Maximum PC - USA (2022-03)

with a Ryzen 7 5800X. Do you

think there could be some

other issue, such as with the

motherboard?

—Keith Hering

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

It is plausible that a defect

or weakness in core 5 could

be responsible for your

underlying problem, and that

temperature spikes would be

the reason it was triggered.

It’s worth remembering that

overclocking components

takes them beyond their

official specifications,

so while the practice is

commonplace, you are

pushing your components

beyond their comfort zone,

which in turn will exacerbate

any intermittent problems

caused by possible defects.

The X470 chipset should

work fine with the 5800X—

just make sure your BIOS

has been updated for official

support (your Asus Prime

X470-Pro supports fifth-

generation CPUs from

version 5809 onwards). All

being well, that should be

the only upgrade you need

to enjoy decent gaming

performance going forward,

but if you do experience a

continuation of your current

problem, then you’ll know to

replace the mobo too.

Expand

Synology router

I bought a Synology RT2600ac

on your recommendation in

issue 199’s network security

feature and I’m loving the

extra power and features it

offers. One disappointment

is its Package Center, which

only has seven add-on

packages available. I see you

can enable support for non-

Synology packages, which

leads me to the question: do

third-party packages exist,

and if so, where do I find

them? —Rex Mueller

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

Additional packages do exist

for your Synology router, and

like many Linux-based OSes,

they’re distributed through

repositories. However, you

can’t simply add the repo to

Package Center to access its

range of packages. Instead,

you’ll need to download the

package manually to your

PC and then load it manually

into Package Center.

As always, it’s important

you source packages from

trusted sources and the

best one is SynoCommunity.

Though primarily aimed at

Synology NAS devices that

utilize the DSM operating

system, many of its apps

have also been packaged for

the RT2600ac’s SRM OS.

First, download the

packages that interest

you from (https://

synocommunity.com/

packages). C lick a package

logo to see if a download

exists for SRM 1.x. If it

does, download the ipq806x

version for your RT2600ac.

Most packages are only

available for Synology

NAS drives, but those that

do work on the RT2600ac

include BorgBackup,

Duplicity, ejabberd (XMPP-

based instant messaging),

fish (command-line shell),

flexget (automation media

tool), GnuPG, Home

Assistant Core (home

automation), and iOS Access.

Once downloaded, log

on to your Synology router,

navigate to ‘Package

Manager > Settings’ and

verify the trust level is set

to ‘any publisher’ (indicating

the security risk of adding

third-party packages to your

system) before clicking OK.

Now click Manual Install,

followed by Browse to select

the file you just downloaded.

Click Next and the package

should be installed.

Some packages, such as

BorgBackup, require you

to connect USB storage to

the router so it can be used

as a backup device. Don’t

go overboard with adding

too many packages, as they

all consume resources

and you may be better off

running them off a dedicated

server. Nevertheless, it’s an

interesting way to get even

more from your router.

Change Cockpit port

I’ve installed Cockpit on my

Linux server as per your

instructions from issue 189’s

feature on building your own

NAS , but have discovered

that the default port it uses,

9090 , is already in use by

another service. Is there

some way to change the port

that Cockpit listens on?

—Ralph T. Kelley

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

You can change the port

Cockpit uses by creating a

file and specifying the port

you wish to use. From the

command line, enter this:

cd /etc/systemd/system

sudo mkdir cockpit.socket.d

&& cd cockpit.socket.d

sudo nano listen.conf

You’ll be greeted by

an empty file. Insert the

following three lines:

[Socket]

ListenStream=

ListenStream=

Change 9090 to an unused

port that you can listen on—

you can listen on multiple

ports by adding additional

‘ListenStream=xxxx’ lines

beneath the first port.

Press Ctrl + X, followed by

Y and Enter to save the file

and i ssue the se two lines:

sudo systemctl daemon-

reload

sudo systemctl restart

cockpit.socket

Once done, reopen your

browser on another PC

on your network and type

in the new IP address/

port combo (such as

https://192.168.0.1:9500) to

access Cockpit again.

Restore old Start menu

I’m sorry, I’ve tried my best,

but I cannot get on with the

new Windows 11 Start menu.

Are there any third-party

options that allow me to

replace it with something

more familiar?

—Emanuel Ramirez

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The

simplest and best option by

far is to splash out $5.99 on

Stardock’s Start11 (www.

stardock.com/products/

start11/ ), which gives a

range of Start menu layouts

to choose from including

both Windows 10 and

Windows 11. You can opt to

align the taskbar to the left

of the screen to eliminate

waste space, plus it restores

the option to access the Task

Manager directly from the

Taskbar’s right-click menu

too. A 30-day trial exists

so you can test it before

deciding whether to keep it.

If you’re looking for a

free option, then Open Shell

(https://open-shell.github.

io/Open-Shell-Menu/) is

known to work with Windows

11. This won’t replace the
    Windows 11 Start menu,
    and doe s no t affect the
    taskbar, but instead places
    its own icon in the bottom
    left corner, giving you access
    to a Windows 7-style menu
    alongside the existing
    © WWW.STARDOCK.COM Windows 11 Start menu.

Ditch the Windows 11 Start menu with Start11.

MAR 2022 MAXIMU MPC 15