Author: Dave Farquhar

Fix 3.5-inch floppy drives with these easy tips

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Fix 3.5-inch floppy drives with these easy tips

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about how to fix 3.5-inch floppy drives, especially the 1.44 megabyte format that was a fixture in PCs for nearly 20 years. Maybe everyone knows how to do it, but that won’t be true forever. In this blog post, I’ll record the secrets of fixing this enduring storage format, before they get lost to time.

Read more

Remove your personal contact information from Google

Dave Farquhar Spam
Remove your personal contact information from Google

If you are tired of getting phone calls and postcards from randos who want to buy your house or sell you stuff you don’t want, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is they are probably getting your phone number and home address just by searching Google. The good news is, there is a process to get your personal contact information removed from Google. In this blog post, I will walk you through the process.

Read more

How W.T. Grant broke capitalism

Dave Farquhar Retail
How W.T. Grant broke capitalism

W.T. Grant was once one of the largest retailers in the United States, operating for 70 years, from 1906 to 1976. Its decline was rapid and catastrophic, and had lasting implications we still feel decades later. When your favorite company’s stock drops after announcing quarterly results in spite of turning a profit, just because its sales didn’t grow as much as the previous quarter, you’re feeling the after-effects of W.T. Grant.

Read more

Marx train set 4351

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx train set 4351

The Marx 4351 was a 4-wheel plastic set fronted by a 490 locomotive that came with a figure 8 of track and a set of paper buildings. Marx billed it as a complete train set with nothing more to buy. Depending on how you used it, they may have been right.

Read more

Lego string substitute

Dave Farquhar Toys

Lego string is priced to seem cheap, but the markup on it is tremendous. 50 cm of Lego string costs a dollar. 2 cents per centimeter. Can’t you hear a loudmouth pitchman exclaiming, ” That’s only $0.02 per centimeter! ” But you can do better. Here is how to save money by using a Lego string substitute. Because if there’s one thing better than 2 cents per centimeter, it’s getting the same thing for 5 cents per meter.

Read more

Insignia RCA to HDMI converter not working

Dave Farquhar Video
Insignia RCA to HDMI converter not working

The Insignia RCA to HDMI converter or analog to HDMI converter is a convenient way to connect old devices to a new HDMI TV. I’ve reviewed it before, and I like it. In this blog post, I’ll talk about things you can try if you have an Insignia RCA to HDMI converter not working.

Read more

Marx diesel freight train set 8612

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx diesel freight train set 8612

The Marx diesel freight train set number 8612 was a late 1950s electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 6-inch freight cars. It’s an attractive set and a very good example of post-war tin lithography, which was becoming something of a lost art at the time.

Read more

Mitigate curl vulnerabilities on Windows

Dave Farquhar security
Mitigate curl vulnerabilities on Windows

Microsoft’s monthly Windows updates include a binary copy of the open source utility curl. Microsoft is not especially diligent about keeping the utility up to date, and they take measures to stop you from updating it yourself. In this blog post, I’ll talk about how to go about mitigating the vulnerabilities when you can’t update with a patch.

Read more

Build an IBM 5170

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Build an IBM 5170

The February 1990 cover of Compute magazine screamed, “build an AT for $1,000!” It was a clone, of course. And a soon-to-be outmoded clone at that. At that time the idea of building a true blue IBM was laughable. Today, it may be the easiest way to get your hands on a 5170 if you want one. Here’s how to build an IBM 5170.

Read more

CVE-2023-23378 Print 3D RCE remediation

Dave Farquhar security
CVE-2023-23378 Print 3D RCE remediation

The official fix for CVE-2023-23378 is to install 3D Builder from the Microsoft App Store, as Microsoft deprecated Print3D. A better, more scalable fix is to uninstall the vulnerable component with a Powershell command.

I get a fair number of questions about vulnerabilities in Microsoft Store apps in my day job, so I share my notes and observations in case they’ll help other people as well.

Read more