David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I recently gave a Marx 591 clockwork locomotive a low key restoration. I thought I would document the process I followed in case it might be helpful to anyone.
What is a netbook? Maybe it would be a more appropriate to ask what was a netbook, because the product category is pretty much extinct at this point. But for a few years, it was a fast-growing product category.
If you’re dealing with CVE-2023-36739, CVE-2023-36740, and CVE-2023-36760 Microsoft 3D Viewer Code Execution remediation, the best way to do it, assuming you’re not using the app, is to uninstall it. Here’s why this is OK to do, and how to do it. Fixing Windows Store vulnerabilities is hard. And Microsoft 3D Viewer has a history of high severity vulnerabilities dating back to October 2020, so uninstalling it can save you future remediation work.
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.