General – Page 16 – Paul's Tech Talk

What is Virtualization and why Do you need to know it?

PaulAugust 19, 2021

Virtualization

Virtualization, what does it really mean? Let’s walk through what the word means and then we can talk about it some more. Virtual is like you are attending a class remotely because there is no real materials or even books that you can use to feel or see. Let’s talk about realization, This is the part that people sometimes do not understand when they hear the word virtualization that the system that is doing this will need to also realize that the system. It’ll need to create a motherboard, CPU, memory, display, ports, and USB ports, and even hard drives and peripherals. It however isn’t really anything that can be touch or even seen by us the user. It is all inside a computer being made by the computer to fool the operating system that is being created by the virtual machine.

Cloud computing

What is that word and what does that have to do with virtualization? I am sure everyone has asked that at one point or time and they might want to know about it even more. Cloud computing is basically a lone server or it could even be a service for companies to use somewhere around the world to create an operating system for the business to use such as Windows 365 which lets you create a Windows desktop virtually on a server to be able to do everything you can do on physical system as if you had one there right now. Play games, edit documents, write emails, and so on are what it is called to be cloud computing. Just think of it as being a computer on the internet and you will start to realize that it is not a real computer.

Do we need virtualization?

In all we do now, virtualization is going to be more and more used in now than in the old days. It allows corporation to manage desktops around the world and not have them physically there. The cost of having a desktop will not be overhead and they can have a server have several people on it and cutting the cost of have having to buy the computer parts or even the computer for the employees. They can then buy really cheap computers that don’t take up as much space and these cheap computers will most likely be underpowered. In the process, they can use that to do what might need to be done on the virtual machine. It can seem like a lot but in the end the computer they bought isn’t as expensive as buying a system that can do what a cloud computer and is far more manageable to the IT staff. They can keep it running and if something happens they can call the company and get someone there to fix the problem that they can’t do.

Benefits Vs Cost

Here’s where it get even better, because if you really think about this as being a virtualization as service, you’ll see that the benefits verses the cost of using one is probably going to be less than you think. Let’s break it down in further for you and explain why in so many ways. Virtualization is basically meaning several computers can be on a really beefy server. It can be a beast and can be used to utilize the CPU processing when it is need to do something like graphics or even just programs that might need the processing power. It could in theory also be used to mine bitcoins or even Ethereum but I really don’t know if it is actually be done like that on a server because you’d only want one system on the server to maximize the chance to mine a bitcoin or an Ethereum coin as they say. Because the more people on that server the more processing power will be divided to the the people equally so that’s one thing to consider. We could look at cost of buying a server or even renting a server but in reality what we need to look at is the idea that the server can host several employees or people on the server to do tasks that remotely or even at the office that will far out way the cost of buying a bulky computer and having the employee’s be in the office all the time.

This is all the definition of what a computer is in the cloud, we just have to think of it as a way to illustrate what it is and why we need it. Do you agree or disagree, do you think I did a good job describing it? Why not leave a comment and tell me what you thoughts or if you think I could of talked about something more. I’d love to hear you thoughts on this matter and others.

Why I uninstalled Microsoft Windows 11 Preview build?

PaulAugust 17, 2021

I reinstalled Windows 10 and Deleted Windows 11!

I don’t know about everyone else but after my week long expedition into Windows 11, I just couldn’t handle the speed issues of the Windows 11 and the encryption. I know it isn’t worth my time after all that to down grade to Windows 10 but I I felt it wasn’t going to get any smoother than that. I also would of had to have deleted the partition anyways since it was locked to secure boot and UEFI. I really didn’t want to try to convert it back to MBR. I got my trust Windows 10 DVD and started it up and found the partitions I wanted to delete and then I reinstall Windows 10. I will say that after wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows 10, and turning off all the Encryption crap and just booting into Windows has seen my load times go back to normal.

Windows 11 Problems

First off the main problem I had with Windows was the need to encrypt the Hard drive and I was using a NVME which should of been way faster than a standard SSD or Hard drive to boot up. That wasn’t the case, I’d see the swirling load screen on my system for several seconds and then it would finally boot. Due to the encryption that Microsoft says is required to run Windows 11, it just doesn’t cut it for me. Even playing games like Minecraft was screwy and that isn’t even taking up that much memory at the most 2 GB or if you know how to do it 4 GB. I’d play with Minecraft and the system would take forever to load up the next part of the map or even play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and It wouldn’t be sluggish there also.

The Start Menu

This was something that was just annoying, I think Microsoft wanted to look like an Apple device and bring the apple guys over because of the look. I can’t understand why you would prevent people from reverting back to the old Windows 10 setup. I can only wonder what people will do to find out what they are running and if it will actually be a good idea to keep the start menu in the middle of the screen. Some people have these really long screens and it might help them. I personally would like to move the taskbar anywhere on the outside of the screen, top or maybe right or left of the screen. You wouldn’t be able to do that either. Which will make people really mad.

I can’t see this being all about security

It just can’t be about viruses and malware or even the recent months of ransomware attacks that have been happening in the past year, due to the Covid19 situation around the world. I have talked about how Windows will ultimately fail and we will see virus writers come up with some good viruses and malwares to compromise the Secure boot and even the TPM that is trying to be forced to be used by Windows. I am sure it isn’t over, and if Microsoft isn’t going to change, we’ll see people leaving left and right to go to operating system that are much less restrictive and more open such as Linux. In the end, I went back to Windows 10 because of the speed and performance, and I am not even thinking about Windows 11 until I find out what they will require when the system is finally released. This will be a big deal to some but me, I am not interested in the so called security features of Windows 11.

More advice for new computer technicians

PaulAugust 13, 2021

Job Searching is outdated!

In My previous post, Some advice for computer technicians, I did talk about what a technician usually has to do to fix or repair a system. He even has to deal with some very difficult customers.

Now with that said I wanted to change directions and talk about the job search area and what you should expect. Being a computer technician that has the educational background but not the experience of actually being a computer technician, can be quite frustrating sometimes when it comes to job searching. It can just make me scratch my head when they require a 1 to 2 or even 5 years of experience to even start doing the job we went to school to get the education to do the job. How is any employer going to over a entry-level job and still require some sort of experience that shouldn’t even be a requirement to get the job.

This just seems like someone is not understanding what the word entry-level means and why it shouldn’t require much to get that job or position.

Don’t Apply for every job

This one just seems like it needs to be said. Just because you have the education, don’t apply to all the jobs that you are interested in before doing a little research. Figure out what you want to do and how much you are worth. Use places like Glassdoor and indeed to make sure the company you are considering applying for has a good reputation or at least got some good reviews by previous employees. You know you will have to deal with bad bosses from time to time, so you can figure out if you want to apply for a job that has a bad boss or if you might just hold of on taking that job or applying for that job.

You are worth more

This one is even better because some people will take these low paying jobs because they want to get their foot in the door or get the experience. I say don’t do it, find an employer who will pay what you are worth. I could go down the street and get paid to bag groceries than maybe an employer who only wants to pay me 12 or 13 dollars to start off on. That just boggles me, that I went to get an education and still can get a job that pays more than what I got my education for. If we stopped allowing them to do this by not applying or accepting those jobs, the pay will eventually go up but we must be able to say no.

Don’t expect that Dream job

I say this with some trepidation that we shouldn’t expect to find that dream job right away. In fact, we will probably have to work at a dead end job for a year or two at the very least to be able to have the requirements to get that dream job. In truthfulness, you could easily find that dream job right after getting your education but the chances on that are slim to none, I’d say. This is something, I’ve seen time and time again that people loss hope right after getting their education to be stuck in a dead end job. This is the time to keep looking for a better job and create notifications to help keep you looking for a better job down the road.

Avoid Job text Bots

This one seems quite common. You get the text that says you’d be a great fit or something along the lines and you ask a question in text and it says “Perfect . . . .“. These are just bots that I have come across, this is how lazy recruiters are trying to recruit people for their job. If anything, his means the job might not be all that it is worth and they are having people quite left and right and this is the easiest way to try to find people to fill the job position. Seems kind of a catch 22 in my book, if they aren’t going to actually read my question and answer it then the job isn’t for me. I’ve turned them off by texting stop when I find out it was bot that answered me or when I get the perfect or some other way to say we want to talk to you before they even read your text.

These are just what I’ve seen in the job market as of late and thought I would talk about some of these and others ways to find a job in the computer repair or a technician jobs. You can even figure out how much a computer technician should make by using Glassdoor or even Indeed to find out the salary rages someone would be making in your area.

What are some things you’ve seen that makes you cringe when looking for a job as a computer technician? Have you seen some of this? Leave a comment below and tell me your experiences as a job seeker. If this post has helped you consider using my affiliate links to say thank you for this great post.

Gigabyte Hit with RansomEXX attack and could be big problems for the Motherboard manufacturer

PaulAugust 12, 2021

Bleeping Computer

It seems bleeping computer is the one who is first reporting but as you can see if you go to the Gigabyte homepage. You’ll find that there homepage has been changed a little with the about us graphic being changed to this little blame the broker gif. It is a reference to the BlackMatter that was recently been reborn from REvil and Darkmatter. So this is definitely a sign that they have been hacked and attacked. According to Bleleping Computers the attack was done by the RansomEXX gang but I have my own thoughts on this that it was also part of the BlackMatter group who also helped out in this hack.

Gigabyte Support

According to all sources I could find, the esupport website is currently down. There have been reports that RansomEXX will release 112gb of data to the public that involves customers and business relationships such as Intel, AMD, and even American Megatrends. I’ve not seen to much other than that right. I can only imagine that all this data is NDA. Gigabyte even confirmed this in the Chinese media outlet to have been attacked by hackers.

Customer Data

I don’t know what data the hackers actually have or what they intend to do about it. I’ve not even heard what type of data the hackers have. We just know that they have some serious data that is about the relationships between Gigabyte and other manufacturers that is startling to say the least and we don’t even know everything that is behind this attack. We just know that it will be interesting to see what will happen in the coming weeks. I’ve still seen people on twitter and other places complaining they can’t get to the esuppport websites on twitter. Hopefully someone will talk about this in the coming weeks. I know I want to find out what actually happened.

How to wipe your hard drive securely before selling or recycling your computer

PaulAugust 11, 2021

Wiping the Hard drive

Sometimes it’s a good idea to wipe the hard drive beyond recovery to prevent someone else from getting that information about the previous owner. It is always a good idea to erase the information before you sell or recycle or even donate your computer. You can destroy the data on the hard drive with little or no effort but it does takes an app to do it. Depending on your situation, if you have an OEM system, than you will probably want to reinstall Windows into the system that you are going to wipe securely and erase the data on the hard drive. It’s best before you do this to create a USB or DVD of the operating system you are going to wipe. If this is Windows 10, you can download the the media creation tool for Windows 10 and make a bootable USB for Windows 10 for after the wiping of the hard drive. If this is an older system like Windows 7, I would suggest before wiping checking to see if you have the DVD for it or you could buy a Windows 7 from amazon using my Affiliate Link, which I’ll get a small amount of money when you do that. If this is another system all together, Like Linux, or even Mac OS you’ll have to get a copy of the operating system that you are going to wipe and reinstall it to be helpful to the next person to use the system.

DBAN : Darik’s Boot and Nuke

This is one of the utilities that I use to remove and erase all the information securely to prevent anyone from getting the information that is on the hard drive. It’s open sourced and can be downloaded freely. They do have an enterprise version that is for those who are running a business and requires a license to do use in a business environment. This is however the first one that I use when I have a Hard drive that I need to erase, destroy, or wipe the entire Hard drive. This can even be used on SSD and NVME’s.

MHDD

This one is similar to DBAN but has some interesting features that work well with what I might need to do. I often times will us MHDD after I use DBAN just to be safe and make sure nothing is left on the hard drive, or the Solid State drives to prevent anyone from getting any information from the hard drive. This probably sounds like over kill but I figure it sometimes is needed to prevent the people from accessing the data. It was developed by Dmitry Postrigan and I have used this program from time. You’ll need to download the ISO and create a bootable USB or CD/DVD to use this program and I suggest something like Yumi Pen Drive creator to make a USB Bootable Disk for MHDD.

Formatting the HDD, SSD, or NVME

Format commends

This is the last option I would suggest because this option is only going to do it once and you’ll need to format the disk several times with different commands to provide enough assurances that the data is destroy or wiped. This option is good for those disk drives that didn’t have any really important information on them and had either games or files that probably didn’t have anything on that would be too personal for anyone to find. I usually use this as a last resort when I know the system wasn’t used to keep personal data and maybe the HDD was being exclusively used for games on it. The format command on a HDD or SSD could be useful because it’s already on the media creation tool and can be accessed by hitting Shift+F10.

Then all you will need to do it type:

format <drive>: /fs:NTFS /p:1 (For zeros)
or
format <drive>: /fs:NTFS /p:2 (For one's)

This will write zero’s or one’s to every sector on the HDD or SDD and will securely erase the data. I have found to go from zero’s to one’s or doing one’s than doing zeros. Be warned thought doing this will take a very long time. It could be hours between passes.

This option is good when you have a system that you can use to install and format HDD and still do other things on the system or if you can pull the HDD and SSD out and temporarily install it on the working system. While it does it things you can do other things on the system. Be warned this might take some of your system resources while you are formatting the HDD in question. The System might be a bit slower to respond. Also it will take a VERY long time to do multiple passes on a HDD. So don’t be surprised if it takes several minutes to go from 0 to 1% or several hours to even get to 100% depending on the size of the drive you are formatting.

Do you have any good tools that work better? Why not leave a comment and tell me what you use to securely wipe hard drives and SSD’s. Why not share your experiences and hear how you do it. If this has helped you with something, why not consider checking out my affiliate links below and say thank you for this great resource.