2020 Blog Refresh It is a new year and my blog needed some updates. Not just small updates but some real technology love. The theme was not complliant with the new version of WordPress, I had 4 plugins that were throwing exceptions (filling the log), 2 plugins that were no longer supported, the SSL for the site was no-longer working, …
Amazfit Bip Review (used in real life) Earlier this year I purchased a Xiaomi MiBand 2 for myself and my wife. I had been looking for a fitnesss watch and someone at work showed me their miBand. If you have never heard of this device you are not alone. Xiaomi is great smart phone maker out of China. They have also …
Replace Windows Media Center with Kodi I have finally replaced my windows media center system with Kodi. I have posted in the past about windows media center and how I use it for a DVR and Live TV. I finally had to say goodbye to that setup, it was time. Windows 8 kept prompting me to upgrade, the system kept having …
Configure IIS to use – X-Frame-Options I recently had a request to update a server to correct a few audit findings. One finding was related to “clickjacking” (More info from Wikipedia and OWASP) Clickjacking is a process where a malicious link is injected on the page that takes you to what you would think is a normal page but is hijacking …
My title may be a little misleading. After updating my Mac to the new macOS Sierra I realized that my favorite security tool pptp vpn was removed. You can read about it here on apple’s support site – https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206844 I realize that the pptp vpn protocol has been called out with limited security https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-Point_Tunneling_Protocol and is often pointed as not being …
Bolt CMS Discovery I recently had a need to setup a site with a content management system. In the past I would just use WordPress. However, recently it seems that WordPress has become more overhead than needed. Don’t get me wrong I love WordPress, and all the features it provides like woocommerce, SEO, and every other plugin. In this particular case …
Magento Images Broken after Upload I recently updated a few sites using Magento with the new security patch 7405 (note that link is for the patch info – not a download – more on that later). After the update any images uploaded or added resulted in a broken image link. I was able to troubleshoot and while looking on the server, …
Dynamic DNS for Custom Domains I have been using dynamic dns for many years. My preferred provider was always dyndns.org. In early 2014 Dyndns (or Dyn.com) stopped offering a free Dynamic Dns solution. You can read about their decision to stop providing this service (here). NOTE: I don’t disagree with their decision, at one point I even used Dyndns as a …
There have been a series of Security issues recently. The major systems that power the web Magento and WordPress have had critical vulnerabilities (wordpress) (magento). I won’t go into the details of both, but the important part is that you need to patch your systems. In particular Magento had 3 patches that need to be added to your system. One …
Secure Your Network for Kids I have 4 children and often have family over to our home. At any given time there are around 30 plus devices on our network. My wife and I have talked to our children about safe usage of the web but I am just as concerned of malicious websites and adware as I am of my …
I love technology and I love my family. However these two have collided and we have had some challenges. One of those challenges relates to cords; yes I mean power cords. Some years ago I purchased a few portable DVD players. These great little items allowed my children to watch movies while we traveled. My parents and family live more than …
Home Backup History Every year I spend the holidays making sure that our home computers and items are backed up. I have a mixture of systems and media that need to be backed up. For the past few years I have used a combination of external drives and computers to create a robust backup and storage system. This year when …
I have posted in the past about all the great things you can do with DDWRT or with PFsense. After a few years with PFsense I have changed to iPfire. If you have not heard of iPfire I would suggest reading about this awesome firewall platform. The main focus of iPfire is for Security. This is my simple review of the two systems …
I have been very happy with my current Firewall setup of iPfire (ipfire.org). The system has done a great job of performance and security. I use many features from Squid, Snort, openVpn, and others. I even tried the TOR proxy routing. This weekend with lots of family over for Thanks Giving it was great to watch the proxy reports and see …
I recently updated my basement and purchased a new TV. In doing so, my projector and TV are both connected to my Windows Media Center. I needed up update my older PC running windows media center since Comcast turned to digital. Here is the setup and configurations I use to run a Windows Media Center that shows live tv and allows …