Birds on a Cable | Blog

This blog isn’t about all your amazing mothers out there, it’s about the mother of your computer: the motherboard. When you think about your computer, you might picture the screen, the keyboard, or maybe even the cute little mouse. But have you ever thought about what’s inside that makes everything work? Well, one of the most important parts is the motherboard.

If you were conscious and in the Western world in the 90s, you were likely aware of so many must-have holiday toys, but perhaps one of the most famous (and nightmare-inducing) was the Furby. Equal parts annoying and creepy, it was the Tickle-Me-Elmo of Christmas 1998. Now, I didn’t ask for one, because I had been incredibly underwhelmed with the previous year’s mega-hit, the Tamagotchi, and figured it wasn’t as smart or fun as the commercial made it seem. I did have several friends who got one, and the consensus is that after a few days, it ended up with the batteries removed or in a closet with a blanket over it, like a cross between a gremlin and a parrot.

Almost a year back, we wrote about Microsoft changing its default font to Aptos (fka Bierstadt). While some of you may have already embraced this adjustment, some of you might not be quite ready. In our field, we see how challenging it is to accept these changes. So, if you’re wanting to go back to Calibri (or heck, Times New Roman!), here’s how:

In the classic version of Outlook for Windows, the plain text font can be modified via Composing and reading plain text messages at File > Options > Mail > Stationery and Fonts > Personal Stationery.

I don’t have a whole lot of exposition for this one. I’m just going to drop a few quick tips so you can have some extra time to mow your lawn/walk your dog/clip your toenails/etc.

• If you’re looking to get some extra mileage out of an old computer or your newer computer doesn’t seem to have as much pep as you think it should, you can go into Task Manager and check the Startup tab to see if any applications are set to start up automatically with your computer. Here are some general rules of thumb for those who aren’t tech-savvy.
  • Video conferencing apps (Webex, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.) generally don’t need to start up automatically unless your company uses it for phone/internal communication.
  • Storage applications like OneDrive and Dropbox should be set to start up automatically if you actively leverage them. Also, note that Sharepoint is reliant on the OneDrive application, so leave that enabled if you have SharePoint folders synced.
  • If you can’t identify a program in the list based on name, it’s usually best to leave it enabled.
• Uninstall Mcafee and install a different antivirus. It tends to bog down computers more than other antiviruses and comes preinstalled on many computers, especially consumer-level ones. Bitdefender is generally a safe bet as a premium replacement.

Let’s talk about something super important today: cybersecurity. In this digital age, protecting our online selves is a must. But don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it sounds. Here are a few simple tips to keep your data and privacy safe:

In one of my first blog posts, I wrote about the future of traffic. One day, your vehicle will communicate with the other cars around you and the road surface to accurately move traffic through our streets without/with reduced slowdowns and collisions. We may be closer to that reality than you might think. The biggest problem with totally automated traffic patterns and roadways is connectivity. How can you connect these many devices and keep latency low enough for real-time updates to stop your vehicle? Enter 5G technology. Self-driving car companies have started experimenting with 5G as the connectivity medium for self-driving cars to receive updates. This could help bring about the future of automated roadways!

This isn’t a technical blog, but I wanted to share a recent life change I’ve made, and sometimes, writing these blogs is a nice way for me to research a topic and learn more about it. Are you ready to dive into the wonderful world of gluten-free living? Whether you’re new to the gluten-free game or a seasoned pro, this blog is your go-to spot for all things gluten-free—packed with tips, tricks, and tasty treats!

Birds on a Cable is officially moving to only providing EDR software for our clients, rather than offering traditional antivirus software. What does that mean for you, and what’s the difference?

What is an antivirus?

Traditional antivirus software works by scanning every file on your system and looking for specific fingerprints that it already knows about. These could be things such as a file hash (a unique number generated by doing math on the entire file in such a way any minor change radically changes the number) or looking for specific text in the program code itself. The AV scanner doesn’t know what those things do, only that they match a list it’s been provided of known bad things. If you’ve ever had a false positive, that’s why.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a cool, revolutionary Apple device; it’s an evolutionary sacrifice on people’s necks from being on devices a lot. Long, long ago, I wrote a blog post about this, but I think we need a refresh. Here are a few tricks on how to keep that Quasi Modo hump from forming:

I rejoined Twitter recently (I can’t recommend doing this). Despite the company’s semi-recent change of hands that resulted in it being increasingly overrun by bots and sock puppet accounts, it’s still the only social media platform I get any value from. Recently, the site’s algorithm has started suggesting I follow accounts for developers of unusual games, which I’m absolutely loving. Most of the ones I’m looking forward to are still in development, but out of the ones I’ve played so far, the most interesting I’ve come across is Basilisk 2000.