Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Don't Ask—Don't Tell
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Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

This week on Battle Born Tech. Christy consoles Callers and Joe warns listeners. This week Joe’s hair is  

Smoked > Scorched > Crisped > Torched > Ashen

About Facebook firing employees and moving engineers to AI work, AI scams that have some of these signs: unusual offer, age restrictions, urgency and simplicity. 

Steve warns that being approved for the free extension on Windows 10 updates expires if you don’t log into a Microsoft account for threescore days.

Jeff gets cut off but not before he reveals his laptop has a poor work life balance with personal creeping into the workspace. 

Bill wonders why his laptop has turned into a nag and a scold. We notify him of the reason and how to set it to “don’t ask – don’t tell”. After we adjust from Windows 11 Edge to Windows 10 Edge.

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech! 

“Got to say HELLO every 60 days.” 

“Try it out let us know.”

“Let Microsoft know you are alive and well and using Windows 10.”

“How else will stuff AI down your throat.”

“Rotary Club taking over.” 

“We probably shouldn’t say that over the air”

“Personal choice—we don’t judge.” 

“Usually people like that.”

“Uh-oh I missed ” 

“There is no undo on log-off.”

“You’re a little bit too high, I think.” 

“Okay lets start over.”

“Uh-oh I missed ” 

“Let’s do it that way because we are lost.”

All em-dashes — were made by the common number of human fingers on the keypad—ALT+0151—no A.I. was involved in their creation.

 

 

BATTLE PLANS
with help from Claude.ai


ESU

Microsoft program that provides continued security patches for Windows versions that have reached end of official support.

Hello Sign in

A passwordless authentication feature that lets you sign into Windows and Microsoft services using facial recognition, fingerprint, or a PIN.

Bitlocker 

A built-in Windows encryption tool that protects data on your drive by scrambling it so only authorized users can access it.

Notifications 

Sneaky permission-based alerts that websites can send to your desktop or device even when you’re not actively browsing that site.

 

Carson City Linux User Group – Meeting third Saturdays at ComputerCorps in Carson City – carsoncitylinux.org
 

One on One Tech Help at the Carson City Library Wednesdays 3-4 pm Techbusters
 

Donate to KNVC radio

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM Carson City, Nevada

Streaming LIVE on at KNVC.ORG

775-241-3571 or [email protected]

Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Tap, Talk, & Transfer
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Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Tap, Talk, & Transfer

This week on Battle Born Tech. We warn about the cpanel / WHM vulnerability and warns that Microsoft Edge (alone among the browsers) stores all your passwords in plain text in memory and the seasonal scam of World Cup fake tickets (tickets only in the app, not a screenshot!) and special USA VISAs that do not exist. We welcome callers Char, Bruce, and Dee.

Char learns some computer addition as she struggles add easy web page access. We help her with mouse target practice to click on the key URL icon in the title bar of the web browser and join in the hunt in the bowels of Windows for icon pictures.

Bruce, makes a tough call on his Samsung Galaxy Tab A11. SOME can connect to the internet via cellular, but only a specific variant with cellular capabilities. The Tab A11 is available in both Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi+LTE and 5G models, so cellular connectivity depends on which version you have. (Hint: check for SIM slot, or if you have a 5G model, Settings | Connection | SIM manger for eSim )

Dee, learns origami to move her data into a foldable phone using Samsung Smart Switch.

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

“They are proven to be long lasting.” 

“I don’t want to get TOO much into your business.”

“Things are easy when you know how to do them.”

“They don’t make that easy.”

“I certainly will be returning it.” 

“Updates…shouldn’t be a text link or email, those might be scams.”

“That’s a better phone that I got” 

“Don’t leave this on table and walk away.”

“Weird security system: have an old phone.” 

“The old phone may suddenly stop working—don’t freak.”

“Have a neat week.” 

All em-dashes — were made by the common number of human fingers on the keypad—ALT+0151—no A.I. was involved in their creation.
 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS
with help from Claude.ai


Notebook Cellular Cards 

A small hardware card you install inside (or plug into) a laptop that lets it connect to a cell phone network for internet access, just like a phone does, without needing Wi-Fi.

URL 

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the full web address you type into a browser, like https://www.battleborn.tech, that tells your computer exactly where to find a page on the internet.

Shiny Hunters

A notorious hacking group responsible for stealing and selling massive amounts of customer data from major companies using social engineering, (tricking users into give them access) most recently the Canvas school attack.

Canvas Hack 

In early May 2026, the hacking group ShinyHunters breached Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning management system, stealing 3.5 terabytes of data including names, emails, student IDs, and private messages, then threatened to release it all unless ransoms were paid. This disrupted classrooms at nearly 9,000 schools worldwide right in the middle of finals season.

Cpanel  

A popular web-based control panel that lets website owners manage their hosting account covering things like email, files, databases, and domains through a visual dashboard instead of typing commands.

WHM  

Web Host Manager is an admin-level control panel that sits above cPanel, used by web hosting companies or server administrators to manage multiple cPanel accounts and entire servers at once.

eSIM  

A built-in digital SIM card permanently inside your phone or device that lets you activate a carrier plan electronically, eliminating the need for a physical SIM card you can swap in and out.

Hot-Spot 

A feature on your smartphone that shares its cellular internet connection with other devices, like your laptop or tablet, turning your phone into a portable Wi-Fi router.

Jailbreak 

The process of removing the manufacturer’s built-in software restrictions on a phone, giving the user full control to install unauthorized apps or make changes Apple or Android normally wouldn’t allow.

Provision

When a mobile service provider (carrier) remotely configures and activates the correct network settings on your device so it can access their data, voice, or messaging services — essentially the carrier “turning on”  your service.

QR Code

A scannable square barcode made up of black and white dots that your phone’s camera can instantly read to open a website, share contact info, or trigger an action, without having to type anything.

Carrier

A carrier is the company — like Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile — that owns and operates the cellular network infrastructure and sells you the phone plan that connects your device to their towers for calls, texts, and data.

IMEI

A unique 15-digit serial number (International Mobile Equipment Identity) permanently assigned to every cell phone that identifies the specific device on a network. Carriers use it to activate or block stolen phones.

Palm Pilot

A pioneering handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) from the late 1990s and early 2000s that let users keep contacts, calendars, and notes in their pocket. Palm Pilots were essentially a grandfather of today’s smartphones, before phones could do any of that.

 

Carson City Linux User Group – Meeting third Saturdays at ComputerCorps in Carson City – carsoncitylinux.org
 

One on One Tech Help at the Carson City Library Wednesdays 3-4 pm Techbusters
 

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM Carson City, Nevada

Streaming LIVE on at KNVC.ORG

775-241-3571 or [email protected]

Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Trash Bubbles
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Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Trash Bubbles

This week on Battle Born Tech. We go from hair on fire, past pants on fire all the way to human torch with a Linux’s CVE-2026-31431 or Copy Fail to its friends.

Nora only gets trash emails and we search in vain for the filter that is out of control. Between Thunderbird and webmail spam filters, you’ll be shocked when we get to the sort out the solution.

Robert takes us on a journey where the trash gets recycled, but not in a good way as scammers return for more scamming. In this cautionary tale, checking with his bank and a trips to his local computer tech keeps his computer trash free. 

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

“Update your servers.” 

“Have you thought about getting better quality emails?”

“Everything is going to trash.”

“Where do I find all these things?”

“Why doesn’t everyone just the US Mail like God intended.” 

“It’s stupid not you.”

“She stumped me.” 

“Sorry you’re getting emails again.”

“Next time ask for Bubbles.” 

“Scammers have good customer service at the beginning.”

“Makes a funny sound.” 

“I got to figure out how to do that…that sounds awesome.”

“He had no reason to get on my computer.” 

“These are scammers. I don’t know what dances they do.”

All em-dashes — were made by the common number of human fingers on the keypad—ALT+0151—no A.I. was involved in their creation.
 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS
with help from Claude.ai


CVE

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures is a publicly maintained list that assigns standardized ID numbers to known cybersecurity vulnerabilities, making it easier for security teams to track and discuss specific flaws.

Inbox Zero

A productivity philosophy, popularized by Merlin Mann, where the goal is to keep your email inbox empty (or near-empty) by consistently processing, deleting, delegating, or archiving messages.

CRM 

Customer Relationship Management is software that helps businesses track and manage their interactions with current and potential customers, centralizing contact info, sales activity, and communication history in one place.

McAfee

One of the oldest and most recognized antivirus and cybersecurity software companies it’s name is often used by scammers. Currently owned by foreign investment bankers, McAfee was founded in 1987 by John McAfee, who resigned from the company in 1994 and later became its most vocal critic, urging consumers to uninstall the software and calling it bloatware. However, its aggressive marketing tactics, excessive system resource consumption, intrusive renewal pop-ups, and notoriously difficult uninstallation process have earned it a reputation that, for many users, feels indistinguishable from actual malware. (parts from 360 total security)

 

Carson City Linux User Group – Meeting third Saturdays at ComputerCorps in Carson City – carsoncitylinux.org
 

One on One Tech Help at the Carson City Library Wednesdays 3-4 pm Techbusters
 

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM Carson City, Nevada

Streaming LIVE on at KNVC.ORG

775-241-3571 or [email protected]

Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Call the Graybeard
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Call the Graybeard

This week on Battle Born Tech we have Dennis with Linux question (not Larry or Lee!) with printer connections. Robert trying to send a fax (to 1995?) when most folks don’t have printers much less phone lines. Finally, Brian wonders what he did wrong that eBay has broken its connection up with him.

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

“I’m hoping no one is drinking 90% or higher alcohol” 

“Hair on Fire News”

“AI loves to refactor which is throw everything out and start over”

“Doorbell Dash”

“It was a long time ago.” 

“Chose your five wisely”

“Gets confused when printing—and vomits all over you” 

“Windows Privilege”

“Not trying to get you back.” 

“Usually that’s a problem—but its behaving so YAY!”

“Well that’s a stumper…that’s for the solution.” 

“Another option is to go find someone that faxes!”

“…shoe leather instead of typing” 

“Gone in nine seconds!”

“I know some humans, including the people on this call, that have deleted everything.” 

“Love the Tech and tolerate the chaos”

“We battle Artificial Intelligence with Superficial Intelligence.” 

All em-dashes — were made by the common number of human fingers on the keypad—ALT+0151—no A.I. was involved in their creation.
 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS
with help by Claude.ai


Doorbell Dash

Called Ding Dong Dash or Ring and Run is a prank when miscreates ring a doorbell and run away before the door is opened wasting residents time.

DDos

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is a malicious attempt to overwhelm a server or network by flooding it with massive amounts of traffic using armies of bots, making it unavailable to legitimate users — similar to a “ding dong dash” prank, but instead of one person ringing a doorbell and running, thousands of bots are hammering a target all at once with no intention of a real connection.

TraceRoute

Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that maps the path your internet traffic takes from your computer to a destination, showing each “hop” along the way.

CCleaner 

Originally Crap Cleaner written by a non-windows user for his girlfriend to clear out the trial and add-on programs, it has been sold and resold to be a registry cleaner, temp file killer, and orphan program file finder.

Wireshark 

Wireshark is a free, open-source network protocol analyzer that allows users to capture and inspect data packets traveling across a network in real time. It is widely used by network administrators, security professionals, and developers to troubleshoot network issues, analyze traffic, and detect potential security threats.

PCL

PCL (Printer Control Language) is a generic, universal page description language developed by HP that serves as a standard communication protocol between computers and printers. It is widely supported across a broad range of printer brands and models.

Carson City Linux User Group – Meeting third Saturdays at ComputerCorps in Carson City – carsoncitylinux.org
 

One on One Tech Help at the Carson City Library Wednesdays 3-4 pm Techbusters
 

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM

Streaming LIVE on at KNVC.ORG

775-241-3571 or [email protected]

Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Getting Fancy with Stupid Pop-ups
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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Getting Fancy with Stupid Pop-ups

This week on Battle Born Tech, our callers get into the zone and battle stupid pop-ups. Diane struggles to find her screen under notices from “McAfee”. We set our browsers to don’t ask, don’t shill.

Joan is locked in the Windows store with her new computer. We look at S mode, Smart Screen and Smart App control.

Esteban wants to have certain apps in specific windows on this screen. Fancy Zones from Powertoys helps him with he decorating.

See last week for more on our caution that old browsers with old insecure ways of code talking are not welcomed on today’s secure websites. (the “s” in https://) 

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

“Diane with so many problems on her computer.” 

“Probably your browser is probably to blame”

“With much imagination, does it look like a wave?”

“Do you know what S mode stands for?”

“That was a better answer than mine.” 

“Parallel Skunk Works”

“BBT Link with a dot between the L and the i-n-k (for the latest) https://bbtl.ink/stats” 

“It’s a little geeky not too much. You can handle it.”

“Store, Secure, Security Scary, Stupid, Store, School, Strict, Safe, Simple, Streamlined, Sandboxed, or Stifling” 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


Browser HiJack

A browser hijack occurs when a malicious web page forcibly takes over your browsing experience without your consent, using tricks like looping pop-up dialogs, fake virus warnings, or fullscreen mode to trap you. The goal is to panic you into calling a fake support number or downloading malware. If it happens, force-close the browser with Alt+F4 (Windows) or Cmd+Q (Mac) — and never call any phone number shown on the page.

TLS

Stands for “Transport Layer Security.” TLS is a data encryption technology that provides secure data transfers from websites to users. Older computers with older browsers containing no longer secure cryptographic suites cannot access current websites since TLS has been updated.

Power Toys 

A free suite of utility tools built by Microsoft to give power users greater control over their Windows experience. PowerToys was never an independent company, it has always been a side project developed internally at Microsoft, originally dating back to the Windows 95 era.  The suite includes handy tools like FancyZones for custom window layouts, PowerRename for bulk file renaming, a color picker, a keyboard remapper, and many more.

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM

Streaming LIVE and on-demand at KNVC.ORG

775-241-3571 or [email protected]

Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Bright Lights, Old Macs
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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Bright Lights,
Old Macs

This week on Battle Born Tech, our callers’ computers. Robin’s iPhone is so bright she has to wear sunglasses at night. We spelunk in accessibility settings for a solution. We ask for a better one from listeners or from Apple.

Ron rescues his dongleless mouse from the ecycle bin by discovering a Unifying product line from Logitech. Bluetooth is even more universal but more expensive.

Robin comes out of the closet with her husband’s old All-in-One Mac. We suggest web applications but the browser’s old TLS definitions probably stop that use. Applications already Aon it will work, but new ones cannot be added. 

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

“I would pay money if my phone didn’t tell me what’s happening in the world.” 

“Get into your dark place and give us a call.”

“Unless you want the FBI knocking at your door.”

“Boy those were crazy years.”

“I’m so glad you are taking questions now.” 

“I’m on team husband right now.”

“Might be a gotcha somewhere.” 

“That would be a very battle born techy thing to do.”

“Dance with the one who brought you.” 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


Cap’n Crunch Whistle

In the mid-1960s the prize in Cap’n Crunch cereal boxes produced at 2600 Hz tone that was used to take over phone switching systems. 

TLS

Stands for “Transport Layer Security.” TLS is a data encryption technology that provides secure data transfers from websites to users. Older computers with older browsers cannot access current websites since TLS has been updated.

Color Warmth/Temperature

Warmth is how light feels while Color Temperature is a technical measurement in Kelvin of light, 6500K is daylight bulb (outside is 10,000K) and crisp and blue, while 2700K is amber looking candlelight bulb. 

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM

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775-241-3571

Podcast cover art for Battle Born Tech on KNVC FM 95.1. A cracked smartphone screen displays a wide-eyed surprised emoji face with yellow skin. Dramatic crack lines radiate across the screen. Electric sparks appear at the top corners. Text reads: Battle Born Tech, Losing Face, April 7 2026. Dark navy background.
Battle Born Tech
Losing Face
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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

 Losing Face

Christy and Joe talk Tax Scams, iPhone Face ID challenges, Apple genius bar exam, archived shows, getting more room on a hard drive, and updating the Internet.

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

  1. Lee has a face that won’t crack his iPhone.
  2. Steve wonders where the previous Battle Born Tech shows have gone.
  3. Keith needs more room for taxes!
  4. Teresa has found something wrong on the internet.

“IRS does NOT take gift cards for payments.” 

“I’m glad you didn’t call me…what did you do?”

“You don’t see the cracks over the radio” 

“The cutting of the fingers is not good.”

“What the web gives…the web can take away” 

“Don’t forget the treat!”

 

https://xkcd.com/386/

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


Polarized

Polarized light is light waves that have been filtered to vibrate in only one direction, so intensity is cut in half.

Linux

Linux is a free, open-source operating system kernel that comes in many variations.

Screen Protectors

Special glass, film, or even plastic that covers a phone screen and protects the screen from scratches and cracks.

Recycle Bin

 

Where deleted files are stored until emptied with right click on the desktop icon. Use can hold down the SHIFT key and delete the files directly and permanently.

NAS

 

Network Attached Storage. A group of hard drives in a case  connected to a network that is used for storage by computers on the network.

Cache

 

Cache, which is pronounced “cash” (not “catch” or “cashay”), stores recently used information so that it can be quickly accessed at a later time. – TechTerms

 

 

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Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Your Windows Roots Are Showing
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775-241-3571

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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

 Your Windows Roots Are Showing

Christy talks to callers about bar codes, home pages, installing Libre Office on Linux (A classic it hurts when I do this; stop doing that answer!)

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

  1. Lee calls about his bar code scanner gun that doesn’t know its a keyboard
  2. Donna can change her home page on a WordPress website.
  3. Lee downloads a Linux tarbell file but really just sudo apt install or the GUI package manager from the desktop.

“Light can be both a particle and wave at the same time.” 

“For those who are not following along…why are you listening to this program?”

“USB is a wonderful thing and a little dangerous too” 

“Hides it in different places…you do not expect.”

“Out in the wilderness vibe coding” 

“Your Windows roots are showing…need to get those touched up for Linux!”

 

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


CDC mode

CDC (Communications Device Class) mode emulates a serial COM port allows two-way communication between the scanner and computer for status and control. Requires a driver for a serial port.

HID

Human Interface Device drivers for keyboards, mouse, trackball, handheld scanners, foot switch and anything that gets info from the human to the computer. Only one way communication.

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface (pronounce SKUZZY) an old mostly external interface for hard drives and scanners that could be daisy chained together replaced by the faster SATA, Firewire, or USB connections.

Widgets

 

Are used by themes to add information and elements to a webpage, such as a map, address, image slider.

Debian Linux Distro

 

One of the oldest distros of Linux know to be stable and reliable. Linux is just a kernel (the core of an OS). A distro (distribution) is when someone takes that kernel and bundles it with a package manager, desktop environment, default apps, and configuration to make a complete, usable operating system. 

Tarbell

From “Tape Archive” an non- compressed method of combining files and directorys into a single file. 

 

 

 

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Battle Born Tech
Battle Born Tech
Help Me Before I Smash This Machine
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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

 Help Me Before I Smash This Machine

The FCC drops a bombshell — all new routers must be made in the USA. Christy and Joe break down what that means for your home network and your wallet. Mitch is finally ready to get home internet and needs to know his options — from traditional ISPs to Starlink standby mode. Steve goes deep on MoCA (ethernet over coaxial cable) and has a sharp warning for DirecTV users. And Donna bravely faces her Outlook email chaos, sending Christy on a wild settings safari through Credential Manager, manual configs, and Microsoft’s overzealous “helpfulness.” Plus: is your email situation even worth fixing?

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

  1. Mitch is ready to get home internet and wonders about his options.
  2. Donna considers whether she really wants to fix her email. We go on at Outlook settings safari.
  3. Steve gets up to speed on MoCA ethernet over Coaxial and warns about DirectTV.

“Used to be just your phone, a whistle and some hope to get on the Internet.” 

“I guess I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.”

“I screwed up my email.”

“Help me before I smash this machine.”

“I never going to tell someone not to change their password…change it every day ” 

“Are you sure you want email?”

“Even though you said manual — Microsoft just loves to help you.” 

“Little better than a sticky note.”

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


Router

A router is a hardware device that directs traffic between the internet and local networks and devices such as computers, tablets, phones on wifi, and smart devices. 

Credential Manager

Stores both Web Credentials with website and online account logins used by Edge and some apps and Windows Credentials: logins used by Windows itself and desktop apps (such as Outlook) on your local network or PC.

MoCA

Multimedia over Coax Alliance industry standard for sending networking data over coax with frequencies that avoid interfering with Cable TV

DirecTV DECA

 

DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coax Adapter is a incompatible standard used by DirecTV to control their set boxes. Special hardware is needed to you DirecTV and Internet on the same coax. (Unlike standard cable TV)

Tuesdays 8 PM Pacific 95.1 FM

Streaming LIVE and on-demand at KNVC.ORG

Call

775-241-3571

Podcast cover art for Battle Born Tech, March 10 2026. A fuzzy glowing ghost with big sad eyes emerges from a desktop computer monitor against a dark blue background. White text reads "Uninvited Guests" above station info for KNVC 95.1.
Podcast cover art for Battle Born Tech, March 10 2026. A fuzzy glowing ghost with big sad eyes emerges from a desktop computer monitor against a dark blue background. White text reads "Uninvited Guests" above station info for KNVC 95.1.
Battle Born Tech
Uninvited Guests
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BBT from 2020

Has High Quality Stereo Recordings 

Breakmaster Cylinder composed and performs our theme music.

Uninvited Guests 

This week on Battle Born Tech, our callers’ computers are playing host to some very uninvited guests.

Tom suspects something is hiding deep in his system — and he’s right to worry. Rootkits are the sneakiest squatters in computing, designed to stay invisible while they run the show. We dig out the eviction tools: Malwarebytes with rootkit scanning switched ON (it’s off by default — you have to ask for it), and the legendary Kaspersky TDSSKiller for the stubborn cases that won’t leave quietly.

Jackson’s Bluetooth speaker has its own uninvited guest: a previous user lurking in the store.  Joe helps sort it out with some hard-won wisdom — the best wireless audio today means aptX Adaptive, LC3, LE Audio, or Bluetooth 5.2+, but the catch is both your headphones AND your source device have to speak the same language. Bluetooth doesn’t negotiate. It just picks the codec both sides have in common.

We go hunting with Brian in Windows Security settings and finds something nobody invited: OneDrive ads squatting in his security panel. We also uncover the ghost of Windows S Mode, still haunting fresh Windows 11 installs under a new name: Smart App Control and explain how ransomware protection through version history is available in Microsoft’s OneDrive. Christy remembers Giant Anti-Spyware the ancestor of Windows Security.

In Battle Plans: we clear up the difference between MoCA internet over coax and the old Token Ring network — not the same animal at all — and explain why your coax cable might already be doing double duty without you knowing it.

“Uninvited Guests” — because your computer didn’t lock the door.

We are in the studio Saturdays 9 am to 11 am Pacific. Call direct to studio then or anytime at 775-241-3571 and set up a time to battle your tech!
 

  1. Tom wonders if he can find out rootkits. We help him dig them out. Correction: MalwareBytes Rootkit is an OPTION to turn it on. Shift+Restart will get you to reinstall Windows – with or without! your data
  2. Jackson solves a Bluetooth speaker. Joe recommends aptX Adaptive, LC3 or LE Audio or Bluetoon 5.2+ is today’s best but both headphones AND the source have to have matching codecs
  3. Brian goes on a safari in Windows Security settings. What are all these OneDrive ads!? They do some ransomware protection with version history for recovery. The echo of Windows S mode in Smart App Control in fresh installs of Windows 11. And the dangers of ClickFix cut and past to run attack.

“Nothing Works All the Time” 

“Vampire Clamps…Scary Times”

“I wasn’t there when the accident occurred.”

“Bluetooth is promiscuous.”

“I don’t know where that operating system came from!” 

“Anti-virus doesn’t protect you from being tricked by the tricksters.”

“No extra anti-virus recommended at all.” 

“Set it on fire and buy a new system.”

 

 

BATTLE PLANS


Coaxial Cable

Token Ring Networking used twisted pair copper cables first shielded (Type 1) and later unshielded.  Coaxial cable was used with 10BASE2 or 10BASE5. Today’s Ethernet also uses UTP (Unshielded twisted pairs) with RJ-45 connectors.

ClickFix

Scammers instructs victims to  press Windows + R to open the Run dialog. The victim is told to press Ctrl+V and hit Enter and BANG! they paste and execute a remote malware exploit without knowing it. See our link to Charley!

MoCA

Multimedia over Coax Alliance industry standard for sending networking data over coax with frequencies that avoid interfering with Cable TV

CAT 6

 

DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coax Adapter is a incompatible standard used by DirecTV to control their set boxes. Special hardware is needed to you DirecTV and Internet on the same coax. (Unlike standard cable TV)

Codec

 

Codec is short for “coder-decoder.” It is an algorithm used to encode data, such as an audio or video clip. The encoded data must be decoded when played back.

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