John's general IT and computer tips

 So this is a post about a weird symptom when you get a new simcard from MTN. I have also seen it on CellC. Basically: - internet works (TCP/IP) - GSM call outbound works - GSM SMS outbound works inbound GSM does NOT work Meaning you can't get OTP / 2FA SMS messages e.g. from Whatsapp etc. Nuisance! Ensure mobile data and signal are active (LTE/5G, not Airplane Mode). Check if you can send a normal SMS to a friend. If yes, issue is inbound only. Disable iMessage and FaceTime (Settings → Messages / FaceTime → Off). Restart the phone after disabling those. Check SMSC settings Dial *#5005*7672# (note: might fail on newer phones). Manually check for network mode switch Settings → Mobile Data → Voice & Data → only LTE/5G may be available on MTN. Try Manual Network Selection Settings → Mobile Data → Network Selection → Turn off Auto and test available networks. Check for call barring Dial *#33# → Ensure all barring says "Disabled...

Recovering Data from a Corrupted Flash Disk on Linux 🔧 Step 1: Install the Recovery Tools Install GNU ddrescue and testdisk (which includes photorec): sudo apt-get install gddrescue testdisk 💽 Step 2: Make a Full Disk Image with ddrescue Do NOT work on the damaged flash drive directly. Instead, make a safe copy: sudo ddrescue -n /dev/sdX rescued.img rescued.log Replace /dev/sdX with your actual USB device (e.g. /dev/sdb). Use lsblk to check. This may take a while — especially if the disk has errors. 🧠 Step 3: Mount the Image (If Possible) Try mounting the recovered image: mkdir /mnt/recovered sudo mount -o loop rescued.img /mnt/recovered If that fails with a superblock error, try: sudo mount -t vfat -o loop rescued.img /mnt/recovered Still not working? The partition table might be corrupted. 🔍 Step 4: Inspect the Partition Table Run: fdisk -l rescued.img If you see absurd sizes (e.g. hundreds of GB on an 8GB drive), your partition table is toast. 🧰 Step 5: Recover Files with photo...

To set up gmail on workspace: Instructions: https://apps.google.com/supportwidget/articlehome?hl=en&article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F140038%3Fhl%3Den&assistant_id=generic-unu&product_context=140038&product_name=UnuFlow&trigger_context=a Tool: https://admin.google.com/u/3/ac/signup/setup/v2/verify/mx and test it here: https://toolbox.googleapps. com/apps/checkmx/ These links are really hard to find hence I am bookmarking them for everyone. This is for the  Google  Workspace  Error Message: "You do not have access to Email" 

Introduction The following steps are needed to boot Mac OS under VirtualBox. I tested it using Mac OS X 10.13. I can't guarantee this works. You'll need a source/original mac to copy the OS install. Probably Apple won't approve of this because they want you to buy their original hardware, but sometimes you need hosted VMs in the cloud or similar, and they don't really offer that. Steps Commands below are typed in a command line like the Terminal. 1. On a Mac, do this to download an installer disk: softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version  ... OR download from the app store. If the operating system you want to install is out of date, ie if the Mac tells you the installer is damaged, set your Mac date and time to however many years ago that operating system came out, and turn of automatic date and time in the date and time system preferences. That way the signature of the installer disk / bundle will still be valid (it is invalid if it is older than ...

  How to spot a phishing email A phishing email is an email which looks legitimate but which tricks you into clicking a dangerous link or giving over your credentials to login to other systems like social media or banks. Many people receive phishing emails. They are sometimes convincing.  General properties They look convincing You feel a sense of urgency to deal with the email due to the implied problem They do not actually come from the system in question even though they say they do  Their email layout looks like the normal system email layout that you might get from the true system (e.g. your bank or facebook or whatever), but there are telltale signs that it is not from that system. They might have attachments, e.g. a fake bank statement, or fake password reset. In this post I will show you a few mails, starting with a fake Facebook password reset email. If we look at the above, we will see how to (A) detect that it is not actually from the real system, and (B) how t...

 If windows updated and wiped your linux bootloader, follow these steps.  https://techblog.dev/posts/2021/12/how-to-fix-missing-grub-boot-menu-after-a-windows-update/