Check Outgoing Ports

Most of the time, your Internet Service Provider or Internet router blocks certain ports for various reasons. Blocking can apply to either incoming or outgoing traffic. It can be for both. To find out what outgoing ports are blocked, here is a simple way to do it. You would simply go to this website and specify the port that you want to connect to the webserver hosting this site. For example, you want to know if port 1000 is blocked by your ISP because there is an application that uses this port to go out to the Internet from your local network. After you have verified that your own local routers do not block this port, you would go to this site by typing in this in the URL of the web browser:

http://portquiz.net:1000

This is what I get when I do this.

Outgoing port tester

This server listens on all TCP ports, allowing you to test any outbound TCP port.

You have reached this page on port 1000.

Your network allows you to use this port. (Assuming that your network is not doing advanced traffic filtering.)

Network service: unknown
Your outgoing IP: [This is your local ISP-assigned IP]

Log into a Mac with TightVNC

Mac OSX comes with a VNC server service built-in. It however is not enabled by default for security reasons. To connect to this server to control the Mac computer, you need the client or viewer installed on the machine you are physically at. If this computer is also a Mac, the viewer is already installed. If this is a Windows PC, you need to get a viewer such as TightVNC.

http://www.tightvnc.com/download.php

This download has two parts: the server and the client (viewer). If your goal is not to control the machine the program is installed on, then make sure you only choose the "viewer only" option. From a security standpoint, there is no reason to have the server running when it is not needed.

Once the viewer is installed on the PC, just simply launch the program and enter the IP address of the destination Mac. If it does not work, it is because you need to turn on the “screen sharing” feature built into Mac OS X.

Click the Apple logo at the top left corner of the Mac’s screen and select System Preferences.

Click the Sharing icon to open the Sharing

Click the checkbox of Screen Sharing to enable screen sharing. (Remember to turn this off when the remote session is done).

Click the “Computer Settings....” button. Pay attention to what it says immediately on top of this button. It lists the current IP address of the Mac computer. This is the IP address that you would put in the TightVNC viewer on the PC.

Click the box VNC Viewers May Control Screen with a Password. Type a password into the box and click “OK.” This password is mandatory, used for the VNC session only so it does not need to be the same password you use for logging into the Mac computer.

Try again on the TightVNC viewer on the PC. It should work now.

If this is done over the Internet or the Mac is behind a firewall, you’ll need to set up port forwarding on the Mac's network router. Forward incoming traffic to port 5900.  In situation like this, you should use the router’s external WAN IP address to connect instead of the IP address displayed in the Screen Sharing window seen previously on the Mac.

Incidentally, the VNC viewer on the Mac is the network share access program. On the Desktop (Finder), click on Go at the top of the screen. If you do not see this Go, just click on the Finder icon on the Dock. Choose Connect to Server. Type in vnc://IP address of the destination Mac in the text box. Connect.

Register a Roku Account Without A Credit Card

It is silly at best to have to give Roku a credit card number before you can register an account with it. I mean not everyone will pay for the premium channels. They have already purchased the box already. The rationale for putting a credit on file with Roku is when you do want to get a paid channel or access paid content, there is no need to whip out your credit card and charge it.

Before you start up the device, go to the Roku website and register for a free Roku account. This is the account that you use to activate your Roku device using the Roku remote control and navigating through the Roku menu on the TV that the Roku box is attached to.

Here is the link where you would create an account without having to use your credit card. https://my.roku.com/signup/nocc

NOCC obviously means "no credit card"

Fill out the information like you would normally. Once you have reached the payment method, scroll down and click on Skip, I’ll add later.

If this "Skip" option is not visible, the only lest to do is strike up a chat connection with Roku at https://support.roku.com

Using PIN instead of password to log into Windows 10

It is recommended or in cases required that you use a strong password to log into anything. This includes your Windows machines. However, having a strong and hard-to-guess passwords is a double-edged sword  because you are more likely to forget a complex password if you do not use it often. Imagine you have a Windows 10 machine that you only use sparingly, and one day when you need to use it, you cannot log in because its password is not the one you think it is. However, this kind of a situation can be mitigated by assigning a PIN number instead of a complex password.

To create a PIN on Windows 10:

Click the Start menu.
Click on Settings
Click on Accounts
Click on Sign-in Options
Under PIN click “Add.”
Create a PIN.

This PIN is machine-specific. It only applies to the machine on which it is activated. This means on another Windows 10 machine, you need to go through the same routine and if you wish, you can create a different PIN that only for that machine even though the login Windows account on that machine has the same password has the previous machine. This way, you can actually allow someone to use one of these machines by only letting them know the PIN number without divulging your Windows account password. The rationale for this is when you change your Windows account password which may also be your Microsoft account that you use to log into various online services, this change will cause a cascade where you have to update the passwords to all these various services. This can get annoying. The PIN system therefore is a modular approach to computing access management.

What happens when you do change your Windows log in password. Does this change invalidate the PIN? No. The same PIN can be used to log into Windows on that specific machine. These two machine access credentials are independent of each other. One is machine specific and the other may be global if it is also a Microsoft account, one that is textually in the form of an email address.

Because the PIN is simpler to remember and we all tend to use the same PIN everywhere, it is unlikely that you will forget it. What if you have forgotten the PIN? Then let's hope that you have not also forgotten your Windows/Microsoft log in because the log in screen gives you the option to log in using this password. Once logged in, you can reset the PIN number.