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How I set up Asus parental controls

Dave Farquhar Android January 21, 2015October 4, 2016android, Angry Birds, asus, chrome, Memo Pad, Play Store

I’ve mentioned Asus parental controls on its Android tablets such as the Memo Pad 7 HD, but never elaborated on them. Here’s how I set them up and why, so you can make your own decisions about how best to set an Asus tablet up for the child in your life.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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What to look for in a 2014 bargain Android tablet

Dave Farquhar Android December 1, 2014November 29, 2014android, intel, Kit Kat, Play Store, x86

I guess I owe an apology for not writing and posting this last week, when $40 tablets were all the rage as doorbusters. Cheap Android tablets are back again, and people are going to buy them–so it pays to buy one worth having, rather than one that’s going to drive you nuts.

Here’s what I look for, and you should too: Read more

Dave Farquhar

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The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 review: It’s a nice inexpensive tablet

Dave Farquhar Android November 24, 2013November 24, 2013android, asus, Asus Memo Pad, Asus Memopad, benchmark, cyanogenmod, journalism, mediatek, Memo Pad, nexus, nvidia, Play Store, power button

I’ve been messing with an Asus Memopad, the 7-inch version. I think it’s a well-built, good-performing tablet for $149, and when you can get it on sale for less than that–and this is the time of year for that–I think it’s a great tablet for the money.

It’s not a high-end tablet. It has a 1280×800 screen, a quad-core 1.2 GHz Mediatek processor, a middling GPU, and 1 GB of RAM, and importantly, it includes a micro SD slot so you can add up to 32 GB of storage to it. The specs are all reasonable, but not mind-blowing. Most of the complaints I’ve seen about it are that it’s not a Nexus 7, but it’s 2/3 the price of a Nexus 7, too. When you compare it to other tablets in its price range, the worst you can say about it is that it holds its own. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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How to edit a hosts file in Android

Dave Farquhar Android October 31, 2013November 30, 2018android, malware, Play Store, unix, usb port

Someone asked me how to edit a hosts file in Android, which was a trick I used to recommend in Windows. Editing a hosts file is really two questions: Do you really want to edit it, or do you want to replace it?
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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How to disable wallpaper when you’re not running Cyanogenmod

Dave Farquhar Android October 3, 2013October 1, 2013android, cyanogenmod, Play Store

Unfortunately I can’t run Cyanogenmod on all of my Android devices (more on that tomorrow), but if you want to save some memory and CPU cycles and, depending on your device’s display, perhaps even increase your battery life by a few dozen minutes, there’s an option.

The Cyanogenmod No Wallpaper feature is available as a small app in the Play store. Simply download it, then tap and hold your home screen and you can select No Wallpaper.

Besides the benefit of decreased memory usage and increased battery life, I found the minimalist look quickly grew on me.

Dave Farquhar

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Reports of the Droidpocalypse have been greatly exaggerated

Dave Farquhar Android, security July 19, 2013July 18, 2013android, malicious code, malware, Play Store, vulnerability

I was listening to the excellent Risky Business analysis of the Droidpocalypse this week, and I’m happy to report that the vulnerability that affects 90% of Android devices ever made, while serious, is vastly overstated. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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B&N just made its Nook tablets much more compelling

Dave Farquhar Android May 6, 2013May 5, 2013android, kindle, Kindle Fire, Play Store

This past week, Barnes and Noble put the Google Play store on its Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets. So while they’re still running a forked Android, they’ll run most Android apps without you having to do anything special. That, plus the high-resolution screen, the low price, plus the ability to plug microSD cards into it, plus the ready availability at major retailers makes for a much more compelling tablet.

Sales have been abysmal lately, but I expect this to change that pretty quickly. Now the Nook tablets have three things the Kindle Fires lack: a better screen, greater openness, and expandability. Now they look like a very good general purpose tablet, to my eye.

Dave Farquhar

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Speed up Android with Seeder Entropy Generator

Dave Farquhar Android, Software January 5, 2013January 5, 2013android, cyanogenmod, Nook Color, Play Store

Seeder Entropy Generator, released on XDA Developers, became a sensation the last couple of days. There’s debate whether it works, and debate over why it works, but enough people reported an improvement that I gave it a whirl. The difference was noticeable. There is a downside–more on that in a bit.

I don’t know why it works either, but it made my pokey 800 MHz Nook Color running Cyanogenmod 7.2 more responsive. What I haven’t seen is a nice how-to on installing it. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Mobile malware is coming. Get prepared.

Dave Farquhar security December 28, 2012December 28, 2012android, antivirus, avast, firewall, malware, Nook Color, Play Store, samsung

One thing I’m seeing in the predictions-for-2013 columns is that mobile malware is going to increase this year. While I can’t be certain it’s going to happen, all of the ingredients are there. The only thing stopping it is motive.

I’m familiar with Avast antivirus on Android. It’s nice. Whenever I download an app from the Google Play store, it scans it, and if it finds something it doesn’t like, it intervenes. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Hot-rod Cyanogenmod 7.2

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware November 15, 2012January 5, 2013android, cyanogenmod, nexus, Nook Color, overclocking, Play Store, profiles, Spare Parts, visual effects, windows 7

Whatever you do, don’t call this post Optimizing Android 2.3 for Games, Graphics and Multimedia. I’ll kick your… nevermind.

But of course the first thing I wanted after I installed Cyanogenmod 7.2–which is based on Android 2.3.7–on my Nook Color was to make it run smoother and faster. What else would I want? So here’s some stuff I did, since adding three CPU cores obviously isn’t an option.

Dave Farquhar

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