IT DEVICES: Networking

How to Setup Your Own Personal Cloud Storage

For those folks who don’t trust 
their data in the cloud, the best storage solution is usually local, 
meaning either an external hard drive or a computer. The advantage to 
this solution is that you don’t have to pay any money to store your data
 (other than purchasing the drives) and you don’t have to worry about 
someone else being able to get into your data (for the most part).
However, there are several disadvantages to storing everything 
locally on internal and external hard drives. Firstly, unless you have a
 good backup solution in place, you are more at risk of losing your 
data. Cloud storage companies have many redundant layers of backup to 
protect all your data.

Secondly, it can be really difficult and frustrating to access data 
stored on a single external hard drive from anywhere in the world on any
 device. Cloud storage services usually make this really easy by having 
desktop apps and mobile apps for accessing data.

If you want the advantages of cloud storage, but the security of 
having everything locally stored, you should consider setting up 
personal cloud storage. Again, you’ll get all the mobile and desktop 
apps and everything will be synced, but you’ll have the data stored 
locally on your own devices.

Again, you’ll have no monthly fees to worry about, but you’ll have a 
higher up-front cost. Personal cloud storage is also really good for 
anyone who has terabytes of data they need to store, but don’t want to 
pay the hefty monthly costs associated with anything over 1 TB. For 
example, after the 1 TB plan on Google Drive, it skips to 10 TB and you 
have to spend $99 a month.

With OneDrive, you can only add more space after 1 TB in 50 GB 
increments. Each 50 GB increment costs $1.99. To get to 10 TB, you’d 
have to pay a whopping $360 a month! With Dropbox, you can only get a 
max of 1 TB with a Pro account. If you want more than that, you need to 
become a business customer with at least 5 users.

<h2>
Understanding Network Hard Drives</h2>
So what do you need to buy in order to get your own cloud storage 
setup? Well, you’re basically buying a network attached storage device 
or NAS. Note that a NAS device is slightly different than a network hard
 drive.

In my view, a network hard drive is a single hard drive inside a 
device that connects to the network and provides a web interface to 
control and access data. A NAS has multiple hard drives that can be 
configured in a RAID array, thereby providing in-built data protection.

I recommend staying away from single network hard drive solutions 
because it’s pretty much the same thing as using a regular external hard
 drive, except you get all the cloud features. However, if the drive 
fails, you lose all your data, which may or may not be duplicated 
somewhere else.

For example, if you consider the <a href="http://amzn.com/B00EVVGAFI" target="_blank">WD My Cloud Personal NAS</a>,
 the single drive is really just a network hard drive. If you get the 
dual drive version, then it can be considered a NAS in my opinion.

As you can see, though, you can get 8 TB worth of storage for about 
$400, which is not bad at all. Of course, there is one caveat to 
consider. The reason I suggest a NAS device with two or more hard drives
 is for data protection. If you put your drives into a RAID array, one 
drive can fail and you won’t lose any data.

All of the devices mentioned here support RAID on the NAS devices and
 it’s actually really easy to setup. The only issue is that you lose 
some available space. For example, if you take the 8 TB NAS above and 
use RAID 1, you’ll only have 4 TB of free space. If you use RAID 5, 
you’ll need at least 3 drives, but will get two-thirds of the total 
space of all three drives.

Considering you can get a dual drive 16 TB NAS for around $750, even 
being left with 8 TB is probably way more than enough for even creative 
professionals.

<h2>
Other Benefits of a NAS</h2>
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/nas-device.jpg"><img alt="nas device" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59792 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/nas-device.jpg" height="441" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/nas-device.jpg" style="display: block;" width="680" /></a>

Beyond the personal cloud benefits and being able to sync your data 
across all your different devices, NAS devices provide a lot of other 
benefits. Not every device I mention below supports all of these 
features, except for Synolgy, so be sure to check the features on the 
device you are considering.

<ul>
<li>Data protection when using a mutli-bay NAS with RAID</li>
<li>Ability to locally and remotely stream videos from NAS to games consoles, set-top boxes, smartphones and tablets</li>
<li>Ability to connect IP cameras to NAS for video surveillance and recordings</li>
<li>Ability to backup local computers (Windows, Mac, Linux) to the NAS</li>
<li>Ability to backup entire NAS to online cloud storage services like Amazon S3, Glacier, etc.</li>
<li>Ability to use your NAS a FTP server, web server, mail server, etc. with the use of apps</li>
<li>Ability to share files and folders easily with anyone</li>
</ul>
As you can see, the benefits of having a NAS are much more than just 
having your own personal cloud storage. You can do a lot with these 
devices, which makes the up-front cost more bearable.

<h2>
Personal Cloud Storage Solutions</h2>
So which NAS should you get? Well, when it comes to cloud storage, 
what you are really looking for is great software. All the major hard 
drive vendors have NAS devices with some sort of personal cloud option, 
but only a few work really well and have a suite of apps to manage the 
cloud data.

<h3>
Synology</h3>
I personally have a WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra and a Synology DS 411+II 
and I find the Synology to be an absolutely amazing device. My Synology 
NAS is several years old, but can still be updated to the latest version
 of DSM (DiskStation Manager). The software running on the NAS is excellent and is almost like using Windows.

They have <a href="https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/6.0/mobile" target="_blank">several mobile apps</a> that work very well for managing the NAS, viewing your files, <a href="https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/multimedia" target="_blank">streaming photos and videos</a> and for <a href="https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/6.0/cloud_file_syncing" target="_blank">managing your personal cloud</a>.
 What I like about Synology is that they are constantly updating their 
hardware and software so that it supports the latest technology. They 
also have a lot of different models with a wide price range.

If you’re not sure which one would work for you, just use their <a href="https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/nas_selector" target="_blank">NAS selector</a> tool.
 If you’re not a technical person, no worries. Adding hard drives to 
these devices is very simple and straight-forward. Also, a lot of times 
you can buy them with the drives already installed.

<h3>
Western Digital My Cloud</h3>
The other product I would recommend is WD’s My Cloud and My Cloud EX 
series. Overall, these devices are great, but they lack the feature set 
and finesse of the Synology products. I found them to be a little harder
 to setup and I didn’t like the selection of mobile apps.

Whereas Synology pretty much has a separate app for everything, WD 
only has two apps, which aren’t that great at what they are supposed to 
do anyway. However, if you don’t care so much about all of these extra 
features, then the <a href="http://www.wdc.com/en/products/personalcloud/consumer/" target="_blank">WD My Cloud</a> products are still a good choice.

You can also check out the <a href="http://www.wdc.com/en/products/nas/expert/" target="_blank">Expert Series</a>, which is basically a more powerful NAS in addition to the cloud capabilities.

<h3>
Seagate</h3>
Seagate is one of the biggest manufacturers of hard drives in the 
world, so it’s no surprise that they have also gotten into the NAS 
business. I personally have not used their <a href="http://www.seagate.com/products/network-attached-storage/home-network/personal-cloud/#features" target="_blank">Personal Cloud Storage</a> drives and I recommend doing your research before you buy anything.

The drive only has about <a href="http://amzn.com/B00PZZZEAG" target="_blank">3.5 stars on Amazon</a>,
 with most people seeming to complain about the software. Again, this is
 where Synology really shines and beats out everyone else.

There are obviously more choices for personal cloud storage, but 
these are your best choices on the market right now. If something new 
comes out or something better, I’ll be sure to update this post with 
that information. If you have any questions, feel free to comment.

Networking Troubleshooting How to Setup Your Own Personal Cloud Storage

For those folks who don’t trust their data in the cloud, the best storage solution is usually local, meaning either an external hard drive...

How to Export WeMo Energy Usage Data to Excel Yesterday, I wrote about controlling a WeMo switch using Alexa and today I wanted to write about how you can export the energy usage data from a WeMo Insight switch to Excel.

12:33 PM Unknown 0

The WeMo Insight switch 
generates a lot of detailed information that is really useful if you’re 
trying to figure out how much energy certain devices or appliances are 
using in your home or office.
Even though the app data is great, you can export 45 days’ worth of 
far more detailed data to Excel and then do whatever you like with it: 
create charts and graphs showing which days the most energy is being 
used, how many hours the device is in standby mode vs on, etc. 
In this post, I’ll talk about the process for exporting the data and 
then go over how the data is organized in the Excel spreadsheet. I’ll 
also show you how to make a quick chart to graph out the energy usage. 
<h2>
Export Energy Data from WeMo</h2>
By default, the WeMo app will give you high-level energy usage data 
like how long the device was on today and on an average day, the 
estimated monthly cost and the average and current wattage usage. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-insight-stats.png"><img alt="wemo insight stats" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59714 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-insight-stats.png" height="642" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-insight-stats.png" style="display: block;" width="600" /></a> 
This is good enough for most people, but if you are a data geek and 
you love using Excel, you’ll love the fact that you can export so much 
extra data out to analyze on your own. To do this, we need to tap on the
 Edit button at the top right of the WeMo app. The 
switches will change how they are displayed and you should tap on the 
WeMo Insight switch. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-edit-switch.png"><img alt="wemo edit switch" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59724 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-edit-switch.png" height="280" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-edit-switch.png" style="display: block;" width="650" /></a> 
On the next screen, you’ll see a couple of options at the bottom, but the one we are interested in is Data Export. Some of the other options I’ll also explain later on as they can affect what data is exported. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-data-export.png"><img alt="wemo data export" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59725 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-data-export.png" height="606" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-data-export.png" style="display: block;" width="650" /></a> 
Finally, on the last screen, type in your email address and then tap on Export Now. This will immediately send you an email with a CSV attachment containing all data for the device over the last 45 days. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-export-now-1.png"><img alt="wemo export now" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59727 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-export-now-1.png" height="471" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-export-now-1.png" style="display: block;" width="650" /></a> 
If you like, you can also setup scheduled exports on a daily, weekly 
or monthly basis. Since data is only kept for 45 days, it’s a good idea 
to export the data once a month, so that you don’t lose any data if you 
forget to export manually. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-scheduled-export.png"><img alt="wemo scheduled export" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59729 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-scheduled-export.png" height="350" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-scheduled-export.png" style="display: block;" width="650" /></a> 
I also suggest using the monthly frequency because the way it works 
right now, ALL the data for the last 45 days is sent every time you 
perform an export. It’s not like the data is reset or anything like 
that. Eventually, you’ll also have to create a master worksheet and copy
 and paste the data from the newer spreadsheets into the older ones if 
you want more than 45 days’ worth of data in a single spreadsheet. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-email-data.png"><img alt="wemo email data" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59728 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-email-data.png" height="479" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-email-data.png" style="display: block;" width="623" /></a> 
In the email, the name of the file will be Export for devicename.
 Since it’s a CSV file, you can open it in Google Sheets, Excel or a 
host of other programs if you like. For simplicity, I will be using 
Excel. Now let’s take a look at the spreadsheet. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-excel-overview.png"><img alt="wemo excel overview" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59730 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-excel-overview.png" height="68" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-excel-overview.png" style="display: block;" width="680" /></a> 
At the top, you’ll get some basic information like the last updated 
date and time for this energy report, the device name, some MAC ID, the 
signal strength of the WeMo device and then the Energy Cost per kWh and the Threshold (Watts).
 These last two values can be changed in the app on the screen where you
 tapped on Data Export. So the estimated monthly cost that WeMo gives 
you is based on this .111 per kWh value, but your energy costs may be 
different. 
The best way to figure this out is to look at your energy bill and divide the total Electric Amount by the total kWh Used. You should only be looking at the Electric Details part of your bill, not the gas details. Here’s an example of my electric bill just to make it clear: 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/electric-bill.jpg"><img alt="electric bill" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59731 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/electric-bill.jpg" height="413" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/electric-bill.jpg" style="display: block;" width="680" /></a> 
So here, I would take $267.46 and divide it by 1830 kWh Used and that gives me around .146, which is 14.6 cents per kWh
 as the cost. So now I go into the WeMo app and change it from .111 to 
.146 and that will give me a very accurate estimate of my monthly cost 
for this device. 
In addition, you can adjust the Threshold value, which basically dictates whether the device is On or in Standby
 mode. By default, this value is set to 8 Watts. If the device uses less
 than that, it is considered in standby mode. I’m no electrical engineer
 and I’m not really sure what the best value for that is, so I just left
 it at 8w. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/daily-usage-summary-wemo.png"><img alt="daily usage summary wemo" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59732 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/daily-usage-summary-wemo.png" height="64" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/daily-usage-summary-wemo.png" style="display: block;" width="680" /></a> 
Below that is the daily usage summary section, which breaks down key 
stats by day. You can see time on, time in standby, average power 
consumption over the day, and the day’s cost. If you want to see total 
power consumed for the day, just create a formula and add Power Consumption (On) and Power Consumption (Standby) for each row. Finally, at the bottom, you get a breakdown of usage by half-hour. 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-energy-data.png"><img alt="wemo energy data" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59733 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-energy-data.png" height="439" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wemo-energy-data.png" style="display: block;" width="459" /></a> 
Depending on how many days’ worth of data you have, this can add up 
to quite a lot of rows of data. This will also allow you to create nice 
graphs to see energy usage over time. In my opinion, the best chart for 
viewing this type of data is an X Y Scatter plot. If you select the two 
columns of data, including the headings, click on Insert – Chart, and choose X Y Scatter, you’ll get something like this: 
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/excel-chart-wemo.png"><img alt="excel chart wemo" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59734 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/excel-chart-wemo.png" height="384" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/excel-chart-wemo.png" style="display: block;" width="660" /></a> 
As you can see, my fridge uses around .006 kWh when not running and 
jumps to about .012 kWh when cooling. It also alternates between these 
states all day and night. Usage by other devices will probably generate 
different looking charts. 
Note that it’s a good idea to reset the WeMo if you decide to move it
 to another location to track data about a different device. If you 
don’t, you’ll get data from two different devices, which will make the 
data useless unless you remember the exact day you moved the switch. 
Overall, the WeMo Insight switch is worth the cost if you are a data 
junkie. In my opinion, you really only need one of these around the 
house to track different devices. Once you have a couple of weeks’ worth
 of data for one device, it’s not really going to change all that much, 
so you can then reset the data and start tracking another device. If you
 have any questions, feel free to comment.

How to Export WeMo Energy Usage Data to Excel Yesterday, I wrote about controlling a WeMo switch using Alexa and today I wanted to write about how you can export the energy usage data from a WeMo Insight switch to Excel.

Networking TIPS How to Export WeMo Energy Usage Data to Excel Yesterday, I wrote about controlling a WeMo switch using Alexa and today I wanted to write about how you can export the energy usage data from a WeMo Insight switch to Excel.

The WeMo Insight switch generates a lot of detailed information that is really useful if you’re trying to figure out how much energy certa...

Setup Chrome Remote Desktop to Access Any PC Remotely

12:30 PM Unknown 0

Looking for a quick and easy way 
to access your Windows, Mac or Linux machine from an Apple device, an 
Android device or even from another Windows, Mac or Linux machine? If 
so, then there is one solution that works really, really well: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en" target="_blank">Chrome Remote Desktop</a>.
In order to use it, all you need is Google Chrome installed on your 
phone, tablet or computer. After setting everything up, which I will 
explain below, you can access any of your computers from your phone, 
tablet or a different computer. This means I can remotely control my 
Windows machine from my iPhone, Nexus 6 and Mac laptop without having to
 worry about port forwarding, dynamic DNS, different operating systems 
or anything else.

The awesome thing about using Google Chrome is that it takes about 5 
minutes to setup and literally less than that if you already have Chrome
 installed on your devices.

<h2>
Install Chrome Remote Desktop</h2>
The first thing we need to do is install <a href="https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/" target="_blank">Google Chrome</a>
 itself on your computers. Since Chrome can be installed on Windows, Mac
 or Linux, it means you can remotely access any of those operating 
systems too.

Once you have Chrome installed, you need to install <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en" target="_blank">Chrome Remote Desktop</a>. Click the Add To Chrome button at the very top right. A popup will appear with the permissions the app needs in order to work properly. Click Add App to continue if you’re OK with the permissions.

At this point, the app should be installed and a new tab should 
appear where you can see all the apps that have been installed in 
Chrome. If this tab doesn’t appear, just open a new tab and type in chrome://apps/.

You should see a new icon called Chrome Remote Desktop. Go ahead and 
click on that to start the app. In the new window, you’ll see two 
sections: Remote Assistance and My Computers. To start, we need to click the Get Started
 button under My Computers. If you didn’t already have Chrome installed 
on your computer, you’ll need to sign in first with your Google account,
 otherwise everything will be grayed out.

Go ahead and click on the Enable Remote Connections button.

You’ll then get a popup message asking you to install the Chrome Remote Desktop Host Installer
 program onto your computer. This is basically the remote desktop client
 that allows each device to remotely access another device.

The file will download onto your computer (.MSI for Windows, .DMG for
 Mac, etc.) and you’ll need to manually run it in order to install the 
software. Once you do, you’ll get another window that now asks you to 
enter a pin code of at least six digits that you will need to use to 
connect to the computer remotely. I suggest you use a different code for
 each computer, rather than the same one.

Click OK and you should get a message stating that remote connections
 have been enabled for the computer. When I did this on my Mac, another 
window popped up and I had to enter the pin code again in order to 
enable remote connections.

Again, you should go ahead and follow this procedure on all computers
 you want to be able to access remotely. Note that you can simply 
install it on a Mac and Windows machine and access the Mac from Windows 
or vice versa. If you install the app on your phone, you can access your
 desktop computers from an Apple or Android device. Unfortunately, the 
Chrome Remote Desktop app is not available in the Microsoft App store 
yet.

<h2>
Connecting Remotely to Your Computers</h2>
Now for the fun part! Let’s start by connecting to a desktop computer
 using an Android device. On your phone, go to the App Store and 
download the Chrome Remote Desktop app. Here are the links:

<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.chromeremotedesktop&hl=en" target="_blank">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.chromeremotedesktop&hl=en</a>

<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chrome-remote-desktop/id944025852?mt=8" target="_blank">https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chrome-remote-desktop/id944025852?mt=8</a>

Open the app and sign in with your Google account. It’s worth noting 
that you will need to be signed into Google Chrome on all your devices 
in order to connect between devices. The app interface is very 
simplistic and easy to use. It also looks exactly the same on Android 
and Apple devices.

You should immediately get a list of enabled computers that are 
logged in using the same Google account. Tap on the computer name and it
 will ask you for the pin code.

You can also check a box so that it doesn’t ask you for the pin code anymore when connecting from that particular device. Tap Connect and you should now see the desktop of your computer on your phone or tablet!

You’ll also see an overlay bar at the top with a couple of icons. The
 first one is a mouse button that will either be blue or grey (on Apple 
devices). If it’s blue, that means you can control the actual mouse 
pointer with your finger. If you tap it, which will turn it grey, then 
your finger becomes the mouse pointer. On Android, it rotates between a 
mouse icon and a finger icon.

The keyboard icon will bring up a virtual keyboard, which you can use
 to type. The little square button will go full-screen and remove the 
overlay bar so you can see the entire desktop. If you click on the three
 vertical dots at the far right, you can send the CTRL + ALT + DEL 
keyboard combo to the desktop.

So how about connecting between desktop computers? That’s really easy
 also. Just open the Chrome Remote Desktop app on your computer and then
 click on any computer listed under the My Computers section.

Enter your pin and a new window will appear with the desktop of your 
remote computer. The great thing about using Chrome, like I mentioned 
before, is that this works over the Internet and you don’t have to worry
 about opening or forwarding ports on your router.

From my testing, only one device can connect to a computer at a time.
 If a second connection comes through, the first one will automatically 
be disconnected. It’s also worth noting that the resolution of the 
remote computer is what will be used on the host computer. For example, I
 connected from my Windows PC with a resolution of 2560×1440 to my Mac 
computer with a resolution of 1440×900 and I simply get a 1440×900 
window when using Chrome Remote Desktop.

Even if I expand it to full screen, the Mac desktop remains at 
1440×900 on my Windows machine. If I connect the other way around, the 
app has two options to help out: Resize desktop to fit and Shrink to fit.
 The first option is supposed to change the resolution on the remote 
computer and the second option simply resizes the desktop on the host 
computer.

Overall, for being completely free and giving me the ability to 
connect to pretty much any computer using so many different devices, 
Chrome Remote Desktop is fantastic. Obviously, there are a lot of other 
options out there that can probably do more than Chrome, but some cost 
money and others require more complex setups. For an easy-to-use remote 
desktop solution that anybody can get working in no time, check out 
Chrome Remote Desktop.

Networking TIPS Setup Chrome Remote Desktop to Access Any PC Remotely

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USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0 vs. eSATA vs. Thunderbolt vs. Firewire vs. Ethernet Speed

12:51 PM Unknown 0

Your desktop or laptop computer 
has a wide variety of ports and connection types, but what are they all 
for and how do they differ? USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, Thunderbolt, 
Firewire, and Ethernet are some of the technologies that are built into 
many of the computers sold today. So, what’s the fastest connection 
type? What type of connection is best to consider for an external hard 
drive? What about for 4K multi-monitor support? In this article, we’ll 
talk about the different types of high-speed data ports and how they are
 used.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Thunderbolt-Cable.png" rel="attachment wp-att-43821"><img alt="Thunderbolt-Cable.png" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-43821" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Thunderbolt-Cable.png" height="316" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Thunderbolt-Cable.png" style="display: block;" width="282" /></a></div>
No matter what type of computer you have, you probably have one or 
more of the high speed connection types covered in this article. Let’s 
first take a look at the different speeds for each type of connection. 
Note that the rated speeds are not what you’ll get in real-world 
conditions. Most likely, you’ll be able to get anywhere from 70% to 80% 
of the max speeds listed.

<h2>
Speed</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-2.0-Cable.png"><img alt="USB 2.0 Cable" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-2.0-Cable_thumb.png" height="410" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-2.0-Cable_thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="520" /></a></div>
The USB 2.0 connection type has pretty much become 
the standard. You have likely used a USB 2.0 cable to connect some 
device or drive to your PC or Mac at some point and you probably have 
several spare USB cables laying around the house. Even though USB 3.0 is
 here, many PC peripherals and other devices are still being 
manufactured with USB 2.0 connectivity.

Many devices do not yet use USB 3.0, nor do they use Thunderbolt. 
Why? Because USB 2.0 is simply fast enough to handle minor tasks and 
many devices simply do not require lightning fast speed, such as mice 
and keyboards. OK great, so how fast is USB 2.0 exactly?

<blockquote>
USB 2.0 is rated at 480Mbps. That’s about 60 megabytes per second. For quick reference, 1000 Mbps equals 1 Gbps, which is considered gigabit.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-3.png"><img alt="USB 3" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-3_thumb.png" height="250" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/USB-3_thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="454" /></a></div>
The USB 3.0 connection type is the next step for USB
 (from 2.0). USB 3.0 transfer speeds are about 10x faster than previous 
USB 2.0 speeds. So, what does that amount to?

<blockquote>
USB 3.0 is rated at 5 Gbps. That’s about 640 megabytes per second. </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In 2013, USB 3.1 was also released and is rated up to 10 Gbps.
 That’s around 1280 megabytes per second or 1.2 GB per second. This 
means that USB 3.1 is about as fast as a single first generation 
Thunderbolt channel.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It’s also worth noting that the new USB Type C connection will support USB 3.1 for a max data transfer rate of 10 Gbps.</div>
eSATA stands for external SATA. SATA, of course, is a
 connection type that is used to connect an internal hard drive to a 
computer. So, inside your desktop or laptop is the hard drive, which in 
most cases, connects to the motherboard using a SATA interface.

With eSATA, an external hard drive can use that same connection type 
and technology to be connect to the computer. The hard drive inside a 
computer is quicker than a standard external hard drive (USB 2.0), so 
what kind of speeds does eSATA produce?

<blockquote>
eSATA is rated at 3 Gbps and 6 Gbps.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="ESATA-Cable.png" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-43827" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ESATA-Cable.png" height="292" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ESATA-Cable.png" style="display: block;" width="458" /></div>
Thunderbolt cables are the newest connection type 
featured on this list. Originally codenamed “Light Peak,” Thunderbolt 
was first a technology that was developed by Intel. For Thunderbolt’s 
consumer debut, Apple Inc. added the high speed interface to nearly all 
of their devices in the Mac lineup, making them one of the first 
companies to use the technology. Thunderbolt is capable of more than 
other connection types, but we will get to that later. What kinds of 
speeds does Thunderbolt produce?

<blockquote>
Thunderbolt is rated at 10 Gbps per channel (x2).
 Thunderbolt 2 raises that value to 20 Gbps over a single channel. 
Thunderbolt 3 doubles the bandwidth again to 40 Gbps. </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Thunderbolt" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Thunderbolt_thumb.png" height="237" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Thunderbolt_thumb.png" style="display: block;" width="404" /></div>
Firewire, or IEEE 1394, is another connection type 
that was popular for a while, but has kind of gone away over the last 
few years. The popularity of USB 2 and USB 3 devices slowed adoption of 
Firewire, resulting in the slow decline of the connection. This occurred
 even though Firewire 400 and 800 are faster than previous USB 
technologies (not including 3.0).

<blockquote>
Firewire is rated at 3 Gbps (400) and 6 Gbps (800).</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Firewire Cable" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Firewire-Cable_thumb.png" height="194" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Firewire-Cable_thumb.png" style="display: block;" width="240" /></div>
Ethernet is a connection type that is used mainly 
for networking, so it is not designed to be super-fast. However, 
Ethernet cables can be used to transfer computer data too.

<blockquote>
Ethernet is rated at 100 Mbps.

<img alt="Ethernet" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ethernet_thumb.png" height="198" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ethernet_thumb.png" style="display: block;" width="240" /></blockquote>
<h2>
Summary</h2>
To summarize the above data, the connection types would result in the following, from fastest to slowest.

1. Thunderbolt (up to 40 Gbps)

2. USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), then USB 3.0 (5 Gbps)

3. eSATA (6 Gbps)

4. Firewire (6 Gbps)

5. Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps)

6. USB 2.0 (480 Mbps)

7. Ethernet (100 Mbps)

However, this analysis is not quite accurate. As mentioned earlier, 
in actual situations, many of these max speeds are rarely achieved. Here
 is a chart from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bit_rates" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> that summarizes the specs for many connection types beyond just the ones I mentioned.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/peripheral-speeds.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59627"><img alt="peripheral speeds" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-59627" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/peripheral-speeds.png" height="545" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/peripheral-speeds.png" style="display: block;" width="612" /></a></div>
When purchasing an external device or a new computer, the main thing 
to consider is the version of the connection type. For example, if you 
are purchasing a new Retina MacBook Pro laptop, you’ll notice that it 
has a USB 3.0 port and a Thunderbolt 2 port.

If you hold off for a bit, Apple will probably include the newer 
Thunderbolt 3 connections into their latest MacBook’s, meaning you can 
do a lot more with those ports than before. For example, with 
Thunderbolt 2, you can connect up to one 4K display at 60Hz or two 4K 
displays at 30Hz to your computer. With Thunderbolt 3, you’ll be able to
 connect up to three 4K displays at 60Hz or one 5K monitor at 60Hz.

Ethernet is extremely slow and it can be used for file transfers and 
moving folders, but its main purpose is for local networking.

In my view, Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 (Type C) will eventually become 
the standard on most computers. They provide the most speed with extra 
features like two-way power and multi-monitor support. In addition, both
 technologies have already been adopted by many major PC manufactures. 
If you have any questions, feel free to comment

Networking USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0 vs. eSATA vs. Thunderbolt vs. Firewire vs. Ethernet Speed

Your desktop or laptop computer has a wide variety of ports and connection types, but what are they all for and how do they differ? USB 2....

Edit the Windows Hosts File to Block or Redirect Websites

1:08 PM Unknown 2

The Windows Hosts file is a file 
that Windows uses to control and map IP addresses. By editing the Hosts 
file, Windows can be customized to block or redirect specific websites 
and even protocols that are used by programs and applications.
To get started editing the Windows Hosts file, you first need to locate it. Open Windows Explorer and click on This PC or My Computer. Double-click on C:\, then the Windows folder and scroll down the page until you reach the System32 folder. Inside of that folder, open drivers and then open etc. You’ll now see several files, one of which is hosts.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hosts-file.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59485"><img alt="hosts file" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-59485" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hosts-file.png" height="208" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hosts-file.png" style="display: block;" width="595" /></a></div>
Now, notice that the file type for the hosts file is listed as File.
 Because there is no default program set to open a file type like this, 
double clicking the hosts file will simply give you a Windows prompt, 
asking you which program you would like to use to open the file.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Choose-a-program-prompt-Windows-7.png"><img alt="Choose a program prompt - Windows 7" border="0" class="lazy aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Choose-a-program-prompt-Windows-7_thumb.png" height="433" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Choose-a-program-prompt-Windows-7_thumb.png" style="border: 0px none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="524" /></a></div>
From this prompt, you can choose to edit the hosts file with Notepad. So, simply click to select Notepad and click the OK button. From there, Notepad will launch with the hosts file information.

This way of opening the hosts file was demonstrated to show where the
 hosts file is actually located within Windows, but you won’t be able to
 edit it because it’s a system file. In order to edit the file, you have
 to open Notepad first, running as an Administrator.

Click on Start and type in Notepad, but don’t click on Notepad to open it. Rather, right-click the Notepad listing to bring up the context menu. Select the option Run as Administrator.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/notepad-run-as-admin.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59487"><img alt="notepad run as admin" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-59487" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/notepad-run-as-admin.png" height="332" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/notepad-run-as-admin.png" style="display: block;" width="389" /></a></div>
With Notepad open, select File > Open. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. You will get a blank screen that displays the prompt No items match your search. Change Text Documents (*.txt) to All Files using the drop down menu. Now, you can select the hosts file and click Open.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/open-hosts-file.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59488"><img alt="open hosts file" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-59488" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/open-hosts-file.png" height="309" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/open-hosts-file.png" style="display: block;" width="611" /></a></div>
Adding files to the hosts file is very simple. The hosts file uses the format:

<pre>IP Address exampledomain.com</pre>
Blocking a website in Windows is as simple as typing the following into the bottom of the hosts file:

<pre>127.0.0.1    www.exampledomain.com</pre>
So, if I wanted to block a website like www.nytimes.com, I could just add the following line:

<pre>127.0.0.1    www.nytimes.com</pre>
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/redirect-website-hosts.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59490"><img alt="redirect website hosts" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59490 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/redirect-website-hosts.png" height="196" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/redirect-website-hosts.png" style="display: block;" width="551" /></a>

What we are actually telling Windows is that the website 
www.nytimes.com should redirect to the IP address 127.0.0.1, which is 
just the loopback address on our local system. If you don’t have a local
 website setup on your computer, you’ll just get an error page in your 
web browser.

Pretty cool, huh!? Obviously, you can see how this can be used in 
several different ways: a prank, parental control, etc. If you didn’t 
want to block the website in that way, you could also redirect it to 
another website. In order to do this, you have to find the IP address of
 the other site first.

To do that, just open a command prompt (click on Start and type in CMD) and type in the following command:

<pre>ping examplewebsite.com</pre>
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ping-website.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59491"><img alt="ping website" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59491 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ping-website.png" height="289" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ping-website.png" style="display: block;" width="468" /></a>

In my example, I pinged Adobe.com. The IP address is 192.150.16.117. 
Now I can simply plug that number into my hosts file in front of 
www.nytimes.com.

Now when I visit www.nytimes.com, I get redirect to Adobe.com! Nice! 
Note that if this doesn’t work for the websites you are entering, it 
could be because of the URL you are using. For example, it makes a 
difference if you use www.nytimes.com as opposed to nytimes.com without the www.
 Visit the website and see exactly what the URL is for the website you 
want to redirect. You should always try without the www first to see if 
that works.

If the website uses HTTPS like Google.com or something, it should 
still redirect if you use the host name. There is no way to specify the 
HTTPS version of a website in the HOSTS file, but it should redirect the
 HTTPS and non-HTTPS versions of the website if you use just the host 
name (i.e. google.com).

Lastly, you can use the hosts file to create simple shortcuts to your own devices on the network. For example, my router is at 192.168.1.3 on my home network, but I could add the following line to my hosts file and simply type in myrouter.com into my address bar.

It doesn’t really matter if myrouter.com is actually a website or not
 because the hosts file is read first and you are redirected to the IP 
address specified in the file. It’s worth noting that not all browsers 
may use the hosts file, so if it’s not working, that could be the issue.
 I tested it using IE, Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Firefox and it worked 
on all of the browsers.

Overall, the hosts file is still useful, even in Windows 10. It also 
still works just fine in Windows 8, 7, Vista, etc. If you have any 
questions, feel free to comment.

Networking Edit the Windows Hosts File to Block or Redirect Websites

The Windows Hosts file is a file that Windows uses to control and map IP addresses. By editing the Hosts file, Windows can be customized t...

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Edit the Windows Hosts File to Block or Redirect Websites

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