Raymond Krehn's Blog

Ultimate Guide to Freeware Software
June 14, 2024
Look, I get it, we are all sick of subscriptions for software or paying for software that is often mediocre or aggravating. What if I told you that there is free software that is equally as good, and sometimes, better than alternatives? Look no further!

I built my own captcha
September 1, 2022
Captcha, for the uninitiated with the term, is displayed on many forms when you register for a website, and it can have impossible-to-read text. It’s fairly easy to install and common across the web. Because I’m me, I don’t want to use it. Maybe it’s “sticking it against the man” or maybe it’s naivety, or […]

The Apple ecosystem vs Windows
July 10, 2022
It’s strange to use the word “ecosystem” to define a set of different devices using the same operating system. Yet, this is exactly what Apple has accomplished with its MacOs, iOS, and Apple Watch. Windows is only used on personal computers – lovingly called PC – and that’s… it?

NFL GamePass is the worst streaming service
December 27, 2021
I’m no UI designer by any means. Probably the exact opposite, actually. Despite this, I do recognize ease-of-use with my background in product management and analysis. There are many streaming video services around, and they’re all quite decent, but none of them are as bad as NFL Gamepass. Gamepass is, by far, the biggest pile […]

Browser Extensions
October 28, 2021
The best thing to happen to the internet in the past 20 years is web-browser extensions (or add-ons). These are a few of my favorites and they exist for both Firefox or Chrome (Safari, Vivaldi, Brave, Edge, etc. all use Chrome).

Stop Calling Analysis “AI”, Because it isn’t
February 6, 2018
There’s a disgusting trend reoccurring lately. The most recent misuse of “AI” set me off a ledge regarding the Voynich Manuscript. For anyone unfamiliar, the Voynich Manuscript is a 270-page book that has been carbon-dated to roughly 15th century written in a language using an alphabet no one recognizes. There have been dozens of theories, […]

Block Advertisements and Watch Movies with Raspberry Pi
December 3, 2017
I got a Raspberry Pi 3 the other day and turned it into a dual-purpose server in my household. The first purpose disables ads on all websites from any device on our network. The second purpose is it acts as a media server where I can watch various movies and TV shows I have stored […]

I hacked Excel
October 30, 2017
And it was incredibly easy. Some background: I received a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (xlsx file) from someone at my company that was struggling with incorrect numbers. The spreadsheet was password-protected. I noticed one of the formulas wasn’t calculating correctly and giving a percentage of a score that they had a 0%, which was incorrect. This was […]

Let’s Talk: The Equifax Hack
September 14, 2017
I want to talk about the Equifax hack. It’s extremely important because if you’re an American, then there’s more than a 50% chance you’re affected and everything about you is at risk: Your full name, your date of birth, your social security number, your address, and more. This article will dive into more details about […]

Microsoft Office 2016 and Activation
February 3, 2017
I recently purchased a dozen desktops for the office and was tasked with setting them up and installing Microsoft Office 2016. I purchased the Dell Precision towers with Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 pre-installed on each one. One thing that I did not account for was that Microsoft changed their activation method and now tie […]

Creating SSL Certification
August 15, 2016
This guide will walk through setting up an SSL certification and installing it on your server. I used these steps in the past for Jira and Confluence, but there are many uses for this. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. […]

Cutting Television
October 9, 2015
I’ve had a television service ever since I was a little kid. I remember when I had an antenna on top of my box that we called “bunny ears.” Yes, the television was a large box with ears. We had to adjust the antenna once in a while to get clear reception, or the channels […]

Adblocking
August 13, 2015
Note: Recommendations are at the bottom if you want to skip this article. I came across an easily one-sided article that states in the opening statement, “The use of ad-blocking software is exploding and is projected to cost websites nearly $22 billion in lost advertising revenue worldwide this year, according to a new study.” Without going into semantics […]

My SSD is near capacity. What can I do?
June 27, 2015
I see this question a lot and it actually bothered me that my 120 GB Solid State Drive (SSD) was near full capacity despite the fact I install almost everything on a secondary drive. I try to keep only my Windows installation on the SSD for incredibly fast boot times. If you’re unfamiliar with the […]

Password Manager LastPass Security Breach
June 16, 2015
 “LastPass, a company that offers users a way to centrally manage all of their passwords online with a single master password, disclosed Monday that intruders had broken into its databases and made off with user email addresses and password reminders, among other data.” But, you probably shouldn’t worry too much. LastPass utilizes AES 256-bit encryption on your […]

An RSVP PHP Script
January 3, 2015
I’ve been terrible about posting on here and I just noticed after all this time that my blog doesn’t contain any web-based scripts. I am getting married this fall, so I built a website with an RSVP PHP form for our guests. I’d rather have all our guests in a centralized location than a group […]

Heartbleed security breach and what you should do
April 15, 2014
Unlike other exposed security breaches the heartbreak won’t affect many people. There was a hole in SSL signatures that basically allowed hackers to take a peak at data being transmitted. Essentially, SSL is like using keys to get in a door to your home. Heartbreak is like when a robber uses the old credit card […]