Soluții

How to see all devices connected to your Network

Do you actually know everything connected to your home network?Between smartphones, laptops, televisions, cameras, printers, smart speakers and IoT devices, the answer is increasingly difficult to track.

Check Your Router

  • The router is usually the best starting point.
  • Open its administration interface and look for a section named something similar to:
  • Connected Devices, Clients, Network Map or DHCP Clients.
  • You will usually see IP addresses, MAC addresses and sometimes device names.

Check Your Computer’s ARP Table

On Windows, open Command Prompt and enter:

arp -a

The ARP cache shows IP-to-MAC mappings recently learned by your computer. However, this should not be interpreted as a guaranteed list of every device on the network.

Use PowerShell

Windows users can also inspect neighbors with:

Get-NetNeighbor

This provides information about devices discovered by the local networking stack.

Again, discovery depends on network topology and recent communication.

Use a Network Scanner

  • Dedicated network-discovery applications can probe an IP range and identify active hosts.
  • Network administrators often use tools such as Nmap for more advanced discovery.
  • Only scan networks that you own or are authorized to administer.

What if you find an Unknown Device?

Don’t panic immediately.Device names can be misleading or completely absent.Compare the MAC address against your known devices and check the manufacturer information.Smart TVs, watches and IoT devices are frequently forgotten.

If a device genuinely appears unauthorized:

  1. Change the Wi-Fi password.
  2. Use WPA2 or preferably WPA3 where supported.
  3. Disable obsolete security modes.
  4. Review router administrator credentials.
  5. Reconnect trusted devices.
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How to use the hidden setting to silence notification spam automatically on your Pixel

Notification control is undoubtedly one of Android’s biggest strengths. It offers plenty of methods to fine-tune which apps can bother you, what type of notifications can appear, and when they’re allowed to come through.

As great as these options are, they’re also pretty rigid. You’re either permanently toggling something on or off, or setting up a strict schedule. There are times when notifications become too much, and you just need a short break, but unlocking your phone and enabling a mode is just one more thing on your plate.

That’s where Notification Cooldown comes in. Here’s how Google describes it in the Settings:

When you receive many notifications within a short time, your device will lower its volume and minimize alerts for up to 1 minute. Calls, alarms, and priority conversations are not affected. Notifications received during the cooldown can be found by pulling down from the top of the screen.

The idea is that your Pixel phone will automatically detect when a notification overload is occurring and take action. The notifications won’t be completely blocked, but they’re tucked away in the notification shade, and alerts are temporarily silenced. When peace arrives again, everything goes back to your regular settings.

Google’s description mentions that alerts are minimized for “up to 1 minute.” That may not sound like very long, but it doesn’t need to be. Don’t think of it as a “mode” that runs for an extended period of time. It kicks in instantly and turns off just as quickly — maybe multiple times in the span of a few minutes.

For example, when I receive two notifications just a few seconds apart, Notification Cooldown automatically lowers the alert volume for the second notification. The volume continues to decrease if more arrive in quick succession. So, while I received a handful of notifications, I was essentially only bothered once.

That’s why I like it. We’ve all had those moments where a bucket of notifications gets dumped all at once. If I’ve already been alerted to the first one, another sound or vibration is just going to be a nuisance. This is especially true as someone who always wears a smartwatch.

Notification Cooldown is not enabled by default on Pixel phones. To find it, open the “Settings” and head to the “Notifications” section. You won’t have to scroll far to find “Notification cooldown.” Unsurprisingly for a Pixel feature, there’s not much granular control here — just a toggle switch.

In this case, the simplicity is welcomed. You can simply turn on Notification Cooldown and enjoy a bit more peace in times of chaos. No further action required.

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How to make an aging Motorola phone feel much more expensive

Cheap Motorola phones come with far more apps pre-installed than the company’s more expensive ones, which is how Motorola subsidizes the low cost. Companies are willing to pay to have their apps placed on the millions of budget phones that Motorola sells. This phenomenon is hardly unique to phones. It’s the reason that TVs have gotten cheaper despite getting bigger. The real money is to be made selling other companies access to your eyeballs.

Nothing screams cheap phone like an app drawer with a casino-style games app or an obscure news aggregator. Then there’s Moto’s tendency to “recommend” apps you already know about, like Temu. Take the time to hold down on each of these icons, select “App Info” (the icon may be a circle with an exclamation point), and either uninstall or disable them. Or you can remove even the most stubborn bloatware by installing Canta.

There was a time when you could tell how much a phone cost by the size of its screen. Now cheaper phones are every bit as big as the premium ones. But if you want higher-quality build materials, those will still cost more money. Premium phones tend to be made of metal and glass. Cheaper phones are made of plastic. The cheaper the phone, the more plasticky they feel.

This is an issue if you put your phone in a case. But if you, like me, prefer to use your phone naked, you can improve the feel of your phone by adding a thin skin to the back. While most skins feel like little more than high-quality stickers, some give you the choice of nicer materials and textures. The most popular option, dbrand, currently doesn’t make skins for Motorola phones, but sites like Gadget Shieldz, Capes, and SkinIt do, including the choice of carbon fiber. Guess what the back of the black Razr Fold feels like?

Your more affordable Motorola phone likely comes with an advantage that nearly every high-end phone in the US lacks, and that’s the microSD card slot. Regardless of whether your phone came with 256GB, 128GB, or a mere 64GB of storage, you can greatly expand how many files you’re able to carry by turning to expandable memory.

My Razr Fold has 512GB of storage, and that’s the size I tend to buy for any new phone. I find less than that to be too constricting, while more than that costs too much money (yes, even those of us who buy book-style foldables are still trying to save money while we do). Purchasing a large microSD card gives you storage expansion not only today, but for your future phones as well.

This longevity makes it easier to stomach the cost of a one terabyte card, even at today’s inflated prices. It’s not going to go away when you trade in your phone. And no matter how your phone looks or how much it costs, you’ll still be carrying around more data than nearly everyone else.

Except for high-end Motorola phones, phones in the U.S. don’t charge all that fast. Samsung only recently increased the charging speed of the Galaxy Z Fold series above 25 watts. I used to carry around a Galaxy Z Fold 6, a phone whose 25W charging speed is less than that of Motorola’s current budget lineup.

If you have a 30W charger on hand, your Moto phone can charge faster. To take advantage of that, it’s worth investing in faster charging bricks. This isn’t expensive either. Just make sure you’re buying a good one.

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Configurarea unui router cu Dual-WAN pentru backup (FAILOVER)

Configurarea unui router cu Dual-WAN pentru backup (numit și Failover) îți asigură internet fără întreruperi. Dacă pică legătura principală, routerul mută automat traficul pe cea secundară.

Iată ghidul pas cu pas pentru configurare:

 1. Pregătirea echipamentelor

* Conexiunea Principală (WAN 1): Cablul de la furnizorul tău de bază (ex: Digi, Orange).
* Conexiunea de Rezervă (WAN 2): Cablul de la al doilea furnizor sau un modem 4G/5G.
* Conectarea fizică: Introdu cablul principal în portul WAN implicit, iar pe cel secundar în portul desemnat ca WAN 2 / LAN 1 (verifică eticheta routerului).

2. Accesarea interfeței routerului

* Deschide un browser web pe PC-ul tău.
* Introdu adresa IP a routerului în bara de adrese (de obicei 192.168.1.1 sau 192.168.0.1).
* Introdu username-ul și parola de administrare.

3. Configurarea modului Dual-WAN
Meniul diferă ușor în funcție de brand (Asus, TP-Link, MikroTik, Synology), dar pașii sunt similari:

* Navighează la secțiunea Network (Rețea) → WAN sau Internet.
* Caută opțiunea Dual WAN sau Multi-WAN și activeaz-o.
* Setează portul secundar pe care vrei să îl transformi din LAN în WAN 2.

4. Setarea modului de funcționare (Failover)

* Alege modul Failover (sau Backup / Active-Standby).
* Notă: Nu alege Load Balancing (Echilibrare încărcare), deoarece acela folosește ambele rețele simultan, nu doar ca rezervă.
* Configurează Primary WAN ca fiind conexiunea ta cea mai rapidă/stabilă.
* Configurează Secondary WAN ca fiind conexiunea de rezervă.

 5. Configurarea detaliilor de conectare (PPPoE / DHCP)

* Apasă pe profilul WAN 1 și introdu datele de conectare (ex: user și parolă PPPoE primite de la provider).
* Apasă pe profilul WAN 2 și setează tipul conexiunii (de obicei Dynamic IP/DHCP dacă vine dintr-un alt modem, sau tot PPPoE).

 6. Activarea funcției de detecție a penei de internet (Network Monitoring)
Pentru ca routerul să știe când a picat rețeaua principală, trebuie să verifice constant conexiunea:

* Caută opțiunea Ping Targets sau Network Monitoring / Ping Detection.
* Setează un IP public stabil pe care routerul să îl „interogheze” (ex: IP-ul DNS Google 8.8.8.8 sau Cloudflare 1.1.1.1).
* Configurează intervalul (ex: Ping la fiecare 5 secunde).
* Configurează pragul de eșec (ex: Dacă dă eroare de 3 ori la rând, comută pe WAN 2).

7. Testarea sistemului

* Lasă un video să ruleze sau pornește un ping continuu în PC (comanda ping google.com -t în Terminal).
* Scoate fizic cablul WAN 1 (cel principal) din spatele routerului.
* Urmărește ecranul: ar trebui să existe o scurtă întrerupere (2-10 secunde), după care internetul va începe să funcționeze din nou prin WAN 2.

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