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I have a SamKnows Whitebox that constantly monitors my internet speed. The service is free including the hardware. I’d like to see this service addressed in comparison with the other speed tests noted.
https://www.samknows.com/

You might want to read this.

http://www.farces.com/samknows-nothing-much-at-all/

I have found testmy.net to be one of the best speed tests. It gives minimum and maximum as well as the aggregate speeds. If you have the time you might also read their page “What makes TMN different?”

In addition, as a general rule I would make sure you are testing against at least a few locations that are not on your ISP’s network. The speed of your last mile connection and on the ISP’s network is certainly important but equally important is what kind of peering connections your ISP has with other ISPs and networks. I would even do a traceroute to see what the path is to the speed check server. Call me cynical but I would not put it past some ISPs to give preferential routing to speed check servers on their networks or to ones they recommend you to use.

A tip of the hat to the author for this article on Linux. I for one like to see a little diversity and being open minded.

I have been a Slackware user since the early 90s and am currently using it on a combination web server (apache), file server (Samba), mail server (sendmail), list server (mailman) and time server (chronyd) — and there is still plenty of processing time left over for Seti@home. I manage it all from the command line and really like it.

Unfortunately I still run Windows on my desktop for two reasons. First there is always a piece of hardware or a program that is not supported in Linux. It still has not reached the required number of users needed for software and hardware vendors to support Linux to the same level as Windows. Second, it is still a Windows world for the most part in the office and I have to be familiar with its menus, quirks and features to support it. Sad, but there it is. Perhaps that will change one day.

I agree with bassfisher6522. I moved to a SDD several months ago on my personal PC and it was easy. ‘My Documents’ and all other data files are kept on a network drive (Samba) that is mirrored to an unmapped drive twice a day to protect against possible ‘ransomware’. Only the OS and program files totaling less than 20 GB are on C: and I use Deep Freeze to protect those files. I only “unfreeze” it momentarily every couple of weeks to install updates.

By the way I am still on XP so I can use the non subscription version of ‘Deep Freeze’ I purchased several years ago. Since they have gone to the subscription model I have switched to ‘Shadow Defender’ for the newer public PCs I maintain.

Great article as always. My only suggestion would be that if I didn’t already have a USB to IDE/SATA Adapter and was going to buy one, I would invest in a USB 3.0 adapter. Yes, they are a little more expensive but not terribly so and with the increase in PCs that have USB 3.0 I think the speed increase would be worth it. It would still work with USB 2.0 only PCs so it would be useful both today and tomorrow, and you wouldn’t be wishing that you had a 3.0 adapter the first time you interfaced with a PC with USB 3.0.