Supersonic - Member - The Prepared

Reply to: Results after I tested four wireless outdoor security cameras Posted 4 weeks ago

Thanks for the great explanation about the true threat of wifi attacks. I need to learn more about networking and how to do it properly. Once I understand it, I think i’ll be more open to getting some of the cameras like the ones you reviewed above. I realize now that my comment above really is not accurate as the wifi cameras you reviewed are not the same as a service like ADT that monitors your account and has access to your feed. I should have phrased that better.

Reply to: Results after I tested four wireless outdoor security cameras Posted 4 weeks ago

I personally am not a fan of wifi cameras. I don’t need this happening to me.

Reply to: The best faraday cages and sleeves Posted 4 weeks ago

How likely of a threat do you guys feel an EMP is? I know it would send us back to the stone age, cripple our economy, and kill off a majority of the population, so the damage potential is incredibly high. But how likely do you feel it is to actually happen in our lifetime? Do you think we will see an EMP attack on the US? Or a CME? Also, back to Chris Cox’s purpose for a Faraday sleeve for security, I know that is a real threat to many, especially for him as a journalist, but for the average person do you think radio hacking and data leaking is an issue? I’d love to hear what you have seen and heard about this Chris, and if you feel comfortable telling us a bit more behind why you are wanting a sleeve.

Reply to: Get free weekly credit reports – prevent identity theft and fraud Posted 4 weeks ago

With the ability to get it every week until April of 2021, I would get a report from all three now, look it over, and if you don’t see anything, get it again in March or April. If you do find something, I would request it every week as you are trying to have that information fixed to make sure it is taken off, and also that no new information is added. Once this free report a week deal is up I imagine they will go back to one free report from each bureau a year. To space it out, I request a report in December from Equifax, in April get from TransUnion, and in August one from Experian. The sooner you catch something, the easier it is to fix.

Get free weekly credit reports – prevent identity theft and fraud

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Reply to: The best faraday cages and sleeves Posted 1 month ago

At less than a dollar each, i’m going to have to pick up a dozen of those! Thanks for the link. I might as well store my old electronics in those in my closet instead of just in a cardboard box. They’ll have some EMP protection at least.

Reply to: Easy ways to harden your home against intruders Posted 1 month ago

In the article you mention that you can have a mechanical timer to turn on lights if you don’t want to get into the smart-home ecosystem, but intruders might see a pattern of your lights going on at the same time every day. Like from that scene in Home Alone. For three dollars more, you can get the BN-Link 7. While it is digital and programmable, it is not connected to the internet or other smart device, you can program different times on different days, and it also has a vacation setting that will randomize when the device is turned on to give the illusion of someone being home at different times of the day. Another device that can give the illusion of someone being home is the FakeTV light. It shines LED lights at a curtain or wall to give the illusion of a TV being watched. That in conjunction with a low powered AM radio set to a talk station could be a good deterrent and pretty convincing. Here is a video about the FakeTV light, but in the video it shows their older model. If you look at the video review on the amazon listing of the newer model, it looks really convincing.

Reply to: Results after I tested four wireless outdoor security cameras Posted 1 month ago

Yikes! That is really bad, and would be a deal breaker for me if I couldn’t get that figured out. Having so many motion alerts will desensitize you from getting notifications which will be so detrimental when someone really is lurking outside of your house.

Reply to: Results after I tested four wireless outdoor security cameras Posted 1 month ago

Great review! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. Can I ask why you chose the Wyze over the Raolink? Video quality is the number one thing that I look for when buying a camera, be it dash cam for my car, or video camera for home videos. The Raolink looked like the quality was much clearer. I also like that the Raolink has PC support, and a little rain cover over the lens. Just from your review, I think I would want to go with the Raolink. A bit harder to set up than the Wyze, but superior in other categories.

Reply to: Prepping my computer Posted 1 month ago

The life expectancy of your SSD depends on many factors. Such as if you have a multicell, triple cell, or quad cell model. The cheaper SSD’s (triple and quad cell) will try and cram more cells into the same place, which will increase the amount of data that can be written to the same spot, but will decrease it’s life. One big thing you can do to help increase the life of your SSD is to always leave 20-10% free. By filling it up only 80-90%, it gives room for the SSD to move data around and write new data on free cells. This will also increase your speed by leaving free space open. So when looking to buy an SSD, if you think you will only need 100GB, don’t go by the 120GB model. Buy the 240GB model and it will last twice as long because it will prevent writing to the same cells and wearing them out as fast. Get the biggest one you can afford, and leave free space. Having a quality power supply, which prevents power fluctuations, and keeping it cool will also increase an SSD’s life. SSD’s are smart and if blocks are starting to wear down and not hold data, they will flag that those blocks are bad and that it won’t try writing data there anymore. The top SSD brands, which also come with a premium, are Samsung, Kingston, and Corsair. These will last you a bit over 1 petabyte of writes (1024TB). Cheaper models will die before this, around 700-900TB’s written. Most SSD’s will last the average user the age of most of the other parts in their machine. There have been some cases where an SSD can still be read, but not written. Which is great so you can get your data off and back it up still. But hopefully you have replaced it by then.

Reply to: Prepping my computer Posted 2 months ago

I agree with Rich DC’s post and he sums it up pretty well. I personally like doing external hard drive backups. Not too expensive, last long because they aren’t connected to the computer and running all day, and not as prone to hacking because they are disconnected. You do need to make sure that you back it up regularly though compared to other automatic methods. Simple answer: While you should be updating your backups at least every 6 months and don’t have to usually worry about the following, if you fill up a hard drive and want to just have that sit on the shelf for archival reasons for years on end, I would recommend still plugging in your hard drive in every year or so. Technical answer: For mechanical hard drives, plugging in every so often will keep the lubricants in the spinning platters and arm from drying out, and allow it to check for bad sectors (data corruption). In SSD’s, while great because they don’t have moving mechanisms that can fail and are more durable from drops and such, plugging in will help recharge the cells with new electrical charges. SSD’s don’t store information as long as mechanical hard drives because they rely on trapping an electrical charge in a small transistor and that can weaken over time, especially in heat. A general rule is that if left on a shelf untouched, a hard drive can start showing signs of data loss in about 5-7 years, and an SSD in about a 1-2 years. Lots of factors here though, manufacturing, how old the drive is, how much it has been used, temperatures, humidity, etc…

Reply to: Prepper closet Posted 2 months ago

I am in love!!! That is a good looking rocket stove there! I’m going to have to get some fire bricks now. Can I ask where you bought yours from? I see they are available at lowes/home depot and are like $3-5 each. I especially like your entrance with the ash catchment area.

Reply to: Prepper closet Posted 2 months ago

I like your rocket stove so much better than my sad one. This is a DIY one that I made out of some quick setting cement. I poured in a bunch of cement into a cardboard box lined with plastic wrap. I stuck in two cups to create the rocket stove opening. I then placed four rocks around the opening at the top once it hardened a bit to act as little risers where you could put a pot on. This thing is heavy! And I still haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but it’s outside if I ever needed to. That is a pretty sweet water barrel! I like how it has two spigots allowing you to fill a bucket if you had this placed straight on the floor.

Reply to: Prepper closet Posted 2 months ago

Your prepper closet just gained another 10 points! That sure is cool Redneck. Do you have any other cool things about your prepper closet that we can’t see from the pictures ? What kind of things do you have in there? You have your faraday cages, tons of buckets, #10 cans, 5 gallon pails of food storage, water bricks, extra toilet paper and trash bags. What is that thing with the tall stove pipe in the third picture?

Reply to: Prepper closet Posted 2 months ago

What’s in your metal trash can? I’ve heard some people buy those to make DIY faraday cages to store their electronics in to protect against an EMP.

Reply to: What are some good preps that don’t require you to buy something? Posted 3 months ago

A free prep that may actually have to be used in your lifetime is an insurance claim. Documenting all your valuables ahead of time can make the insurance process less stressful, and help make yourself whole as much as possible from burglaries and other natural disasters. At minimum take a video with your phone while walking through the house and pointing at things as you read out the make, model, and serial number. Then store that video in the cloud. The next level up would be storing multiple high quality pictures, receipts, and more of all those items. The initial process takes quite a bit of time and work to go through everything and figure out a system that works for you. (be as detailed as possible) But once you have all your existing items down, it is easy as you add more. Before I unbox a new electronic or something of value that I just purchased, I take pictures of the receipt, box, serial number, and product at different levels of unboxing, and from different angles. I then upload all that to the cloud that syncs to my computer. This works for me, and gives me great peace of mind that if my computer is stolen someday, I know exactly the make, model, serial number (for police report), multiple pictures, when I bought it, and more.

Reply to: Black Friday – Cyber Monday deals 2020 Posted November 25, 2020

The folks over at Proton are offering ProtonMail Plus and ProtonVPN Plus for two years for $7.50/month. This is the best private email and VPN provider that I know of, and at 50% off, that is quite the deal. While not really a “prepping” item in the traditional sense of BOB and SHTF, this can help prepare and protect you on a digital front, which most of our lives are today.

Reply to: Let’s hear your prepper/survival stories! Posted November 3, 2020

The closest thing that I have to surviving a disaster is from this year when my wife lost her job due to COVID and for a time we were wondering how to make it. Seems all those prepper websites have it right. The most likely disaster you are to experience is a personal one. The rest of the world will be continuing on around you like normal, but you might be having a hard time. Having a good emergency fund and food storage has sure helped us out this year. It was nice not to rely on the grocery stores so much, especially when all that panic buying was going on at the beginning of the year. Things turned out well though. Because of most things being shut down, and having to stay away from others, we didn’t go out to eat, didn’t go to the movies, or didn’t take any summer vacations. That all saved us a bunch of money! Keep on Prepping Folks!

Reply to: Need advice on my Winter Vehicle Emergency Kit Posted October 12, 2020

Having worked for a police department, I have seen so many stolen vehicle and vehicle break-ins. Here are some tips that I can think of. Try to park where people are. Don’t park in the very back area of the parking lot where the bad guy will have your car all to himself. Park under a lamp post at night Look for the store’s security cameras and where they are pointed at and park there. Don’t rely on this if your car gets broken into though. The cameras are usually old, don’t produce clear video, are far away, and if it is night, the video is almost always to dark to see anything. But maybe the bad guy will think they are smart and only target vehicles out of the camera’s line of sight. NEVER leave your car running. During the winter there was always 2-3 stolen cars from driveways that were stolen from the owners letting them warm up. We called them “puffers” because the bad guys would just walk down streets looking for which car is puffing out exhaust and doesn’t have a driver in it. Always roll up your windows and lock your doors. If you have a car alarm system (might need to read owners manual) learn how to use it. Tint your rear windows in accordance with your city’s laws to make it harder for them to look into your car. Use a steering wheel lock. Even if they are just going to smash-and-grab, this might show that you are serious about security. Our PD would give these out for free to owners of the top 10 most stolen vehicle makes if they called in. Don’t think of your center console or glove compartment as a safe. This is where bad guys look most of the time for valuables. Get a dash camera that will not only help you and the police out incase of an accident, but many nicer ones have motion detection and parking modes that will start recording if they sense someone walking around your vehicle or if they bump your vehicle. One like this records the outside and inside of the vehicle. Another out of the box idea is to place a fake security sticker on your windows. Amazon has some. And my number one tip, DON’T leave your gun in your car! So many guns get stolen out of vehicles by criminals who steal your car or just break into it. They do sometimes get recovered, sometimes they don’t. I’ve seen guns get recovered from a car break in from like 40 years ago and the gun is on the other side of the country. Many times you won’t get your gun back because it might have been involved in a crime and needs to be used as evidence.

Reply to: What documents to carry in your go bags? Posted September 30, 2020

Sorry… Long post here… Having a backup of important information and documents has been a lifesaver for me countless times. This is a great example of modern and urban prepping. It’s not everyday that I need to start a fire at my office with a firesteel, but if I need to email someone a copy of my drivers license or look at the last time I had a check up at my doctor, these important documents come in handy very often. I agree with Matt Black’s comment that security and redundancy is key. If you are comfortable encrypting a flash drive then that is something highly recommended. I have all these important documents on me at all times on a small flash drive, on a flash drive and extra cell phone in my BOB, multiple external hard drives, on my computer, and also stored on the cloud which will be accessible from anywhere at anytime with an internet connection. Photocopying, scanning, documenting, and saving all sorts of emails, documents, id’s, records, and many more really gives me a sense of security that I have everything that I need in a clean organized fashion. Right now I just have everything stored electronically. I have USB to cellphone adapters so that I can access these documents on my main or BOB cellphone if needed and I am away from a computer, but having a hard copy of the very important documents would be a good idea that I still need to implement. Here is a list of my important document list. Feel free to adapt it to your needs and organization style: PERSONAL DOCUMENTS: ☐ Birth Certificates / Death Certificates ☐ Social Security Cards ☐ Driver’s Licenses ☐ Concealed Carry Permits ☐ Passports / Visas ☐ Marriage Records ☐ Military Records ☐ Voter Registration Cards ☐ Journals ☐ Password Manager List of Online Accounts with Usernames, Passwords, PIN #s, and Account #s ☐ A Recent clear photo of each family member ☐ Family Emergency Plan ☐ Map of Area/ Evacuation Route / Rendezvous Point ☐ List of Relatives and most Important Contacts with Phone# and physical Address MEDICAL: ☐ Medical Records ☐ Medical Insurance Cards ☐ Immunization Records ☐ Prescription List and with Dosage and Schedule ☐ Dental Records ☐ Allergies (Food / Substance / Prescription, etc.) of each Family Member VALUABLES AND PROPERTY: ☐ Combinations to Safes ☐ Safety Deposit Box Information and Contact ☐ Firearm Licenses and Serial Numbers ☐ Warranties for any Major Possessions ☐ Home Inventory List with Pictures, Descriptions, Receipts, Serial Numbers BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT: ☐ Business Licenses ☐ Business Insurance Records ☐ Resumes, References, History of previous jobs FINANCES: ☐ Checkbook Information ☐ Photo copy of back and front of Credit Card / Debit Card with Pin Numbers ☐ Checking and Savings Bank account numbers ☐ Paycheck Stub from Current Places of Employment ☐ Tax Return for past 3 Years ☐ Credit Reports ☐ Stock Certificates / Savings Bonds / Certificates of Deposit / Mutual Funds ☐ Loan Documents (For Student Loans, Lines of Credit) ☐ 401K Plan Information and Contact ☐ Retirement Pension Plan Documents ☐ Retirement Social Security Income Documents HOME, VEHICLES AND PROPERTY: ☐ Titles, Deeds to All Properties & Vehicles ☐ Insurance Policies / ID Cards (For Properties, Vehicles, etc.) ☐ Handicap Placards ☐ Vehicle Registrations / License plate numbers ☐ Vehicle Repair History / Repair Manuals / Owners Manuals / Safety Recall Information ☐ Home Repair History ☐ Pictures of Vehicles ☐ Mortgage Papers / Rental / Lease Agreements with contact information ☐ Utilities information, account numbers, and contact information. Recent utility bill ☐ Home Security Codes and Contact Information ☐ Photo Copy of Keys, each labeled (Home, Cars, Safes, RV, Mailbox, Shed, Gate, etc.) EDUCATION: ☐ Diplomas and Certificates ☐ Church Records ☐ Academic Records and Transcripts ☐ School ID’s LEGAL: ☐ Living Will / Final Will ☐ Contact Info for everyone named in Will / Trust ☐ Trust Information and Contact ☐ Life Insurance Policies ☐ Burial (Funeral) Insurance Policies ☐ Medical power of attorney / health care directive OTHER: ☐ Electronic and/or Manual Lock codes to padlocks/entry gates, etc. ☐ Recent picture of pets from multiple angles, copies of their medical info, vaccinations, Microchip info, adoption papers ☐ Important Clearance Documents, Badges, Parking Passes, Security Passes, Library Cards, National Parks Pass etc. ☐ Old and Outdated Documents ☐ Other… Is there anything that I missed that you would recommend me adding to my list? 🙂 I would love your feedback.