Author: Dave Farquhar

Tweak your PHP memory settings to fix weird WordPress issues

Dave Farquhar Wordpress

Over time, I’ve been experiencing weird issues with my blog. Plugins worked, then stopped working. Or they’d just run really slow. Occasionally I’d get error messages saying the plugin ran out of memory, but frequently it would just do nothing.

I found a solution inside wp-config.php. Read more

Plain, pure and simple advice from the guy with a credit score of 848

Dave Farquhar Saving money ,

One day a Cleveland-area man walked into a Bass Pro Shop, and they offered him a credit card with a promotion that would pay the sales tax. The savings amounted to $50, so he accepted. A few weeks later, he received a letter in the mail informing him that his credit score was 848. Perfect score is 850.

 My credit score raises eyebrows when people see it, but mine is still a pretty fair distance from that.
This Cleveland Plain Dealer article has some down-to-earth advice from the guy with 99.7% credit. Read more

Don’t look for me waiting in line to buy Windows 8 at midnight

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , ,
Windows 8 is out. Yawn. I won’t be standing in line. I wait a minimum of a year to install new versions of Windows anyway, a practice that’s been serving me well since 1994, and I skipped Vista altogether at home. I had it at work, so I know I didn’t miss anything. If Windows 8 is worth having, I’ll know about it by this time next year.

How to add a second SSD to a laptop optical bay

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

A longtime reader asked me recently about putting an SSD into a laptop optical bay. The idea has crossed my mind–the extra storage is increasingly more useful than the optical drive as time wears on. Thinkpad warriors have been doing this for a long time, though IBM’s caddies were a bit pricey.

It’s not an expensive project anymore, and it’s not limited to Thinkpads either. Read more

Linus Torvalds likes SSDs, too

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , ,

Linus Torvalds called hard drives evil, nasty platters of spinning rust in an interview this week, while saying he likes SSDs.

I didn’t say it. He said it. Though it’s no secret that I like SSDs too. Read more

Is it better to be a consultant or an employee?

Dave Farquhar Careers , , , ,

I ran into a former supervisor from many years ago at the local Home Depot this evening. We had a pleasant discussion. It reminded me of a question I asked, right around the time he and I last talked. I asked whether it’s better to be a consultant or an employee.

Here’s what I would say to my 2005 self if I could, somehow. I present it here since I know someone else must have the same question.

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Happy 35th birthday, Atari 2600

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming , , , , , , , , , ,
Happy 35th birthday, Atari 2600

The venerable Atari 2600 turned 35 this past weekend. People of a certain age remember it as the device that ushered in home video games. I know I spent a lot of afternoons after school playing blocky, chirpy video games on them in the early 1980s.

The 2600 wasn’t the first cartridge-based console, but it was the first widely successful one. It even spawned clones, the private-label Sears Video Arcade and the Coleco Gemini.

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Dvorak is wrong about the cyber war

Dave Farquhar security

So John C Dvorak (I’ll call him John Dvorak because he hates it–John Dvorak John Dvorak John Dvorak) says that cyber warfare, like Y2K, is a bunch of hooey.

I lived through Y2K, and I’m fighting the cyber war. He’s wrong on both counts. Read more

Teleworking on the cheap

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Saving money , , , , , ,

As I’ve mentioned recently, my new job allows me to work from home one day per week. They provide me a laptop to take home, but that’s it. If I want other hardware, I have to provide it.

Fortunately for me, I was able to outfit my office on the cheap.

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How to encrypt PDF files for free

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of encrypting documents before you send them via e-mail. But what if you don’t have a PDF creator, other than Microsoft Office or Open/Libre Office?

It turns out you can encrypt PDF documents, including those you create with office software, for free–with caveats.

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