2021 $190" href="https://ca.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B07MFZY2F2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">its lowest price</a> ever. </p>
<p>The drive I bought might actually be faster than my laptop can use, but that’s not a bad thing. A secondary issue is that the metallic bracket holding the drive in the photo did not come off easily. Maybe it’s part of the drive, maybe not – I did not want to risk it.</p>
<p>I didn’t bother with an <a title="UGREEN M.2 SSD Enclosure USB C to NVMe PCI Express Adapter Aluminum USB 3.1 Type C Gen 2 10Gbps to M-Key Hard Drive Caddy External Case for 2230/2242/2260/2280 Support UASP, Tool-Free CAD 48.99" href="https://amzn.to/359fOJk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">enclosure</a>, though I might buy one later. To transfer my data, I thus had to clone / backup my drive to another storage device, replace the drives, then restore the data back to the new drive. While there are a number of commercial solutions, I feared that they weren’t good enough or might allow me to backup yet require payment for the restore, which I wasn’t looking forward to, so I chose instead a free and open source project, Clonezilla. Other people swear by Easeus Todo Backup, Acronis TrueImage, MiniTool Partition Wizard, DriveImage XML, Paragon Backup, NIUBI Partition Editor Free or Macrium Reflect. Most of these install at least 2 services – e.g., MiniTool has MTSchedulerService and MTAgentService and an update checker for startup.</p>
<h3><a name="clonezilla"></a>clonezilla</h3>
<p>I had forgotten I already had it on one of my USB drives, so I downloaded again (cl-dl), and used <font face="Courier New">sudo dd if=bla.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1024k status=progress</font> to burn it to my drive. Unless one has a 3-400MB USB key, there will be empty non-partitioned space left, so to make it usable I created a FAT32 partition on it in Windows. Though I used Linux to burn the image, one can also do so in Windows using <a title="Create bootable USB drives the easy way" href="https://rufus.ie/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rufus</a> or <a title="Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily." href="https://www.balena.io/etcher/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Balena Etcher</a>.</p>
<p>I downloaded first the Debian version, and that didn’t work, so I tried the Ubuntu “alternative” version, and that was fine, or <em>groovy</em>, to be exact. I then pressed Esc, followed by F9 to get into my BIOS boot menu, picked the USB drive, got 4 warnings, chose the defaults mostly (it was appealing to copy the whole thing to RAM but I didn’t want to wait), and then once it started I <a title="Cloning/Imaging Hard Disks with Clonezilla Live - minute 5" href="https://youtu.be/EW4_tqBaczw?t=302" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">picked <em>device-image</em></a>. Since I had my USB storage for the image connected locally, I picked <em>local_dev</em>. I then had to choose between <em>savedisk</em> and <em>saveparts</em>. </p>
<p>On my original (source) drive, I had several partitions:</p>
<ol>
<li>260MB EFI System Partition</li>
<li>Windows (C:) 91.23 GB NTFS</li>
<li>146.48GB RAW (Veracrypt’d data)</li>
<li>500MB Recovery Partition</li>
</ol>
<p>Back in the day, due to MS-DOS legacy decisions, you could only have 4 primary partitions on an MBR partition table, and additional partitions on a logical drive, but UEFI / GPT bumped that up to 128.</p>
<ol></ol>
<p>I wanted to restore the Veracrypt partition last on the disk, to avoid having to deal with two Windows partitions, but that didn’t work as planned, unfortunately. Choosing <em>saveparts</em> with a few extra options, such as saving the MBR code worked on the save part, but failed at restore, so I went through it again, this time choosing <em>savedisk</em>. I left it overnight, then, the next evening, I switched the SDDs, booted again from the USB key with Clonezilla, then restored using <em>restoredisk</em> and – boom! – it worked.</p>
<p>There are numerous video tutorials on YouTube, (apart from Clonezilla’s own documentation, which didn’t answer my questions), and one of the latest is <a title="Chris Titus Tech, Oct 10, 2020" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ9NpWZ74BU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clone Any System (14:08)</a>. One has also the option of doing a fresh Windows install – this <a title="How to Optimize Windows 10 for Gaming and Performance - 27:06 | Chris Titus Tech | Jan 1, 2021" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlMqdSiGcOg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">optimization guide</a> can help (uses msmg-tk, ame-nfo and sdi).</p>
<p>To move or change the Windows RE image, use <em>reagentc /setreimage /?</em> (msd-rgntc).</p>
<p>The system booted up without a hitch and I ended up with over 600 GB of free space, which I promptly partitioned with <em>diskmgmt.msc</em> (it’s called something else these days) into NTFS. I also left about 200 GB unpartitioned at the end of the drive, in the hope of moving the Restore and Veracrypt partitions to the very end of the drive, so that I can expand the C:/ or Windows one. The old Defrag used to call a similar though different process “consolidating free space”. </p>
<h3><a name="consolidating"></a>consolidating</h3>
<p>With my system fully restored and working, I proceeded to move some stuff from my C: Windows partition to the new one. There wasn’t much data, as that was mostly on the Veracrypt partition, but a number of large apps might have to be uninstalled and re-installed to E: after having changed the default “Program Files” folder, as NOT suggested by ms-progfiles; the key is <strong>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion</strong> and the downside is that updates may fail to install to the existing programs that had already been installed in <em>C:\Program Files</em>. Perhaps I will leave it as is and only change it before installing a new one. Ideally, I should be able to move the Recovery & Veracrypt partitions to the end of the drive and have one single contiguous Windows C: partition – to be done later (part-*).</p>
<p>To force Windows to take notice of the change without restarting, open Task Manager and in the Processes tab right-click on explorer.exe and select Restart.</p>
<p>One can also “change where new content is saved” from Settings –> System –> Storage, which modifies “new” apps, documents, music, photos, videos and offline maps.</p>
<p>Finally, to move the WSL installation – kali-linux in my case – I used the .ps1 script from move-wsl, but first I “backed it up” with </p>
<pre><code>wsl.exe --export kali-linux <Tar-FileName></code></pre>
<p> followed by </p>
<pre><code>wsl.exe --import kali-linux <Folder-To-Install> <Tar-FileName></code></pre>
<p>Instead of that last –<em>import</em> step, I used the aforementioned ps1 script which did a pretty good job. I had to kill my –s –sl kex, and then found that the default user had been switched to root. To fix it, I created <em>/etc/wsl.conf</em>. and added to it </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[user] </p>
<p>default=YOUR_USERNAME </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To exit kali I had to issue <em>wsl -t kali-linux</em>. </p>
<p>My ext4.vhdx file has a size of 3672064 KB (I have a few things installed) and now I can start to add more kali-metas, such as <em>kali-linux-default</em> (everything). I thus managed to free about 26 GB on my main C: drive</p>
<p>Next, I focused on scoop, which I had previously installed as I felt that its portability will make moving it to a new drive easier. Unfortunately, it seems that I will have to uninstall (<em>scoop uninstall scoop</em>), set a variable, then re-install. Scoop was supposed to be at ~\appdata\local\scoop, but mine was just ~\scoop so here are the steps to take (AussieLuke):</p>
<ol>
<li>I copied the whole directory tree to the new drive</li>
<li>scoop uninstall scoop – left behind empty directory</li>
<li>Assuming the target directory is <code>e:\scoop</code>, in a PowerShell command console, run:</li>
<pre>$env:SCOOP='E:\scoop'
[environment]::setEnvironmentVariable('SCOOP',$env:SCOOP,'User')
iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex</pre>
<li>Move directory from backup to new</li>
<li></li>
</ol>
<p>The installed apps were 7zip, adb, cowsay, dark, git, lessmsi, python, scoop and scrcpy, taking altogether 1.17GB (scp-sowhat).</p>
<p>Let’s see if I can keep it this way for a while..</p>
<h3><a name="benchmarking"></a>benchmarking</h3>
<p>In anticipation of the memory sticks, I will install a few benchmarking programs to see what difference the new memory will make (last <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2018/02/benchmarking.html">visited 2018</a>). I haven’t gone through the exercises above to “strip down” Windows to bare metal, so the results are to be considered for regular usage. The goal is not to get the best score but rather to measure changes in performance brought on my different hardware changes – on regular use.</p>
<p>In summary, while the tests were running, I had at least one Chromium browser window open with between one and four tabs and several extensions, Windows Explorer, OLW, a password manager, One Drive, at least one USB3 connected external HDD, a mouse, Microsoft Defender, Veracrypt with at least one drive mounted, etc</p>
<p><a style="padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center; display: block;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjeVkPMWGGNv77aaJfAGDGof1otyxRYPIMbFLBe4Hm5WW_MlWloTM6knd1sW3wG6jO91ATRTADFR3nKj1G7zQzmMF1KFpMMRq8v6G2dOBD3HG1clZYMcyqmDLrKmGbYuLFtL-cYu2Bqo/s1195/Screenshot2021-01-04SamsungMagicianNVMe970PlusBenchmark.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjeVkPMWGGNv77aaJfAGDGof1otyxRYPIMbFLBe4Hm5WW_MlWloTM6knd1sW3wG6jO91ATRTADFR3nKj1G7zQzmMF1KFpMMRq8v6G2dOBD3HG1clZYMcyqmDLrKmGbYuLFtL-cYu2Bqo/s320/Screenshot2021-01-04SamsungMagicianNVMe970PlusBenchmark.jpg" width="320" data-original-width="1195" data-original-height="373" /></a>I haven't seen much use in Samsung Magician, but nonetheless, ran its benchmark, getting 3539 MB/s read, 3267 write, 228027 IOPS read, 177246 write.</p>
<details><summary>A better known and used measure of SDD or HDD performance is CrystalMark.</summary>
<pre>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 8.0.0 x64 (C) 2007-2020 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes
[Read]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 3007.276 MB/s [ 2868.0 IOPS] < 2786.57 us>
SEQ 128KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 3238.443 MB/s [ 24707.4 IOPS] < 1293.69 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T=16): 1680.686 MB/s [ 410323.7 IOPS] < 1200.98 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 46.377 MB/s [ 11322.5 IOPS] < 87.85 us>
[Write]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 3248.895 MB/s [ 3098.4 IOPS] < 2575.72 us>
SEQ 128KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 3208.657 MB/s [ 24480.1 IOPS] < 1305.12 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T=16): 887.846 MB/s [ 216759.3 IOPS] < 2280.44 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 130.055 MB/s [ 31751.7 IOPS] < 31.19 us>
Profile: Default
Test: 1 GiB (x5) [C: 72% (66/91GiB)]
Mode: [Admin]
Time: Measure 5 sec / Interval 5 sec
Date: 2021/01/04 17:08:58
OS: Windows 10 [10.0 Build 19042] (x64)</pre>
</details>
<p>I have an image for the results above, but the text is sufficient.</p>
<details><summary><a title="HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15-ec0xxx" href="https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/37952649" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">UserBenchmark</a> yielded several results, ranging from44.5% for the RAM, to 68% for the CPU to 312.2% for the NVMe drive.  </summary>
<blockquote>
<p>**CPU**|[AMD Ryzen 5 3550H]<a href="https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/718601/AMD-Ryzen-5-3550H-with-Radeon-Vega-Mobile-Gfx)|68%" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">68%</a>
<br /> **SSD**|[Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB]<a href="https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/693540/Samsung-SSD-970-EVO-Plus-1TB)|312.2%" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">312.2%</a>
<br /> **HDD**|[Seagate Expansion 4TB]<a href="https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/78697/Seagate-Expansion)|41.5%" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">41.5%</a>
<br /> **RAM**|[Hynix HMA81GS6DJR8N-VK 1x8GB]<a href="https://ram.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/925605/Hynix-HMA81GS6DJR8N-VK-1x8GB)|44.5%" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">44.5%</a>
<br /> **MBD**|[<a href="https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-Pavilion-Gaming-Laptop-15-ec0xxx/157225" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15-ec0xxx</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>This was quite interesting, simple and detailed.</p>
<p>7zip’s benchmark reports a “total rating” of 702%, with 3295 MIPS Rating/Usage and 23705 MIPS Rating.</p>
<p><a title="7zip portable results after a short time in regular usage; link is a video explaining how this works: How to benchmark your PC with 7zip by TechRacoon, Sep 11, 2020" style="padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center; display: block;" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q96n746Hv58" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHf1Ijp4A0hGbX25IrdrHGL1UiKdZEuEz6VSKxtgMrn7pYkUOg94KtuIOCj-Vqy_M2qQOixFQT_grLS1WUMJ3FXtOvroytEgcTsgRgI6dI9LB6NGaDaRljHf309CJ9hgTks_kTUrQ-UU/s320/7zipBenchmark.jpg" width="320" data-original-width="682" data-original-height="527" /></a>I had fired up 7zip’s benchmark from a portable install on my encrypted drive.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/56191534?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3Dmark Time Spy</a> was 2209 (gr 2089, CPU 3281), Cinebench R23 showed 4137 multicore and 903 single with 4.58 ratio, while Novabench yielded <a title="Tested on Jan 5, 2021 at 16:46" href="https://novabench.com/view/2279176" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1991</a> (CPU: 922, RAM: 189, GPU: 627, Disk: 253). Find more results to compare at <a title="Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading." href="https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/cpu_benchmark-cinebench_r23_multi_core-16" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cpu-monkey</a></p>
<p><a title="System requirements, Games it can play and Rate my PC tool - PCGameBenchmark" href="https://www.pcgamebenchmark.com/ratemypc?cpu=amd-ryzen-5-3550u&memory=8gb&gpu=nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-mobile&platform=windows" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block;" alt="pcgamebenchmark results based on entered data rather than automated discovery" src="https://www.pcgamebenchmark.com/signature/amd-ryzen-5-3550u/8gb/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-mobile/forum.png" /></a> Though I’m not a gamer, and plan to use it mostly for video editing, I was curious what games can this laptop play, and found the 53% score above by merely entering the "best guess" values, without running their ID app.</p>
<p>After having gone through the tests, I decided to go through my services and stop / disable a few, after creating a restore point..</p>
<ol>
<li>HP Analytics service – this was running and Automatic, but was criticized in the past (<a title="HP Accused of Quietly Installing Spyware on Windows PCs by Matthew Humphries Updated November 28, 2017" href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/hp-accused-of-quietly-installing-spyware-on-windows-pcs#:~:text=%22HP%20Touchpoint%20Analytics%20is%20a,the%20service%20at%20any%20time." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PCmag</a>, <a title="HP stealthily installs new spyware called HP Touchpoint Analytics Client By Woody Leonhard, Columnist, Computerworld | NOV 27, 2017 1:29 PM PST" href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3238512/hp-stealthily-installs-new-spyware-called-hp-touchpoint-analytics-client.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CW</a>, <a title="HP installing HP Touchpoint Analytics Client Telemetry service by Martin Brinkmann on November 27, 2017" href="https://www.ghacks.net/2017/11/27/hp-installing-hp-touchpoint-analytics-client-telemetry-service/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gH</a>)</li>
<li>Futuremark SystemInfo Service – not running benchmark all the time</li>
<li>Novabench Service – as above</li>
<li>Connected User Experiences and Telemetry – spyware</li>
<li>AarSvc_5201d – IoT, unnecessary</li>
<li>Bonjour (was running, automatic)</li>
<li>HP App Helper HSA S/ CASL Framework S/ Comm Recovery /<em> Omen</em> HSA S/ System Info HSA S (TBR)</li>
<li>Two Brave services (don’t use that browser so much)</li>
<li>Payments and NFC/SE Manager (don’t have NFC); I don’t use biometrics or bitlocker either, but I feared it may interfere with other services</li>
</ol>
<p>Some advice on HP bloatware can be found at <a title="A number of unnecessary programs can be removed, without harming the functionality of your laptop. Other programs are necessary: you don't want a non-functioning keyboard." href="https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/hp-laptop-remove-bloatware.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">coolblue</a>, while a general <a title="Script/Utility/Application to debloat Windows 10" href="https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">debloater is on GitHub</a>.</p>
<p>I plan to repeat the benchmark tests once I get the memory chips.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="https://github.com/pxlrbt/move-wsl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">move-wsl</a>, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38779801/move-wsl-bash-on-windows-root-filesystem-to-another-hard-drive" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">so-mvwsl</a>, <a title="Microsoft does not support changing the location of the Program Files folder by modifying the ProgramFilesDir registry value. If you change the location of the Program Files folder, you may experience problems with some Microsoft programs or with some software updates." href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/933700/microsoft-does-not-support-changing-the-location-of-the-program-files#:~:text=Steps%20to%20change%20the%20ProgramFilesDir,for%20the%20Program%20Files%20folder&text=%2C%20and%20then%20click%20OK.&text=In%20the%20details%20pane%2C%20right,folder%2C%20and%20then%20click%20OK." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ms-progfiles</a>, <a title="Metapackages are used to install many packages at one time, created as a list of dependencies on other packages. Kali Linux uses these in a few ways. One way is allowing users to decide how many packages out of the total Kali list they would like to install. Need just enough to use Linux? Want enough to conduct Pentests? Perhaps nearly every package available in Kali?" href="https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/metapackages/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kali-metas</a>, <a title="https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/" href="https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">smsng-mgcn</a>, <a title="Clonezilla: The Free and Open Source Software for Disk Imaging and Cloning -" href="https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cl-dl</a>, <a title="MSMG Toolkit For IT Professionals, System Builders and End users" href="https://msmgtoolkit.in/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msmg-tk</a>, <a title="Offline Snappy Driver Installer" href="https://sdi-tool.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sdi</a>, <a title="Windows 10 AME aims at delivering a stable, non-intrusive yet fully functional build of Windows 10 to anyone, who requires the Windows operating system natively. Spyware systems, which are abundant in Windows 10 by default, have not been disabled using group policy, registry entries or various other workarounds – they have been entirely removed and deleted from the system, on an executable-level. This includes Windows Update, and any related services intended to re-patch the system via what is essentially a universal backdoor. Core applications, such as the included Edge web-browser, Windows Media Player, Cortana, as well as any appx applications, have also been successfully eliminated. The total size of removed files is about 2 GB." href="https://ameliorated.info/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ame-nfo</a>, <a title="Best benchmarks software of 2020 By Ritoban Mukherjee October 26, 2020" href="https://www.techradar.com/best/best-benchmarks-software" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tr-bnchmrk</a>, <a title="Decrapify your Windows Computer by Rohn007 on Sept 25, 2017" href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-performance/decrapify-your-windows-computer/e6742978-e44e-4d38-8f5c-77cde74b5ab6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ms-decrap</a>, <a title="NOANSWER: Windows has placed the recovery partition on my drive D, but the drive recently failed, so I wish to remove it and replace it with a new hard drive (the device is over 7 years old, it has had a good life). When I re3moved the drive, suddenly Windows would not function, I could only access BIOS. I have seen many different software programs that offer to solve this problem for you, but many are just advertised on websites that look very untrustworthy." href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update-winpc/how-to-move-a-windows-10-recovery-partition/d44c2e86-5780-4ae4-9c89-5e53586bd35c" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ms-how2</a>, <a title="If you're having problems with your PC, the following table can help you decide which recovery option to use." href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/recovery-options-in-windows-10-31ce2444-7de3-818c-d626-e3b5a3024da5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ms-userecpart</a>, <a title="This article introduces how to move partitions in Windows 10/8/7 with safest partition manager software, how to move Windows 10 partition to left or right, front or end of disk, or to another disk without reinstalling Windows or losing any data. by John, Updated on: August 25, 2020" href="https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/clone-and-move-system-reserved-partition-to-another-drive.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">esus-mvprt</a>, <a title="Microsoft appears to have fixed the Recovery Partition hell in Windows 10 by Martin Brinkmann on July 13, 2020 in Windows - Last Update: July 13, 2020 - 26 comments" href="https://www.ghacks.net/2020/07/13/microsoft-appears-to-have-fixed-the-recovery-partition-hell-in-windows-10/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gh-msfix</a>, <a title="NIUBI Partition Editor: how to move partition on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP and Server 2019/2016/2012/2008/2003 R2. Move partition location to the left, to the right, to end of disk or move volume from one disk to another." href="https://www.hdd-tool.com/partition-editor/how-to-move-partition-volume.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hddt-how2</a> <a title="How to move partitions in Windows 10/8/7 by John, Updated on: August 25, 2020" href="https://www.hdd-tool.com/windows-10/how-to-move-partition.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2</a>, <a title="You can use the REAgentC.exe tool to configure a Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) boot image and a push-button reset recovery image, and to administer recovery options and customizations. You can run the REAgentC command on an offline Windows image or on a running Windows operating system." href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/reagentc-command-line-options#:~:text=You%20can%20use%20the%20REAgentC.exe%20tool%20to%20configure,image%20or%20on%20a%20running%20Windows%20operating%20system." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msd-rgntc</a>, <a title="copy dir, uninstall, set $env:SCOOP, re-install scoop with iex.. then copy the saved dir over" href="https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop/issues/249#issuecomment-68157176" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AussieLuke</a>, <a title="scoop: avoids GUIs whenever possible, keeps you on the command line" href="https://scoop-docs.now.sh/docs/overview/So-What.html#why-should-you-care-about-scoop" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">scp-sowhat</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:9721d67c-2b4b-4f76-8f60-1b4ca9393daf" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag" title="adventures in the trenches of consumerism">Consumed Consumer . org</a>: <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=sdd" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'sdd' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">sdd</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=nvme" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'nvme' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">nvme</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=m.2" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'm.2' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">m.2</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=storage" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'storage' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">storage</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=partition" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'partition' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">partition</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=clonezilla" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'clonezilla' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">clonezilla</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hdd" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'hdd' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">hdd</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hard+drive" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'hard drive' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">hard drive</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hard+disk" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'hard disk' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">hard disk</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=benchmark" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'benchmark' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">benchmark</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=benchmarking" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'benchmarking' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">benchmarking</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=laptop" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'laptop' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">laptop</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=partitioning" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'partitioning' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">partitioning</a>, <a href="https://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=backup" rel="tag" title="a predefined search of this blog with 'backup' (i.e., find all articles containing this word)">backup</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-79855091051041225102018-05-25T08:00:00.000-04:002020-02-19T17:32:39.306-05:00Best Low-Cost Robotic Vacuum Cleaner<span id="description">Forced by circumstances, I found myself searching for a robotic vacuum cleaner. I look for something without frills, less than CN$300, which automatically excludes all the Roomba nonsense.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Eufy [BoostIQ] RoboVac 11S (Slim), Super-Thin, 1300Pa Strong Suction, Quiet, Self-Charging Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Cleans Hard Floors to Medium-Pile Carpets" href="https://amzn.to/2Lsly5q" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img title="ConsumerReports1" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="ConsumerReports1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0Mg-sk01qfc/WwfrW8nFm9I/AAAAAAAA0ys/W4X47GpQT-8eaVLzgfu3sh-6QUF5iMQgACHMYCw/ConsumerReports1_thumb%255B11%255D?imgmax=800" width="286" align="right" height="286" /></a>I started with Consumer Reports, where Samsung models rule the roost, but only Eufy is both EC and in my price range.</p><p>Here’s how they describe it in their Buying Guide:</p><blockquote><p><b>Pros:</b> Robotic vacuums do the grunge work while you relax. In uncluttered rooms, a robotic can touch up between regular, manual vacuuming sessions. The better models can find their way out of tight spots and around extension cords. A few of the newest models can even be controlled by an app on your smartphone.</p><p><b>Cons:</b> No robotic vacuum can match the deep cleaning you'll get from the best uprights and canisters. Not the ideal choice if you have shag carpeting or area rugs.</p></blockquote><p>Nothing I didn’t know. To flesh out my ideal robotic vacuum cleaner, it has to be:</p><ul><li>cheap (less than $300) – <a title="Robotic Vacuums for Under $300 | Consumer Reports - 2019" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAPGAzqH28w" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CR Video</a><br />
<li>simple – I don’t need bluetooth, Wi-Fi, remote controls or other pointless gadgetry (and it’s unlikely to be found in this price range) <br />
<li>good at hard floors, don’t care much about carpets <br />
<li>good at navigation and covering an entire area <br />
<li>don’t need mopping, that’s the easy part of cleaning and I can probably do it myself (though it would be nice to have)<br />
<li>don’t care much about charging station and returning to the station (though I’ll take it if available)</li></ul><p>Interestingly, CR actually have an article on the best Robotic Vacuums for $300 or less and a <a title="Robotic Vacuum Buying Guide | Consumer Reports | 3:52 | 2019" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrIie-02awM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">buying guide</a>.</p><p>The top recommended robot as of early 2020 with an 88 score is <a title="eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11S (Slim), Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Super-Thin, 1300Pa Strong Suction, Quiet, Self-Charging Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Cleans Hard Floors to Medium-Pile Carpets" href="https://amzn.to/2Paec9Y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Eufy 11S</a>. The only other ones less than $300, were way lower on the list: <a title="iRobot Roomba 618 Robotic Vacuum" href="https://amzn.to/2SFtp5g" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">iRobot Roomba 618</a> (Walmart), with an 81 score, listed at $270 and <a title="ECOVACS DEEBOT 500 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner with Max Power Suction, Up to 110 min Runtime, Hard Floors & Carpets, App Controls, Self-Charging, Quiet" href="https://amzn.to/329HP0s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ecovacs Deebot 500</a>, with an 80 score, at $190, and a few other similarly priced but lower scoring Eufy models.</p><p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Showing results for robotic vacuum cleaner Models (37)" href="https://www.consumerreports.org/search/?query=robotic%20vacuum%20cleaner&n=contentType:Models#Models" target="_blank">cr-all</a>,</p><div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:ce88c308-77b6-4e69-bfe4-8ad30a97093a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/shopping" rel="tag">shopping</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/comparison+shopping" rel="tag">comparison shopping</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cleaning" rel="tag">cleaning</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/vacuum+cleaner" rel="tag">vacuum cleaner</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/sweeping" rel="tag">sweeping</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-65624698708718217332019-12-22T23:00:00.005-05:002019-12-31T15:07:45.921-05:00Rediscovering Tmux and Screen<span id="description">I have recently resurrected some older devices with flaky connectivity and while ssh-ing into them had to use some terminal tricks (aka <a title="A terminal multiplexer is a software application that can be used to multiplex several separate pseudoterminal-based login sessions inside a single terminal display, terminal emulator window, PC/workstation system console, or remote login session, or to detach and reattach sessions from a terminal. It is useful for dealing with multiple programs from a command line interface, and for separating programs from the session of the Unix shell that started the program, particularly so a remote process continues running even when the user is disconnected." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_multiplexer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">multiplexers</a>) to restore connections if disconnected (or to purposely disconnect/reconnect on long commands). I used tmux where possible, but occasionally only GNU screen was available, making a summary of features opportune.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="screenshot of ssh terminal connection; window split into two panes with tmux" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-mqCTkX_D8VPBYG0IuRGj29mIRGEK9kE691xNp59gRHvFpunHpoTduE4kxkfozP0HFoHId_9Yk9iPmPL9uopXJWcjBdOkIKeAaN-suUIAcNt3EqtrdrqU0WvlKNvcuHTT22FJNp4Vxk/s1600/2019-12-17-tmux-raw-blrd.jpg" rel="nofollow" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: right; display: inline" border="0" alt="screenshot of terminal ssh connection split windows with tmux" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-mqCTkX_D8VPBYG0IuRGj29mIRGEK9kE691xNp59gRHvFpunHpoTduE4kxkfozP0HFoHId_9Yk9iPmPL9uopXJWcjBdOkIKeAaN-suUIAcNt3EqtrdrqU0WvlKNvcuHTT22FJNp4Vxk/s320/2019-12-17-tmux-raw-blrd.jpg" width="317" height="317" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1077"></a>I don’t use either tmux or screen regularly, and, having had to refresh my memory on using both, I thought I commit my notes to this blog. I only need either for connecting to remote systems via ssh, in order to restore a session that may be interrupted by poor connectivity or multitasking (i.e., rather than wait for a task to finish, I might have to disconnect and come back to it later, without interrupting it).</p> <p>In Windows I generally use MobaXterm for SSH connections. The screenshot is taken from this program, which allows tiling of several “instances” much like the multiplexers, but without the ability to restore sessions.</p> <p>Both tmux and screen use a configurable “prefix” – a key combination giving the program notice that a command follows. For example, in both cases you use <em>prefix + ?</em> for a list of commands. I don’t normally change the default prefix.</p> <p>Before delving into either, it’s a good idea to try to make sense of the terminology used by the programs.</p> <blockquote> <p>Let's take Vim's terminology as a good example and then proceed to tmux and GNU Screen. Vim has the following entities when it comes to files and how they appear on the screen: <ul> <li>buffer -- holds the file <li>window -- displays one of buffers <li>tab -- displays one or more windows</li></ul> <p>tmux provides nice example of how one should <em>never</em> name things (it still gives me hard time remembering the naming): <ul> <li>window -- this is a "tab" in Vim and pretty much any other application <li>pane -- this is a "window" in Vim (very intuitive to name different things with very similar words, isn't it?..)</li></ul> <p>Naming is not strong part of GNU Screen as well, but there is a logic behind most of it: <ul> <li>window -- this is like a "buffer" in Vim (strange naming, but it gets better) <li>region -- this is like a "window" in Vim (makes sense, "region" suits well) <li>layout -- a "tab" in Vim (near perfect match, "tab" is just a layout container)</li></ul></blockquote> <p>(via rt-tmx2scr)</p> <h3>TMUX</h3> <p>Tmux (short for “terminal multiplexer”) is the most popular such a tool. By default, the prefix is <strong>Ctrl+b</strong> and the config file is in ~/.tmux.conf. </p> <p>To get more info about your current tmux setup, issue</p> <ul> <li>tmux list-keys - lists out every bound key and the tmux command it runs <li>tmux list-commands - lists out every tmux command and its arguments <li>tmux info - lists out every session, window, pane, its pid, etc. </li></ul> <p>In a session one can create more than one <em>window</em> which can then spawn one <em>pane</em>. Windows show in the green bar at the bottom of the screen, but I find that I’m fine with one window per session and multiple panes when on a big monitor. Multiple windows without panes may be suitable on smaller monitors:</p> <ul> <li><code>tmux new-window (prefix + c) </code>create a new window <li><code>tmux select-window -t :0-9 (prefix + 0-9) </code>move to the window based on index <li><code>tmux rename-window (prefix + ,) </code>rename the current window (or A?)</li></ul> <p>In terms of window navigation, prefix + number or ‘ changes to window 0 to 9, n/p or <space>/<backspace> changes to next window on the list, “ shows window list, w shows window bar.</p> <h4>scrollback</h4> <p>I find that I can simply press PgUp and then PgDn to scroll back and once that’s done, I can even scroll with the mouse wheel. <p>To have tmux start or attach every time you login to a system with in interactive shell, add this to your remote system’s <em>~/.bash_profile</em> file:<pre>if [ -z "$TMUX" ]; then
tmux attach -t default || tmux new -s default
fi</pre>
<p>Otherwise, you start with a <em>session</em> (issuing <u>tmux new –s yoursessionname</u>) and “attach” to (<u>tmux a</u> or <u>tmux attach</u> and specify a named session with <u>-t sessionname</u>). List sessions with <u>tmux ls</u> or <u>tmux list-sessions</u>.
<p>Important commands (following the prefix):</p>
<ul>
<li>d - “detach” (or –d as a switch on the tmux command)
<li>x – pane kill’em (followed by y to confirm) or to kill a detached session <u>tmux kill-session –t sessionname</u>.
<li>& - Force kill-all processes in an unresponsive window
<li>% - split current pane into two vertical panes (also <u>tmux split-window-h</u>)
<li>" - horizontal split (also <u>split-window</u>).
<li>arrow key – switch between panes (also <u>tmux select-pane</u>)
<li>{ or } – swaps pane with another in the specified direction (also <u>tmux swap-pane</u>)
<li>z – toggle current pane into full screen (zoom or unzoom one pane) ; also <u>tmux attach -t 0</u></li></ul>
<p>Run the same commands to all panes at once with <u>:setw synchronize-panes</u>. </p>
<h4>sharing</h4>
<p>Sharing a session may seem quite complicated and counterintuitive at first sight.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Screen and tmux's behaviour for when multiple clients are attached to one session differs slightly. In Screen, each client can be connected to the session but view different windows within it, but in tmux, all clients connected to one session <em>must</em> view the same window.
<p>This problem can be solved in tmux by spawning two separate sessions and synchronizing the second one to the windows of the first. This is accomplished by first starting a new session:<pre><code>tmux new -s <base session>
</code></pre>
<p>Then pointing a second new session to the first:<pre><code>tmux new-session -t <base session> -s <new session>
</code></pre>
<p>However, this usage of tmux results in the problem that detaching from these mirrored sessions will start to litter your system with defunct sessions which can only be cleaned up with some pretty extreme micromanagement. <br>I wrote a script to solve this problem, call it <code>tmx</code> and use it simply with <code>tmx <base session name></code>.</p></blockquote>
<p>See Brandur’s article for his script and more on sharing (ml-prctmx).</p>
<p>People have been using it to customize their workflow (especially in conjunction with vim and plugins such as powerline) and that usually involves changing tmux.conf.</p>
<h3>SCREEN</h3>
<p>Sometimes tmux is not available and you cannot install it, but still need a way to “restore” a session on disconnect. GNU screen responds to that demand. Its default prefix is <strong>Ctrl + a</strong> and the config file is ~/.screenrc.</p>
<p>I start screen using <em>screen –S name</em> which names the session I create. One could also use <code>screen -dRR</code> which attaches to a screen session. If the session is attached elsewhere, detaches that other display. If no session exists, creates one. If multiple sessions exist, uses the first one.)</p>
<h4>scrollback</h4>
<ul>
<li>Ctrl+u – half page up
<li>Ctrl+d – half page down
<li>Ctrl+b – back
<li>Ctrl +f- forward
<li>h/j/k/l – cursor left/down/up/right</li></ul>
<p>Here are the most important commands to remember, with the character to hit after prefix:</p>
<ul>
<li>c - Creates a new screen session so that you can use more than one screen session at once.
<li>n - Switches to the <b>n</b>ext screen session (if you use more than one).
<li>p - Switches to the <b>p</b>revious screen session (if you use more than one).
<li>d - Detaches a screen session (without killing the processes in it - they continue). Use –<em>d SCREENID</em> to detach a session in another terminal.
<li>w – display a list of all sessions currently opened.
<li>A – rename the current session.
<li>M – monitor for output – screen will fash an alert at the bottom when output is registered.
<li>_ – you get notified when there is no more output (monitor for silence).
<li>x – lock session, password required to restart. To require password at each reattach, add password <em>crypt_password</em> to .screenrc, where the <em>crypt_…</em> was created with <em>mkpasswd</em>.
<li>k – equivalent to command <em>exit</em> which kills the current session and falls back to the next or to the terminal if no more sessions are running.
<li>\ – “panic” button – exit all programs; D D detach & logout and Ctrl \ is forced exit
<li>S – split screen horizontally into “regions”
<li>l – split screen vertically
<li>tab – switch input focus to next region; Ctrl+a toggle back to the last session; <em>:resize</em>
<li># – go to session number # (e.g., 1, 2, 7)
<li>F – fit screen size to terminal size; equivalent to <em>:fit</em>.
<li>“ – choose the session to move on.
<li>Q – close all regions but current.
<li>X – close the current region; equivalent to <em>:remove</em>.
<li>H – activate logging (screenlog.0 in home directory); same as switch –L when starting session.
<li>[ – start copy mode.
<li><space> – toggle selection to copy
<li>] – paste the copied text.
<li>Ctrl+l – redraw windows </li></ul>
<p>To list sessions, do <em>screen –ls</em> and to reconnect to one do <em>screen –r [sessionname]</em> or <em>screen -x</em>.</p>
<p>If using it regularly, consider adding this to your .bashrc:</p><pre><code># Auto-screen invocation. see: http://taint.org/wk/RemoteLoginAutoScreen
# if we're coming from a remote SSH connection, in an interactive session
# then automatically put us into a screen(1) session. Only try once
# -- if $STARTED_SCREEN is set, don't try it again, to avoid looping
# if screen fails for some reason.
if [ "$PS1" != "" -a "${STARTED_SCREEN:-x}" = x -a "${SSH_TTY:-x}" != x ]
then
STARTED_SCREEN=1 ; export STARTED_SCREEN
screen -RR -S main || echo "Screen failed! continuing with normal bash startup"
fi
# [end of auto-screen snippet]</code></pre>
<h4>Sharing among users</h4>
<p>It is possible to use SCREEN to share a screen with other users, while simultaneously typing and seeing what each other is typing, or disabling writing permissions for one user.</p>
<ul>
<li>Prefix + : then <u>multiuser on</u> to enable multiuser sessions.
<li>Prefix + : again followed by <u>aclchg newusername -w “#”</u> (newusername is the the user to share with and -w is to disable write permission for that user) .
<li>While logged in as newusername issue <u>screen –x originalusername/</u> . </li></ul>
<p>This might be useful in tech support or while working with remote team members.</p>
<h4>Customizations in .screenrc</h4>
<p>I collected the following from a few posts and post them here before having tested them:</p>
<ul>
<li>defscrollback 30000 # Set scrollback buffer to 30000
<li>hardstatus alwayslastline # Customize the status line
<li>hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{= kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B} %m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]'
<li>escape ^Bb # Instead of Control-a, make the escape/command character be Control-b as in tmux (optional)
<li>autodetach on # Autodetach session on hangup instead of terminating screen completely (this might’ve been necessary back in 2007 – mc2007-screen)
<li>startup_message off # Turn off the splash screen
<li>shell -$SHELL # always use a login shell</li></ul>
<p>I’m not terribly concerned with colors, but if you’re using tmux and terminal work extensively, the following could be useful.</p><pre># support color X terminals
termcap xterm 'XT:AF=\E[3%dm:AB=\E[4%dm:AX'
terminfo xterm 'XT:AF=\E[3%p1%dm:AB=\E[4%p1%dm:AX'
termcapinfo xterm 'XT:AF=\E[3%p1%dm:AB=\E[4%p1%dm:AX:hs:ts=\E]2;:fs=\007:ds=\E]2;screen\007'
termcap xtermc 'XT:AF=\E[3%dm:AB=\E[4%dm:AX'
terminfo xtermc 'XT:AF=\E[3%p1%dm:AB=\E[4%p1%dm:AX'
termcapinfo xtermc 'XT:AF=\E[3%p1%dm:AB=\E[4%p1%dm:AX:hs:ts=\E]2;:fs=\007:ds=\E]2;screen\007'</pre>
<h3><a name="dotconf"></a>DOTCONF</h3>
<p>As shown above, there’s a significant amount of configuring that can only be preserved if one saves configuration files and restores them to a new system. Such configuration files are called “dotfiles” and many people save them and share them on github:</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Dotbot makes installing your dotfiles as easy as git clone $url && cd dotfiles && ./install, even on a freshly installed system!" href="https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">anishathalye/dotbotIf</a> – “bootstrap your dotfiles” – see also <a title="Managing Your Dotfiles - the blog post - 03 Aug 2014 · 10 min read - Dotfiles are supposed to contain your personal settings — what works for someone else isn’t necessarily optimal for you. If certain configurations worked for everybody, those settings would have been built into programs as defaults. Blindly cloning someone else’s dotfiles, especially without having an understanding of how everything works, is not the optimal approach. That being said, I am a big fan of sharing dotfiles and taking inspiration from others’ configurations." href="http://www.anishathalye.com/2014/08/03/managing-your-dotfiles/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">blog post</a></li>
<li><a title="paul's shell, git, etc config files. also homebrew, migration setup. good stuff." href="https://github.com/paulirish/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">paulirish/dotfiles</a> – macOS mostly: “If you're starting off consider forking <a href="https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>mathias</strong></a> or <a href="https://github.com/alrra/dotfiles/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">alrra</a>. <a href="https://github.com/paulmillr/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">paulmillr</a> and <a href="https://github.com/gf3/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gf3</a> also have great setups”</li>
<li><a title="A curated list of dotfiles resources." href="https://github.com/webpro/awesome-dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webpro/awesome-dotfiles</a> - Inspired by the <a href="https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">awesome</a> list thing.</li>
<li><a title="Oh My Tmux! Pretty & versatile tmux configuration made with ❤️ (imho the best tmux configuration that just works)" href="https://github.com/gpakosz/.tmux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gpakosz/.tmux</a> - Self-contained, pretty and versatile <code>.tmux.conf</code> configuration file.</li>
<li><a title="A set of vim, zsh, git, and tmux configuration files. https://thoughtbot.com" href="https://github.com/thoughtbot/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">thoughtbot/dotfiles</a> - From time to time you should pull down any updates to these dotfiles, and run rcup.</li>
<li><a title="Ubuntu / OS X dotfiles" href="https://github.com/cowboy/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cowboy/dotfiles</a> - I finally decided that I wanted to be able to execute a single command to "bootstrap" a new system to pull down all of my dotfiles and configs, as well as install all the tools I commonly use. In addition, I wanted to be able to re-execute that command at any time to synchronize anything that might have changed. Finally, I wanted to make it easy to re-integrate changes back in, so that other machines could be updated.</li>
<li><a title="Default configuration for Le Wagon's students https://www.lewagon.com" href="https://github.com/lewagon/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lewagon/dotfiles</a> - This repository is used by <a href="https://www.lewagon.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Le Wagon</a> students during our 9-week <a href="https://www.lewagon.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">coding bootcamp</a>.</li>
<li><a title="Your dotfiles are how you personalize your system. These are mine." href="https://github.com/holman/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">holman/dotfiles</a> - I realized I could split a lot of things up into the main areas I used (Ruby, git, system libraries, and so on), (..) <a href="http://zachholman.com/2010/08/dotfiles-are-meant-to-be-forked/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">read my post on the subject</a>.</li>
<li><a title="Catalin MacOS / Ubuntu dotfiles" href="https://github.com/alrra/dotfiles" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">alrra/dotfiles</a> - These are the base dotfiles that I start with when I set up a new environment.</li></ul>
<p>I subscribe to the opinion that most dotfiles may be too personal to share, but the above are far more elaborate than most people need and would likely be more useful to you than my own. I hope this helped.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="https://gist.github.com/andreyvit/2921703" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tmux cheatsheet</a>, <a href="https://tmuxcheatsheet.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tmuxcheatsheet</a>, <a title="This will start a screen session named main if it doesn't exist or reconnect to it if it does." href="https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/48993/how-to-effectively-use-screen-and-ssh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">se-usescr</a>, <a title="Powerline is a statusline plugin for vim, and provides statuslines and prompts for several other applications, including zsh, bash, fish, tmux, IPython, Awesome, i3 and Qtile." href="https://github.com/powerline/powerline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">powerline</a>, <a title="Screen power tips: .screenrc by Matt Cutts" href="https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/screen-power-tips-screenrc/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mc2007-screen</a>, <a title="If you routinely log into one or more remote systems using SSH, and have a flaky internet connection or an incompetent ISP, you probably already know about screen's ability to detach and reattach sessions." href="http://taint.org/wk/RemoteLoginAutoScreen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">autoscreen</a>, <a title="How do I get screen to put things into my terminal's scrollback?" href="http://aperiodic.net/screen/faq" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">screenfaq</a>, <a title="Screen and tmux" href="https://helpful.knobs-dials.com/index.php/Screen_and_tmux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">scrtmx</a>, <a title="A minimalist guide to tmux https://medium.com/@peterxjang/a-minimalist-guide-to-tmux-13675fb160fa" href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15776995" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">yc-tmxtldr</a>, <a title="Switching from tmux to GNU Screen | November 8, 2015" href="https://reversed.top/2015-11-08/switching-from-tmux-to-gnu-screen/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rt-tmx2scr</a>, <a title="Ctrl-b then [ then you can use your normal navigation keys to scroll around (eg. Up Arrow or PgDn). Press q to quit scroll mode." href="https://superuser.com/questions/209437/how-do-i-scroll-in-tmux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">su-tmxscrl</a>, <a title="Today I switched over completely from GNU Screen to the more modern BSD-licensed alternative, tmux. After making sure that tmux had replacements for all Screen's key features, I took the plunge, and haven't looked back. https://github.com/brandur/tmux-extra" href="https://mutelight.org/practical-tmux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ml-prctmx</a>, <a title="Despite our home computers being asleep or turned off, our usernames in the IRC channel we frequently visited persisted in the chatroom list. Our screens were lit by a kaleidoscope of colors on a black background. We ssh’d with ConnectBot into our cloud servers and reattached by running screen(1). As it hit 2AM, our Turkish coffee arrived, the |away status indicator trailing our online nicknames disappeared." href="https://leanpub.com/the-tao-of-tmux/read" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lp-taotmx</a>, <a title="tmux cheat sheet" href="http://atkinsam.com/documents/tmux.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">atk-dcxtmchts</a>, <a title="andreyvit/tmux.md 8yrs ago" href="https://gist.github.com/andreyvit/2921703" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gh-avtmxcht</a>.</p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:cef618de-83d1-4083-b330-de5e58568194" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/connection" rel="tag">connection</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ssh" rel="tag">ssh</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/server" rel="tag">server</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/terminal" rel="tag">terminal</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/xterm" rel="tag">xterm</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/tmux" rel="tag">tmux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/screen" rel="tag">screen</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/terminal+multiplexer" rel="tag">terminal multiplexer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cli" rel="tag">cli</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/command+line" rel="tag">command line</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/typing" rel="tag">typing</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-38615730462158682462019-05-09T01:00:00.005-04:002019-08-06T12:14:43.063-04:00Block Ads and Get Youtube Premium Free!<span id="description">Youtube is a wonderful platform and its creators deserve to be able to make a living. Many of them actually do by serving Google ads (with Google keeping a significant portion of ad revenue) or, via some Youtube subscription model that was first called Red and now is Premium (this may be inaccurate, I’m not following it closely). If, like me, you dislike a model where Google decides who is worthy of support and who’s not and gets to keep the lion’s share of ad revenue, this article might be for you. If, on the other hand, you have the means to purchase YouTube Premium and don’t have time to waste, go ahead and get it, it’s definitely worth it! </span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/premium" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: right; display: inline" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPY_eFxeRFI3hZxzkkgcPJbAuDpVMbj5f9rl8Q9mhaD6r57biIuflF0_OOaEV8THln-UdMLkTlio3bJVY1_1SIXp9ow0hLlpn0hyphenhyphenJaZ1LlXRxMazOveSxzqqWNjBBmpoQxxyDhNKrmYk/s1600/youtubePremium.jpg" width="221" align="right" height="209" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="529"></a>The standard offer for <a title="Get YouTube Premium at $4.99/month for music, after the first free month, if you're a student!" href="https://www.youtube.com/premium" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube Premium</a> is one-month free. We encourage you to start with that just to see what you’d be missing should you choose to get the “totally free” route we are presenting below; this route does not provide everything that a real subscription has in store for you, only what’s important. After the first month (again, free), you would pay about $11.99/month; if you’re a student, you can get <a title="Youtube Premium at $6.99/month for students (regular $11.99)" href="https://m.youtube.com/premium?enable_polymer=true" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">videos at $6.99/month</a> and <a title="YouTube Music Premium (also includes access to Google Play Music) is $4.99/month with the 1st month free (regular price is $9.99/month)" href="https://m.youtube.com/musicpremium?enable_polymer=true" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">music at $4.99/month</a>.</p> <p>We are also warning you that some of the ways to obtain free services may be illegal in your country – you need to learn and follow the laws of your jurisdiction. You might also want to consider direct donations to the content creators whose videos you watch without ads or download.</p> <p>The following screenshot summarizes nicely what you get as a student at the aforementioned prices. Additionally, YouTube is known to run other occasional promotions such as 6 months free or the <a title="S10e, S10, and S10+ users can get 4 months of a free trial through this link (if they havent used a trial before)" href="https://www.youtube.com/premium/samsung" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Samsung promo</a> (only 4 months free currently).</p> <p><a title="Youtube premium for students subscription (also see above)" href="https://m.youtube.com/premium?enable_polymer=true" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7k24xl-9QcbID1kD5NEd_VSwdUUuLErQPYe_qX1GR6cUwcU1U0xKttq4egglNim1CZHkty_9YL8_oLoLyZkMloB3wyFTgdxXTkrncub5vdJYWSK07Prxxl9GQ9QEnImvGOMPJVCELJtU/s1600/youtubepremiumstudent.jpg" width="173" height="222" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="397"></a></p> <p>All the above are great ways to enjoy the Premium service at a reduced cost. Furthermore, the methods we are showing in this article do not require jailbreaking or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking#History_of_tools" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cydia Impactor (for older versions)</a>, i.e., though it’s definitely possible to achieve the same ends using jailbreaking and/or rooting, that does not concern this article. Rooting (for Android) is not required for any version and jailbreaking is not required for the aforementioned Impactor (though it may be necessary for newer iOS versions).</p> <p>We have already mentioned most of this in <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2018/06/smarten-up-your-android-smartphone-i.html">Smarten-up Your Smartphone</a>, but the feedback we got is that that’s not so easy to follow, which is why we re-iterate and expand upon those ideas here.</p> <h3><a name="fdroid"></a>fdroid</h3> <p>We have mentioned this repository before, without going into much detail. This is an alternative to the official Google Play store for Android only (so if you are using a different OS, you might want to skip this section).</p> <p><a title="Download and Install F-Droid!" href="https://f-droid.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="F-Droid Screenshots for Version 1.0" src="http://technewslog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/f-droid-1.0.png" width="409" height="363"></a>Though most people will find that Google Play better responds to their needs, chiefly because of reviews, which F-droid is not offering, f-droid is a far better option for those of us who occasionally check the code of the apps we install and we trust Google less than a community of developers and prosumers.</p> <p>Most security experts agree that Google Play hosts far more malware than F-Droid for two reasons:</p> <ul> <li>if you spent resources embedding malware in your apps, you want to infect as many people as possible, and Google Play will always have more users than F-Droid or alternatives <li>It is easier for malware to be discovered in open source (F-Droid) than closed-source software (most apps on Google Play)</li></ul> <p>Recent news reports seem to confirm the above. A search for <a title="Duck Duck Go search for malware on google play" href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=malware+on+google+play" target="_blank">malware on Google Play</a> and <a title="Search Google.com for malware on F-Droid" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=malware+on+f-droid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">malware on F-Droid</a> turns out no malware for the latter. </p> <ul> <li>Wired: <a title="HOW MALWARE KEEPS SNEAKING PAST GOOGLE PLAY’S DEFENSES" href="https://www.wired.com/story/google-play-store-malware/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">malware sneaking past Google Play defenses</a> 17.09.22 <li>Wired: <a title="ANDROID USERS: TO AVOID MALWARE, TRY THE F-DROID APP STORE" href="https://www.wired.com/story/android-users-to-avoid-malware-ditch-googles-app-store/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">avoid malware, try f-droid</a> 18.01.21 <li>ZDNet: <a title="Click-fraud apps drove a 100 percent year-over-year increase in the amount of malware installed from Google Play in 2018." href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-malware-in-google-play-doubled-in-2018-because-of-click-fraud-apps/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">100% increase in malware from Google Play in 2018</a> 19.04.01 <li>WLS: <a title="Cryptocurrency stealers that replace a wallet address in the clipboard are no longer limited to Windows or shady Android app stores" href="https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/02/08/first-clipper-malware-google-play/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">clipper malware everywhere</a> 19.02.08 <li>Sophos: <a title="Government spyware hidden in Google Play store apps" href="https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/04/02/government-spyware-hidden-in-google-play-store-apps/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gov spyware in Google Apps</a> 19.04.02 <li>SE: <a title="What's the auditing/vetting process like to get an Android app into the F-Droid repository? To ask it another way, what's to stop an evil developer from uploading a backdoored Android app to the F-Droid repos? There was recently a study made of the amount of malware apps in each app store for Android. I can't find it now, but IIRC it was a pdf and should have been published in the past year. Basically, what it said is that many alternative stores smaller than Google Play were close to having no malware, but only one had absolutely none: F-Droid." href="https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/200029/upload-malware-to-f-droid-repo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">u/l malware</a> 18.12.19</li></ul> <p>This is a prerequisite to getting YouTube Premium features legally (at least in our jurisdiction) and free of charge. This makes it easy and possible to use a number of additional features (and apps) that are not and never will be available through Google Play. </p> <p>To get it, first you need to install an alternative to Google Play; there are many and I recommend <a title="F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device." href="https://f-droid.org/en/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">F-Droid</a>. Before downloading the .apk file, you need to enable in Security settings in your phone installation from "Unknown sources". You might also want to read the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Droid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia article on F-Droid</a> which explains how this came about and provides links to alternatives. This <a title="How to install F-Droid - [Android] - NeetoDX; Go to settings - Enable "unknown sources" - Open browser - Search for 'F-Droid' - Open official website - Click download button - Install the app (apk)." href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWf6XXzLyxM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">48s video</a> shows it all step-by-step.</p> <p>You might find that some open source free apps can be found on both F-Droid and Google Play; we recommend using F-Droid for those, as the versions on F-Droid are often free whereas they cost money on Google Play, as it is the case with <a title="Please do not mix your installation of Termux between Google Play and F-Droid. There are compatibility issues" href="https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Installing_from_F-Droid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Termux add-ons</a>. Regardless, be sure to leave a good review on Google Play if you switch to F-Droid so that the developer does not miss on reputation bump for offering it on F-Droid.</p> <p><a title="NewPipe screenshots" href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/8zTPqg8XTRGrNZfN7" target="_blank" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00MLb_vka08dGwGtYjJl7Gkg-9Pwaq0ORR5UiMkars7PtYF6uaZ2UIDQCq8yKXsG1GmfMpLdoQEwrVTjMGsnKTJ6O6FCTprh2QKN4d5XUjvkBRQS31bF9OwoTUE-RhhpCuUKS6X8MeNQ/s1600/NewPipeCombinedScreenshots.jpg" width="451" height="451" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280"></a>With a F-droid installed, you may go ahead and update repositories, then search for and install NewPipe. This will provide all the YouTube Premium features free of charge, with a nice, clean interface, as you can see in our <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/8zTPqg8XTRGrNZfN7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NewPipe screenshots album</a>. As you can see above, this app gives you, in the individual/single video view, the options to <strong>Add to</strong> playlist, (much like the official app), as well as listen to it in the <strong>Background</strong>, in a <strong>Popup</strong> and <strong>Download</strong> it, all without ads. You can import your subscriptions from any account, start with What’s New or Popular videos and even set up a number of options that are not available even to Premium subscribers.</p> <p>If you want more features and/or alternatives, read on.</p> <h3><a name="adfree"></a>adfree</h3> <p>If you have a laptop or using a browser (such as Chromium) with a device that may qualify as desktop, we recommend the uBlock Origin extension for blocking ads (<a title="Finally, an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory." href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chrome</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ublock-origin/9nblggh444l4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Edge</a>). This will not block ads at the system level, but for most people it is sufficient.</p> <p>It has been possible to install an ad-blocker at system level in Android or iOS for quite a long time, but it used to require “rooting” or “jailbreaking”, respectively. Not long ago, a new method appeared which creates a “dummy” VPN, forcing all the Internet traffic to go through an app-controlled connection, which allows filtering it without the need for system-level access to the “hosts” file. This method works for all connections, be they Data or Wi-Fi, but uses up more power than the “dns” method below, which uses less power but only works for Wi-Fi connections.</p> <p><strong>On Android</strong>, with F-Droid installed you have the choice of several apps to block ads, such as <a title="DNS66 allows blocking host names via DNS. This can be used for ad blocking. It also allows other DNS servers to be added, for more privacy." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.jak_linux.dns66/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DNS66</a> and <a title="Blokada efficiently blocks ads, tracking and malware. It saves your data plan, makes your device faster and protects your privacy. It's free, open source and secure." href="https://blokada.org/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blokada</a> (we first used DNS66 and, when it stopped working, switched to Blokada). Using them, you are not only protecting yourself from <a title="Malvertising (a portmanteau of "malicious advertising") is the use of online advertising to spread malware. It typically involves injecting malicious or malware-laden advertisements into legitimate online advertising networks and webpages." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvertising" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">malvertising</a>, but you can also increase your privacy by changing your default domain name servers. Here’s an explanation from DNS66 which is also valid for Blokada:</p> <blockquote> <p>DNS66 allows blocking host names via DNS. This can be used for ad blocking. It also allows other DNS servers to be added, for more privacy. <p>Compared to AdBlock Plus, this works without proxy stuff; and it also does not require root, like <a title="An ad blocker that uses the hosts file. The hosts file contains a list of mappings between hostnames and IP addresses. When an app requests an ad, that request is directed to 127.0.0.1 which does nothing. There are options to run a web server to respond to blocked hostnames and to direct requests to the IP address of your choosing. You can download hosts files from the app but it is possible to use your own and to add certain sites to the white- and black-lists. Requires root as the hosts files is located in /system which is normally read-only." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.adaway/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdAway</a> does: DNS66 establishes a VPN interface, and redirects DNS server traffic to it. The VPN interface filters the traffic, only allowing queries for hosts that are not blacklisted. <p>A host (list) can be configured as allow, deny, or ignore. A later entry in the list overrides a previous entry. <p>Custom DNS Servers can be configured as well, using the same UI, but no differentiation is made between ignored and denied servers.</p></blockquote> <p>We recommend switching to Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1) if you are on Data and using “dummy VPN app” for reliability and privacy reasons. If you are on Wi-Fi, please see the “dns” section below. <p>Other ad-blocking software includes <a title="On devices running Android 7 or higher, some apps, such as YouTube, do not trust user certificates, which AdClear utilizes to block HTTPS ads. However, there are two ways that you can use AdClear to view YouTube videos without ads in Android 7.x+ devices: Use Chrome or another browser compatible with AdClear, and visit www.youtube.com using the browser-based version of YouTube. 2. Use the Dubbel app, available in the Google Play Store." href="https://www.seven.com/adclear-installation.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdClear</a> (not on F-droid for the moment), <a title="Content blockers in general are not only limited to specific (and few) browsers, but are much less potent in terms of ad fighting tools they have at their disposal. AdGuard for Android, being a standalone app, can block ads in all browsers and even in other apps, and the filtering quality is so much higher. Google has a very peculiar policy towards ad blockers in Play Store. Basically, it means that any app that can block ads across the device is not allowed there, leaving flimsy content blockers as the only option. AdGuard has been removed from the Play Store as well. While the free version is excellent at removing ads from browsers, it doesn't filter other apps' traffic. It also doesn't have the Safebrowsing feature." href="https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdGuard</a> (closed source but open lists you can use elsewhere), <a title="Hi! My name is Sava Georgiev and I'm a developer and security researcher living in Munich, Germany. By 2015 - ads, viruses, malware, key loggers, tracking cookies, spam, phishing and porn make more than 80% of the content on the Internet. Web pages are loading slower than they used to 5 years ago and it is really starting to feel like the good content on the web is getting buried deeper and deeper with one purpose only - making money off of us by selling our personal data, hacking our credit cards and pestering us with ads everywhere to the point where the only thing you see now is advertisements. I started the development of BlockThis! in June 2015 as I was hoping to reduce all the junk we have to deal with on the Internet - at least on our mobile phones as a start. In order achieve this quite ambitious goal I had to get out of the box of traditional ad blockers for Android and go one step further. So I came to the idea to incorporate an old and forgotten approach for blocking internet requests - blocking by DNS. In July 2015 I set up our first highly scalable DNS (Domain Name Server). My initial tests were quite good - the blacklist worked perfectly, battery consumption was very low compared to standard android ad blockers using hosts files, but what surprised me the most was the huge reduction in data traffic and battery consumption. Browsing speed for many websites improved by more than 100%." href="https://block-this.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BlockThis</a> (may have been the first but not sure if still maintained by Mr Georgiev). <p>There are also a few apps on Google Play, but they tend to be inadequate in one way or the other and don’t block ads at system level (if they were as good as the above, Google would ban them): <a title="The Focus browser by Firefox is an all in privacy browser, you can call it an incognito browser. The Firefox Focus blocks Ads, trackers and other intrusive codes which may send the information to the site owner. The browser also doesn’t store cookies, passwords or any other info thus you can browse like no one’s watching you. The Focus is a powerful product for its small size and overwhelming functions. You have the trust of Mozilla and high privacy with this browser." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.focus&hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Firefox Focus</a>, <a title="This app acts similar to the firewall on Windows PC." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DroidWall</a>, <a title="Developed by the popular developers who created Adblock Plus for Desktop, the Adblock browser is focused towards blocking all sorts of ads and trackers which can harness your data. Many internet magazines have praised the web tool for its clutter-free web delivery. With Adblock Browser you can access the web without any Ads as the blockers will eliminate all sorts of banner, text, video and intrusive ads." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.adblockplus.browser" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdBlock Browser</a>, <a title="a browser with the core intention to block Ads. Free Adblocker Browser is developed by Rocketshield Inc. who specialise in this technology. The browser is built with the notion to just eradicate web ads and other intrusive trackers. With this browser, you can have ad-free web experience and enjoy fast & secure browsing. The browser is capable of blocking all sorts of advertisement which includes but are not limited to, banners, video ads and pop-ups, text ads and many more." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hsv.freeadblockerbrowser&hl=en_IN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdBlocker Browser</a>, <a title="CM Browser by Team Clean Master is a lightweight mobile browser with inbuilt Adblocker and Antivirus scanner which can protect you from malicious threats. With CM you get a dedicated download manager to save the online videos offline support most of the video files. The Adblocker cleans annoying pop-ups, banner ads, video ads offering you a more comfortable browsing experience." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ksmobile.cb&hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CM Browser</a>. These apps will not block ads in other apps and cannot prevent <a title="Malvertising (a portmanteau of 'malicious advertising') is the use of online advertising to spread malware. It typically involves injecting malicious or malware-laden advertisements into legitimate online advertising networks and webpages. Online advertisements provide a solid platform for spreading malware because significant effort is put into them in order to attract users and sell or advertise the product. Because advertising content can be inserted into high-profile and reputable websites, malvertising provides malefactors an opportunity to push their attacks to web users who might not otherwise see the ads, due to firewalls, more safety precautions, or the like." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvertising" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">malvertising</a> infections, unless you use them exclusively. <p>Similar apps that for some reason are not on Google Play, but offer reduced functionality, like those apps, are <a title="Ad-Vanish will toggle network connection in-order to block Ads. If Ad-Monitor App is displayed than network connection will be OFF if you minimize or stop the App." href="https://www.allfreeapk.com/ad-vanish-lite,161611/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ad-Vanish</a> and <a title="Bromite looks and runs exactly like Chrome Browser as it is made on the Chromium API project and developed by the independent developers." href="https://www.digitbin.com/mod-chrome/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bromite</a>. We do not recommend them. <p><strong>On iOS</strong>, you can get <a title="DNSCloak • Secure DNS client - Override & secure DNS queries - 4.7/20" href="https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/dnscloak-secure-dns-client/id1452162351" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DNSCloack from iTunes</a>, then choose the pre-defined “adguard-dns” option and allow “DNSCloak” to add VPN Configurations by authentifying yourself. A VPN icon will appear under the status bar by choosing “Show VPN” in the DNSCloak Settings panel. You may further enable individual IP blacklisting and whitelisting in Advanced Options. <h3><a name="dns"></a>dns</h3> <p>It is also possible to block ads by using DNS servers that block requests to known ad servers. Using such a method however, has its downside in that you are trusting an outside company to provide these servers free of charge and not “poison” your requests or execute MITM attacks.</p> <p>A pair of Domain Name servers that block ads are AdGuard’s:</p> <blockquote> <p>176.103.130.130 <p>176.103.130.131</p></blockquote> <p>If you don’t have access to your hosts file (as most OSs do not allow it for security reasons), you will probably have to modify the DNS server for each connection you make. Oftentimes, this means only Wi-Fi connections can be modified as such.</p> <p><strong>On iOS</strong>, in the Settings app, tap Wi-Fi, then next to your connected Wi-Fi hotspot name, type the i in a circle, followed by “Configure DNS”, then change from “Automatic” to “Manual”, remove the existing servers and add the ones above, then click Save. </p> <p><strong>On Android</strong>, go to Settings, then Wi-Fi, click and hold the Wi-Fi hotspot that says “Connected”, choose Modify Network, tap the down arrow next to Advanced options, then the down arrow next to DHCP and choose Static, then scroll further down and modify DNS 1 and DNS 2 with the numbers above. It might not be possible to save just the DNS servers and you may have to enter a fixed IP for both the device IP and Gateway.</p> <p>This method works for Wi-Fi connections; for Data connections you will have to use a dummy VPN app option described above, under “adfree”. The VPN/app/adfree method uses up more power (and battery) but works for any connections, whereas the “dns” option only works for Wi-Fi connections. If, however, you have a device that only connects through Wi-Fi, this “dns” option should suffice.</p> <h3><a name="downloads"></a>downloads</h3> <p>There are a few apps on F-droid that purport to allow you to download YouTube videos. Some are simple downloaders such as <a title="Requires no root permissions, and is easy to use. Just paste the URL of the video you want to download, and once the download completes you can watch the video." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.gitlab.mudassir.youtubecacher/" rel="nofollow">YouTube Cacher</a>. Others allow you to play videos or music. Not all allow download, but <a title="Lightweight YouTube frontend that's supposed to be used without the proprietary YouTube-API or any of Google's (proprietary) play-services. NewPipe only parses the YouTube website in order to gain the information it needs." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NewPipe</a> and <a title="SkyTube is a YouTube player that allows you to: block unwanted videos (including channel blacklisting/whitelisting, language filtering, low view video blocking, high dislikes video blocking... etc.), video swipe controls (including volume, brightness, comments and video description controls), bookmark videos, import subscriptions from YouTube, play channels' playlists, download videos, view and download video thumbnails etc" href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/free.rm.skytube.oss/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SkyTube</a> do.</p> <p>You might find that neither is as good as you’d expect at downloading videos. In that situation, you might consider using the famous <em>youtube-dl script</em>. For that, you first need to <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2018/06/smarten-up-your-android-smartphone-i.html">install Termux from F-droid</a>. You then install python and pip, and once you have python and pip installed (as detailed in <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2018/06/smarten-up-your-android-smartphone-i.html">our previous article</a>), you can issue (or alias)</p> <blockquote> <p>pip install –upgrade youtube-dl</p></blockquote> <p>Note that “upgrade” is preceded by two dashes. This command will update your script to the latest version. If it does not work for install, re-issue the command without the “—upgrade switch”.</p> <p>You may also alias the commands used to download the videos, as follows:</p> <blockquote> <p>youtube-dl –o \\’’%(title)s.%(ext)s’\’’</p></blockquote> <p>Make sure you use straight rather than curly apostrophes.</p> <p>You may further enrich your intermittently off-line life with apps that allow download of webpages such as <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideashower.readitlater.pro" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pocket</a> or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instapaper.android" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instapaper</a>, which used to also download videos, but not any more. A similar free app on F-droid (though less polished) is <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/jonas.tool.saveForOffline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Save For Offline</a>. </p> <h3><a name="background"></a>background</h3> <p>One last feature available with Youtube Premium is background play. Currently, Google tolerates <a title="search Google Apps for Youtube background play" href="https://play.google.com/store/search?q=play+youtube+background&c=apps&price=1&rating=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3rd party apps in its store</a> to offer this “premium” feature with their own ads (<a title="You've been waiting for it...now it's here: THE free YouTube smart music player! Stream gives you access to all of YouTube videos and lets you play them in a handy floating popup for a multitasking music listening experience. (4.5 / 492251)" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.djit.apps.stream" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mwm</a>, <a title="Minimize free music for YouTube in the background 4.5/5204" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.free.music.app" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mu</a>, <a title="Minimize for Youtube play in background by video-mini.com 4.4/27455" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.kostenlose.musik.app" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vidmin</a>, <a title="Tube Floating by Byrai Solution 4.3/3563" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.videoplayer.floatingyoutube" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tf</a>, <a title="Floating Tube (Multitasking) by sarvopari infotech 4.0/15913" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sarvopari.anytime.floatingtubeplayer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ft</a>) but it can be discontinued and the apps banned. Even while NewPipe download feature might not work so well and always, its background play works (for already downloaded videos) and you can also play in a floating window (popup). </p> <p>It is also possible to play YouTube videos in the background by forcing play through the browser. In Chrome or Firefox, go to m.youtube.com and if prompted to use the app, just cancel, forcing browser use. Once you found your video, you might have to switch to the desktop version using the 3 dots in the top right corner. After switching apps, you might have to restart the video from the “control center”.</p> <p>In newer OSs, it’s possible to enable PiP or “Picture-in-Picture” for the regular YouTube app without a Premium subscription, but first you may have to enable it in Settings / Apps.</p> <p>On F-droid (see above), you may also find <a title="Lightweight YouTube frontend that's supposed to be used without the proprietary YouTube-API or any of Google's (proprietary) play-services." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/cz.martykan.webtube/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">WebTube</a> and <a title="MusicPiped is a full-featured music player that streams from YouTube instead of playing local files. You can stream any music available on YouTube for free. At core this app uses NewPipeExtractor to get streams from YouTube hence can play almost any YouTube stream." href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/deep.ryd.rydplayer/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MusicPiped</a>, the latter for music streaming only. Another caveat is that F-Droid apps might not update automatically (unless you properly allowed that in settings), so if something stops working, consider upgrading / updating to the latest version before dumping it.</p> <p>Let us know if any of the above requires further explanation.</p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Youtube Premium" href="https://www.youtube.com/premium" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">youtube-premium</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:c16c34cb-2c61-4a47-805a-7d851c71d20f" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a title="Consumed Consumer org" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/youtube" rel="tag">youtube</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/f-droid" rel="tag">f-droid</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/fdroid" rel="tag">fdroid</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/apk" rel="tag">apk</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/hack" rel="tag">hack</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/oss" rel="tag">oss</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/free+software" rel="tag">free software</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/google+play" rel="tag">google play</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/android" rel="tag">android</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/adblock" rel="tag">adblock</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/adblocker" rel="tag">adblocker</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ad+block" rel="tag">ad block</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ad+blocker" rel="tag">ad blocker</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ad-block" rel="tag">ad-block</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ad-blocker" rel="tag">ad-blocker</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/open+source" rel="tag">open source</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-91969957692939496452019-05-07T01:00:00.004-04:002019-05-07T01:00:06.468-04:00crunch dictionary wordlist for WPA handshake cracking<span id="description">Despite the numerous vulnerabilities and cracking methods around WPA and its successor, a black hat might find themselves brute-forcing a handshake. If the most common list of passwords fails, (a dictionary attack that automated tools generally employ) the next to try is a list of valid phone numbers in that particular area, which can be easily generated.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjqGrd9OVHRIxR_94zHMRVkaPRvGy4UA8Npr-AwfwezZZVOQF4ai0Onh3T42oRpgWpInjgB15kb-J3QEc9Ih2naAhgTUjTtIuhfsqeRi72Ov4An5huG3DUMuiVDQezPC7JazAgcw7CtA/s1600/aircrack_dict.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img style="float: right; display: inline" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjqGrd9OVHRIxR_94zHMRVkaPRvGy4UA8Npr-AwfwezZZVOQF4ai0Onh3T42oRpgWpInjgB15kb-J3QEc9Ih2naAhgTUjTtIuhfsqeRi72Ov4An5huG3DUMuiVDQezPC7JazAgcw7CtA/s1600/aircrack_dict.jpg" width="248" align="right" height="218" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="489"></a></p> <p>Such attacks (KRACK) have been in use for a long time, but it appears that even WPA3, which was supposed to make them difficult, has its share of problems (dragonblood / password-partitioning) which can be exploited via a brute force attack of 8-chars password list – all that it takes is a $125 Amazon EC2 instance. More such vulnerabilities may become available as implementations of the standard become widespread.</p> <p>These days, your router can be compromised in many ways, some even by state actors, and if you have an older router that is vulnerable there is little you can do apart from buying a new one and hope that it’s not affected. But what you can do is go through the exercise of trying to break into it so that you know what not to do when setting it up.</p> <p>In North America, a large metropolitan area might have several area codes. For instance, New York City has 917 for all of NYC, 212, 332 and 646 for Manhattan and 347, 718 and 929 for outer boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island). Toronto has 416, 437, 647 while its suburbs have 905, 289, and 365.</p> <p>To create a wordlist (aka dictionary) of all the numbers in a particular area code, one could use “crunch” with this command (replacing “123” with the correct area code):</p> <blockquote> <p>./crunch 10 10 -t 123%%%%%%% -o /root/123.txt</p></blockquote> <p>This could be repeated for all the area code overlays and then concatenated into an “all.txt” file:</p> <blockquote> <p>cat 123.txt 456.txt 789.txt >> allareas.txt</p></blockquote> <p>That is rather large and could take a while to go through, depending of course on how fast and powerful the CPU is. Fortunately, there are a few number assignment restrictions that can significantly reduce the size of our dictionary/wordlist file.</p> <p>In a North American telephone number, the first 3 digits are called the “area code” or NPA (aka ABC from ABC-DEF-GHIJ). The next three, i.e., DEF, are typically referred to as the prefix or “CO”, while the last four , i.e., GHIJ, are the “line number”.</p> <p>We are interested in prefix / CO exceptions, as the NPA is given and fixed. For historical reasons however, the exceptions tend to be common to the NPA and CO. These are:</p> <ul> <li>NXX - N from 2-9 <li>XX above cannot be 11 <li>555-0100 through 555-0199 reserved for fictional use <li>976 was assigned to pay per call; 950 is also “special service” <li>900, 800 and all the other toll-free may also be reserved, although this is not so clear <li>the actual NPA cannot be used in the CO and neither can adjacent domestic area codes and overlays, or area codes reserved for future relief nearby <li>testing codes 958 and 959</li></ul> <p>It’s important to note that as requirements change and numbers get used up, some of the aforementioned rules may be “relaxed” or dropped altogether to free more phone numbers to allocate.</p> <p>Of all the above, the most significant is the N from 2-9 (i.e., the exclusion of 0 and 1 as the first digit in the CO). These rules can be implemented in the following bash script:</p> <blockquote> <p>#!/bin/bash<br><br>#make sure " don't become curly or you will get 12 string length error<br>for areacode in 212 332 646 917<br>do<br>for fprfx in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9<br>do<br>crunchstr="${areacode}${fprfx}%%%%%%"<br>crunch 10 10 -t $crunchstr >> /root/phonlist.txt<br>done;<br>done;</p></blockquote> <p>If you are only testing for a limited number of 3 digit COs (or prefixes), as it may be the case in a small town, you could replace the single digits in “fprfx” with your 3-digits prefixes while removing two “%” from the ‘crunchstr string assignment’.</p> <p>We have posted such a wordlist using Toronto area codes (as there are fewer of them than NYC, in the example above) and posted it in our Google Drive in 7zip encrypted archive with the password consisting of our pseudonym having its last “o” written as the number “0”:</p> <blockquote> <p><a title="Click to download from drive.google.com/open?id=" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VJmON_0ZFESBhuXNd2r8cNXoPfY1Hbw9" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">id 1VJmON_0ZFESBhuXNd2r8cNXoPfY1Hbw9</a></p></blockquote> <p>Such a dictionary file can be easily used in conjunction with automated tools such as <em>wifite</em> or <em>besside-ng</em>.</p> <p>Such a word list can be further refined with the previously discussed rules using sed. This tool has a slightly different syntax in its GNU iteration than POSIX (the latter shown first).</p> <blockquote> <p><kbd>sed 's/word-to-find//g' input.file > output.file</kbd></p></blockquote> <p>Gnu/sed syntax:</p> <blockquote> <p><kbd>sed -i 's/word-to-find//g' input.file</kbd></p></blockquote> <p>The assumption for the above is limited time and resources, but if that is not the case, one can easily employ crunch “on the fly” and pipe it to their fav cracking tool:</p> <blockquote> <p>crunch 8 25 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 | aircrack-ng --bssid aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa -w- handshakefile.cap</p></blockquote> <p>A long standing aircrack bug prevented a successful crack, which is why many suggest:</p> <blockquote> <p>crunch 8 25 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 | pyrit -r xxx.cap -b xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx -i - attack_passthrough</p></blockquote> <p>A further refined attempt would involve (-d 4 limits unnecessary character repetitions):</p> <blockquote> <p>crunch <MinPasswordLength> <MaxPasswordLength> <CharacterSetToBeUsed> -s <StartPoint> -d 4 | pyrit -e <APessid> -i - -o - passthrough | cowpatty -d - -r <Handshake.cap> -s <APessid></p></blockquote> <p>Hashcat and newer options allow one to employ the video card (cuda) for even faster password cracking.</p> <blockquote> <p>cudaHashcat-plus.bin -a 3 -m 2500 myrouter.hccap</p></blockquote> <p>Using a dictionary file helps in two ways: first, by restricting and narrowing down the passwords tested, it saves time and resources and secondly, by splitting a large dictionary file into smaller chunks, it is possible to better time manage password cracking, as it can be more easily stopped and restarted.</p> <p>One could use, for instance the following lengths for min-max string:</p> <ul> <li>8 – numeric, dictionary files broken into 200,000 chunks</li> <li>9 – numeric, same as 8</li> <li>10 – numeric, same as 8</li> <li>Common password – dictionaries</li></ul> <p>We added magnet links for as-of-yet still alive large wordlists (8.5, 4.5 GB) below.</p> <p>To split files use (bytes is the size of the new lists):</p> <blockquote><pre><code>split --bytes=10M /path/to/large_wordlist /path/to/small_wordlits/word_list_prefix </code></pre></blockquote>
<p>To “zip”, use</p>
<blockquote><pre><code>for i in *; do tar -czf $i.tar.gz $i; done</code></pre></blockquote>
<p>Use scp and ssh to send them to the machine doing the cracking and ssh to issue the commands:</p>
<blockquote><pre><code>for i in *.tar.gz
> do scp $i user@server:/path/to/wordlist/directory;
> ssh user@server "tar zxvf /path/to/wordlist/directory/$i"
> ssh user@server "nohup aircrack-ng <parameter list> $i &"
> sleep 10m
> ssh user@server "rm /path/to/wordlist/directory/*"
done</code></pre></blockquote>
<p>To start and restart “on the fly” and also limit the number of times a character can appear next to itself, pass “–d 4” to crunch after the character set for example, make a not of where it stops, then on restart, add “-s <StartPoint> -d 4” instead.</p>
<h3>advice</h3>
<p>If you are looking at all this from the perspective of securing your own router, consider using a long password (20 characters is not a bad idea), preferably with special characters and also change the router’s MAC address when changing the password. Keep your router updated to the latest firmware. Create a “guest” network and password for your guests and never share or keep your wi-fi password visible.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Canadian Numbering and Dialing Plan PDF" href="http://www.cnac.ca/canadian_dial_plan/Canadian_Numbering_and_Dialling_Plan.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cnac-PDF</a>, <a title="North American Numbering Plan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wiki-npa</a>, <a title="Bash Guide for Beginners: 9.2 The While Looop" href="http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_09_02.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BashWhile_guide</a>, <a title="Bash Looping Constructs" href="https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Looping-Constructs.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bash_looping</a>, <a title="sed, a stream editor manual at GNU" href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/sed.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gnu-sed</a>, <a title="The Basics of Using the Sed Stream Editor to Manipulate Text in Linux" href="https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/the-basics-of-using-the-sed-stream-editor-to-manipulate-text-in-linux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">do-sed</a>, <a title="Collection of Wordlist (Dictionaries) for cracking WiFi WPA/WPA2 2011-03-32 8.49GB" href="magnet:?xt=urn:btih:6c89df058f71559dec6c5c7c9f2cb419182b3294&dn=Collection+of+Wordlist+%28Dictionaries%29+for+cracking+WiFi+WPA%2FWPA2&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">m8GB</a>, <a title="WPA-PSK WORDLIST 3 Final (13 GB).rar 2010-11-09 4.49GB" href="magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3f1f5321b1275b33bc0970c743be032be828a4f7&dn=WPA-PSK+WORDLIST+3+Final+%2813+GB%29.rar&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">m4GB</a>, <a title="How can I make wordlist smaller size?" href="https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/101631/how-can-i-make-wordlist-smaller-size" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">stack-split</a>, <a title="Dragonblood: A Security Analysis of WPA3’s SAE Handshake" href="https://papers.mathyvanhoef.com/dragonblood.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dragonblood-pdf</a>, <a title="$125 is all it would cost a hacker to crack your WPA3 password, researchers say" href="https://www.pcgamer.com/dollar125-is-all-it-would-cost-a-hacker-to-crack-your-wpa3-password-researchers-say/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pcg-125wpa3</a>, <a title="KRACK Attacks: Breaking WPA2" href="https://www.krackattacks.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">krack1</a>, <a title="KRACK Demo: Critical Key Reinstallation Attack Against Widely-Use" href="https://thehackernews.com/2017/10/wpa2-krack-wifi-hacking.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">thn-krackdemo</a>, </p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:0d797ee3-6150-4e32-b0d7-44c58e1ed10a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/unix" rel="tag">unix</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/crunch" rel="tag">crunch</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wordlist" rel="tag">wordlist</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/password" rel="tag">password</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cracking" rel="tag">cracking</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wpa" rel="tag">wpa</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wifi" rel="tag">wifi</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wi-fi" rel="tag">wi-fi</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/internet+access" rel="tag">internet access</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-75383433661016997492018-07-18T01:00:00.001-04:002018-07-18T17:50:25.283-04:00Metasploit on Windows and Android<span id="description">I recently went to the trouble of installing Metasploit Framework (MSF) on a few devices (Android smartphone, Windows laptop, Kali on multiboot), with various degrees of success. My experiences may be helpful for others attempting the same, as well as for me, so that I can finish it later.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Installing Kali Linux over WSL from the Windows App Store" href="https://vimeo.com/258822932" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Kali Linux in Windows 10 over WSL nmap raw socket error" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Screencap of Nmap attempt with this error message: Nmap: 'Couldn't open a raw socket. Error: Permission denied (13)" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9x93t7HiojI/W04Cgd0IFgI/AAAAAAAA1ck/zdUDtV83R6o6UkT4FCVD69Vmg1ynponewCHMYCw/image%255B7%255D?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="216" /></a>MSF, together with nmap, consistently ranks in the top 10 of pentest (penetration testing) tools used by security professionals. MSF is usually installed in a Linux distribution such as Kali, but it can be installed on several others as well.</p><p>MSF even has a Windows version, which suffers from many ills. One seems to be a limitation of the platform, in that the level of access to the hardware, most specifically Wi-Fi and networking, is more difficult to obtain than in a Linux distro. It is not possible to get it in a virtual Linux environment in Windows either. The MSF for Windows version also triggers the default antivirus, so one needs to set an exception, which then becomes a security risk on a platform that’s often exploited. Finally, a bug that’s been reported since February of 2018 and still not fixed, is that any update to MSF uninstalls it from any drive other than C: and moves it there (msfgit-drive).</p><p>Luckily, it is now possible to install MSF via Kali Linux (since March 2018: kali-wsl), which itself can be installed as an app from the Microsoft Store on the latest Windows 10 64bit (aka “amd64”). To do so, one first has to enable WSL in an Administrator Power Shell:</p><code><br />
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux</p></code><br />
<p>The installed app is a stripped down version of Kali, which is great because one does not need to waste precious SSD space that way. Like any other Linux distro installed as an app, Kali will prompt you for an account name and password, and then you can just use apt-get to update/dist-upgrade as you would any other fresh Linux distro.</p><p>Much like the “native” MSF Windows app, the </p><p>On installing MSF and running it, I got the following error (also shown above in the screen capture):</p><blockquote>msf > db_nmap 192.168.0.0/24 <br />
(..) <br />
[*] Nmap: 'Couldn't open a raw socket. Error: Permission denied (13)'</blockquote><p>I will update this article later with a solution.</p><h3><a name="multiboot"></a>multiboot</h3><p>I have also installed Kali on an older Toshiba tablet hybrid in multiboot with Windows. This was a tad more complicated than it was last time I attempted it.</p><p>Firstly, I got a fatal install error about the CD-ROM not mounted even though I used a USB drive. On investigation, it turns out to be an often-reported problem with other distros as well (ububoot). I had followed Rufus recommendation for the ISO method of writing to the USB drive for hybrid images and should’ve used DD instead. Another fix (as reported by others, but didn’t work for me) is to unplug and then plug the drive back in, then attempt re-discovery. A more complicated solution involves dropping to the shell:</p><blockquote><ol><li>Press Alt-F2, then Enter to start new terminal session </li>
<li><code>mkdir /media/usb</code> </li>
<li><code>mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/usb</code> </li>
<li><code>mount -t iso9660 -o loop path/to/iso/file/kalilinux.ISO /cdrom</code> </li>
<li>Press Alt-F1 </li>
<li>Say "No" to search again. Then click "Detect and mount CD-ROM" </li>
</ol></blockquote><p>I haven’t tested the solution above, I simply re-wrote the USB drive with the DD method and it worked. </p><p>A secondary issue (which I might have to research and report) is that the Wacom driver for the tablet seems to crash Gnome on use, though not XFCE4 (so I switched to xfce and kept gnome until I run out of space). On the plus side, Toshiba updated most drivers on the Windows side to 2016, suggesting that it might be possible to upgrade all the way to Windows 10 (the drivers kept me on this older tablet hybrid in Windows 7 before). On the minus side, Toshiba dropped the Upek/Authentec security suite which allowed login to Windows with a fingerprint slide, most likely due to the Elcomsoft-reported issue (ars-finger, elcom-finger) and Authentec disappearance. They work fine in Kali by installing two packages: libpam-fprintd and fprint-demo. I am aware of the risks, but I still found the ability to login via a finger swipe useful for a tablet hybrid where everything important was encrypted with stronger means than the fingerprint. I also had an android-x86 install on a third partition, but that had not been detected by grub and I think I'll just replace it with a Veracrypt hidden drive to be shared by the two OSs. In Kali, there's also a warning about "ACPI call to query HDD protection failed" in "toshiba-hap" or something like that.</p><h3><a name="android"></a>android</h3><p>Installing MSF on an Android smartphone used to require installing NetHunter / Kali distro on a Nexus (and a few other devices), which also needed to be rooted.</p><p>It is now possible to install Termux via F-droid (it’s also in Google Play) and then get MSF the "hard" way. The install is automated with a shell script.</p><p>I got as far as setting up the database, but trying to update caused an error:</p><blockquote><p>localhost [metasploit-framework]: ./msfupdate <br />
[*] <br />
[*] Attempting to update the Metasploit Framework… <br />
[*]</p><p>Traceback (most recent call last): <br />
3: from ./msfupdate:316:in `</p><p>’</p><p>2: from ./msfupdate:136:in `run!’</p><p>1: from ./msfupdate:136:in `chdir’</p><p>./msfupdate:145:in `block in run!’: Cannot determine checkout type: `.’ (RuntimeError)</p></blockquote><p>I installed using two different script on two different devices, same error. I will also update this with more details shortly.</p><p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Kali Linux in the Windows App Store" href="https://www.kali.org/news/kali-linux-in-the-windows-app-store/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kali-wsl</a>, <a title="Running msfupdate on Windows moves Metasploit onto your OS drive #9578" href="https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/9578" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">msfgit-drive</a>, <a title="Bootable USB needs CD-ROM?" href="https://askubuntu.com/questions/671159/bootable-usb-needs-cd-rom" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ububoot</a>, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/09/windows-passwords-exposed/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ars-finger</a>, <a title="Elcomsoft, UPEK and more" href="https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2012/10/elcomsoft-upek-and-more/" target="_blank">elcom-finger</a>,</p><div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:489be903-abd6-43af-835e-3482261aaf12" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/metasploit+framework" rel="tag">metasploit framework</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/msf" rel="tag">msf</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/windows" rel="tag">windows</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/pentest" rel="tag">pentest</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/pentesting" rel="tag">pentesting</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/penetration+testing" rel="tag">penetration testing</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/kali" rel="tag">kali</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/windows+10" rel="tag">windows 10</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-44879446418363256182018-06-20T16:48:00.001-04:002018-06-23T20:04:33.219-04:00Smarten up your Android smartphone I: SSH, SSHD<span id="description">There seems to be a mistaken belief that in order to gain superuser access (or to do serious development or, to use a popular misnomer, “hacking”, one has to “jailbreak”, or as it is called everywhere other than iOS, “root”. Let us see how anyone can do most of it using an excellent and completely free hack (or app) called Termux. </span> <a name='more'></a> <p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPDzDSI5CkQ2d2eZgI4dOfVc8YNz6qgnMs9lb_ac946ERA9RKf3mWpRZN640CFN6NEx7AzpMlPCFEJOVEPaX9vErCeyEb2kfJ1SEEhtV3wDhYy_7o5r6b8-na9QfsVylSPpuJC_E3avM/s1600/20180623msfupd.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPDzDSI5CkQ2d2eZgI4dOfVc8YNz6qgnMs9lb_ac946ERA9RKf3mWpRZN640CFN6NEx7AzpMlPCFEJOVEPaX9vErCeyEb2kfJ1SEEhtV3wDhYy_7o5r6b8-na9QfsVylSPpuJC_E3avM/s320/20180623msfupd.JPG" width="320" height="273" data-original-width="625" data-original-height="533" /></a></div>You may install Termux from the Play Store or from F-Droid, an alternative “store” or repository. I recommend using F-droid (which you can scan or click at the right), but I included a link to Google Play in sources below.</p><p><a title="F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device." href="https://f-droid.org/FDroid.apk" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; display: inline" src="https://f-droid.org/assets/download-fdroid-qr.png" width="154" height="154" /></a><br />
Apart from Termux, other great apps (some only on F-droid, others on both F-droid and Google Play; for Termux, you cannot mix Termux and Addons between the two) I would recommend are DNS66 or Blokada for ad-blocking (without rooting), NewPipe for a better YouTube experience (including video downloads for off-line use), Red Moon which will filter out blue light after dawn, much like f.lux on a Windows desktop, Audio Recording offers excellent ads-free recordings and Overchan or Clover for all the chans. Other notable apps are OpenKeychain, Syncthing, K-9 Mail, aMetro.</p><p>Once installed, you open Termux as you would any other app. Before SSH-ing into your phone, you will have to issue a few commands on the phone. </p><p>In Termux, you swipe from the left to access the session manager. I never used multiple sessions, but you could if you wanted to – instead of SSH-ing, you might want to just attach a BT keyboard (<a title="Arteck HB030B Universal Slim Portable Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 7-Colors Backlit Keyboard with Built in Rechargeable Battery, Black" href="https://amzn.to/2JS25Od" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, .<a title="Amazon.ca: Arteck Universal Backlit 7-Colors & Adjustable Brightness Ultra Light & Slim Portable Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 Keyboard for iOS iPad Air, iPad Mini, Android, MacOS, Windows Tablets PC Smartphone Built in Rechargeable 6-Month Battery" href="https://amzn.to/2tgF5y4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ca</a>) in that case. If your visual keyboard ever closes, you’d click the Keyboard button in the session manager to bring it back.</p><p>The touch keyboard Google gives is not really made for Linux. You may thus install the Hacker’s Keyboard, or use the “visual extensions” provided by Termux (termux-kb). Termux uses the Volume down key to emulate Ctrl and it is also possible to visually display extra keys with a long tap on the Keyboard button or by pressing Volume Up + Q. You can also reveal a native Android text input view by swiping the extra keys view to the left.</p><p>When starting, Termux has a nice welcome message. For subsequent logins, you may skip it by issuing <em>touch .hushlogin</em>.</p><p>Issue now your first command to update your installation:</p><blockquote><p>$ pkg upgrade</p></blockquote><p>Termux uses <em>pgk</em> for <em>apt</em>. Follow the above with:</p><blockquote><p>$ pkg install openssh gnupg nano tmux git python ruby nodejs cmake coreutils termux-api termux-exec termux-tools grep tree ncurses-utils radare2 nmap</p></blockquote><p>Not all of the above are necessary for SSH (only the first one, openssh), but they allow for development and I need them – you might as well.</p><p>If you don’t have a key pair already, you will have to create one, as Termux implementation of SSH does not allow password login (who uses that, anyways?).</p><blockquote><p>$ ssh-keygen –b 4096 –t rsa</p></blockquote><p>In my case, I already had a pair of keys. To SSH into my phone, I need to get my existing auth_keys file in the .ssh directory. This can be achieved with the good old <em>wget</em> (which, if not present, can be installed as above with <em>apt install</em> or <em>pkg install</em>). Your public key may have to first be downloaded onto the phone and then <em>mv</em>’d to the .ssh directory. In order to expose the phone storage to Termux, I had to run the <em>termux-setup-storage</em> command, which created a <em>/storage</em> directory in my installation.</p><p>I also have the option of cloning it from Github, as explained in the <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2014/08/how-to-quickly-set-up-your-vps.html">5 minute bootstrap</a>.</p><p>You may also use ssh-copy-id to send the keys between Linux environments:</p><blockquote><p>$ ssh-copy-id –i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub yourusername@192.168.1.5</p></blockquote><p>If you need to ssh <strong>from</strong> your phone into a another *NIX box, you may do so now. If you just want to ssh <strong>into</strong> your phone, you need to make sure that the authorized_keys file and directory permissions are fine (chmod 600 on a_k and 700 on ~/.ssh).</p><blockquote><p>$ ssh $IP -p 8022 -i %PATH_TO_KEY-FILE%/%NAME_OF_KEY%</p></blockquote><p>If you are having difficulties, try killing the sshd process (you list processes with <em>ps</em>) and restart it with the debug option:</p><blockquote><p>$ sshd –d</p></blockquote><p>To keep your connection alive, you might want to use <em>termux_wake_lock</em>.</p><p>To automate sshd start, you might want to use Tasker and have the sshd command in your .bashrc file. You can also use addons such as Termux Widget or Termux Boot. If you do, you will need to create some directories. This is a good opportunity to customize your workspace.</p><blockquote><p>$ mkdir notes gh homework temp .termux .shortcuts</p></blockquote><p>You can now place the scripts you want to be executed at boot in:</p><blockquote><p>$ mkdir ~/.termux/boot</p></blockquote><p>To continue customizing, I download and install my dotfiles:</p><blockquote><p>$ cd gh && git clone https://github.com/ibonobo/dotfiles.git && cp dotfiles/bashrc ~/.bashrc</p></blockquote><p>You can fork them on Github and customize as you see fit, much like I did – see where from in Github (mdm-kon).</p><h3><a name="usb"></a>usb</h3><p>Occasionally, you may find yourself unable to SSH via Wi-Fi. You may still connect using SSH over USB and port forwarding via ADB. </p><p>To get ADB in Linux, you just issue <em>sudo apt install adb</em>. For Windows, refer to the XDA forum (xda-adb). Follow that with</p><blockquote><p>$ adb forward tcp:8022 tcp:8022</p></blockquote><p>You can now SSH into your phone whichever way you did before.</p><h3><a name="linux"></a>linux</h3><p>Termux, though close to a Linux environment, is not exactly that, mostly because of ways in which Android differs (t-linux). However, it is very close to that and with further hacks can be made virtually indistinguishable from what you would expect. To run scripts, you need them in $HOME, <em>chmod +x</em> and/or call them with a script interpreter such as <em>python</em> or <em>bash</em>. You also may need to install termux-exec (installed at the beginning) and/or use termux-fix-shebang on scripts to change the shebang line from /bin/{program} to $PREFIX/bin/{program}. To setup a chroot via PRoot mimicking a normal Linux file system, use <em>termux-chroot</em>.</p><p>I do not provide help here, but you are welcome to see the <a title="This wiki is a good start to the basics of Termux." href="https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/FAQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FAQ</a>.</p><p>There’s a lot you can accomplish with mighty little Termux, and the links below are only a beginning!</p><p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device." href="https://f-droid.org/" target="_blank">F-droid</a>, <a title="Termux at Google Play" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux&hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gplay</a>, <a title="Using the Ctrl key is necessary for working with a terminal - but most touch keyboards do not include one. For that purpose Termux uses the Volume down button to emulate the Ctrl key. For example, pressing Volume down+L on a touch keyboard sends the same input as pressing Ctrl+L on a hardware keyboard." href="https://termux.com/touch-keyboard.html" target="_blank">termux-kb</a>, <a title="Are you missing the key layout you're used to from your computer? This keyboard has separate number keys, punctuation in the usual places, and arrow keys. It is based on the AOSP Gingerbread soft keyboard, so it supports multitouch for the modifier keys." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hackerkb</a>, <a title="install ADB on your Windows box" href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48915118#post48915118" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">xda-adb</a>, <a title="Mobile development suite: How to use Termux + my setup" href="https://medium.com/@konrad_it/mobile-development-suite-how-to-use-termux-my-setup-ede7a5de83" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mdm-kon</a>, <a title="Use the termux-fix-shebang script to modify these files before executing." href="https://termux.com/linux.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">t-linux</a>, <a title="Transform your Android into a web server!" href="https://hackernoon.com/how-to-turn-an-android-device-into-a-web-server-9816b28ab199" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hn-webserver</a>, <a title="Emergency NodeJS server" href="https://hackernoon.com/how-termux-saved-my-ass-73db53b2dea1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hn-nodejs</a>, <a href="https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Metasploit_Framework">metasploit</a>, <a title="Configure the Youtube-dl script for easy Youtube video download (replacing NewPipe, if that's all you use NewPipe for)" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/66fh4f/what_do_you_use_termux_on_android_for/dgj42pe/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">youtube-dl</a>, <a title="expose your hardware to linux commands!" href="https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux:API" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">termux-api</a>, <a title="mkdir /data/data/com.termux/files/tmp && export BIN_SH=/system/bin/sh && export TMPDIR=/data/data/com.termux/files/tmp && export TMP=$TMPDIR" href="https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/104" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">termux-ansible</a></p><div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:a2bff987-ddd5-4e95-8138-ad94a772c3a2" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/smartphone" rel="tag">smartphone</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/android" rel="tag">android</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/ssh" rel="tag">ssh</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/termux" rel="tag">termux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/dev" rel="tag">dev</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/development" rel="tag">development</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-61306067891639598812018-06-04T19:00:00.001-04:002018-06-04T19:08:23.755-04:00Wyze camera with free cloud storage<span id="description">I recently had to buy a stand-alone camera for security purposes and I ended up buying what seemed to be the best value I could find. It still is after using it, so I am sharing this with you.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Wyze Camera on Amazon.com" href="https://amzn.to/2swy7Vs" target="_blank"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zQ1FKZ9pHU0/WxXElFnRbzI/AAAAAAAA078/QMVwQGjcyk0Nb7AEeAEAjJlnSANL56w4wCHMYCw/image%255B8%255D?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="230" /></a>The camera in question is what people have come to call “the WyzeCam” at <a title="WyzeCam 1080p HD Wireless Smart Home Camera with Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Free Cloud" href="https://amzn.to/2swy7Vs" target="_blank">US$20-25</a> or <a title="WyzeCam 1080p HD Wireless Smart Home Camera with Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Free Cloud" href="https://amzn.to/2xHxqh1" target="_blank">CDN$35-40</a> . What makes this offer compelling is the very low price, good image quality and the free online (cloud) storage of videos and images.</p> <p>A few years back, the best and cheapest way to set up a security / surveillance system was with a powered Ethernet (PoE) switch (such as the <a title="NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Pro Switch, PoE/PoE+, L2, ProSAFE Lifetime Protection (GS108Tv2)" href="https://amzn.to/2xJZwbu" target="_blank">Netgear 8-port at US$70</a>), running Ethernet(networking) cables from the switch to where you wanted your cams, such as <a title="POE IP Camera, SV3C ProHD 1080p Outdoor Video Security Camera(Wired), 36PCS IR LED Night Light Surveillance Camera, Waterproof Security Indoor Outdoor Motion Camera With H.265 ONVIF" href="https://amzn.to/2kPEKhn" target="_blank">SV3C ProHD at US$40</a>. (Other people prefer using older Android smartphones for this purpose using a program such as <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam" target="_blank">IP Webcam</a>.) You could then run a free software program on your computer or laptop such as <a href="https://www.ispyconnect.com/" target="_blank">iSpy</a> (recommended), Blue Iris, the defunct Camera Viewer Pro, ContaCam, ZoneMinder (Linux), Genius Vision NVR, Netcam Studio, SecureCam2, Rear View Mirror, AtHome Video Streamer, Ivideon etc). Cloud storage of videos or images is usually a premium feature and notifications would sometimes be difficult (but not impossible) to set up without a subscription of some sort.</p> <p>The reason IP cams had to be used is that most wireless or Wi-Fi cameras were either expensive or low quality. But the Wyze Labs offer has changed all that.</p> <p>This remarkably cheap camera provides excellent image quality, IR (night vision), motion detection, automatic cloud (or SD card) storage, smartphone app with monitoring. It’s powered by a micro-USB power adapter + cable. You can buy an additional <a href="https://amzn.to/2JblQ3a" target="_blank">25 ft cable at US$10</a> or a <a title="Monoprice 15-Feet USB 2.0 A Male to Micro 5pin Male 28/24AWG Cable with Ferrite Core (Gold Plated), White (108643)" href="https://amzn.to/2xK2Y5W" target="_blank">15 ft cable at CDN$7.60</a>.</p> <p>If you’re like me, you might be weary of proprietary solutions and it does not look like the camera feed is available on the LAN through normal methods. But not to worry, the camera can still be accessed with Tiny Cam Pro or by using a “hacked” open source firmware which adds RTSP and other features. Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to have both RTSP and the free cloud storage (or notifications in the official app). You can try it though, and if not happy, you are free to revert to the official firmware.</p> <p>In summary, if you need a simple surveillance option this camera is best and supported by an open-source firmware project. Enjoy! </p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info:  <a title="Wyze 3209 subscribers on 2018-06-04" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeMXXZCPez2yOSYBceHWm-Q" target="_blank">YouTube Official Channel</a>, <a href="https://openip.cam" target="_blank">OpenIP.cam</a>, <a title="OpenIPC Firmware for Wyze Cameras" href="https://github.com/openipcamera/openipc-firmware" target="_blank">Github</a>, <a title="Should there be a WyzeCam website and/or computer app to view your private live cameras online?" href="https://www.wyzecam.com/forums/topic/wyzecam-website-for-viewing-videos/" target="_blank">Wyze-forum</a>, <a href="https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/issues/351" target="_blank">EliasKotlyar</a>, <a title="I have a Wyze cam that I installed OpenIPC on. Very simple process if you’ve ever flashed a firmware before. OpenIPC lets you turn off the cloud stuff and I have mine pushing video over my local network to MotionEye on a Raspberry Pi. The Wyze has IR night vision but the IR can’t see through windows at night so be aware of that." href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16753913" target="_blank">ycomb</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:fd4cd698-c243-4275-9f89-eafe44a72230" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/camera" rel="tag">camera</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cam" rel="tag">cam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/webcam" rel="tag">webcam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wyze+labs" rel="tag">wyze labs</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/wyzecam" rel="tag">wyzecam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/surveillance" rel="tag">surveillance</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/security" rel="tag">security</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/camera+surveillance" rel="tag">camera surveillance</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/home+security" rel="tag">home security</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/china" rel="tag">china</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/cloud+storage" rel="tag">cloud storage</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/mass+surveillance" rel="tag">mass surveillance</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/micro+sd" rel="tag">micro sd</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/micro+usb" rel="tag">micro usb</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-6524600443914174612018-02-17T01:00:00.004-05:002018-02-18T20:43:35.204-05:00Benchmarking a Windows 10 Home Laptop<span id="description">I recently had the opportunity to benchmark two very similar Acer computers, differing mostly in the kind of Intel processor they shared. I found that only Novabench is worth using.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="567 score Intel Core i3-4030U 4GB RAM" href="https://novabench.com/profile/163997" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="NovabenchInUseScore" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="NovabenchInUseScore" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nBlqSlX4exw/WooXjF1P8UI/AAAAAAAAyWo/pY0bIR8bmp0BpETIrGzd4zC2dN_ikKjSgCHMYCw/NovabenchInUseScore%255B1%255D?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="244" /></a></p> <p>As you may recall from my article on <a title="Get A New Laptop/Tablet Or Fix The Old One?" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2017/02/get-new-laptoptablet-or-fix-old-one.html">buying this so-called new laptop</a>, I have an Acer laptop that’s cheap, heavy and running an i3 processor with 4GB RAM and (mostly) Windows 10 Home. I have replaced the slow HDD with a fast SSD Samsung 850 EVO drive.</p> <p>As I helped a friend with some computer issues, I noticed that she had a very similar (but <a title="Laptops That Weigh Less Than 3.5 Pounds at Laptop Mag" href="https://www.laptopmag.com/benchmarks/weight" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lighter</a>) laptop (also Acer with 4GB RAM and same OS) with a less powerful N3060 processor. I was curious to see how the two computers performed in comparison, so I asked her to run some benchmarking software while using it and I did the same.</p> <p>The quickest way to measure the performance of a Windows laptop is probably the “Windows Experience Index” which used to be made available in the “system” window, which one can bring up in several ways, such as pressing the Windows key + Pause/Break. </p> <details><summary>That is no longer shown in Windows 10, but it can be found by typing “<strong>winsat formal -v -xml c:\winstatresults.xml</strong>” in an admin command prompt. In my case, it ran for less than 2 minutes with a 4.4 system score.</summary> <ul> <li>Memory 5.9 </li> <li>CPU 6.8 </li> <li>CPU SubAgg 6.7 </li> <li>Video Encode 6.9 </li> <li>Graphics 4.4 </li> <li>Dx9, Dx10 9.9 </li> <li>Gaming 9.9 </li> <li>DiskScore 8.1 </li> <li>BildLab <a></a>14393.rs1_release.180209-1727 </li> </ul> </details> <p>To my knowledge, the free benchmarking suites for Windows computers include Novabench, Prime 95, PCMark, 3DMark, SiSoft Sandra. I skipped PCMark and 3DMark as, at 2GB and, respectively, 4GB, they are far too hefty for what I need and decided to go with Prime95 as that seemed to be the only one that is also portable.</p> <h3><a name="p95"></a>p95</h3> <p>I chose this one for the comparison as it seemed like a small download (from <a title="https://www.mersenne.org/download/" href="https://www.mersenne.org/download/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mersenne.org</a>) and it was portable. However, the software belongs to a “prime search” project and their aim is to use your CPU cycles in a distributed model to search for such numbers. There is no bitcoin mining malware as far as I can tell – you have to press “Just <u>S</u>tress Testing” in the first window, then cancel the Torture Test offer and finally choose Benchmark under the Options menu.</p> <details><summary>Her results seem to indicate her <strike>laptop</strike><em>tablet</em> being 4-5 times slower than mine. Her computer also had a McAfee antivirus as well as other Acer bloatware. I started to uninstall McAfee as the benchmark was running.</summary> <pre>[Thu Feb 15 19:22:28 2018]
Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks
Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU N3060 @ 1.60GHz
CPU speed: 2455.33 MHz, 2 cores
CPU features: Prefetchw, SSE, SSE2, SSE4
L1 cache size: 24 KB
L2 cache size: 1 MB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
TLBS: 256
Machine topology as determined by hwloc library:
Machine#0 (total=1699980KB, Backend=Windows, hwlocVersion=1.11.9, ProcessName=prime95.exe)
NUMANode#0 (local=1699980KB, total=1699980KB)
Package#0 (CPUVendor=GenuineIntel, CPUFamilyNumber=6, CPUModelNumber=76, CPUModel="Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU N3060 @ 1.60GHz", CPUStepping=4)
L2 (size=1024KB, linesize=64, ways=16, Inclusive=0)
L1d (size=24KB, linesize=64, ways=6, Inclusive=0)
Core (cpuset: 0x00000001)
PU#0 (cpuset: 0x00000001)
L2 (size=1024KB, linesize=64, ways=16, Inclusive=0)
L1d (size=24KB, linesize=64, ways=6, Inclusive=0)
Core (cpuset: 0x00000002)
PU#1 (cpuset: 0x00000002)
Prime95 64-bit version 29.4, RdtscTiming=1
[Thu Feb 15 19:29:16 2018]
Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 9656.53 ms. Throughput: 0.10 iter/sec.
Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 9529.85, 14250.22 ms. Throughput: 0.18 iter/sec.
[Thu Feb 15 19:38:56 2018]
Timings for 2240K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 130.66 ms. Throughput: 7.65 iter/sec.
Timings for 2240K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 412.91, 431.53 ms. Throughput: 4.74 iter/sec.
Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 103.73 ms. Throughput: 9.64 iter/sec.
Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 338.10, 188.68 ms. Throughput: 8.26 iter/sec.
[Thu Feb 15 19:45:24 2018]
Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 358.48 ms. Throughput: 2.79 iter/sec.
Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 151.39, 151.27 ms. Throughput: 13.22 iter/sec.
Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 84.09 ms. Throughput: 11.89 iter/sec.
Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 447.83, 454.03 ms. Throughput: 4.44 iter/sec.
Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 87.25 ms. Throughput: 11.46 iter/sec.
Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 508.98, 439.00 ms. Throughput: 4.24 iter/sec.
Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 118.63 ms. Throughput: 8.43 iter/sec.
Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 168.91, 170.23 ms. Throughput: 11.79 iter/sec.
Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 362.37 ms. Throughput: 2.76 iter/sec.
Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 235.20, 224.75 ms. Throughput: 8.70 iter/sec.
Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 168.99 ms. Throughput: 5.92 iter/sec.
Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 175.26, 176.23 ms. Throughput: 11.38 iter/sec.
Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 179.91 ms. Throughput: 5.56 iter/sec.
Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 271.94, 271.40 ms. Throughput: 7.36 iter/sec.
[Thu Feb 15 19:50:32 2018]
Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 100.17 ms. Throughput: 9.98 iter/sec.
Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 194.70, 193.35 ms. Throughput: 10.31 iter/sec.
Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 122.18 ms. Throughput: 8.18 iter/sec.
Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 257.53, 247.49 ms. Throughput: 7.92 iter/sec.
Timings for 4000K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 147.85 ms. Throughput: 6.76 iter/sec.
Timings for 4000K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 232.22, 227.61 ms. Throughput: 8.70 iter/sec.
Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 116.24 ms. Throughput: 8.60 iter/sec.
Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 233.60, 233.15 ms. Throughput: 8.57 iter/sec.
Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 156.82 ms. Throughput: 6.38 iter/sec.
Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 370.75, 343.89 ms. Throughput: 5.61 iter/sec.
Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 144.07 ms. Throughput: 6.94 iter/sec.
Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 325.57, 313.50 ms. Throughput: 6.26 iter/sec.
Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 156.85 ms. Throughput: 6.38 iter/sec.
Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 282.22, 280.27 ms. Throughput: 7.11 iter/sec.
Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 134.45 ms. Throughput: 7.44 iter/sec.
Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 339.50, 327.89 ms. Throughput: 6.00 iter/sec.
[Thu Feb 15 19:55:51 2018]
Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 156.06 ms. Throughput: 6.41 iter/sec.
Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 364.78, 358.82 ms. Throughput: 5.53 iter/sec.
Timings for 5600K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 185.44 ms. Throughput: 5.39 iter/sec.
Timings for 5600K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 355.94, 349.42 ms. Throughput: 5.67 iter/sec.
Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 188.21 ms. Throughput: 5.31 iter/sec.
Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 378.64, 368.21 ms. Throughput: 5.36 iter/sec.
Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 181.61 ms. Throughput: 5.51 iter/sec.
Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 448.09, 419.93 ms. Throughput: 4.61 iter/sec.
Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 221.75 ms. Throughput: 4.51 iter/sec.
Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 387.27, 381.72 ms. Throughput: 5.20 iter/sec.
Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 370.59 ms. Throughput: 2.70 iter/sec.
Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 564.25, 541.92 ms. Throughput: 3.62 iter/sec.
Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 252.77 ms. Throughput: 3.96 iter/sec.
Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 571.20, 539.58 ms. Throughput: 3.60 iter/sec.
[Thu Feb 15 20:01:07 2018]
Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 261.56 ms. Throughput: 3.82 iter/sec.
Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 1039.39, 937.12 ms. Throughput: 2.03 iter/sec.
Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 303.49 ms. Throughput: 3.29 iter/sec.
Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 617.53, 598.68 ms. Throughput: 3.29 iter/sec.
Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 336.67 ms. Throughput: 2.97 iter/sec.
Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 565.53, 537.08 ms. Throughput: 3.63 iter/sec.</pre>
</details>
<p>It is a bit difficult interpreting these numbers, but from the list of results (mersenne-results), the one closest to mine would be <a title="Intel Core i3-4005U @ 1.70GHz" href="https://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks/?exp_date=2012-01-01&64bit=1&exover=1&exbad=1&exv25=1&exv26=1&specific_cpu=4377705" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">i3-4005U</a>. Anyway, the numbers (mine are below) do indeed match the subjective observations, as her computer seemed extremely slow.</p>
<details><summary>In contrast, my own laptop had a significantly better processor (though obsolete by today’s standards), no McAfee and a more or less clean Windows 10 install. Mine is updated, with the “creators update” blocked. However, the computer was in use while the benchmark was running with a Chrome-based browser with about 10 extensions and with two windows having a total of about 20 tabs, VLC playing a SomaFM radio stream, and most software running off a Veracrypt-ed drive; also f.lux.</summary>
<blockquote>
<p>[Thu Feb 15 19:21:46 2018]
<br />Compare your results to other computers at <a href="http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks</a>
<br />Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4030U CPU @ 1.90GHz
<br />CPU speed: 1895.77 MHz, 2 hyperthreaded cores
<br />CPU features: Prefetch, SSE, SSE2, SSE4, AVX, AVX2, FMA
<br />L1 cache size: 32 KB
<br />L2 cache size: 256 KB, L3 cache size: 3 MB
<br />L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
<br />L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
<br />TLBS: 64
<br />Machine topology as determined by hwloc library:
<br />Machine#0 (total=1691468KB, Backend=Windows, hwlocVersion=1.11.9, ProcessName=prime95.exe)
<br />  NUMANode#0 (local=1691468KB, total=1691468KB)
<br />    Package#0 (CPUVendor=GenuineIntel, CPUFamilyNumber=6, CPUModelNumber=69, CPUModel="Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4030U CPU @ 1.90GHz", CPUStepping=1)
<br />      L3 (size=3072KB, linesize=64, ways=12, Inclusive=1)
<br />        L2 (size=256KB, linesize=64, ways=8, Inclusive=0)
<br />          L1d (size=32KB, linesize=64, ways=8, Inclusive=0)
<br />            Core (cpuset: 0x00000003)
<br />              PU#0 (cpuset: 0x00000001)
<br />              PU#1 (cpuset: 0x00000002)
<br />        L2 (size=256KB, linesize=64, ways=8, Inclusive=0)
<br />          L1d (size=32KB, linesize=64, ways=8, Inclusive=0)
<br />            Core (cpuset: 0x0000000c)
<br />              PU#2 (cpuset: 0x00000004)
<br />              PU#3 (cpuset: 0x00000008)
<br />Prime95 64-bit version 29.4, RdtscTiming=1
<br />Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 10.36 ms.  Throughput: 96.56 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 21.97, 21.32 ms.  Throughput: 92.41 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 11.28 ms.  Throughput: 88.66 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2048K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 21.38, 21.01 ms.  Throughput: 94.35 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 11.80 ms.  Throughput: 84.74 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 21.82, 21.68 ms.  Throughput: 91.96 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 11.92 ms.  Throughput: 83.86 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2304K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 29.62, 28.37 ms.  Throughput: 69.01 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 13.31 ms.  Throughput: 75.13 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 24.88, 24.38 ms.  Throughput: 81.22 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 13.56 ms.  Throughput: 73.73 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2400K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 25.60, 24.21 ms.  Throughput: 80.37 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 13.54 ms.  Throughput: 73.84 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 26.02, 25.80 ms.  Throughput: 77.19 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 13.16 ms.  Throughput: 75.96 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2560K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 30.54, 28.47 ms.  Throughput: 67.87 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 13.35 ms.  Throughput: 74.88 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 26.22, 25.88 ms.  Throughput: 76.79 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:26:56 2018]
<br />Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 14.45 ms.  Throughput: 69.19 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2688K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 34.31, 29.35 ms.  Throughput: 63.22 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 15.37 ms.  Throughput: 65.06 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 36.75, 35.41 ms.  Throughput: 55.45 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 18.42 ms.  Throughput: 54.30 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 2880K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 37.90, 34.74 ms.  Throughput: 55.17 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 26.46 ms.  Throughput: 37.79 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 37.53, 36.41 ms.  Throughput: 54.11 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 17.55 ms.  Throughput: 56.98 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3072K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 34.64, 31.51 ms.  Throughput: 60.60 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 16.18 ms.  Throughput: 61.79 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 32.21, 31.97 ms.  Throughput: 62.33 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 17.76 ms.  Throughput: 56.31 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3200K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 38.39, 34.44 ms.  Throughput: 55.09 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 23.22 ms.  Throughput: 43.06 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 37.66, 36.75 ms.  Throughput: 53.76 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 19.14 ms.  Throughput: 52.26 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3360K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 41.54, 40.29 ms.  Throughput: 48.89 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:32:01 2018]
<br />Timings for 3456K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 19.38 ms.  Throughput: 51.61 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3456K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 48.18, 46.05 ms.  Throughput: 42.47 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3456K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 20.68 ms.  Throughput: 48.36 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3456K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 45.81, 41.48 ms.  Throughput: 45.93 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 19.09 ms.  Throughput: 52.38 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 38.94, 41.60 ms.  Throughput: 49.72 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 19.18 ms.  Throughput: 52.14 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3584K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 40.26, 38.50 ms.  Throughput: 50.82 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 20.35 ms.  Throughput: 49.15 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 39.43, 39.08 ms.  Throughput: 50.95 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 20.47 ms.  Throughput: 48.86 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 3840K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 41.40, 40.15 ms.  Throughput: 49.06 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 21.71 ms.  Throughput: 46.06 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 44.02, 43.09 ms.  Throughput: 45.92 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 23.44 ms.  Throughput: 42.65 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4096K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 46.95, 47.38 ms.  Throughput: 42.41 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 22.94 ms.  Throughput: 43.60 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 45.79, 45.05 ms.  Throughput: 44.03 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:37:06 2018]
<br />Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 25.44 ms.  Throughput: 39.30 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4480K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 59.27, 52.06 ms.  Throughput: 36.08 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 24.62 ms.  Throughput: 40.62 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 47.20, 46.67 ms.  Throughput: 42.62 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 24.44 ms.  Throughput: 40.92 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4608K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 50.59, 48.48 ms.  Throughput: 40.40 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 24.46 ms.  Throughput: 40.89 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 49.00, 48.51 ms.  Throughput: 41.02 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 26.16 ms.  Throughput: 38.23 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 4800K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 54.32, 52.00 ms.  Throughput: 37.64 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 27.35 ms.  Throughput: 36.57 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 55.45, 54.00 ms.  Throughput: 36.55 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 34.04 ms.  Throughput: 29.38 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5120K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 71.92, 65.60 ms.  Throughput: 29.15 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 27.81 ms.  Throughput: 35.96 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 55.39, 54.55 ms.  Throughput: 36.39 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 51.42 ms.  Throughput: 19.45 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5376K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 74.10, 64.40 ms.  Throughput: 29.02 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:42:23 2018]
<br />Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 33.79 ms.  Throughput: 29.59 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 62.32, 62.08 ms.  Throughput: 32.16 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 35.52 ms.  Throughput: 28.16 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 5760K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 73.59, 71.23 ms.  Throughput: 27.63 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 32.51 ms.  Throughput: 30.76 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 66.57, 65.24 ms.  Throughput: 30.35 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 37.36 ms.  Throughput: 26.76 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6144K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 93.22, 82.81 ms.  Throughput: 22.80 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 37.95 ms.  Throughput: 26.35 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 72.31, 70.17 ms.  Throughput: 28.08 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 36.02 ms.  Throughput: 27.77 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6400K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 73.35, 71.12 ms.  Throughput: 27.69 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 39.23 ms.  Throughput: 25.49 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 77.51, 75.54 ms.  Throughput: 26.14 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 49.41 ms.  Throughput: 20.24 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6720K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 105.57, 101.03 ms.  Throughput: 19.37 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 40.68 ms.  Throughput: 24.58 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:47:33 2018]
<br />Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 76.63, 74.99 ms.  Throughput: 26.38 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 43.93 ms.  Throughput: 22.76 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 6912K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 88.79, 87.56 ms.  Throughput: 22.68 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 41.13 ms.  Throughput: 24.32 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 82.81, 82.11 ms.  Throughput: 24.25 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 52.75 ms.  Throughput: 18.96 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7168K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 111.52, 109.18 ms.  Throughput: 18.13 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 41.48 ms.  Throughput: 24.11 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 85.59, 81.63 ms.  Throughput: 23.94 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 49.10 ms.  Throughput: 20.37 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 7680K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 100.16, 97.15 ms.  Throughput: 20.28 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8064K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 45.93 ms.  Throughput: 21.77 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8064K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 90.65, 89.26 ms.  Throughput: 22.23 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8064K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 60.77 ms.  Throughput: 16.46 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8064K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 127.90, 124.89 ms.  Throughput: 15.83 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores, 1 worker): 50.94 ms.  Throughput: 19.63 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores, 2 workers): 102.44, 101.67 ms.  Throughput: 19.60 iter/sec.
<br />[Thu Feb 15 19:52:50 2018]
<br />Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 1 worker): 60.99 ms.  Throughput: 16.40 iter/sec.
<br />Timings for 8192K FFT length (2 cores hyperthreaded, 2 workers): 136.21, 127.74 ms.  Throughput: 15.17 iter/sec.
<br />[Fri Feb 16 17:39:48 2018]
<br />Quitting GIMPS after current work completes.
<br /></p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>A comparison between the i3 and Pentium (e.g., gadgets-compare) is rather subjective, as often the exact version compared might not match what one has, as it happens to these newer ones.</p>
<details><summary>On Quora, somebody compares the newer i3-7100 and the G4620 (quora-comp).</summary>
<blockquote>
<p>At this moment (December 2017) I’m not sure there really is much difference. The Pentium G4620 is based on the Kaby Lake architecture, just like the 7-series i3s. Just like the 7-series i3s the Pentium has Hyper Threading and two processing cores for four threads. They both have intel 630 integrated graphics and both use identical 1151 sockets. In fact the only real difference between the two is that the i3 supports AVX2.0 while the Pentium has no AVX support and the Pentium has a lower core clock.</p>
<p>As a point of interest UserBenchmark places the performance of the i3–7100 as about 4–5% greater than the Pentium G4620:</p>
<p><a title="CPU userbenchmark comparison" href="http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-G4620-vs-Intel-Core-i3-7100/3895vs3891" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Intel Core i3-7100 vs Pentium G4620</a></p>
<p>Interestingly, the i3–7100 clock is 3.9ghz, which is about 5% faster than the G4620’s 3.7ghz core clock. So the Pentium’s performance is directly inline with what you’d expect of the same generation i3 with the same clock rate.</p>
<p>It’s my belief that the current crop of Pentium processors are simply i3s that failed to test well enough after manufacture for the i3 brand. Thus they’re sold for a lower price with some features turned off and a lower clock rate. This is a fairly standard practice in CPU marketing and development.</p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p><a title="Download CrystalDiskMark Portable" href="https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/crystaldiskmark_portable" target="_blank"><img title="CrystalMarkSSD850EVO" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="CrystalMarkSSD850EVO" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-auzAp8OQAkQ/WoorxY5jD_I/AAAAAAAAyXQ/Wkutv0HSwgEBrLACZu24jQ39Dmgmw6gMACHMYCw/CrystalMarkSSD850EVO%255B8%255D?imgmax=800" width="334" height="359" /></a>One significant improvement I have made to my cheap Acer i3 laptop is the 850 EVO SSD which compares very favourably to the previous ST500LT012.</p>
<h3><a name="novabench"></a>novabench</h3>
<p><a href="https://novabench.com/download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Novabench is a small download</a>, it completes in 1h or less and can be uploaded to their website.</p>
<p><a title="666 score" href="https://novabench.com/view/1426356" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="novabench666" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="novabench666" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_31Ic-DAfm0/WooXj0nQoJI/AAAAAAAAyWs/Suek8n34tZYUWuKMcvK-w-ixpR6ccSs1gCHMYCw/novabench666%255B1%255D?imgmax=800" width="244" height="230" /></a>I re-ran Novabench, (result above, first as shown in the first screenshot,) without the browser running, but still with Veracrypt and other things on, getting a substantial score improvement. I am keeping this one as it fits my requirements.</p>
<h3><a name="7zip"></a>7zip</h3>
<p><a title="7zip benchmarking compilation" href="https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/7-zip-benchmark-compilation.175418/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="benchmrk" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="benchmrk" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y6DDqkIag1Y/WonKhtKyYeI/AAAAAAAAyV4/hfmbhncZmk45zXfAYbX3tncNgrtUqo8lwCHMYCw/benchmrk%255B8%255D?imgmax=800" width="372" height="324" /></a><a title="the portable version of 7zip" href="https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">7zip, an archiver</a>, has a benchmarking subroutine (under the Tools menu), though apart from the forum linked under the image above, a list of results is hard to come by.</p>
<details><summary>The help section explains the numbers and to me it doesn’t seem very rigorous if you want to use it for comparison benchmarking.</summary>
<blockquote>
<p>There are two tests: </p>
<ol>
<li>Compression with LZMA method </li>
<li>Decompression with LZMA method </li>
</ol>
<p>The benchmark shows a rating in MIPS (million instructions per second). The rating value is calculated from the measured speed, and it is normalized with results of Intel Core 2 CPU with multi-threading option switched off. So if you have modern CPU from Intel or AMD, rating values in single-thread mode must be close to real CPU frequency.</p>
<p>You can change the dictionary size to increase memory usage. Also you can change the number of threads.</p>
<p>The <b>CPU Usage</b> column shows the percentage of time the processor is working. It's normalized for a one-thread load. For example, 180% CPU Usage for 2 threads can mean that average CPU usage is about 90% for each thread.</p>
<p>The <b>Rating / Usage</b> column shows rating normalized for 100% of CPU usage. That column shows performance of the one CPU thread. It must be close to real CPU frequency, if you have modern CPU.</p>
<p>The <b>Total rating</b> shows averages of the compressing and decompression ratings.</p>
<p>Compression speed and rating strongly depend from memory (RAM) latency. </p>
<p>Decompression speed and rating strongly depend on CPU integer operations. For example, an Intel Pentium 4 has big branch misprediction penalty (which is effect of long pipeline) and pretty slow multiply and shift operations. So, the Pentium 4 has pretty low decompressing ratings.</p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<h3><a name="sandra"></a>sandra</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/SiSoftware-Sandra.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sisoftware Sandra</a> is a slightly more complex testing suite, using a client-server model, which makes it better suited for LANs. </p>
<details><summary>I found the stand-alone install difficult to use and a bit buggy but it identified and reported on the hardware well.</summary>
<blockquote>
<p>SiSoftware Sandra - abbreviated results, repeated data deleted</p>
<p>Processor Multi-Media
<br />Analysing...
<br />Aggregated Score : 79.65MPix/s
<br />Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4030U CPU @ 1.90GHz (2C 4T 1.9GHz, 1.9GHz IMC, 2x 256kB L2, 3MB L3)
<br />Speed : 1896MHz
<br />Capacity : 4Unit(s)
<br />Power : 25.00W
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes</p>
<p>Processor Cryptography : 2.232GB/s</p>
<p>Processor Financial Analysis : 5.13kOPT/s</p>
<p>Processor Scientific Analysis : 6.74GFLOPS</p>
<p>.NET Arithmetic : 8.46GOPS</p>
<p>Memory Bandwidth : 7.399GB/s</p>
<p>Cache & Memory Latency : 65.4ns</p>
<p>File System Bandwidth
<br />Error (5202) : EvoAcr (NTFS, 4kB) : Read/Write Performance : 11374 MB free space required on device \\.\C:\!
<br />Aggregated Score : 177.758MB/s
<br />Result ID : Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (500.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL) (NTFS, 4kB)
<br />Capacity : 500.11GB
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes</p>
<p>File System I/O : 8652.7IOPS</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Processing : 76.71MPix/s
<br />Result ID : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (160SP 20C 1GHz, 256kB L2, 1.6GB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics) (OpenCL)
<br />Speed : 1000MHz
<br />Capacity : 20Unit(s)
<br />Power : 25.00W
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Cryptography : 0.845GB/s</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Financial Analysis : 88.36kOPT/s</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Scientific Analysis
<br />Analysing...
<br />Error (339) : OpenCL : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (160SP 20C 1GHz, 256kB L2, 1.6GB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit) : Floating-Point (Normal/Single Precision) : GP(GPU) call failed. Try another interface (e.g. OpenCL/ComputeShader/CUDA/etc.) or update video drivers.
<br />Error (339) : D3D 11 : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (160SP 20C 1GHz, 512kB L2, 128MB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit) : Floating-Point (Normal/Single Precision) : GP(GPU) call failed. Try another interface (e.g. OpenCL/ComputeShader/CUDA/etc.) or update video drivers.
<br />Error (339) : D3D 11 : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (160SP 20C 1GHz, 512kB L2, 128MB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit) : Floating-Point (High/Double Precision) : GP(GPU) call failed. Try another interface (e.g. OpenCL/ComputeShader/CUDA/etc.) or update video drivers.
<br />Finished Successfully : No</p>
<p>Processor Scientific Analysis : 6.59GFLOPS</p>
<p>Media (Audio/Video) Transcode : 5.950MB/s
<br />Result ID : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (20CU 160SP  1GHz, 512kB L2, 128MB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics) (Microsoft H264 Video Decoder MFT > Intel® Quick Sync Video H.264 Encoder MFT; Microsoft AAC Audio Decoder MFT > Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT)
<br />Speed : 1000MHz
<br />Capacity : 1Unit(s)
<br />Power : 25.00W
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Memory Bandwidth : 6.082GB/s
<br />Result ID : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (160SP 20C 1GHz, 256kB L2, 1.6GB DDR3 1.6GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics) (OpenCL)
<br />Speed : 1600MHz
<br />Capacity : 1600MB
<br />Power : 25.00W
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes</p>
<p>GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Memory Latency : 173.3ns</p>
<p>Overall Score
<br />Aggregated Score : 3.70kPT
<br />Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.
<br />Decimal Numeral System (base 10) : 1GPT = 1000MPT, 1MPT = 1000kPT, 1kPT = 1000PT, etc.
<br />Result ID : Acer Aspire E5-471P Type1Family (Acer EA40_HB) (Intel Core i3-4030U CPU @ 1.90GHz; Intel Core DRAM Controller; 4GB Hynix HMT451S6BFR8A-PB DDR3 SO; Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB; Intel HD Graphics Family)
<br />Finished Successfully : Yes
<br /></p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p><a title="the ranker websited appears to be currently down" href="https://ranker.sisoftware.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Overall Score1a" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Overall Score1a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xzVn-z5jyNk/WooXkr56ekI/AAAAAAAAyWw/7qekrM7byt4eRFnkaLV6xgxYNaqQ2C70ACHMYCw/Overall%2BScore1a%255B10%255D?imgmax=800" width="410" height="410" /></a>Sandra does provide extensive reporting and comparison with other similar hardware, but in my experience the similar hardware wasn’t exactly all that similar. I had to uncheck the pre-checked i7 models and check the only two i3 CPUs in the list.</p>
<p><a title="the ranker site is down" href="https://ranker.sisoftware.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="ranker" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="ranker" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cBqP564XEUA/WooXlYnCTDI/AAAAAAAAyW0/Flcduv9ExHsHmAcnrSk_e4THrgCtTM5YACHMYCw/ranker%255B8%255D?imgmax=800" width="244" height="236" /></a>Though the website is still updated, the “ranker” site appears to be currently down.</p>
<p>I uninstalled it and it offered a license in return for completing some tasks – these involved depositing money with a betting site and buying fast food gift cards, so I passed.</p>
<p>Most buying advice no longer considers i3 processors, recommending an Atom or N#### class processor for budget conscious buyers, and i5-i7 for the rest (lptp-cpu).</p>
<p>In conclusion, I recommend <strong>Novabench</strong> as the only free benchmarking software worth trying. If, like me, you are using an encrypted drive, you might want to install it on the main (unencrypted) drive, so that you can test without the encryption software running.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="https://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks/" target="_blank">mersenne-results</a>, <a title="What is the difference between i3 and Pentium Quad-Core?" href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-i3-and-Pentium-Quad-Core" target="_blank">quora-comp</a>, <a title="Compare Acer Aspire A315-51 (NX.GNPSI.008) Laptop (Core i3 7th Gen/4 GB/500 GB/Linux) vs Acer Aspire E1-571G vs Acer Aspire E5-575 (NX.GE1SI.007) Laptop (Core i3 6th Gen/4 GB/1 TB/Linux)" href="https://www.gadgetsnow.com/compare-laptops/Acer-Aspire-A315-51-NXGNPSI008-Laptop-Core-i3-7th-Gen4-GB500-GBLinux-vs-Acer-Aspire-E1-571G-vs-Acer-Aspire-E5-575-NXGE1SI007-Laptop-Core-i3-6th-Gen4-GB1-TBLinux" target="_blank">gadgets-compare</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Intel_processors" target="_blank">wiki-compare</a>, <a title="Which Laptop CPU is Right for You? Jan 19, 2017" href="https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/cpu-comparison" target="_blank">lptp-cpu</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:12d779c1-214b-4fa5-92a8-7be55916b3da" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer org" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/benchmark" rel="tag">benchmark</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/hardware" rel="tag">hardware</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/hard" rel="tag">hard</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/pc" rel="tag">pc</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/testing" rel="tag">testing</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-47080043159399774252017-02-09T20:00:00.001-05:002017-02-09T20:04:53.123-05:00Get A New Laptop/Tablet Or Fix The Old One?<span id="description">Not long ago I dropped my old trusty tablet hybrid on the floor and the monitor went blank. I had to quickly purchase a new laptop, which itself was fixed only days ago. I will discuss here how I got a new one and what others can do when their laptop is almost dead to retrieve their data.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="This chart gives an insight into the decline in PC sales relative to the rise in tablets. The market for tablets in 2010 was just 5% of units shipped. However, by 2014 tablets accounted for over 40% of the total market." href="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/0P26LuJ69t-hNqMcaTW_53_ZfhGuz4nAEdHNEl2yswM.png" target="_blank"><img title="Desktop vs Laptop vs Tablet" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Desktop vs Laptop vs Tablet" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rhuiADecrt0/WJ0Fuz74MXI/AAAAAAAAkss/syGZaBZQh8w/Desktop%252520vs%252520Laptop%252520vs%252520Tablet%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="237" /></a>Although laptop sales have been stagnant or going down for quite a while now (wef-laptabsph), I still need one for my work. There are certain things I can’t do on my smartphone, and a tablet is just a bad compromise. But things may change in the future. I’d love to be able to just do what I do on my laptop with the aid of a BT keyboard, it’s just that smartphones are not quite there yet.</p> <h3><a name="recovery"></a>recovery</h3> <p>A friend of mine had experienced herself problems with her old laptop (running Windows XP!) and, rather than buy a new one, she ended up paying close to $200 for the motherboard to be replaced, because she did not want to lose the photos.</p> <p>Last time I looked at her computer it seemed as if it still had some issues and quite likely, the motherboard had not been replaced, only the OS had been upgraded to a pirated version of Windows 7.</p> <p>When faced with such an issue, the best thing to do is to remove the hard drive and buy a new computer or tablet for even less than what you would pay to fix it. You can then remove the hard drive from your old laptop and connect it to the new device via USB. If my friend had asked me, I already had a <a href="http://amzn.to/2kUo5Lb" target="_blank">StarTech adapter</a>, though <a href="http://amzn.to/2kU9Ciw" target="_blank">Sabrent</a> should also work. When you connect your hard drive to your new tablet or laptop via USB, it will act as a USB key / stick. In some situations you might have to disable TPM for the drive to be “seen”. You can then copy the data to your new device. It’s a good idea to have regular online backups of your encrypted data so that you never end up in such a situation.</p> <p>For more details on how to buy a new laptop, see below.</p> <h3><a name="purchase"></a>purchase</h3> <p>For what is worth, my old laptop was still working, it’s just that no image was shown on the screen. Hopefully, that’s due to a connector having come loose and one day, when I’ll have the time, I’ll open it up and try to fix it.</p> <p>When I bought my current laptop, I thought I could fix the old one quickly and return the new one in 30 days, unless I was totally impressed by the new one and decided to keep it. Though I was not totally impressed, I liked it, and when events consumed my available time to the point the 30 days passed without me having had the time to fix the old one, I was not too concerned. Besides, the new laptop was a pretty good deal: an Acer with an i3 Intel processor (not the best, but quite respectable) and a 14” touch screen. My older tablet hybrid was a pen tablet, so a finger touchscreen was an interesting and welcome “upgrade”.</p> <p><img title="BasicInfo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="BasicInfo" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OXSoNJIda_E/WJ0Fvsgjl7I/AAAAAAAAksw/Zdt3ZV36US4/BasicInfo%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="241" align="left" height="244" />I had my mind set on an Intel i3 processor because it is quite fast, no longer too expensive and for what I do with a laptop, more than sufficient. I ended up getting the i3-4030U. Anything less would, in my view, push a new laptop into the murky world of “tablet” territory, even though my older tablet hybrid had a less powerful one. An i5 or i7 would be more expensive than I am willing to spend and, I suspect (without really checking), might consume more battery power as well. I got 4 GB of RAM with a an empty slot, which means that I can upgrade memory relatively easy – prices currently start around $25 on eBay with shipping included (ebay-ddr3). Before looking at that, however, I need to make sure that everything else works).</p> <p>My experience with non-Intel CPUs hasn’t been good and I would not recommend any. Intel CPUs are more expensive, but still worth it.</p> <p>If you are considering a laptop and comparing prices, use CPUboss.com for CPUs and GPUboss.com for the video card – the latter, only if you want to use a more expensive, discrete video card.</p> <p>A 14” screen size is a relatively good compromise between portability and usability for me. That’s because I don’t carry it around all that much – otherwise, an even smaller screen and even a tablet might be a better idea. At my price point, I could find even larger screens but limited by the same resolution. </p> <p>I then looked for deals with the aforementioned constraints. I didn’t care much about hard drive size, as I often replace with the fastest SSD I could afford. Memory should be expandable as it is generally a cheap upgrade. A discrete video card is desirable but seldom available in cheap laptops. Finally, a lighter laptop is always preferable, but unfortunately, that comes with trade-offs.</p> <p>I could have also used a Lenovo among the laptops my search turned out. This one was 15”, but at the same resolution I could see the screen matrix and furthermore, the computer had a shoddy feel to it. Lenovo also refused to offer any warranty on its open box product. Even though the store promised to take it back and replace it in case of problems, I preferred to return that one and go for the Acer with 1 year manufacturer warranty.</p> <h3><a name="issues"></a>issues</h3> <p>The laptop I ended up with was quite simply built.</p> <p><img title="laptop-mobo-view" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="laptop-mobo-view" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qA6YwJXPC9U/WJ0Rrfv5XfI/AAAAAAAAktw/1f8EkLemmmI/laptop-mobo-view%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="457" height="344" />In the view above, obtained by removing the laptop’s back cover, you can see the empty CD/DVD slot to the left, the HDD below and the two memory slots, one empty, in the middle.</p> <p><img title="Dead WD Blue Drive Details" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Dead WD Blue Drive Details" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-woL2TQupOV4/WJ0Rsfw81sI/AAAAAAAAkt0/TocLzO6q7Og/Dead%252520WD%252520Blue%252520Drive%252520Details%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="211" height="317" />Here’s a detail of the Western Digital Blue HDD which ended up dead in no time.</p> <p>On getting my new computer, which came with a Windows 8, I immediately upgraded to a clean Windows 10 and that was quite alright for a while. Soon however, the Wi-Fi card and/or driver started misbehaving, by dropping connections, especially to corporate access points, whereas my smartphone had no difficulty keeping the connection alive. The problems continued even after I prevented the Wi-Fi card from being subjected to power saving shut-offs.</p> <p>After using this computer for a while, the power source died. I’m not keen on blaming it on the manufacturer, since there may have been a spill involved, but rather than ship the whole thing back as they requested in order to honor the warranty, I simply started using a universal power source I already had instead.</p> <p><img title="Dead WD Blue drive" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Dead WD Blue drive" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pZ0ny2RmY18/WJ0FwuJ1vRI/AAAAAAAAks0/vAygVcT7x3w/Dead%252520WD%252520Blue%252520drive%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="491" height="150" />A couple of months later, the hard drive started exhibiting strange signs, slowing down and making clicking noises. With much difficulty, I backed up all my data to a USB drive, so when the hard drive stopped spinning and refused to work, I had no regrets shipping the whole thing back to Acer. </p> <p><img title="included-letter" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="included-letter" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IR2YTx1BFPk/WJ0RtJaA6pI/AAAAAAAAkt4/4SOW4wx3rDo/included-letter%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="244" />They received my computer within a day of me sending it, then took about 5 days to send it back to me.</p> <h3><a name="new"></a>new</h3> <p>Upon checking, it became apparent that the dead WD Blue 500 GB 6GB/s drive (WD500LPVX) had been replaced with a Seagate Laptop Thin 5400.9 3GB/s ST500LT012 drive (<a title="Seagate Laptop Thin 5400.9 500 GB 5400RPM SATA 3Gb/s 16 MB Cache 2.5-Inch Internal Notebook Hard Drive (ST500LT012)" href="http://amzn.to/2ltRR5Z" target="_blank">ST500LT012</a>-1DG142).</p> <h3></h3> <p>This time, I’ve decided to stay with Windows 8, do all the upgrades and see how the (probably new) HDD and the Wi-Fi behave.</p> <p>Acer Support had always installed Windows 8, created an account under my name (misspelling my first name) and had also installed the standard crapware.</p> <p><img title="bye-mcafee" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="bye-mcafee" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8NbbV2pwQQM/WJ0FxTwd8YI/AAAAAAAAks4/QvvY9W8DtOI/bye-mcafee%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="235" />The first to go was <a title="In 2012, when asked if he personally uses McAfee anti-virus, he replied: 'I take it off,' and, 'It's too annoying.'" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#Personal_life" target="_blank">McAfee. Even its crazy founder uninstalls it</a> from his computer these days.</p> <p>As soon as I was done uninstalling, without even asking me, Windows had turned on its own antivirus.</p> <p><img title="bye-WildTangent" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="bye-WildTangent" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lmzZnlCBCkU/WJ0FyeAhndI/AAAAAAAAks8/G66IEyuxH5o/bye-WildTangent%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="459" height="368" />Next on the chopping block was the WildTangent crap (I can’t believe it’s still around), Game Explorer, Amazon whatever, eBay whatever (why have an app when the website is sufficient?). I kept the CyberLink stuff. As far as video editors go, this one (PowerDirector 10) is known to be one of the fastest and it also has some impressive (for its age, at least) 3D capabilities. I got rid of Microsoft Office because I’m not using it, I switched to LibreOffice and Google Apps and am happy with them.</p> <p>Acer also comes with abDocs, abFiles and “private WiFi”. The first utils allow you to access your computer files anywhere on the Internet – there are better solutions for that, while the latter sounds like a VPN. I’m curious to check the security of these and how well they work, so I left them on for a bit. I use VLC portable on my USB key for video playing, so the Acer Video Player is probably useless for me.</p> <p><img title="updating" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="updating" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a9BKlCD7DbI/WJ0FzC-qwEI/AAAAAAAAktA/3oAdYuDb170/updating%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="122" />I then started to update the OS, prioritizing drivers, in the hope that the slow-down was caused by a driver problem.<img title="update2a" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="update2a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cboTeqUyuY8/WJ0F0PmcrzI/AAAAAAAAktE/emjeElbYSFU/update2a%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="186" height="244" />Nonetheless, the update process took days because the computer was essentially unusable while updating.</p> <p><img title="HDkillUpd-1600" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="HDkillUpd-1600" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5xzPQmPDQmg/WJ0F0zREmhI/AAAAAAAAktI/QXBxzw2G-nA/HDkillUpd-1600%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="222" />I then starting monitoring resource use to determine exactly what was causing the problem, even though I already had a hunch.</p> <p><img title="Capture-2500" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Capture-2500" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EDp_sGfzXoY/WJ0F1x-nZaI/AAAAAAAAktM/fJ7uXKorK-4/Capture-2500%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="222" />As you can see, the memory and CPU are doing fine, but the Disk is completely used up.</p> <p><img title="HDkillUpd-3700" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="HDkillUpd-3700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxdjemTbsL3ZQdAMOsTb56tseb1B3AjFs8yb6EAjLWvaMb7HyQQ0Ul2Xu0WY_WRdDA41gFXp3EyoWeCpXmOehnxv2seQsZwY7SXevkR-qaN0OqInxy6x11SuMveY5athNSxAaf4ZefcU/?imgmax=800" width="244" height="222" />Even while the CPU usage goes down,</p> <p><img title="HDkillUpd-10700" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="HDkillUpd-10700" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cXJXWXgMWxA/WJ0F3iMy2NI/AAAAAAAAktU/aOit69llM9g/HDkillUpd-10700%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="240" />..the HDD is virtually used up.</p> <p><img title="Task3" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Task3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tNbinnJ87Hw/WJ0F4sBWSpI/AAAAAAAAktY/8sMuKuZMRM8/Task3%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="233" />A look at the processes disk utilization confirmed that it was only the Windows Installer doing the damage.</p> <p><img title="veracrypt_container_creation" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="veracrypt_container_creation" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hehMioJFgMo/WJ0F5qiPhRI/AAAAAAAAktc/qbLaqZGmXP0/veracrypt_container_creation%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="222" />Later on, creating an encrypted volume made it similarly unusable.</p> <p>The hard drive is so bad that I wonder if the problem isn’t maybe with the motherboard or another subsystem, such that even replacing it with an SSD might not solve the problem. On the other hand, it’s possible that I’m so accustomed to an SSD that I see a normal HDD operation as defective.</p> <p><img title="CrystalDiskReportsHDD-SeagateThin" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="CrystalDiskReportsHDD-SeagateThin" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3JUstCHXU0g/WJ0F6tDG2EI/AAAAAAAAktg/cFP_QUe5llk/CrystalDiskReportsHDD-SeagateThin%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="344" height="365" />I will once again contact support and see what they suggest.</p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="4 charts that explain the decline of the PC" href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/4-charts-that-explain-the-decline-of-the-pc/" target="_blank">wef-laptabsph</a>, <a title="4GB SODIMM DDR3 on eBay" href="http://www.ebay.ca/sch/Computer-Components-Parts/175673/i.html?_sop=15&_from=R40&Number%2520of%2520Modules=1&Capacity%2520per%2520Module=4GB&_dcat=170083&Form%2520Factor=SO%252DDIMM&_nkw=4gb%20sodimm%20ddr3&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684" target="_blank">ebay-ddr3</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:0b417055-8620-4ab3-985d-a5cd12aa849f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer" rel="tag">Consumed Consumer . org</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/laptop" rel="tag">laptop</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/notebook" rel="tag">notebook</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/hard+disk" rel="tag">hard disk</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/hard+drive+failure" rel="tag">hard drive failure</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/data+recovery" rel="tag">data recovery</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/windows" rel="tag">windows</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/laptop+repair" rel="tag">laptop repair</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=/fixing" rel="tag">fixing</a></div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-28454345113651015822016-11-29T22:35:00.000-05:002016-12-28T20:05:49.466-05:00Free TV or IPTV on your Android or laptop with Kodi<span id="description">There was a time when having a “media center” involved building an HTPC, which was a difficult project to undertake, wrought with frustrations and hardware/software incompatibilities. OTA HDTV came along and many felt left behind just when they had gotten things working. Some experimented with Popcorn while others played with NZBs/NNTP/Usenet downloads. After all these years, one media interface has emerged dominant: XBMC / Boxi / Kodi.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="amazon.ca link" href="http://amzn.to/2gHBGQ2" target="_blank"><img title="leelbox_mxqpro_4k" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="leelbox_mxqpro_4k" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVueGGvr4Vg30d5MdcJoDxqyDNmta2bdoKLxdboQcj97FBwqGhgBlgb32w055j79y16dK7TSJjY6_gBNyEWN2QdubNxkrvehVPm8teq6fGoT7BvTXm5qWnAT9Kb7lD_WpNTRQQqCH-K4o/?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="244" /></a></p> <p>To get up and running with Kodi, you can (1) buy a preconfigured box, (2) install Kodi on an existing device you already own, or (3) buy a new device and install Kodi and configure it yourself.</p> <h3>hardware</h3> <p>(1) A lot of people these days are selling “TV boxes” or “set-top boxes” online with the promise of free television. Some may even charge a subscription. However, it is exceptionally easy to buy just the box yourself and set it up in less than 30 minutes with exactly the content you want to watch, saving either the “subscription fee” or anywhere between $20-100 off a new device, or simply get a faster, newer, better device for the same money you’d be paying someone else for an older, slower but configured box. If you insist, we could recommend someone to buy from, but you should at least try installing on a device you already own.</p> <p>(3) Searching on <a href="http://amzn.to/2gHvLuj" target="_blank">Amazon.com for “Android TV Box” in Electronics</a> results in a few devices around US $30, mostly Leelbox. On the <a href="http://amzn.to/2gTKwib" target="_blank">Canadian Amazon site</a> the same Leelbox devices are around CDN $60. I can’t figure out <a title="http://www.alibaba.com/products/F0/android_tv_box.html" href="http://click.alibaba.com/rd/pv96r5t9" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AliBaba</a> or even the price of this <a title="Worldwide TV BOX TX5 pro X96 TX95 S905X Android TV Box 2GB 16GB 4K KODI 16.1 Fully Loaded dual wifi 2.4G + 5G BT 4.0" href="http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Worldwide-TV-BOX-TX5-pro-X96_60581334436.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nakin unit</a>. New devices appear all the time – read the reviews and get the best bang for your buck. Just skip the first few items in the listing if you see the note “sponsored listing” underneath as they are at the top not due to quality or desirability but simply because they paid to be there.</p> <p>Here’s what Eleazar from TV Addons recommends:</p> <blockquote> <p>“If you have no budget, the <a title="NVIDIA SHIELD Pro - 4K Ultra HD Streaming Media Player. Android TV. Great Gaming." href="http://amzn.to/2i9jEKG" target="_blank">NVIDIA Shield</a> TV (<a title="NVIDIA Shield in Canada" href="http://amzn.to/2iGbu9H" target="_blank">.ca</a>) is definitely the top choice. The second best choice would be the <a title="Xiaomi Mi Box 2016 (USA Build)" href="http://amzn.to/2iGa92t" target="_blank">Xiaomi Mi Box</a> (<a title="XIAOMI III Chinese Version Mi Box 4K Android 5.0 Media Player Amlogic S905 64bit Quad Core 1G/4G 2.4G/5G 802.11AC WiFi LAN Bluetooth 4.1" href="http://amzn.to/2iFXMHT" target="_blank">.ca</a>), which sells for a mere $69 at Wal-Mart, and the third choice would be the <a title="All-New Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote | Streaming Media Player" href="http://amzn.to/2hxvnU6" target="_blank">Amazon Fire TV</a> (<a title="Amazon FIRETVSTCKVR FIRETVSTCKVR Fire TV Stick Streaming Media Player with Voice Remote" href="http://amzn.to/2ifBUQE" target="_blank">.ca</a>). Kodi can be installed to the first two in a few clicks through the Google Play Store, while it would need to be sideloaded to the Amazon Fire TV due to the lack of Android app store support.”</p> </blockquote> <p>(2) Before purchasing those devices, you might even try to set up an older laptop or even smartphone to control your TV. If your TV can be connected to your network, you may be able to connect your laptop or smartphone via the network. Alternatively, you might be able to connect either your laptop or smartphone using an HDMI connector (or, for older laptops and TVs, a VGA connector) and if that’s the case, you don’t need to buy a new device. Most Android smartphone can project to video equipment (TV or monitor) through an <a href="http://amzn.to/2gKy9Rp" target="_blank">MHL cable such as Aibocn</a> via the TV or monitor’s HDMI.</p> <p>Whichever device you are setting up for TV watching, you need to download and install KODI (the first link below, in Sources) if it’s not there already. It can be installed under Windows, iOS, Mac OS X, Android and Linux. This is a program that allows you to display your media on a big screen, but it works equally well with smaller screens. It originally was developed for Microsoft XBox (hence the acronym XBMC, XBox Media Center) and then ported to many other operating systems. The current incarnation is named Kodi, but since it is open source, it may morph in the future into a different beast, with a different name.</p> <h3>main</h3> <p>Installing Kodi, the main program, is trivial. On a laptop or desktop, you download the install file from the link below, in sources, and double click it. On an Android device you install it from Google Play. Amazon has recently removed it from their store, and if Google Play does the same, you could “sideload” it from the link below. Once installed, you can add your own files to your media library – be they pictures, music or videos – or you can extend its functionality with “addons”. These are little programs that may collect freely available content and display it in Kodi, making it (this content) available within a few clicks, and without all the mouse-work and ads that may sometimes go with watching it.</p> <p>Personally, I have already set up a number of boxes. I want pretty much the same things on each of my boxes but do now want to spend the time for each one, so I simply back up the configuration I like, then restore it as necessary. My first such configuration can be downloaded below. I have newer ones but those are not available here, as they may contain private info.</p> <h3>backup</h3> <p>To backup your configuration or restore a pre-existing one you need to install the Backup addon:</p> <p>system->add-ons->install from repository->kodi add-on repository->program add-ons->backup->install (wait for add-on enabled message).</p> <p>On any new install, you may restore a previously saved configuration, or use this addon to save your configuration when done, so that you can duplicate it on other devices you have, if you so wish.</p> <h3>basics</h3> <p>What I first did on my box was set up the weather using Yahoo! Weather, which is the easiest. However, it displays the temperature in Fahrenheit and I can’t stand it. You might want to try a different service if that’s the case, such as the Chinese one.</p> <p>You could optionally, in Appearance, get the weather info shown on the main screen as well as displayed in the screensaver. You can even change the skin, although that is something you might want to do later.</p> <p><img title="Addons_Pic" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Addons_Pic" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XUvrAfleXqw/WD9SkFfy9nI/AAAAAAAAh_w/SneYzz8WXq4/Addons_Pic8.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="148" />Next, I added a few Pictures addons, as follows:</p> <ul> <li>500px (nice photos) </li> <li>Cyanide & Happiness (famous comics) </li> <li>flickr (photos by topics) </li> <li>Moebooru (anime) </li> <li>The Big Picture (photo journalism) </li> <li>XKCD (geeky comics) </li> </ul> <p>I don’t watch them so often, but it’s nice to have.</p> <p><img title="Addons_music" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Addons_music" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fp-vW2amsmU/WD9SlSfn-hI/AAAAAAAAh_0/cRBIpU1UIIE/Addons_music7.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="189" />I also added a number of radio stations as music addons:</p> <ul> <li>Apple iTunes Podcasts (many features, iTunes not required) </li> <li>Calm Radio (quite a few options) </li> <li>Icecast (huge OSS directory) </li> <li>JamBMC (if I need inspiration for music to use legally and cheaply in other creations) </li> <li>Loyal Books (audio books read by community) </li> <li>Nectarine Demoscene (old skule electronica, Amiga style) </li> <li>NPR (culture, separately) </li> <li>Shoutcast2 (whatever’s left since WinAmp’s days) </li> <li>SomaFM (the only one I really need, actually – I recommend Groove Salad; I even donated to these guys as they are commercial-free) </li> </ul> <p>I don’t use SoundCloud much, but you could use it as a plugin if you do, and there is even a TuneIn Radio plugin, although I haven’t used it.</p> <p>Again, you don’t need to do this, but I did it anyway.</p> <h3>tv</h3> <p><img title="Addons_vid" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Addons_vid" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GGOQ_iCOzns/WD9SmA0NcRI/AAAAAAAAh_4/2LoScTvzDyk/Addons_vid6.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="221" />Everybody wants Exodus, which gives access to many streams which may be illegal, but I first set up whatever interested me and was actually legal.</p> <p>We should all try to expand our media sources to things that may not agree with our views. I might not agree with Fox News but I try to watch it occasionally. If you watch Fox News, you might want to try Greenpeace videos or Khan Academy for “scientific indoctrination”. Or Euronews, who pioneered the “no comment” news, where you get to make up your own mind, without anybody telling you what to think.</p> <p>Most of these may be installed from the main repo (repository), but far more is available.</p> <h3>exodus</h3> <p>Exodus is probably the king of plugins, with more users than all the others. To get it, you first need to enable the Fusion repository.</p> <blockquote> <p>System->File Manager –> Add Source –> click on “none” –>type <a title="you may also download the zip files from this address then install them manually via 'Install from zip file'" href="http://fusion.tvaddons.ag" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://fusion.tvaddons.ag</a> –> name it fusion –>click OK</p> </blockquote> <p>Now, every time you need something from Fusion you just find it under “Install from zip file”.</p> <p>You may now proceed with installing “Addon Installer”:</p> <blockquote> <p>Home Screen –> SYSTEM –> Add-Ons –> Install from zip file –> fusion –> start-here –> plugin.program.addoninstaller-#.#.#.zip  and wait for Add-on enabled notification</p> </blockquote> <p>Occasionally, it is not possible to install this way. If that happens, browse with a browser to the clickable address above, download the zip file, make note of the folder you download it to, then install it with Install from zip file.</p> <p>Once the addon installer is installed, just go to </p> <blockquote> <p>Addon Installer –> featured Add-Ons –> Exodus –> Install Exodus –> Install</p> </blockquote> <p>..and voila! You have Exodus!</p> <p>It is also possible to install Exodus without the addon installer:</p> <blockquote> <p>System –> Add-ons –> Install from Zip –> Fusion –> xbmc-repos –> English –> repository.Exodus enabled</p> </blockquote> <p>then</p> <blockquote> <p>Get Add-ons –> Exodus repo –> Video Add-ons –> Exodus –> Install</p> </blockquote> <p>Other similar add-ons are: Phoenix (well curated content), MusicBox (get account at Vk.com), SALTS (get your trakt.tv account), </p> <h3>streams</h3> <p>It is also possible to watch torrent-like streams with Kodi, such as SOPcast or Allstream, using the no-longer-maintained Plex / Plexus / PLEXBMC, which you can install from the XBMC-hub. Before Plexus you might want to install p2p-streams (link below).</p> <h3>etc</h3> <p>People maintain many playlists which you can access via a number of add-ons to keep track of rapidly changing content and sources. Navi-X allows the creation of such lists. If you’re looking for adult add-ons, the most mentioned is WhiteCream, from the AdultXBMC repo.</p> <p>Once you have a configuration you are happy with, make sure you back it up and save it both locally and online.</p> <p><i><b><abbr title="Later Edit, added after completion" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">LE</abbr>:</b> <a href="http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-netflix-downloader.htm" target="_blank">Free Netflix Downloader</a> is an application developed by DVDVideoSoft, which allows people to download Netflix videos to their computers through an easy-to-use interface.</i></p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a href="https://kodi.tv/download/" target="_blank">kodi-download</a>, <a title="Kodi on Android" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kodi" target="_blank">andro-kodi</a>, <a title="This area contains information, tutorials, and links for creating add-ons (and plug-ins) for Kodi." href="http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on_development" target="_blank">addon-dev</a>, <a title="Hello World Add-On Script for Kodi/XBMC" href="https://github.com/zag2me/script.hello.world" target="_blank">gh-addon-hw</a>, <a title="My first Kodi backup. Does not have many of the addons I am currently using." href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7wBXXRdo9fSQ2F1VTF1Q2luWkE" target="_blank">first-backup</a>, <a href="http://streams.magazinmixt.ro/channels/index" target="_blank">mmixt</a>, <a title="install it before plexus in kodi" href="https://offshoregit.com/xbmchub/xbmc-hub-repo/raw/master/plugin.video.p2p-streams/plugin.video.p2p-streams-1.2.0.zip" target="_blank">p2pstreams</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:b3026cc4-c28e-455d-aa64-b7a0274e28a3" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer . org">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=smartphone" rel="tag">smartphone</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=tv" rel="tag">tv</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=television" rel="tag">television</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=laptop" rel="tag">laptop</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=free+tv" rel="tag">free tv</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=freetv" rel="tag">freetv</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=kodi" rel="tag">kodi</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=xbmc" rel="tag">xbmc</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=boxi" rel="tag">boxi</a> (Tags)</div> <!--https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7wBXXRdo9fSb0VBd3RBcVl5ajQ?usp=sharing-->Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-52103371485168083452016-10-15T19:58:00.001-04:002016-10-16T10:22:43.806-04:00Rental Scam<span id="description">I have recently responded to a rental ad on Craigslist and got a reply from a scammer. He hides behind the identity of a TV personality.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Jonathan Scott of HGTV's Property Brothers fame was reportedly involved in a bar brawl at Dempsey's Public House in Fargo, N.D. on April 23 2016, according to TMZ; the star was pictured on April 5" href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/29/22/33AAA57E00000578-3566492-image-m-97_1461964809317.jpg" target="_blank"><img title="image[3]" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image[3]" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8sZhgUN7-_E/WALCjjAT8dI/AAAAAAAAgaM/I9CIs9rII_I/image39.png?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="226" /></a>To be clear, the HGTV guy has almost certainly nothing to do with all this, but if a silly person is about to fall for the scam and googles this (fake) name that the perpetrator give, they will surely find something (i.e., the real guy), except that who they find is not who sent the email.</p> <details><summary>With no further ado, here’s the email I got.</summary> <blockquote> <h5>Absher Jonathan Scott mam*****@gmail.com</h5> <p>Thanks for your interest in my Property. I am a professional <br />piano/music theory teacher, I'm easy going and friendly. I like Music <br />and have deep interests in traveling. I respect every religion and <br />love to hang around with people and i am definitely not a trouble <br />maker and very helpful in nature. I am currently living in South <br />Carolina and I will be here for long that is why am renting out my <br />Property. I want you to note that I am a kind and honest person and <br />also I spent a lot on my property that I want to give you for rent and <br />I would want you to treat it as your own, I would like you to keep it <br />tidy all the time I also want you to let me have trust in you as I <br />always stand on my word. So I hope you will promise me to take very <br />good care of the Property always as i am away. <br />My job even paid very well, requires that I move a lot and without <br />notice. You can move in the Property in the same day that you will <br />receive the keys. The only problem is that I'm already in South <br />Carolina because we started the work, but you don't need to worry <br />because I've made all arrangements to rent the Property from here. i <br />would like to know a little about you. Don't be offended but i must <br />know to who i will rent my Property to. I will tell you from the <br />beginning that I don't have a problem if you are a student or if you <br />would like to keep pets there, as long as you clean up after them. The <br />minimum lease is available for Long and also Short Term Lease, very <br />important, the utilities are included in the price per month. Kindly <br />get back to me with the Below information.. <br />Rent :$500 per Month <br />Last Month Rent: $500 <br />                                         *****RENTAL APPLICATION FORM**** <br />                                           ( Private and Confidential ) <br />                                    PLEASE COMPLETE IN BLOCK CAPITALS <br />CORRECTLY ... <br />Please answer these questions below if you are Interested <br />1)Your Full Name_________________________ <br />2)Present Address(where you reside now) & Phone ________________________ <br />4)Are you married _  _____________________________ <br />5)How many people will be living in the property _________________________ <br />6)Do you have a pet__________________________ ___________ <br />7)Do you have a car _______  _______________________ ____________ <br />8)Occupation ____________  _________________ <br />9)How long are you willing to stay _______ ____________________- <br />10)When do you intend to move in               ___ <br />11)How Many Month Rent Are You Willing To Pay ( First 1 month rent + <br />Last Month Rent) or If You Pay (First 2 month rent + Last Month Rent <br />And Get 1 Month Free)...So which one do you prefer ________________ <br />                                         Get back to me as soon as you <br />fill the application form, FILLED UP. <br />I can guarantee you that this is a great home so looking forward to a <br />future collaboration and friendship. <br />                                                     Thanks for taking</p> </blockquote> </details> <p>I was able to find the exact text above previously reported on a forum named “Scam Warners” (dm-photo).</p> <p>An email address is not just the body text. What can give some info about the sender is the “headers”.</p> <details><summary>Here are the email headers.</summary> <blockquote> <pre>Delivered-To: [my email; removed]
Received: by 10.202.82.140 with SMTP id g134csp1016233oib;
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:55 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.107.151.141 with SMTP id z135mr20405850iod.28.1476568675054;
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:55 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <mam*****@gmail.com>
Received: from mail-it0-x241.google.com (mail-it0-x241.google.com. [2607:f8b0:4001:c0b::241])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id i129si2547000itg.88.2016.10.15.14.57.54
for <[my email; removed] >
(version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128);
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:55 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of <a href="mailto:mam*****@gmail.com">mam*****@gmail.com</a> designates 2607:f8b0:4001:c0b::241 as permitted sender) client-ip=2607:f8b0:4001:c0b::241;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
dkim=pass header.i=@gmail.com;
spf=pass (google.com: domain of <a href="mailto:mam*****@gmail.com">mam*****@gmail.com</a> designates 2607:f8b0:4001:c0b::241 as permitted sender) <a href="mailto:smtp.mailfrom=mam*****@gmail.com;">smtp.mailfrom=mam*****@gmail.com;
</a> dmarc=pass (p=NONE dis=NONE) header.from=gmail.com
Received: by mail-it0-x241.google.com with SMTP id o19so1476105ito.3
for <[my email; removed] >; Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:54 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
d=gmail.com; s=20120113;
h=mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to;
bh=pgy2oierjwCn2n0eWKhPwJ9E1VwObDhkUyIgu/fIo2Y=;
b=hfpj4W1ZXW0hkpDPhJGSgWuT1y8uSvRP35USWvsuVY8oLeke78AzNFKqHP6QLF4UQ1
nXHydAxEeZw5pPaGm9Mt3VUvdqlrS/NSm2CEh9yfAtKXdap6rkob7PuzYlk10LiR+4Ou
my6FfIlYI9pZZWLgdXTdaDoM1w5zByLppBYvPZIhKU9q/ejgbp1OFWi8bP4oxWa6gRbU
quebaxn1HsqFktcyi1yWEb++3lHleFlpwTnXW9wJmj+zeE4R5PbJWbQvDlCjM/bTCcQ3
BZZtatF1nbcRPiM9PG7lPksAgnfi+lokfXAqzVoNgFrvXAMvm5iWOY3H86h8PwTj+Mv1
qfcA==
X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
d=1e100.net; s=20130820;
h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to;
bh=pgy2oierjwCn2n0eWKhPwJ9E1VwObDhkUyIgu/fIo2Y=;
b=P4+0ZJxUeUd/8R7/c756ottC+lXL0OUShm8TpnkMVXugTx1r1oWVxIsWhNJpoQXQO6
hAqa9SlrM3a66QoUEB/jQzV+FKDpxYWzlWMvbTHy8gBFiRzmoku8Feozdk6ZHeGQ8AyD
uYzRYpuNW/7uKDP0JRfMJ1mweO2bjTMMYguixqLpVKcfBLjWHUNI1tLibd463qEbEzfk
TiYUyMKjvg0zFsEAlUwaQiUEkd2s+cofJrqE1ZjHVNph071qJDT/0FLQqEpltueaRceD
1RmHG7ZWCUMBEgBdVVpJUhMMqg4xLv95LQbG7i4pt3+cGDYp/IrX/iFWCKlqkq5o6ERK
psEg==
X-Gm-Message-State: AA6/9RktIhPFYz5GSnGbgeYmJXled1ypoSKn+ThiHtB6FRfsTPQdlSTLGa0HzJbKkr388wTGDyda4Xh2HzMRzA==
X-Received: by 10.36.111.209 with SMTP id x200mr3084225itb.59.1476568674291; Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:54 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.79.36.75 with HTTP; Sat, 15 Oct 2016 14:57:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: Absher Jonathan Scott <mam*****@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 22:57:53 +0100
Message-ID: <CANZaeFPt6rAp9XCh=Yuk8G=+846CETw9Q0uGXVnRrR01HsuopA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: 15 MINUTES TO DOWNTOWN TORONTO
To: [my email; removed]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8</pre>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>Obviously, I am replacing my own email with a placeholder for privacy purposes and extending the same courtesy to the scammer, as he or she (but probably he) may have stolen someone else’s identity. Yes, even if they are using a stolen identity, they email is most likely theirs and disposable, but that is just speculation with no proof and I’d rather err on the side of caution.</p>
<details><summary>He had emailed me at this email after having specifically requested it.</summary>
<blockquote>
<pre>Delivered-To: [my email; removed]
Received: by 10.202.82.140 with SMTP id g134csp718061oib;
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 23:43:00 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.55.140.199 with SMTP id o190mr5603806qkd.299.1476513780540;
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 23:43:00 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <bounce-anon-[my email; removed]@craigslist.org>
Received: from outbound.ashburn.craigslist.org (mxo3a.craigslist.org. [208.82.237.98])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id t7si11900079qte.97.2016.10.14.23.43.00
for <[my email; removed]>
(version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128);
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 23:43:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of bounce-anon-[my email; removed]@craigslist.org designates 208.82.237.98 as permitted sender) client-ip=208.82.237.98;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
dkim=pass header.i=@craigslist.org;
spf=pass (google.com: domain of bounce-anon-[my email; removed]@craigslist.org designates 208.82.237.98 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=bounce-anon-***@craigslist.org;
dmarc=pass (p=NONE dis=NONE) header.from=hous.craigslist.org
Received: outbound
DKIM-Filter: OpenDKIM Filter v2.10.3 outbound.ashburn.craigslist.org 45B96175D0
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=craigslist.org; s=20160601-165758-eemjccqt; t=1476513780; bh=9aQLwJulf7ZB1zuhtwKmb/BKfD9+NiO/+I6FIe3bWCY=; h=From:To:Subject:Date:In-Reply-To:References:From; b=YPsbjwbVdpDO7zQQjbT6SD0SsTF9eVgcSo0kZSAimDnINduCAfo98YKbAD26kfRm9
gd5DgQNpHErmxpueEHMMe9hF2M4ya3QLlnrFHiVzgR03ClnXycKjMvemjEgga09H6c
Lp4uMMvVkidOvJbaVDLUy70d3rINHA7E8vEXkD6A=
From: craigslist 5827857296 <*****-5827857296@hous.craigslist.org>
To: [my email; removed]@reply.craigslist.org
Subject: Re: 15 MINUTES TO DOWNTOWN TORONTO
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 07:42:58 +0100
X-CL-ID: A76FC0DB-8392-4AE5-9928-7338FDDCFB3B.624
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <mYgoRLFbzluqZyx7OpG1ffz_8ggkAmndWOz5bE8p-ElC6OS2gp2gsAk_OXL5eN94Dik71ZIkJEHyHJoD5XNtDrJ3NPff32kEhw-SHxwWKBA@v2.cl.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAN93cin9RsWwjMt4zbQUC18Pis=JWAhCwL2DaRNXWKiXrwG6rg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAN93cin9RsWwjMt4zbQUC18Pis=JWAhCwL2DaRNXWKiXrwG6rg@mail.gmail.com>
Thanks for the interest.Can i have your email address because it
doesn't show up?
On 10/15/16, ************
<[my email; removed]@reply.craigslist.org> wrote:
> Hi, I am interested in your place and would like to see it. I'm at
> 647-******* but my phones are mostly on
> mute - it's best to text me or email me your number and when to call and
> I'll call you back.
> Thank you.
>
> http://toronto.craigslist.ca/tor/roo/5827857296.html
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original craigslist post:
http://toronto.craigslist.ca/tor/roo/5827857296.html
About craigslist mail:
http://craigslist.org/about/help/email-relay
Please flag unwanted messages (spam, scam, other):
http://craigslist.org/mf/6e04c49ba76fc0db83924ae599287338fddcfb3b.624
------------------------------------------------------------------------</pre>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>The ad may disappear, so here’s a screenshot:</p>
<p><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="image" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rwr9hOO0KOg/WALCoaFC6ZI/AAAAAAAAgaQ/XXCtFqbusWs/image15.png?imgmax=800" width="512" height="256" /></p>
<p>And the actual text:</p>
<blockquote>
<h4>$500 15 MINUTES TO DOWNTOWN ***</h4>
<p>available now</p>
<p>private bath
<br />private room</p>
<p>THIS APT. IS DESIGNED AND FURNISHED BY A DESIGNER (OWNER) IT IS IN THE PRIME AREA OF THE BEACHES. LOWER LEVEL OF A LARGE HOUSE WITH SEPARATE ENTRANCE. ALL UTILITIES AND INTERNET ARE INCLUDED. ON SUITE LAUNDRY, PARKING ON PROPERTY. SUITABLE FOR ONE PROFESSIONAL. CLOSE TO PUBLIC TRANSIT. 15 MINUTES TO DOWNTOWN ***. USE OF LANDSCAPED GARDEN.</p>
</blockquote>
<details><summary>After sending him the “completed form” I got the following email, requesting money.</summary>
<blockquote>
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<br />In-Reply-To: <CAN93ciksRp2QUB8tZwaHA=5h2rvY1GpXPGb+XoHuo1Q5=OT4dw@mail.gmail.com>
<br />References: <CANZaeFPt6rAp9XCh=Yuk8G=+846CETw9Q0uGXVnRrR01HsuopA@mail.gmail.com>
<br /><CAN93ciksRp2QUB8tZwaHA=5h2rvY1GpXPGb+XoHuo1Q5=OT4dw@mail.gmail.com>
<br />From: Absher Jonathan Scott <[his email (removed)]@gmail.com>
<br />Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 08:26:07 +0100
<br />Message-ID: <CANZaeFN_eb6MkT1NSCamyaQj88KCnWcedhsgJhzB2ssrzxJ1Xg@mail.gmail.com>
<br />Subject: Re: 15 MINUTES TO DOWNTOWN TORONTO
<br />To: *** [my email (removed)]>
<br />Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=001a11445a0e824688053ef65f22</p>
<p>--001a11445a0e824688053ef65f22
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<p>Hello,
<br />        Thanks very much for your reply and also i can see your
<br />willingness in this rent and how is work ?Hope great!!! So as i shall
<br />be giving you my property and you can move in when you are ready,pls
<br />again take care of the property also the rent is $500 which include
<br />all the utilities such as heat,electricity,cable,
<br />TV,phone,internet,hydro, washing and drying machine.I have attached
<br />the interior pics.Below is the address..</p>
<p>102 Dixon Ave
<br />Toronto, ON M4L 1N7
<br />Canada</p>
<p>However, if you are ready to rent the property now, then that will not
<br />be a problem but i will advice you due to a responsible like you, to
<br />be able to afford the monthly rent .Also i would like to send the
<br />following document to you via the Dhl to the address you send to me
<br />and the tracking number will be sent to you so that you can possible
<br />occupy my property,Pls once again,i am giving you this on trust and do
<br />not disappoint me and i promise you that,you will love the
<br />property.Also, you are going to send the rent payment through Check or
<br />Money Gram.</p>
<p>      So i am with the below document here with me and i will like to
<br />know whether you are ready to make the payment now so that i can
<br />arrange on how the document will get to you in the next 48 hrs after
<br />the payment confirmation.</p>
<p>Here are the contents of the document..
<br />1) Entrance and the rooms Keys
<br />2)Paper/Permanent apartment form(Containing your reference details)
<br />3)The property documentary file.
<br />4)Payment Receipt.</p>
<p>
<br />So pls get back to me as soon as you can.. I await your reply ASAP</p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>I responded with a few innocuous questions.</p>
<details><summary>Then came this reply, with a photo of a driver's license.</summary>
<blockquote>
<p>First i must say that i am highly disappointed with this message i
<br />just read from you, after letting you know how much i appreciate your
<br />effort in renting my place even with my predicaments. I have attached
<br />my driver's license for more prove.This process has been fair enough
<br />for you to know because either you or myself has been through a
<br />situation like this but man propose they say but God dispose but its
<br />okay as i have everything under control.My family has also relocated
<br />to California,i want you to know that this is legit..i want you to
<br />know i have to be carefully this days cause i send the keys to someone
<br />and they stole all my belongings so that is why i don't want to do
<br />that anymore and i swear to almighty God that if you send the payment
<br />you will surely get the keys and the documents so that you can be able
<br />to move in,You sound skeptical from your last email, and that is very
<br />wrong, if you are thinking that I just wanted to take your money for
<br />nothing. When I known how people worked and earn their money, I will
<br />never think of taking some advantages over you and your money, please
<br />take that out of your mind, that is really awful thing on the earth
<br />that I will never think about doing. Please understand me better, I
<br />was not trying to lure you into this, everything about me is 100% real
<br />ok, i will like you to know one thing i am a Man of God and i so much
<br />believe in his words and i can never tarnish my name and image all
<br />because of money and i wouldn't do such a thing when i have blood
<br />running through my vein,So I shall be shipping out the keys and the
<br />document to you as soon as you make the payment.</p>
</blockquote>
</details>
<p>If you are thinking of replying to a similar ad, in another city, don’t! The scammer is providing fake data in order to take your money.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Property Brothers star Jonathan Scott was 'placed in a chokehold during bar brawl in Fargo, North Dakota'" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3566492/Jonathan-Scott-placed-chokehold-bar-brawl-Fargo-North-Dakota.html" target="_blank">dm-photo</a>, <a title="RENTAL SCAMMER - MURLERDUNY47@OUTLOOK.COM" href="https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&p=285597" target="_blank">scamwarners-scott</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:0e5f1d48-dada-4ead-a32a-4f3df3e16e0f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer . org">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=scam" rel="tag">scam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=fraud" rel="tag">fraud</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=spam" rel="tag">spam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=rental+scam" rel="tag">rental scam</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=craigslist" rel="tag">craigslist</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hgtv" rel="tag">hgtv</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=appeal+to+authority" rel="tag">appeal to authority</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=ipse+dixit" rel="tag">ipse dixit</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-82565552802153893542016-10-09T16:28:00.001-04:002016-10-09T16:36:50.790-04:00Tasker Photo on Failed Login and Backup to SD on Unrooted MM<span id="description">Having recently upgraded my smartphone for the nth time, I found myself needing to automate a few tasks. Unlike my previous foray into <a title="Android Automation with Tasker" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2015/03/android-automation-with-tasker.html">Tasker automation</a> however, my new phone is not rooted, nor do I plan to root it anytime soon.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><img title="tasker_photo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="tasker_photo" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zwajl6dPqk8/V_qobnMDl4I/AAAAAAAAfhM/OQmZy9NdSHo/tasker_photo%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="244" />I am a bit disappointed with Tasker and it seems I am not alone, as its author, Pent, appears to be a bit tired and fed up with updating his great creation. The app still has a 4.6/5 rating, with 39807 ratings, however, other apps are catching up. Automg has 4.8 – 1664 and costs $3.80 currently and comes, like Tasker, with a free evaluation version, MacroDroid (play-MacroDroid) 4.5 – 9731, Automate (play-autom) 4.4 – 7802. When I bought Tasker it felt like the only game in town; today I would try the ones above before setting on one app or buying it.</p> <h3>variation</h3> <p>I’ve found that the previous recipe for taking the photo of “Login Fiddler” still works, despite the phone not being rooted, and even expanded it with more info added into the filename. First, you define a variable and in the definition statement you jam in a bunch of system variables, such as %LOC (GPS coordinates), CELLID, KEYG, SIMNUM, SIMSTATE, WIFII, WIFI, UPS. They app shows you what each one is when you add them – these are my preferences, but you may have others. Then set the variable as the filename in the “take photo” task. Also, %LOC must be initialized with a task to get the GPS or net location.</p> <p><img title="Screenshot_20161009-154726" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Screenshot_20161009-154726" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WB1zb0f2WW0/V_qocfSmlPI/AAAAAAAAfhQ/3FUlYnAoBnY/Screenshot_20161009-154726%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="170" align="left" height="153" /><img title="Screenshot_20161009-154740" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Screenshot_20161009-154740" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mq4Gp-pOw28/V_qodB7wq1I/AAAAAAAAfhU/gkAZbwOeHyw/Screenshot_20161009-154740%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="174" align="right" height="244" />I’ve created two additional profiles, one on and the other one off. The one that is on monitors for a special SMS text message that turns the other one on<!-- (e.g., sorry 4 bn l8 :)-->. In the sleeping profile I now have take photo when screen on. I may add additional tasks to that, but further testing is needed.</p> <h3>backup2sd</h3> <p>I added an SD card long after I bought my phone. It may be that if I had started using it with a card inside, more apps such as CSipSimple and the Gallery/Screenshots would have started saving to the SD card. As it stands, they all save to internal memory, causing me to run out of this precious resource. I created a Task for each directory that needs to be “moved” to SD. In the first statement I List the files in it into a variable (%scrshots for instance). Then I create a For loop via “Task” consisting of a For statement with the same %variablename and Items %variablename() – that’s like an array. I tried using the Move statement but it failed with an error, so instead I use a Copy statement (from %variablename to /storage/UID/SD/Card/Directory). The directory on the SD card must be under Android/data/net.dinglisch.tasker/ as that’s the only place Android allows Tasker to write.</p> <p>I unchecked “run in the foreground” because I don’t want to see the notification all the time. We’ll see if this changes anything. I also got a strange prompt about Tasker being incompatible with phone encryption – need to look into this further.</p> <p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Automagic Premium allows you, to automate your Android device with flowcharts." href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.gridvision.ppam.androidautomagic" target="_blank">Automg</a>, <a title="Theft/Intruder detection on Android w/ Tasker SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 BY ANDREW LUDWAR (email photo with Python script on rooted)" href="https://calgaryrhce.ca/blog/2015/09/27/theftintruder-detection-on-android-w-tasker/" target="_blank">rt-eml</a>, <a title="10 Useful Tasker Profiles for Beginners (Part 2)" href="http://receivetipstricks.com/useful-tasker-profiles-part-2/" target="_blank">mrinal-beginner</a>, <a title="[Profile] [front Camera] Photo/email image of device intruder" href="http://androidforums.com/threads/profile-front-camera-photo-email-image-of-device-intruder.615570/" target="_blank">af-eml</a></p> <div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:bba041ce-6221-450e-a1b9-3a5e4008214b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" title="Consumed Consumer . org">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=tasker" rel="tag">tasker</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hacking" rel="tag">hacking</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=automation" rel="tag">automation</a></div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-66122127995304128842013-06-19T13:00:00.000-04:002016-01-15T14:07:16.552-05:00Solving the Hostel Router Problem<span id="description">I once stayed at a hostel that had terrible Internet connectivity. This contrasted harshly with the superior customer service provided by the staff and the otherwise modern, cutting edge amenities. Let’s see how this problem could be solved.</span> <a name='more'></a> </a> <p><a title="It's always the firewall! Everyone blames the stinkin' firewall!" href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2013-04-07" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; display: inline" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" alt="It's always the firewall! Everyone blames the stinkin' firewall!" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcA3487pG0ADK5uL2xHI8P7TMV4tZkXIDtDtw0L-YY8_rehIsqwBxHTvPIJeYUZz2lWExwPviDcEMZ_UeRwaTGxmr_NSQZeXwg74m65mAyk8ejW5Aa2OH8ffc6Z7Cuh_i1oQfal2aa1Epl/s1600/20130409-102844-001.jpg" align="right" /></a>There’s a few other things to say here for full catharsis, such as describing the hostel and / or the client management issues from a consultant’s perspective, but for this article we’ll focus solely on the Internet problem. By “client management” I’m referring to issues such as the fact that although the owner does want the Internet problem to be resolved, there may be a part of him that wishes the Internet did not exist and people would just talk to each other more.</p> <!--p><a title="It's always the firewall! Everyone blames the stinkin' firewall!" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=524829504227071&set=a.113774378665921.5856.113753145334711&type=1" target="_blank"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" src="http://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/537356_524829504227071_1086631892_n.jpg" width="400" height="179" /></a></p--> <p><a title="Best Gigabit Wireless N router for VoIP" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2010/04/gigabit-wireless-n-router-for-voip.html">Choosing a router</a> and a <a title="Best cable modem" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2012/01/best-cable-modem-via-canadian-shopping.html">cable modem</a> are topics we have previously discussed on this blog; however, at that time our focus was on <a title="VoIP from scratch I - introduction" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2010/01/voip-from-scratch-i-introduction.html">VoIP</a>, which requires low latency and good streaming performance. This time we shall focus on how to choose the router that deals best with multiple simultaneous connections, which is what seems to be the choking point of router performance with institutional (i.e., commercial) usage patterns of this kind. A single bittorrent download could create hundreds if not thousands of connections, all potentially saturating the bandwidth, causing difficulties even in the latest generation of routers.</p> <p>The hostel owner has unsuccessfully attempted on a few occasions to resolve the very low reliability of his network and this has become critical now, as they have finally moved from a paper-based registration system to a cloud-hosted one. Internet connectivity has become very important to their ability to function. Nonetheless, the network often slows down to a crawl and / or the router crashes and becomes unresponsive. Their provider is Blowgers and they’re paying for a business connection but the results in a regular afternoon (2pm EST) are pathetic and far below network potential, causing guests to get frustrated. Here’s their network vs. others in the neighbourhood, for comparison purposes.</p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="557" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="299">dot: (CISCO SE5200 or RV180W ?)</td> <td valign="top" width="256">underscore: (DIR615_E1 v5 ?):</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="299"><a title="Speedtest" href="http://www.speedtest.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/2784220410.png" width="267" height="120" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="256"><a title="Speedtest" href="http://www.speedtest.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/2784227993.png" width="267" height="120" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="299">rooftop didn’t work, so Campus Co-op (<a title="wifi test, the one below is wired" href="http://www.speedtest.net/result/2818674193.png" target="_blank">WiFi</a>):</td> <td valign="top" width="256">U of T (New College residence):</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="299"><a title="Campus Coop: non-profit student residences based on sharing" href="http://campus.coop" target="_blank"><img lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/2818685786.png" width="267" height="120" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="256"><a href="http://www.ncsummer.utoronto.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/2787170840.png" width="267" height="120" /></a></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>Most people he had consulted were unable to provide a reliable, time-tested solution for numerous reasons. In particular, asking a computer shop salespeople for advice is a bad idea, as their job is to make their customers happy about buying a router they carry, which may not necessarily suitable for this particular task / situation. And that is assuming they have the networking knowledge to understand their customer’s problem; after all, most customers have far less stringent requirements as they purchase routers solely for their homes. </p> <p>At least one of those who attempted to solve the problem may not have had sufficient time to assess the situation and test / refine their solution.</p> <p>Other “specialists” might try to push their favourite brands, which they may have heard of or even worked with. High quality commercial routers, however, are an overkill and can cost more than it would cost to retain a good expert who can solve this issue with much cheaper, commodity hardware. They also require significant expertise to set up and manage and this does not come cheap. Furthermore, the “brandscape” is changing very rapidly in this industry. For instance, Cisco had acquired Linksys a while back to beef up its router product line in the home / <abbr title="Small Office / Home Office" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">SOHO</abbr> category, only to sell it to Belkin at the beginning of 2013. The same <abbr title="Mergers and Acquisitions" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">M&A</abbr> feverish moves and new product launches take place at the top of the product line, quickly rendering brand affinity obsolete and futile.</p> <p>Blind faith in a brand is a very poor substitute for due diligence and requisite work.</p> <h3>current situation<a name="current"></a></h3> <p>In this particular situation we did not have a chance to perform any real-world testing on the network (except for some summary, low-key investigation as a user), nor did we have physical access to the network equipment, so we are forced to “speculate” based on educated guesses. </p> <p>It appears that the hostel is using one router connected to the Blowgers cable modem to do all the heavy lifting – <abbr title="In computer networking, Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process of modifying IP address information in IPv4 headers while in transit across a traffic routing device." style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">NAT</abbr> / <abbr title="An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing. Its role has been characterized as follows: 'A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there.'" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">IP</abbr> masquerading, <abbr title="The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network protocol used to configure devices that are connected to a network (known as hosts) so they can communicate on that network using the Internet Protocol (IP). It involves clients and a server operating in a client-server model." style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">DHCP</abbr> server – with a few other routers acting as WiFi extenders / repeaters or bridges (ddwrt-linking). This router is currently a Dlink DIR615 which wasn’t very well suited for this job even a few years back when it was purchased. A new Cisco router was recently purchased but this one doesn’t even appear on the chart below – all we can find in the chart is a model with an S in front of its model number, and that one is at the bottom of the chart below as well.</p> <p>One solution previously tried was connecting the cable modem and the routers via a Gigabit switch and get the routers to each pull independently a DHCP lease from the cable modem. This would make more sense as long as Robbers’ <abbr title="Terms of Service" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">TOS</abbr> does allow for more than one IP (it typically does not). If it doesn’t and Blowgers is actively monitoring for such “abuse”, the network reliability would definitely suffer. The solution needed to be tested to ensure that there are no IP conflicts and that it performs as it should, but the person implementing it lacked sufficient time.</p> <h3><a name="solution"></a>solution</h3> <p>Assuming that the problem is multiple connections caused by torrenting or other similar uses of the Internet, we find a chart on a website that tests and ranks routers according to this measure (see below in Sources for link):</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0Oiu7AlF2Ck/UcIG0TolTCI/AAAAAAAAVKM/12CeTM4on9M/s1600-h/20130619-141645-snapshot%25255B14%25255D.jpg"><img title="20130619-141645-snapshot" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" alt="20130619-141645-snapshot" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ZJefb7bBuyA/UcIG1NRfhiI/AAAAAAAAVKU/vmku4jqXoWI/20130619-141645-snapshot_thumb%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="574" height="904" /></a></p> <p>As stated in their explanation, the absolute values can be safely ignored; what we really want is to exclude routers that are significantly below in ranking (such as the existing routers). The “top” router in the chart is there most likely due to a data entry error, as that result could not have been obtained through the described testing methods (one extra digit, perhaps?). An interesting feature of this chart is that hovering with the mouse over each router link provides the approximate price, but that’s not a major concern at this point. It is also unclear if they have started testing for UDP streaming; nonetheless, that would only be useful for other services.</p> <p>The next step would be to find a router (or more), not below 30069 that is also supported by DD-WRT, the OSS firmware that can greatly expand the features and what a router can do and has been tested and installed on a very large number of routers. There is also the TomatoUSB project which is rumoured to be more user-friendly than DD-WRT, but suffers from serious fragmentation to the point where is quite difficult to determine what fork supports which router. </p> <p>We find that the popular <a title="E4200 @ Amazon.ca" href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004K1EZDS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=390961&creativeASIN=B004K1EZDS&linkCode=as2&tag=consconsorg-20" target="_blank">Cisco Maximum Performance Linksys E4200</a> is supported by dd-wrt:</p> <p><img title="20130619-151131-snapshot" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" alt="20130619-151131-snapshot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNcuwt4FyE_hv8kZDNh0oQUTD9ATOsm_6rq-QboMzt3F9E2qweG2WeNBAUxKDVDPDKxx8jrRWufrvlFc94ADmsgYrZokz0YQue_i9a8oTYS-wFBb5GJ4ybyHizm1GLTij7tnq7T3mRZ0/?imgmax=800" width="286" height="179" /></p> <p>Incidentally, this is the updated version of my old and trusty <a title="DD-WRT on Cisco Linksys WRT610n router" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2010/11/dd-wrt-on-cisco-linksys-wrt610n-router.html">WRT610n on which I had already installed DD-WRT</a>. I haven’t looked at the hardware on the new beast, but I would not be surprised if most of the updates consist in the firmware / web interface, which I would anyway replace with DD-WRT.</p> <p>Once the router is purchased, I would recommend installing DD-WRT right away with the setup described previously:</p> <ol> <li>restrict torrenting during business hours via the dd-wrt router interface; this should not be banned completely as it does have some legit purposes </li> <li>institute WPA (WiFi) password changing on a daily, weekly or at least monthly basis with the current password written in the rooftop (or the kitchen) to prevent unauthorized users such as neighbours from freeloading; an analysis is needed to determine if this is an issue (it might not be a problem), but nonetheless such a rule would get precisely the people who are less likely to socialize (heavy Internet users) to discover the rooftop, which seems to be one of the hostel owner’s wishes </li> <li>set up <abbr title="Quality of Service" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">QoS</abbr> rules so that downloading / torrenting receives a much lower priority over business or VoIP use, allowing all uses to coexist without negatively interfering with each other; covered by : <a href="http://lifehacker.com/326543/ensure-a-fast-internet-connection-when-you-need-it" target="_blank">lh</a>, <a href="http://www.dd-wrt.ca/wiki/index.php/QoS" target="_blank">dd-wrt-faq</a>, <a href="http://www.cringely.com/2012/10/01/clothing-may-be-optional-but-bufferbloat-isnt/" target="_blank">cringely</a>, <a href="http://www.tested.com/tech/2175-how-to-easily-set-up-router-qos-for-voip-file-sharing-and-gaming/" target="_blank">td</a> </li> <li>set up the other routers to act as wireless extenders, repeaters or bridges (ddwrt-linking) and test for uniform building coverage as well as channel interference, or use dedicated Wi-Fi extenders (see link to top 8 below); efficiency on this front is particularly important in a green hostel, considering a recent <a title="Dutch study suggests Wi-Fi possibly harmful to trees" href="http://phys.org/news/2010-11-dutch-wi-fi-possibly-trees.html" target="_blank">Dutch study</a> that found this radiation to be harmful to trees and <a title="Global TV 16x9 WiFi Affects The Heart" href="http://inbonobo.tumblr.com/post/19744741411/global-tv-16x9-wifi-affects-the-heart-full" target="_blank">possibly humans</a> </li> <li>force OpenDNS (the router can be set to intercept DNS calls to other servers and route them to OpenDNS); this should increase network resilience, prevent attacks such as DNS poisoning which ISP DNS servers are often wide open to, and allow fine grain control of the traffic via an easy to use interface </li> <li>setup OpenDNS with the following restrictions (the sites selected below are often used to disseminate malware / botnets and as such are a major security risk which can result in network takeover for flood / <abbr title="denial of service" style="border-bottom: navy 1px dotted">DOS</abbr> purposes, causing the network to become unresponsive)<img title="20130619-132534-snapshot" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" lowsrc="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AUM1oGFJrMSDccuwIqqt7u__g6OYx2f7k06oVtBkw3vSPnlyok9ESm3FLa6xsP7_REcXYBeE42o7G09_QPRQu9Jqg1PDDpCqz9mfuWL-D3Dp7FWZSCQDZUYMDkzXbLFBcB8oMJMbN5A/s144/united188.jpg" alt="20130619-132534-snapshot" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-n-Vs8hW5a2U/UcIG6Zb9MiI/AAAAAAAAVLM/jH0_Iip31RM/20130619-132534-snapshot%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="370" height="533" /> </li> <li>further customize OpenDNS, if desired, by blocking specific domains (i.e., blacklisting), allowing specific domains that may be part of the wide categories above (i.e., whitelisting), and customizing blocking / error messages with the hostel logo + additional info, such as the hours when torrenting is allowed </li> <li>ensure that the <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2012/01/best-cable-modem-via-canadian-shopping.html">cable modem is high quality and DOCSIS 3 compliant</a> – this should be a last step, if all else fails, as the ISP-provided cable modem should be, in most cases, sufficient </li> <li><a title="Simplest Setup for OTA HDTV with HDHomeRun" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2011/09/simplest-setup-for-ota-hdtv-with.html">set up OTA / HDTV on the network</a> in order to minimize streaming from the Internet and the implicit extra load on the router by people who need their entertainment fix; this is mostly a bonus service </li> <li>An <a title="FREE TO AIR satellite in Toronto" href="http://asa.zamo.ca/2008/09/tv-in-toronto-ii-prin-satelit.html" target="_blank">FTA</a> satellite dish would allow the reception of free and legal satellite channels such as BBC World service and many other international channels that are purposely beamed unencrypted. This would make many international guests happy and, together with the local networks now accessible via <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/2011/09/simplest-setup-for-ota-hdtv-with.html">OTA</a> (as described above), would render the current Blowgers TV cable subscription unnecessary. Satellite feeds may be made available on the network in parallel with the Blowgers subscription – this service could only be added after the network resilience has significantly improved. </li> </ol> <p>Looking at the suggestions above, perhaps the most sensitive action in improving user satisfaction is setting up QoS properly on a router that isn’t total garbage, as that allows the most services and uses while simply prioritizing what is important and what is necessary and pushes torrenting and other uses to lower priorities without denying them. Unfortunately, QoS requires knowledge that not all “network specialists” have and most importantly, testing to ensure that the set rules perform as expected.</p> <p>Sources / More info: <a title="Extend the Wireless access area using more routers, with WIRED ore WIRELESS connections between routers, or turn a wired port on an existing network into a Wireless Access Point. All computers will be on the same network segment, and will be able to see one another in Windows Network." href="http://www.dd-wrt.ca/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers" target="_blank">ddwrt-linking</a>, <a href="http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/77-max-simul-conn" target="_blank">snb-chart</a>, <a title="8 Devices That Can Fix Your Wi-Fi Signal Problems" href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399953,00.asp" target="_blank">pcm-extenders</a>, <a title="Introducing SmallNetBuilder's Router Charts 2013" href="http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/other/other-features/32048-introducing-smallnetbuilders-router-charts-2013" target="_blank">snb-rc</a>, <a title="With this router database we want to give to the users a simple tool that allows an instant search for the routers and a fast solution for finding more information and the related downloads." href="http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database" target="_blank">dd-rdb</a>, <a title="WiFi Router performance comparison chart" href="http://www.eweb-corporate.com/en/resources/networking/wifi-router-comparison-chart.html" target="_blank">eweb</a>, <a title="These Mods continue the ongoing development of TomatoUSB. They contain numerous bug fixes, and many new features and enhancements." href="http://tomatousb.org/mods" target="_blank">tomato</a>, <a href="https://dashboard.opendns.com/stats/all/start/" target="_blank">opendns</a>, <a title="you need to be logged in" href="https://dashboard.opendns.com/settings/164112/content_filtering" target="_blank">odns-settings</a>, <a title="Wondering how routers and power-line adapters are tested for CNET reviews?" href="http://reviews.cnet.com/how-we-test/access-points-and-wireless-routers/" target="_blank">cnet-rtest</a>, <a title="Best Router for streaming HD content to multiple devices" href="http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/44867-43-best-router-streaming-content-multiple-devices" target="_blank">th</a>, <a href="http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-howto/31103-how-we-test-hardware-routers-revision-3" target="_blank">snb-how</a></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f4055456-c925-4f51-936a-8ac532028cda" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a title="Consumed Consumer dot org, the home of Consumer related information and news" href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/ rel=" tag?="tag?">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=internet" rel="tag">internet</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=networking" rel="tag">networking</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=router" rel="tag">router</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=routing" rel="tag">routing</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=crash" rel="tag">crash</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=usage" rel="tag">usage</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=internetworking" rel="tag">internetworking</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=dd-wrt" rel="tag">dd-wrt</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=firmware" rel="tag">firmware</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=update" rel="tag">update</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=cisco" rel="tag">cisco</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=linksys" rel="tag">linksys</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=bittorrent" rel="tag">bittorrent</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=torrent" rel="tag">torrent</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=opendns" rel="tag">opendns</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=sysadmin" rel="tag">sysadmin</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=network+administration" rel="tag">network administration</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=system+administration" rel="tag">system administration</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=tomatousb" rel="tag">tomatousb</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=streaming" rel="tag">streaming</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=filtering" rel="tag">filtering</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-22358154238081072782016-01-12T06:00:00.001-05:002016-01-12T06:00:11.812-05:00Upgrading Kali (Debian) Linux on Tablet Hybrid<span id="description">I have 2 older tablet hybrids running an older version of Kali (1.x if I remember correctly) in dual boot with Windows. I recently decided to upgrade them and in the process, write a quick guide on what can be done with it.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a title="Kali Linux Kernels Boot Up Menu" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzR-U4dR9pIyvk7OhbiHWh08ApynGKD8qnTjSFBpQUGLA0NjCgg3o93r9FmjagyXapAt595Mh97_6Gmtig31OsA2l2usIAs1PSLvxkG_hReAHudftOg0kT7YLWiK7na2BHX8IKDOH5nM/s800-Ic42/IMG_20160111_183259.jpg" rel="lightbox"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzR-U4dR9pIyvk7OhbiHWh08ApynGKD8qnTjSFBpQUGLA0NjCgg3o93r9FmjagyXapAt595Mh97_6Gmtig31OsA2l2usIAs1PSLvxkG_hReAHudftOg0kT7YLWiK7na2BHX8IKDOH5nM/s400-Ic42/IMG_20160111_183259.jpg" width="395" height="296" /></a>It is often a good idea to do a clean install – i.e., wipe out the old install, preserve the /home and/or /root partitions if separated, or backup the important files, then install anew. This, however, is not an option for me, as my tablet hybrids do not have a DVD drive, being ultraportables, and re-attaching one via USB is cumbersome, so I have to upgrade.</p> <p>This being older hardware, the hard drives were smaller than usual, so I only gave Kali 13-15 GB. To make sure I had at least 3GB free I had to delete some old Nessus plugins that were taking a few GB – I have not removed Nessus completely because everything other than the plugins wasn’t that storage-heavy.</p> <h3><a name="dist-upgrade"></a>dist-upgrade</h3> <p>The simplest way to upgrade is to remove the old sources.list (or back it up) and replace all repositories with</p> <blockquote> <p>deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali sana main non-free contrib <br />deb-src http://security.kali.org/kali-security sana/updates main contrib non-free</p> </blockquote> <p>Follow that with <em>apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade</em> and you’re on.</p> <p>Alternatively, it may be possible to just update the “tool” you are interested in with <em>apt-get install tool</em>.</p> <h3><a name="ip-addr"></a>ip-addr</h3> <p>Since one of this computers has an error and frustration-prone keyboard, I do not like to use it much and prefer to use it via SSH. Since I’m not always using it on my own LAN, its IP address is not always known and logging in to find it is not easy. If logged in, one can find the IP with </p> <ul> <li>'/sbin/ifconfig -a' </li> <li>'hostname –I' </li> <li>'ip addr show' or simply 'ip a' </li> </ul> <p>To display only the IP, pipe it into a “grep inet”.</p> <p>The file “controlling” what’s displayed just before the login prompt is <em>/etc/issue</em>, so one way to have the IP displayed this way is to echo it in there via a statement in <em>/etc/rc.local</em>, for example,</p> <blockquote> <p>ip address show eth0 | awk '/inet / {print $2}' | cut -d/ -f1</p> </blockquote> <p>A fancier solution using Perl in bash:</p> <blockquote> <pre><code>#!/bin/sh
PREFIX="Local IP addresses:"
IPADDRS=$(hostname -I | tr " " "\n" | grep -v "^$" | sort -t . -k 1,1n -k 2,2n -k 3,3n -k 4,4n | tr "\n" " ")
perl -i -p -0777 -e "s/^$PREFIX[^\n]*\n\n//m; s/$/\n$PREFIX $IPADDRS\n/ if length('$IPADDRS')>6" /etc/issue</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>That only gets executed at boot-up, but </p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>/etc/network/if-up.d/update-issue
/etc/network/if-post-down.d/update-issue</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>..will get executed everytime an interface gets up or down, respectively.</p>
<p>To switch from a graphical login to a text prompt and viceversa use Ctrl+Alt+F1 and Ctrl+Alt+F7.</p>
<h3><a name="wifi"></a>wifi</h3>
<p>This all works great as long as connected via Ethernet, but that is seldom an option when traveling off-site. Connecting to Wi-Fi and displaying that address is a bit more complex.</p>
<p>One major problem is that SSH-ing can be nearly impossible via Wi-Fi due to AP Isolation.</p>
<h3><a name="disable"></a>disable</h3>
<p>For some reason (probably I played with it before) <em>nginx</em> would autostart. To disable a service, just do <em>service nginx stop</em>. To prevent it from starting again, do </p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>update-rc.d tomcat disable</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Obviously, if you’re not running as root, you need to preface with sudo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="scripts and techniques to relay the LANip for a headless server" href="https://github.com/ibonobo/LANip" target="_blank">LANip</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:529ff3e9-6375-4ceb-816a-de15756298f8" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.ConsumedConsumer.org/" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.ConsumedConsumer.org/search?q=kali" rel="tag">kali</a>, <a href="http://www.ConsumedConsumer.org/search?q=backtrack" rel="tag">backtrack</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668236488022514447.post-38133020354725151952015-12-30T14:15:00.001-05:002015-12-30T19:39:39.380-05:00Converting text files between Windows, MacOS and Linux<span id="description">Each operating system has different special characters to mark the end of line (EOL) or end of file (EOF) in simple text files. If transferring by FTP, the file conversion may be done automatically by your client based on the file extension or you could force it using the ascii command before the transfer; if not, you may have to employ the methods we discuss below.</span> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://waterlan.home.xs4all.nl/dos2unix/dos2unix2mac.png" target="_blank"><img title="conversion" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="conversion" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqW03fkJq1kQHbYmNmLSqtPeEzH3ZN6M8Si6DUiDJLhQjTyYjhPGv3TZmFHItFQEjRNo5OoTDA5EkqmuevV2nXQTg6Sz276uGuIiI4P5Du9n1ZwSS5zdmOlZOlxRFpESCEJRbV3DHCugo/?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="244" /></a>Note that this does not apply to complex word processor documents or other data files, as these are almost always saved in some binary format that does not need this kind of conversion – in fact, applying this conversion to anything other than a simple text file (i.e., a binary file) will damage it and make it unusable.</p> <p>Perhaps the most powerful method is by downloading and installing dos2unix and unix2dos (link below), then issuing <em><command> input.txt output.txt</em> and making the appropriate substitutions.</p> <h3><a name="windows"></a>windows</h3> <p>If you are on Windows and do not want to install other programs, you may try “more”. </p> <p>1. A simple, straightforward method that involves the command prompt only is the use of the “more” command (run <em>more /?</em> to learn more about it).</p> <blockquote> <pre><code>TYPE input_filename | MORE /P > output_filename</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>This command will take quite a bit to do its magic on a large file, so be patient.</p>
<p>The following solutions are slightly more complicated, but may be useful in certain special situations.</p>
<p>2. You may also use vbscript, as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>Do Until WScript.StdIn.AtEndOfStream
WScript.StdOut.WriteLine WScript.StdIn.ReadLine
Loop</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Put the above lines in a file <code>unix2dos.vbs</code> and run it like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>cscript //NoLogo unix2dos.vbs <C:\path\to\input.txt >C:\path\to\output.txt
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>or like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>type C:\path\to\input.txt | cscript //NoLogo unix2dos.vbs >C:\path\to\output.txt</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>3. PowerShell:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>(Get-Content "C:\path\to\input.txt") -replace "`n", "`r`n" |
Set-Content "C:\path\to\output.txt"
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>which could be further simplified to this:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>(Get-Content "C:\path\to\input.txt") | Set-Content "C:\path\to\output.txt"</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>4. DOS CLI Ninja:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code>(for /f "delims=" %i in (file.unix) do @echo %i)>file.dos</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>If converting several files, try</p>
<blockquote>
<p>for %%z in (*.txt) do (for /f "delims=" %%i in (%%z) do @echo %%i)>%%z.tmp</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You may check in hex with: <em>xxd -g1 file.ext</em>.</p>
<h3><a name="windows"></a>linux</h3>
<p>Although we are providing this ostensibly for Linux, it will most likely work under any Unix system.</p>
<p>1. This tr command may be used to remove all carriage returns and ctrl+z from a Windows file:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>tr -d '\<code>15</code>\<code>32</code>' < winfile.txt > unixfile.txt</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>2. Unlike <em>tr</em>, <em>awk</em> may be used to convert in both directions:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>awk '{ sub("\r$", ""); print }' winfile.txt > unixfile.txt</pre>
<pre>awk 'sub("$", "\r")' unixfile.txt > winfile.txt</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>3. Perl also allows bidirectional conversions:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>perl -pe 's/\r$//' < winfile.txt > unixfile.txt</pre>
<pre>perl -pe 's/\n/\r\n/' < unixfile.txt > winfile.txt</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>4. You may also remove the carriage return character in vi:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre> :1,$s/^M//g</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>You enter ^M with ctrl+v followed by enter.</p>
<p>5. In vim, use <code>:set ff=unix</code> to convert to Unix; use <code>:set ff=dos</code> to convert to Windows.</p>
<p>6. Install and use <em>tofrodos</em>.</p>
<p>7. There’s also sed: </p>
<blockquote>
<pre>sed s/$/$'\r'/ < input.txt > output.txt</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Where $'\r' expands to a carriage return.</p>
<p>8. Python: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>def write(self, s):</code> <code>parent.write(self, s.replace(r'\n', '\r\n'))</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>9. sed (via Cristian Ciupitu / ghostdog74)</p>
<blockquote>
<pre><code># IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert DOS newlines (CR/LF) to Unix format.
sed 's/.$//' # assumes that all lines end with CR/LF
sed 's/^M$//' # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V then Ctrl-M
sed 's/\x0D$//' # works on ssed, gsed 3.02.80 or higher
# IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert Unix newlines (LF) to DOS format.
sed "s/$/`echo -e \\\r`/" # command line under ksh
sed 's/$'"/`echo \\\r`/" # command line under bash
sed "s/$/`echo \\\r`/" # command line under zsh
sed 's/$/\r/' # gsed 3.02.80 or higher</code></pre>
<p>Use <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/html_node/Invoking-sed.html"><code>sed -i</code></a> for in-place conversion e.g. <code>sed -i 's/..../' file</code>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Options. What we’re all about.</p>
<p><a name="sources"></a>Sources / More info: <a title="Convert text files with DOS or Mac line breaks to Unix line breaks and vice versa." href="http://waterlan.home.xs4all.nl/dos2unix/" target="_blank">waterlan</a>, <a title="Windows command to convert Unix line endings?" href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17579553/windows-command-to-convert-unix-line-endings" target="_blank">so-win</a></p>
<div id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:220fd9ea-e8da-4ecc-8dac-d6de8554e61f" class="wlWriterSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/" rel="tag">ConsumedConsumer</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=linux" rel="tag">linux</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=wndows" rel="tag">wndows</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=text" rel="tag">text</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=conversion" rel="tag">conversion</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=how2" rel="tag">how2</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=tips" rel="tag">tips</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=unix" rel="tag">unix</a>, <a href="http://www.consumedconsumer.org/search?q=mac" rel="tag">mac</a> (Tags)</div>Indelible Bonobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14884595505459463870noreply@blogger.com0