HOW-TO: Check Apple iPhone Battery Health

Apple, in a recent press statement, admitted to throttling its devices performance when it detects battery health in decline. In addition, the same statement also indicated the company's commitment to support its customers and improving after sales support. Replacement batteries...

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INFO: Clear Anaconda (Conda) Cached Packages

One of the things that boosted my productivity in the development of Python scripts is having been introduced to the jupyter notebook development environment. If you have not been introduced to jupyter (or ipython) notebooks, you might want to take a look at it and see how it...

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HOW-TO: Errors Updating PiHole DNS Cache

I personally use pihole to block ads, phishing and malicious websites (more leaning toward the latter), from access in my home network. This software can be easily setup on a Raspberry PI, and a little knowledge about good ol' Linux. On my setup I use pihole in tandem with the...

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TIP: 100 Gigabytes of Cloud Storage for Free

Have you recently had a drive failure? How painful was it to lose files? How about pictures, or should I say memories of you and your loved ones frozen in time and preserved by digital means? It is a tough pill to swallow, don't you agree? If you knew of a simple way to preserve...

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TIP: Learn Advanced Python Course for Free

There are two-things most notable about opensource software -- active development from a community of users, and, the benefit of using something that comes free. However, the learning curve varies since the actual training itself (the immersion process) comes at a price. Sometimes...

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TIP: Bulk Rename Files Using Power Shell

I recently wrote about some discounted Python courses in Udemy. In it is a highly recommended course that many beginners who want to learn Python will benefit from -- the Complete Python Bootcamp: Go From Zero to Hero. A factor which I consider makes the most impact in this...

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TIP: Huge Discounts on Python Courses at Udemy

One of the many tools I use for automating my everyday tasks as a sysad is Python.. Be it for executing backups, routine checks, collecting and rotating logs from legacy devices or automation as a hobby, Python has in one way or another been deployed. Now that I shifted careers...

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TIP: Quickly Identify Unknown Devices

Those that have gone through the experience of setting up their own home computer or notebooks, or perhaps, recovering from an unwanted drive failure may have experienced this. After installing the Windows operating system, what comes next? Drivers! Even after going through...

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FAQ: Errors After Deleting SWAP Logical Volume

I was setting up CentOS7 in order to orient myself with SELinux and be comfortable with using it. If you have been an avid follower of my articles, most of the recent ones have been revolving around Ubuntu16 LTS. I really didn't prepare and think much about the requirements...

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HOW-TO: Boot to Recovery/Rescue Mode

Booting to Recovery mode or Rescue mode is important. This is primarily due to the single most important reason -- nobody can predict an impending disaster. And this is why infrastructure personnel like me have jobs. Below I have a screenshot of one of the many reasons that...

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TWEAK: Customized Right-Click Menu

I often get asked by colleagues how I setup a customized right-click menu for my Desktop. Don't get me wrong, I still use the notebook that the company issues but I ask for limited administrative privileges to be able to customize the notebook to my working style as I like to...

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TWEAK: Quantifiably Measure Boot Time Optimizations

If there is a word that first comes to mind when running virtual machines (VM), I would say "lean". Meaning, if the VM does not need to run a certain service, then, disable it; ensure that only the services required should be running. This will not only improve utilization but...

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INFO: Process audiodg.exe Consumes High Memory

A recent not-so-good experience led me to write about it.. Have you ever been in the "flow" and so absorbed in your work that when you get interrupted, you find it very difficult to get back to where you were at? I recently had that, and the disruption came from a technology...

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TIP: Protect Your Router Against IP Spoofing

I was reading through some of the best practice configuration of Mikrotik routers, and routers in general. I found a very helpful tip about helping keep the internet secure for others. And this is related to the topic stated in the title -- IP Spoofing. In order to gain more...

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TIP: Rename Ubuntu16 Interfaces Back to ethX

If you have been working on Linux for a while, you will probably be very used to interface names that are ethX (eth something). In Ubuntu16 LTS, this is no longer the case. There is a long debate about this issue as it seems, and eventually this is the result. This post does...

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TIP: Test for "EternalBlue" Vulnerability Yourself

If you still haven't heard, there is a massive "ransomware" attack that is out there and organizations are starting to react to its effects. While you and I might not be the actual targets of this malware, you and I could still end up in its wake.. and worse, lose valuable data...

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HOW-TO: Mangle (or QoS) in a Mikrotik Router

First of all, let me tell you that I'm in no way a Mikrotik expert. My expertise is system administration, more into servers and storage. My specialization in the later years of infrastructure work focused primarily on VMware virtualization. I just understand a few concepts of networking that allow me to be comfortable around the equipment and possibly...

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ERROR: UnicodeEncodeError.. codec cannot encode character

I live in a country where we have an alphabet that goes beyond the English set of characters. It is not your usual A-Z; sometimes I get to encounter a few characters that don't belong to that set. Reading, writing and pronouncing them do not present a serious challenge. It is getting scripts to crunch them that do. The language is simply not programming...

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TIP: Configure NGROK Tunnel with Supervisor

I use a Raspberry PI (RPI) at home. I have blogged several times about my adventures with the RPI and some automation that I programmed in. It is currently running a very lightweight and optimized version of Linux named DietPI. The RPI is cheap. It operates cheap, since it doesn't...

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INFO: HP Notebook Battery Recall

Nowadays, whenever the mention of battery is heard, it immediately connotes the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.. This is not isolated to Samsung though. Neither is it limited to mobile phones either. It is applicable to all gadgets with batteries in them, including notebooks or laptops. Last...

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INFO: IP Shifter, Profile-Based Network Configuration

In this time where technology abounds and the internet of things (IoT) is being ushered in, everything seems to be either automated or has some form of dynamic-ity built-in. DHCP (or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), has been an industry standard for that dynamic assignment...

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HOW-TO: NAT (Network Address Translation) on a Mikrotik Router

Previous articles have discussed the configuration on a Mikrotik Router as I have experienced it -- the initial configuration and succeeding LAN provisions, like DHCP and DNS. I have linked those to the corresponding posts, should you want to check them out. This time, let's...

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