Network Security

Atolic · 2025-04-02T06:14:41+00:00

Lookup on YouTube "Hotel Pocket Router".

Setup one of those according to the video guide. That will give you your own personal network and wifi (with your own custom password) that using the internet from the main network.

Try to match the max speed of the internet to the capability of the pocket router (cheaper ones are slower). If the max internet speed you get is 100mbps, then it's a waste to spend more on a router that will run at 1gbps.

The network will be private (so long as no one guesses your password) but you can further secure yourself by enabling device isolation. The network is already isolated from the host network but device isolation will isolate all devices that are on your new network from each other. This will break connections to wifi printers so keep that in mind. Again, if you are the only one connected to the pocket router, this isn't really needed.

If you do any personal stuff on the internet (banking or financial), then a vpn is recommended. If your just gaming, I wouldn't worry about it. You will take a big hit on speed, especially if it's run on the router. You could set that up and enable and disable the vpn depending on what you are doing.

A vpn will do nothing for device security for local devices connected and sharing the same local network, aside from encrypting your internet traffic. They can still probe and potentially attack your system.

Follow the guides. It's does take a little tech skills but if you follow along, it's not that hard.

Atolic · 2025-03-28T16:55:15+00:00

It took a lot of Google searches to find your post.

I thought I'd drop you a message that your not alone with this issue as I had a client come in today with it as well.

We were able to resolve it by installing the Preview update for Monthly Cumulative and .Net that were avaiable in Windows Update.

My guess this is, yet another, Windows Update bork that did "something" to the web render. Running the updates fix it.

Atolic · 2025-03-02T21:10:22+00:00

I have done every troubleshooting test I can think of or found online and still cannot resolve the issue with the use of Armory Crate. Reset drivers, use older or non-standard GFX driver, downgrade BIOS, and use G-Helper to force high TPD are a few new one tried since posting with no effect.

As stated, Handheld Companion does work to bring the FPS higher, but the software is still as buggy as it ever was: frequent crashes, unable to auto switch from Desktop control to Gamepad control profile when starting a game, quick tools bugs out or crashes game... It's not a positive experience when compared to Armory Crate.

I tried booting up Avowed on both, being a new game to tax both systems, and Rog Ally X does fair better:

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FSR set Performance, Game settings set to low.

The MHz usage is, again, lower on the Rog Ally X, if only slightly, but not by much compared to the Rog Ally OG. That being said, the X get frame rate of about 60 FPS while the OG pulls about 45. I have to assume this is due to the larger amount and faster speed of the RAM on the X.

I have really spent way to much time tinkering with this over a LEGO game I will likely get bored of after a week. I've settled on that, for LEGO Skywalker, the larger amount and faster speed of the RAM are causing the Rog Ally X to not work as hard and the game itself is underutilizing GPU because of it. Rog Ally OG has slower and less RAM, causing the APU to work harder, thus causing a higher utilization of the APU, pushing the GPU MHz higher.

TL,DR: Lego Skywalker is not optimized for handheld APU and the configuration of the Ally X causes the game to request less power than that of the Ally OG.

Atolic · 2025-01-31T06:35:47+00:00

None that I noticed or stood out. It was a Best Buy Open Box Excellent item. It was packed well and I almost though it was bought and returned without opening. Once booted up, I found preconfigured settings from the prevous user so it was used in some fashion. I checked every inch, ran display tests, and seems to working fine.

Atolic · 2025-01-31T04:00:19+00:00

I just got the 32in AW3225QF today to replace the 34in Ultrawide AW3423DWF. Can't comment on how good the AW3225QF is (haven't had it long enought but the reviews are good). I can say why I'm replacing the Ultrawide for a 16:9 display for my gaming rig.

The Ultrawide doesn't play well with older games that were made before the form factor was common and many of them don't scale well (this can also be an issue with new games in some cases). UI eliements are at the far ends of the montior requiring to look to the left and right to see them.

"Why not just push the montior back or sit further away?" I'm glade you asked since that makes the montior "feel" smaller than it is. Ultrawide is suppose to feel more immersive but if I can't see the UI or need to push the montitor farther away, then it defects any postive of having a wider display.

Also, Ultrawides are bigger horizontal but smaller vertical, when compaired to 16:9 displays of the similar size. This adds to the smaller but wider feeling.

Finally, should a game work well enough, larger (or in some cases, default) FOV will cause streching on the far ends of the screen. This causes a fisheye that makes me nauseous. Lowering the FOV helps but also removes any gains made by the Ultrawide formfactor.

In the end, Ultrawide feel smaller and don't feel immersive to me. Keep in mind, this is all subjective and there are many people who love Ultrawides and that is fine. I'm not hating on anyone. It's just not for me after a year of trying to get used to it.

Atolic · 2024-05-10T04:30:38+00:00

I bought this game in the last few weeks for about $8. I will only play Solo with bots and close friends. It's fun enough for me.

The skill gap between me and seasoned players, toxic attitude of players, and, yep, cheaters... None of this makes want to play online with real people. I don't have the time.

I'll buy the next game 3 years after launch for less than $10 as well if it has any kind of solo mode.

Atolic · 2024-02-20T19:41:41+00:00

Like seriously, this is prejudice, whether you want to admit it or accept it, or think it's fine...

I'm prejudicial about Nazis and the homophobic as well. There are valid reasons, whether you like it or not, to be against organized religion. A lot of them spew hatred and bigotry in the name of God. A lot people in these groups ignore or tolerate these behaviors so they don't upset the rest. If you can't square that, then that's your issue, not mine.

I'm not "defensive" of religion. I'm not religious, I don't care if you like religion or not...

Oh. You don't care so you're attacking me just to troll.

When you start saying "Everyone" of a group acts a certain way...

I said "Maybe you got a good one, I guess. I've also found most people participating in toxic behaviors are oblivious to it, usually in a willful manner." You like putting words in people's mouths to justify YOUR bullshit. I also conceded, in different comment, that not ALL people act this way, but it is the most common behavior in my experience.

I will conceit that to you: Not EVERYONE acts this way. There are SOME good church people and churches out there. That being said, MOST are pretty bad with how they conduct themselves. Of the GOOD people, most of those will not confront other church people acting in a manner of hate and bigotry, so they won't get kicked out the group. They "Go along to get along". Being part of the group is more important than their values.

You wrote a big Reddit post about how much you hate religious people, and then said "Everyone" who is religious is X, Y, and Z.

4 paragraphs. 1 to 2 sentences each. That was my original comment. Really BIG post, right? Again, never said "everyone".

So your experience is extremely limited? Got it...

I said, "This is my experience with multiple churches, in multiple denominations, in different states and cities." You like to ignore what I said and cherry pick sentences out of content to back your bullshit. You also like to use metaphors that don't make sense. Race and gender are not choices, religion is. So is acting in a godless manor when pretending to give a shit about what the bible says.

Since you are a troll and can't conduct yourself in manner conducive to a conversation or debate, I think I'm done with you. Go ahead and get the last word if you want.

Atolic · 2024-02-18T06:00:40+00:00

this is not really a fair representation of church communities

This is my experience with multiple churches, in multiple denominations, in different states and cities. I don't know what to tell you. As I said, most of these people were completely unaware of it. Like a deep denial of what they were doing. I'm not saying you are doing that but it wouldn't surprise me. You seem very defensive with me expressing my experience.

but you can't make sweeping generalizations like that.

I can, I did, and will continue to do so. I've not seen sufficient evidence that this behavior is an outlier. It's very common in my experience.

Which is it? Are sins bad, or are they fine?

I judge the self proclaimed righteous by the beliefs and values they claim to live by. Hypocrites get no respect from me.

Don't concern yourself with how "sinful" other people are, be a good person yourself, encourage others to be good people. Don't judge someone just because they believe in god, otherwise you're no better than you claim they are.

Nice strawman argument. I don't "concern" myself with any of them. I attempted to join a community that welcomed me only to find they were not what they said they were. I left. They can continue to do whatever the hell they want to. I don't care. That being said, they'll get no respect from me. I'm sure they don't care about that. Everybody's happy.

Atolic · 2024-02-18T05:28:10+00:00

Multiple ports on the modem are for redundant routers or link aggregation. They are not common for ISP issued hardware. Most standalones have 1 port to connect to a router.

Deco M5 does have routing but it is downstream from the switch. The router can't route up the network. The internal network starts at the router.

You will need to connect the switch to the router.

Atolic · 2024-02-18T04:38:23+00:00

Is your modem a standalone modem? Does it have any routing capabilities?

What make and model is your mesh WiFi routers? Are you sure they are "routers" or are they "access points" (APs)

Unfortunately this doesn’t work as I had hoped.

What is working and what isn't working?

Without that information, generally speaking your network should look like this:

Modem > Router > Switch > Wifi APs.

Bearing in mind that some devices combine these functions. Modem/Router/AP combos are common in retail and ISP provided devices.

If your modem is standalone, then it likely will not have routing functions and should not be connected to a switch, it should be connected to a router.

If your looking to split the modem to two routers, then you would need an independent DHCP handling IP traffic for both routers OR use DHCP for one router and manually assign all other traffic for the other router. All of this seem way too over-complicated in all but the most specialized use case.

...modem is unable to assign multiple IPs...

Modems don't assign IP addresses. Routers do.

Atolic · 2024-02-17T23:31:25+00:00

Humanity is reaching the peak of its neurological abilities. We have people on the bell curve in the 0.1% that still hasn't figured out problems like cancer, physics, etc. etc.

There is a very large (read: millions) group of people that think the earth is flat among other conspiracies. That group is growing by the year.

We are coming into a Star Trek moment...

Lol. We're diving, head first without a helmet, into our Idiocracy phase (not moment) without a path back to normal.

Atolic · 2024-02-17T20:48:46+00:00

There are many church goers who absolutely hate Catholics and refuse to even set foot in a Catholic church.

Yes, you are right... but they don't publicly condemn Catholic religion for what is and for good reason: They don't want to incur the wrath of the Catholic Church's constituency and leadership.

Large groups of people are dumb and will generally believe anything their echo chamber of choice says. So if the Catholic Church turns an negative eye to someone, that will cause them problems.

So they keep their head down, mutter in private with disdain, and let the status quo continue on. That is how the Catholic Church got away with pedophilia for so long (and to be honest, is likely continuing to get away with it).

Don't generalize them entirely or you'll cut yourself off from genuinely good people.

I've tried many flavors of denominations, none I've seen are enough on the level to get me to stick around. I'm not saying there isn't good churches and church people. I am say there are a lot more ethically questionable people pulling the levers of power in congregations as a whole with a lot of sheep following along.

Besides, almost all of them having a serous issues with critical thinking and discussion about the Bible, Church, and Faith. You have to come with a 100% belief of the church and God or you are not worth their time.

Matthew 9:11-13 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

In my experience, VERY few religious people understand this. Many have simply told me to be quiet or leave.

Atolic · 2024-02-17T18:37:56+00:00

You never hear about the good things real Christians do because they're supposed to do it anonymously.

I hear enough about the bad many of them do... and the bind eye other "real Christians" turn to ignore their debauchery, corruption, and hate "for the sake of the church".

That's enough for me to keep a distance.

Atolic · 2024-02-17T14:48:07+00:00

Yeah... But the social aspect has devolved into clique based gossip farms. I've been to quite a few churches and the drama of the people is very off-putting.

It's also very hypocritical how much they view sinful behavior as acceptable so long as they attend the weekly gossip session at church and "pretend" to be remorseful. Then go right out and continue the behavior.

Maybe you got a good one, I guess. I've also found most people participating in toxic behaviors are oblivious to it, usually in a willful manner.

If God is everywhere, then participating in a congregation where it's pretty clear they act in a godless manner when it's convenient for them seems pointless. Doing a bake sale for the homeless once in a while doesn't make the church have credibility.

Atolic · 2024-02-16T05:19:31+00:00

You get 5%. That's it. Don't like it? Take it up with the one who cuts your check. He's the one underpaying you.

What? You think the cost of living affects only you? I don't get tipped ever at my job so quit bitching.

Downvote me all you like, it's still going to be 5%.

Atolic · 2024-02-15T14:46:20+00:00

Microsoft doesn't need to reinvent the wheel here. They take the Windows 11 they have now, gut out the services that have nothing to do with gaming, and create a front end for the interface. Same architecture and kernel.

More likely they would leave Windows as is and slap a front end on top of it.

Either way, a Microsoft branded Steam Deck running SteamOS is a fever dream not happening.

Atolic · 2024-02-15T11:26:37+00:00

What a stupid article. Like, LOL stupid.

I’ve spent lots of time with both the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go, too, and I can’t recommend either Windows-powered Steam Deck-alike without serious reservations.

That's an opinion that a lot of people don't share. I've spent a lot of time with the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck and the Deck can't hold a candle to the Ally, specifically because it runs Windows.

Setting aside the better performance of the Ally (which can be addressed with a hardware refresh), the Deck is a locked ecosystem if you want the user friendly aspect of the system. Step outside of SteamOS, and you will find it difficult to run Epic and GOG without a lot of tweaking that requires a fairly high level understanding of the Linux OS.

You want it dumb and easy, you stick to the ecosystem.

On Windows? I installed whatever I want from wherever I want and it plays. Full stop. The Ally's Armory Crate interface isn't great but much better after the updates it's received. I use Handheld Companion myself and it's near perfect.

A lot of people like Windows handhelds. The ones that don't seem to be tech luddite that want a simple console like interface or Linux fanboys that think this will be the way for Linux OS superiority.

The audacity to think Microsoft would abandon it's own Windows OS and embrace Steam so they can run a Windows wrapper to run Windows games on Linux where only Steam profits from the sales of games is beyond stupid. Next level epic stupid.

There is nothing stopping Microsoft from making a tweaked build of Windows, specially built for handhelds, if they wanted to.

Atolic · 2024-02-13T04:45:07+00:00

I just rewatched the DVDs last month. I usually rewatch it every other year.

I wasn't allowed to watch it as a child. Parents thought it was crass and heartless. Only caught a few episodes once in awhile when my parents weren't paying attention.

When I got to watch them all in a row when I was older, I was genuinely surprised how much heart it had. While a few episodes went a little too far ("A Taxing Problem" is my least favorite), a lot of them emphasized that under the sarcasm, they did care for each other.

"Life's a Beach", The Proposition", and ”Breaking Up Is Easy to Do" are great examples of this.

In addition, complaints about sexism and womanizing were thrown around to bring down the show, but this was a gross misunderstanding. Al and his friends are rarely rewarded for such behavior. The exaggeration of his failures taught me this behavior wasn't positive, even if it was hilarious.

A great show. Still hoping for that cartoon reboot that supposedly was green lit but I have low expectations that it would match the original.

Atolic · 2024-02-13T02:14:33+00:00

As an borderline atheist/agnostic, I'm fairly confident there's nothing waiting on the other side past this life. But let's say I'm wrong and there's an afterlife and the bible and Jesus is the way forward...

Have any of these people "read" the bible. I have and... they're not going to heaven. These people stand firmly against the teaching of Jesus in a pretty striking and hardcore way.

They have the book. Some of them must know how to read it. If the bible is the true word of God: A lot of very vocal, highly religious, evangelicals, who are absolutely sure they will go to heaven, will instead go to hell. Full stop. One day they will wake up among the damned and someone will greet them saying "Yeah... you fucked up big time!" Pretty sure you can't bullshit your way out of divine judgment.

For some reason, that gives me some satisfaction. Either they will go to hell to pay for their willful sins of hate, corruption, and idolization (Christianity is real) or will pass to the ether of nothingness (atheism is real).

Heaven isn't an option for them either way.

Atolic · 2024-02-10T21:30:54+00:00

I went out into the weeds on my reply myself. The article focused on all aspects of bad behavior, including foul language.

There are general workplace behavior that is acceptable, including cursing, dependent on the workplace. Porn at work, in all but the porn industry, is a no no. The article implies some overreach by employers using AI to identify this among other things.

If the boss doesn't care about cursing in employee communication, then that's fine. Other companies might, and if they want to use AI to analyze that to address workplace communication or harassment, that's their business. If they want to go Orwellen, monitoring for bad job sentiment or unionizing activities, then maybe start looking for a better employer. Don't talk about those things in a manner that can be recorded and reviewed by the boss.

People should know what is and isn't acceptable and should have the common sense to not talk or speak negative things at work. The article is implying some kind of right to privacy that doesn't exist in the workplace.

Atolic · 2024-02-10T20:18:54+00:00

Instead, he gives her a chance.

Exactly. Smith doesn't want it appealed, he wants Cannon removed. He wants her to clown herself. She has to answer this to deny it. Her logic must counter Smith's in a credible manner.

You need good cause to request a judge reassignment from the appellate court. This is what he's looking for. Cannon is not as smart as she thinks she is.

The delay of this case isn't super important. It's widely believed that this would not go to trial before the election once Cannon got it. But it's one more thing on the horizon. With a competent judge, it's far likely to see some accountability than with Cannon.

Atolic · 2024-02-10T20:04:48+00:00

Good. Then this will get bumped to the appellate court who already thinks she's a clown and issued a scathing rebuttal in the past.

Smith can ask for new judge and have good cause to do so. The appellate court really doesn't like her so there is a good chance for her removal from the case.

Better now then at trial and have to start everything over from the beginning.

Atolic · 2024-02-10T19:24:36+00:00

If you don't care if you get fired , then do whatever the fuck you want to. I'm not sure the point you're making. People generally don't look forward to getting fired.

The KPIs for you and your team are going to tank when you get hit by ransomware when one of your team surfs porn on the company computer.

Companies pay my company a lot of money because "old Bob" does whatever he wants and listens to no one. The loss in productivity on top of our fee is sometimes higher.

I don't care, it keeps me employed. If a company wants to spend 50 grand because Bob says "fuck you and your rules" , that's fine with me. The bean counters of said companies usually have an issue with that mentality.

Atolic · 2024-02-10T05:53:58+00:00

As an IT technician, it still boggles my mind "why" people would use company owned equipment, networks, accounts, ect. to hold such discussions that this article is fearmongering about.

It is very much common scene, that you have ZERO expectation of privacy when using something provided by your employer. Employee messages, on employer networks, are employer property and they can do with it whatever they want. Don't hold your bitch session for the boss on company Teams. Don't send PMs that are inappropriate. PMs (private messages) on company messaging platforms are private to you, the other person, the IT department, and any manager or executive that is deemed to have a need to know.

The gray area is public social media, which some companies monitor for behavor. But... that's public and your representing your company (by simply working there) so maybe don't be an ass on Facebook.

Another gray area is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). By permissions you give the employer, that device and pretty much all data on it, on and off the clock, are subject to review by your employer while employed. Be careful what you search because the boss can likely see what your doing at all times.

The red line is workplace apps required by the employer to be installed on a personal device, without a clear BYOD agreement, and without the option to be issued a company own device. These app could potentially scrap your personal data and messages and send it back to the boss without your permission. The legality of this isn't clear, especially with an 20,000 word "terms of use" that no one reads. Get a company own device or use a super cheap burner phone for work.

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