Ctrl+Alt+Delete by default is always picked up by the local computer. Imagine if there was malware created that looked like the Windows login screen. If it could intercept the Ctrl+Alt+Delete signal, it would look very authentic and you might give your password away unknowingly. Instead, giving the 'Three Finger Salute' will launch the full screen where the user has options … [Read more...]
How to synchronize your WordPress comment count
A year ago today, I wrote about fighting trackback spam on a self-hosted WordPress site. It involved running a SQL query directly on the database to speed up the clean up process and make it more efficient. Since I was dealing with over 100 spam-linking comments on each post, I could use all the help in that regard I could get. Fortunately, the solution written up there worked … [Read more...]
Extending a projector’s lamp life
Now that projectors have become more affordable than ever, a potential buyer may become easily overwhelmed when looking at the dozens of different options available. Each individual projector has its own features: picture quality, color depth, lamp life, etc. One of the most important concerns of new projector owners is lamp life. On average, the normal range of expected lamp … [Read more...]
How do you keep track of dozens of screws during a hardware replacement?
At a previous employer, I was an HP certified technician. It gave us faster access to hardware replacements and a good rate for reimbursement to compensate for me performing the labor. It was pretty much an all-positive experience but performing the hardware replacements could vary from an easy two second process to a more complicated motherboard replacement in a laptop. It's … [Read more...]
A script to uninstall Panda Cloud Antivirus and, selectively, most other programs
Thanks to Avast's free for education Endpoint Protection, I was able to centrally manage and deploy Avast around the organization for a client. The problem was that once I had Avast on there, I also needed to be able to uninstall the previous security software, Panda Cloud Antivirus. Since it didn't have a nice central console, it would entail running around to each computer … [Read more...]