Lightshot app for screen capture and annotations

https://app.prntscr.com/en/index.html

Using DNS for Filtering Contents

 While there are people who uses the VPN in order to access some sites which one normally cannot access, there are also many who wants or needs to limit or filter contents especially unwanted ones like advertising or pornography. Most solutions delivery are based  on client, server, appliance or managed-service based one.

The most common method of content filtering is by use of the Domain Name Service (DNS). 

Each device on computer network has a unique IP address, a subnet mask, a gateway and at least one DNS. And in a nutshell, the DNS converts a website to its ip address equivalent. In the internet world, almost all popular sites have their ip address of its hosted content mapped, as an example www.google.com is converted to its ip address and then the DNS server maps out a path from your machine to the website you want to go. Hence, DNS is a serviced-repository of sorts which allow your device to navigate the web. Thus, many use DNS as their firstline of ‘firewall’ to filter contents.

You may google for free dns servers out there by its type of filtering service for you purpose and the dns server’s ip as your DNS on your device, like your home router, so that your home network devices are filtered according to your desired service.

https://www.lifewire.com/free-and-public-dns-servers-2626062#best-free--public-dns-servers-valid-august-2021

Windows 10 won't boot

 

Not a good morning when Windows 10 (20H2) decided not to boot up !

There were updates earlier which needed a restart of the OS but thereafter it misbehaved. It loops loading Windows and restarting. 

First off, I try to boot up on the recovery and tried to restore from previous saved point. That didn't work and gave same issue. Then tried repairing boot record with series on commands on console ie. bootrec and still the same. Thereafter I created a Windows USB using the Windows Media Creation Tool and tried a repair of Windows. It didn't go far as it restarted at a point and did the same. Out of options, I head to my arsenal of Live USB drives and find the HBCD drive. Intention was to look into the local drive from the Live OS and save my files. 

Upon opening the Windows Explorer and click on the local drive, it asks for my bitlocker key. After keying that in on the root folder, saw some folders starting with "$", which seems odd. Nothing to lose, chose all of them (was about 7) and deleted. Then I tried to restart the machine. This time Windows loaded !

Thanks you so much MICROSOFT !

Sidenote: HBCD or Hiren Boot CD is a Windows 10 Live USB and may be downloaded HERE 

There are many other Live CD flavor you can use and create. One of the more common ones is YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator.

Why Reboot Your Computer At Least Once A Week

Each time I have a problem with my computer, 

my support staff tells me to restart my computer !

Is this familiar to you ?

Many laptop users make it a habit to keep their laptop on sleep or hibernate mode even though these modes WERE NOT DESIGNED OR MEANT TO BE KEPT PERPETUALLY POWERED ON and thus they experience many issues like battery issues.

By restarting your PC at least once a week it helps to "reset" many items on both the hardware as well as Operating System levels like:

• Flushes the Memory - Each program kept open used the Random Access Memory (RAM) and as its being clogged up, performance degenerates and you will experience sluggishness in performance.

• Halts Memory Leaks - Programs that do not close correctly creates memory leaks that drag performance as well as creates issues.

• Corrects Software Glitches - Software may display erratic and quirky behaviors such as missing buttons, network issue and such. These happens usually when user was in office network before their computer went into sleep/hibernate, and when it "wakes" up, it gets "confused" as to the network it is on. Often, this gets resolved on a fresh reboot.

• Speeds Up Performance - Cobweb of running processes on your machine stacks up over usage and thus performance tend to be impacted.

• Saves You Time - Penny-wise and pound-foolish comes to mind when one thinks that keeping their machines powered on all the time is the right thing to do to save time. Instead, the 1-2 mins it takes to reboot/restart your computer may just be the things that saves you the extra 15 minutes in performance that you need over your day.

• Fixes Emergent Issues - The following issues usually gets resolved by a reboot:
• Computer feels hot
• Fans making noise
• After a firmware / software update
• After installing a new hardware
• An application keeps crashing
• Sluggish performance or apps keeps freezing
• A file or application would not open