Tech Support Scams do not appear to be new, but I wanted to share this with everyone as a reminder that there are unscrupulous people out there. Here is the sequence of events that happen to me this week. On Friday (4/26/13) I received a call from someone that that claimed to be from the Windows Resource [...]
Introduction I have been an original SlingBox user for a number of years and overall have been happy with it. Though the interface was very laggy, it served a purpose of watching live or recorded TV to a mobile device. Recently I redid my entertainment setup and switched everything to HDMI connections. Since the version [...]
A topic I have struggled with for a long, long time has been the use of virtual machines in an actual home environment. In the past VM’s where limited to enthusiast but now that Hyper-V is bundled with Windows 8, I wanted to revisit the practicality of using a VM in a home environment to [...]
As we move toward the public release of Windows 8, we are beginning to see more and more hardware available for it. Here is a quick view of the new Wedge Mouse from Microsoft. It is a Bluetooth based device that requires that you computer have some sort of transmitter. Setup and Installation [...]
For those who run any form of Hyper-V, you know the frustration in not being able to pass through USB ports like you can in ESXi. To work around this issue, there are many devices that offer the promise of doing just that. The StarTech USB400IP is one of those devices that on paper, seem [...]
For a long time I have been running Untangle as my router/firewall and have been very pleased with it. Several weeks ago, the motherboard I had been using started giving out. It started to have issues with the internal NIC. I tried re-installing the software a couple of times but with no luck. It was [...]
One of the best ways to protect yourself when you are out with your laptop or other portable device that requires wireless access is to use a VPN. Though not necessarily the most user friendly product to setup, the benefits in security can be worth the trouble. There are many ways to setup a VPN [...]
Near and dear to my heart has been all the discussion on Storage Spaces. I have tested the Server 2012 and the Window 8 versions for performance as compared to a hardware solution, and have consistently seen lower performance, especially from Windows 8. Now that they have released the beta version of Server 2012 Essentials, [...]
For quite some time now I have been wanting to upgrade my main WHS box. Not so much in terms of CPU or motherboard but rater the case, CPU cooler, and the power supply. Ever since I upgraded my server 2008R2 with the Fractal Define R3, I have been toying with the idea of upgrading [...]
In my quest to extract as much usefulness as I can from my software and to make certain that my data is protected, I am always trying new and different options. Recently I was asked if AllwaySync still worked well with SkyDrive which made me revisit the possibilities of how to exploit this as well [...]
Antivirus software for servers such as Server 2008R2 and WHS 2011 have always been a debate in the HomeServerShow forums mostly to whether or not antivirus on a server is necessary. I have always been in the “Yes” camp as I would prefer that extra layer of protection especially as files are copied and accessed [...]
Not long ago I picked up a deal on an Intel 330 180 Gig. I had planned on keeping it and using it on Windows 8 when it was released, however the need came up and had to use it now. It replaced a Max IOPS 240 which I needed to use somewhere else so [...]
Back in March of the this year I spent some time testing Storage Spaces on the Server 8 Beta, along with the Storage Spaces in Windows 8. As you can see from my prior articles, I was not too impressed with the performance in the earlier versions. Now that they have released new versions, I [...]
As you know from my “Server Upgrade – Part 1”, I had a small issue with the Fractal Case I used. Although I very much like the case, I was not able to use the last drive tray due to two missing grommets. Certainly not a big deal in the grander scheme of things as [...]
As I mentioned in part 1, I wanted to upgrade my WHS 2011 server with faster and larger drives. My WHS is becoming more and more the center of everything I do, from streaming content, to syncing my cloud services, to ripping and transcoding movies. As I am increasing the use of my server, I [...]
