Kitz - Broadband Information Site

Regretfully we advise members that once again there seems to be a problem with mail to the following domains being bounced

@live.com
@outlook.com
@hotmail.com

Unfortunately, this is affecting registration for new members who are not receiving the registration mail to complete the sign up process.
Existing members are not receiving topic subscriptions and personal message notifications.

This is an issue that seems to crop up every so often despite the site being clean and not on any mail blacklists - see MX toolbox.
We are not the only website affected by this and on previous occasions Microsoft admitted it is an error on their part with their so called Smart Filters. 

I will temporarily manually authorise any sign-ups who are using an IP address for a known UK ISP allowing them to bypass the registration process.  My web hosts have been advised and will hopefully be able to get the site mitigated asap.   It may also be affecting some other domains, please bear with us until this matter is resolved.  Our apologies for any inconvenience caused..

It is with great sorrow that I announce the recent death of our global moderator Alan, aka Burakkucat.

Alan had a vast amount of technical knowledge and over the years has helped countless users in the broadband community.  During the twelve years he's been a member here he has made hundreds of informative posts that have been read by thousands of people.

Alan was an immense asset to the Kitz forum. Without a doubt, we couldn't have wished for a better moderator, he was always firm but fair, forever the peacemaker and nothing got past his watchful eye. He made many friendships and was respected by all.

His death is a sad loss for the community and he will be sorely missed by our forum members where he was fondly known as b*cat our resident black cat.  It's sad to think there will be no more posts where he took on his cat persona who got "tingles in his whiskers" at the sign of what could be a troublesome member or who curled up after a bowl of cream when things were good.   There really won't be another Burakkucat, nor anyone who could make such a fabulous moderator with such a huge amount of technical knowledge.  He enjoyed helping people, he relished learning new tech info and he loved tinkering with network & telephony hardware.

RIP B*cat

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His funeral is scheduled for 3pm Thurs 29th June 2023.  The service will be webcast.  Please contact me for log on details.
I've set up a GFM account pot should anyone wish to contribute towards some flowers.  Details in post below.

Member Chrysalis has written a tutorial for installation of pfSense system patches.  pfSense is a free and open source firewall and router that also features unified threat management, load balancing, multi WAN, and more.

Chrys has also contributed some of his own pfSense patches that he's made available for download.  The tutorial and list of patches can be viewed on the site wiki here:-
     pfSense patches

Patches include:

• Remove Schedule from Firewall GUI and also replace Queues with Limiters
• Improved Limiters information page layout
• Only cycle services on IP change IPv4
• Only cycle services on IP change IPv6
• Add Bash shell as option to console/terminal login menu
• Mute web UI access log for cleaner logs
• Firewall page default to LAN instead of WAN
• Compact the Traffic Total page
• OpenVPN page default to client, Traffic shaper page default to limiters

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
Thank you to our regs and members of the forum for their invaluable input over the past year
Here's hoping that 2023 will be a good one.

Sending warm Christmas wishes to readers and contributors of the kitz community.
 

It will be nice not to have to worry about lockdown restrictions dictating who we can and can't see this year.  So here's hoping that everyone gets to spend quality time with family and loved ones.  Peace and love to you all for a harmonious festive season.