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Operating Systems

How to Block Your Child from Certain Websites

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Motivation:

You have a child and do not want him to be able to install games from Microsoft Store or play online games on certain websites or run a specific program.

Solution:

I. Prevent your child from installing games Microsoft Store.
This method only applies to Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education.

  1. Type gpedit in the search bar to find and start Group Policy Editor.
  2. In the console tree of the snap-in, click Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates, click Windows Components, and then click Store.
  3. In the Setting pane, click Turn off the Store application, and then click Edit policy setting.
  4. On the Turn off the Store application setting page, click Enabled, and then click OK.

Note: Enabling Turn off the Store application policy turns off app updates from Microsoft Store.

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/stop-employees-from-using-microsoft-store

II. Block all websites except some websites using one of the software below.

  1. Surfblocker.

III. Block certain websites in your modem settings in order to prevent your child from playing online games on these websites.

If you are using FTP GPON Modem then you can

  1. Click on the Access tab on the top,
  2. Click on the Filter tab on the left,
  3. Select URL Filter as Filter Type Selection,
  4. Select 1 as URL Index,
  5. Enter URL (host) (e.g. bluestacks.com or roblox.com),
  6. Select Enabled as Individual active,
  7. Click on the Save button.
  8. Repeat the procedure for other hosts with other URL Indexes (i.e. 2, 3, 4, etc.).

    IV. Block all Windows users from running certain programs.

    1. Type gpedit.msc in search box, then press Enter.
    2. Expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates, then select System.
    3. Double click the policy Don’t run specified Windows applications.
    4. Set the policy to Enabled, then select Show.
    5. Add the programs you would like to prevent the user from running to the List of disallowed applications. Use the name of the application launching file such as chrome.exe.
    6. Restart your computer.

     

     

     

    Operating Systems, Tech Devices

    Why Can’t You Install Windows 11 on Your Laptop?

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    Issue:

    You have a laptop.
    You want to install Windows 11 on the laptop.
    However you got an unexpected error saying that you should visit https://aka.ms/WindowsSysReq for detail.
    You visited the page but you are unsure what actually happened.

    Solution:
    1. The first common reason is that you do not have TPM 2.0 hardware.

      Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Device Security
      – If you do not see a Security processor section on this screen your PC may have a TPM that is disabled.
      – If you do see a Security processor section on this screen then click Security processor details, and verify that your TPM Specification sub-version is 2.0.
      If it is less than 2.0, your device does not meet the Windows 11 requirements.

      Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.

      Trusted Platform Module provides
      – A hardware random number generator,
      – Facilities for the secure generation of cryptographic keys for limited uses.

      Usually you can enable or disable TPM in the BIOS of your laptop.
      If you have TPM 1.2, you can often update it to 2.0 by following the guide of your laptop providers. For example if you have a Dell laptop then you can check the guide here.

      If you get “The TPM is Owned.” issue when updating TPM 1.2 to 2.0 then you can check a guide here. (Press F12 after your laptop is reboot.)

    2. The second common reason is that your laptop processor has not been supported by Windows 11.

      Open Settings > System > (scroll down if needed) >  About.
      Search for processor name, e.g. i7-10610U.
      You should find your processor name here if it is supported. For example the Xeon E3-1505M processor has not been supported.

    3. You can also download PC Health Check app to verify these 2 issues or identify other potential issues.

    4. If you plan to install a fresh Windows 11 from an USB then you can ignore the processor support requirement.

     

     

    Tech Devices

    How to Reconfigure ASUS Modem Wi-Fi Router

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    Issue:

    You have an ASUS modem Wi-Fi router.
    You already configured it in the past. Now you want to reconfigure it but you cannot access it via http://router.asus.com/.
    You already tried to restart the router several times but the problem still persists.

    Solution:
    1. Perform a hard reset of the router.
    2. Connect to the default 5G Wi-Fi network of the router.
    3. Go to http://router.asus.com/.
    4. Check and update the firmware.
    5. Reconfigure the router.

    Note: If you configure the LAN information of the router manually then remember to set up an IP address for DNS Server1 (e.g. 8.8.8.8)  and DNS Server2 (e.g. 8.8.4.4).

     

    Technologies

    How to Automatically Create a Subtitle for a Video

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    Motivation:

    You have MP4 video file.
    You want to create a subtitle to understand the video content.

    Solution:
    1. Split MP4 file to 9-minutes files (please refer to https://huybien.com/how-to-trim-or-cut-mp4-files-without-re-encoding/ for details).
    2. Log in https://www.veed.io
    3. Click the “+” icon.
    4. Upload a 9-minutes MP4 file.
    5. Click the “Subtitles” tab.
    6. Click the “Auto Translate” button. Select the language for the subtitle.
    7. Click the “Start” button. Wait for the process to be complete.
    8. Click the “Export” button.
    9. Ensure that the “Burn Subtitle” option is selected.
    10. Click the “Export Video” button. Wait for the process on the left to be complete.
    11. Click the “Download MP4” link.

     

    Software Construction

    How to Automate Cleaning Up a .NET Solution

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    Motivation:

    You have a .NET solution with many projects.
    You need to deliver the solution to a client very frequently.
    You need to clean up all intermediate folders and files to reduce the package size and make the result look tidy.
    You want to automate this process to reduce cleaning up time.

    Solution:

    1. In Visual Studio, review Project Build Order… and a last project in the list.
    2. Right click the project and select Properties.
    3. Click on Build Events.
    4. Enter the following commands to the Post-build event command line text box: 
      rd /s /q $(ProjectDir)obj
cd $(TargetDir)
del *.config
del *.pdb
del *.xml

      rd /s /q $(ProjectDir)obj: Remove the obj folder in the project directory.
      cd $(TargetDir): Move to the output directory.
      del *.config: Delete all the config files in the output directory.
      del *.pdb: Delete all the pdb files in the output directory.
      del *.xml: Delete all the xml files in the output directory.

      You can modify these commands or add new commands for your specific purpose.

    5. Save the project.
    6. Repeat the process for some other projects in the solution if necessary. Typically you only need to clean up intermediate folders and files for the some projects in the bottom of the build order list. You may use the Dependencies tab to change the build order for some projects.

    Cleaning a folder manually:

    In order to delete all the obj folders recursively you can

      1. Create DeleteObjFolders.bat file inside the same folder that contains your solution file (i.e. *.sln)
      2. Paste content below to the DeleteObjFolders.bat file:
      @echo off
@echo Deleting all OBJ folders...
for /d /r . %%d in (obj) do @if exist "%%d" rd /s/q "%%d"
@echo OBJ folders successfully deleted :) Press any key to close the window.
pause > nul

      3. Execute the DeleteObjFolders.bat file.

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Allow a Remote Desktop User to Access CD/DVD

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    Problem:

    You log in a computer remotely as an administrator.
    However you cannot read or write any removable storage devices such as CD/DVD or USB flash memory drives.

    Solution:
    1. Type gpedit.msc in the Search box, press Enter.
    2. Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Removable Storage Access.
    3. Double-click All Removable Storage: Allow direct access in remote sessions.
    4. Click Enabled.
    5. Click OK.

     

    Software Project Management

    How to Quickly Estimate Project Effort using Expert Judgement?

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    Motivation:

    You need to quickly estimate effort for building an enterprise system.

    Solution:
    1. Ensure that you have a requirements analysis document.
      This can be

      • list of artifacts or
      • a list of features or
      • a list of use cases or
      • a list of user stories or
      • a list of user interfaces or
      • a list of workflows with their steps.
        Note: Never conduct an estimation using expert judgement without any inputs.
    2. Break down each of item in the list into the following (but not limited to) tasks to create:
      • UI and navigation code,
      • database script or storage schema definition code,
      • API code,
      • business logic code,
      • data access code,
      • scheduler code,
      • unit tests code,
      • deployment script,
      • end-to-end test cases and test reports, and
      • user guide.
        Note: You do not need to break down a feature into tasks if you can estimate an effort to complete it with high confidence.
    3. Estimate the effort in man-days for completing each task.
      When giving an estimate for each task, think about

      • possible inputs validation and error handling aspect,
      • possible navigation framework preparation,
      • possible alternative scenarios of the feature related to the task,
      • possible encryption and decryption aspect,
      • possible attacks prevention (e.g. adding CAPTCHA, trimming special characters),
      • possible frameworks, libraries or external tools preparation, and
      • communication, meeting and status report for each task.
        Note: You should break down a task into sub-tasks if you are still not confident when giving an estimate for completing it.
    4. You do not need to perform the second and third step in a sequential order, just complete anything you can and repeat these 2 steps as many times as you like.
    5. If you cannot break down a feature into tasks or cannot give an estimated value for a task then you need to create a prototype or a proof of concept related to the feature.
    6. If you want to have a more accurate estimated value for a task then you should give 3 values for the task estimation: the best case value (optimistic value), the worse case value (pessimistic value) and the most likely value, then calculate the estimated value using the formula below. 
      Estimated value = (Best case value + (4 X Most likely value) + Worse case value)/6
    7.  If you just need to give an effort guesstimate for a project containing too many requirements then you can group similar items together, then guess an effort for completing one item in a group and multiply this value with the number of items in the group, then repeat this guess and calculation for all the remaining groups.
    8. Include all communication, documentation and training effort into the guesstimate.

     

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Backup and Restore an EC2 Instance

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    Motivation:

    Any changes related to an operating system or an application in an EC2 instance may break its connection. You may try to stop, start, or reboot the instance many times but the problem may still persist. In this case, you may need to restore the instance to a previous stable version.

    Viruses, malwares or accidental deletion of data may also require a restore of an instance to a previous stable version.

    In order to restore an EC2 instance to a previous version you first need to create its backups either manually or automatically.

    Manually backup an EC2 instance:
    1. Click Volumes on the left menu.
    2. Click a volume, click Actions, click Create Snapshot.
    Manually restore an EC2 instance:
    1. Click Snapshots on the left menu, click a snapshot of an instance.
    2. Click Actions, click Create Volume.
    3. Let all default settings intact, click Create Volume.
    4. Repeat the first 3 steps for all the snapshots of the instance.
    5. Stop the instance.
    6. Click the instance, click Storage, scroll down and click on the link of /dev/sda1 device.
    7. Click Actions, click Detach Volume (or Force Detach Volume if the Detach Volume function does not work).
    8. Click Volumes on the left menu.
    9. Click on the volume created from the snapshot.
    10. Click Actions, click Attach Volume.
    11. Select the instance, set Device = /dev/sda1, click Attach.

    12. Detach and attach the remaining volume to the instance.
    13. Start the instance.

    Automate backup process for an EC2 instance:
    1. Go to AWS Backup service.
    2. Click Backup plans on the left menu.
    3. Click the Create Backup plan button, select a template (e.g. Daily-35day-Retention), enter a backup plan name (e.g. HuyBien_Backup_Plan).

    4. Click Backup plans on the left menu, click on a backup plan name.
    5. Scroll down to the Resource assignments section, click the Assign resources button.
    6. Enter a resource assignment name (e.g. HuyBien_Instances or HuyBien_Volumes), the scroll down to the Assign resources section.
    7. Select Resource ID for Assign by.

    8. Select appropriate resources. When you select an EC2 instance, AWS Backup will create backup for all EBS volumes attached to the instance, and then will attach them to an AMI that stores all parameters from the original EC2 instance.
    9. Click the Assign resources button.
    10. Wait for 1 day, then click on the Backup vaults link on the left menu, click a Backup vault name, scroll down to the Backup section to check for backups of the resources created by the backup plan execution.

    Configure backup process time:
    1. Go to https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/, and convert your time to UTC, for example 1:00 AM Saint Petersburg = 10:00 PM UTC.
    2. Go to AWS Backup, click Backup plans, click on a plan name.
    3. Scroll down to Backup rules, select a rule, click the Edit button.
    4. Scroll down to Backup window, click Customize backup window and enter your times.

     

    Tech Devices

    How to Fix iPhone Internet Connection Issue

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    Problem:

    You iPhone can connect to a Wi-Fi router.
    The Wi-Fi router does have an Internet connection. Other devices can connect to the Internet using this Wi-Fi router.
    However you iPhone cannot connect to Internet.

    Verification:
    1. Tap on Settings, then tap on Wi-Fi.
    2. Tap on the Wi-Fi network name.
    3. Scroll down to IPV4 ADDRESS section.
    4. Ensure that Configure IP = Automatic, IP Address = 169.X1.X2.X3 (X1, X2, X3 can be any number), Subnet Mask = 255.255.0.0, and Router may be empty.
    Solution:
    1. Reboot your Router.
    2. If the problem still persists then please reset your iPhone by tapping on Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

     

     

    Operating Systems

    How to Install Ubuntu and Windows as a Dual Boot

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    Motivation:

    You are want to install Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04 (or Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04) as dual boot for completing some machine learning tasks.

    Prerequisites:

    You need to have a 8Gb USB stick.

    Solution:

    Step 1:

    • Note: You can skip this step if you are installing Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04.
    • Go to BIOS, select the UEFI option in Boot List Option.
    • Disable the Enable Legacy option ROMS option.
    • Disable Secure Boot.

    Step 2:

    • Install Windows 10 or Windows 11.
    • Create a free partition for Ubuntu.

    Step 3:

    Step 4: Install Ubuntu.

    • Select Minimal installation option, Download updates while installing Ubuntu option on Updates and other software screen.
    • Select Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware option and enter a password on Updates and other software screen. This password will be used on first boot after install.
    • Select Something else on Installation type screen.
    • Select free space partition that you created for Ubuntu.
    • Click the + sign.

    • Create an EFI System Partition and set its size to be 552MB if it does not exist.
    • Create a swap area. Set its size to be twice as your RAM size, e.g. 65536Mb swap area for 32Gb RAM.
    • Create a Root partition. Set its size to be all the remaining free space to optimize your space.

    • Click Install Now button.
    • On first boot after install, select Enroll MOK.
    • Enter the password that you entered to install third party drivers.