NETWORKING By Mary Branscombe Windows tries to keep your PC safe online by not allowing incoming network connections unless the software you’re using asks for them. Here’s how it figures that out, and how you can fine-tune it. In the real world, a firewall is a physical barrier meant to stop a fire — or […]

NETWORKING By Simon Bisson Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) routers are more secure than you think — although they could do with a little help from their friends. Way back when we used dial-up to connect to the Internet, software firewalls such as ZoneAlarm were all we needed to protect our PCs — because slow-speed connections […]

At the office, we are getting ready to rip out the carpeting and install wood laminate flooring. As you can probably imagine, when you start to clean your office (or any location) you find cables — but have no idea what they went to. You find tech that no longer works and has aged out. […]

In my profession we have to attend continuing education and the topics can range from accounting to technology. Today was tech day, where Roman Kepczyk was discussing tech trends and planning. A couple of his comments made me go, “Hmmm, interesting.”  He indicated that he has seen several firms actually budget for, pay, and install […]

ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley The “edge,” by which I mean the network hardware standing between the Internet and the PCs and devices on your network, is a first line of defense against attackers. What’s on your edge? At any point during the day, attackers are out to get someone. You may not be the […]

ISSUE 23.18 • 2026-05-04 HARDWARE By Will Fastie Somewhere in the AskWoody archives, you’ll find an article stating my ultimate goal — to reduce the number of PCs on my desk from four to one. Hah. That didn’t happen. I did manage to cut it down to two, though. Then I bought a Mac mini. […]

HARDWARE By Will Fastie Physically putting the NAS together is easy. Setup takes some time. You’d think somewhere along the line I’d have deployed network-attached storage for someone, client or friend. This is the first time. It’s different from putting together a RAID solution for a business’s server or creating a mirror for my own […]

HARDWARE By Will Fastie With the NAS now up and running with an accessible storage volume, it’s time to make it useful. What’s useful? As stated in the previous articles, I want the contents of my D: drive out of my daily driver, Obsidian. But I still want all that data to be easily accessible. […]