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42 minutes ago, DevTech said:

You are on the "small" side of "small business"

 

RAID-0 - NEVER

RAID-1 - probably ok, but make sure you know what to do with it

RAID-anything else you won't bother to learn it and it will be a pain, just avoid it

 

no RAID at all might also work if you store a spare hard drive in the case or nearby shelf and do Backblaze.com or equivilent more often than once a day which is the way these services work.

 

If drive fails, you slap in spare and restore, maybe an hour of downtime 

 

BUT really, over and over I suggest a Samsung 970 Pro 4 TB - so so unlikely to fail anyways... spare it or RAID-1 it...

 

SO I'd configure 2x 4TB 970's. I'd have 4TB usable space with a mirrored drive. Am I correct?

 

@sc302I get where you're coming from. How many drives are required for RAID 6? Do you agree with Devtech on going with maybe 2 SSD's in RAID1 since they will have an extremely low failure rate?

18 minutes ago, patseguin said:

SO I'd configure 2x 4TB 970's. I'd have 4TB usable space with a mirrored drive. Am I correct?

 

@sc302I get where you're coming from. How many drives are required for RAID 6? Do you agree with Devtech on going with maybe 2 SSD's in RAID1 since they will have an extremely low failure rate?

So don't forget that none of gets to sit down with you and do a full needs assessment.

 

We are at the other end of a long tunnel using our imagination for what things are like for you and have built up a mental model over the course of the thread...

 

So with RAID, I imagine you are in some little town outside of Buffalo on a sales call and you get a call from the office that there is this flashing red light on the RAID ARRAY (if you get one) - so what do you do next? you've never done it, so there is a panicked search for the manual, maybe it gets found, maybe an employee pulls out the wrong drive etc - you do embroidery, so I.T. has to be no more complicated than the PCs you use every day

 

That's my take... Far easier to pull up a Backblaze web interface (or similar product) and restore a few hours of lost data. You could even have coverage on every client PC as well...

 

EDIT: also never forget RAID does not protect from data damage like DEL *.* - that damage is faithfully mirrored!

 

Raid 6 is 4 drives.  

 

I wont disagree but not sure.   I have a 970 in my computer at home which essentially runs 24x7 but I am not running a database on it or having that many transactions on it or having multiple users accessing it at any given time.  I am skeptical of a 970 being the right solution, I can not say it is wrong or right.  I will say I am not 100% on board with that.  It is consumer grade, Samsung does make enterprise grade at a higher cost.  

 

Ssd has been around for a while and while I think everything and everyone should have it, I think it depends.  Spinning drives have a much higher failure rate, but I have heard people with large transactions (graphic design/cad) prematurely killing ssd drives due to the amount of read writes these programs do.   Which brings me to I am uncertain. 

15 minutes ago, sc302 said:

Raid 6 is 4 drives.  

 

I wont disagree but not sure.   I have a 970 in my computer at home which essentially runs 24x7 but I am not running a database on it or having that many transactions on it or having multiple users accessing it at any given time.  I am skeptical of a 970 being the right solution, I can not say it is wrong or right.  I will say I am not 100% on board with that.  It is consumer grade, Samsung does make enterprise grade at a higher cost.  

 

Ssd has been around for a while and while I think everything and everyone should have it, I think it depends.  Spinning drives have a much higher failure rate, but I have heard people with large transactions (graphic design/cad) prematurely killing ssd drives due to the amount of read writes these programs do.   Which brings me to I am uncertain. 

It is the writes that kill.

 

I have done it with huge C++ compiles.

 

But the Samsung 970 Pro is designed for heavy write loads ("Pro" = write focus) and uses long lasting 3D NAND Flash that is better than Intel/Microm Flash

 

The only way to get more longevity is to go with more spare cells or Enterprise SLC Flash. The Samsung has a few gigs of SLC as a chache on board but a whole drive of SLC is not affordable by anyone here!

 

You could buy a 4TB, provision at 3TB and it would last FOREVER (i.e. until computer is obsolete in 15 years)

 

The fantastic IOPS and Q-Depth on the Samsung make it just as good as enterprise for multi-user and DB loads that would FAR EXCEED an embroidery shop using FileMaker!

 

EDIT: it will probably still last 4 years at 4TB without the over=provision since is comes with spare cells of course that are sized for anticipated usage model, which fro the Pro is write-heavy

 

EDIT: consumer stuff often does not  have the high temp rating for high-density rack mounting "blades"

IDK, the shop has 5 whole people and does embroidery. If he's not already thinking quantum architecture he might as well be painting with feces on a cave wall waiting for the dinosaurs to go to sleep so he can go out foraging. You guys are talking about Hypervisors, but you should be thinking Ludicrousvisors which are much faster depending on the size of your helmet.

 

Seriously, this thread got out of control halfway through the first page. Peen measuring more than helpful information.

3 minutes ago, goatsniffer said:

IDK, the shop has 5 whole people and does embroidery. If he's not already thinking quantum architecture he might as well be painting with feces on a cave wall waiting for the dinosaurs to go to sleep so he can go out foraging. You guys are talking about Hypervisors, but you should be thinking Ludicrousvisors which are much faster depending on the size of your helmet.

 

Seriously, this thread got out of control halfway through the first page. Peen measuring more than helpful information.

If you want to make such a comment, that's your choice but maybe it would make sense to read the whole thing first before engaging comment?

 

It had a lot of standard Enterprise advice at the start because it looked like an Enterprise config.

 

Then the thread adapted to focus down on a small embroidery shop and just how much home-savvy vs business support is needed.

 

Along the way it was a FUN ride and very active and the OP got lots of material to ponder on - all a GOOD THING (tm)

 

I just got back from a computer conference on processing of data.

 

Unlike previous years where there was a debate on the merits of cloud vs on-premise, the tipping point appears to finally have happened.

 

But what a nice experience to see people working hard to push an industry forward. What a contrast to some of the pettiness seen in this thread and elsewhere...

 

Circaflex: you need to get out of the basement for a while. How anyone enjoys being a TROLL beats me, but your Trolling is just juvenile.

 

Goatsniffer: you need to contribute something to help patseguin like the many people in this thread. His search for an ideal config is ongoing and if he wants to second-guess every last detail of a significant expenditure, there is nothing odd about that. People volunteer their time to help others and the person being helped can pack and choose ideas  that THEY decide are useful to them. Try making one yourself, before denigrating the work of many people.

 

I tried doing another Dell build and it told me something about needing iDRAC Server Manager. That wasn't even listed as an option so I had to abandon it. I'm now trying Lenovo and it's even more complicated. I wonder if maybe I need to get on the phone with Dell and talk to someone about a config. I just fear they are going to unnecessarily beef up the system to make money. I'm kind of thinking now about getting a low end Xeon processor and 4x 4TB SAS hard drives in RAID 6. Then I'll keep a daily backup on an external drive and then find a good cloud backup solution and back up to cloud weekly, or even nightly assuming the backups are differential.

 

On a side note, Shopworks offers cloud servers. They price it at like $300/month. I suppose that's not bad if I was going to lease a new server for that much anyways. I'm just not sure our internet is good enough for all the workstations to connect to a cloud server and access the databases that way.

I will build a low budget dell server for you and send you the specs.   I won’t go ssd for os drives and will keep it under 5k. Will go for the enterprise drac, you will need to hook that card up to your network and give it a static IP (outside of your dhcp scope) 

14 minutes ago, sc302 said:

I will build a low budget dell server for you and send you the specs.   I won’t go ssd for os drives and will keep it under 5k. Will go for the enterprise drac, you will need to hook that card up to your network and give it a static IP (outside of your dhcp scope) 

What do you and everyone else think about Lenovo? Here's a config I just did:

 

Base

ThinkSystem ST250 3.5" Chassis Base

1

Processors

Intel Xeon E-2104G 4+2C 65W 3.2GHz Processor

1

Memory

ThinkSystem 16GB TruDDR4 2666MHz (2Rx8, 1.2V) UDIMM

1

Storage

ThinkSystem ST250 4x3.5" SATA/SAS Backplane

1

Select Storage devices - configured RAID

1

ThinkSystem RAID 930-8i 2GB Flash PCIe 12Gb Adapter

1

Primary Array - RAID 6

1

ThinkSystem 3.5" 4TB 7.2K SAS 12Gb Hot Swap 512n HDD

4

ThinkSystem M.2 5100 480GB SATA 6Gbps Non-Hot Swap SSD

1

Optical Drive

ThinkSystem External USB DVD-RW Optical Disk Drive

1

Power

ThinkSystem ST250 250W Fixed PSU

1

2.8m, 10A/120V, C13 to NEMA 5-15P (US) Line Cord

1

Others

ThinkSystem ST250 Motherboard

1

Feature Enable TPM 1.2

1

OS & Software

Windows Server 2019 Essentials - MultiLang (not preinstalled)

1

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Client Access License (10 User)

Lenovo is good.  Confusing to build.  A little more expensive then dell. Support is a bit worse than dell. 

 

 

Did you call a dell rep, do you have one?   Did you work out specs with them?  Tell them what your needs are?   Did you call a var and have them help you out with a few different server builds?  I can put you in touch with some of mine, there is also a var or two on reddit.com/r/sysadmin who view the weekly am I getting **** topic who would help you out.  

4 minutes ago, sc302 said:

Lenovo is good.  Confusing to build.  A little more expensive then dell. Support is a bit worse than dell. 

 

 

Did you call a dell rep, do you have one?   Did you work out specs with them?  Tell them what your needs are?   Did you call a var and have them help you out with a few different server builds?  I can put you in touch with some of mine, there is also a var or two on reddit.com/r/sysadmin who view the weekly am I getting **** topic who would help you out.  

Yeah I just wanted to see how they compare to Dell. I already have a Dell small business credit line so I'll likely be using them still.

 

I didn't call anyone at Dell yet. I am curious so see what configuration you put together. Don't feel like you have to though.

7 minutes ago, sc302 said:

It will be some time before I get to a desktop but I don’t think you are in a rush. 

Also, does Windows Server Essentials sound appropriate for me as opposed to Server Standard?

OK I'm getting pretty tired of thinking about this. Dell for whatever reason doesn't offer RAID6 as an option. Here's what I came up with this morning:

 

PowerEdge T340

PowerEdge T340 Server

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Trusted Platform Module 2.0

Chassis Configuration

3.5" Chassis up to 8 Hot Plug Hard Drives

SHIPPING

PowerEdge T340 Shipping

Processor

Intel® Xeon® E-2124 3.3GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T, turbo (71W)

Processor Thermal Configuration

Standard Heatsink for PE T340

Memory DIMM Type and Speed

2666MT/s UDIMMs

Memory Configuration Type

Performance Optimized

Memory Capacity

16GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM

RAID Configuration

C4, RAID 5 for 3 or more HDDs or SSDs (Matching Type/Speed/Capacity)

RAID/Internal Storage Controllers

PERC H330 RAID Controller, Adapter, Full Height

Hard Drives

(3) 4TB 7.2K RPM SATA 6Gbps 512n 3.5in Hot-plug Hard Drive

Additional Network Cards

On-Board Broadcom 5720 Dual Port 1Gb LOM

Embedded Systems Management

iDRAC9,Enterprise

Internal Optical Drive

DVD +/-RW, SATA, Internal

Rack Rails

No Rack Rails, No Cable Management Arm, No Casters

Bezel

No Bezel

BIOS and Advanced System Configuration Settings

Performance BIOS Setting

Power Cords

(2) 2X NEMA 5-15P to C13 Wall Plug, 125 Volt, 15 AMP, 10 Feet (3m), Power Cord, North America

Power Supply

Dual, Hot-plug, Redundant Power Supply 1+1, 495W

System Documentation

No Systems Documentation, No OpenManage DVD Kit

Operating System

Windows Server® 2019 Essentials,FI,No Med, No CAL, Multi Language

OS Media Kits

Windows Server® 2019 Essentials,Media Kit, Multi Language

Licenses

Bring Your Own VSAN Licenses

Client Access Licenses

10-pack of Windows Server 2019/2016 User CALs (Standard or Datacenter)

Advanced System Configurations

UEFI BIOS Boot Mode with GPT Partition

Shipping Information

US No Canada Ship Charge

Motherboard

PowerEdge T340 Motherboard

Shipping Material

PowerEdge T340 Ship Material

Group Manager

iDRAC Group Manager, Disabled

Password

iDRAC,Factory Generated Password

Dell Services: Hardware Support

Basic Next Business Day 12Months, 12 Month(s)

Deployment Services

No Installation

iDRAC Service Module

iDRAC Server Manager Enabled

Edit quantity
in Cart

$5,814.10

Save 37% on select PowerEdge T340 Tower Server through Dell Small Business.Details

Questions? Our Small Business Technology Advisors can help. Click to ChatDetails

No interest if paid in full within 90 days on qualifying XPS systems $699+^Details

- $2,151.78

Item Total:

$3,662.32

In 2019, it is plain nuts NOT to be using SSD unless you have enormous data requirements which you don't.

 

FileMaker on SSD is the only improvement you would actually notice on this upgrade for all the expense involved.

 

And frankly, the current jump in performance of NVMe over SATA SSD makes that yet ANOTHER Generational Quantum Jump.

 

Buy a new server in 2019, and be TWO generations behind right at the start?

 

(That qualifies you to get a job in the Enterprise I.T. field :) )

 

EDIT: Sigh, moan, groan... I will try and navigate the Dell server config to see if they are hiding engineering talent in some dusty corner...

It isn’t nuts.  It is small business.  Big box takes a bit to catch up esp on their small business side. This isn’t data center or build your own white box.  Every big box/mass quantity manufacturer is on the same page.  The only one that might not be is Apple, but I don’t think they buy in the quantity as the big box players.  I don’t think you understand small business even a little bit. 

 

Fwiw I went from spinning disk to flash for a heavy back end database and I saw 0.00% gain in regards to speed.  I have 8gb fiber channel and I am using roughly 50Mb/s at any given time.  I didn’t need flash for speed. I got flash because it wasn’t that much more in my Sans and spinning disk has too many moving parts which eat away at power as well as the previous rack space. 

 

A single tower server for a small business it doesn’t matter. Ssd isn’t going to help as much as you think outside of launching apps faster and booting faster.  It is a always up server, fast boot isn’t a need neither is launching apps.  Business continuity is a need, focus more on that and less on cutting edge tech.  Maybe the high end rack servers will have what you are looking for, but that isn’t what he is looking at which is essentially a desktop with some redundancies at common points of failure. 

8 minutes ago, sc302 said:

It isn’t nuts.  It is small business.  Big box takes a bit to catch up esp on their small business side. This isn’t data center or build your own white box.  Every big box/mass quantity manufacturer is on the same page.  The only one that might but be is Apple, but I don’t think they buy in the quantity as the big box players.  I don’t think you understand small business even a little bit. 

 

Fwiw I went from spinning disk to flash for a heavy back end database and I saw 0.00% gain in regards to speed.  I have 8gb finer channel and I am using roughly 50Mb/s at any given time.  I didn’t need flash for speed. I got flash because it wasn’t that much more in my Sans and spinning disk has too many moving parts which eat away at power as well as the previous rack space. 

 

A single tower server for a small business it doesn’t matter. Ssd isn’t going to help as much as you think.  

What I understand is the concept of finding the maximum value for patseguin.

 

In that quest, I have zero interest in accepting any lazyness on the part of suppliers just because they like to traditionally gouge their customers knowing full well that most of them are not knowledgeable.

 

Again, that "Needs Assessment" that none of us get to do. A SSD will provide far less speed up if a DB is mostly reads. SSD shines brightly in write-heavy DB loads.

 

Still, in 2019, it's not my desire to help a supplier make more profit by looking at "good enough" - for a consumer of a product, business or otherwise, the most value for hard earned dollars should be the objective. At least that is where I am coming from. That is my BIAS here.

 

 

Dell Config DevTech-1

 

$2,419

 

  • 2 TB NVMe for everything (really think RAID is just not needed for this tech)
  • 2 TB single spinner for local backup
  • Windows Pro - needs SBS etc server upgrade via Dell Rep
  • Additional NVMe can be added via expansion ports and adapter card
  • Lowest video that could be selected was 1050 ti - Dell rep could probably downgrade that

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/pdr/xps-8930-desktop/cto8930w10ph150s?selectionState=eyJPQyI6ImN0bzg5MzB3MTBwaDE1MHMiLCJNb2RzIjpbeyJJZCI6MywiT3B0cyI6W3siSWQiOiIzMkdCIn1dfSx7IklkIjo4LCJPcHRzIjpbeyJJZCI6IkdWVDk2S08ifV19LHsiSWQiOjY2NiwiT3B0cyI6W3siSWQiOiJHMEJGSkcxIn1dfV19&cartItemId=

 

XPS Tower Special Edition

 

Note: Dell supports their XPS line as BOTH a consumer and business product.

 

 

 

  • Intel® Core™ i7-9700[9th Gen Processor Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 8-Core/8-Thread 12M Cache]
  • Windows 10 Pro 64-bit English
  • 32GB DDR4 at 2666MHz; up to 64GB (Additional memory sold separately)
  • 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD (Storage)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5
  • Tray Load DVD-RW Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD)
  • 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1
  • Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Network and IO Card
  • 1 Year Hardware Service with Onsite

 

xps-tower-8930-cfl-se-pdp-1613-mod3.thumb.jpg.4c7c3c7a89897704057c73ec04db6c40.jpg

I was able to get a raid 6 config...not under 5 but at 6100....

 

take a look, again you will have to build and check with your rep to get pricing better.  

 

Manufacturer "laziness" aside, a current setup regardless of how "old" it is will be supported by the manufacturer for the warranty time specified 3 years, 5years, etc and can be extended beyond that in almost every case.  So squeezing every bit of current technology performance isn't something that I worry about as much as having a business continue to run for the time frame a warranty can be bought for.  Essentially if you aren't going to offer up support for the system, don't suggest something outside of what can be offered.  I can build a crazy fast system, as good or better than you possibly could....I won't support him when it fails and I do expect some hardware to fail at some point whether there be environmental damage outside of our control (flooded office, lightening hit, etc) and I won't be a phone call away with parts on standby ready to ship nor will I be a one stop shop for all of his problems in relation to this server purchase.

 

 

dell.jpg

Dell Config DevTech-2

 

$5,884

 

  • So, Precision same as server = really fight with the bewildering config
  • CPU is 10 cores
  • Empty 2nd CPU socket for upgrade
  • 48 gigs is the smallest RAM which gives you the PROPER 6-way RAM for modern Xeon in LGA 3647 sockets - this can be downgraded if 2 way RAM in a 6-way socket system won't wake you screaming most nights "What have I done?" Note: all configs so far to patseguin have NOT been 6-way RAM
  • I suspect that some people holding out for RETRO SPINNING THINGS are attracted to those cute looking levers on the front where you can pull out a drive so in this config we give you cute little levers on the front to pull out NVMe drives!
  • If you want the server O/S then Dell Rep needed to change that
  • Selected lowest NVIDIA card - Dell rep can probably downgrade but stay with NVIDIA
  • I forgot to add a spinning backup drive but there is 9 more slots to stuff in just about anything
  • I added Thunderbolt 3 to ALL configs so far to permit super easy to add external fast drives down the road.

 

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/desktop-and-all-in-one-pcs/precision-7920-tower/spd/precision-7920-workstation/xctopt7920us

 

  • Precision 7920 Tower Chassis (BC_PCIe)
  • Intel Xeon Silver 4114 2.2GHz, 3.0GHz Turbo, 10C, 9.6GT/s 2UPI, 14MB Cache, HT (85W) DDR4-2400
  • Windows 10 Pro for Workstations (4 Cores Plus) Multi - English, French, Spanish
  • Quadro P620, 2GB, 4 mDP to DP adapter (PWS 5820,7x20T)
  • 48GB 6x8GB DDR4 2666MHz RDIMM ECC
  • Intel NVMe PCIe SSD (Front PCIe FlexBay)
  • Intel Integrated controller (RST-e) with 1-2 Front FlexBay NVMe Drives
  • M.2 2TB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
  • M.2 2TB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
  • Thunderbolt 3 PCIe card - 2 Type C Ports, 1 DP in
  • 3 Years Hardware Warranty with Onsite

 

7920.thumb.png.bf95cbdae84d1519ca87700a1f37f2d4.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to run out for 8 hours or so...

 

So the daunting task of poking through various Dell server configs will have to get completed after that.

 

Currently, we are both looking into 100% Dell configs per @patseguincurrent focus.

 

 

EDIT: in a hurry to leave, this post came across stupidly nasty - I removed that 

5 minutes ago, sc302 said:

essentially a precision desktop is a server...and usually gets overlooked as being one.

Well for a server config, the GPU is like a "special Tax" but on the other hand, so far the prices seem a shade lower than full server, and the selection of quality options better, along with more advanced hardware like those "Hot Swap" NVMe plug-ins

 

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When Do Not Disturb is enabled on Windows, incoming call audio from a paired phone no longer rings on the PC. [Voice access and voice typing] New! You can now use voice access and voice typing in French, German, and Spanish. As you speak, your PC improves your text in real time. It corrects grammar, punctuation, and recognition errors, and helps improve clarity—even in the presence of background noise. This makes dictation smoother and reduces the need for manual edits.3 [Audio] This update improves the reliability of the inbox HD Audio driver. [Taskbar] This update improves the reliability of opening the Start menu when selecting the left edge of the taskbar when the icons in the taskbar are left-aligned. [Networking] This update includes networking improvements for virtualized environments. Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs) now use SR-IOV hardware acceleration by default for improved network throughput, and a configuration issue in nested Hyper-V virtualization network setup has been corrected to ensure reliable VM network provisioning. This update improves the reliability of the Windows networking stack. It reduces bug checks (blue screen errors) related to Wi-Fi power and improves cellular (WWAN) connectivity, including support for IPv6 VPNs. Compatibility with third-party VPN software and SR-IOV configurations on server hardware is also improved. Network adapter settings and bindings are now preserved across OS upgrades. [Printing] New! New printer installations use Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) by default when supported, simplifying setup and improving reliability. For details about third-party driver deprecation, see End of Servicing Plan for Third-Party Printer Drivers on Windows. To control this behavior, use the toggle in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Default install printers using Windows Ready Print. For more information, see Introducing Windows Ready Print and modernized driver selection. For more information, see Introducing Windows Ready Print and Modernized Driver Selection. [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)] The update improves usage of WSL in mirrored networking mode with VPNs. [Display and graphics] Improves the reliability of rendering content while scrolling for certain apps spanning across multiple monitors. Improves the reliability and persistence of applying color profiles. [Location services] This update changes how some location settings are displayed in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location to help with clarity. When location services are turned off, settings like Default location and Allow location override don't immediately apply, since location information is not given to apps or services. These settings will now be greyed out when location services are off to reduce confusion over when they take effect. [Search] This update improves the reliability of setting Search related group policies. [Input] New! You can now customize the size of the right-click zone in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad. Choose from default, small, medium, or large to control how much of the bottom-right corner responds to a single-finger right-click. This setting is only available on touchpads with a pressable surface. If your device manufacturer provides customization through their own app, a Custom option will appear to reflect those settings. This update improves recognition of English characters when using Japanese handwriting. [General performance] Improves the time to shut down Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) when you turn off your PC. [General Reliability] ​​​​This update improves the reliability of explorer.exe. It addresses issues on the login and lock screens related to third-party credential providers, reduces the probability of taskbar icons appearing as blank gray placeholders, and improves navigation to Home in File Explorer during OneDrive sync. It also improves explorer.exe reliability when switching between desktops, enhances app launch with shell extensions, and using acrylic blur effects in the Start menu, Settings, and the lock screen. [Apps] Resolves an issue where some installers and applications could show unexpected elevation (UAC) prompts after installing KB5089549. [Remote Desktop] This update refreshes the dialog design when you enable Remote Desktop in Settings > System > Remote Desktop. [Graphics Kernel] Improves memory-management policy that allows PCs with more than 32GB of installed memory to run larger local AI models. Up next we have the features under normal rollout: [Secure Boot] With this update, Windows quality updates include additional high confidence device targeting data, increasing coverage of devices eligible to automatically receive new Secure Boot certificates. Devices receive the new certificates only after demonstrating sufficient successful update signals, maintaining a controlled and phased rollout. [Authentication] This update improves Netlogon secure channel connections between domain controllers, enabling successful connections from member servers to domain controllers set up before 2025. [Emoji Panel Update] The emoji panel (Windows key + period (.)) now uses GIPHY for GIF content following the deprecation of Google’s Tenor API. Starting June 30, 2026, install the latest Windows update to continue using GIFs in the Emoji panel. If you don’t update, you will see a "GIF service is not available" error in the panel. Installing the latest Windows update will restore access to GIFs. [Networking] This update improves how your device connects to shared network resources. Connections used by apps and system features, such as the NetUseAdd function, now work more reliably, including unauthenticated (null session) connections. [Recycle Bin (known issue)] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where the confirmation dialog might display an internal Recycle Bin file name instead of the original file name when permanently deleting a file. This issue might occur after installing the June 2026 security update (KB5094126). [Taskbar] This update improves notification badge display across your apps. Notification counts and badge visuals now update correctly, helping you stay up to date with new activity. You can choose to manually download the update from Microsoft's update catalog website at this link.
    • Hands-on with BOOX Tappy: cute little reading accessory by Taras Buria Page turners are quite popular accessories for e-readers, as they enable a hands-free reading experience, which is particularly useful with large readers featuring 10-inch or larger displays. The BOOX Tappy is a new accessory that was introduced earlier this year, and we took this cute-looking thingy for a spin. The Tappy comes in a small box, with two additional buttons and a user manual. The device is made of glossy green plastic and resembles old appliances from the nuclear age. Material quality is great, and each part feels quite premium. Plastic is high-quality, the switch is nice to flick, and the buttons are not rattly. At the bottom, four rubberized feet prevent slipping when used on a desk. Unfortunately, there are no color options, and the Tappy is only available in green. It looks good, but I wish there were other options as well. There are two removable buttons, an on/off switch, and an LED indicator that displays connection mode, charging status, and more. The buttons resemble those of an old typewriter, with quite a long travel distance and a pleasant clack. In the box, you have four buttons with different icons: heart, coffee, O, and X. You can easily swap buttons by simply pulling them upwards. Tip: buttons come with plastic covers, but they are quite tricky to remove. It is hard to call the Tappy the most ergonomic remote control, but after fiddling with it for a few hours, I managed to find a comfortable hand position. Attaching a lanyard to it can make it more comfortable in use without the fear of dropping it, but unfortunately, the Tappy does not come with one. The Tappy connects via Bluetooth 5.2, and it works in three modes, which you can toggle by pressing and holding both buttons for about five seconds: Reading Mode Multimedia Mode Browsing Mode Next / Previous page Next / Previous Track Up / Down scroll If you pair the Tappy with a BOOX device (I tested it with the BOOX Go 10.5 Gen 2 Lumi), you will get small pop-ups indicating the current mode. Plus, you can customize what each button does when pressed one time, two times, or held for a few seconds. The list of available actions and features you can use is massive, and I like that BOOX lets you map stuff like brightness adjustment, app launching, screenshot-taking, screen rotating, navigation, and more. Note, however, that while you can use the Tappy with other readers, its customization is only available on BOOX devices running firmware version 4.2 and newer. I could not connect the Tappy to my computer (Windows 11 claims a driver error when I try), but it worked with the DuRoBo Krono that I recently reviewed. My Kindle Paperwhite refused to work with the Tappy, though, just like my iPhone. The Tappy uses a non-removable Li-Ion battery, which can be recharged with a Type-C cable. BOOX rates the remote for "weeks of use," and I can say that it indeed has very good battery life. While there are no battery indicators on the remote, you can see the current level in the status bar or in Input settings in the BOOX firmware. After a few days of active use, mine still shows about 95%. Overall, the Tappy left a nice impression. It is well-made, and the integration with BOOX devices is great. I also like that BOOX decided to have some fun with its design and swappable buttons. I cannot say I am a fan of its odd shape, though. Still, I managed to find a way to use it comfortably. And when not in use, it just looks neat sitting on the table doing nothing or serving you as a small clacky fidget. Buy BOOX Tappy - $29.99 on Amazon US As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • AdGuard Family lifetime deal now only $14.97 by Steven Parker Today's highlighted Neowin Deal comes via our Apps + Software section, where you can get a lifetime subscription and save 91% on a lifetime AdGuard Family Plan. AdGuard is a unique program that has all the necessary features for what they claim to be "the best web experience." The software combines the an advanced ad blocker, a privacy protection module, and a parental control tool—all working in one app. This software deals with annoying ads, hides your data from a multitude of trackers, protects you from malware attacks, and even lets you restrict your kids from accessing inappropriate content. Install AdGuard and see the internet as it was supposed to be: clean and safe. Get rid of annoying banners, pop-ups & video ads once and for all Hide your data from the multitude of trackers & activity analyzers that swarm the web Avoid fraudulent and phishing website and malware attacks Protect your kids online by restricting them from accessing inappropriate & adult content Good to know Family Plan Length of access: lifetime This plan is only available to new users Redemption deadline: redeem your code within 30 days of purchase Max number of devices: 9 Access options: desktop & mobile Software version: AdGuard Family Updates included A lifetime subscription of AdGuard Family Plan normally costs $169.99, but this deal can be yours for just $14.97, that's a saving of $157.02. For full terms, specifications, and license info please click the link below. Get this AdGuard Family lifetime deal for just $14.97 (was $169.99) Although priced in U.S. dollars, this deal is available for digital purchase worldwide. As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Support queries If you have queries or need support for any of the Neowin Deals, please use the contact form here. Neowin Deals are managed and sold by StackCommerce who represent Neowin on an affiliate basis. Why we post these deals We post these because we earn commission on each sale so as not to rely solely on advertising, which many of our readers block. It all helps toward paying staff reporters, servers and hosting costs. So for those that keep moaning and complaining, be thankful we're still online for you to even do that. Other ways to support Neowin Whitelist Neowin by not blocking our ads Create a free member account to see fewer ads Make a donation to support our day to day running costs Subscribe to Neowin - for $14 a year, or $28 a year for an ad-free experience Disclosure: Neowin benefits from revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site powered by StackCommerce.
    • Sadly "beats Steam Machine" isn't much of a brag.
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