J.D. H. - J.D. Hodges

Author Archives: J.D. H.

How to Upgrade a Windows 10 VM to Windows 11 in VMware (Complete Guide)

Wednesday, 2026.03.11 J.D. H. Leave a comment

TL;DR: Your old Windows 10 PC or VM (virtual machine) doesn’t meet Windows 11 requirements? It probably needs UEFI firmware, TPM 2.0, and Secure Boot, none of which older PCs and VMs were configured with out of the box. This guide walks through the full in-place conversion for VMware VMs without reinstalling Windows, in about 45 minutes. Many of the concepts (MBR to GPT conversion, UEFI firmware, clearing update policies) apply to physical PCs as well. Microsoft ended Windows 10

Samsung Galaxy Watch Stuck After Unlock Swipe? [SOLVED]

Monday, 2026.03.09 J.D. H. Leave a comment

Q: My Samsung Galaxy Watch accepts the unlock swipe but then just freezes on the screen and won’t go any further. How do I fix this? A: This is a surprisingly common glitch where the watch acknowledges your input but the software hangs on the transition. The good news: a forced restart fixes it almost every time, and it will not erase any of your data. How to Force Restart a Samsung Galaxy Watch (Watch 4, 5, 6, 7, and

Should I Scan Both Sides of a 1099-INT?

Monday, 2026.03.09 J.D. H. Leave a comment

Q: When I scan my 1099-INT forms, should I use duplex (two-sided) scanning or just scan the front? A: Go duplex on these. Many banks and financial institutions print additional information on the back of a 1099-INT. This can include account numbers, branch details, additional interest breakdowns, state-specific withholding information, or footnotes that clarify the figures on the front. Not every 1099-INT will have something useful on the back, but enough of them do that duplex scanning should be your

Do I Need to Scan Both Sides of a 1099-NEC?

Monday, 2026.03.09 J.D. H. Leave a comment

Q: When I scan my 1099-NEC forms for digital filing, should I use duplex (two-sided) scanning to capture the back? A: For most people, single-sided (simplex) scanning is all you need. The front of your 1099-NEC contains everything that matters: payer information, your TIN, and the compensation amounts the IRS cares about. The back is just standard IRS instructions that are identical on every single 1099-NEC printed. There is nothing unique to your return on the back side. Scanning single-sided

MacBook Neo Deep Dive: Benchmarks, Wafer Economics, and the 8GB Gamble

Saturday, 2026.03.07 J.D. H. One comment

Preface: I’m not really a Mac guy. But I have deep respect for what Apple has done with their silicon, and I’ve been following their CPU journey since the Motorola 68k days through PowerPC, the Intel transition, and now their in-house Apple Silicon. What they’ve accomplished in the last five years is genuinely remarkable. Apple is one of the few original tech companies that has survived and thrived over the decades while still staying in the consumer tech space. As

How 25,000 Junk Folders Were Breaking My AI Doc Organizer (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

Thursday, 2026.03.05 J.D. H. Leave a comment

How 25,000 Junk Folders Were Silently Breaking My AI Document Organizer (Garbage In, Garbage Out) Thousands of (somewhat) zombie Quicken folders taken care of via compressing them into one 7z archive: Details: My AI File Organizer Was Fighting 25,000 Phantom Folders (And Losing 😜) For a while, my automated document filer was misbehaving. Scan an insurance card — it suggests filing it in a folder called Q-Final. Scan a bank statement — it wants to put it in Attach. The

The IRS Is Phasing Out Paper Checks: What You Need to Know

Tuesday, 2026.02.17 J.D. H. Leave a comment

February 17, 2026 Disclaimer: This blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The author is not acting as your attorney, CPA, or tax advisor. Tax law and IRS policy are subject to change without notice, and the information presented here may be incomplete or outdated by the time you read it. You should consult a qualified tax professional or attorney regarding your specific situation before making any decisions based on

Windows 10 printing to old/offline printer instead of new one [SOLVED]

Tuesday, 2026.02.17 J.D. H. Leave a comment

TL;DR: Replaced a printer but Windows 10 keeps sending jobs to the old one? Cancel the stuck jobs in the old printer’s queue, then set your new printer as the default. Two minutes and you’re back in business. 👍 So I got a message from a client’s office today. “The printer won’t print.” Classic. We had just set up a brand new Brother DCP-L5510DN to replace their old DCP-L5500DN. The new printer was confirmed working via USB the day before.