https://mekineer.com/ 2026-04-18T20:02:27+00:00 https://mekineer.com/ https://mekineer.com/ttps://mekineer.com/lib/tpl/adoradark/images/favicon.ico text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2012-malware-protection 2012: Malware Protection This page contains unstructured notes I wrote a long time ago. They are in need of organization... 2010 Timeline of widespread computer viruses: All the viruses on this page (except for three) since the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (August 2004), were spread not by a vulnerability in Windows, but instead by social engineering: users are fooled into executing the virus, posing as something beneficial (trojan horse). The three exceptions are Bifrost, Conficker,… text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2013-android-as-desktop-os Originally posted on XDA developers forum. Continuation of these ideas at 2019 Best Devices and OS. 2013: Android as a Desktop OS I was thinking of the coolness factor of just having one device, a phone, to which you could connect an external display and have an extended desktop. I am not finding any reference to this on Android (only the MS Surface). From what I have been reading, and remember/understand (may be confused), Jelly Bean brought the ability for windowing apps. However, the apps… text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2016-customizations-of-android 2016: Customizations of Android I am not an expert of Android. I am not a beginner either. I am an enthusiastic end user. I will explain my understanding of general concepts, and methods to get your device to do what you want it to. My first device was a Galaxy Note, which I kept at Gingerbread (I didn't upgrade to newer versions of Android). Now that Gingerbread is a text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2016-downloading-music-for-offline-use 2016: Download Music for Offline Use File Formats I rather like the MP3 audio file format. It sounds great to me, and it takes up less space than lossless file formats. It's the format that first took hold, and AFAIK, everything supports it. It's what I started with, and to remain consistent, I still use it. One reason you may choose the mp3 file format, is its ubuiquity. Hence born the name text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2016-gaming-system 2016: Gaming System I never play games, but was asked to help make an affordable gaming system. Knowing me, I would like to own the high end stuff from a couple of years ago, rather than buy new low end or middle range systems. It probably performs just as well. A gaming rig starts with the graphics card, then you build around it. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2017-web-browser-for-xp 2017: Web Browser for XP Pale Moon derivate for Windows XP, made by roytam1, which is based on patches by Feodor2. There is a a discussion about it at the pale moon forums. Google Chrome for XP Other browsers available in this list Recommended Browser Related Updates for XP The following two updates are for whatever browser you use with windows xp. The updates will help with functionality on websites. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2018-ideal-network 2018: Ideal Network We've got a house of 8 users, and I've been having consistent delays and “request timed out” pinging the router, connected wirelessly. If I wanted to know if it's a wireless issue, as opposed to an overload of the router cpu/memory, I would test pinging the router under load while connected via ethernet. text/html 2026-01-07T00:31:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2018-portable-software 2018: Portable Software I try to use all Portable Software for a few reasons. All my settings get transported with me if I use my program on another computer, or on the same computer booted into a different operating system. My laptop can boot into either Windows XP or Windows 7, and on either system the same software is available, since the two systems share the same start menu entries, and the shortcuts all point to %homedrive%\software\_runable\*app_folder*\*app_name*.exe. %homedrive% fo… text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2018-ramdrive 2018: RamDrive A ramdrive, or ramdisk, is an imaginary hard drive that exists in memory (RAM). Hard drives are bottlenecks, as reading data off of them is slow. When you make use of a file, the computer loads the file into RAM so it can work with it more quickly. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2018-windows-as-localsystem This project was not a success for me, but I leave it for others just in case it helps give perspective. 2018: Windows as LocalSystem Motives God bless those using Linux. It is unfortunate that I have so much invested in Windows. Many programs and customizations, that even if I'm on someone else's computer I feel like I have one hand tied behind my back. Linux has it's own challenges, since it isn't mainstream. However, with software becoming web based, the challenge is less, and there a… text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-activity-trackers 2019: Activity Trackers Update 2020: An 8 pack of 6mm thin tags that you attach to your clothes. They cost $399, and are currently sold out. They are 6.18mm thick. <https://spirehealth.com> Sleep Tracking Studies show that Fitbit and Oura sleep tracking is very inaccurate. For example, the measurement of being awake agrees with text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-bootcamp 2019: Bootcamp Bootcamp: Running Windows on a Macbook Background and History Macbooks are desired in part because they are designed with quality in mind. Take in contrast HP notebooks, that are made of as much plastic as possible to reduce manufacturing cost, without too much consideration for durability issues. Instead of concentrating on hardware as a tool for planned obsolescence, Apple strives to use as little backwards compatibility as possible in their OSX/MacOS operating system. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-chrome-settings 2019: Chrome Settings Chrome Extensions Chrome extensions/addons, much like ones for other browsers, add functionality or customization to your web browser. Chrome doesn't have the best framework for extensions, but it is the most popular web browser. The effect has been that most competing browsers have adopted the Chrome framework for extensions, and thus it has the largest extension library. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-data-portability 2019: Data Portability <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_portability> Why should I care that my data is portable? Well, it has to do with capitalism. Profit is too large of a motivator. Companies want to keep you so they can continue to profit, so they have an incentive to make it hard for you to leave, including making it hard for you to easily transfer your data to another product. A company's public relations department will strive to navigate the fine line between short term profit a… text/html 2024-08-25T21:16:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-data-security I started to write about data portability, but I got quagmired by data security. Data security is a prerequisite of data portability, so the following has nothing to do with data portability, as I had hoped. 2019: Data Security There are security experts who bend over backwards to make their data secure. Maybe they are right in doing so; life is full of risk. But I wonder to what extent you should go about trying to prevent bad things from happening. If you spend all your time in preve… text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-file-sync-and-backup 2019: File Sync and Backup I'd rather pay for online storage. I could have NAS Network Attached Storage or a server, but I don't want to maintain additional network hardware. I want to own less things. File Management Strategy You can have all your files on a server, and work with them remotely from all your devices. The server takes care of backup with file versioning. text/html 2024-08-25T21:16:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-network-cipboard May expand this page and move it to 2019-networking, include a section in another article here. 2019: Network Clipboard If you are tired of having to send yourself an email every time you want to share between devices, there's an app for that. Local Area Network text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-pale-moon-extensions Update: Legacy firefox extension support has been dropped in Pale Moon 29.2. See <https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26657> 2019: Pale Moon Extensions 20191209 Current list of browser extensions I'm using. You can find many using the Classic Addons Archive, and Legacy Collector and of course the extensions at the pale moon website. Update 20200707: I didn't see that Legacy Collector shut down, but, you can still download some, or maybe all?, of the extensions at the text/html 2025-12-04T04:53:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-search-engines Motivation: It's hard to find results that are not mass media or commerce, aside from sources like reddit, quora, and other forums. Perhaps non-commercial sites, despite producing good content, don't make it to top results. I looked for alternative search engines, that I might find better results. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-web-browser-scene Update: <https://www.techtimes.com/articles/244053/20190531/google-to-no-longer-allow-regular-chrome-users-to-use-ad-blockers.htm> I wonder if this will turn the tide and give other browsers more usage? Depends on how much ad blockers are used. So many people don't bother with anything tech. Web Browser Scene 2019: The State of Web Browsers As expected, Google Chrome increased it's market share. For this reason, a website developer will make the first priority to be compatible with Chrome … text/html 2025-11-24T05:34:26+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-web-hosting Owner's Manual to Having Your Own Website This article will help you in selecting domain and web hosting providers, along with other aspects of running and maintaining a website. Not much has changed between 2019 and 2023. Coming Up With a Cool Domain Name text/html 2024-05-14T17:49:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2019-windows-7-setup 2019: Windows 7 Setup TrueLaunchBar My article at Alternativeto.net The Mac OS style of docks seems to be in. In those docks, are the program shortcuts individual files? Can you store those shortcuts, along with your portable software, to easily restore your launcher on another system? text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-django-framework Introduction to the Django Framework <https://data-flair.training/blogs/django-advantages-and-disadvantages> <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/> Minimal Django Sources: <https://simpleisbetterthancomplex.com/article/2017/08/07/a-minimal-django-application.html> <https://softwaremaniacs.org/blog/2011/01/07/django-micro-framework> <https://github.com/rnevius/minimal-django> The best way to understand a software package, is to reverse-engineer it to its simplest form. The following… text/html 2025-11-26T23:25:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-portable-computing 2021: Ultimate Smartglasses Ultimate glasses would work with a smartphone: * high resolution video display, projecting the smartphone screen (may need a cable to display full resolution due to limited bluetooth bandwidth?) * wireless camera and camcorder text/html 2024-02-21T22:33:41+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-snappy-drivers 2020: Snappy Drivers Snappy Drivers is still being maintained and updated. A decade ago, I relied on <https://driverpacks.net>. See Wikipedia (English) Wikipedia (French). It's great for hard-to-find drivers for hardware on your Windows operating system. A look at Snappy Driver Installer Origin, Martin Brinkman, ghacks.net 2019 Be careful where you download? See discussion at sourceforge. 2017: Snappy Drivers text/html 2024-02-21T03:31:00+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-social-networks 2020: Craigslist Craigslist Apartments I searched for an apartment to rent in NYC, in the first few days of April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. I read that the rental market is down, and was motivated to find a deal on an apartment. Craigslist has more scams listings than actual listings. Especially if you try to hunt for a good deal. I read through 200+ listings, and only about 30 were worth responding to. I skipped the ones that were billboard advertising images. They are obvio… text/html 2024-02-02T22:36:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-torrents Use of torrents applies in countries where your internet service has unlimited plans. If you are only given a metered amount of GB per month, then torrenting can get costly. I torrent by purchasing 50GB that expire in 14 days, for USD $4. 2020: How to Successfully use Torrents text/html 2024-08-25T21:16:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-ublock-origin-extension This article was written to supply easier and more concise instructions than others available on the net. Instructions start in the “Easy Mode” section below. Chrome Update 202406: RIP uBlock Origin? Google Proceeds With Plan to Shake Up Chrome Extensions, pcmag.com. The solution is to ditch Chrome and use a different browser. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2020-webform-database 2020: Webform Database Web Based Forms Stored as a Database I want a FOSS option for customer forms stored in a database (legal waivers). Brooklyn Cat Cafe is using Google Forms which has an option to store results in a Google Sheet, that has grown so big it has difficulty loading, as in, it takes forever, on many devices (at least that's the hypothesis). Some devices seem to load it more easily. text/html 2024-08-22T04:53:29+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2021-customs-aduana Purchasing Via Internet in Uruguay and Peru South American Countries Ranked by Import Taxes PIB is GDP in Spanish. [Import Taxes Ranking] source Available Shopping Sites Also see 11 Best AliExpress Alternatives For 2024 (Comparison), Christopher on bloggingwizard.com. AliExpress * Many items will have exorbitant shipping, but some will have a reasonable shipping price. text/html 2023-12-21T04:33:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2022-cellular-service 2022: The Future of 4G-LTE How long before 5G takes over and 4G/LTE is no longer reliable? Eric Hakanson, Product Manager for LTE Base Station test products: “ It’s going to be a long time. My guess is at least a decade, and maybe a lot longer. Why? Because the same transmitter can support both at the same time. As long as there is some demand on a 4G-compatible network, the mobile network operator can supply it at very low cost. Over time, the demand for 4G will diminish, and fewer transmitt… text/html 2025-02-19T19:20:46+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/2024-smartphones Update 202502: My cat destroyed my Mate 20 X 5G display. Definitely not as rugged as my previous Note 9, assuming the display that came with it is OEM. Found this: Red Magic 10 Ultra, GSMArena.com. 2024: Smartphone Options I've been using a 2018 Samsung Galaxy Note 9. It meets all my needs. I use the stylus mostly for quick engineering technical drawings. I don't do gaming. text/html 2026-01-21T09:20:18+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/android-setup A cumulative review of useful apps and settings Some content may be specific to: Huawei EMUI on a Mate 20X 5G, Samsung TouchWiz on a Note 9 SM-N960U1 and SlimKat on a Note 3 Always first try installing apps through F-Droid instead of Google Play, as Play versions may have artificial restrictions that benefit Google. See text/html 2025-11-30T07:38:25+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/bypassing-paywalls Resources to Bypass Paywalls Nexus Bots Requires Instagram. <https://libstc.nexus> Websites Anna's Archive Science Hub Mutual Aid (pidantuan) for scholarly articles LibGen (Library Genesis) for books Z-Library for books Sci-Hub for scholarly articles sci-hub isn't accepting new uploads since 2021 due to mire in court Archive Today for snapshots of web pages text/html 2026-03-05T22:39:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://mekineer.com/information-technology/linux 2026: Alpine Linux with LXQT My Windows background plus my visual/spatial intelligence with poor linguistics is really suffering at the command line. Plus this thing is like the Millenium Falcon. I keep having to hit the console with my fist to make it work. ChatGPT is very patient with all my cursing. I just want Windows 98 simplicity.