TRIM is not a simple subject, and many people do not understand it. It is NOT voodoo, and NO SSD has TRIM all by itself, simply because TRIM runs on the computer, not on the drive. ALL SSDs have garbage collection routines. What TRIM does is make those routines more efficient, by telling the SSD […]

Just thought I share what I use so that I can keep copies of important stuff (log-ins, passwords, bank accounts, credit card numbers) in “the cloud” (I hate that euphemism), and be able to have them on all my devices (Macs, phones, etc) without worry: https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/boxcryptor Yes, I pay $48 a year to have access […]

This may or may not apply to you, but if it does, there’s a quick way to filter out a bucketload of spam. Spam can be sent to an address that looks like this: dlsi.biz@proxy.dreamhost.com or valleau.gallery@proxy.dreamhost.com instead of yourname@address.com (ie myname@dlsi.biz) That is something in the form of  “address.com@proxy.yourISP.net” What’s happened here is that […]

My mini report: So: I uninstalled Intego (Virus Barrier / VB) because its RTS was so slow when copying files. [It was fine, otherwise, and didn’t seem to generally slow my Mac, but I do make a lot of clones….] to try BitDefender. BD was faster while copying files, but would slow my machine (50% of […]

 (Without wishing to revisit the whole AV discussion on Macs, but because I have decided to use it for myself, I’ll submit this note:) For reasons I don’t recall, yesterday I found myself investigating the latest reviews of AV (anti-virus) software. Based on the info found at URLs below, I ended up downloading and installing […]

I never expected to find myself saying this, but the time has finally come: I can actually recommend Windows 10. Not over OS X, mind you, but I’ve been a charter member of the “Windows sucks” club since day one. However, I’ve been playing with W10, and honestly it’s not bad. When it comes out […]

I have, like many, an external drive that is running all the time. (OK, I have more than one, but that’s not the point.) They are on a shelf, under my desk, out of site… but not out of mind because of the noise they make. Now, I’ll admit it’s “quiet noise” – nothing you […]

How email works ( greatly oversimplified basic guide.) Email has two parts: incoming and outgoing. Incoming is all the email that someone else sends to you, and outgoing is all the email you’re sending to someone else. Incoming is handled by a machine out on the internet. Outgoing is handled by a different machine out […]

This is strictly anecdotal, but I’ve been tracking this suspicion in my own environments for 10 years now, and I’m at least confident enough in it to post it here: Air ionizers will screw up your LED monitors and televisions.  This is one of those “theoretically it shouldn’t happen”… “but it does” things. Ionizers charge […]