Jacen's Blog

My thoughts that I think other people deserve to read

The GL.iNet Comet - A Review

May 3, 2025

A while back, I purchased GL.iNet's AC1300 router for a project that never ended up materializing. Despite that, it is still a staple in my backpack, and it put GL.iNet on my radar. So, when I received an email about the GL-RM1 Comet remote KVM, my interest was definitely piqued.

Reviewing the Gamer Supps Experience

May 2, 2025

A Twitch streamer I watch got an affiliate code with Gamer Supps recently and has begun shilling it pretty hard. I like trying new foods and drinks, and I'll try almost anything at least once. Because they have a free sample option, I decided to use his code to get a couple of free packs to see just what it tasted like.

IT Pro Tip - Viewing Outlook Rules Using Powershell

April 23, 2025

With people continuing to insist on using poor and easily guessable passwords, hacked emails are something I deal with occasionally.

Of all cybersecurity incidents, hacked emails are some of the easiest to remediate. Once you've kicked the attacker out by forcing a global sign-out and resetting their password, then informed any affected recipients about the hack, you're done, right?

Wrong. There's a step I've seen even experienced IT techs forget about. Inevitably, you'll receive another call from the user informing you that they aren't receiving emails anymore. Let's take a look at how to troubleshoot that.

IT Pro Tip - Don't Use .local

April 14, 2025

It's a tale as old as time. You're setting up a new Active Directory domain environment for the Example Corporation. As part of the setup, you're asked to choose the domain you want AD to use. Mindlessly, you enter "example.local".

Stop right there. This will cause problems for you down the line.

Let's dive into why you shouldn't do that.

IT Pro Tip - Robocopy

March 24, 2025

I run into many situations where I need to copy numerous files, particularly when trying to move a user profile from one computer to another. A mistake I see even experienced IT techs make is using the standard Windows "drag-and-drop" to do these copy tasks. Doing things this way can take hours. There are also tools like Transwiz that can handle this for you, but I've found them to be less reliable than I would like.

There's a much more efficient tool for copying lots of files, and it's been built into Windows for over a decade. Allow me to introduce you to Robocopy.

The Framework 16 - A 1-Year Review

February 3, 2025

About a year ago, I received my Framework 16 laptop. While I did a post reviewing my first impressions, it's difficult to properly judge a device after only a couple of weeks. I decided I wanted to do a follow-up after daily driving it for longer.

The amount of hype I saw leading up to the release of the Framework 16 was way more than I've ever seen for a laptop before. The question is, does it actually live up to the hype? Let's dive into that.

Migrating from WriteFreely to 11ty

January 8, 2025

For someone who doesn't blog regularly, I change blog platforms a lot. I've used WordPress, Jekyll, WriteFreely, and now 11ty. We'll see how long this lasts for, but let me dive into why I made the change and how I have everything set up.

Pocket Gaming Time Machine: 3DS vs. Vita in 2025

January 4, 2025

The New Nintendo 2DS XL has been my daily driver handheld for at least a year at this point, and I still love it. I wrote a full review on it a while back, but the main takeaway is that it has a good enough library of games and homebrew to make it usable 14 years after it was released.

However, I've also heard PlayStation Vita users talking about how good their handheld was. As a portable tech enthusiast, I felt like I needed to get hands-on with the Vita to find out if it was really as good as people say it is.

After experiencing both devices, here's how they stack up years after their end-of-life.

The Nintendo 3DS: A Review in 2024

June 14, 2024

A while back, a coworker of mine challenged me to a starter shiny hunt in Pokémon HeartGold. This led to me dusting off my old Nintendo 2DS XL and my copy of HeartGold to work on the hunt.

Since then, it's become a regular staple in my pocket, going everywhere I go, and it has gotten more use than it probably did when I actually bought it. Despite Nintendo's best efforts to finish killing it off, I hold that it's still one of the best handhelds you can own. Let's review the 3DS family and break down why I've fallen in love with it all over again.

Pi-hole: The Ad Blocker That Falls Short

June 9, 2024

With the sunsetting of Manifest V2 well underway, ad block users must decide between switching to a Manifest V2 supported browser like Firefox, or finding an alternative ad blocker that doesn't rely on browser extensions. DNS-based solutions like Pi-hole are among the more popular alternatives I've seen recommended.

Unfortunately, as far as ad blockers go, DNS-based ad blockers don't really live up to some of the promises they make. In fact, I'd argue that DNS ad blocking really is the worst way to handle blocking ads. Let's talk about some issues with it.

Older Posts