How to stay safe in 2017 - Short List

Here is a short list of in my experience the most important steps you can take to keep your computer and your data safe. have I have added e few remarks for clarification.

1. Update your software.
   Not only Windows but all other regularly used programs as well;
   for a Windows PC this includes (but is not limited to)
   -   Adobe Flash (beware of fake download sites!)
   -   Adobe Shockwave
   -   Web browser(s)
   -   Email client
   -   Java (if installed; mostly Java is not needed at all!)
   -   Office programs
   We always have to keep in mind that some programs still don't update automatically and quietly in the background! Checking manually hardly ever has hurt anything.
    
2. Back-up to an external hard drive.
   Done regularly and correctly this currently is the only protection against ransomware viruses!
    
3. Use a password manager.
   For single machines see Keepass, for more than one machine see LastPass and include all cell phones and tablets in the count!
      
4. Use a unique password for every account.
   Everybody has many, many accounts; you need a password manager!
    
5. Use random passwords
   Easily done only with a password manager!
    
6. Turn on two-step verification everywhere you can.
   If you have a cell phone that you really use, otherwise this is pretty useless.
    
7. Read and think(!) before you click.
   "My" first commandment for safe computing.
    
   
8. Enable full-disk encryption
   On a single home computer? Only protects your data when the machine gets stolen.
    
9. Put a six-digit PIN on your phone and set the phone to wipe it's contents if the PIN is guessed wrongly too many times.
   

Do you have questions to any of that? Please feel free to ask them in the comments, I will reply. Maybe not immediately but I will.

Stay safe.

Windows 10

Wow, Microsoft, I am impressed!

I have done my first baby steps on the Windows 10 Technical Preview that was released today.

All I can say is:

         Windows 10 is Windows 8 done right!

I can hardly wait for next year's final release; we do not have an  official release date yet; it will be some time next year.

This is the system I will upgrade my everyday "work" computer to.

EVERYTHING of "old" software I tried so far works flawlessly, even system utilities, Libre Office and Google Earth. And the system is only a "preview" that still has some rough edges..

Running the risk to repeat myself, I am impressed.

Do you still have Windows Vista running on a a well equipped machine or one that could easily be upgraded to at least 4GB of RAM? Windows 10 is the system to upgrade to!

Be warned, do NOT attempt an in-place upgrade, always do a full install! This advice has nothing to do with Windows 10, it comes from experiences with six generations of upgrading Windows to newer versions.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog. Please no hidden adverts for commercial software and please only language that your little kids could hear.

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Beware of Micro$oft's newest Daylight Robbery - UPDATE

All my customers and everybody else who ever talked with me about computers is pretty much aware that I have quite a few misgivings about Micro$oft. Their newest "pony trick" is in my opinion not only price gouging but outright daylight robbery.

The background: So far you could buy a so called "Home and Student" license for Micro$oft's MS-Office suite. With this license you did not get MS Outlook, their big email program that medium and lager companies might use. For the average home user that was rather a positive thing; you can read more details about the background for this statement here.

Above mentioned Home & Student license mostly came with DVD's containing the software. Additionally it came in two flavors, one where the license was valid for only one computer and another version of the license that allowed you to install MS-Office Home & Student on up to three computers in a household. The price difference mostly was a mere $10! And to top it off, if a computer had to be replaced you could install it on a new computer.

In comes MS-Office 2013, the newest incarnation. And guess what:

Micro$oft has changed the terms of the license drastically! 

You can install every license on one computer only, the license is tied to this computer and not transferable. That means if you get a new computer you have to buy the same license again! Original quote from the license agreement:

How can I use the software? We do not sell our software or your copy of it – we only license it. Under our license we grant you the right to install and run that one copy on one computer (the licensed computer) for use by one person at a time, but only if you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Our software license is permanently assigned to the licensed computer.

I really don't know whether Micro$oft has simply gone nuts or whether they really believe they can take the world's public for a fool!

There are alternatives to MS-Office available, two out of three even FREE!

1. Softmaker Office ($100 with support!)
2. Kingsoft Office Free ($0.00 as the name says and much like MS-Office 2003)
3. Libre Office (free, lively development, needs know-how for set-up, available here)

Please warn everybody who might be interested of Micro$oft's newest money trap!

UPDATE March 8, 2013:  User outcry was heard!

Effective immediately Micro$oft has reneged and changed their terms for the license. Here is the relevant part of the modified license agreement:

You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you, but not more than one time every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner). If you transfer the software to another computer, that other computer becomes the “licensed computer.” You may also transfer the software (together with the license) to a computer owned by someone else if a) you are the first licensed user of the software and b) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement before the transfer.

Not what it was for Office 2007 and 2010 but better than before.

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

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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.

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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:

• Mozilla Firefox (web browser)
• Mozilla Thunderbird (email client)
• VideoLan VLC (media player)
• Libre Office (office suite)  
• Pidgin (a chat program)

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

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About Libre Office

When I help any customer order a new computer I always have this or a shorter version of this conversation with them:

If the customer owns a paid retail versions of MS Office then this gets installed and the conversation is over.If they do not own MS Office Then I will explain to them that on the new computer will be a trial version of Microsoft Office installed.

That usually means MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint are available. This trial version will fully work only for 30 or 60 days depending on the computer manufacturer and the MS Office version.

After this initial one or two month(s) the customer will have to buy a license to obtain a product key; with that  product key they can activate MS Office for full functionality. This license costs an additional $100 to $150.-

There is an alternative office suite named Libre Office available (formerly called Open Office). This software suite does about 95% of what MS Office does and it is free, free as in no money ever. It is widely used in Europe and many third world countries.

Do you want me to leave MS Office on the machine or do you want me to install Libre Office (formerly Open Office) instead?

More than nine out of ten of my customers decide to go with Libre Office. 

If I do the set up of Libre Office correctly it will open, read and write MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint files. Generally I do not install the Libre Office drawing and database modules which are of no interest to my typical home users.

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

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Set-Up Job

Edited March 24, 2018: Problems with Windows 10 "Feature Updates" (twice every year!)Edited March 9,   2016: Block Windows 10 from snooping and Picasa discontinued
 
Every brand name computer you buy in a store or on the internet brings with it three areas of concern: Gunk software, missing updates and costly and questionable "security" software. I'll address these three concerns separately and then offer my suggestion to deal with these concerns before they become a problem.

1. Gunk software: Brand name computers come with some (and sometimes a lot of) "gunk" software pre-installed. You'll find anything from trial versions of programs that will cost additional money to outright spyware and even back door programs.

It goes without saying that this gunk should be removed before you even connect the computer for the first time to the internet.

I even consider programs like Microsoft's Internet Explorer and MS's email programs and Microsoft Office trial versions to be "gunk". By virtue of the very technology used TO WRITE them (called ActiveX) they will enable a large percentage of malicious software to be executed on your computer. Just by using alternative programs that were built without ActiveX technology you avoid all this malicious ActiveX software automatically.

Microsoft's Office is by now always a trial version; it will cost you additionally about $100 to $150 depending on where you buy the product key that you will need to use MS Office for more than 60 days.

There is a commercial program being offered to do this removing of gunk software but the computer manufacturers regularly modify what they pre-install and the names of what they install. Thus a program attempting the clean-up will almost always be outdated and work only incompletely. Or it will offer you a list of installed non-Microsoft programs and ask for your decision on what to remove; and you bought the program because you don't know that in the first place!

2. Missing Updates: The brand name computer you buy was designed and originally configured months ago, sometimes many months ago. For good reasons software companies like Microsoft, Adobe and others regularly release security relevant updates. Microsoft used to do that up to Windows 7 on a monthly schedule; since Windows 8 MS updates more or less continually.

All these mandatory updates from when your computer model was designed until when you bought it are missing. That mostly is a lot to download and install. These downloads should be done in a safe environment to protect the machine from eventual hack attacks before all required updates are installed.
Edit March 2018: Microsoft has a new method to upgrade Windows 10 every six months. These upgrades are HUGE and can take many hours to download and run. IMHO it is imperative to supervise this process and to know what to do (or not to do) when problems arise.
There sheer size and the volume of work to install them is the main reason that I recommend to buy computers with SSD drives; with HDD drives these big updates just take too long!  

3. "Security" Software: All of the commonly preinstalled anti virus programs or "security systems" will in the future cost additional money. Some are considerable, clearly perceivable heavy workloads making your computer slow; see this article for real life experiences with security suites slowing down perfectly well working computers.

Some others are not always working correctly and/or proving their questionable quality by not
uninstalling correctly or quietly stopping to work altogether.

After seemingly error-free uninstalling of some security suites I have found that they left sometimes parts of their software still running. Due to the nature of what these programs have to do these left-over drivers and orphaned processes can wreak havoc.

This clearly calls for a knowledgeable human doing the uninstalling and checking for left-overs.

My Solution: I offer a set-up job for new computers; I even offer a fixed price if I can do it at my house because I can overlap some of the time with answering my emails and other activities.
This set-up job includes:

• De-gunking the computer (manually and completely removing unwanted, potentially risky programs and all kind of trial software)
• Updating the operating system and all other software in a safe environment.
• Installing and updating (or enabling) free security software (currently Microsoft Security Essentials on Win7, enabling Windows Defender on Windows 8.x and Windows 10)
• Edit March 2016: On Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 I install a free program that blocks Windows from reporting back to Microsoft what you do and how you do it (I call that spying!).
  Since about November 2015 Microsoft has begun to "enhance" Windows 7 and 8.1 with some of the reporting features of Windows 10. That is called progress...
• Installing Mozilla's Firefox web browser, my choice as alternate web browser including the best available advertisement blocker and a utility that warns you if search results would lead to known malicious web sites
• Installing Mozilla's Thunderbird email client if so desired including the best available advertisement blocker
• Installing Libre Office (Microsoft file compatible office software)
• Installing Google Earth
• Installing Picasa (photo management and editing program) if so desired;
  Edit March 2016: Only upon request; the Web Album Service was discontinued by Google;
  you can keep using Picasa to organize, edit a.s.o. locally stored pictures just as in the past; there will be no more program updates for Picasa (the current version is VERY stable!).
  
• Installing an easy to use screen shot program (so you can send me a picture of the pesky error message that is bugging you)
• Installing a remote control program that enables me to give you remote support  
• Replacing the always out-of date preinstalled version of Adobe Reader with a free, faster and safer alternative called PDF-XChange Viewer
• Installing a virtual PDF printer; it creates PDF files from anything you can print. You don't want to email a job application as a Word document that anybody could modify! 
• Establishing desktop icons leading directly to Documents, Downloads, Pictures and so on. 
• On Windows 8 and Windows 10 install a proven, small program that starts the computer directly into desktop mode and establishes a Start button and a Programs menu like we have been used to since Windows XP (that is since 2002)!

All above mentioned software is of excellent quality, officially FREE for home use and guaranteed to be free of advertisements and spyware.

All this can take many hours and will seriously confuse the normal "non geek" computer user.
If I can do the Set-Up job at my house I offer it for a flat fee! Should you be interested please send a personal email to ejheinze_at_gmail_dot_com; thank you.


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

Stay safe!

LibreOffice - What Is It - Installed Correctly

Once upon a time there was an office software suite called OpenOffice, worldwide free (as in no money!) and used in many European and third world countries. OpenOffice was an OSS system. The technical infrastructure (server computers, storage space a.s.o.) for this sizeable project was mainly supported by Sun Microsystems, a now defunct computer manufacturer. Then the software behemoth Oracle Corp. bought Sun and got OpenOffice as an Easter egg with the whole basket. They, Oracle, imposed some fees and apparently a whole lot of red tape and typical "big company" overhead which did not sit well with many of the major developers, that is the programmers who mostly as volunteers wrote the code and did all the nitty-gritty detail work.

Quote from another blog:

"Oracle's imposition of fees for some OpenOffice capabilities caused some of the venerable open source office suite's creators to head out on their own and create LibreOffice as a truly free OSS tool."

So the developers of OpenOffice spoke, parted from Oracle's realm and alas, we had LibreOffice.

Basically LibreOffice is almost exactly the same as OpenOffice, only better. Better because it can read files from Microsoft Works and Word Perfect and handle SVG graphics files.

There are two major differences:

1. OpenOffice came with an always outdated Java version and LibreOffice requires a Java environment already installed on the computer. If I have set up your computer that is covered. If I did not set up your computer you need to install the most current version of Java and remove all older versions.
2. OpenOffice came with Help files integrated in one huge download, LibreOffice comes in two files; you need both.

There are a few things you ought to know if you want to install LibreOffice.

1. Install or update to the latest version of Java (as of July 2011 version 6 update 26 is current).
2. Remove (un-install) all eventually still existing older versions of Java.
3. Remove (un-install) OpenOffice - if it was on your computer at all.
4. Download LibreOffice from this web page. As of end of July 2011 the current stable version id 3.4.2. You need two files:
   1. LibO_3.4.2_Win_x86_install_multi.exe, the LibreOffice installer program.
      Caution: This is a 214MB download!
   2. LibO_3.42_Win_x86_helppack_en-US.exe, the installer for the Help package.
   3. Above version numbers will be different for future versions!

Some important installation instructions (not meant to be comprehensive!):

Install LibreOffice itself by running the installer in file LibO_x.x.x_Win_x86_install_multi.exe.

For everything here not explicitly mentioned you can accept the default values/selections.

When you are being asked to select the type of installation please select Custom:

You will have to de-select the following features:
In Optional Components the Python-UNO Bridge:

In LibreOffice Program Modules de-select Draw, Base and Math; it should look like this:

Then select all three Microsoft Office modules:

Install the Help package by running the installer in file LibO_x.x.x_Win_x86_helppack_en-US.exe.

With these hints you should be able to install LibreOffice with the ability to open and write Microsoft Office Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. If you prefer to have me do the installation then please download both files that I mentioned above, I can do the rest remotely.

After the installation you will find two folders named "LibreOffice 3.x (random) Installation Files" and "LibreOffice 3.3 Help Pack (English) (random) Installation Files" on your desktop. Please delete these two folders.

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

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