Eric

Hello all, We've had some (very few, but more than zero) issues where database tables have crashed during times of heavy load on the server. These load spikes are usually related to other sites that I'm responsible for that happen to share resources with the ATX Community. These haven't been significant issues, and in fact have been very easy to resolve when they arise, but it does cause brief downtime on the Forum. So, in the interest of constant improvement, I would like to move the ATX Community to its own server (VPS) with its own dedicated resources. There are other server configuration changes/challenges that I'll tackle at the same time. Because this is the only forum I maintain, I am less experienced with performance tuning for this software than, say, more standard website content management systems. All that to say, I am expecting it to be a slightly bumpy transition but with improved speed and stability in the long term. There might be as much as one or two days of downtime followed by intermittent hiccups until everything is smoothed out. I'm aiming for mid-May to get this work done, but there is no hurry on my end. If there are business reasons to put it off longer, please speak up! Thanks!

I did see those reports along with Judy's email this morning. The registrations are happening manually. They're answering the questions correctly and not trigging Google's ReCaptcha service. They're also using unique email addresses for every registration. Once they made it past the registration process, they have a script that will automatically post content, but the forum doesn't allow people to post more than once very quickly, so that throttles how fast the spam can be added. With 110 accounts, though, it can pile up quickly.

Your email addresses are not readily accessible on this website. Only Judy and I can see email addresses for individual users.

You bet! I may end up taking the forum down again soon, it looks like they're still making it through although more slowly than before. I need some time to look at where these accounts are coming from--the registrations seem like they're being created manually, not by bots, and then once registered the posting is automated. I may end up blocking all traffic from Russia and China, but need to investigate the traffic more closely to see how effective that would be. I could also add a manual verification step to registration, but I need to look more closely at what that process would look like on our (your) end as well.

Happy Independence Day, everyone! The forum was inundated with bots this morning and they were able to many accounts and many, MANY pages of spam topics in about 2 hours. I've deleted 110 accounts and 2,568 topics from the site, so it should be all cleaned up now. If you see anything that I've missed, please use the Report feature on the post. I've made some minor changes that will hopefully keep this from occurring again, but I'm not completely confident that more significant changes aren't necessary so I'm keeping a close eye on the forum. It should become apparent very quickly whether the bots are still able to get in once the forum is open again. Thank you all for your patience!

My daughter (11) is a fan of Vihart's videos. She let me know on the 14th that Phi is much cooler than Pi. Then I called her a nerd.

I think they're fixed!

Hey, look at that, they're broken. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'm looking into it now.

I can only imagine it was a weird caching issue. Even if you omit the 's' from https:// the site should redirect you to the secure version.

Mozart tells the most intricate poop jokes.

Windows 11 is mostly minor refinements, minor new features, and a fresh coat of paint compared to Windows 10, not a huge overhaul like the new version number would suggest. I would say that if your software vendor says it's compatible, and manufacturer of your peripherals (printers, scanners, etc) are supporting Windows 11, then you're safe to use it. Do whatever you're comfortable with. https://support.atxinc.com/includes/atx system requirements.pdf I think doom and gloom rants about either choice (sticking with Windows 10 or choosing to buy a Windows 11 computer) are probably a bit of an over-reaction. I don't think there's much risk either way... but if you're the type to get flustered by technology changes, then right before tax season might not be the ideal time to start getting acquainted with a new version of Windows.

The article that I believe prompted the above comic: https://www.baekdal.com/thoughts/password-security-usability/ From the article: It is 10 times more secure to use "this is fun" as your password, than "J4fS<2". At least, that was true until the article was published. When I have to create passwords for another person's account, and I'm not sure if they'll take the time to change it, this is the method I use. Example: purple-spotted-skipping-hamster It's completely random, extremely secure, and easy to remember and type. Unfortunately, even though the password would take hundreds or thousands of years to crack, it's deemed insecure by many password strength indicators because it's missing a number or a capital letter.

Apple just released iOS 12.5.6 on August 31. This patches the same serious vulnerability that they had previously patched in newer versions of iOS. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213428 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/apple-releases-rare-ios-12-update-to-patch-zero-day-webkit-vulnerability/

The 6S is newer than your 6, and Apple's release says only the 6S and newer is affected. There is the possibility that since the iPhone 6 is "stuck" on iOS 12, it never received version of iOS that was vulnerable in the first place. Nope, not the case, they just took their time fixing the bug in iOS 12 and patched it weeks later.

According to their list, the latest security update for iOS 12 was 12.5.5 released September 2021. You said you had an iPhone 6, but the release from Apple says the issue affects the iPhone 6S and newer. If you really only have the 6, it may not be affected. The Security update for iOS / iPadOS 15 is version 15.6.1 if you want to double check your husband's devices. EDIT: The information on that first link does say that 15.6.1 is available for the iPhone 6S. That, along with your iOS version being 12.5.5 tells me you do have an iPhone 6 (not 6S), and will not get (or need) the security update.