Thursday, December 20, 2012

Comments with Links

I always experience a comment here on the blog as a tap on the shoulder, especially if they are favorable. And luckily most are.

But some comments, often short ones, come with links to web sites. I have tested a few of these links and the web sites either were directly marked as red in Web Of Trust or they linked to people selling THEIR services or merchandise.

THIS BLOG IS NOT AN ADVERTISING PLATFORM FOR ANYONE!

Please do not salt your comment with any link. I do not have the time to check the veracity and trustworthiness of every link!

All comments with links will be deleted and will NOT appear on the blog. Save both of us the trouble.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.


Friday, December 7, 2012

Stern Warning - Be Careful!


I don't want to repeat almost the whole article that I stumbled upon today.You can read it here but please read all of it, that is please click through to page 2.

Every word of this article is true and please, take these quoted words to heart (emphasis added):
In the vast majority of cases, victims do not regain access to their computer unless they hire a computer technician to remove the virus manually. And even then, they risk losing all files and data . . .
That begs a few questions:
  1. Do any of your files, documents, poetry, articles you wrote, tax files, pictures of the grand kids or a deceased loved one or of important events in your life, whatever you have stored in your computer, does any of that have a value to you?
     
  2. Are these files and what they represent emotionally important?
     
  3. Are these files and what they represent financially or even legally important for your business (accounting, contracts a.s.o.)?
     
  4. Are these files professionally important? Think of your résumé, your CV, contracts and bids.
 I am sure you can think of other things on your computer that may be important to you. If you answered Yes to any of the questions above then I have to ask you:

Do you have a stable backup solution in place?

A backup solution that does not depend on you remembering to actually start the backup but rather does it's job automatically in the background as long as your external disk drive is plugged in and turned on?

Please remember that any data stored in a computer can vanish in an instant. Computers break, hackers get in and do damage, lightning strikes or the little sweet grand kid stumbles over the power cord of the notebook computer left on the couch table and the computer crashes to pieces . . .

If you do not have a stable automatic backup solution in place then it may be time to call me or to send me an email. "Call him" you ask? My customers have my phone number, listeners of WTKM hear it all the time and you have two different ways here in the blog to contact me via email.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here
for a categorized Table Of Contents.
 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Windows 8: Some Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

You are thinking about getting Windows 8? My "typical home user" customer with years of experience in how to use a keyboard and mouse and working on a conventional monitor (screen) will be surprised and to some extent frustrated, trust me.

The new Windows 8 User Interface, originally called Metro and now renamed Modern UI, was definitely designed for tablet computers and/or smartphones, that is for touch enabled devices. But my above mentioned typical customer has no touch enabled devices connected to the computer at all. And I have already seen the confusion that can arise from having a touch oriented screen in front of you but no touch screen  

So if you are going to buy that shiny new computer, laptop or tablet with Windows 8 pre-installed or if you already have bought it you may have use for a few very handy keyboard shortcuts that can save a lot of navigation with the mouse. You may not have known about keyboard shortcuts yet but using Windows 8 you will want to learn at least a few of them.

Microsoft has published in several locations and in different formats lists of all keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8. One such list was published on the Windows Experience Blog. You can download the list either in PDF format or in XPS format (XPS is explained here). 

As an example of what keyboard shortcuts can do for you I want to list only a few of them:
  • Windows key+D  Takes you to the desktop
  • Windows key+R  Opens the Run box
  • Windows key+ I  Opens Settings. You can reach Control Panel from here if you are on the desktop when you use this shortcut
  • Windows key+Q  Opens a Search screen.
  • Windows key+X  Very useful for the more experienced user. It opens the Quick Access menu with many useful system tools that in previous versions of Windows mostly where accessible only from within the Control Panel. Here is a low quality (sorry) screen shot:
    Windows 8 Quick Acess menu 
Caution if you have downloaded the list of keyboard shortcuts from above links and want to print them:
The font on the printed page is very small..But still I think the list is a must have for everybody with Windows 8.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog. 
 
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Saturday, November 10, 2012

On Incomplete Emails and Free Advice


All too often I receive emails from customers with questions about technical issues. Now, please remember that from my side I think about this as a business communication, not a personal one. What I would expect is at least proper identification and contact info, i.e. the sender's full name, address info and phone number. Please do that in every email you send to me or I have to go on a wild goose chase for that info.
And frankly spoken, I don't have the time to chase this sort of wild geese. If this info is missing most likely you will get a standard reply, text see below following the ---------

Please consider as well:
  • My email advice is a free service!
  • pollidoll@isp.com signed with Polli is NOT correct identification. (This thoughtless incivility is pretty rude – in my book at least).
And no, I am not going to apologize for this remark. You can not expect a civil and matter-of-fact response if the most basic information, politeness and formality are missing, sorry. You are asking professional advice, please be "professional" as well.

Please remember, I do not retain any personal info about my customers!
Please include technical info on what you are asking about; that includes all technical details, like what operating system you use, what program you are asking about, the version numbers and so on.

In this context it may be adequate to point to one of the IMHO better web sites about Netiquette (etiquette on the Internet), especially the pages about email etiquette.

And another thing in this context: It has happened that after receiving above mentioned reminder email I got a reply with just the name, phone number and address. That is outright rude, sorry.

PLEASE use the Reply button and leave all original text in the mail; this way I have the context of the original question in the email and do not need to go on a trip with the divining rod to find the original mail. Thank you for your cooperation. Subsequently added: You may want to read this post as well; it gives more information concerning the same basic issue.

Another BIG issue is the amount of advice about trivial basic things that is being asked. When you're asking a professional for free information and advice then please always remember what Abraham Lincoln said:
"A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade."
"Stock in trade" means what he or she sells in order to earn a living. Just as a lawyer's knowledge of the law is her/his "stock in trade" my knowledge and experience with computers is my "stock in trade".

Please be reasonable about how much and how often you are asking for free work and advice. And let me know that you have tried to find an answer yourself and where you looked for it. Trust me, there are way too many people out there that just ask without ever having made the slightest attempt at finding an answer themselves.

When I get an e-mail like, "how can I turn the greyed-out save as back on" I have to ask for more specifics or just refer the sender to my blog. A carefully targeted question, such as "How can I activate Save As... in Firefox's File Menu when it is greyed out" will get a specific answer and not just a request for more information.

And, by the way, with enough interest in your computer and security on the Internet you could have read my blog in the first place, right?

And in this context something different: Currently it is happening that possibly a child of a customer is emailing me; he did not tell me whose child he is, he does not give me his address, only his cell number. He seems not to understand that I can get in trouble with the law if I communicate with him without parental consent. So please, I need to be able to identify what customer you are related with if you are a minor son or daughter of a customer! Your personal cell phone number is NOT sufficient, I need parental consent. And please consider that I did not “make” this society and its laws.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

----------------------
I am very sorry but I can't help with a quick phone call that might solve your immediate problem. Why? Because sadly you did not give me your phone number in your email. This way I can not help directly with a quick phone call to eventually resolve your problem via remote support.
Please read this entry on my blog and amend this and all future emails accordingly.
This is obligatory for all support questions by email, always and every time!
Please use Reply, do not just write a new email. Reply keeps the context in the email and thus saves a lot of time consuming and frustrating search.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Regards
Eike
----------------------

 As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here
for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

What does Microsoft want do do with Windows 8?

Recently I was looking at the Modern User InterfaceI (formerly Metro Interface) and thinking about the many discussions in other places about Windows 8 pro and cons. 

I realized that Microsoft wants me to tell them among others:
  1. Who I communicate with via email
  2. Who I communicate with more informally (instant messaging)
  3. Who I am "friends" with (social networking)
  4. Where I live and when and where I am on business and/or vacation
  5. What I schedule in my calendar
  6. What photos I take when and where, the latter if I a have a modern camera with GPS feature (smartphones!)
  7. What stocks are in my portfolio or I am interested in
  8. What I store on Sky Drive
  9. What news I am interested in
  10. Where I take a vacation or travel to or plan to eventually travel to
  11. What sports I am interested in
  12. What media I consume
  13. What I look up and/or do and/or buy on the Internet (IE10)
And there is more, so much more...From my 48 years in IT (sorry, sometimes I have to brag a wee bit; please forgive me) I have a vague idea what Artificial Intelligence programs can do when they scan my emails, my communications and correlate that with all the details I have had to tell Microsoft about myself to fill the tiles on the Modern UI with, for me, meaningful information.
And Microsoft really tries quite obviously to coax me into using my age-old Hotmail account to log in. That would give them the unique ID to easily tie it all together.
I believe I am usually fairly bland and somewhat straight headed but THIS is THE ONE ASPECT of Windows 8's Modern UI that fills me with a lot of trepidation. Apple has made an incredible fortune "having access" to all this information about their customers and as I see it Microsoft wants to bake themselves a similar pie, not only get a slice.
Once I realized this my reaction was "Big Brother. . . ". Please don't tell me anything about "conspiracy" or similar, I have expressed only some thoughts, not a theory at all!
I am really curious what kind of comments this will get; let it rip guys!
Oh, before I forget it, I do know that much, if not most of that information is already out there on some computers; but it is distributed over many computers in different companies. What really scares the heebie jeebies out of me is to GIVE IT ALL INTO ONE HAND!
 
 As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here
for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Foistware - a BAD Example


Recently I read about the free video download and converter software FVD Suite. I thought some of it's functionality might be helpful so I downloaded and installed it.

And during installation it showed it's true colors. The Installer offered altogether FOUR pieces of typical foistware, some of it IMHO outright bad stuff. And on top of that it used a tricky switch of the method to avoid this unwanted stuff.

Here are the four installer windows that attempted to trick me into installing the additional junk.

1.  The first window has Quick Installation preselected. I am usually careful with my computer so I selected Advanced Installation. The switches to install Babylon were preselected and got greyed out immediately! That means I could not turn Babylon off anymore.  IMHO Babylon is outright CRAP! Pardon my French. it figures as translation software but why then do they need to change my default search engine and my browser's home page? Did I already say crap?

I had to switch back to Quick Installation; then I could remove the check marks in the three entries for Babylon and switch back to Advanced Installation. By then I was on high alert, trust me. 


2. The second window wanted my permission (naturally preselected!) to install Shop To Win and QwikLinx. I always think TANSTAAFL seeing this sort of garbage software.

This window required to deselect only one check mark.



3.  The third window offered PricePeep. See above, TANSTAAFL.

BUT: Since I wanted to avoid PricePeep this window required a change in the method to avoid the PricePeep gunk; I needed to click the Decline button. The graphic design of this and the next window is such that on first glance one might think that Decline would decline the installation of FVD Suite and thus click on Next Step. Which would be just the mistake the originators of this deceptive tactic want us to make. Decline affects PricePeep only. Tricky, tricky to say the least. 


4. Window #4 used the same method as #3, I had to click Decline to avoid getting WaJam installed.

Plus it had a graphic element resembling a check mark in a circle; only after reading the text behind this little thingy I realized what it meant.

 
That was this.

I hope you don't get bored by me repeating and repeating over and over again:
  • Take the time to read EVERY little window when installing downloaded software
     
  • Watch out for preselected check marks
     
  • THINK before you click
     
  •  When in doubt don't install what tries to trick you!
It is getting worse and worse every week; stay safe and keep your computer clean!

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.


Saturday, September 15, 2012

On Line Backup - Not For Me


Yesterday I wrote in my article "Free Trials - User Beware!" the following:
In my opinion some of these services are bordering on useless and/or the promised services lack a sound technical base. An example for the latter are in my opinion the numerous online data backup services. All these offers pitched to the unsuspecting consumer do not mention the speed problem.

Practically all normal Internet connections, whether via DSL, cable or wireless technology have the same big drawback in common: The transfer speed from your computer up to the service's computers is significantly slower than the download speed that you experience when you browse web pages or watch a video or peruse Facebook.
Today I can give you numbers from the hard reality of what that means in real life terms.

I read on a fairly techie-oriented website a glowing endorsement of the online backup service CrashPlan and decided to give it a try. I downloaded their software, installed it and set it up to back up only the minimally required folders with my most important data.

Several hours later I wrote this email to Crash Plan's customer support:
Based on a recommendation at Lifehacker.com I bought your xxxxx plan for 2+ home computers instead of signing up for a trial. What a mistake.

After paring down the directories to the absolutely necessary minimum your program tells me after over 5 hours of run time that it still estimates another 12.2 days of run time remaining.

I am sorry, but this is absolutely unacceptable for me.

I herewith cancel my purchase. I have stopped the transfer by killing the process in Task Manager. I have uninstalled your software and deleted the downloaded installer file.

According to the promise on your web site

Our risk-free cancellation policy will automatically credit you for the
remaining unused months on any plan if you decide to cancel at any time.
I request that you please refund my payment.
Well, I warned you and promptly, on the very next day I stumble by my own free will directly in the trap. Dumb old man that I am!

As usual I welcome suggestions right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Friday, September 14, 2012

"Free" Trials - User Beware!


A recent article on PCWorld titled "The truth about free trials" caught my attention. It is quite lengthy and I had some ideas how to make the material more palatable. Let me begin with some background information.

Something that bothers me for quite some time are "Free Trials". Not only "free" manufacturer installed software packages that mostly have only one purpose, to make you pay for things like update subscriptions, license fees, upgrades to "pro" versions and so on.

Now all this junk has been joined by an ever increasing number of various offers of a wide variety of online services.

In my opinion some of these services are bordering on useless and/or the promised services lack a sound technical base. An example for the latter are in my opinion the numerous online data backup services. All these offers pitched to the unsuspecting consumer do not mention the speed problem.

Practically all normal Internet connections, whether via DSL, cable or wireless technology have the same big drawback in common: The transfer speed from your computer up to the service's computers is significantly slower than the download speed that you experience when you browse web pages or watch a video or peruse Facebook.

UPDATE 9-15-2012 (only 1 day later) re. online backup: Please read this article

Uploading large files like pictures, music and videos just takes too darned long to be practical!

Most online services offer free trials; sounds good, right?

But what happens when you realize that the service is actually not quite what you had expected and you want to cancel? Many users have nightmarish experiences.

PCWorld had a similar article already in 2006 and I will compare the results in an easy format. As to be expected there were services where canceling was easy and straightforward; there were services that took some detective work and tenacity to get rid of and then there were some that made it very difficult if not almost impossible to cancel. Nothing new here; everybody who years ago wanted to dump AOL has experienced that.

If you have ever listened to me on WTKM or are my customer you know that I call a spade a spade. Here are the names of the services PCWorld dealt with in 2006 and in 2012, grouped by difficulty to cancel.




BIG hassle, really hard Difficult & time consuming Easy 
2006 31% 22% 47%          of total number

AOL EarthLink Ancestry.com

BlueMountain.com Equifax Credit Watch Gold Audible.com

Classmates.com Flickr.com Consumer Reports Online

ESPN GameSpy Arcade Ediets.com

MSN Internet MLB GameFly.com

Napster.com Netflix GotoMyPC

NetZero RapidFax Match.com

Real Rhapsody
Mvelopes.com

Real SuperPass
Reservation Rewards

True.com
Salon.com



Stamps.com



The New York Times Select



The Wall Street Journal



Vonage
Vongo





BIG hassle, really hard Difficult & time consuming Easy 
2012 30% 42.5% 27.5%        of total number

TrustFax BeenVerified eFax

LifeLock GameFly Netflix

GameHouse CalorieKing Shockwave Unlimited

IdentityGuard YouSendit TrustedID

Spotify Foreclosure Radar Britannica Online

RealPlayer Super Pass Identity Protection SugarSync

Tech Support for Dummies Match.com Weather Channel Desktop

FreeCreditScore.com Audible Listener Gold Adapted Mind

ESPN Insider Cook's Illustrated Ancestry.com

IMDb RealtyTrac Hulu Plus

GoToMyPC Club Pogo Merriam-Webster

SociallyKnow Rhapsody


American Greetings


Dr. Laura


My Total Money Makeover


Blockbuster Total Access


OnlyMyEmail
Two things seem to be remarkable to me:
  1. Most of the services that in 2006 were a big hassle to cancel are gone for good and/or don't play a significant role anymore.

    Companies in this category in 2012 might take heed; the warning is written on the wall.
     
  2. The huge shift from 2006 to 2012 between the Difficult and the Easy categories. The percentages are reversed. Does this imply that it pays to make canceling difficult (but not next to impossible)?

    Has Netflix learned a lesson? They went from difficult to cancel to easy.
Please draw your own conclusions and please tell us about them in the comments. Thank you in advance.

As usual I welcome suggestions right here in the blog. 
Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Gunk Software

This time around it was not a customer but a friend from my trap shooting club who asked a question that I want to answer here. Thank you Steve. He sent me the following text:
My new Toshiba laptop seems loaded with a bunch of Toshiba software.  It seems to want to [do] things its own way. 

If I try to use Internet Explorer as my default browser instead of Toshiba-Google Chrome, my email at SBC-Yahoo does not always seem to work well... the cursor won't respond normally and always the Toshiba browser loads anyway. 

I suspect I might have to uninstall everything that says "Toshiba." 

What are your thoughts on this?
Good that you asked before uninstalling everything from Toshiba.

In my usual complicated manner I will probably tell you more than you wanted to know but I'll do it anyway.

All the following is valid for every brand name computer marketed to consumers, no matter what manufacturer we are talking about!

Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and lately ASUS are in my experience and opinion the very worst of companies as far as dubious or questionable pre-installed software is concerned. Sometimes it takes almost criminal investigative skill to find out what the software really does that they install on their computers.

Some of these programs your computer really needs to function correctly. Other programs have questionable purposes at best and still others are outright gunk. This mix is different from manufacturer to manufacturer and within manufacturers different from model to model or series to series.

The lowdown is that you as a "normal" human being will not be able to correctly discern what is safe to remove and what needs to stay. I have personally witnessed even experienced professionals failing at that and I am VERY careful and conservative when I do that.

In your case I assume hat you can at least uninstall the existing Google Chrome version. I don't want to say more because it could be just the wrong advice in your computer's case.

Besides that I strongly recommend, no urge my customers NOT to use Internet Explorer. Use Firefox instead, but please only the original version and not Yahoo's crippled version.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance. 

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Monday, August 13, 2012

FBI Warning "freezing" Your Computer?


Caution, the latest scam out there purports to be from the FBI. It is not!

In this warning the FBI states that:
There is a new “drive-by” virus on the Internet, and it often carries a fake message—and fine—purportedly from the FBI.

“We’re getting inundated with complaints,” said Donna Gregory of the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), referring to the virus known as Reveton ransomware, which is designed to extort money from its victims.


Reveton is described as drive-by malware because unlike many viruses—which activate when users open a file or attachment—this one can install itself when users simply click on a compromised website. Once infected, the victim’s computer immediately locks, and the monitor displays a screen stating there has been a violation of federal law.
The bogus message goes on to say that the user’s Internet address was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as having been associated with child pornography sites or other illegal online activity. To unlock their machines, users are required to pay a fine using a prepaid money card service.
Mostly the fake message states that your computer was used for "illegal use of downloaded media, under-age porn viewing, or computer-use negligence". Naturally none of that is true.

It is a fairly primitive scam but quite a few people seem to be driven by their bad conscience to pay. They are out of some money and they have handed their credit card info directly to the crooks!

No US government agency would ask a perpetrator online to directly pay a fine. In the US you would get indicted in a court of law. "Direct payment" happens only in high corruption countries and/or under dictatorships; it's called a bribe.

The nasty thing with this virus is that the home user generally does not have the technical expertise to remove this nasty piece of software; you will have to call a competent technician.

My customers know who to call; do you?

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Windows 7 - And Not Word 2007?


As so often again it is a customer's question that started this article; thank you Joan L.

Background: The lady recently bought a new computer with Windows 7 as the operating system. She had asked me to do the set-up-job that I highly recommend for every new brand-name computer. The set-up-job is described here.

She sent me the following question:
I was expecting to have Word 2007.   ???    Is it available "somewhere" and I have not found it?
Why where you "expecting" Word 2007? There is absolutely no connection between the numbering systems in Microsoft software. The Windows operating system has had historically names like
  • Windows 95. 98 ( and NT and 2000 for professional use)
  • Windows ME, XP and Vista and
  • Windows 7 (since 2009)
  • Windows 8 (per end of October 2012)
Microsoft's office software of which Word is only a part was historically named
  • MS Office 97, 2000, 2003 and then
  • MS Office XP
  • MS Office 2007 and 2010
You can see that in both product groups (Windows operating system and MS Office) Microsoft wildly jumps between names, years and numbers.

Again, there is NO correlation between Windows and MS Office.

I believe you said - as most of my customers do - that you did not want to pay another $100 or more to Microsoft because the free office suite LibreOffice enables you to create, modify and open the common MS Office file types .doc, .xls and .pps (for Word, Excel and Powerpoint files respectively). That is why I installed LibreOffice on your computer as part of above mentioned set-up-job.

The main and most obvious difference between MS Office and LibreOffice is that the latter still adheres to the time proven menu paradigm while Microsoft as of Office 2007 has switched to the new ribbon interface. 

I am an old menu user and personally have huge problems doing simple things in the ribbon interface. It is so bad that I installed a function that gives me back menus in MS Word and MS Excel. But that is besides your question, I apologize.

Not in my email response to the lady but worth mentioning in this context is that the Windows operating system and MS Office are licensed independently of each other. With the purchase of a Windows computer you buy a license to use the operating system. If you want to use MS Office you have to buy an additional license.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tune-Up Utilities


The newest crooked trick is to tell you that your computer needs a "tune up" because it has so and so many "errors". You will be shown an impressively looking list with technical details. Please don't fall for this new trick.

This time around it's not virus programmers that try to scare you into doing the exactly wrong thing, this time well known companies use this old scare tactic to get their sticky finger into your wallet. The companies in question in the limited test I refer to are Corel, Norton and AVG.

When you try to use whatever is offered on your screen to "clean" the computer you are asked to pay! You can read about all the gory details here.

Please trust me, anybody, no matter how well known their name is, who tells you that your computer is full of errors or viruses or whatever and then wants money to correct the situation does NOT have your best interest on their mind! They are after your money, only after money!

Any commercially offered tune-up utility carries inherent dangers. Many are way too aggressive and some even have rendered well running systems unusable. Please stay away!

Read how the author of above linked detailed story summarizes his experience:
Scare tactics and hard sells should be a red flag. . . .

. . .  the software I test-drove for this article clearly seems aimed at inexperienced users who are more likely to purchase "repairs" when confronted with frightening reports of critical and numerous system problems. Unfortunately, these PC users often lack the skills to do basic troubleshooting themselves. 
My conclusions:
  • It's not only crooks anymore that try to scare unsuspecting computer users out of some money
     
  • Formerly renowned companies like Corel, Norton and AVG have begun to copy tactics so far only used by crooks; how desperate are these companies?
     
  • In the case of Norton software (marketed by Symantec Corp) they actually add insult to injury; IMHO Norton Anti-Virus has for years caused more trouble than done good.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Wireless Security - Why?


Once more it is a customer's question that triggers a generic reply. With minor editing here is what I got asked:
When you were over. . . you told me that my internet service was "insecure" because I didn't  have a password  to log on. We have wireless internet. I didn't realize until today . . . that I still don't have a secure network. . . . Should we do that, or am I ok the way it is now?
 Here is my reply:

The question is not if "you are okay" with a not secured Internet connection.

The question is: How do you see the risk of some crook driving by your house while nobody is home, realizing that you have an unprotected wireless network, stopping and using your Internet connection for illegal purposes? And some month later you will have to explain to the FBI that it was not you or your husband who uploaded child porn from your Internet connection. (Only an example.)

Programs to indicate wireless networks are available for free and for all major types of smart phones.

For me the only question really is "Am I willing to let some stranger into my wireless network or not?"
 
 That question you have to answer yourself.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Windows 8 - Do You Need It?


End of October will bring the introduction of Windows 8. The "new factor" seems to be intriguing to some people.

All Windows XP computers and some early Windows Vista computers are reaching the limits of their useful lifetime or even are outright beginning to fail. I always try to get the customer to compare the cost of a repair to the cost of a new computer. New computers generally are in every technical aspect a multiple of what a computer built for Windows XP was.

Whenever I have to talk to a customer about a new computer I am asked "Should I wait for Windows 8?".

 My current reply is usually along the lines of
  • Currently you can get reasonably priced computers with Windows 7.
  • Windows 7 IMHO is the best operating system Microsoft has ever released.
  • Windows 8 and it's Metro user interface is meant and built primarily for touch enabled devices.
  • You will have to re-learn many things that have become habitually
  • I rather recommend to stay away from the bleeding edge of technical developments.
  • Using a repaired (older) Windows XP computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8 is like attempting to keep up in Chicago's rush hour traffic with a Ford Model T.
I know that you will be able to use Windows 7 at least until January 2020. Yes, Microsoft has firm life cycle schedules available. If you look at these schedules you need to look at the "end of support" dates. In Microsoft's own words:
End of support refers to the date when Microsoft no longer provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance.
That is the date relevant for the average home user! After that date nobody will want to help you with the "old" operating system anymore.

Conclusions:

If there is any reason to currently think about possibly a new computer please think Windows 7!

If you are confused by the huge number of options out there and/or if you can't stand the quite often incredibly snotty sales people (for example but not only at Best Buy) then please ask me for advice. All my customers have my email address, my phone number and even my postal address. Or you can use the link way at the end of every single article on this blog; it looks like this: Click to send me an Email

As with any and all brand name computers I strongly recommend my Set-Up job. The customers that had me do the set-up job are those I don't hear from for years; that's how I want it to be!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.


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Foistware - More Than A Nuisance


The following mainly is an excerpt from my recent article "PDF Creator - Good Bye". If you have read that article you don't need to read this one.

Developers of free software always had the problem of somehow making some money; they have bills to pay too!

Quite often good free software was meant to be an "entry drug", to entice you to later buy the paid version of that software. Users of these programs were reminded at certain intervals or during certain functions like updates to buy the paid version.

Over time these reminders became more intrusive and sometimes even sneakily disguised down to the point of being outright obnoxious. Good examples of the latter are AVG and Avast antivirus programs.

To further the sale of paid versions the developers of these programs made it more and more difficult to upgrade without inadvertently switching to the paid version. 

Another method of attempting to get at least some money was and is soliciting donations from users of the program. Way too few people were willing to part from their $$ for a piece of "free" software, even if they used it daily!

Both aforementioned methods and others apparently did not have the desired effect. Software developers now are prone to look for a more direct method of getting paid.

They fall for the sales pitches of third parties and offer Foistware.

Rather than repeating all the information I point you to a very good description of foistware in this ZDNet article by Ed Bott. I recommend a look at his "Foistware Hall of Shame" as well.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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PDF-Creator Good Bye!


On most computers that I have set up in the past I did install a program called PDF-Creator. It allows very simple creation of a PDF file out of any kind of document. You simply print that document on a virtual printer and voila you have that "printed" document as a PDF file.

PDF Creator still is the same good piece of free software that IMHO it always was; but something rather nasty has happened around it. Let me explain and set the stage.

Developers of free software always had the problem of somehow making some money; they have bills to pay too! Quite often good free software was meant to be an "entry drug", to entice you to later buy the paid version of that software. Users of these programs were reminded at certain intervals or during certain functions like updates to buy the paid version. Over time these reminders became more intrusive and sometimes even sneakily disguised down to the point of being outright obnoxious. Good examples of the latter are AVG and Avast antivirus programs. To further the sale of paid versions the developers of these programs made it more and more difficult to upgrade without inadvertently switching to the paid version. 

Another method of attempting to get at least some money was and is soliciting donations from users of the program.

Both aforementioned methods and others apparently did not have the desired effect. Software developers now are prone to look for a more direct method of getting paid at least some money. They fall for the sales pitches of third parties and offer Foistware. A very good description of foistware is in this ZDNet article by Ed Bott. I recommend a look at his "Foistware Hall of Shame" as well.

You ask what all this has to do with PDF Creator? A lot since PDF Creator got loaded with OpenCandy, an IMHO classical example of foistware. So far I could easily circumvent OpenCandy during installation of PDF Creator. But now PDF Creator's developers have decided to include OpenCandy and almost clandestine offers of junk into PDF Creator's update function! Take a look at one of PDF Creator's current installer windows :



In the top oval highlight you see pre-selected choices to install Babylon, IMHO one of the most heinous pieces of software currently pushed on unsuspecting people. Don't take my word for it, just read a few comments by people (all original quotes from here):
"Babylon is total f***ing malware. I unchecked every box, refused every intrusion it offered, and BOOM I find it has installed itself anyway. Oh and not just installed itself, infected Firefox to the bone. It is utterly inextricable using conventional means. One must dig into Firefox system files via about:config and manual expunge each hidden piece of malware. "
"Why is Babylon software not classified as malware? My computer is infested with it; . . .  if it did not automatically install itself everywhere."
"I do not need it and I cannot get rid of it. It overrides my settings in an obscure way that seems impossible to be corrected."

"Does anybody know how to remove this stuff?"
 Now, in above example you have to do four things to avoid getting Babylon installed:
  1. DE-select the check mark by "Make Babylon Search my home page"
  2. DE-select the check mark by "Install Babylon toolbar"
  3. DE-select the checkmark by "Make Babylon my default search" 
  4. And you have to click on the Decline button.
 If you click on Agree you have done just that, agreed to Babylon taking over your web browser(s) and the settings in the check marks are ignored.

I have used PDF Creator and Babylon as examples only! PDF Creator can offer other foistware that requires other methods of avoiding it! user beware!

All this sneaky stuff happens thanks to OpenCandy being now in PDF Creator's installer!   

What to do about it:

If I have set up your computer before August 2012 you likely have PDF Creator running. Please remove it! I recommend these steps:
  1. Open the Control Panel
  2. Open Programs and Features (on XP it is Add/Remove programs)
  3. Find and highlight "PDFCreator"
  4. Click Uninstall (on XP it is Remove) and follow the prompts
  5. Open the Printers folder.
  6. If you still see a printer "PDFCreator" Right click on it and click on Remove device
If you want to retain the option of creating PDF files by simply printing them to a virtual printer I recommend from now on doPDF. You can download it from this web page as well; please do not use the mirror links at the end of the page. Some of these go to download portals that I recommend to stay away from.

When you install doPDF you will see the window pictured below. Please set the switch "Always use this folder" to your personal preference.



If you have difficulties doing any of that or if you feel intimidated by the tasks at hand then I would love to help; you know who to ask. 
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Monday, July 16, 2012

DISable Windows Sidebar & Gadgets NOW! Update


The Register is a British IT and computer blog. I follow it's security blog; one of the recent articles was about dangers posed by Windows Vista and Windows 7's features "sidebar" and "gadgets". To save you the need to go to this page and then return I will quote their full article here:
 Microsoft has advised Vista and Windows 7 users to put Gadgets and the Windows Sidebar to the sword, following the revelation of yet-to-be-detailed remote code execution vulnerabilities in the features.

Redmond issued this advisory ahead of an upcoming Black Hat presentation by Mickey Shkatov and Toby Kohlenberg. The two have promised to reveal “interesting attack vectors” in a presentation called “We Have You By The Gadgets”.

Microsoft hasn’t provided any further information about the vulnerability, other than to say that users could install insecure Gadgets that enable remote code execution.

“Gadgets installed from untrusted sources can harm your computer and can access your computer’s files, show you objectionable content, or change their behavior at any time,” Microsoft notes.
Since Gadgets run with the rights of the current user, the vulnerability could allow exploits all the way up to administrative level.

The Microsoft fix disables the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets on all supported Vista and Windows 7 editions.

The unloved Sidebar feature for Gadgets was killed off in Windows 8, as was the Windows Live Gallery used to access Gadgets from the desktop.
I always have advised my customers not to use sidebar functionality; especially on early Vista systems with limited hardware sidebar gadgets caused a perceivable performance reduction.

It seems to be interesting that Microsoft issues a "fix" even before the vulnerability has become public. That tells me something about this vulnerability: It must be really dangerous or maybe it's just too easy to exploit it?


If I have set up your system and you have an icon labeled "Teamviewer..." on your desktop then I can apply remotely a simple fix that will disable the sidebar and it's gadgets permanently and system wide. And you have my phone number.

Update: There is a relatively easy way to disable the sidebar and the gadgets yourself:
Uninstalling the Gadget Platform also removes the Gadget options from the desktop context menu and the control panel. To uninstall, open the Control Panel, click Programs and Features. In the upper-left corner click Turn Windows features on or off. In the Windows Features list, scroll down and un-check Windows Gadget Platform, then click OK. This will require a reboot.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Passwords that are NOT a Password


Update June 15, 2013:
I stand by what I wrote here but please read as well my article "Passwords - The Latest".

I stumbled over an interesting web site maintained by security consultant Mark Burnett.  Mark writes extensively about passwords and other computer security related issues.

What intrigued me is the utter ignorance some people show when selecting passwords. Take a look at the this little table with the arbitrarily chosen top 18 entries out of the millions of passwords Mark has analyzed.

The first column lists the actually used password and the second column how often it appeared in the analyzed sample. The obscuring with **** serves to disguise a foul four letter word.


password   32027   
123456     25969   
12345678   8667      
1234       5786      
Qwerty     5455      
12345      4523      
Dragon     4321      
P****      3945
Baseball   3739      
football   3682      
letmein    3536
monkey     3487

696969     3345
abc123     3310
mustang    3289
michael    3249
shadow     3209
master     3182
What I want to emphasize are a couple of facts that by now ought to be common sense knowledge of anybody who uses the Internet:
  1. Never use any word that could be in any dictionary as a password.
    Consider as well dictionaries of nicknames, pet names and common acronyms!
  2. Don't use obvious sequences or repetitions.
  3. Make your passwords long enough. I consider 10 to 12 characters the minimum.
  4. CAPITALIZE some of the letters.
  5. Use one or two numbers.
Please read my May 2012 article about hacked passwords  and my April 2011 article on what to do about passwords that are too simple.

The former article has become even more important after Yahoo admitted that just recently one of their services has been hacked and 450,000 passwords got posted on a publicly accessible web site!

On a side note: For years I have advised my customers to drop their Yahoo email accounts; seems this was and is reasonable advice.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Yet Another Scam - Beware


Just today I got this email (screen shot from my email program):
Looks almost "real", doesn' it?

I thought "Yes, we have that old BoA credit card from store XYZ" and so I started reading the email..

I read until I saw the sentence in the red rectangle above. A bank asking to "confirm customer data"?
"No way you lil' ole scammer" was my reaction.

Then I thought to check the link on "HERE". And yes, you guessed it, it goes to some place somewhere but not to BoA; see this screen shot:


You csn see my cursor was on "HERE" and in the status line you see the target web site; No BoA at all!

My conclusion: Optically appealing scam.

This shows again that we need to think before we click!  And we better check every link in an email whether it's actual target has anything to with what it claims to be.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Printer Problems - Check This First

All too often I get calls about a printer not working. The following is a first attempt at giving you some basic tools to do a preliminary check yourself. This will likely be augmented and expanded upon; suggestions are welcome.

The first things to check before you call me would be:
  1. Are all cables correctly connected on both ends of the cable?

  2. While the computer is up and running: Turn off the power switch on the printer, wait about ten seconds  and then turn this power switch on again.

  3. Open your printers folder. If printer is shown as offline right click and remove the check mark by "Use printer offline".

  4. If the printer still does not work and only if it is connected to the computer with a cable:
  • Right click on the printer and click on (depending on your operating system) "Remove device" or "Delete printer".
  • UNplug the printer cable either from the computer or the printer (one side is good enough).
  • Restart the computer.
  • Plug the cable back in and let the system re-install the printer.
If that does not fix it I will have to visit you and take a look if you so desire.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Why I Shun Some Microsoft Programs


This is something that I need to explain to almost every new customer; so it makes sense to write it down – finally.

For technical purists: I know my wording is not always technically 100% correct but this blog is written for totally non-technical people; their understanding of the concepts is more important to me than expressing my thoughts technically fully correct. I ask your forgiveness.

In the 1990s Microsoft developed a programming technology known as ActiveX. This technology naturally is widely used in all major Microsoft products. ActiveX programs require the so called “ActiveX environment” on any given computer to be able to work. Consequently all major Microsoft programs contain and supply an ActiveX environment.

In December 2009 Microsoft operating systems powered more than 92% of installed computers according to this ArsTechnica article. This market share has somewhat shrunk but I believe I still can say: Since ActiveX was introduced Microsoft has become a world encompassing monopoly.

According to Internet World Stats currently there are over 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide. Around 80% to 90% of these people use a computer that is run by an operating system from Microsoft.

What is a crook going to do if he wants to (ab-) use your computer for his purpose? What programming technology or programming language is he going to choose? Likely he will choose the programming language that will give him access to the largest number of computers, machines run by a Microsoft operating systems.

Around 2006 there were estimates that about 75% to 80% of all viruses were written in ActiveX. I have not found current statistics but that percentage is lower now. By my personal estimate currently ca. 50% to 60% of viruses are still written in ActiveX.

My conclusion: Just by not using certain Microsoft programs we can easily avoid common ActiveX viruses! Microsoft programs that I avoid are primarily:
  • Internet Explorer
  • Any and all Microsoft email programs
  • Windows Media Player
  • MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint when I need to tap into Internet connected features 
  • Microsoft Messenger (a chat program)    
How do I “get to the Internet” and write letters and so on you ask? The alternatives of my choice are all free, free as in no money at all and safe as far as malicious ActiveX programs go:
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Why I Recommend A Backup Program for $$



Update June 20th 2016: Changed software recommendation

Again a customer's question required an answer that might be of general interest. Thank you Carrie L.

The lady asked: 
So you would recommend the xyz external disk drive PLUS the fully automatic solution which is the software that runs the xyz drive?  Or can I just get the fully automatic solution?  If I do, where does the backup go - to a company who stores it?
I would never recommend to store backups on a third party's computer or "in the cloud" as the many Internet based services are called now. Uploads (from your computer) to the Internet are just too slow! All these advertisements are an appeal to our complacency and unabashed attempts at getting a sticky finger into our wallets. These solutions may be feasible when a company has leased a fast connection into the Internet; technically we talk about T1 lines or faster. For the average home user this is simply cost prohibitive.

Storing backup data in the computer itself does not offer any security against data loss in case the computer fails badly. Everybody who has been around computers a little bit will agree that you need to store your data files outside of your computer; for the home user that is on an external disk drive! Ideally the files should be stored in the same format that the operating system uses.

So, yes, you need an external disk drive. These disk drives usually come with some sort of backup software. Mostly these programs create proprietary formats. Whether you can restore your data files from these proprietary formats on other, new computers is questionable at best. This specific piece of software might not run on a new machine or not be available for a new operating system.

Above mentioned proprietary formats usually are compression and/or encryption schemes of some sort. This makes backed up data files inaccessible for normal, standard means of the operating system. I totally oppose any of these schemes for home use, especially if the users are "normal" people that do not have a degree in computer science.

Every other backup program I know needs to be either run manually or be scheduled to run automatically. Manual operation usually gets forgotten or postponed until it's too late; I confess, I can't do it dependably!
Automatically scheduled solutions require
  • that your computer is always turned on at the scheduled time and on the scheduled day of the week and
     
  • that you do not work on the computer while the scheduled backup runs (the problem here are "open" files, files you are working with whether you know it or not; many backup programs can not handle open files correctly(!) and
     
  • that the computer does not enter sleep or hibernation mode while the backup is running (all Windows computers are by default set to go into sleep and hibernation).
Update June 20th 2016:

All too often a backup does not get done because, honestly, to run "that darned backup program" is an additional chore. And such chores get "forgotten" too often. But this something I can not change; if you want to be secured against data loss you will have to run backups - and you will have to do backups regularly! 

And to be totally honest, you will have to learn about the different basic backup concepts and functions and their names. There are literally many hundreds of tutorials about that on the Internet.
 
For Windows PCs I recommend the $70 (one time payment!) program Macrium Reflect. The free version is sufficient for most home users but you always can pay to upgrade.

You may want to read additionally this article about backup devices.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Stay safe.


Monday, June 4, 2012

Email Scams Getting More Elaborate


A few days ago I received an email that requested to "verify" my Yahoo! account. Similar scams happen for Hotmail.com, MSN.com and AOL.com based accounts all the time.

I took a screen shot of my email program to demonstrate a few details.




First warning flag:
In the top line you see (framed pink/purple) that the email comes from an individual Yahoo account in Australia.

Second warning flag: When I rested my mouse (without clicking!) on the link that textually seems to be from Yahoo! (red frame) you can see in the status bar on the bottom of the picture that the actually called web site is from a different web address, here "host-now.net". Never, ever click on a link that translates to something else than the link claims!

Third and most important warning flag: No reputable company, no financial institution, no Internet company, absolutely nobody who wants to be taken serious on the Internet will ever ask you to confirm personal or account information via email.

It is amazing that this still has to be repeated and repeated and repeated. Please use your common sense BEFORE you click!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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