Sunday, August 9, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Deep Web, What it is, What it isn't
So many people just don't understand what the Deep Web really is and try to imagine it's this dark place where everything evil exists. Well, it is just that, but to find the evil you are looking for, you will spend COUNTLESS hours digging through .onion domains to find it. Even then, there is no guarantee the site you really want to find is available to find without someone telling you where it exists.
To browse the "dark web"/"deep web" you have to first install a browser to do so, the TOR Browser is the only current browser to do so, unless you are a hacking genius (for which you don't need a browser to do anything online). Finding domains to view are the next biggest task as they are not easily listed and those that are do not have a good validity.
Domains
On the "Deep Web" true domains only end in ".onion". If they don't, they are not true deep web domains. As I know you are indeed interested, a list of deep web domains listed on the normal web are on "The Hidden Wiki", none of the listed domains can be reached from a normal browser, again you need the TOR browser.
Sites on the Deep Web
Many people believe that the deep web is as easily accessible as the normal internet and they will be sadly mistaken. As domains are frequently abandoned and seized by authorities (yes deep web sites are seized on rare occasions) you will sift through so many domains to reach anything of interest that you will miss a real search engine.
While there are search engines for the deep web, they are NOTHING like Google or even Yahoo. You will find that the average search term found on the deep web point you towards the main site for 4chan, full4chan (I know' as if 4chan wasn't terrible enough to browse through.
Actual Content
So what might you find on the Deep Web? You'll find, shit you don't really want to find and you'll read about shit that barely exists. Hit YouTube and look for videos on the deep web and they will dramatize the experience and falsify experiences about it. In actuality, you will be bored with the Deep Web within a few hours.
The people really benefitting from the deep web are those dealing in child pornography (anything under the age of 18) and those engaged in illegal trade. Yes you can pay for a hitman on the .onion network and you can buy counterfeit money, passports and IDs but all trade online is done in Bitcoin.
Funny enough you can also take Bitcoins and increase them 100 fold by sending them to a .onion site to guarantee growth.
What humors me more than anything else is that there are people who actually believe that the TOR network is immune to takedowns. Try this domain http://pinkmethuylnenlz.onion/ as it was the old pinkmeth site, apparently a site of blackmail. What I find more sad is that blackmail seems to be a higher priority to the feds than child pornography.
If you aren't up on the lingo, what I learned from the deep web was that jailbait (who doesn't know this one) and hard candy are the keys to NOT VISIT. You have a good chance that these are watched by the authorities and that you really have NO reason to be alive if you want to view these.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Windows Search is Slowing Your PC
For a gamer, especially one with a lower end computer, Windows Search can be a real curse as the indexer can be accessing the hard drive for files attempting to index while a game is running. A lot of games rely on the pagefile and having the hard drive being accessed between different programs can cause in-game lag or system instability.
Of course with top of the line computers, a setting like Windows Search isn't much of an issue but we feel running a service you don't really need, isn't worth running.
So what does the indexer really do? It creates a database of terms so when a search within windows is processed, Windows can access the internal database it has created before having to actually go through each file.
When you have this service disabled the search goes through each file looking for the term queried which does take longer without the index service running but with the infrequency of searches the average user makes, is it really that big of a deal? We don't think so.
To disable the Indexing service is easy, simply open up Microsoft Services, the easiest way is with the Windows Key + R and typing "services.msc" followed by the enter key. Once the Services windows is up, find "Microsoft Search" (has been called "Indexing Service" in earlier versions of Windows) and go into it's properties. Change the "Startup type:" to "Disabled" and stop the service.
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| Windows Key + R |
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| Microsoft Run Console |
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| Scroll down to "Windows Search" |
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| Change the "Startup type:" to "Disabled" and either click on Start or restart your system. |
Windows Multicore Boot Setting Myth
There's a common speed trick we used since Microsoft Windows XP and, while we no longer care to confirm if it actually worked in XP, it definitely does not work on Windows 7 and beyond. The setting is within "System Configuration" or "msconfig" and has to do with a boot option that is actually designed for testing purposes.
The claim is that setting this option with the maximum "logical" processors available will boot the operating system across all available cores and threads. While we do remember with this option unchecked in Windows XP, the Task Manager only showed one graph for the processor load while enabling this option showed a graph for each core/thread.
In Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, it has been confirmed that when unchecked it will use all available cores/threads to boot Windows. To view all threads/cores in Windows 10, you need to launch the Resource Monitor which can be launched from within the Task Manager.
To bring it up, bring up the System Configuration windows, easiest method is with the run command pressing the Windows key + R, and type in "msconfig".
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| Windows Key + R brings up the Run Console below |
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| Microsoft Run Console |
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| Under the Boot tab click on Advanced |
I've included the method for using this but for most people you never need to use this as maxing it anything other than the max, the same as being unchecked, will make your system boot and run slower.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Office Suites, What Should You Use?
There are a lot of office suites in the professional market today with Microsoft Office being the reigning champion for years. Until recently, the only legal way to get your hands on Microsoft Office was to buy a physical copy for a decent sum of cash yet there are many alternative options these days. If you work for a large enough company, you might have a chance to get the latest office version for $9.95 from the Microsoft Home Use Program. I myself was able to get a copy using a hotmail account and a code the Microsoft Marketing Director published online two years ago but they have send quashed all those codes (I tried looking for a new one, didn't see any that worked).
As far as free, even the online versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint are available with a Microsoft Account on Office.Live.com. Even Google has their own office presence online with Google Docs for creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even forms, which can even open and edit Microsoft Office documents, and all you need is a Google Account. While Google Docs can't save the file as anything but Google's own format, you can download the files as Microsoft Office document extensions and no one would ever know the difference.
But free online Office suites aside, there is a program that is tough to beat, totally free and has the ability to do all of that when you don't have an internet connection, OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice.org.
Originally made free by Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice was always a community project that formed from the purchase of StarOffice and turned open-source. When Sun was purchased by Oracle, they first tried to rebrand OpenOffice as Oracle Open Office and decided it wasn't making them money so discontinued it. After many contributors left to form LibreOffice, which has it'e roots in the original OpenOffice, Oracle gave OpenOffice to the Apache Software Foundation which has made moderate improvements to the software suite. Lately, LibreOffice has been updated more often and working on new features at a faster rate although both suites give you the same basic functionality and most users won't re able to tell much of a difference other than cosmetics.
The best thing about both suites is that both are made for Windows, OSX, and Linux. Granted, the online office suites listed above also work on any operating system that can run the web browser requirements needed. Most distributions of Linux like Ubuntu come with one of the two pre-installed.
Another good thing about both, besides them running on more operating systems than most suites, is the toolbar. Since Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft has been re-inventing their toolbar. More people complain about the ribbon than people who actually like it and, while I know there are people who love it, the average user who doesn't use Office that often and dislike the change for basic things.
OpenOffice and LibreOffice have a toolbar that is familiar, simple, and capable of doing everything the average user will need from an office suite, students included. LibreOffice has one that uses slightly larger icons, which I'm sure the more mature crowd will enjoy while OpenOffice has a much smaller file size. With all features installed, LibreOffice on Windows is just over 900MB and OpenOffice is just over 300MB, almost a third the size. Granted, with today's computers, file size usually isn't an issue and LibreOffice does have more features than OpenOffice and release new versions at a much higher rate.
As far as free, even the online versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint are available with a Microsoft Account on Office.Live.com. Even Google has their own office presence online with Google Docs for creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even forms, which can even open and edit Microsoft Office documents, and all you need is a Google Account. While Google Docs can't save the file as anything but Google's own format, you can download the files as Microsoft Office document extensions and no one would ever know the difference.
But free online Office suites aside, there is a program that is tough to beat, totally free and has the ability to do all of that when you don't have an internet connection, OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice.org.
The best thing about both suites is that both are made for Windows, OSX, and Linux. Granted, the online office suites listed above also work on any operating system that can run the web browser requirements needed. Most distributions of Linux like Ubuntu come with one of the two pre-installed.
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| LibreOffice Toolbar |
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| OpenOffice Toolbar |
Another good thing about both, besides them running on more operating systems than most suites, is the toolbar. Since Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft has been re-inventing their toolbar. More people complain about the ribbon than people who actually like it and, while I know there are people who love it, the average user who doesn't use Office that often and dislike the change for basic things.
OpenOffice and LibreOffice have a toolbar that is familiar, simple, and capable of doing everything the average user will need from an office suite, students included. LibreOffice has one that uses slightly larger icons, which I'm sure the more mature crowd will enjoy while OpenOffice has a much smaller file size. With all features installed, LibreOffice on Windows is just over 900MB and OpenOffice is just over 300MB, almost a third the size. Granted, with today's computers, file size usually isn't an issue and LibreOffice does have more features than OpenOffice and release new versions at a much higher rate.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Source Sprays with GIMP not Photoshop
Across the web are countless tutorials on how to make sprays to be used in Source Engine games like Counter-Strike: Source and the vast majority of them use Adobe’s Photoshop which is not needed, you can use GIMP for free and be legal while using it free.
Valve’s Source Engine has a unique feature in that of player defined art called a spray that can be placed on walls within multiplayer maps. Sprays can be anything as long as they conform to the maximum image size and are of the .tga file type if importing directly into the game. The first set of games that supported sprays had more limitations on sizes and were all based on the original Half-Life Engine, although we’ll be focusing on the Source Engine, the successor to the the Half-Life Engine.
Source Engine games which support sprays:
Valve’s Source Engine has a unique feature in that of player defined art called a spray that can be placed on walls within multiplayer maps. Sprays can be anything as long as they conform to the maximum image size and are of the .tga file type if importing directly into the game. The first set of games that supported sprays had more limitations on sizes and were all based on the original Half-Life Engine, although we’ll be focusing on the Source Engine, the successor to the the Half-Life Engine.
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| Here’s an image of the Source logo. It's been resized to 256 x 256 and contains transparent elements if you'd like to use it for your first run. Just right click and save it to your desktop. |
Source Engine games which support sprays:
- Half-life 2 and mods
- Half-life 2 Deathmatch
- Counter-Strike: Source
- Day of Defeat: Source
- Teamfortress 2 (free to play)
- Left 4 Dead
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Portal
- Portal 2
- 256 x 256 (max of any height or width)
- 128 x 128
- 32 x 32
- 16 x 16
I typically open up GIMP (you can download it from the GIMP website for free on any platform) and start with a New File at 256 x 256. Don’t worry if your image isn't square, sprays can support transparency elements.
I’ll be using a WWII poster to make for use in Day of Defeat: Source but the same spray can be imported into any of the games listed above.
I’m going to add in my own edging after I resize the photo, this will make the border look perfect in size all around, since I’ll be shrinking the image, doing a new border after might make the edges look thicker on the bottom versus the top. Always make sure you make it the right size before adding any type of border.
In GIMP, resizing is under Image > Scale Image. Under Image Size make sure the Height and Width is linked (chain looking icon next to each) and change only the largest of the two, this will make sure the other size is correctly proportional and your image looks right.
I’m going to add in my own edging after I resize the photo, this will make the border look perfect in size all around, since I'll be shrinking the image, doing a new border after might make the edges look thicker on the bottom versus the top. Always make sure you make it the right size before adding any type of border.
In GIMP, resizing is under Image > Scale Image. Under Image Size make sure the Height and Width is linked (chain looking icon next to each) and change only the largest of the two, this will make sure the other size is correctly proportional and your image looks right.
Now that our image is finished, we simply need to save it and then import it into one of the Source Engine games we want to use it in, I'll be using Day of Defeat: Source. With GIMP, use File > Export, once the command small window comes up, simply give it a name at the top and name it with a .tga extension, like TakeDayOff.tga, in GIMP you don't have to choose the file extension, it will save it as whatever type you named it. Make sure you remember where you save it, you'll need to browse here within the game to import the image.
The final step with GIMP is critical, when you export the image, it will popup a window a window with an option for RLE Compression, you want to make sure it is unchecked or the game will not be able to import it.
Now we’re done with GIMP and can simply close everything out and start up the game we want to use our graphic for spraying.
Once the image is shown as you see above after you Import Spray, you'll see it as your new spray in the game, make sure to hit OK. If you're in a game already, just know that it can take a map change for your spray to update and some servers can disable sprays all together or limit the frequency you can spray. When you spray the next time, most servers will update your spray location to the new spot, removing the old one. Be curious with your sprays, offensive sprays can get you banned from private servers and inappropriate sprays on Valve run servers can get you banned from all of Valve run servers and they run a LOT of public servers.
As you can tell if you click to see the full size image above, the spray will lose some quality during import and this is pretty normal. If when you save the image as a targa file (.tga) there are transparent pixels anywhere, they will be transparent when imported into your game of choice.
*If you've seen this tutorial before it's from a website I used to run BloodSportGaming but finally gave up the domain and reposted it here. I still run the Steam Group.
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| Here is a poster I grabbed off of Google Maps, unedited |
In GIMP, resizing is under Image > Scale Image. Under Image Size make sure the Height and Width is linked (chain looking icon next to each) and change only the largest of the two, this will make sure the other size is correctly proportional and your image looks right.
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| Now the Texaco logo is gone and I've removed all of the black edging, now it’s time to resize. |
In GIMP, resizing is under Image > Scale Image. Under Image Size make sure the Height and Width is linked (chain looking icon next to each) and change only the largest of the two, this will make sure the other size is correctly proportional and your image looks right.
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| Last edit, now in the correct size with a nice looking border |
The final step with GIMP is critical, when you export the image, it will popup a window a window with an option for RLE Compression, you want to make sure it is unchecked or the game will not be able to import it.
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| Make sure RLE Compression is unchecked |
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| Under Options in the Game, the Multiplayer tab at the top, you’ll find this menu |
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| Here’s the Spray in-game |
*If you've seen this tutorial before it's from a website I used to run BloodSportGaming but finally gave up the domain and reposted it here. I still run the Steam Group.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Free Cloud Storage, How I Use Them
There are a ton of cloud storage services out there and many different ways people use them. As a more advanced user with computers, the way I utilize these services will be sufficient for the average user to have your data backed up, reasonably, secure, and FREE.
Of the many out there, there are certain ones I "trust" and others I feel are simply a waste of time as far as free accounts go. One I won't be going into here that I'm sure is fine, even though I am not an Apple fan in any way, is the iCloud service, even though they give a typical 5GB free, most large companies (Google, Microsoft etc) give at least 15GB, especially for what they charge for hardware and software although maybe that's just the reason.
Of the five on my computer, one gives you virtually unlimited storage in relation to particular file types and, from my experience with clients, the types causing 90% or more of a user's data bulk, photos and videos. The service from Google isn't actually Google Drive, it's Google Photos, and free storage is limited by 16MP for photos and 1080p for videos (automatically reduced if larger when uploaded). This option is enabled by default but you can check your settings to enable/disable this option. You can learn more about the sizes and what your printing limitations might be from Google's help page choosing storage methods.
Storage wise, like most, gives you a combined storage size of 15GB for free while upgrades are pretty cheap. The word "combined" is used because Google Drive's 15GB is shared between Drive, Gmail and Photos. My favorite part of Google Photos is the Android app that automatically backs up my photos and even tells me when photos and videos are taking up too much space on my phone and deletes ones that have already backed up upon my allowing.
The downsides... The first, of course, is that the data is shared amongst the three services, a feat I've overcome due to using multiple cloud services. Another is trash and while this can be overcome with light effort, deleted items remain for 60 days and count against your storage limit. The last is when uploading too many photos at once without putting them in a folder on upload, as this can make organization difficult. Google really needs a "Show images not in an album" option. [A temporary solution to this is to put every photo in a generic folder and use the "Move" option to make sure they are all in a folder. Putting the same picture in an album multiple times does not cause two copies to be shown.]
Personally, I use Google Drive for client data I create such as logos, websites, business cards, documents and the like. I was paying $1.99 for 100GB of space but after going through all my data I realized most of it was in photos and proceeded to move my photos to the photos section and I dropped below the 15GB mark (after I found all my photos deleted from Drive in the trash).
Have Redundancy
Cloud services are a great thing, but redundancy is your friend and without it, your files are in danger. You should always store your files in two locations. I recommend one on your personal computer in case your Internet goes down, while the other should be on the Internet or a "cloud" drive. Having two copies in the same building or even in the same city doesn't help you in case of a fire or natural disaster. Always remember that no service is guaranteed and cloud drives could fail or vanish at any moment, always have your own copy.
Physical Backup Drives Are A Gamble
As a computer specialist fixing computers for clients and friends, I run into far too many people with a "backup drive" which is simply an external harddrive with data on it is not stored anywhere else. This is NOT a backup drive, simply an external harddrive which can fail and loose your files.
Of the many out there, there are certain ones I "trust" and others I feel are simply a waste of time as far as free accounts go. One I won't be going into here that I'm sure is fine, even though I am not an Apple fan in any way, is the iCloud service, even though they give a typical 5GB free, most large companies (Google, Microsoft etc) give at least 15GB, especially for what they charge for hardware and software although maybe that's just the reason.
Google Drive
Storage wise, like most, gives you a combined storage size of 15GB for free while upgrades are pretty cheap. The word "combined" is used because Google Drive's 15GB is shared between Drive, Gmail and Photos. My favorite part of Google Photos is the Android app that automatically backs up my photos and even tells me when photos and videos are taking up too much space on my phone and deletes ones that have already backed up upon my allowing.
The downsides... The first, of course, is that the data is shared amongst the three services, a feat I've overcome due to using multiple cloud services. Another is trash and while this can be overcome with light effort, deleted items remain for 60 days and count against your storage limit. The last is when uploading too many photos at once without putting them in a folder on upload, as this can make organization difficult. Google really needs a "Show images not in an album" option. [A temporary solution to this is to put every photo in a generic folder and use the "Move" option to make sure they are all in a folder. Putting the same picture in an album multiple times does not cause two copies to be shown.]
Personally, I use Google Drive for client data I create such as logos, websites, business cards, documents and the like. I was paying $1.99 for 100GB of space but after going through all my data I realized most of it was in photos and proceeded to move my photos to the photos section and I dropped below the 15GB mark (after I found all my photos deleted from Drive in the trash).
Mega
Mega is my personal favorite with the largest capacity for free accounts and sharing is extremely easy with other users. The sync app gives you a choice between on large synced folder or the ability pick and choose folders.
The interface on their website is very clean, and although you can do everything through the sync app for a basic user wanting the free 50GB of space, an advanced user will really like the customization you can do through the web interface.
While there is controversy with it's predecessor being Megaupload (**read my small blurb at the bottom of this article) I really don't find it an issue as I've known the owner, Kim Dotcom since he invented the Megacar, the first broadband enabled car, and running "Kimble Special Agent" flash videos that mocked Microsoft.
Storage wise, you get a generous 50GB for free, currently the largest amount without any strings attached or time restricted. There is not a lot of transfer bandwidth for free in regards to sharing but as long as you share a folder with another mega user, it won't use the bandwidth. Syncing between your devices also doesn't use any bandwidth and with security in mind, files you store will not be viewable if the servers are ever compromised without directly knowing your password. Quite a few options on upgrading but because it's a New Zealand based company, they only accept Euros (which your credit card will process just fine).
The Downsides... For most users there won't be any, unless you have a large collection of files to be downloaded by a non-registered user within one month. Other hosts like Google have a limit but more on quantity, so sharing a file too many times in a day will get the file suspended for a time (really depends on how many times and the size of the file).
Personally, I use it for my personal windows discs for recovery, programs I use for technical support when I'm at a client's house and backup of the average user's files I've recovered so they can download them to a new device at their leisure. I always try to convince them to create an account while I'm on site, then configure the folder for my account to have access to a folder of theirs so I'll get the full 50GB to fill for them without clogging my own drive.
The interface on their website is very clean, and although you can do everything through the sync app for a basic user wanting the free 50GB of space, an advanced user will really like the customization you can do through the web interface.
While there is controversy with it's predecessor being Megaupload (**read my small blurb at the bottom of this article) I really don't find it an issue as I've known the owner, Kim Dotcom since he invented the Megacar, the first broadband enabled car, and running "Kimble Special Agent" flash videos that mocked Microsoft.
Storage wise, you get a generous 50GB for free, currently the largest amount without any strings attached or time restricted. There is not a lot of transfer bandwidth for free in regards to sharing but as long as you share a folder with another mega user, it won't use the bandwidth. Syncing between your devices also doesn't use any bandwidth and with security in mind, files you store will not be viewable if the servers are ever compromised without directly knowing your password. Quite a few options on upgrading but because it's a New Zealand based company, they only accept Euros (which your credit card will process just fine).
The Downsides... For most users there won't be any, unless you have a large collection of files to be downloaded by a non-registered user within one month. Other hosts like Google have a limit but more on quantity, so sharing a file too many times in a day will get the file suspended for a time (really depends on how many times and the size of the file).
Personally, I use it for my personal windows discs for recovery, programs I use for technical support when I'm at a client's house and backup of the average user's files I've recovered so they can download them to a new device at their leisure. I always try to convince them to create an account while I'm on site, then configure the folder for my account to have access to a folder of theirs so I'll get the full 50GB to fill for them without clogging my own drive.
OneDrive
If you have a Microsoft account, you have a OneDrive account. Previously SkyDrive, OneDrive is a cloud drive storage with no special tricks to get more storage without a paid account but because it is by Microsoft it's setup to backup your "My Documents" folder and files on your Desktop within Microsoft Windows.
Storage wise, OneDrive gives the typical 15GB of data, although buying an Office 365 subscription will get you 1TB of data and then some. While you can't have multiple OneDrives connected to your computer at one time, a $10 dollar subscription gives you 1TB for 5 "family accounts" (how would they know) and Office 365 on up to five computers and five tablets. If you have a family, this deal is really amazing as far as storage and office goes.
Personally, I use it for my font collection, document backup along with the images I've purchased and created for media use. If you have a small family, check with them to see if any of them have Office 365 as I out found my parents actually had a subscription which ended up upgrading my account to 1TB for free.
Personally, I use it for my font collection, document backup along with the images I've purchased and created for media use. If you have a small family, check with them to see if any of them have Office 365 as I out found my parents actually had a subscription which ended up upgrading my account to 1TB for free.
Dropbox is one of the lowest storage amount for free but seems to be the most used with corporations so I usually have it in case I get a file shared with me. It seems to be the standard for multi user file sharing in the workplace with revision history. The application has popup alerts informing you of recent changes along with a timestamp and who made the change making it really handy if you're working on an urgent project.
Storage wise, Dropbox only gives you 2GB for free but you can increase it a few different ways with their "get space" page. The easiest is to get another 1GB by linking to their Mailbox app (works great if you have multiple gmail accounts so you can have both on your phone) and while there are many "micro" space additions (125MB - 250MB) the largest possible addition is in referrals which can add 16GB.
The Downsides, besides the initial 2GB of space, the possibility of getting the additional 16GB from referrals would be quite a task since each referral only adds 500MB (meaning 32 referrals) and each referral has to actually create and install dropbox to count. If someone was diligent enough to go through each space addition, the maximum space can reach 19.75GB.
Personally, I use dropbox for my screencaptures within Windows as it's a non-invasive program to take screencaptures and I can easily share them with people I'm helping. As a technical contractor, I frequently run into companies that use dropbox to send me files so I keep it installed. Luckily, I was able to get a two year promotion from my Samsung Galaxy S5 (there are a lot of devices which give you this promotion) which gave me an additional 48GB.
**Megaupload, from the same person who brings us Mega, was a different type of service than those listed here. There is a lot of controversy over the Mega service going down like the last one but they are so different it's hard to believe people even worry. Megaupload was a file sharing system that did not limit the amount of public downloads and anyone, even without an account, could upload these files. Files were not monitored, similar to most anonymous, large file sharing sites, making it a prime target for abuse. While files shared "publicly" or with non-account users, there is a bandwidth limit on Mega, while with your own files, there is no limit on syncing your data.
While many people abused the openness of the service for sharing copyrighted materials, plenty of legitimate users (even myself distributing TV commercial edits to clients) utilized the service at a time when it was difficult to send large files. The US seized equipment in an attempt to bring up copyright charges and was ultimately unsuccessful as secondary copyright infringement isn't illegal. The biggest issue people had was once everything was dismissed, Megaupload had lost their servers and the users' data was gone (expressly displayed near the upload button was that files could be removed at any time).
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Galaxy S5 on Lollipop
There are many issues with Samsung's version of Android for the Galaxy S5 but there are MANY ways to rectify it without voiding your warranty. One thing we won't go into here is rooting or installing custom ROMs as both of these actions can void your warranty. If you'd like to root your S5, I used the guide from Android Central which does have information on all variants (also made a tinyURL if you want an easy way to copy/remember the link http://tinyurl.com/rootGalaxyS5)
*Bonus: enable developer options by going to "About device", find the "Build number" and tap it 7 times. A new category is now available called "Developer options", this is where USB debugging mode is now hidden.
Touchwiz
Google Now Launcher
Google Now (far left homescreen)
Samsung's Year View
Samsung's Month View
Google's Month View
Backup Your Data
The first thing I recommend is backing up your data, I do this from simply connecting the phone to a computer and copying off all essential data. Google has it's own backup system for apps and data and if you have the phone setup right, all your data should be safe but better safe than sorry.Lollipop Post-Install Recommendations
At the time of writing this, all Galaxy S5s are not default installed with Lollipop (Android 5.0) and a lot of phones out of the box tell you to upgrade. After this is done, there are a few speed issues. The easiest way to fix these is to factory reset the phone AFTER you upgrade it. If you really don't want to factory reset it because you've been using it a while, try to "wipe cache partition". Many claim "wipe cache partition" helped but I found a full factory reset to be more beneficial.Accessing Reset & Cache Wipe
"factory reset" and "wipe cache partition" are commands both found in the same place. Holding Volume Up + Home + Power while the phone is booting (from off or a reset) will put the phone into a basic mode where you'll find these two commands, along with others.Annoying Settings You May Want to Change
Settings Menu
The "grid view" of the settings menu is simply annoying and switching this to list view will make your world easier. You may also want to change the settings under "Edit Quick Settings" to include those you use a lot. I barely use most of the default ones and my quick list is pretty small since searching for the one I want isn't a big deal to me.*Bonus: enable developer options by going to "About device", find the "Build number" and tap it 7 times. A new category is now available called "Developer options", this is where USB debugging mode is now hidden.
Quick Toggle Menu
Quick toggles are found from the pull down menu/notification drawer and it's highly customizable to make certain settings more accessible. You can scroll through your current selected ones, click the icon in the upper right to show all your toggles at once and you can add and remove icons from your available toggles. In the settings for toggles, click and hold one you want to move from one section to another and then drag it where you want it to sit in the order.
Samsung's Software I Recommend Replacing
Android Launcher
The Galaxy S5 comes with Samsung's Touchwiz by default, I've never found it very fast while I have read a lot of people who did like it. If you want the multi window function, which I only find useful on tablets, you'll have to stick with Touchwiz. After Lollipop it really went downhill on my phone. I replaced it with Google's Google Now Launcher. When it starts you'll only have one homescreen but to get more, simply drag an app icon or widget to the right and it will make more. Blank homescreens automatically disappear so make sure at least one item on a homescreen before trying to add a new one.
Touchwiz
Google Now Launcher
Google Now (far left homescreen)
Keyboard
Although many rave that the Samsung's keyboard has some of the best spacing, it's word prediction is definitely behind the curve in comparison to others available. The current most popular keyboards are Swiftkey (in-app purchases for themes), Swype (full version is $0.99) and Google Keyboard. I feel all three are very comparable and although I use Google's keyboard simply because my words and predictions are stored on the cloud with nothing to buy, I miss having the punctuation symbols above the letters. Check out this thread if you want to see some people talking more about the features of Samsung vs Swype vs Swiftkey.
Calendar
The Samsung calendar app, called Calendar isn't very necessary and I still prefer Google Calendar as it looks so much better and goes beyond a simple boxy look. Samsung's and Google's calendar apps work in tandem as far as syncing go, but if you install Google's you'll want to disable some of the notifications in the Samsung app so you don't get double notifications.
Samsung's Year View
Samsung's Month View
Google's Month View
Voice Search
Samsung's S Voice is slow and the voice isn't all that great. Since Google's Voice Search is pre-installed, all you need to do is disable S Voice. By default, S-Voice is bound to double tapping the home button and if you like this option for Voice Search, grab an app called Home2 which will make it possible to bind any app to the home button single and double tap. Just be sure when you are finished setting up Home2 and it asks you which app handles home button pressing as a default you choose Home2.
Memos / Notes
Samsung comes with a note app called Memo which should be replaced with Google Keep. Keep runs a little faster and again, having a free professional app that has cloud storage and doesn't care what phone manufacturer you're using is always a plus. Make sure you disable Samsung's Memo since it will still be running and taking up ram on the phone.Monday, March 16, 2015
Bendable Glass, Presented By The Mythbusters
I've used Corningware products since I was a kid cooking in my mother's kitchen and to this day she still has the same Corningware dishes. Only recently did I realize Corning also made Pyrex glass and lately they've been working on a new type of glass that I, for one, am excited to see hit the consumer realm especially for mobile devices. I know one company that would hate this product (under their current ideals), Apple. The video about the glass, known as Gorilla Glass with it's own website at TheGlassAge.com. The videos are pretty interesting to watch and having the Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage Host the series (currently in two parts). Both parts have been attached to this post for your convenience. Interested if your device or future device comes with Gorilla Glass? Check out this Wikipedia page, List of Devices with Gorilla Glass.
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