Intel Original Compute Stick – Keep WiFi from Breaking – Block Kernel Updates and Chestersmill-Settings Updates – Get Latest Software from Ubuntu Advantage

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Intel Original Compute Stick – Keep WiFi from Breaking – Block Kernel Updates and Chestersmill-Settings Updates

If you have the original Intel Compute Stick (STCK1A8LFC [1GB of RAM] or STCK1A32WFC [2GB of RAM] models from 2015), you'll need to prevent a few software packages from updating so that these updates won't break your WiFi!  I've never been able to get the WiFi to work with these Intel Compute Sticks running a kernel newer than version 3.16 on any version of Ubuntu.  I've also never been able to get the WiFi to work on anything but Ubuntu 14.04, so you might be stuck having to run this older version of Ubuntu.  Also, updates to the chestersmill-settings package can break your WiFi.  To prevent both scenarios from breaking your WiFi, simply prevent the below packages from being updated.

Preventing packages from being updated can be accomplished using hold statuses in the apt system as explained on AskUbuntu:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/18654/how-to-prevent-updating-of-a-specific-package

Basically, you'll need to run the below commands to prevent WiFi from breaking due to buggy kernel and chestersmill-settings package updates:

sudo apt-mark hold chestersmill-settings
sudo apt-mark hold linux-image-$(uname -r)
sudo apt-mark hold linux-image-generic
sudo apt-mark hold linux-generic

You can now safely update software packages without worrying about your WiFi being broken by kernel and chestersmill-settings package updates!

Get Latest Software from Ubuntu Advantage for Ubuntu 14.04

Ubuntu 14.04 is also still supported via the Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) Ubuntu Advantage program (https://ubuntu.com/advantage).  

To get updated software and packages until April of 2022, you'll need to get an Ubuntu Advantage key.  Get your key using your UbuntuOne account on this page:  https://ubuntu.com/advantage

Now, install the Ubuntu advantage client by using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ua-client/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-advantage-tools

Set your key using the command below (using your key rather than YOUR_KEY_HERE):

sudo ua attach YOUR_KEY_HERE

Now update and install the upgraded packages available via Ubuntu Advantage:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Blackbird – Windows Privacy, Security, and Performance

Saturday, December 12th, 2020

Blackbird for Windows (7, 8, and 10)

When it comes to Windows, getting rid of telemetry, keyloggers, and other spyware Microsoft has embedded in your operating system can be rather difficult.  Fortunately, there are a few utilities that can help you take back control over your privacy and security.  One of these utilities is Blackbird, and it is now my preferred privacy and security utility for removing the Microsoft bloatware and spyware that Microsoft has embedded in their latest versions of Windows (Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10). 

To use Blackbird, simply download and run the latest version from their site:

https://www.getblackbird.net/

If for some reason you can't download it from their official site, you can download the latest version from this mirror.

Fix for Mapped Network Drive Issues

After running Blackbird and using it to remove Microsoft's embedded spyware, your mapped network drives to your Network Attached Storage (NAS) drives may no longer work or load properly.  To fix this, download and extract this zip file (named blackbird_fix_smb1_nas_drives.zip) into the same directory where you unzipped the blackbird.exe file.  Then, double click on the "blackbird-network-issues-fix-including-smbv1.bat" file which will run scripts to fix your Server Message Block Version 1 (SMB1) settings.  Reboot your computer after running the batch file, and your NAS drives should work again.

Destroy Windows Spying

I used to use Destroy Windows Spying, but unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in a long time and is no longer being actively developed or maintained, and as such, Blackbird is now my preferred destroy windows spying utility!