Fixed MySQL Workbench installation problem with missing Visual C++ Redistributable package (2015)

MySQL Workbench is a very useful unified visual tool for database architects, developers, and DBAs working on MySQL and/or MariaDB. It provides data modeling, SQL development, and comprehensive administration tools for server configuration, user administration, backup, etc.

MySQL Workbench Community Edition is free for use, which you can download from MySQL website. It is available for MS Windows, Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Oracle Linux Fedora and macOS X.

MySQL Workbench is a very good companion to work together with Laragon. In fact, it is among the few (if not the only) free MySQL database administration tools that is able to let user design database with EER diagram and also able to reverse engineer the tables of existing database into EER diagram. This feature is normally available only in the commercial version of other database administration tools.

If you are using Windows 10 and trying to install MySQL Workbench version 8, you might hit with a error during installation saying that Visual C++ Redistributable package (2015) is missing, and you need to install that before you're able to proceed to install MySQL Workbench.

Unfortunately, this problem cannot be simply resolved by installing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package (2015), because the installer program will tell you that it has already been installed.

In fact, this problem is caused by the newer Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package (2017) already installed in your Windows system. Its installation might have deleted some registry keys used by the Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable.

The solution is to repair the installed Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (note: not to install or repair the 2015 redistributable, but the 2017 one). It is advisable to repair both the x64 and x86 versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable.

To do so, go to Windows System > Control Panel > Uninstall a program and locate for Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (x64). Right click on it and select Change (note: is Change, not Uninstall). Then click the Repair button to start the repair process.

You might be required to reboot your Windows at the end of the process.

When it is done, continue to do the same for Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (x86).

After this, try to install MySQL Workbench again. The installation process should be OK now.

Converting video files to be playable from USB drive in Toyota PX-3834A-I display audio head unit

The Toyota PX-3834A-I display audio is the stock DVD-AVX head unit of Toyota Vios 1.5L E/G variants.

It is able to play the following multimedia files in a USB thumb drive:

• Audio music in MP3 (*.mp3), WMA (*.wma) or AAC (*.m4a) format
• Video in XVID (*.avi or *.mp4) or MPEG (*.mpg) format
• Picture in JPEG (*.jpg) format

For audio files to be playable, they need to have a sample rate between 8,000 Hz to 48,000 Hz and bit rate between 16 kbps to 320 kbps.

For video files to be playable, they need to have a frame size of either 720x480 (4:3 NTSC) or 720x576 (5:4 PAL).

When the car parking handbrake is engaged, the video will display on the screen, otherwise, there will be a statement on screen saying that the video will not be displayed while driving, while the music in the video still continue playing. This is a safety feature so that the driver will focus on driving instead of watching video on the screen.

In order for any video to be playable in this Toyota PX-3834A-I head unit, the easiest way is to convert it into MPG format with the following custom settings:

 

 

Conversion can be done using a free software called Freemake Video Converter. Alternatively, you can also use another free software called Format Factory to do the conversion.

 

Benefits of Honda Insurance Plus (HIP) package compared with other insurers

Malaysia Honda car owners have the option to renew their car insurance with authorized Honda dealer under Honda Insurance Plus (HIP) package , or to renew it themselves with general insurance company.

The price of HIP is generally higher than other insurers. In addition, most general insurance company will give a 10% discount if you renew your car insurance with them online, using their website without going through any insurance agent.

Anyhow, below are the benefits of HIP compared with other insurers:

Underwriting Terms:

No excess clause up to 10 years. The insurance policy covers 100% of the cost of any accident repair to your Honda car.

Other insurers may impose excess or even decline based on age of vehicle, vehicle model, age of insured and/or claims history.


Agreed Value:

100% sum insured up to 10 years. The sum insured is based on purchase price for 1st year, and subsequently based on recommended Insurance Service Malaysia (ISM) valuation price.

100% pay-out for theft or total loss.

Other insurers' agreed value might be unconditional based on market value.


Betterment Charges:

HIP betterment charges for old car repairs up to 10 years:

• 1st to 10th year = 0%

Other insurers betterment charges for old car repairs:

• 1st to 4th year = 0%
• 5th year = 15%
• 6th year = 20%
• 7th year = 25%
• 8th year = 30%
• 9th year = 35%
• 10th year and above = 40%

Body & Parts Replacements:

Honda genuine body and parts replacements with 6 months warranty or 10,000km service warranty.


Road Assistance:

Round-trip free towing service up to 450km. Free labour for roadside repair service up to RM200 per event.

HIP 24/7 emergency assistance contact: 1800-18-1177.

Free towing service and/or roadside repair service varies among other insurers. Some may not be available.


Claim Approval:

Speedy claim approval for value under RM20,000 for the vehicle repaired at Honda Authorized Body & Paint Centre.

Other insurers follow standard claim procedure which may take up longer time.


Other Services:

• One stop centre
• Road tax renewal
• NCD withdrawal
• Policy cancellation to transfer NCD
• Issue cover note for change of engine / chasis / vehicle number
• Assist in issue cover note for the extension of period of cover
• Advice on the insurance rules & regulations

Which the insured might need to carry out the tasks by themselves if insured with other insurers.


However, HIP policy excludes the following:

• Own death or bodily injury
• Liability against claim from your passengers
• Theft of non-factory fitted vehicle accessories unless otherwise declared
• Consequential losses, depreciation, wear & tear, mechanical or technical breakdown failures
• Loss/damage arising from an act of nature

Also, when your vehicle is driven by an unnamed driver or a person who is under the age of 21 or a holder of a Provisional/Probation Driving License, the compulsory excess of RM400 is applicable in the event of claim.

Laragon the free WAMP platform better than XAMPP, WampServer, etc.

The Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP or Windows-Apache-MariaDB-PHP (WAMP) is a web application server platform running on Microsoft Windows operating system, derived from the Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) platform.

In most cases, the LAMP platform is used for production server of web applications, while the WAMP platform is used as local development environment for web application programmers who work on Windows computer. Even so, the WAMP platform can also be used for production server.

XAMPP and WampServer are among the most popular WAMP environment that is free for use. There are many more options available in the market, both free and commercial, including the younger Laragon.

For Apple Mac OS users, there is also a MAMP platform available in both free and commercial Pro option.

I found Laragon to be better than XAMPP and WampServer, because it is very easy to install, very straightforward to use, very flexible to turn features and plugins on/off, very easy to setup new project, and it comes with a unique auto virtual host feature to give each project a nice URL to access from web browser. More importantly, it is lightweight and usually consume less than 4MB RAM when running, the servers are fast to start and be in up-and-running state. Its PHP execution is also pretty fast compared with other WAMP platforms.

The list of services to be started by Laragon can be easily selected in the preference page. You can also modify the default running TCP port at ease.

Laragon WAMP comes pre-installed with Apache, MySQL, Nginx, PHP, Node.js, Redis, Memcached, yarn + ngrok, git, HeidiSQL, Notepad++, etc.

HeidiSQL Portable is its default database tool to access and administer the MySQL. The popular phpMyAdmin can also be automatically downloaded included with a simple mouse click.

Additional services such as MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Python, etc. can be easily installed and added with a single mouse click from the Tools > Quick Add menu.

PHP extensions can be easily switched on/off in the PHP > Extensions menu.

To start new project with popular content management system or PHP framework such as WordPress, Drupal, Laravel, Symfony, etc. is also a breeze. With a single mouse click in the Quick App menu, the framework will be automatically downloaded and installed by Laragon.

Even if you choose to start with blank project, an empty database schema is automatically created for you in MySQL.

Laragon supports multiple versions of Apache, MySQL and/or PHP, which you can select which version to run for your project. Editing their INI configuration file can also be easily done in Laragon.

You can click here to download and install Laragon into your Windows computer.

Auspicious dates for baby first haircut (Mundan) in 2019

In many culture, religion and/or tradition, the first haircut of a baby is considered an important milestone for his/her life. The day is known as Mundan, Chadakarana, Halaqah, Upsherin, etc.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for baby first haircut in year 2019, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for starting new job / post / assignment in 2019

For employees, especially those in leading/managing/directing position, here is a list of auspicious dates  in 2019 for starting new job/post/assignment, including joining new company or joining new team in existing company.

It can be applied to first day reporting to new company/department/office/position, or going for the post to lead/manage/direct a new business unit/team/project/programme. It can also be applied to assuming new job position after promotion/restructuring/relocation exercise. It is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for opening business in 2019

Here is the list of auspicious dates for opening business in year 2019, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

It can be applied to new business opening, or reopening of business after a break/holiday. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates in 2019 for getting a baby / childbirth / Caesarian delivery

Here is the list of auspicious dates in 2019 (year of Boar) for getting a baby (求嗣), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

The dates have good element(s) to embro/faetus. Traditionally, the dates are referred for conception planning (making love and expecting a baby to the family). Nowadays, people also make reference to them for Caesarian delivery of new born. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for marriage proposal or engagement in 2019

Before becoming the life partner, marriage is proposed by lover and engagement is made.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for marriage proposal or engagement in year 2019 (year of Boar), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates in 2019 for signing contract, register for marriage, etc.

Here is the list of auspicious dates in year 2019 for signing contract, signing offer letter, register for marriage, receiving religious baptism, and other similar agreement-related activities.

It is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for renovation in 2019

Here is the list of auspicious dates for home or office renovation in year 2019, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for moving to new house / office in 2019

Here is the list of auspicious dates for moving to new house/office in year 2019, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for wedding / marriage in 2020

Many couples plan for their wedding more than 1 year ahead in order to have sufficient preparation time.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in year 2020 (year of Rat), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

If you are looking for auspicious dates for wedding / marriage in 2019 (year of Boar), click here.

You might probably also be interested with the auspicious dates for the following occasions in year 2020:

• Wedding / Marriage (year 2021)
• Marriage proposal / engagement
• Sign contract / register for marriage
• Having baby
• Renovation
• Moving house / office
• Opening business

Avantree SP850 multifunctional wireless speaker with FM radio

I have purchased an Avantree SP850 multifunctional wireless speaker with FM radio for my father to replace his CD player that is now faulty and possibly reached its end-of-life.

This Avantree SP850 has many overlapping function with the BC-01 multimedia bluetooth speaker that I purchased 2 years ago. It costs higher at the price of RM96, but its sound quality is comparatively better, with a removable (and therefore replaceable) Nokia BL-5C Li-ion battery, and much straightforward and easier to use.

Note that this Avantree SP850 does not have alarm clock function and also unable to display the time.

Its 3 main functions are:

• Play music and audio in MP3, WMA or WAV format
• FM radio
• Act as handsfree to answer/reject/hang-up incoming calls when connected to mobile phone using Bluetooth

It can accept audio source from the following:

• FM radio
• Micro SD card
• AUX 3.5mm audio cable
• Bluetooth

and it can output audio to headphone or external speaker via 3.5mm audio cable plugged to its headphone socket.

Its operation is menu driven with its LCD screen display. You can navigate the directory structure of the Micro SD card to pick the music file to play.

It supports the following music playing repeat modes:

• Repeat all
• Repeat folder
• Replace once
• Random

It has a built-in equalizer which you can set for the following music modes:

• Natural
• Rock
• Pop
• Classic
• Jazz
• Soft

It has 10 numeric buttons on top, makes it very easy to select song and to tune the FM radio.

You can get the FM radio to perform auto-searching of available channels, or to manually input the channel frequency number by using the numeric buttons. The manually set channels will be automatically memorized. This Avantree SP850 is able to memorize quite a lot of FM radio channels.

Due to its easy of use, this Avantree SP850 is suitable for everybody use, including elderly people.

You can watch the video below to have better understanding about this Avantree SP850.

Releasing handphone storage space by cleaning up WhatsApp files

Have you wonder what have silently taken up your handphone / tablet storage space? I bet the top culprit will be messaging apps such as WhatsApp.

WhatsApp stores all your individual and group chatting history in your phone storage, including all the media files and documents which you've sent out and also you've received from others. Over time, it will consume up gigabits of your phone / tablet storage.

Within the WhatsApp application itself does not have any mechanism for you to clean up old files or large files in order to release your handphone storage space.

Anyhow, you can easily locate those files stored by WhatsApp in your phone by using a file manager app such as File Manager + and navigate to the /WhatsApp/Media folder in your phone storage. The files are all there! You can then manually backup and/or delete the files there.

In fact, you can also program an Automate script to perform some sort of automated WhatsApp files housekeeping to release your handphone storage periodically.

Another easier way is to make use of an Android app called Cleaner for WhatsApp by LookAndFeel Lab to do the housekeeping.

Note that there are multiple Android apps call themselves as Cleaner for WhatsApp in the Google Play Store, and I am referring to the one developed by LookAndFeel Lab with the app icon as below:

This Android app is like a specific version of file manager to release handphone storage space taken up by WhatsApp files.

It shows you the total WhatsApp files found and the total storage space taken.

According to the WhatsApp directory structure, Cleaner for WhatsApp is able to list down the number of files and storage space taken by file types:

• Videos
• Images
• Documents
• Databases
• Voices
• Audios
• Gifs
• Stickers
• Profile Photos
• WallPapers

By entering the folder, it can let you review those files that you sent to others, those that you received from others, and duplicated files.

With a single tap, you can select all the files within the category (received, sent or duplicated), or you can manually select the files one-by-one, for you to perform the delete action. The files can be sorted by size (either large size first or small size first) or date (either oldest first or newest first) to make it easy for batch selection for deletion.

The function that makes a real difference from ordinary file explorer is its auto-clean function, which you can select to periodically check for the WhatsApp file and clean them by date or by size. It provides option for you to select which types of files you want to auto-clean.

With Cleaner for WhatsApp, you are able to release quite a number of handphone storage space occupied by those WhatsApp files. I would suggest LookAndFeel Lab to also provide achieve function beside cleaning to make it even better.

Using Travel Recommends WiFi Router to access Google, Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, etc. in China

If you are travelling to China, you will expect your Internet access to Google services (including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Drive, etc.), WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, Snapchat, Blogspots, Wordpress, YouTube, and thousands over websites and Internet services be blocked and rendered inaccessible by the Great Firewall of China (GFW).

One common way to gain access to those websites and Internet services in China is to subscribe to a dependable and reliable VPN service before you enter into China. There are VPN solutions in the form of computer software as well as mobile apps to tackle the GFW restrictions, but such solutions might be limited to single device usage, not a good idea if you carry several devices (laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart watch, etc.) with you, or if you are travelling with a small group of people (family, friends, colleagues, etc.) in which each of you has one or more devices that need to access to those websites and/or Internet services.

In such case, a portable WiFi router with built-in VPN specifically for use in China is a better solution. The WiFi router is even more important than a local SIM card or roaming service, because as long as you have full Internet access, you can make voice or video calls using WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Line, and other messaging apps.

I have searched around the Internet and found several providers of portable WiFi router available in the market. Some don't specify whether their portable WiFi router has workable VPN function for use in China or not. Some received customers' review about having mobile signal coverage issue, VPN connectivity issue, battery drainage issue, etc.

I have chosen Travel Recommends portable WiFi router as most of its customer's reviews are positive. It might not be the cheapest one in the market, but I believe it is dependable and reliable to ensure my Internet connectivity in China. Its rental price for China of RM28 per day is quite reasonable too. In fact, I really had enjoyable experience with this Travel Recommends portable WiFi router while I was in China, and I am pleased to have made a right choice.

In order to successfully rent a Travel Recommends portable WiFi router, you need to make your reservation at their website at least several days before your departure date.

During reservation, you can choose to have the device courier to you (with additional charges), or to self pick-up at their service counter available at the arrival hall of KLIA, KLIA 2 or Penang Airport. Self pick-up is also available at specific location in Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu. For device returning after your travel, you can also choose to courier it back to the company, or to self drop-off at either one of the 5 service counters available.

The package comes with:

• The portable WiFi router, sharable by up to 5 connected devices at the same time
• A travel adapter for you to charge the portable WiFi router (which you can use it to supply power to your other devices too)
• A USB charging cable
• A pouch to store all the components nicely at one place

You can also opt to include a power bank in the package, with additional charge. If you carry your own power bank, then you won't be necessary to rent the power bank from Travel Recommends.

There is a RM200 deposit collected by Travel Recommends upon making online payment to confirm your rental unit. This deposit will be banked in to your bank account several days after you returned all the rented components to the company.

The portable WiFi router has built-in Li-ion battery, which can last for about 6-8 hours of continuous usage. Whenever you are indoor with available wall socket, just charge it up, and it should be able to last the whole day from morning until midnight without much problem.

For portable WiFi router to be used in China (with or without VPN), Hong Kong and Vietnam, there is a fair usage limit of 1 GB per day. Exceeding the limit will cause your Internet access to be very slow, although still can stay connected. The quota usage is shown in real time on its display for easy check up.

There is unlimited usage for portable WiFi router to be used in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, whist for other countries such as Singapore, Europe, Australia, Canada, USA, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and Macau, the daily fair usage limit is capped at 500 MB only.

Rental prices for different countries are not the same, and can be found at their website. On and off they will have promotional price for specific countries.

I think portable WiFi router is an important oversea travelling component for you to carry along while you are abroad, to stay connected to the Internet and remain contactable via messaging apps. This is particularly crucial for travelling in China, as you need a portable WiFi router with dependable and reliable built-in VPN to stay connected to your favourite Internet services.

Configuring IPv6 settings in Asuswrt-Merlin for TM UniFi

All the IPv4 blocks have already fully allocated, and IPv4 should be exhausted any time from now. Although the Internet transition from IPv4 to IPv6 has been prolonged, it is advisable to make use of IPv6 now in parallel with IPv4.

In fact, many websites are found to be faster when accessed using IPv6.

Below are my settings on IPv6 for TM UniFi for your reference:

• Connection type: Native
• Interface: PPP
• DHCP-PD: Enable
• Release prefix on exit: Enable
• Auto Configuration Setting: Stateless
• Connect to DNS Server automatically: Disable (you can choose Enable to use the DNS servers of TM UniFi)
• IPv6 DNS Server: you can choose to use any of the public DNS servers below:
• Google: 2001:4860:4860::8888, 2001:4860:4860::8844
• OpenDNS: 2620:0:ccc::2, 2620:0:ccd::2
• CloudFlare: 2606:4700:4700:0:0:0:0:1111, 2606:4700:4700:0:0:0:0:1001
• UncensoredDNS: 2001:67c:28a4::, 2a01:3a0:53:53::
• Enable Router Advertisement: Enable

If your IPv6 is working, you will be able to see your LAN IPv6 Address, LAN Prefix Length and LAN IPv6 Prefix shown on the screen. More information can be found in the System Log > IPv6 screen.

Configuring WAN settings in Asuswrt-Merlin for TM UniFi

Below is my Internet Connection setting for TM UniFi:

• WAN Connection Type: PPPoE
• Enable WAN: Yes
• Enable NAT: Yes
• NAT Type: Symmetric
• Enable UPnP: No (for better security control)
• Get the WAN IP automatically: Yes
• Connect to DNS Server automatically: No (set as Yes to use the DNS servers of your ISP)
• DNS Server: you can use the DNS servers of your ISP, or any of the public DNS servers below:
• Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1
• FreeDNS: 45.33.97.5, 37.235.1.177
• Google: 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4
• Level3: 209.244.0.3, 209.244.0.4
• OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
• Quad9: 9.9.9.9, 149.112.112.112
• UncensoredDNS: 91.239.100.100, 89.233.43.71
• Verisign: 64.6.64.6, 64.6.65.6
• PPP Username: your username given by the ISP
• Password: your password given by the ISP
• Disconnect after time of inactivity: 0 second (never disconnect)
• MTU: 1480
• MRU: 1480 (same value as MTU)
• Internet Detection: PPP Echo
• PPP Echo Interval: 30 seconds
• PPP Echo Max Failures: 5 times
• Enable VPN+DHCP Connection: Yes
• Spoof LAN TTL value: No

You can use the ping command to find out the maximum possible MTU value for your WAN connection. Just ping to any external server that accepts ICMP echo, with the parameters "-f -l xxxx" where xxxx is a number you try to get as large as possible, while the ping result will remain to have 0% packet loss without packet fragmentation. Any number greater than it will cause packet fragmentation.

Your MTU will be this xxxx number added by 28.

In the ping results shown above, the maximum number is 1452. Therefore, the MTU is 1452+28=1480.

Dual WAN: if you only have single Internet connection, set this to Off. If you have two Internet connections, set this to On. Your secondary WAN connection can be configured as fail over backup link which only active when the primary WAN is down, or as load balancing link which active together with the primary WAN and share the Internet traffic.

Port Trigger: Disabled. You can enable it if required.

Virtual Server / Port Forwarding: Disabled. You can enable it if required. Note that if you have enabled Parental Control function of the router, there will be some Port Forwarding rules automatically set here for the Parental Control function.

DMZ: Disabled.

Enable DDNS Client: Yes.

Method to retrieve WAN IP: Internal.

Server: just pick one of your favourite. Use Asus if you have no preference.

Host Name: pick a name for your router to be accessible from the Internet. As long as the name is not in used by other user in the DDNS server, it can be used.

HTTPS/SSL Certificate: Let's Encrypt (this is the easiest to use)

NAT Passthrough:

• PPTP Passthrough: Enable
• L2TP Passthrough: Enable
• IPSec Passthrough: Enable
• RTSP Passthrough: Enable + NAT helper
• H.323 Passthrough: Enable + NAT helper
• SIP Passthrough: Enable + NAT helper
• Enable PPPoE Relay: Disable

If you don't use any VPN client and VoIP in your LAN, you can configure the NAT passthrough to be Disabled.

Configuring LAN settings in Asuswrt-Merlin

For LAN IP Address and the corresponding subnet mask, pick one from the following private IP address ranges:

• 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.255.254 (subnet mask 255.255.0.0 for fixed first 2 numbers 192.168 in the available LAN IP addresses; subnet mask 255.255.255.0 for fixed first 3 numbers in the available LAN IP addresses)
• 172.16.0.1 to 172.31.255.254 (subnet mask 255.240.0.0, or 255.255.0.0, or 255.255.255.0)
• 10.0.0.1 to 10.255.255.254 (subnet mask 255.0.0.0 or 255.255.0.0 or 255.255.255.0)

For home network, using a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 with 254 allocable IP addresses is sufficient.

If you want to allocate less usable IP addresses, you can refer to the subnet masks below:

• 255.255.255.128 (126 allocable IP addresses)
• 255.255.255.192 (62 allocable IP addresses)
• 255.255.255.224 (30 allocable IP addresses)
• 255.255.255.240 (14 allocable IP addresses)

Below is my LAN configuration for your reference:

• Enable the DHCP Server: Yes
• Hide DHCP/RA queries: No
• IP Pool Starting and Ending Address: for easier management, it is advisable to allocate this dynamic IP range to be different from the IP range used in manual assignment. Make sure this IP range is within the allocable IP addresses as defined by the subnet mask.
• Lease time: 86400 seconds
• Default gateway: the internal IP address of the router
• DNS Server: you can use the DNS servers of your ISP, or any of the public DNS servers below:
• Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1
• FreeDNS: 45.33.97.5, 37.235.1.177
• Google: 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4
• Level3: 209.244.0.3, 209.244.0.4
• OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
• Quad9: 9.9.9.9, 149.112.112.112
• UncensoredDNS: 91.239.100.100, 89.233.43.71
• Verisign: 64.6.64.6, 64.6.65.6
• Advertise router's IP in addition to user-specified DNS: Yes
• Forward local domain queries to upstream DNS: No
• Enable DNSSEC support: No (unless you are sure your ISP and your DNS servers support this feature)
• Enable DNS Rebind protection: No (unless you are sure your ISP and your DNS servers support this feature)
• WINS Server: the internal IP address of the router
• Enable Manual Assignment: Yes

Note: For the hosts configured in the manual IP assignment table, you can edit their name and change their icon by clicking on their icon.

• Enable static routes: No (normally you don't need this, unless you have a complex network with several routers)
• IPTV: select the correct ISP Profile to auto-configure the IPTV settings for the corresponding ISP
• Switch Control:
• Enable Jumbo Frame: Disable
• Spanning-Tree Protocol: Enable

Configuring WiFi settings in Asuswrt-Merlin

Smart Connect is a feature in Asus wireless routers to automatically steer the WiFi clients to the most appropriate band of 2.4GHz and 5GHz. If you make use of Smart Connect feature, you will need to have the same SSID and Pre-Shared Key (WiFi password) for all the bands available.

If you prefer to have more control on which band your WiFi clients should connect to, you can disable Smart Connect.

For 2.4GHz band:

• There are 3 wireless modes available. "Auto" allows 802.11b/g/n devices to connect to the WiFi network. In this mode, 802.11n devices can connect with optimum speed (up to 250Mbps per stream). "Legacy" mode also allows 802.11b/g/n devices to connect to the WiFi network, and the 802.11n devices can only connect with a maximum speed of 54Mbps (same as 802.11g). If all your wireless devices support 802.11n, you can select "N only" wireless mode for optimal performance. This mode does not allow 802.11b/g to connect.
• Tick the "optimized for Xbox" if your WiFi network has Xbox 360 connected, otherwise just leave it unticked.
• If your WiFi network has old 802.11b and/or 802.11g devices, tick the "b/g Protection". This will protect those devices from interferences which will also affecting the 802.11n devices.
• Set channel bandwidth to 20/40 MHz to allow 802.11n connections to combine 2 channels for faster transmission speed, provided there is minimal channel interference with your neighbours. The router will device whether to use 20 MHz (one channel) or 40 MHz (dual channel) based on actual situation.
• Try to use control channel 1, 6 or 11 if none of your neighbours is using it. These 3 channels are non-overlapping.

For 5GHz band:

• Try to use a different SSID from 2.4GHz to have more control on which band you want your device to connect to.
• There are 4 wireless modes available. "Auto" allows 802.11ac/n/a devices to connect to the WiFi network. "Legacy" only allows 802.11n/a devices to connect, and the 802.11n devices can only connect with a maximum speed of 54Mbps. "N only" will exclude all the 802.11 ac/a devices. For most of the users, you should choose "N/AC mixed" because only very old device will use the 802.11a connection on 5GHz band, you probably don't have such device at home.
• Tick the "optimized for Xbox" if your WiFi network has Xbox 360 connected, otherwise just leave it unticked.
• Set channel bandwidth to 20/40/80 MHz to allow the router to make use of either single channel, 2 channels or 3 channels, based on the actual situation.
• The best control channel for most Asus routers is channel 48. Channels 36/40/44/48 belong to the UNII-1 low band channels, with channel 48 having the best transmission power. Other channels above are belonging to the UNII-2 or UNII-3 channels, which availability for use is depending on the country's regulation. Those higher band channels are in the Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) spectrum, and the router will simply disable using them if any radar systems is detected using the same spectrum.

For both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands:

• Extension channel is the second channel for 40 MHz bandwidth (and third channel for 80 MHz in 5GHz band), which you can specify it to be either above the control channel or below the control channel.
• For most home users, set your authentication method to "WPA2-Personal" and WPA encryption to AES. If you have a RADIUS server in your local network, you can use "WPA2-Enterprise" for better security.
• WPA pre-shared key is a passphrase, which you can use a short sentence of words instead of a single word.
• For most of the users, you can leave protected management frames to be disabled. You can enable it for better security, but wireless clients that don't support this feature might not be able to connect to your WiFi network.
• In WPA WiFi connections, the group key is a shared encryption keys among all the connected devices to secure multicast/broadcast traffic. It is more secured to change this group key at certain time interval, although for most home user, there is usually no harm for not to change it. For group key rotation interval, the figure is in seconds. You can set it to 0 to use the same key without any periodic change required. The interval can be from 1 second to 2,592,000 seconds. 3,600 seconds should be good enough for most users.

WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) provides an easy way to connect new device to the WiFi network. For most home user, you can just disable this function, as your wireless devices at home is pretty fixed.

WDS (Wireless Distribution System) is a kind of wireless bridging function to extend your WiFi coverage with additional access points (AP). If your home network only has one wireless router, you can ignore the settings here. Besides, Asus routers has a better way of interconnection called AiMesh.

If you discovered your neighbour is stealing your WiFi network, you can block their device with Wireless MAC Filter. It is very straightforward to configure.

RADIUS Setting is for WPA2-Enterprise network. Most home users can just leave it as it is.

Below is my configuration for Professional Wireless settings, for your reference.

For 2.4GHz:

• Enable Radio: Yes
• Enable wireless scheduler: No
• Set AP Isolated: No
• Roaming assistant: Disable (enable if you use Smart Connect function)
• Bluetooth Coexistence: Pre-emptive (if you use Bluetooth keyboard/mouse/speaker nearby your router)
• Enable IGMP Snooping: Disable
• Multicast Rate(Mbps): Auto
• Preamble Type: Long
• AMPDU RTS: Enable
• RTS Threshold: 2346
• DTIM Interval: 3
• Beacon Interval: 100
• Enable TX Bursting: Enable
• Enable WMM: Enable
• Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement: Disable
• Enable WMM APSD: Enable
• Optimize AMPDU aggregation: Disable
• Modulation Scheme: Up to MCS 11 (NitroQAM/1024-QAM)
• Airtime Fairness: Enable
• Multi-User MIMO: Enable
• Explicit Beamforming: Enable
• Universal Beamforming: Enable
• Region: make sure you select correctly

For 5GHz:

• Enable Radio: Yes
• Enable wireless scheduler: No
• Set AP Isolated: No
• Roaming assistant: Disable (enable if you use Smart Connect function)
• Enable IGMP Snooping: Disable
• Multicast Rate(Mbps): Auto
• AMPDU RTS: Enable
• RTS Threshold: 2346
• DTIM Interval: 3
• Beacon Interval: 100
• Enable TX Bursting: Enable
• Enable WMM: Enable
• Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement: Disable
• Enable WMM APSD: Enable
• Optimize AMPDU aggregation: Disable
• Modulation Scheme: Up to MCS 11 (NitroQAM/1024-QAM)
• Airtime Fairness: Enable
• Multi-User MIMO: Enable
• 802.11ac Beamforming: Enable
• Universal Beamforming: Enable
• Region: make sure you select correctly

WiFi Radar enables you to check for the WiFi channels usage and congestion state around your area, so that you can set your control channel to the least congested option. Before using it, you need to go to the Configure tap and click on the Start Data Collection button, wait for a few seconds, then click on the Stop Data Collection button.

Tweaking network settings in Asuswrt-Merlin

The Tools > Other Settings in Asuswrt-Merlin firmware is a menu not found in the stock Asuswrt firmware. It enables us to tweak some network settings to the router, which most of the time we can just keep them at default value.

Traffic history is a small database storing information required by the Traffic Analyzer. By default it is stored in RAM, which will be lost after the router is restarted.

You can set the traffic history location to NVRAM to preserve the data after router restart, and set the frequency whereby the database will be copied from RAM to NVRAM. Note that the NVRAM in the router has a finite times of read/write cycle. It is advisable to set the save frequency not to be too frequent to prolong the wear-and-tear of the NVRAM.

A better way is to save it to custom location, which can be a mounted USB storage device.

If your ISP billing cycle is not on the first day of the month, you can change the default starting day of monthly cycle from the default 1 to the first day of your billing cycle. This will enable you to have better view of your monthly traffic based on your billing cycle.

Asus routers such as the RT-AC86U have a physical button for you to turn off all its LED lights. This is a feature for you to conceal the router, particularly at night or in dark condition. Asuswrt-Merlin provides you the software option to turn off the LED lights by enabling Stealth Mode in miscellaneous options. In fact, you can further tweak your router to automatically turn off the LED lights during certain time, and make them function as normal during other period of time. You can click here to learn more about scheduled LED control.

New firmware version check will alert you when you login to the router and there is new Asuswrt-Merlin firmware available. You will still need to manually download the firmware after getting the alert, and perform the update accordingly. You are given the option not to check for beta firmware releases.

For TCP/IP settings, just keep the default values unless you have certain network application, such as VoIP, that need the tweaking. TCP connections limit is in quantity. All the timeout values on the screen are in number of seconds.

In IPv4, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to find out and associate the Media Access Control (MAC) address of a network interface with its IP address. It was done by a broadcast in the Layer 2. In IPv6, ARP is replaced by Neighbour Solicitation. By default, IPv6 neighbour solicitation broadcast is allowed by the internal firewall of the router, and Asuswrt-Merlin allows you to instruct the internal firewall to drop such broadcast, if it bothered you.

The Asuswrt firmware has a program called WANduck, which handles tasks related to your Internet (WAN) connections. WANduck is "inherited" in Asuswrt-Merlin firmware.

By default, WANduck will keep on sending DNS queries every few seconds to check if your WAN link is connected or not. You can disable this in the advanced tweaks and hacks settings. It is advisable not to change the default setting, unless you are clear about your reason to disable it.

Asusnat tunnel is a special NAT tunnel built-in to enable access to the router from the WAN side, even under NAT network. It is used by certain features, and the Asus Router mobile app. If you are paranoid about this kind of tunnel, you are given the option to disable it.

The Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) protocol is a technology which aids a web browser in automatically detecting the location of a Proxy Auto Config (PAC) file using DNS or DHCP. The PAC file contains information of web proxy server.
By default, the DHCP server in the router will send empty WPAD with a carriage return to the requester. If this behavior causes problem, you can disable the sending of carriage return in empty WPAD.

Configuring AiCloud 2.0 in Asuswrt-Merlin

Asus AiCloud 2.0 is a "personal cloud" feature available in Asus wireless routers, enabling you to have easy access to your shared files either inside your home network or externally from the Internet.

External access to AiCloud is still unaffected even if you have disabled web access from WAN, i.e. remote access to your router's configuration web interface is disabled from the Internet (configured the Administration > System > Remote Access Config > Enable Web Access from WAN to "No", which is a good security measure to prevent unauthorized remote access to your router).

AiCloud is best to be used with a Cloud Disk USB storage device plugged in to your router's USB 3.0 port. It can be a USB thumb drive or a USB external harddisk. You can either format it with NTFS or EXT4 file system.

In my experience, AiCloud for Asus RT-AC86U router can work properly with the following combination of file systems:

• NTFS only, single partition
• EXT4 only, single partition
• NTFS + EXT4. The EXT4 is to be used by Entware or Optware
• NTFS + EXT4 + SWAP

Inside AiCloud 2.0 menu option, there are 3 settings. You need to turn on Cloud Disk in order to share the attached USB storage device to both your Intranet and the Internet.

I recommend to disable Smart Access, unless you want all your shared resources in your internal network to be remotely accessible from the Internet via AiCloud.

Smart Sync is said to be able to sync your attached USB storage to Asus Webstorage in the cloud, or AiCloud of another router in the Internet. In order to use Smart Sync, you need to enable both Cloud Disk and Smart Access. I found this function to be still buggy, and haven't found the way to make it work properly with Asus Storage yet. Therefore, I just keep it off.

In order to access your AiCloud from the Internet, particularly when you don't have a fixed IP address allocated by your ISP, you will need to have your DDNS service up and running. It is configured inside WAN > DDNS, and you have quite a wide variety of DDNS servers that you can choose to use.

You can access to your AiCloud using:

• Web browser connecting to your router's AiCloud Web Access Port, configured in AiCloud 2.0 > Settings > AiCloud Web Access Port. It is advisable for you to change this port number from the default to your own.

• AiCloud Android App

• AiCloud iOS App
• 3rd party mobile apps, such as File Manager +

Asus Download Master is a utility in the router that enable you to download Internet files using torrents to your attached USB storage device. It is not installed by default, and when you install it, the router will setup optware in your USB storage device and install the Download Master utility there. It can then be accessible using its web interface by browsing to its port in your router.

I think Internet files downloading is much better to be handled by proper software in your computer, rather than using the utility in your router. It will consume your router's CPU and memory resources, reduce its stability and reduce its security level.

Inside USB Application > Media Services and Servers, you can make use of the built-in media server functionality in your router (miniDLNA) to stream media stored in the attached USB storage device to computers, tablets, smartphones, smart TV, media player, etc. Supported media content includes video, music and pictures.

If you enable iTunes Server, you can stream the media content to iTunes app and Apple TV in your intranet. Disable this if you don't need it.

By using Manual Media Server Path, you can specific only media files resided in certain folders in the attached USB storage device be accessible with the media server. For each of the folders, you can further specify whether to share the audio, image or video in it.

For Samba network file sharing, the following settings are recommended:

• Allow guest login: Off
• Maximum number of concurrent connects: 5
• Samba protocol version: SMBv2
• Simpler share naming: Yes
• Force as Master Browser: Yes
• Set as WINS server: Yes, unless you already have a WINS server in your local network

SMBv2 is more secured against Windows malware attack. However, you might see the following log entries in your router, which is caused by one or more clients trying to access using the old SMBv1 (CIFS) protocol.

 

To eliminate these log entries, you can either set the Samba protocol version to "SMBv1 + SMBv2", which is not recommended due to malware security issue with SMBv1, or to turn off SMBv1 clients.

In Windows, you can turn off its SMBv1 client by going to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off > SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support and uncheck the SMB 1.0/CIFS Client.

The settings for NFS exports and FTP Share is pretty straightforward. You can just disable them if not in used.

Configuring Adaptive QoS in Asuswrt-Merlin

When your Internet connection is congested (most or all of its allocated bandwidth is used up) either from time to time, or most of the time, Quality of Service (QoS) is a mechanism for you to prioritize bandwidth usage based on network tasks and applications.

However, if your Internet connection is not congested most of the time (allocated bandwidth is hardly used up), it is advisable for you to turn off QoS function. This is because QoS won't make your Internet connection become faster, as your Internet connection is limited by your ISP allocation of maximum upload and download bandwidth. In fact, enabling QoS will incur additional workload to your router and your local network.

QoS is essential for a congested network to ensure that certain network tasks and applications will not be severely affected by the congestion by giving priority to their network traffic, at the sacrifices of those with lower priority. Turn on QoS when your Internet is congested will give you a better Internet experience if you configure it properly.

Bear in mind that QoS normally won't work together with Hardware Acceleration. Enabling QoS will cause the router to automatically shut down partial or all of the Hardware Acceleration function.

In the Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin Game Boost screen, there is a LAN Boost - One Click Game First mode. That is actually a short cut to an adaptive QoS setting that turn on adaptive QoS and set Online Gaming with the highest priority of all network traffic. If you want to give the highest priority to other tasks such as Media Streaming instead of Online Gaming, make sure you turn off this LAN Boost - One Click Game First mode.

When you click into the Adaptive QoS menu, you will be presented with the Bandwidth Monitor screen. This screen is functioning regardless QoS is switch on or off in your router. It is a very useful screen to tell you the real time bandwidth usage of your network between the router.

Upload Bandwidth and Download Bandwidth is visually shown in the form of a speedometer. From this display, you can immediately know whether your Internet link is congested or not.

The same information is also obtainable in the Asus Router mobile apps connected to the router.

Below it is a list of hosts connected to the router, and their real time upload and download bandwidth usage respectively.

If you turn on Apps analysis, you can click on the icon of any of the hosts, and the screen will show a breakdown of bandwidth usage by the applications running in the host.

If you would like to turn on QoS function, recommended settings are as below:

• QoS type: Adaptive QoS
• Bandwidth Setting: Automatic Setting
• Queue Discipline: fq_codel
• WAN packet overhead: select the correct preset according to your Internet connection type

Click here if you are interested to understand more on the technical among the 3 queue disciplines of Stochastic Fairness Queueing (SFQ), Controlled Delay (CoDel) and Fair Queueing Controlled Delay (fq_CoDel).

You can then determine which kind of applications are going to have the highest priority to access the Internet: Games, Media Streaming or Web Surfing.

If you choose Customize, you are given control to customize the priority among the following traffic types:

• Gaming
• Video and Audio Streaming
• VoIP and Instant Messaging
• Web Surfing
• File Transferring
• Others

You can mouse over to each of them for more description of the traffic type respectively.

If you have QoS enabled, you can view the QoS Statistics screen to have an idea of the bandwidth usage by each of the traffic types.

Web History records down a log on the websites visited by the hosts. I find it no harm to enable or disable it. Even if you disabled it, it seems that the logging still be ongoing behind the scene. I also noticed that this Web History does not display every single website visited by the hosts.

Configuring AiProtection in Asuswrt-Merlin and Asuswrt

One of the selling points for Asus wireless routers is their AiProtection feature, providing real-time network monitoring and protection with its Trend Micro Deep Packet Inspection engine. This is a kind of enterprise-level security made available in Asus home routers.

AiProtection is signature based, which you can update its signature in Administration > Firmware Upgrade > Signature Version > Check. This is of no rival to today's enterprise-level security that uses machine learning and/or deep learning technology, but it is much better than none.

Router Security Assessment check your router settings for security best practices. If you enabled something that has potential to decrease the security protection, it will warn you by flagging that setting as a risk. It will provide you a direct link to disable that particular setting.

However, if you are clear on your requirement to enable certain settings, such as port forwarding, you can just ignore the warning.

To get the best from AiProtection, you should enable all the features of Malicious Sites Blocking, Two-Way IPS and Infected Device Prevention and Blocking.

Malicious Sites Blocking will prevent any computer in your local network to access to known malicious websites that can bring harm to your computer, such as infecting your computer with trojans, viruses, malwares, ransomwares, etc. Your computers should be installed with antivirus and Internet security software that performs this job. However, you will be surprised that there might be still some sites not detected by your computer's Internet security software but eventually blocked by your Asus router. Enabling Malicious Sites Blocking will provide double-layer protection from malicious websites on top of your computer's Internet security software. If you have a firewall with similar function behind your router, then you will have triple-layer protection.

Two-Way IPS will detect and block exploitation of a known network vulnerability, either from the Internet into your local network, or from compromized computers or IoT devices in your network trying to attack other computers or IoT devices in the Internet. This will, to certain extend, help you to protect unpatched vulnerability of your computers or IoT devices from being exploited and hacked.

Infected Device Prevention and Blocking will try to block the communication between compromised computers or IoT devices in your network and the hacker's command and control server. In this way, the hacker will not be able to easily take remote control of your compromised computers or IoT devices.

If you click on the Alert Preference button and set your email (Gmail / AOL / QQ / 163) there, you will be able to receive email alerts from your router whenever AiProtection alert is triggered.

The firmware actually provide reports for these AiProtection features in their respective tab so that you can known what threats have been intercepted, and which hosts are affected.

Parental Controls consist of Web & Apps Filters and Time Scheduling.

Parental Controls are host based and block traffic based on the source MAC address of the host accessing to the Internet. It is automatically enabled if you set one or more family members in Asus Router mobile apps as below 18 years-old and assign one or more hosts under them. The mobile apps will block them from accessing to Adult websites.

Beside adult websites, Web & Apps Filters can also block a host from accessing to Instant Message and Communication, P2P and File Transfer, and Streaming and Entertainment in the Internet.

Note that you can expand each of the 4 categories for finer blocking settings. For example, Adult category consists of Pornography, Illegal and Violence and Gambling sub-categories.

Enabling Web & Apps Filters will consume some of your router's CPU and memory, and will make web browsing slightly slower.

If you are using Asuswrt-Merlin firmware, there is another alternative called DNS Filter to do the filtering at the DNS server.

Time Scheduling function allows you to set time blocks in each of the days in a week that a particular host is allowed to access Internet. Internet access will be blocked for that particular host when the time is outside the allowed timeframe. You can set multiple blocks within a day.

This is only useful if the host is dedicated to a person or some persons that need to obey to your time scheduling. If it is a shared computer used by the whole family, then every family member will need to obey to the time scheduling when using that computer. There will be no exception.

You will notice that if you have any of the Parental Controls settings enabled, there are additional Port Forwarding entries automatically defined in your router. Those Port Forwarding entries will disappear after you disabled the setting.

Parental Controls are nice features to have. For better router performance, you might want to disable them, unless necessary to use them to guard your children Internet access.

Configuring Guest Network in Asuswrt-Merlin and Asuswrt

If you are reluctant to give out your WiFi password to your guests who want to borrow your WiFi to get their mobiles devices to connect to the Internet when they are visiting your place, you can set up a Guest Network for them.

Guest Network is a useful function to allow guest or public Internet access while separating them from your own internal network. Asus Guest Network also has some advanced features for you to impose restrictions such as access time, bandwidth limiting, MAC filter, etc.

The Guest Network function in Asuswrt-Merlin firmware should be the same as in original Asuswrt firmware. It allows you to configure up to 3 separate Guest Networks for 2.4GHz wireless band and up to another 3 separate Guest Networks for 5GHz wireless band.

If your Asus router has two 5GHz wireless bands, then you'll have yet another 3 separate Guest Networks for your second 5GHz wireless band.

It is advisable for you to set an SSID for Guest Network that is different from your regular WiFi SSID.

If you set the Authentication Method to "Open System", anyone around your wireless router can connect to your Guest Network without the need of any password. It is advisable to set the Authentication Method to "WPA2-Personal" and set the WPA Pre-Shared Key as the password to connect to your Guest Network, which can be different from your regular WiFi password.

You can optionally restrict the Access Time of this particular Guest Network. For example, if you set the Access Time to 2 hours, the Internet access for this Guest Network will be cut off 2 hours after you clicked on the Apply button.

You can also optionally limit the Download Bandwidth and/or Upload Bandwidth for this Guest Network. If you set the value to 0 Mb/s or higher than your Internet access bandwidth assigned by your ISP, then it is not restricted.

If you enable Access Intranet, the devices connected to this Guest Network is able to access to networked devices connected to any of the LAN ports of your Asus router. If you use a switch to expand the network linked to a LAN port, all the devices connected to the switch are also accessible by the Guest Network. In this way, your Intranet is exposed to your guest.

If you disable Access Intranet, your guest won't be able to access to any networked devices connected to the LAN ports of your Asus router. However, they can still access to the devices connected to your WiFi, including those connected to your regular WiFi network.

If you want to also disable access to your WiFi connected devices, you can Set AP Isolated for a particular wireless band under Advanced Settings > Wireless > Professional. However, this setting is not Guest Network specific, and will affect all the devices connected to that particular wireless band.

If you want to only isolate the Guest Network from other wireless devices, you can explore into YazFi expansion for Asuswrt-Merlin. You can click here to find out more information about YazFi expansion in SNBForums, including its installation method and sample configuration file.

You can also optionally make use of MAC Filter to specify which mobile devices is allowed or not allowed to connect to this particular Guest Network.