jgilbreath77

I looked at my Windows 11 laptop, and I cannot find any option that allows the user to disable those icons. Doing a search online yields the same results. The ability doesn't exist. Perhaps you could do it through some kind of registry edit, but I would steer clear of that unless you know what you're doing, and make a backup of your registry beforehand.

Thank you for the info, much appreciated 🙂

Perfect! Thank you so much for the insight. 

If you want stuff to work, yes. The router is what gives out IP addresses. Modem --->Router--->everything else. If you need more ports, add the switch somewhere after the router.
 
This is for 99% of people. There will always be exceptions. But I doubt you will be one of them.

Correct, you'll want to use a switch if you want more ports to expand the router but yes, modem > router > switch | clients | etc

Generally a modem will pass a public IP to the first thing that asks (your router in this case) and won't hand out a new address until rebooted in most cases. You really don't want to plug directly into the modem though because if your laptop gets the public IP then nothing else will get connectivity to the internet AND your PC is going to be ripe for attack being directly exposed on the internet in most cases.

Yeah, set an alarm on your phone for the Xth of every month, and use a vacuum cleaner on them when the alarm goes off.
This method is very overkill, but if something dies you know it's not due to dust/detritus build up.
If your modem/router was free from your ISP, then don't bother, just get a new one every 18-24 months by complaining; "Yes the light is on!" to tech support, whilst it's literally unplugged from the PSU.

Wow, that’s amazing ridiculous… Thanks for sharing!

Some (I'm pretty sure most) cable modems will expose the individual channel power and SNR for viewing (since it's the easiest troubleshooting step).

The last several cable modems I've had you just type in the IP address of the modem (EX, 192.168.1.1), and it brings up a web interface that will show various info including signal strength.

If you're talking about the cable coming from Xfinity, there should be an interface in the modem to do this. If you're talking about MOCA (eg cable in the house being used for ethernet) then that's a different animal.
 
In any case, you may need the installer to expose it. Or if you have a TV connected to a STB provided by them, the STB will likely have a menu for it as well. With DSL, usually the router/modem admin panel has a dozens of diagnostics available on it. Cable is a bit more of a crapshoot, but they tend to be the same hardware.

https://www.ebay.com/p/78734019

Here's what the cable guy uses 😉 yes that price is correct lol
 
but in all seriousness, your modem should have that functionality somewhere on it, it might be found on your Xfinity account online.

You shouldn't need to worry too much in most cases. The devices can tolerate some dust and they generally have no fans, so it's not like they vacuum up dust like PCs do. If you want to protect them, some box with a fine (plastic!) mesh could work to allow in air while also serving as a dust filter.
 
~edit: Just make sure the container doesn't act as a Faraday cage in case this is a Wi-Fi router, or you'll have no signal. You'd need something with a plastic or cloth mesh.

as long as they're fanless, it's hard to see how they could gather so much dust it's problematic over anything less than a very extended amount of time.
 
i've had a modem survive 13 years in a damp, dusty garage.

I wouldn't worry about it much and just clean them off regularly, probably every 3-6 months would be fine depending on the amount of dust getting on the stuff, could definitely go longer if it's not crazy dusty like in a dry desert area.

No worries at all, thanks for the follow up. Appreciate the help!

Yes. Only hardware you need is an optical S/PDIF cable. 

What other hardware do you have in the setup? We primarily use an AppleTV(4k) and PS4. Would I run HDMI from those two directly into the TV and select optical audio on the receiver?

Nope, only 1080p passthru (HD).  You'll need to upgrade either the receiver or use a set-top box with an audio out.  Or use the TV audio out like Paddy states.
 
I had this issue, so I bought a Roku Ultra to feed 4k to my TV and optical audio to my Denon instead of buying a new AVR.
 

Well, you can use the TVs optical out, to connect it to the receiver. It's how I use my 5.1 set up and it works very well.

Appreciate you sharing your experience, I did go ahead and buy the Samsung 970 Evo. I primarily use my system for content creation (animation, 3D modeling, mograph). I don't know how much real world difference I experience. No way to compare the two side by side. It doesn't seem like it would be that much to be perfectly honest. M.2 drives are so damn fast it feels like splitting hairs after a certain point. If I were to do it again, I would probably have purchased two rockets. My justification was that If I'm spending all the money to have a top of the line system, why stop shot on a component that will be used literally for everything I do.

Thank you so much for taking taking the time for such a through and thoughtful recommendation. Thank you!