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.

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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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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Installing OpenOffice

Many of my customers use OpenOffice (OO) instead of Microsoft’s Office software. The simple reason for that is that OO is free.
For everybody who wants to attempt to install or update OO themselves here a couple of related tips. You may want to print this post before you start on this endeavor; you find a link “Print This Post” at the end of the post.
OO is a very sizeable download of currently over 135MB. The organization behind OO is a non-profit with limited resources; their computers have limited capabilities, thus they have to throttle the download speed for all their visitors. I recommend to download from Filehippo.com, a specialized download web site that offers much more speed. Download OO from here.
1. Caution: The top part of the download page on Filehippo looks like this:

Please note that currently the entry is for Release Candidate 1, it is a Beta version meant for testing by geeks only. You want the latest stable version; I have marked it green. Click on that and above you will read “Download This Version” and THIS is where you click to start the download.
When the download starts take note of the file name and know where the download will be stored!
  
This location is different on different versions of Windows and can be set differently within Firefox.
As usual in Windows what you download is not the program you actually want; rather it is an Installer (or Setup) program that when run will install the actual program on your computer.
When the download has finished find the downloaded installer (I hope you did take a note of the file name) and run the installer. The installation process will first create a folder containing all the files required for installation; this folder has a lengthy name and usually ends up on the desktop. For the time being leave it alone! The installer will ask you a bunch of typical questions.
2. Caution: When asked do a Custom install; the Complete option would install much more than you need to replace MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Custom will let you choose which module gets installed. Here is what it looks like when I do a Custom install of OO:

To select or deselect a feature you click on the little down arrow by the feature to get to the actual selection. Most of my customers will neither need Draw nor Base nor Math.
This Custom Setup window offers more choices under Optional Components. Set them like this (the part scrolled off this little screen is okay as suggested):

These settings assume that your installation of Java is up to date.
That’s it for the physical installation but there is more; thank you for following me this far.
You should have a new icon on your desktop that looks like this:
We have to do a few one-time settings before we can use OpenOffice. Double click the OO icon to get too OO’s start window.
Upon the first start you will be ask for your name; give it your full name, this will not be transferred anywhere; do NOT register, this would only lead to more emails.
When the “Welcome to Open Office” window is open click Tools, Options, open Load/Save and highlight General.
For Text documents select “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP”, 
   
for “Spreadsheet” select “Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP” and
for “Presentation”  select “Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP”.
Then highlight Microsoft Office and put check marks in all six boxes:

Click OK and close the Welcome window.
That’s it for the initial settings. Thank you for following me through this.
OpenOffice should be working now. If it does then the very last thing to do is to delete the installation folder. 
If you use these instructions PLEASE let me know any comments or suggestions you may have in this context. Just write a comment here in the blog; please DO NOT give your full name or clear text email in the comment; this is a public forum, there is no privacy here. I will reply in another comment. Added 2010-01-11: Somebody did just that. Again, this is a public forum.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
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