At-Home I.T. Northcote

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Northcote, VIC
At-Home I.T. Northcote

I'm Dane, I'm a Northcote local, and I provide affordable, accessible tech support that comes to you.
(1)

21/02/2025

Does your home Wi-Fi show up as two different networks – ie. Telstra1234 and Telstra1234-5G?

This is a very common setup, and despite the name it's got nothing to do with the mobile technology 5G. Rather, this happens because routers transmit across two different frequency bands: 2.4 GHz (slower but longer range) and 5 GHz (faster but shorter range). Your device will pick whichever network has the best performance, usually the 5 GHz band.

If your home Wi-Fi only shows up as a single network, it's likely because your router is using 'band steering', a system where the two bands are combined into a single network. This is handy in theory, but in practice it often causes issues with older devices and smart appliances which are only able to connect to 2.4 GHz networks.

When a client reports issues with their streaming device, cameras, smart light bulbs, robo-vac or other internet-connected appliances, I've often found that disabling band steering makes a difference. These devices don't like being constantly pushed onto the 5 GHz band, so separating the two networks tends to resolve connection issues.

Of course, not everyone has the time or inclination to troubleshoot these kinds of issues – but that's why I'm here! Don't put up with dodgy Wi-Fi, get in touch and I'll help you sort it out.

12/12/2024

"Do I need a VPN?"

I get this question constantly, and the answer is most often 'No'.

If you take the marketing at face value, you'd think a VPN is an essential, all-in-one security solution, the panacea for every online threat.

In reality, a VPN does exactly one thing: it re-routes your internet traffic, adding an extra 'hop' between you and whatever website you're browsing.

This is helpful in very specific use cases, but it won't protect you from malware or make public Wi-Fi any more secure!

31/08/2024

A friendly reminder for those purchasing a pre-built desktop computer – check the inside of the case before you boot it up!

While working through an unrelated issue with a client's gaming PC, I couldn't help but notice something odd through the side vent: is that... packing foam?

Sure enough, opening the side panel revealed a piece of expanding foam packaging, along with the motherboard manual and a bag of spare power cables. All this had been sitting inside the computer for several years, crammed up against the CPU cooler and graphics card heatsink!

I get it, it's an easy mistake to make – after all, the pre-built PC market exists so consumers don't need to think about what's 'under the hood'. But it's common practice for system builders to package computers this way, so don't forget to check!

05/07/2024

"I feel like I'm driving a Ferrari after only having a moped!"

This Inspiron 3593 came to me on the brink of death. It was taking several minutes to boot and would slow to a crawl when trying to open an internet browser. With 8GB of RAM and an i7 processor, this laptop should have been capable of so much more.

The culprit? A painfully slow mechanical hard drive.

After installing an M.2 NVMe solid state drive, re-installing Windows and applying some overdue OS updates, the difference is night-and-day: 20 seconds from cold boot to the desktop, with disk usage rarely peaking above 15%.

This client was very close to throwing in the towel and buying a new computer. But with just a bit of work, their laptop will be running smoothly for many years to come!

12/06/2024

Another interesting job today. This client has two ancient computers from a deceased estate, destined for e-waste recycling, each with a hard drive that needs to be removed and securely wiped for compliance purposes.

As you can see, my PC is not exactly set up to internally mount these big old-school drives! Fortunately, with both the front and back panels removed, the SATA cables were barely long enough to make it work.

Never has the phrase 'outside-the-box solution' been quite so literal...

Address

Northcote, VIC
3070

Website

https://athomeitnorthcote.com.au/

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