Janet Perkins, Tech Gal

Avoid My Evil Twin

2014-08-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, not MY evil twin, but I've been you've fallen for the evil twin attack. Evil twin attacks are pretty hard to avoid unless you are really skilled at identifying evil twin wireless access points. An evil twin access point looks just like the real one to wireless users. It has the same SSID as the real SSID so it's hard to tell which one is right.

Say you are at an airport and see FREE AIRPORT WIFI in your list of available wireless networks. You go ask an airport employee "Hey nice airport employee what is the name of your wifi?" and they respond "FREE AIRPORT WIFI". So that means you can connect to it, start using and you are safe, right? Wrong. It may be an evil twin. This happens a LOT at coffee shops and other free wifi places.

Some folks think they are really smart and can tell which one is the correct one. They see one has 5 bars and the other has 4 bars and assume the one with 5 bars must be the correct one. Hate to be a bubble buster, but that doesn't account for access point placement. The real one may be the one with the weaker signal because it is properly secured in a closet.

If you connect to the wrong evil twin, it only takes them 30 seconds to steal whatever information you transmit. Before you are done sending your emails, they have your password and can access everything you have in your emails.

How can you avoid the evil twin attack? Don't use free, unecyrpted wifi. Instead make a hotspot on your phone and connect to it or carry a MIFI with you. Think about that MIFI subscription or the extra data on your phone as insurance against identity theft. Work-provided wifi is safe as long as it isn't using WEP encryption. WPA2, WPA2-PSK and WPA2-ENT are the current encryption methods recommended these days. So never ever use WEP. Ever.

And stay away from the evil twin.

How to get rid of startapp 2013

2013-10-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

Pesky little browser rediretor installed on your phone? It's slowing down your phone and making money for someone else so don't blame you for getting angry.

You can install the startapp optout on google play. It tells you to :

Drag the Search magnifying glass icon to the trash.
Hold the bookmark link and delete the bookmark.
Go to your browser and open the settings. Choose the homepage option and change to whatever site you like.
It then tells you to register your IMEI number with them so that you opt out.

That being said you don't need to install the app you can just do the above.

A handy program for detecting addons is Addons Detector.

Smartphone Buying 101

2013-09-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

A mobile phone is more than just something to talk and text with these days. Business people use these for making appointments, booking flights and hotel rooms, finding their way to appointments, and much more. Phones can be extremely delightful or terribly frustrating and the daunting task of purchasing a new phone will send some folks into bouts of heart palpitations practically. Here's some points to consider when buying a smartphone.

Phones are either GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). GSM comprises 75% of the global market but in the USA, CDMA rules. Here's an easy way you can tell which one your phone is. If you can take your phone to another mobile provider and it still works, it's GSM. If you can't, it's CDMA. Some folks want to have the freedom to switch mobile companies without buying a new phone. If you are one of those people, you'll need a GSM phone. Sometimes you have no choice because you are bundling a package deal or you are given a phone. Perhaps you've been with a CDMA company a long time and are happy with them. If that's the case, go ahead and get their CDMA phone. At least now you are aware there is a difference. In the CDMA phones, network information is stored on the phone circuit board. In GSM phones, the network information is on a removable SIM card. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA. AT&T and TMobile are GSM.
Some phones come with antivirus protection and some do not. Some utilize a technology called sandboxing and are protected by that technology. When buying a phone you need to ask, "How is this phone protected?" If it's android, it's not protected and you need to install antivirus. A smartphone is a computer that you call make phone calls with. All computers need protection therefore all phones need protection. I also recommend getting antitheft protection for lost/stolen phones. It's bad enough when you lose your phone to be without it, but you don't want to fall victim to identity theft and financial loss at the same time.
Smartphones come in different speeds. From slow to fast there is: 3G, EVDO/1xRTT, 4G. If all you do is text, talk, and answer emails, then speed isn't a huge factor. But if you watch movies while waiting for clients to show up, then speed is.
Smartphones need cases to protect them. Phones get dropped all the time. I recommend Otterbox cases, but there are several brands of "tough cases" to choose from. They are worth the money. Many mobile phone companies don't insure against breakage. If you are a frequent beachgoer, I suggest getting a waterproof case. (Or leaving your phone at home.)
Smartphones come with many apps installed, but there is an abundance of free and paid apps at the Apple and Play stores. An app is a program. An installed app is a downloaded program. Just like you have to be careful downloading programs, you have to be careful downloading apps. Check them out before you install them on your phone.
Smartphones need to be charged more often than their dumbphone predecessors. It's the screen that takes up the huge amount of power. Add wifi, bluetooth, etc and you have a big power piggy.

About Filesharing Sites/Bit Torrent

2013-08-16T07:25:00.001-07:00

Filesharing sites are finding new ways to get around their legal issues. Movies and music that people have put their cash and sweat into are protected by law. Those who run websites to distribute such materials don't feel they deserve compensation. New filesharing sites are cropping up daily and I won't mention any by name, but they all look the same. They offer much for practically nothing.

Here's how they work. You get a flyer in the postal mail or an email saying they have service available for a pretty reasonable (or even a ridiculous price). You go to the website and sign up for an account providing them a credit card number. Hey it's only a few bucks a month, so it's ok, right? Maybe not!

Once you log into your account, you can search for the material you want. Up comes a list of what you want. It's there for free! Great! Um, no, not great. These bit torrent sites are illegal. Once you download these materials you are in violation of copyright law and subject to prosecution. The company you subscribed with gets off scott free because they are just providing you storage space or links or whatever lame excuse they come up with. It's not their content...other bad guys are putting them up on the web and not getting caught.

So the question you have to ask yourself is: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do you? Do you feel you'll not get caught and do you feel it's ok to break the law if it financially helps you?

Personally, I'd rather blow the whistle on these places and pay for my content.

Oh and another thing you have to consider is safety. Do you trust these people and the files they put up? Are you clever enough to find out if they have been repackaged and malicious code put in them?

Stay safe!

Say No to Ransomware

2013-05-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

Ransomware is a type of malware that holds your computer hostage with threats that you may lose all the files on the disk with no hope of recovery, unless that is, you pay a fee for the only program in the world that will clean up your computer.

Bullies come in all types, but this type of cyber bully doesn't deliver what he promises. Occasionally we hear from you that you paid for "the program" and it didn't do what it was supposed to do. Most of these ransomware criminal gangs originate in eastern Europe where they receive your payment electronically. When the program fails to do what it promises, they have no online support phone number for you to call.

I remember a trip to the Grand Canyon quite a few years ago. It was memorable because we were "held up" at "gunpoint" while riding the stagecoach. The "robbers" wore bandana masks and acted shady. You could clearly see that they were bandits. It's not that easy to tell who the bad guys are online. There are no guns or covered faces online, but behind your internet connection is a really, really bad guy.

Legitimate software vendors don't hold your files for ransom. This is how the bad guys operate. If a program "offers" to clean up your computer, don't accept. It may sound like a good deal, but that 20$ or 50$ could end up costing you a lot more. If those bad guys use your credit card information for nefarious purposes, then your credit may go down the tubes and you may have problems for years to come.

So what do you do???????

1. Plan ahead. Install a program now that will work in safe mode. Safe mode turns off a lot of malware, but not all programs will work in safe mode. Very few will. Download Malwarebytes Antimalware now and keep it up to date. Buy a registered version of it. It's worth the money.

2. Press control alt and delete at the same time. Choose to restart your computer and do it in safe mode by pressing F8. Once in safe mode, you can run a scan to remove the ransomware.

3. Backup your data today. That way if your computer does get hijacked, you are ready.

5. Take it to a professional if you need to. Instead of messing it up further, sometimes it's better to let the professionals save your data. If you wait too long the price can soar over 1000$ so, in comparison, paying a tech service a couple hundred dollars isn't that bad. Know your limitations. Asking for help doesn't mean you are not smart, it means you are smart.

Hope that helps. Don't get hijacked. Scan regularly and stay on the lookout for online bandits.

What is a Man in the Middle Attack?

2013-04-16T06:06:00.001-07:00

It's a form of electronic eavesdropping. When you connect to an insecure wifi, you risk being victim to a MITM (man in the middle) attack. This happens a lot at airports and other free hotspots. Information, often sensitive, is passed to another person, but along the way is intercepted by another person. Let's examine the scenario.

You're at an airport. You're bored to tears waiting a couple of hours for your flight. You discover the airport has a free hotspot so you jump on to check emails, browse the web, etc. Hey it's free, right? You are hooraying because you don't have to spend money. That's where the hurrahs stop!

When you connect to an insecure wireless, anyone in range can record what is going onto the internet. It's called sniffing. If that traffic includes your username and passwords, then you are giving those passwords to someone who has enough time on their hands to sift through a lot of nonsense to get to your passwords. Once they have your password to your email, then they can gain access to your other accounts, like banking which is why I recommend a separate email address just for money matters. (And not a free email account, a paid one!)

You have to be on guard against MITM attacks wherever you are. Even at work. Say someone new comes to your office and sets up a wireless router in the office so they can plug many devices into the network. Even they don't realize they are doing anything wrong. If you see a wireless router in a coworker's office, let your manager know. Probably it was just a mistake, but that mistake can leave others open to account hacks and identity thefts.

Be safe out there and avoid MITM attacks by never connecting to insecure Wifi!

Fakers! Posers! We don't like you!

2013-03-07T08:53:00.002-08:00

Fake IDs are all the rage with young people. Even if you are beyond the age where you are even carded anymore when you order a glass of wine you still have to be on guard against fakers. All kinds of them are out there in force. They'll dupe you if you are not always on guard against them.

There's some ways to spot these fakers:

1) They email a long list of email recipients and all their names start with the same letter. That means a webcrawler (software tool bad guys use to come up with email addresses off web pages) has gleaned your email addresses and an attack is starting. Delete without opening.

2) You receive a zip or exe file unexpectedly from someone you don't know. The more clever ones will use clever addresses like scanner@yourcompany.com and support@yourcompany.com.

3) Obvious mistakes exist in the email like they are talking about your Epson network scanner when your company doesn't even buy network scanners from that company.

4) There is bullying going on. IT techs are usually pretty polite people. If they are not, they don't last long in IT. Then you get this email from emailadministrator@penfedrealty.com (that email address is non existent) telling you that you must log in and change your password from 6 characters to 8 characters using the link provided or your email account will be deactivated. Whoa! Really? Back off you cyber bully!

5) Faker domains are also used a lot. What if you got an email from it@yourcompanyIT.com? Would you open it? Please don't! It's a faker domain and there's nothing but trouble in that email. You'll also see faker domains when you google. This mistake happens a lot with those of you who have a bit of computer knowledge. You google something to find the answer and click on a domain that isn't safe because they've registered a poser domain. Things that your download from hp.com are MUCH more safe than things you download from everythingyouneedhp.com.

Stay safe. Stay diligent. Hope that helps!

How to Avoid a Download Disaster

2012-07-24T08:31:00.002-07:00

The word Google has become a word that every computer uses as a verb. Everyone "googles" items they are interested in learning more about. Often we google programs that we download. That is where you can get into trouble.

Repackaging is when someone downloads a program and adds their own components to it and then makes it available for download. Those extra components can be beneficial to you or, more often than not, malevolent.

How do you know what's safe and what's not? I'll use an example that I encountered today.

VLC is a media player that is available for free. It reads practically everything. It's free and useful so this is a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.

Google "download VLC Media Player."

The list includes the download from the publisher VideoLAN, but it also contains the download from other sites. I trust CNET a tech site, but how do you know which of the other sites are safe? You don't really. It's best to download the item from the publisher.

Most people will just click on the top one no matter what it says. Don't do that anymore. Read to make sure you are not getting a repackaged software.

And don't ever download anything from a "filesharing" site (like filehippo). They aren't safe. Bad guys set them up. We don't like to trust bad guys, do we?

C Cleaning Time

2012-06-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

When your C drive gets completely full, a lot of things don't happen. Automatic updates don't download, automated defrags don't happen. Sluggishness occurs. It can prevent you from opening ANY file or it can crash your hard drive completely.

Checking your C drive status is easy. Double click on Computer or My Computer to open it. Then, right click on Properties. Blue is used space and purple is free space. Never go beyond 75% blue.

To fix it:

Download and run CCleaner from piriform.com. Run this weekly or more often if you do a lot of recreational browsing. You would be surprised how much trash this program finds.
Old files can fill up a C drive quickly. If they are not used regularly, burn them onto a CD or copy them to a flash drive. You can make a secondary backup to a cloud-based storage, but I wouldn't recommend relying 100% on a cloud solution.

Get Rid of the Old Bag

2012-04-10T08:00:00.003-07:00

Or at least clean her up a bit. She's been hanging around too long. Aren't you sick of her?

Replace HER with THIS! Isn't she a beauty? Is your bag old? Is it in need of replacement? Bargain laptop bags from 10 years ago aren't anything near what most laptop bags are today. Bags today have more padding to protect your laptop.

Other reasons to update your bag:

Added compartments for other items that you carry often. Today's bags have compartments for today's technologies: ipods, cell phones, etc.
Update your lifestyle: they have roll-on bags, laptop backpacks which might better serve the professional on the go. Even they have bags with personal alarm systems built in.

Update your image. A clean, fresh bag can send the message you want to send to your clients.
An important factor to consider when you buy a new laptop: your screen size might be larger than your old laptop and your old bag might not fit your new multimedia system.
Laptop manufacturers often give deals at the time of purchase that can't be beat. When I bought my new laptop, I really didn't need one, but it was only 10$ to do so. Shortly after that my old laptop bag was damaged and I needed to use the new one. I was glad I had the spare one.

Advice for E-Filing

2012-03-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

So this year you want to e-file for the first time. Congrats. It's faster. It's safe if you take a couple precautions.

Don't e-file over a WEP connection. Even if the website itself is secure, your WEP connection is not. If your internet provider delivered your wireless configured for WEP (and they probably did) you might have the option to reconfigure it for WPA or WPA2 which is much safer.
Make a money email account. Don't use it for anything but money matters. Make sure you give it a good long password with upper case and lower case and a few numbers.
Don't email your tax forms. (Personally, I'd fire my CPA if he emailed mine.) CDs are cheap. If you want an archival copy burn a CD.
Make sure the computer you are using is virus and malware free before you do your taxes online.
Use a reputable software vendor (HRBlock or Intuit TurboTax,) or go to the IRS or state website to file.

Hope you make out well this year!

Now That I'm Blacklisted, What Do I Do?

2012-03-12T09:24:00.001-07:00

Getting blacklisted is not something you want on your bucket list. It's a pain to get off a UBL (universal block list) once you've been put on one.

First, you have to look at the reason why you were put on. Are you sending a ton of emails? If you are, then stop. People don't want to have to delete a whole bunch of emails that aren't relevant to them. Is your computer infected? If it is, chances are you're a zombie sending out tons of emails without your knowledge. It's really important to stay on top of things and stay up to date with your virus protection and scans.

Second, you have to look at how you are blacklisted. Either it's your email or IP address. The email vendor of the person you are trying to send to can tell you which has been blacklisting by looking at their logs.

Third, determine who is blacklisting you. There are many different blacklists that are maintained by many different organizations. Here's one place you can check: http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check.

Fourth, visit the website of the blacklisting organization and follow their removal steps. It usually takes time to get off a blacklist. Sometimes it can happen the same day, but that's rare. Usually it takes a couple of weeks. Sometimes it takes six months. In some cases, once you're on, you're on.

So as you can see, it's best to avoid getting on one to begin with. Email smart and you'll stay off.

Technology Blunders You Might Be Making

2012-02-29T01:10:00.002-08:00

Good friends tell it like it is. So that's what I'm doing. Hope it helps you!

No password on your laptop. Laptops are stolen and lost all the time. Read the stats on stolen laptops; it's alarming. Put a password on today!
Announcing you are going on vacation and leaving your house empty on your social media. Burglars scour social media to look for empty houses.
Using an AOL address. AOL is so last century. It says to your customer that you are outdated. Make a plan to transition away from it. It makes you look a bit stodgy to your young customers. It says you don't want to change and screams out of touch.
Gushing about your spouse on your social media. Mine is the best! He's so sweet, funny and incredibly smart. I never met anyone as wonderful as him Made my point? Annoying! Use Hallmark instead if you want to tell your spouse you love them.
Using "just saying" seems to be a popular phrase, but you might want to leave it out of all of your electronic communications. "Just saying" is always followed by something rude so folks get the wrong impression.
Admitting you are not tech savy. It's ok with me because I can guide you and teach you stuff. Don't do it with your customers. Real estate is tech driven these days. If you are not tech savy, you might rethink advertising it.
Not logging out of your email on public computers. I see this a lot. Please stop. It's dangerous for you. Run ccleaner or at least delete cookies after you use a public computer.
Talking to dead people is creepy. They don't have Facebook. Talking to God is cool because He is omniscient, but talking to anyone else deceased is not.
Printing emails isn't green. That's not what email is intended for. It gives the wrong impression to folks who care about the planet.

Feeling a Little Slow?

2011-08-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering why your computer is slow doing whatever it is you are doing on the net, there are a number of things that can cause sluggishness.

Defragmentation is a normal result of using your computer. Files are written all over your hard disk and your computer becomes defragmented. Running disk defragmenter puts them all close together on the disk.

Run scans on your computer to make sure that you are not infected. Always click on update before you run a scan. Many times attacks are new ones and if you don’t get the newest definitions, they you are not protected against the new infections. Don’t install anything free from the web before fully checking it out. Free is sometimes costly!

If you think that your connection is slow, you can do an internet speed test. There are many websites that provide free internet speed tests; toast.net is an example of a free speed test site. Keep in mind that speed test results are not in megabytes; they are in megabits. 1 megabit =1024 bytes. So a megabit is about .125 megabytes. If you get a speed test result of 1 mbps, and you multiply .125 by 60 (because there are 60 seconds in a minute), the result is 7.5 megabytes per minute. That’s not too shabby of a network speed. If you get anywhere around 1mbps consider that well and look for other things.

Wireless theft can slow you down. Zamzom wireless tool will tell you if anyone is stealing your wireless. I have my SSID (the name of my network) hidden (in technical terms, SSID broadcasting disabled) and still I check Zamzom periodically to see if anyone is using my network. You can download Zamzom from cnet.com for free.

Website congestion can fool you into thinking your computer is slow. I recall a time when I was downloading from a site and thought my internet provider was ripping me off. After a speed test I found that it was the website I was downloading from was heavily congested.

The most common cause of slowness is overstuffing a computer. Every month you add new files and new programs without taking the old ones off. Luckily, this one is the easiest to rectify. Get rid of the programs and files you don’t use. Burn files and photos you may need to CD or store them on flash or online storage.

I hope this helps!

If Firefox 5's Release 1 Month After 4 Surprised You......

2011-07-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Then hold onto your hat! They are planning to release a new Firefox every month. Developers are scrambling to future-proof their apps so that they don't get blind-sided again. If you are frustrated with an app that doesn't work with Firefox 5, don't abandon the ship.

Check out http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/channel/ for beta versions of upcoming releases and get an idea of what is in store for future Firefox releases.

Overall, I'm still feeling that Firefox is a good choice for your general browsing habits. It's definitely safer than using IE.

How to Avoid a Russian Phish

2011-06-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

According to Kaspersky labs, Russia is the world leader for spreading malware. (USA was number two). Phishing is on the rise again it was up 2.1%. How do you avoid a phish?

If you receive an email in a language you don't read, it's probably a phish.

я поздравляю вас время осел фишеров.

Notice the backwards R (Ya), the 3 (which is a z), the square with feet (a D), the circle with a line thru it (F) and the strange W (SH). All these characters are distinct to a cyrillic language. Even I read Russian and I won't open emails in Russian because they are either porn vendors or phishers. If you can remember any one of these characters or the general rule not to open foreign-language emails, it will help you.

That being said, some phishers are writing in English. Look for spelling errors, punctuation errors and grammatical mistakes. I spent more than one year over there and their English isn't polished. Even the English teachers, who I spent a lot of time with, make many mistakes. So mistakes are a clue that the email didn't originate in the US.

A big, red flag should be raised when you are asked for your password in an email. Who does that???

Credit card information should never be asked in an email.

If someone asks for other personal information: social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, or spouse names, it's probably a phish.

Don't reply to phishes. Resist the urge to reply with "you *&^%%$ phisher I'm not giving you anything!!!" If you reply, the phisher knows he has reached a maintained email address and will try again, but probably from a different email address and with a different angle. Replying is like painting a target on your back.

Surviving a Bootkit Infection

2011-06-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

Infections on your computer are bad, but some infections are worse than others. A rogue antivirus may seem impossible to you, but to a technician it's a cold whereas a bootkit infection is more like a malignant tumor. Microsoft recommends reinstalling Windows after you've had a bootkit infection and so do I. There's no fudge factor here. Even a really savy tech probably won't get all of the infection.

When a virus gets into your boot sector, it's so difficult to remove. It's a time consuming and tedious process to find infected files and you can never be sure that you got them all. That's why it's so important to have everything backed up on a daily basis. That way if you do get infected you lose only one day's work and not months' worth of work.

Make sure all of your photos, music and documents are backed up. Set up Windows backup if you don't want to do it yourself. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/backupdata.aspx That link will help you with Windows backup. Make sure your contacts are backed up too. Not much is worse than losing all your precious business contacts.

Having an external hard drive is a great way to add a little insurance that you won't lose your data, HOWEVER most folks don't take the proper care to insure that their data on their external hard drive will be safe.

You must scan external hard drives on a regular basis.
Disconnect the power and USB data cable from the external hard drive when not in use and, especially, during a thunderstorm.
Do not store the eternal hard drive on the carpeting. (You want to keep it in a drawer and out of the way of vacuum cleaners.)
Don't leave an external hard drive in your automobile. (Greenhouse effects can destroy your hard drive.)

Ok, well I hope this helps you get prepared and scares you into being a safe surfer. If you're not scared of getting an infection, you should be. You carry a spare tire in your trunk so why not a spare drive for your computer? There's lots of sales going on; right now you can pick one up for not much money.

Be prepared..... or be prepared to cry! ;)

Are You Using the Same Password for Everything?

2011-06-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Using the same password for everything is rather dangerous.... especially if it's your name. I'm not talking the nickname your spouse calls you. If your spouse calls you smoogly bear probably no one knows about it. I'm talking the name your mama gave you. All someone has to do is find out your name and email address (piece of cake) and they have access to your personal account information. If your name is Jane and your email address is janesmith@anything.com... it's real easy to hack your account if your name is Jane. That can put you in a financial pickle real fast.

Using your spouse's name is not a good idea either. That's public record material. I wouldn't advise using your children's names for everything either. That's also public record. Your pet's name isn't public record (unless you've blogged about the pet).

Instead of using the same password for everything, come up with a password scheme. Here's an example
Google: googly2011
Amazon: amazony2011
Yahoo: yahooey2011

Notice they all contain numbers. They don't have your name. They are different. They are at least 10 characters long for added security. Nowadays security experts are recommending passwords be 10-12 characters long and 12 is better. With 8 characters, your password can be cracked in a matter of hours. With 10 characters a matter of months. It would take centuries to crack your 12 character long password.

Ok, it's not fun to change passwords and remember new passwords, but if you come up with a scheme it won't be too hard. You can alter the year in the above scheme so that your password changes every year. Just an example.

I used to have the same 9 character password for everything. I switched to a scheme of more than 10 characters long so that my passwords are easy to remember and are more secure. If I can do it, so can you. You'll be safer!

You Need a Trim

2011-06-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, your computer can do lots of amazing things, but don't expect your computer to do everything all at the same time. If you do your computer will get sluggish from the excess weight it's carrying. Trim down what you expect your computer to do.

Imagine your computer is a big, hunky guy and each application is a shopping bag. You go to the first store and pick up something: the Tom Tom application. You hand it over to the big, hunky guy to carry and he has no problem carrying it..... because that's all he is carrying. You go to the next store: the Blackberry store and you pick up the blackberry app. The big hunky guy takes the blackberry app from you and says no problem. I'm only carrying two things... this is a piece of cake for him! Next you go to the iTunes store and pick up the iTunes app and Quicktime. You ask the big hunky guy to carry them as well. Still he's having no problem juggling these four things around isn't that difficult. Then you pick up two more apps and hand them over. A few more and hand those over as well. Then you go the next store and as you walk in he gives you a dirty look. Really you need more???? Don't you think you have enough, he says? He can feel the weight of all those apps and he's not running as fast as he used to. It's kind of a struggle.

The next day you are fresh and ready to get some more apps---but he isn't! He's still feeling it from the day before. When you go to check out another app, he mutters under his breath. His obvious displeasure with your decision to add yet another app to him is rather annoying to you, but HE is the one doing all the work. You are just having fun.

The next week when you suggest going and getting more for your computer, he says no. No way under the sun. Forget it. If you want the app so bad you carry it!

Ok, you get it? Just because the big hunky guy is strong and can carry many things, it might not be in your best interest to overload him with things that you really don't need all that much. If you think that you are starting to load up your computer, start trimming away at the unnecessary fat you have on it.

If you are sensible with what you expect your computer to carry, he will serve you long and well. If you get unreasonable, you can be sure that the days ahead will be full of grumbling!

Be Cheep Cheep (But Not Cheap) With Your Computer

2011-06-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

Cheep is very good! Be chicken to click on that link that your friend sent you or open the attachment he/she sent you without scanning it. It's ok to be cheep cheep CHICKEN. Being cheep cheep may save you money in the long run. Before you do anything new to your computer, make a new restore point and back up your files that are important.

On the flip side, being cheap is bad. Sometimes folks try to tackle computer projects that they shouldn't and it ends up costing them. Sometimes you need to hire a professional. You'll pay for car repairs, plumbing repairs, but when it comes to computers people think they should pay the purchase price of the computer and then nothing more. That's not reasonable.

Here's my list of what you should do on your own (if you can):

Clean the inside of your case
Replace optical drives
Replace the batteries (cmos or li-ion)
Replacing the video card
Replacing the failed hard drive (If you get the exact same one and have a manufacturer's recovery cd)
Replace the power supply

Here's what you should hire a professional for:

Upgrading memory (unless you consult with the manufacturer for exact part numbers you'll probably bungle the speed and not follow proper anti-static procedures or buy more than your system board supports)
Troubleshoot failing hard drives. (you'll probably bungle the job and lose your data).
Upgrade the processor (you'll probably bungle the cooling system on it or at least skip necessary steps)
Hijacks that involve a system that has critical data (that hasn't been backed up) on it (you'll probably lose the data if you call in a professional too late)

Some of you are going to look at the first list and say you're kidding I can't do that, so ok hire a professional. I can't cut my hair myself so I hire a professional every couple of months. Some of you are going to look at the second list and say I can do all that. Maybe you can, but probably you won't get it right. This list is my recommendation only, you can do as you like. Good luck and don't forget to back up your work this week. :)

There's a Method to My Madness

2011-05-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you call a help desk (any one-not just the one I work at), you might not understand why they do things the way they do. I thought I would write up a little post explaining the method to our seeming madness.

We might not recognize your voice. So we have to ask you to identify yourself and give enough personal information to verify you are who you say you are. We're not trying to annoy you, but protect your account from being modified by someone who isn't you.
We use the scientific method. Always. So what may seem like a bunch of hooey to you isn't just hoops to occupy your time. We need to eliminate all possibilities to get down to the real solution to your problem.
We prefer to teach you how to fish rather than give you a fish. We sleep, take showers, go to visit family just like you do. So we have to teach you; it's our moral obligation to advance your skills. If we just do it for you, we are doing you a disservice (unless it's a one-time thing, then it's no big deal).
We know that we are not the moneymakers in our organization. We are a support team for the moneymakers in our company. We know that. If we say that we can't help you and refer you to another company it's because we can't change passwords on a server we don't have access to or some other really good reason. A general practitioner always refers out to specialists and sometimes we have to refer out to a vendor of a program because they are the specialists for that program.
We like nice people. It's human nature to like nice people. The nicer you are, the more we want to help you!
We might not have your contact number. It's always best to leave it twice speaking clearly and slowly. If your tendency is to want to buzz through your phone number, please remember that someone is writing it down. First and last name is preferred. "This is Kathy; please call me back." probably isn't going to get a phone call back.
We're really busy. If we offer to send you the written instructions instead of tell you over the phone how to do something, it's because we want to save time and company dollar. We have already documented the procedure thoroughly so we don't want to waste time when there are so many things that need to be done.

Hope this helps explain why we do things the way we do.

A Cure or 2 For You Hoggish Ways

2011-05-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, admit it! You have a problem. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Ask yourself are you an email hog. You'll know you are an email hog if the phrase "oh my God" comes out of your technician's mouth when they look at your email problem. Email quota messages from your email provider are another sign that you have a problem hanging onto too much email. If you start making excuses for having too many emails then you already know you have a problem.

Cure 1(only for current Outlook users): Archive. Past 2 gb an Outlook PST goes on strike. They said they resolved this issue with 2003, but not fully. http://janetperkins.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/outlook-email-archiving/
Cure 2: Download Thunderbird. http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/download/ Thunderbird is published by the same folks that give you Firefox. Your limit for storage in Thunderbird is 4GB per folder. So it's basically limited by how much hard drive space you have free on that drive. Did I mention Thunderbird is free? You can import Outlook, Outlook Express, CSV, TAB, TXT, and LDIF contacts into Thunderbird. You should be sold on it by now, but just in case you aren't: Thunderbird crashes way less than Outlook. Personally, I've never seen Thunderbird crash.

So email junkies or hoggies whichever you consider yourself, my Rx is above. Stay email healthy!

Don't CC Yourself...Write Someone Else!

2011-05-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

CC'ing yourself dates back to the days when email first became popular. Before that was the typewriter and you always kept a printed copy of the letters you sent. Then when emailing came into popular use, people still wanted a copy of that important communication so they started CC'ing themselves.

Nowadays, it's bad form to CC yourself. Why? Because it mimics a spammer tactic. It's possible to raise red flags with your email provider's spam filter by CC'ing yourself. The spam filter looks at the CC and tries to determine if the account has been taken over by a spammer.Some spam filters are smarter than others and some will put you on a permanent iggy if you CC yourself because it will see your emails as UCE (unsolicited commercial emails). Once you've been blacklisted, it takes work, time and sometimes money to get off.

CC stands for Courtesy Copy and the need to CC yourself has passed out of existence. Every time you send an email you have a copy in your sent mail folder. So if you CC yourself, you will have two copies of the email, thus increasing the size of your email box.

Using Personal Email for Business is Risky Behavior

2011-05-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

What if your email gets deleted/lost? What recourse do you have? Will a free email provider restore it? The answer to all those is: you are in hot water! You can't hold a free email provider legally responsible for losing your email because you agreed to the risk when you signed up for the free email.
What is your email account gets hacked? Sometimes free emails have the ability to recover a hacked account from an alternate email address, but not always! And you have to specify that alternate account or you are in hot water again! If your email gets hacked and bad things are done with your email, you don't have an emergency number to call to get your account discontinued right away.
What if your email provider discontinues service? It's so bad for your business if this happens. The major emails have been around for awhile, but you never know what the future holds. A business merger could mean the end of your free email.
What support do you have with free email? None. Ok this point alone should be the end of your using free email for business.

I always encourage people to use their business email for business. A safe alternative is using your own domain email. Forwarding business email to a free email doesn't make business sense and is risky at best.

On a Shoestring Budget and Need Software?

2011-05-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

If you need it free (and legal, of course), then general public license (GPL) software is for you. No budget for software? GPL software is for you. It's free and open source so it can be added to and shared.

Probably the most famous GPL program is Open Office. Intended to be a substitute for Microsoft Office, Open Office is a completely free suite of applications Open Office isn't a total replacement, but many people find all the features they need in Open Office. You can download it from http://download.openoffice.org/.
GIMP Photo Editor is a pretty powerful image-editing tool. It has more palettes of tools than most users ever want to learn. Download it from http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
If the version of Microsoft Office that you have doesn't have Outlook bundled with it, then give Thunderbird a try. I use it for one of my email accounts and am happy with it. It's quite a bit different than Outlook, but the learning curve is short. Download it from http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/
If you don't want to register a media player, then VLC is for you. Because of the multi-lingual thing I have going on I need to be able to open practically anything from any country. So far I haven't found anything it won't open. Download VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
I have to be honest, I have zero use for a desktop publisher, but I've installed Scribus before and it looks like a half-way decent replacement for Publisher. Download Scribus from http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus

I hope you try at least one of these programs and come to love them like I do! I'm not sure if it's love for them or dislike for their competition, but I'm always willing to try something new from the open source GPL world. The price is right. Enjoy your day.