THEGURUOFNOTHING

You really need an unlocked copy of Win7. Can't tell you where to get one, but they are out there and have been for a very long time. But that is good to know you have win 7 stable.

THAT is just a matter of understanding. You see....... Linux Mint (specifically Cinnamon) operates pretty much exactly like Windows 10. Matter of fact, I and a few of my friends that have tech illiterate parents (that don't use crap loads of windows only software) have changed them over to Linux Mint and with about 10 minutes of instruction, they are off like a herd of turtles and in my case, my tech support requirement for them went to basically nothing. They can use all open source software like Open Office which does all the same stuff that Office does without the cost or 'software as a service' APP BS. In the case of the media server, I have an older, less powerful Dell desktop in my collection of computers and it is running Plex Media Server, on an install of Linux Mint Cinnamon and it is so dependable, I haven't had to restart or kick it in the balls in 6 months. With Microshaft's weekly breaking updates, I couldn't keep it stable for longer than a few weeks. Mint is a very small install footprint and doesn't have all the bullshit that fills memory, plugs hard drives or forces you to keep telling it to piss off when it wants to force Edge down your throat. The learning curve to figure out Mint is about as easy as changing from one level of OS on your cell phone to the next. So is it a non-solution? Nope. But it IS something you should look at. Maybe I didn't give you a great detailed answer to your question, but I don't tend to hold people's hands and lead them to every answer's fulfillment. So... go download Mint onto a thumb drive and plug it into your computer and play with it. You will be kind of amazed...

Small rack, or just hang stuff on the wall. I know the hardcore IT guys will crap bricks over that but I have seen some very impressive ad hoc installs. Cable management is the key to that. You can run your own cable. There are TONS of videos on the net about doing just that. Grab some popcorn and spend a weekend watching videos and you will have a good idea what direction to go with it. You don't need an AP in every room. If you go with something like Ubiquiti AP Lite's, you can get away with one every third of the length of your house and they can be mounted on the wall or preferably on the ceiling in that kind of setup. You don't need a Ubiquiti router or controller, their management software on your PC will do just fine and these will do a smooth mesh network throughout your entire house. Cat 6 is fine, but honestly, unless you are planning for 10 gig service (you won't ever need it) a decent quality CAT5e cable is sufficient. Don't just run one wire per room, run two or three. Overkill? Absolutely. Until it's not and you will thank me later, trust me. Don't buy crap switches. My suggestion is a 24 or 48 port POE Cisco switch. A lot of ports? Yes. But remember you are gonna run 2 or more wires to each room and that adds up fast. When you think that you will want at least three wires at the tv, one or two on the other side of that room, a couple in each bedroom... you are going to want a big switch. And you said you want to pimp the place out, spend a couple hundred extra on a good POE switch and don't worry about replacing it any day soon. Oh yeah... The Cisco switches I am talking about have SFP ports on them for 10gig and fiber... so future upgrade is already built in. But beware......... doing this level of networking is seriously addicitive. I started by just wiring stuff into my new home and over 3 years ended up wiring the entirety of my 5 acre piece for wifi, all the outbuildings, etc and after buying a used refurb HP DL380 rack server, I bought more and have my own server farm, home lab and am up to my eyeballs in home automation. It CAN get deep and it's a blast.

Install Linux Mint and forget that Bill Gates ever lived. It's easier that way

NO. Just no. Being on the bleeding edge is unnecessary for most tech unless you have a deep seated need for throwing away your money. Little uses it so why pay for unused tech.

Just install TeamViewer and you will have remote desktop access. Or better yet, dump Windblows entirely and install Linux Mint and you won't have all the "we are microshaft and we want to make you pay us to have access to stuff that has been accessible for many years until now. PAY US!!!!"

The second port on your NAS will not act as a switch.

IF... and this is the big IF... your systems are not designed to be proprietary to the NVR (which quite a few of the sub-$800 systems are) you can put a standard (but not cheap) POE switch at either end of the house and run a single cable from the switch to the NVR. There are LOTS of cheap POE switches and i will say being COMPLETELY experienced in this area that they are all total shit. Do NOT waste your money on a cheapo POE switch.

Being someone that edits videos... Your NAS has squat to do with your editing. Storage yes, but not editing. You are looking for fast transfer speeds locally and the hardware that is skookum enough to process what you have LOCALLY. You can't build a network fast enough to edit from files remotely stored. You pull them in locally, use the footage you need and go from there. A few minutes of wait time for transfer is the LEAST of your worries in this scenario. And the thought of... If I have a fast enough NAS that can handle the editing on it's own then i can "remote in" like with TeamViewer or what not.. is not an option either. Professionals edit locally on machines capable of performing at their level of need and they have massive remote storage for non-working footage. gaining seconds will not make your editing experience faster or the product better.

Well, it really pisses off the neighbors cat when it's hair starts falling out. No, turning up the TX power won't "hurt" anything but your existing reception. Making it "louder" won't make it any "better". It only makes the signal noisier and far less reliable. The ONLY reliable way to get a decent signal is with more coverage and that means more hardware.

The answer for your situation is simple... get older.. like to an adult age in which you no longer live with mom and dad and get your own internet and tackle it then. Because until that happens, you are basically screwed because life isn't fair.

I run Engenius long range wifi and they are rated to do a few miles. I run 300 meters with mine and it's very adequate. Couple hundred bucks and you will have it without pulling wire

It's also quite possible that your router is resetting and dropping you. I have experienced that issue. The router was borked and was resetting randomly and dropping everything.

You gave the answer in your question. It's old. Routers do a whole lot of stuff and over time, like anything, they fail. The brains are tired and are telling you to stop using them.

The question being asked should really be, "should I buy a second computer to screw off on while I am supposed to be working so my employer can't see I am doing it?" And the answer is yes... or you will probably get fired. There are a lot of factors going on with this. Like first of all, is this your companies computer you are trying to 'work around' on? If so, then plan to get fired. They theoretically could add keyloggers or other tracking software to your computer simply because they have the right to... it's theirs after all and you are getting paid to work, even if it's slow and stupid. Secondly, just having a second screen won't prevent anyone from knowing what's going on IF they do happen to have some sort of logging software. They are using the VPN to try and protect what ever data you are creating or accessing and chances are, its from your computer to their network and they have a way to log ALL the traffic that comes down that pipe. I have seen that play out a few times actually. It tends to end with sort sort of firing. Third, it's called a work ethic and they expect you to have it if you are working from home. In reality, a majority of jobs could be done from home, which makes it less costly for the company because they don't have to lease space for you to sit in a cubicle and play angry birds but most companies don't do work from home because they actually want people to work... and there are far too many distractions to get decent productivity. Get a work ethic, or get a second computer. Or get fired. Sensing the pattern here? Now "get to work!" - Your Boss

The simple answer is hell yes. HOW simple it will be depends on what you own for a router. Lots of them allow you to assign an IP based on the devices MAC address. If your router allows it, I would take everything above 100 and leave it as DHCP allocations for anything that is a guest or unimportant to track... XBOX, Cell phones, basic automation devices like Alexa's and GH. Everything else gets divided into groups... say 2-19 is infrastructure like NAS drive or other supporting gear like wifi pucks or whatever, 20-39 is for things like cameras and NVR, 40-60 is any fixed automation gear that you want to keep close track of, etc. You CAN put your cameras and what not on their own subnet or VLAN... but what a pain. But just for network cleanliness... yes, assign anything that is permanent. Don't put in a fixed IP from the device, leave them as DHCP but in the router have the router tell the device what IP it should use.

Set up a PfSense firewall, fire up the VPN on that, allowing all local traffic to communicate properly internally. Gives you way better security anyways. Crank up the adblocking stuff as well. And I am sure there is a way to sift the data going out through the VPN.

Ditto on CAT5e. I realize CAT6 is not much more expensive but for day to day operation in a home, there are few reasons as to why to go to CAT6. And future proofing is a weak excuse because most computers are not built to handle more than what a gig adapter will do anyways.

To "get the most" out of your wifi, you need to be using the latest technology gear. New stuff is the fastest and designed for higher throughput. But there is no magical tweak to take existing gear and make it go faster however. So if you can't wire it, it just gonna be replacing equipment. Dump the Ford and buy the Porsche.

You REALLY REALLY REALLY need to do some research on VPN's. There is pretty much no reason at all to have more than one in place because having 2 only adds complexity and does nothing more for tracking... as I assume that is what you think VPN's are actually protecting you from. It's like putting on two condoms so the girl doesn't know it's you.

I gotta ask... what reasons are you using a VPN for? Because I am thinking you don't truly understand what a VPN does for you. If you are thinking it will keep others out of your system... no. Doesn't work that way. If you are concerned with being able to be on the net completely untracked...no. Doesn't work that way. If you are trying to make sure that your data is completely encrypted between you and the source you are connected to.. no. Doesn't work that way. A VPN is not a magic bullet and you are tracked in SOOOOOO many ways that the fingerprint of your computer, phone and what not are ALREADY filed away. You need to watch this video and reassess your interests:

There are laws in place about use of public internet such as this but nobody is going to prison over it. They accept the responsibility of users that can access their signal, regardless of how far away they are from the establishment. Mind you everything you do over it is tracked so a VPN is kinda important. If you can reach it with a directional antenna, you can do two way comms. It may not be super fast or dependable but it doesn't require high power antennas on both ends. Ask me how I know. But ALSO... if the establishment isn't open 24 hours, they may have it lock down after hours to prevent this kind of thing. Ask me how I know. In addition, some places have put daily data caps or speed throttling on their access... also to prevent this kind of thing... and if they see the same MAC's logged with lots of data, they may black list it. Yes, lots of ways around all of that but at some point, your conscience needs to kick in and tell you... buy your own effing internet plan and stop being a sponge because "you know others are doing it". My suggestion is to work out the issues with your ISP.

I have never heard of a roaming Google Home device. They are usually in a fixed location. It's how the wifi is set up on each device. I second plugging the wires into each router's LAN ports, not the WAN port. Turn off the DHCP in all but one of the routers (or all of them if the modem has built in router and does DHCP). You CAN buy Ubiquiti AP-Lite pucks that are mesh setups but you already have "workable" gear. But currently, too many routers are in the mix at the moment and most consumer grade routing gear does not have real AP modes.

Yeah... Uh, buy direct bury Cat6 and toss a switch in the shop ran to an AP. Easy peasy. I have plenty of UG cable run on my property, some of it with 300' (shy of 100 meter) runs and it passes gig speeds without any issues at all. Doesn't have to be run in conduit or buried 2 feet deep... just protected depths. If the cable thing just isn't what ya want to do, then get a set of wifi bridges... Engenius WiFi AC867's specifically and you can toss that signal a couple miles line of sight. I have a set that send network signal 1000' on low power. Don't buy cheapo extender garbage. Cable or wifi bridge.

I don't know about pinnacle of stupidity... but if you really want to waste the money... Ya can, but there is ZERO need for it. Unless you are running 4k streams in the DOZENS concurrently to one computer, you will never saturate a Gig connection in any kind of meaningful way. I mean, you will not see any real benefit from it. Chances are, you have a fiber ONT that doesn't output to fiber so you will have to upconvert ethernet to fiber again and that is kinda dumb. Instead of doing fiber, just run a good quality CAT6 cable and enjoy the speed difference outside of WiFi.