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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJanuary 14, 2017 at 11:22 am in reply to: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC security update installs Chrome spyware #1588775Thanks Lumpy. I just removed the extension from Chrome.
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJC: I can’t think of anything left to try except an exorcism. I know you’ll get to the bottom of this sooner or later and nobody will be more interested in how you solved it than me. In a flash of brilliance I was going to suggest you plug one of the problem machines directly into your Arris cable modem but I see you’ve already done that.
Googling the phrase “connection reset” sometimes turns up the phrase “connection reset by peer” (I don’t know if that’s exactly what you’re seeing) which means that what you’re connecting to objects to the connection and terminates it.
Have you tried issuing ipconfig /all in a command prompt on the machine that works and a machine that doesn’t work, comparing the way the network adapters are set up?
As far as SWAG goes, Paul’s link explains it except in my neck of the woods, the word “scientific” is replaced by “silly”.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJC: This is a SWAG. Is it possible that the failing machines are trying to connect with HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS or vice-versa? I tried connecting to my Netgear router’s administrative page with HTTPS (should be HTTP) and got connection failure messages. It wasn’t a “connection reset by peer” error; each browser had it’s own generic “I can’t connect” message. Just a thought.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusRob: I tested the telnet connection on both the functioning desktop and the non-functioning laptop (both using wired ethernet).
I enabled telnet through control panel, opened a command window and entered: telnet 10.0.0.1 80
The results were the same on both computers. The command window switched to a command window with 10.0.0.1 in the title bar and a blinking underscore cursor. The window would not echo any keyboard input, but jumped back to the normal command window after a few keystrokes.
There were no error messages at all.
I think this describes what you were expecting for a normal connection.
JC: Yes, you described a normal Telnet test which rules out firewall/port issues.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJC: This is a bit of a stumper! Try connecting to the admin page using the Windows Telnet client. We use this at work to find firewall/port problems. From a command prompt, issue telnet 10.0.0.1 80, assuming the page is on standard port 80 (you may have to enable the Telnet client: Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off). If you’re not having port/firewall issues, you’ll be able to connect without any error messages. It won’t be an actual Telnet session because the router isn’t a Telnet server but at least it will connect. If you’re having port or firewall issues you’ll get a message like this: “Connecting to 10.0.0.1…Could not open connection to the host, on port 80: Connect failed” although in your case the phrase “connect failed” might be something more meaningful.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJC: I have an Arris modem also. I can get to the status page from all computers on my network (2 on Ethernet, one on WiFi). Can you ping the modem’s admin page from the PCs that won’t connect to it? Is the address of the cable modem admin page colliding with your router’s DHCP setup (unlikely but thought I’d ask)?
BTW, are you actually able to get to an admin page? I can get to a status page (192.168.100.1) but I figured that administration was restricted by my cable provider. I can’t do anything from the status page but check the status of the modem.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusJanuary 5, 2017 at 10:23 pm in reply to: Strange files on external Hard Drive – can’t delete #1588091Hi,
I have a number of files on my external Hard Drive – all have long/random file names, ie 0d7d67971097d3210478fccaf275 and they all look to be empty folders.
When I try to delete these, I get a message that you don’t have permission, if I try to open them I get a message telling me the file in not accessible.
The questions are,
1 What are theses files and where do then come from, and
2 How can i delete them.thanks for any assistance with this. Not a big problem, just want to clean up the Hard Drive.
Regards
Did you install any new software lately? I’ve seen software installers place work files on what they detect is the drive on your system with the largest amount of free space.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 29, 2016 at 3:00 pm in reply to: USB3 flash drive versus USB3 HD for backup…with a hub? #1587721Check on your router specs for READYSHARE. I have a NetGear WNDR3400V3 router that says it only supports USB 2.0. It works great for my sharing needs here at home, but not at great speeds.
Mine is a Netgear R6400; it has USB2 (presumably for printer sharing) and USB3 (for sharing a USB external disk).
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusMy favorite (though I didn’t think so at the time) “backup” story was from 1976; working in a shop with an IBM 370/145 running OS/VS1. We were moving some disks around one night including one that had the UCC1 (tape management) catalog. We backed up everything we were going to move to tape and then did “something” (I can’t remember what but it seemed logical at the time); then IPLled with the notion that we would restore the UCC1 catalog after the system came back up to finish the other restores. We submitted the restore job and UCC1 complained that the tape catalog was missing so it couldn’t mount the restore tape. It wasn’t “missing”; we were holding it in our hands on a reel of tape. Pretty soon the sun started to come up and we were panicking. We needed to shut down UCC1 so it would allow us to mount the tape but couldn’t figure out how to do it. My manager remembered the name of a UCC1 tech who lived somewhere in the Dallas area so we called Directory Assistance and asked for the phone number of everyone with that name who lived near Dallas. As stupid as this all sounds (and I’m not making any of it up), we got the name of the UCC1 tech who told us the undocumented method of shutting down UCC1…which we did. Catalog was restored and everything was back up and running just in time for the cafeteria to open for coffee. Talk about dumb luck. I hope I learned something!
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusNowadays a primary function of a backup solution is: does it protect you against ransomware encrypting those files which are online?
On the face of it, the USB 3 drive seems to be permanently online – so the files thereon would be susceptible to encryption…BATcher: Point taken. Right now, I’m doing two backups (Mozy Pro to the “cloud” and NovaBACKUP to a local USB3 disk). Mozy backs up 8 times a day and NovaBACKUP runs overnight. I just liked the notion of an almost-real-time backup that Netgear provides. I fully realize that local disks are targets for ransomware but I think I’m being as careful as humanly possible including running Malwarebytes version 3 product (paid-for) which contains an anti-ransom feature. And yes, no software can protect a stupid person from doing stupid things. I’m more concerned about hardware failures and “oops” moments.
I guess some of it comes from working with IBM mainframes for 43 years and having lived through more than one installment of “You never know if a backup is good until you need to use it to restore something”.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 27, 2016 at 10:57 am in reply to: USB3 flash drive versus USB3 HD for backup…with a hub? #1587651Have you thought of getting something like this rather than a USB drive? It connects to your router so is available to all devices on your local network and can be accessed remotely as well.
I picked up a 4TB one of these for £130 (~$160) which I have in RAID 1 giving 2TB of mirrored backup storage.
That’s a thought. I just checked that unit at amazon.com. Brand new it’s quite expensive ($627US). My Netgear router does have a USB3 “ReadySHARE” interface so I could plug a USB3 disk into it and essentially have the same availability (minus the RAID) although part of me wants to keep a backup drive as “hidden” as possible.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 27, 2016 at 8:55 am in reply to: USB3 flash drive versus USB3 HD for backup…with a hub? #1587646But FWIW, I plugged my spare SSD back into the 3.5″ dock and checked. Although TRIM was enabled in the OS it was not in use by the external drive. A quick google search corroborated that was normal, stating TRIM commands don’t pass through a USB3 interface.
That might be enough of a reason to not implement it. As Paul stated, maybe a USB3 drive is the way to go. I leave my machine running all the time so it can do nightly backup chores and I was concerned about having yet another drive running all the time which is why I was thinking of using a flash drve. WD external drives do have a sleep cycle which seems to work OK with my backup software (NovaBACKUP) so maybe I’ll just pick up a WD…and you’ve convinced me that a hub isn’t going to get in the way. Thanks for all of your helpful advice.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 27, 2016 at 8:50 am in reply to: USB3 flash drive versus USB3 HD for backup…with a hub? #1587645If you want cheap reliable storage, go for a USB3 hard disk. Simple, no fuss, reliable, portable. etc.
Something like this provides space for file history and other backups.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178744cheers, Paul
Paul: Thanks; maybe I am overthinking this. My only experience with a Seagate external USB3 drive was not a good one; I picked one up at Best Buy a few years ago because of a good price. Unfortunately the drive kept becoming “unready” to Windows 7. A Google search revealed that this was a common problem with this drive so I returned it in favor of a WD which is running fine to this day.
Maybe I should just pickup another WD and call it a day.
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 26, 2016 at 9:13 pm in reply to: USB3 flash drive versus USB3 HD for backup…with a hub? #1587624dg1261: Thanks for the detailed explanation. An SSD in a USB3 case sounds intriguing. A couple of questions if you don’t mind. Does Windows still support TRIM for an SSD mounted in a USB enclosure? Also, checking the USB3 hub on Newegg with your link, one reviewer said that the hub can’t power an external hard drive (it appears that the enclosure doesn’t have its own power supply) but I trust you did not find that to be the case?
Rob
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OldMainframeGuy
AskWoody PlusDecember 21, 2016 at 10:24 pm in reply to: slow “Devices and Printers” in the Control Panel #1587329I see the same thing on my system. Must be a Windows 10 “feature”.
Rob
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