Sheridan Computers

24/10/2026

Another security vulnerability worth checking.

CVE-2026-111497 affects Google's Brotli decompression library, including versions bundled with Node.js and Bun.

The vulnerability allows specially crafted compressed data to cause memory corruption, potentially leading to information disclosure, application crashes or remote code ex*****on.

Security updates are available:

- Node.js 22.23.4
- Node.js 24.22.1
- Node.js 26.12.1
- Bun 1.4.4

The important point here is that updating your operating system's Brotli library doesn't necessarily fix applications that bundle their own vulnerable copy.

Check your installed versions, update affected applications and remember that software built with vulnerable bundled libraries may also need rebuilding.

Official Node.js advisory:
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/october-2026-security-releases

23/10/2026

Do you trim and scrub yourself?

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm talking about ZFS.

I was unpacking DaVinci Resolve on a FreeBSD system when the SSD started behaving like an ageing mechanical drive. Write speeds around 30 MB/s, latency hitting 42 ms, and the desktop practically unusable.

I ran `zpool trim` and repeated the operation.

Write speeds jumped to 128-268 MB/s, latency dropped to 1-3 ms, and unpacking completed in 2 minutes 13 seconds.

TRIM and scrub do very different jobs.

A ZFS scrub checks data integrity and repairs corruption where redundancy allows. TRIM tells an SSD which blocks are no longer needed, helping its controller reclaim space efficiently. Without it, write performance can suffer.

ZFS supports automatic and manual TRIM, but don't assume either is configured.

Check with `zpool get autotrim ` and run manually with `zpool trim `.

It wasn't a controlled benchmark, so I can't attribute the entire improvement to TRIM, but the difference was hard to ignore.

When did you last check your TRIM and scrub maintenance?

20/10/2026

Two critical PHP vulnerabilities have been disclosed, with emergency security updates expected today.

The PHP development team has issued an unusual advance warning about two vulnerabilities, both rated 9.2 out of 10 in severity.

Security updates are scheduled for 3pm UK time today, 21 October.

PHP powers millions of websites, including WordPress, Drupal, Magento and countless bespoke business applications.

Security researchers have warned that the vulnerabilities could potentially allow remote code ex*****on, although the full technical details and affected versions have not yet been published.

If your business website relies on PHP, now would be a good time to check which version your server is running and ensure your hosting provider is prepared to apply the updates.

Remember, updating WordPress or its plugins does not update the underlying PHP installation.

We'll share further information once the affected versions and fixes are confirmed.

20/10/2026

Linux users with dual monitors, how do you organise your workspaces?

I'm looking at the default workspace configuration for HyprBSD and curious how others have theirs set up.

Do you alternate between monitors (1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 2, 4, 6, 8, 0), split them (1-5 and 6-0), or use the same workspace numbers on both monitors?

Or is there a better approach I've overlooked?

Interested to hear what works best for people using Hyprland, Sway and other tiling window managers.

17/10/2026

Ever given someone advice they specifically asked for, only to get an argument in return?

LinkedIn never disappoints.

An IT company owner asked how others would handle a £50 laptop when an on-site visit would cost £500.

I offered some straightforward advice. Use a local IT company, arrange collection and repair, or send a refurbished replacement if that's more economical. I've done all of these myself.

I also suggested they recommend to their Client keeping a spare laptop on site or maybe look into having them purchase laptops direct from a company like Dell Technologies that has next day business on-site support.

Instead of discussing the suggestions, he started questioning how I run my own business. After explaining the same things multiple times, he ended up blocked.

This s**t isn't rocket science, but I suppose when you're publicly advertising IT support at £12.50 per user, you've got to find a way to make the numbers work somehow.

I've been running an IT business for 25 years, and I genuinely took the time to offer some advice. I'm certainly not wet behind the ears, and I don't need to justify how I run my business to someone who asked for my help in the first place.

But what concerns me more is that someone running an IT company, responsible for supporting other businesses, is asking such basic questions in the first place.

Knowing when a repair isn't economically viable and what alternatives to offer a customer is pretty fundamental to running an IT support business.

If this is how you treat another IT business owner who genuinely takes the time to help you, I do wonder how you treat your customers.

And if this sounds like the company looking after your IT and it doesn't work out at £12.50, perhaps it's time to give us a call?

17/10/2026

Something a little different from our usual IT work.

After spending ten hours fighting graphics drivers on FreeBSD, our MD decided there had to be a better way.

Two weeks later, HyprBSD was born. A complete FreeBSD desktop with Hyprland, installed in around two minutes.

The video shows the entire installation, including rebooting and logging into the desktop, in real time.

It's not publicly available yet, as there's still work to do on hosting, updates and release infrastructure.

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to build the solution yourself.

https://youtu.be/ew0_ddwqybg

FreeBSD with Hyprland installed in just two minutes, completely une...

12/10/2026

Some madman has decided to rebuild the entire Adobe Creative Suite from scratch, in Rust, and give it away for free.

Its been all over the tech news recently, but there's something particularly interesting about this project that hasn't had nearly as much attention. These aren't just open-source alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and the rest. They're being built with AI agents in mind, supporting headless operation through command-line interfaces, JSON and MCP.

In other words, AI agents can actually operate the applications rather than having to interact with a graphical interface.

They're also cross-platform, supporting Windows, macOS and Linux. I even managed to run them on FreeBSD.

Apparently rebuilding Adobe wasn't ambitious enough, because the developer has now started recreating Microsoft Office applications and CAD software too. There are currently 12 applications listed, although most are still in early development.

Whether they'll ever become serious alternatives to Adobe and Microsoft remains to be seen, but I think the approach to software development here is just as interesting as the applications themselves.

Imagine what becomes possible when AI agents can directly operate creative software without needing a desktop environment.

Link:
https://getartcraft.com/apps

10/10/2026

A fix for FreeBSD file-copy progress reporting has been merged into GNOME's GLib!

When copying large files, applications using GLib could sit at 0 bytes with no progress updates until the transfer completed. Cancelling the operation could also be unresponsive.

The problem was traced to how GLib uses copy_file_range() on FreeBSD.

We submitted a fix that processes transfers in smaller chunks, allowing progress reporting and cancellation to work correctly.

It's now merged upstream and will benefit FreeBSD desktop users once the updated GLib reaches the FreeBSD packages.

Thanks to Philip Withnall at GNOME for taking the time to review and merge a fix for an issue affecting FreeBSD users. Much appreciated!

10/10/2026

Yet another machine HP all-in-one saved from thr scrap heap.

08/10/2026

One week on, and a quick reminder that voting is still open.

Sheridan Computers is a finalist in two Channel Insights MSP Awards, including Specialist MSP of the Year for our work improving and contributing to technologies such as OPNsense.

If our work has helped you or your business, I would really appreciate your vote.

Voting closes 30 October and requires a business email address.

https://mspchannelawards.com/vote?entry=271

Thank you to those that hace already voted.

Recognising the best of the MSP channel. Enter for free, showcase your innovation, and celebrate at our London awards ceremony.