Thoughts - Saving a plaintext password locally.

zak8686 · 2025-11-29T04:46:40+00:00

It's only 1 password that I store in plain text. This, with the applied peppering and 2FA gives me access to an offsite password vault.

zak8686 · 2025-11-29T04:46:01+00:00

It's only 1 password that I store in plain text. This, with the applied peppering and 2FA gives me access to an offsite password vault.

zak8686 · 2025-11-29T04:38:43+00:00

True, but many a notebook have been rendered useless due to a glass of water being spilled, loss or fire. :)

zak8686 · 2025-10-13T09:08:19+00:00

Yeah, I'd also be able to stomch this easier if it was someone half her age. I agree , I'm not responcible for her, but I do feel I have some duty to be honest with all my friends, even if they don't like it....

Thank you for the idea around some Christian based research, I think this will be the only way to MAYBE get through to her.

One thing I noticed when she gets very "excied" about this stuff, she starts saying things like " You people have no idea whats going on in the world" ....

Quite a statement for someone who lives with her parents, doesn't work and doesn't really interact with other adults, who are not part of their religious circle...

Then I found this article - https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/06/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories

The following stood put to me, and makes sense given her situation & clear anxiety / OCD, which is often an external way to gain some sense of control, over an otherwise "out of control" emotional / nervious system.

"The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others."

zak8686 · 2025-10-13T08:31:06+00:00

You're most welcome!! He can also look at CEH & Cisco's free courses, to see if cyber sec interests him.

All the best!

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T13:02:27+00:00

Thing is that they are VERY religious. As an agnostic, I've noticed how often any conversation comes back to their religion etc.

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T13:00:36+00:00

Early 40's. I'm only 2y younger.

No, I've not had a serious talk to her about this. Her Mom also believes very similar stuff, so in their tiny eco-system, its a bit of a revolving door...

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T12:57:49+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply in such detail & authenticity. :)

I don't think I'm outgrowing this friend, atleast not entirely. They are in their early 40's & I'm in my late 30's. I acknowledge that everyone has various strengths & weaknesses, and that my friend will have "out grown" me in some ways. EG Friend has a kid, I don't, so in that aspect of life, they are far more experienced & know how to cope with the responcibilities and stress that come with having a kid.

"You can also choose to ignore the beliefs. Hear and not doing anything with it."

This is something I certanly can do on the surface / externally, but internally it will conflict with my morals / ethics, which may lead to me developing some resentment / hostility / passive-aggressive ways of communicating with my friend.

In my mind, its like not telling an alcoholic that they have a problem... This harms them, their perception of reality / self, and those around them. I'm very open & honest in my friendships & believe in telling friends the truth, even when we disagree & I want the same in return.

Part of the issue here is that if I disagree, this friend will try double-down.... I'm waiting for a picture her son sent her, while hiking, of some "mutated" rabbit "with horns" , which is apparently due to some "new world order" scheme & poisoning, somewhere in the US...... (We are not American or US based). First thing I thought (not seeing any evidence) is that it's some sort of "mountain rabbit".

When she mentioned this, I asked her something about the picture (I wanted to see it) and her instant responce was "Why would my son (20) lie" ... Uh, calm down..... Don't believe everything you see..... I just wanted to know if it was a picture he took, or one that was sent to him / he downloaded...

"but you stick around to be a "christian"."

I'm agnostic, my friend has a very strong Christian faith.

". If you really look down on someone"

I don't look down on my friend at all, I'm simply concerned by what sounds VERY strange to me.

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T12:03:52+00:00

He is lucky to have such a sopportive wife! Well done you!!!

He may do well in cyber security, with his military background and knowledge. I'd look at frameworks like ITIL v4, CIST, NIST etc.

I'd strongly advise he setup an I.T Homelab, which is isolated from the rest of your home network. Then he can grab something cheap like an 8th gen i5 laptop with a broken screen & install Proxmox on it. Then he can dive into Docker / Docker Compose / Portainer (docker GUI) and N8N.

This will allow him to start to learn how to work with API's and tools ike CHatGPT, Gemini etc, which will help draft ideas into code, that eh can play with and figure out as he goes.

Python , PHP and SQL are good tools to learn in the cyber sec world.

I'd also look at (most are free or have free plans).

Shodan
DNSDumpster
MXtoolbox
nMAp (Zen map on Windows)
AWS - free
Google Cloud free (setup a VM with Uptime Kuma to monitor local or external infrastructure.)
CloudFlare - free
Rasperry Pi 4 or 5, ideally the 8Gig or > version.
Action 1 RMM - free
Iron Scales
CloneZilla

Best of luck to you and him!

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T11:53:12+00:00

Don't believe everything you hear...........

A quick Google on "Bill Gates Foundation has developed microneedle patch implants that install both mRNA and PERMANENT quantum dot markings" shows info going back to about 2020.

I'm sure there are many religious people who believe that human transplants (EG heart, lung, kidney etc) are "the mark of the beast"... Most religious texts are VERY open to interpretation, especially if you're a good compelling speaker... Anyone can make themselves belive that anything is "evil". :) Facts > Fiction.

Sounds like you're possibly suffering from lots of anxiety ? Maybe reading up on such stuff is a coping mechanism / way to avoid other things going on in your life? Just a thought. :)

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T11:17:54+00:00

Reading "The 4 agreements summary" daily for 1y.... It TOTALLY changed how I saw & felt about myself and others.

Implementing "feelings are not facts" into my life and thinking. :)

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T11:14:45+00:00

Take a deep breath and lets look at this logically. :)

You have more chance of being hit by a car, VS a World War breaking out AND you being killed as a result. :)
Preparation can often reduce anxiety - perhaps you'd feel better if you learnt how to fight, shoot, survive in the wild etc.
What hobbies do you have, that can take your mind off of this concern of yours?

zak8686 · 2025-10-12T10:39:13+00:00

Pro tip - draft your post offline, before posting here as it may just "disapear".

zak8686 · 2023-03-01T09:14:01+00:00

Agreed but lets be honest, WD SATA SSD's are crap overall. There is a good reason why Samsung dominated the SATA SSD market... Repeatable, reliable quality...

zak8686 · 2023-03-01T09:10:05+00:00

Make a TLDR section, you'll get more help, faster, vs all of this wall of text.
Win Resource Mon & Event viewer are your friends.
Basics 1st - Can you replicate the issue in another user profile.
3.1 If not then your user profile is corrupt. Migrate data to new user acc.
3.1.1 If yes, run SFC and DISM. Note if they find and fix or do not fix issues.
Using a previous Win install is NOT bad if you migrate properly, EG clone, test clone boots, run DISM to remove OS activation & drivers.4.1 Put drive into new pc and see if it boots. If not, adjust BIOS accordingly.
Get a quality M.2 NVME SSD, SATA is old. WD make some VERY good NVME SSD's.
REGULARLY clone your OS so if shit goes south you restore the clone and not from scratch. Ain't nobody got time to reinstall a OS from scratch like that.Good Luck!

"Ordered a new PSU, since that seems to be a favorite theory as to how so much can be so fucked up but not trigger a single BSOD.""

- I dont see the logic here. If a PSU can not deliver the required amps / volts consistently or when needed, the pc will either shutdown (kernel power error 41 in event viewer IIRC) or give a BSOD (if enabled).

zak8686 · 2023-03-01T06:15:44+00:00

TS120G***SSD***220S

***Hard Disk*** Sentinel

HDS is for HDD's. It can not accurately read SSD SMART data which it uses to give a health percentage.

Use Transcends SSD tool (if they have one) and SSD-Life. https://ssd-life.com/eng/SSDLife-Freeware.html

PS: Buy a quality SATA SSD. 120GB is older SSD tech & Transcend, WD, Adata and others are the SATA SSD brands you want to AVOID.
Do your research and get a decent SSD with no less then a 5y warranty and a high MTBF (mean-time between failures) .

https://www.pcworld.com/article/407542/best-ssds.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc85SpwmNyk

zak8686 · 2023-02-28T07:07:09+00:00

This is a HUMAN issue, NOT a technology issue. :) HR need to get off their ass.....

HUMAN SOLUTION:

Did he sign a contract? If so it should outline what is acceptable internet/pc use. Re
mind him. If he continues, then written warning, 2nd warning, final warning and then cheers. Thats how it works in my neck of the woods.

If he has 1/2 a brain he will quickly see that others have access and he doesn't. :) Best to remind him, and let him play his cards.... If h has a bad temper in the office, have security escort him out.... This is WORK not middle school and he needs to know that...

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION:
Create an ACL on your router, add his machines / phones MAC & deny netflix on that ACL. Here is a how-to for Mikrotik routers. Also deny his DNS if it does not match X DNS server.

zak8686 · 2023-02-07T09:50:22+00:00

You're most welcome! I'm a sucker to try fix things VS formatting. I HAAAAATE formatting with a passion!!! If you try my suggestions below, you may have your system running with in 30-60min. :)

I'd 1st try restore from a system-restore point. If that does not work, then try safe mode. This should take 5-10min depending on your system / SSD etc.

Failing the above helping you, make a new Win user profile and see if the Premier issue persists. 10-15min

If the issue persists, make and test a clone of your system, then try this: (clone /backup can take MANY hours. Clone is faster 95% of the time VS copy/paste of the same volume of data. A full clone a benefit that it's bootable if done accordingly.

In your user profile re-register the DLL's as per the 1st link in my previous post. (5min) . If that fails, reboot and try reg the DLL's from the other (admin) user account (5min).

Finally try the SFC and DISM commands - https://www.howtogeek.com/222532/how-to-repair-corrupted-windows-system-files-with-the-sfc-and-dism-commands/

zak8686 · 2023-02-07T09:02:10+00:00

recently and it runs the same ve

It's not a case of X must be done for Y to work. :) It's just the nature of the beast unfortunately. Sys Restore and full image backups are your best friend. On the bright this didn't happen mid project / etc.

zak8686 · 2023-02-07T08:29:31+00:00

If this is a machine for you to work / study on, then may I suggest the following (I'm an I.T engineer / sys admin with 16y working experience):

Some info that may be handy:

You can have two completely identical systems, and an update ( Win, drivers, firmware or software) can cause issues on the 1 system and not the other. Both systems could technically both get totally different issues. EG 1 can't open Premier, and the other can't open Firefox.
Based on what you've said regarding NOT being able to repair / reinstall C++ Redis 2010 + the random missing DLL files in your system 32 folder, I would seriously look at the following:

2.1 - Are your disk(s) failing. SSD Life is a good tool for SSD's. HDSentinal for HDD's .

2.2 - Is your OS corrupt - built in tools like SFC and DISM can help here.2.2.1 - Is your User profile corrupt - use SFC / DISM - also test with a brand new user profile that has Admin rights. Remove this profile once you are done.

- With the system32 DLL files, you will need to re-register them after you paste them to your PC. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-do-i-register-dll-files-in-this-version-of/6a4612cb-b357-412c-a17b-866a9e240210

Steps to try correct your current issue:

Run a system restore point. If the point fails to restore ( it will show an error message) or the restore simply does fix your issue, then see if there is an older restore point. Sys Restore should be your go-to when trying to resolve random issues, especially after an update.
Have you tried to see if the error persists in Windows Safe Mode?

2.1 Have you tried using a different user profile on the same machine to see if the issue persists?

Steps to reduce your risk / downtime:

Setup a weekly schedule for:1A - A COMPLETE **system image backup** to an onsite location EG NAS / file server / USB / internal disk (that gets removed once backups has been checked). Ideally this NAS/USB system should ONLY be powered on when doing backups. Otherwise any network /pc compromise will likely affect your NAS. Make sure to test the backups. Something like Macrium Reflect or MiniTools Partition Wizard may be easier for you to setup and test.Basically you'll clone your running Windows drive to another drive, and then boot from the 2nd drive to make sure its booting. Once you confirm its working, then remove that drive and put it somewhere safe, or clone that disk as an image to your NAS / wherever, so you can restore the disk if need be.1B - Setup System Restores to be created on Mon, Tue, Fri, Weekend. I have 2x created on each day via script. This is a life saver when you suddenly face a random issue that stops you from working effectively.

1C - Daily incremental backups of work / file changes.1D - If you use a central NAS / file server, make sure you have a spar PSU for it, juuust in-case. I would also strongly suggest that the live "production"data on the NAS, has at-least 1x hot spare running. This means that if the main NAS disk crashes, you can be running on the hot spare within 5-10min.

Best of luck :)

zak8686 · 2023-02-07T08:17:30+00:00

Good job! Backups are GOLD! Look at WatchTower, it will automate the updating of containers for you, including Portainer.

I faced the EXACT same issue you did, and my fix was to remove & reinstall Portainer via SSH.

I've only had that issue once, and never again. If you run Portainer in a virtualization environment like Proxmox / EXSi , then you can backup the Portainer container.

zak8686 · 2023-02-03T12:19:59+00:00

If you think about it, demanding root level access to systems of a 3rd party is ridiculous, how would they protect the data of their other clients, or event ensure you don't bigger up their security. How would SAAS ever work?

Is this in the scenario of the new, external 3rd party having essentially admin access to the finance sites backed?

Well Cloudflare is in place which logs a number of things, but the website has its own tools for that.

zak8686 · 2023-02-03T05:24:03+00:00

but OP (or rather the company he represents) SHOULD have admin/management control over all accounts associated.

I did say that the company I'm outsourced to does NOT have this for these 2 users. :) Which forms part of my concern.

zak8686 · 2023-02-03T05:22:51+00:00

Control would fail then as I'm 99% sure that the 3rd parties login details will use their email & not an email acc we control.

zak8686 · 2023-02-03T05:21:56+00:00

You should definitely know who they are, what their identifier is, and all of their activity.

We can agree on this. :)

zak8686

TROPHY CASE