David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
When the weather turns cold, people frequently ask me where they can buy a Lionel train these days. Then they check prices on their phone and follow up with a second question: Why are Lionel trains so expensive?
There was a time when Lionel built electric trains in the kinds of quantities that game consoles are today. That isn’t the case anymore. But even considering today’s smaller economies of scale, Lionel trains never really were inexpensive once you factor for inflation.
What is a netstat foreign address, and is it something to be concerned about? If someone is yammering about it on the phone with you, unsolicited, they’re probably not explaining it correctly.
Netstat is a standard utility to list all the computers your computer is talking to. It’s a normal diagnostic tool, normally used by network professionals to make sure two computers that are supposed to be talking are able. Netstat output is not conclusive evidence that your computer has been hacked.
If your Roku Internet speed is poor, or you think it might be inadequate, there are some things to do about it. Here’s how to run a Roku Internet speed test and how to interpret the results it gives you.
The key to managing your Roku Internet speed is knowing what constitutes good or poor speed. Sometimes we overestimate how much bandwidth we actually need to stream, and what seems like poor speed may be a different problem.
I was talking to a friend the other day about trains and especially about rust. He was very concerned about being able to get the trains out next year and enjoy them without having to clean or refurbish them again. Here’s the best way to store Lionel trains.
The best way to store Lionel trains is in the living space of your home. Try to avoid storing them in a garage or attic if you can. A basement is OK if it’s not too damp. The box they came in is ideal, but there are acceptable substitutes. You also need to be careful how you wrap them.
For Christmas we replaced the entertainment center in our living room we’ve had for 10 years. That meant disconnecting and untangling 10 years’ worth of wiring. I also ran into some problems with my networking. One problem was absurdly low speed. So I looked into ways to increase powerline speed. While it’s still not great, it’s much more usable now.
Generally speaking, to increase powerline speed, you need adapters with a top speed that seems reasonable to you. Assuming you have fairly quick, up-to-date adapters, you should plug them directly into the wall, place them as close to each other as possible, try to avoid using them on circuits that have arc fault breakers on them, avoid having motors and other heavy appliances on the same circuit as the end that plugs into your switch or router, and, ideally, plug them both into outlets on the same circuit breaker.
An outlet sparking when plugging in is scary when it happens, so I don’t blame you for asking. Is it normal to see a spark when you plug something in?
A spark, also called an arc, happens when electricity jumps from one surface to another, and is usually too small to even notice. If you routinely see a big spark when plugging something in, you need to do something about it, but the cost is frequently very low or even free.
The Rock Island train set was a cheap battery-operated train available at discount and toy stores from about 1988 to 1990.
The set was made in Mexico from old Plastimarx tooling. A small company called Great Lakes Promotions imported it into the United States and distributed it.
AT&T home gateway devices don’t have a true bridge mode that you can use if you want to use your own router with their service. But there is an acceptable substitute. So here’s the closest thing you’ll find to AT&T U-verse bridge mode and how to enable it. This also works with AT&T Fiber and everything else AT&T calls AT&T Internet.
SEO generally centers around Google, because it’s the dominant search engine. But just because they ignore Bing doesn’t mean you should. Bing SEO optimization is similar to Google, but not quite the same. I find Bing is an untapped resource, and it has benefits besides the increase in search traffic it provides.
What is the purpose of Powerpoint? You might be surprised how many people ask that. Once you reach a certain stage in your career, you can expect to use it a lot. But there are definitely right and wrong ways to use it.