James O’Connor

How to Check Open Ports & Listening Services: The 2025 Cross-Platform Guide

How to Check Open Ports & Listening Services: The 2025 Cross-Platform Guide That mysterious service. That unexpected connection. That security finding from your scanner. An open port is a door into your system. Knowing which doors are open, what’s behind them, and who has the keys is the first rule of system hardening. It doesn’t […]

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How to Create a Bootable macOS USB Installer (2025 Guide: Sonoma & Ventura)

How to Create a Bootable macOS USB Installer (2025 Guide: Sonoma & Ventura) Your Mac is acting up. A clean install is the nuclear option. But you don’t want to download 15 GB over a slow internet connection during the process. There’s a better way: the bootable USB installer. This isn’t just for techs. It’s for

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macOS LaunchAgents vs LaunchDaemons: The Admin’s Guide to Startup Persistence

macOS LaunchAgents vs LaunchDaemons: The Admin’s Guide to Startup Persistence Forget “Startup Items.” This is How macOS Really Auto-Starts. You install an application, and it magically runs when you turn on your Mac. You log in, and your backup tool quietly starts in the background. How? It’s not magic. It’s launchd. For system administrators, this is

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How to Use journalctl: The Linux Log Guru’s Cheat Sheet for 2025

How to Use journalctl: The Linux Log Guru’s Cheat Sheet for 2025 Stop Grepping in the Dark. Your Logs Are Structured Now. If you’re still using tail -f /var/log/syslog and grep for everything, you’re working too hard. You’re missing the single biggest upgrade to Linux troubleshooting in the last decade: journalctl. This isn’t just a new command; it’s a whole

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How to Fix High CPU or Memory Usage in Windows 10/11: The Sysadmin’s Guide

How to Fix High CPU or Memory Usage in Windows 10/11: The Sysadmin’s Guide Introduction: That Dreaded 100% CPU Spike Your fans are screaming. Your PC is crawling. You open Task Manager and see the dreaded sight: CPU usage pinned at 100% or Memory consumption sucking down your RAM. For a sysadmin, this isn’t just an annoyance; it’s

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What is Operating System Kernel? The Heart of Every OS Explained

What is Operating System Kernel ? The Heart of Every OS Explained Introduction: The Silent Conductor of Your Computer Think of your computer as a symphony orchestra. You have applications like the violins (web browser) and cellos (word processor). You have hardware like the percussion (hard drive) and brass (CPU). But who ensures they all

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Linux Fundamentals for Security

Linux Fundamentals for Security Introduction: Why Linux is Non-Negotiable in Security Let’s cut through the noise: if you’re in cybersecurity and don’t know Linux, you’re operating with one hand tied behind your back. Over 90% of all cloud infrastructure and the vast majority of web servers run on Linux. It’s the OS of choice for embedded systems,

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How to Chroot into a Broken Linux System for Recovery (The 2025 Guide)

How to Chroot into a Broken Linux System for Recovery (The 2025 Guide) Your System Won’t Boot. Breathe. Your Data is Still There. That gut-wrenching moment: you reboot your Linux server or workstation and are greeted by a black screen, a GRUB rescue prompt, or a kernel panic. Your first instinct might be to reinstall. Don’t.

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systemd vs init: The Heated Linux Rivalry Explained for 2025

systemd vs init: The Heated Linux Rivalry Explained for 2025 Welcome to Linux’s Biggest Holy War If you’ve spent more than five minutes in the Linux world, you’ve seen the flame wars: systemd vs init. On one side: veterans who swear by the simplicity of the old ways. On the other: admins who love the power

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