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Automatic updates vs managed updates

Dave Farquhar security May 31, 2021March 15, 2023

Just turning on automatic updates is one of those bumper sticker-style solutions to IT problems that won’t go away. It sounds really good, and of course it would be cheap. And since nobody’s doing it, it sounds like a new idea. As someone who’s been working in this space more than 20 years, I can tell you there’s a reason nobody does it. And it’s a good reason. It’s even a reason most proponents of bumper sticker-style solutions love to cite as a reason not to do something: unintended consequences.

While allowing systems to auto update seems like a cheap way to solve a difficult IT problem, the unintended consequences can be devastating. There are reasons to do automatic updates in limited circumstances, but it’s easy to cause bigger problems than you solve.

What do Home Depot prices mean? How to decode them

Dave Farquhar DIY, Retail May 27, 2021May 22, 2021

Retailers can and do use prices to manipulate you. But rumors of hidden codes in prices also abound. Home Depot is no exception to that. So what do Home Depot prices mean? Here’s how to find the hidden meaning in prices so you know when you might have found a bargain, and how long that bargain might last.

There are rumors that you can tell how long an item will be on sale from the numbers in the price, but those numbers don’t match what I found at my local store. Still, there are tricks for finding closeouts and other sale items.

FFMPEG can remove audio: Here’s how

Dave Farquhar Video May 26, 2021July 27, 2022

FFMPEG is a very versatile command line video editing tool. You can use it to do lots of things, and the last time I used it, I used it to convert between formats. But you can also use it to remove audio. Here are two options to use FFMPEG to remove audio, depending on what exactly you want. But most importantly, both options are fast and you won’t lose any quality.

Windows vulnerabilities on Macs in Qualys scans

Dave Farquhar security May 25, 2021October 8, 2021

Alien vulnerabilities are the kiss of death for any vulnerability scanner. There’s no faster way to lose credibility with a sysadmin than to show them a scan of Linux or Mac hosts with Windows vulnerabilities in it. Recently I had to troubleshoot one such issue. Here’s how you can end up with Windows vulnerabilities on Macs in Qualys scans.

Mower deck clogs with grass? Try this.

Dave Farquhar DIY May 24, 2021May 23, 2021

If your mower deck keeps clogging, you’re not alone. It’s a common problem, especially in the spring. I wish I could tell you there’s one weird trick to fix everything. That’s not quite the case, but there are several things you can do when your mower deck clogs with grass that will help.

Pantera’s Pizza history

Dave Farquhar St. Louis May 20, 2021August 11, 2023

On Fridays, a lot of families order pizza to celebrate the weekend’s arrival. In the 80s, we often went out for pizza instead. And while for a lot of Gen Xers that meant Pizza Hut, it wasn’t the only game in town. In eastern Missouri, including St. Louis, the dominant pizza chain was Pantera’s. Let’s take a look back at Pantera’s Pizza and its history.

Pantera’s Pizza is a mostly defunct pizza chain that specialized in a 5-pound pizza it called The Hunk, and its commercials featured two characters named Betty and Mario, often containing the catchphrase, “What a hunk!” It was up to the viewer to decide whether Betty was referring to the pizza, Mario, or both.

Atari 7800 vs NES

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming May 19, 2021January 18, 2025

Both the Atari 7800 and NES were third generation game consoles, and they competed directly with one another. Furthermore, they shared a common influence. So the Atari 7800 vs NES is a natural comparison. But one was much more successful than the other. Here’s why.

Gmail subscriptions flooding? How to deal.

Dave Farquhar security May 18, 2021May 9, 2021

One Wednesday a little after 8:30 AM, my phone dinged. And it dinged four more times that minute. Some bot was signing me up for subscriptions at the speed of light, and my inbox was floding. Here’s how to deal with Gmail subscriptions flooding.

Make a simple pivot table in Python

Dave Farquhar security May 17, 2021May 16, 2021

One of the first things I do when I open a vulnerability scan is make a pivot table on the title of the vulnerability and the count of that title. Then I do the same for all the systems. It’s easy to do in Excel once you’ve seen someone do it once, but if you have a lot of data it can be crash prone. Here’s how to make a simple pivot table in Python.

This example is for Qualys data but it’s easy to adapt it to another scanner. Just change the names of the columns. Python is so much faster and more reliable for this that I rarely make pivots in Excel anymore. I make them in Python, then load the output file in Excel for viewing.
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Cattle vs pets in IT security

Dave Farquhar security May 13, 2021May 9, 2021

Cattle vs pets refers to two philosophies of server management. As an IT veteran who’s worked in the field since 1995, I’ve seen the transition. I’m very familiar with the problems of pet servers, and also familiar with the trickiness of replacing them with cattle servers.