Tag: hack

The Secret Trick I Learned After 15 Years to Make My Samsung Phone Faster

August 20, 2025 / Bill Roth / 0 Comments

I’ve been a loyal Samsung user for about 15 years, and if there’s one thing that’s always frustrated me, it’s the gradual slowdown. I have always wanted to make my Samsung phone faster. I’ve spent ages trying to figure out how to optimize their software and deal with the bloatware to make my phones feel faster.

The secret is surprisingly simple: turn off animations and the virtual memory function.

A couple of days ago, I finally stumbled on the real trick—a game-changer for my Samsung Galaxy S21, and it works just as well on the S24 (and I bet it will on the S25, too).

Here’s exactly how you do it.

Step 1: Unlock Developer Mode

First things first, you need to enable Developer Mode. Don’t worry, it’s hidden but super easy to unlock.

Go to Settings.
Scroll all the way down and tap on About phone.
Tap on Software information.
Find the Build number and tap on it rapidly 7 times. You’ll see a small message pop up telling you that “Developer mode has been turned on.”

Step 2: Turn Off Animations

Now that you’re a developer, you can get to the hidden settings that speed things up.

Go back to your main Settings menu. You’ll now see a new option at the very bottom called Developer options. Tap on it.
Scroll down until you find the “Drawing” section.
You need to change three settings here. Tap on each one and set it to “Animation off”:
- Window animation scale
- Transition animation scale
- Animator duration scale

Disabling these makes the phone feel incredibly snappy because it no longer has to render the “whoosh” effects when you open apps or switch menus.

You can also disable animations more generally via Accessibility. See this article on how to do it.

Step 3: Disable Virtual Memory (RAM Plus)

This is the second half of the secret. Samsung’s virtual memory feature, RAM Plus, can sometimes do more harm than good for performance.

To do this, you need to turn off RAM Plus. To get here, go to: Settings > Device Care > Memory > RAM Plus. It was at the bottom of the screen for me. You may need to reboot.

The Important Downside to Know

Now, this fix isn’t without a potential side-effect. RAM Plus is designed to help when you run out of physical memory. If you are a heavy multitasker who keeps dozens of apps open at once, you might see some erratic behavior once you hit your phone’s physical RAM limit.

Honestly, though, I think Android’s memory management should be good enough on its own, and the speed boost is worth it for most people.

That’s It!

So there you have it. After years of searching around on how to make My samsung phone faster, these simple tweaks have truly transformed my Samsung phones. My S24 feels as fast as it did on day one.

Give it a shot—I’m confident you’ll notice a huge difference in how responsive your own Samsung feels.

And check out the rest of my blog for other random musings.

Largest US Water Utility Hacked: American Water

October 18, 2024 / Bill Roth / 0 Comments

(Full List of Water System Cybersecurity Stories | Cybersecurity and Valley Water)

It has happened again. Another water utility has been hacked. A number of sources (CNBC, CBS, CNN) have reported that the nation’s largest water utility, American Water has been hacked. American Water manages more than 500 water and wastewater systems in about 1,700 communities across at least 14 states, including California.

American Water has announced it is back online. Further, American Water says it has no indication that its water and wastewater facilities were impacted by this incident. It also says that water quality was not affected.

The attack was first reported in an 8K filing with the SEC on October 3rd. American Water appeared to recover by October 10th, according to a statement released by the company.

The attack appeared to cause network outages, rendering both American Water’s billing portal, MyWater, and its internal phone network inoperative, according to cyberSecurity publication Dark Reading.

This is by no means the first attack on a water system this year. As has been written about on this site, there have been attacks in Texas, Hawaii, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Moreover, there have been new cybersecurity guidelines issued for water systems by DHS, and more security called for by the EPA.

Valley Water needs a Director who understands the nature of the cybersecurity threat. Bill Roth is that candidate who brings years of experience in both technology and cybersecurity, and can ask the right questions to ensure our water systems remain safe.

For more information, check out Fast Facts about Bill Roth.

Water District Hacked in Hawaii

December 20, 2023 / Bill Roth / 3 Comments

A Washington Post article pointed out that there is more nation-state interference in critical infrastructure in the United States. I have written on this topic before. Another Water District has been hacked in Hawaii by the group labeled Volt Typhoon. Although reports suggest that no damage occurred, this does not eliminate the threat.

The Threat is Real

The Post estimates that several facilities have been infiltrated over the last 2 years. Many of the entities attacked fall into the category of critical infrastructure, like water systems, power grids, and power generation facilities. Many of the systems are targets of opportunity. That is, critical infrastructure facilities whose cybersecurity is lax, or where they have vulnerabilities they are not aware of. For example, the breach an Aliquippa Power happened because of an unknown vulnerability in both billing systems as well as the computerized control of their facilities known as SCADA systems.

While the Aliquippa and Hawaii hacks appear to be related to foreign actors, many serious hacks are perpetrated by current or former insiders, like the hack of the water treatment facilities in Discovery Bay California, in 2021. Water Districts need to have rigorous security protocols for both external and internal threats.

Advanced Persistent Threats

Many of the attacks from foreign actors as what’s know as advanced persistent threats.

An Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is a sophisticated and targeted cyber attack in which an unauthorized user or group gains unauthorized access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period. The “advanced” aspect refers to the use of sophisticated techniques, tools, and strategies to breach security defenses, while the “persistent” aspect indicates the intruder’s ability to maintain a long-term presence within the compromised system.

APTs are typically conducted by well-funded and highly skilled threat actors, often with specific objectives such as stealing sensitive information, conducting espionage, or disrupting critical operations. These attacks often involve a combination of social engineering, zero-day exploits, malware, and other advanced tactics to compromise and maintain access to a target network.

Unlike more opportunistic and short-term cyber attacks, APTs are characterized by their stealth, patience, and determination. The attackers often adapt their strategies to evade detection, regularly updating their tools and techniques to exploit vulnerabilities and avoid security measures. Defending against APTs requires a multi-layered and proactive approach, including robust cybersecurity measures, continuous monitoring, and incident response capabilities.

What does this really mean? Foreign actors who infiltrate a water system are content to sit and wait or do reconnaissance. That is, until the time comes when they receive the signal to move from reconnaissance to attack.

This is reminiscent of the old saying in Cybersecurity, “There are two types of people: Those who have been hacked, and those who do not know they have been hacked.”

CyberSecurity Knowledge is Desperately Needed

As I have mentioned in previous articles, the threat to life and property in Santa Clara County is significant and should not be underestimated. The Santa Clara Valley Water District needs a Director who understands the threat to our watersheds and water systems and can give it the oversight it deserves. Bill Roth is the candidate to do that.

Build Your Own Geiger Counter with Raspberry PI

January 24, 2023 / Bill Roth / 4 Comments

The result of Covid and Work From Home has been….we stay home a lot. There are upsides, like not commuting every day. There are downsides, as we have more idle time. Since my memoir might be titled “A Mind Forever Wandering,” I was thinking one day about how much we really know about background radiation. This led to a couple of searches around Geiger Tubes, and real-time databases, etc.

After a few random purchases around the internet and a bit if python code and a left over Raspberry PI 4 1G box, I have put together a DIY Geiger Counter. Here is how I did it, and here is the code, etc, you’ll need.

Here’s what you need:

Raspberry PI 3 or 4
Geiger-Miller Tube with a Raspberry PI compatible board. (Link is to the one I used)

Set up Raspberry PI

First, get a Raspberry PI 3 or 4. You’ll need some kind of Raspbian OS/Raspberry PI OS on it. I always use the Raspberry PI OS installation instructions here. In short, get the OS and the imager, and create an image on the SD card. Then boot up the Raspberry PI.

You’ll also need to add Python3 and pip to get the code working. You’ll need to do something like:

$ sudo apt install python3 pip

I am using Python 3. I have not tested Python 2. Once done with that, you should use pip to install the following additional packages:

$ pip install influxdb_client RPi.GPIO

Set Up Geiger Tube

Next, Set up the Geiger-Miller tube, and the board. My pinout for a Raspberry Pi 4 1G device is pretty simple. GND pin on the board goes to pin 6. The 5V pin is wired to pin 2 for 5V of power, and the VIN input line is wired to pin 7, GPIO4. (No reason not to do pin 3 or 5. It’s just what I picked). I also pulled the J1 jumper, since the clicks get annoying. Back background radiation is about 15-35 CPM, BTW. Which is normal. About 0.11-0.15 microsieverts for those of you doing math in your heads.

Next, set up the code. My Raspberry Pi Geiger Counter code is here. You will have to set up your Influx DB v2 database, but I’ll write that up in the next blog entry.

Once you do connect to to InfluxDB you’ll be able to get cool graphs like this, in the InfluxDB v2 UI: