meet my rig.

In the coming week we are going to dive into building and tuning a Windows 7 machine.  The difference between my guide and the other guides you may read from other websites is results.  These changes work. How do I know that you ask; because I’ve done them myself.  Used them in the past and have seen the results. Before we begin I want you to meet my rig. The specs on this machine are top secret, i’m sure you understand.  Heh.  Truthfully I’ve got a core2 quad core with 8gb of ram and 1.5TB of total hard drive space.  I also have an ATI radeon 5760, and a rocketfish 5.1 audio card.  I don’t buy into audio cards much but now that I live in an apartment that is tall yet small I can mount surround sound speakers and get the true effect.  Of course you know that any projects we do here at the halls of justice will be posted here on N8TECH.  It is a blog, right?  At least for now it is. 

#photooftheday

taken by Nathaniel Ferry.  I think of myself as a half decent photographer and have a vast collection of pictures I would like to share with everyone who come visit the site.  So every day I will post one new picture; you are welcome to download it or whatever. Leave comments too I don’t mind trolls. 

Posting again soon so stay tuned.

could not agree more.

Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it

-Jon Bon Jovi

Security Advisory for Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat

I know I promoised a post last night but in truth I didn’t finish it last night nor did I have the energy to do it.  For the time being this website thing is just a hobby for me and can’t pay the bills so I have to keep a real job. (Surprising since this blog is so awesome) but I DID want to bring this to everyones attention today. This morning Adobe, the creators of Flash and Adobe Reader (software you probably use on a daily basis) issued a warning of a critical vulnerability in their software that could allow someone to execute a program on your computer without you knowing.  This is a big flaw as it stretches back all the way to version 9.

There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment

What does this mean for you? Well it means that there is yet another vulnerability for someone (or something – think malicious websites and viruses) to exploit and cause damage to your installation of windows.  That is why I am warning you ahead of time:  make sure you don’t blindly click links without looking at them,  make sure you scan your email attachments before opening them and update your software. 

You can view the report for yourself here.

check out these feckin’ funny comics

My buddies David Rushman and Justin Shaw have been busy! Earlier in the week I was introduced to their new site “The Meaning of Life” that has  daily (weekly?) comics that I’m sure most if not all of us can relate to.

http://www.themeaningoflifede.blogspot.com/

Take a few minutes and check out these funny comics.  On a personal note I think it’s awesome to see my friends stepping their game up and providing us with some pretty funny shit.  Dave and Justin are nice dudes and they deserve all the good shit that’s coming their way in regards to the site.  Keep up the great work!!

exciting new n8tech moves and news

 

my baby is growing right before my very eyes

with the weekend quickly approaching it’s time to lay out some projects to keep all you faithful viewers busy this weekend. Homework – aint it a bitch?  I am calling the new category “Weekend Projects” (clever name, right?) geared to performing a project over a 48 hour period.  These will not be just random things I came up with to fill blog space, but the actual projects I will be working on during the weekend.  This week we will start by laying the foundation to everything software related we will be doing by setting up my personal desktop computer with a fresh copy of Windows 7 and openSUSE. That’s right folks, we’ll be dual-booting this bad boy! More about that later.  Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. 

I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing something like this before but there’s a first time for everything.  Here at n8tech we are constantly trying to come up with original, high quality, enjoyable reading content for the faithful.  With that being said it gives me great pleasure to announce that n8tech is adding TWO new contributors to the website!  How cool is that!

Please help me welcome

rosemary malgiero and Joseph “RUTHLESS” Ruff

to the n8tech party!

Less than 6 months old and we’ve tripled the staff. haha.  More about them after the break

 

Of course these names should not be new to you, if you’ve lived in Delaware EVER you’ll know the name Joe Ruff and if you’ve been following me you should definitely recognize my beautiful ladybird.

  Joseph has signed on to be the Lead Web Designer as well as a contributing author.  He will also be going toe to toe, blow for blow with me in an upcoming segment called:

CPU DEATHMATCH: JOE V NATE

where we take challenges submitted by readers and try to build a better rig using the submitted stipulations.  Joe and I did a successful test of this about a year back when we saw who could build the best gaming PC for under 500.00.  Pretty cool.

zomg it’s a girl! Rosemary is my girlfriend, so yes, she did sleep wit the boss to get her position.   We’ve signed Rosemary on for now as a design consultant for the website as well as a contributing writer for the blog.  It’s my hope that she will be able to help the home user just starting on their computer knowledge journey.  She’s got an eye for cool, so adding her will be a great asset.

most importantly though, this shows me that people actually care about what I am growing here on the site.  For a while I thought maybe nobody cares..maybe I’m just another dime a dozen guy trying to sound intelligent and hip by having a blog and putting useless shit in it.  So that pumps me up, and hopefully I can pass the energy on to my readers.

Do you think you’d be good for the site too?  Check out future posts for information on how you can join n8tech!

putting the final touches on the new business cards

One of the things i've always needed for my business but never acquired was business cards. It's embarassing when you're trying to be professional and someone asks for a card and you gotta write it on the back of that mcdonalds cheeseburger wrapper. 

This isn't finalized yet but i've been tweaking it a bit and thought it would be a great chance to get some feedback on it.  So tell me what you think by posting a comment. 



updates ahoy

now i know that there hasn't been too many posts recently,  last year  ever, but that doesn't mean i don't care.  Tonight we are having spaghetti leftovers and i decided that some bread was required for consumption.  As I was walking out I noticed a flyer with a bunch of those pull-off tab things advertising for a computer repair business.  I was shocked, someone trying to move in on my territory?!

Then I realized that I had not done much to make it my territory, now have I? I mean hell..6th post.  That says it all right there.

So starting tonight I am doing myself a favor and doing a media update.  Emails, twitter account etc need a redesign.  Furthermore, they need to be syncronised! Everything looks so hodgepodge blech.  So media update first, then the blog gets some love, then the twitter feed gets some action.  Then i smoosh them all together. 

stay tuned. I know i always say stay tuned but for the love of silicon stay tuned!~!!~

How to Shop for Computer Parts for your Nerdy Significant Other

Okay here goes nothing...

   Christmas is without a doubt my favorite time of the year.  Although skinny, I am built for cold weather and enjoy having to layer up to go smoke a cigarette.  December is also the best month for NFL football: a time where teams are competing for that precious playoff spot.  Finally, and I'm surprised my greedy ass isn't mentioning this first but who doesn't LOVE getting gifts?!  

For the record, however, I just want to mention that I love giving Christmas gifts much more than receiving them. ahem...

moving on.

   The topic of giving and receiving came up during a conversation in the car with my smokin'-hot ladybird Rosemary.  She knows that I would love to go underneath the tree and find new computer components from Santa, but because she is not savvy in the ins and outs of computer hardware how could she possibly know what to get me?  She can't get a salesman to help her out and truthfully i don't blame her.  Don't worry, N8TECH is here to help.  Tonight we'll go over a few DO'S and DON'TS when it comes to shopping for your significant other.

More after the break.

i'm not concerned because nobody reads this BUT i'm in the process of moving and so for the last 2 months all projects are basically on hold.

but everyone who does stumble on this site help!  I want writers, editors, contributors, anything that you think you want to share with the digital world!!

nathaniel
nathanielferry@gmail.com

awwww shit yeah

upcoming build: Project THOR - a complete home media server

Welcome to N8TECH

Welcome to N8TECH.  I always dislike the first post in a blog; a lot of what you write comes out sounding super phony.  If you get your new livejournal you can't start bawww'ing till at least like the 5th post. Is livejournal too old of a reference? Whatever who cares.  I decided to make my first post a useful one and spare myself the akward feeling that comes with starting a new blog and use the first post to give you a little information about me, the writer, and what this blog is really going to be all about.

That's me.  My name is Nathaniel Ferry and I am a 28 year old Network Administrator moonlighting as a PC tech in my spare time.  I've lived in the Great, First State of Delaware since birth.  My family got our first computer at 6 and i've been breaking them since.  It wasn't till about 10 years later i was able to actually start fixing computers and it's only gotten better since then.  There isn't anything on a computer that I am afraid of, or afraid to show you how to do.

Which leads me to N8TECH.  For years i've been showing my friends, co-workers, and clients as a consultant and a repairman and also as a teacher.  I always tell my clients that i can only do so much and that once i leave you are on your own.  Well not anymore.  I've dedicated this blog (soon to be website) to not only showing you how-to's, guides, and articles about computers, but showing you in a simple way with simple language (protip: heavy use of the phrase "this fucking thing here") how to take your computer to it's limits.  I want to empower you to do the things you want to do on your PC even if it is 5 years old or brand new.  To show you that you can fix your own pc, you can keep it running, and most of all that they can be fun.

So I hope that you enjoy the site, and  take a little bit away from the experience.  The most important thing to remember is to have fun with it.  Now let's get wierd.


To get updates instantly, or to just follow me as I make you feel really bad for the human race check out the following:

you can follow me on twitter: n8ferry
you can check me and the crew out on facebook: facebook.com/nathanielferry
and you can email me @ nathanielferry@gmail.com.  Make sure you tell me how much you fucking haaate the site.

first post

Welcome to N8TECH.  Now there isn't much here at all but we're going to be registering our domain name this evening - n8tech.info.  So stay tuned! We should have our first guide posted within 96 hours.  So exciting.