David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
The best furnace air filter to use depends almost entirely on who you ask. You’ll get a very different answer if you ask an HVAC technician than if you ask your doctor. The reason is simple. They both see the purpose of the furnace air filter differently.
Of course, there’s a trade-off for each.
Tandy didn’t invent the laptop, but Radio Shack sold more laptops than anyone else in the 1980s. Here’s a look back at the pioneering Radio Shack laptops. They may have been unsophisticated by today’s standards, but they were very innovative for their time.
Radio Shack also sold desktop and home computers, but its laptop line was a huge success.
Read more
It’s not hard to remove latex paint from plastic when you need to, even if the paint already dried. Here’s how to remove latex paint from plastic.
You hear the word “bot” thrown around a lot today. It’s in conversations, on the news, and even in stand-up comedians’ routines. So everyone assumes you know what it means. But what is a bot in computer terms?
Don’t be afraid to ask. I’ll explain it.
You may have noticed different Internet plans have different prices, and the difference between the packages is the speed. But they may not explain it. So what is Internet speed? Read on.
It didn’t used to be hard to connect a monitor to a laptop, but the large number of different connectors and seeming lack of standards makes it harder today. Let’s cut through the confusion and figure out how to hook up a monitor to a laptop.
Why is it so hard? Because adapters and cables have higher profit margins than laptops. But don’t worry. We’ll sort out how to make the connection, then how to extend or mirror the built-in display.
The Silicon Power S55 SSD frequently goes on sale and is usually the cheapest SSD you’ll find. But is it a bargain? I dug into it to find out.
What does BBS mean? In the 1980s and early 1990s, before the Internet was available for home use, hobbyists would set up a computer with a modem on a phone line to see who would call in. In some cases, hundreds of people did. Here’s a look back at the days of the BBS, or bulletin board system, and what people did with their modems in days of yore.
Some people regard certifications as overrated. But given the number of resumes human resources departments get, having the certifications listed in the job description, even if the description calls them desirable and not required, really helps. You need something to make you stand out, and certifications are an effective way to do that. Here are the 16 best certifications to get, in my 20 years of experience in IT.
If you already have an IT position but don’t have some of these certifications, these certifications can be good goals to put on your annual review. Most of them are attainable within a year, and they increase your value to your present employer, so a good employer is willing to pay for the training and examination fee as long as you agree not to leave within a certain period of time.
Also, there’s no reason to think you need to get all of these. You can have a long and productive career with one or two of them. The key is which two. But you’ll know which ones apply to your situation and which ones don’t. Like a college degree, having certifications opens doors. If you don’t have a degree, certifications can help make up for it.
No one told me how to become a system administrator. I figured it out eventually, but made some mistakes along the way. So let me tell you what nobody ever told me, and hopefully you can avoid the mistakes I made.
I’ve been an IT professional for more than 20 years now. I was a system administrator for nine of those 20 years. You may find you can do better than being a system administrator forever. But I know system administrators who had long careers and enjoyed it. Regardless, becoming a system administrator is at the very least a great stepping stone to other things. So here’s how to become a system administrator.