Newsletter Archives

• The right to be sued

  Posted on May 8, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.19 • 2023-05-08

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Law students are sometimes puzzled by the section of the Corporations Statute saying that corporations have the right to be sued.

  Why, they wonder, would anyone want to be sued? Wouldn’t it be better to have the right not to be sued?

  The answer is subtle.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.19.0, 2023-05-08).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Legal Brief AI, Artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, Corporate Law, Newsletters

• Want a faster, quieter PC? Cool it in water.

  Posted on May 8, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  I’m not actually suggesting that you soak your computer in a bathtub. But keeping a high-powered CPU from frying — without the earsplitting hum of roaring fans — means a liquid cooler could be just the thing your PC needs.

  It’s well known that water and some nonconductive oils are much more efficient than air at removing heat from electronic components. Many tower and desktop PCs have enough space for a built-in or add-on liquid chilling system. This can enable you to push a CPU to the max without burning it out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.19.0, 2023-05-08).

  Public Defender CPU cooling, Energy, Newsletters

• Microsoft Office’s drawing tools

  Posted on May 8, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Many people are aware of the powerful program Visio and its drawing powers. Fewer know that a comprehensive, though basic, set of drawing tools is available in Office programs such as Word and Excel.

  Let’s dig into the hidden and more interesting possibilities of Microsoft Office Shapes and its close cousin, Icons. You can use them to make a simple flowchart or diagram, or just add some easy decoration to a document, sheet, or slide.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.19.0, 2023-05-08).

  Microsoft 365 Drawing, Microsoft Office, Newsletters

• Planning for the final digital divide

  Posted on May 8, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote a phrase that has often been repeated ever since.

  Most of us don’t realize that his comment started with a mention of the recently signed U.S. Constitution, but instead remember only the final part of his saying.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.19.0, 2023-05-08).

  On Security Credentials, Death, Digital assets, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Personal Media, Taxes

• The pros and cons of RAID 1

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.18 • 2023-05-01

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Revisiting an old friend, it’s time to update our thinking about RAID 1.

  In our all-too-brief time working together, Fred Langa and I had only one point of disagreement — RAID (redundant array of inexpensive drives). Our bone of contention dealt with RAID level 1, the “mirror.” That’s the focus of this, our spring bonus edition of the newsletter.

  Following this brief explanation, I’ll provide an update on the RAID situation with two of my PCs, Onyx and Opal.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Fixing Onyx’s RAID 1 failure

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Before I was able to decommission Onyx, my daily driver desktop PC, one of my hard drives failed. Hard.

  Why the hard failure? Because I didn’t take my own advice — to replace hard drives every five years. The two Seagate drives in Onyx’s RAID 1 array were built in 2014 and put into service in 2015.

  One of the drives failed nine months ago, so it lasted seven years — two years later than when I should have replaced it. Fortunately, Onyx is modern enough to have a good RAID system, from Intel. The fix was remarkably easy and, for the most part, automated.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Configuring RAID 1 for Opal

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  The last stumbling block in my quest to bring Opal, my new desktop PC, online has been resolved.

  Back when I was building Opal, my new PC to run Windows 11, I ran into a problem configuring two 6TB drives as a RAID 1 array. I struggled with that, which surprised me because it was relatively easy setting up the mirror on my original box, Onyx.

  I let Opal lie fallow. My excuse was that my wife had acquired her Lenovo Yoga, which was happily running Windows 11 Pro. That gave me access to a machine when I needed to deal with a Windows 11 topic for this newsletter. The delay that ensued turned out to have been a good thing.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Intel Storage Management, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• The problem with local administrator accounts

  Posted on April 24, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.17 • 2023-04-24

  Look for our BONUS issue on Monday, May 1, 2023!

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft doesn’t want you to use a local administrator account, whether in a consumer or a business edition of Windows.

  But depending upon which sort of user you are, the company is taking two different approaches to “encourage” you to stop using local accounts.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.17.0, 2023-04-24).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  On Security Administrator account, LAPS, local account, Local administrator account, Microsoft Account, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts

• Windows 11 screws up Print Screen — here’s how to fix it

  Posted on April 24, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The behavior of the reliable old Print Screen button on your keyboard, affectionately known as PrtScr or PrtScn, has been radically changed in a preview build of Windows 11, which is almost certain to become the version we will all eventually have to live with.

  Microsoft released to members of its Windows Insider program this month a new version of the OS. At this writing, it’s known as Preview Build 22624.1546 of Windows 11 22H2.

  If and when this is rolled out to all users in the world as an update, the Print Screen key by default will no longer place a copy of your screen onto the Clipboard. Instead, the key will launch a version of Redmond’s Snipping Tool, which has several new controls to learn.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.17.0, 2023-04-24).

  Public Defender Newsletters, Print Screen, PrtScn, Snipping Tool, Windows 11

• My favorite OneNote tricks

  Posted on April 24, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Once you get all your useful information into OneNote, there are some ways to make things go faster.

  For a long time, one of the most common feature requests for OneNote was already in the product — being able to have more than one window open at once. It just wasn’t easy to find. There are useful tricks like that in OneNote. Here are my favorites.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.17.0, 2023-04-24).

  OneNote Newsletters, OneNote, tips, Tricks, Usability

• RoboMirror — robocopy’s fancy cousin

  Posted on April 24, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  The ability to mirror two folders has been a Windows feature for about 26 years, using the robocopy command at a command prompt.

  Now, you can use robocopy with a graphical user interface (GUI), thanks to Martin Kinkelin’s open-source project, RoboMirror.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.17.0, 2023-04-24).

  Freeware Spotlight backup, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, robocopy

• Windows 11 erases Windows 10 digital-signature fix

  Posted on April 17, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.16 • 2023-04-17

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A Registry tweak recommended by Microsoft to guard against malware in digitally signed files is wiped out in Windows 10 if you upgrade to Windows 11. As if that weren’t bad enough, at least one major software company has distributed to 600,000 customers worldwide a Trojan horse hidden in an executable file that’s certified by Microsoft’s very own digital signature.

  The fact that malware can be inserted into an executable file — without invalidating the file’s digital signature — casts doubt on the whole idea that you can trust digitally signed files.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.16.0, 2023-04-17).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Digital signatures, Newsletters, Trojan, Windows 10, Windows 11
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