Mulligrubs Computer Club

Fwd: Mulligrubs Meeting this month 29th May 2014

2014-05-25T16:27:00.001-07:00

Hi folks its time for our next meeting at 7 pm Thursday 29/5/14 at 78 St Vincent's st Ulladulla at our CRC building.

Plenty of parking and a street light out the front.

https://www.facebook.com/ulladullacrc

I asked for some input and one person suggested that we touch on internet security, again. Well we can and I can suggest as we have suggested before that MalwareBytes is a great antivirus program and a great virus or Trojan removal tool. It has a free download but I would suggest paying for the full program as it works automatically in the background with more features.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/update/free/

Matt has suggested that we try and follow the schedule below, not to the letter but to keep it moving along.

30 mins - Problems & Questions

30 mins - Computers

30 mins - Internet Services &

30 mins - Android Mobile

Regards Ross Johnson

Have you been to our facebook page that Matt setup and our Web page?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mulligrubs/

http://mulligrubs.miltonulladulla.com/

Oh also don't forget show and tell if you have some new Electronics bring it along and give us a look!

Ross Johnson JP

READ THIS & ALL ARTICLES ON THE WEB AT: WWW.MULLIGRUBS.MILTONULLADULLA.COM

This email is brought to you on behalf of the Mulligrubs - Milton Ulladulla Internet & Computers Users Group
The Mulligrubs meet on the last Thursday of each month at the Ulladulla CRC - 78 St Vincent St, Ulladulla NSW 2539
Send comments, suggestions, or questions for the group to mulligrubs@miltonulladulla.com
You can subscribe or unsubscribe from this discussion group at any time - send requests to mulligrubs@miltonulladulla.com
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[MULLIGRUBS] Free App of the Day Photography Favourites Pack at Amazon.com.au - Friday May 16 only

2014-05-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

For thosE of us with Android devices I highly recommend following the Amazon App Store

They regularly have free app giveaways like the one below and they have an Australian store now - Amazon.com.au

Some of these Photo apps look good - although there is a lot of duplication in features

You will need to register with Amazon if you haven't already and then click to 'buy' the free apps

To install on your device you will need to download the free Android Store App - just follow the prompts

Don't forget that the Android Camera and Google+ photo apps are also excellent and already on your device if you are on a recent version of Android

Current version is Android 4.4 KitKat - those with Google Nexus devices will update automatically

If you version hasn't updated you can get the updated camera app in the Google PlayStore

Next Mullies meeting is set for Thursday 29/5
if you have any questions or problems please feel free to respond or bring them along on the night

And tell a friend to come - we love new people

Cheers

READ THIS & ALL ARTICLES ON THE WEB AT: WWW.MULLIGRUBS.MILTONULLADULLA.COM
This email is brought to you on behalf of the Mulligrubs - Milton Ulladulla Internet & Computers Users Group
The Mulligrubs meet on the last Thursday of each month at the Ulladulla CRC - 78 St Vincent St, Ulladulla NSW 2539
Send comments, suggestions, or questions for the group to mulligrubs@miltonulladulla.com
You can subscribe or unsubscribe from this discussion group at any time - send requests to mulligrubs@miltonulladulla.com
All names and addresses will be kept confidential and will never be sold or used for any other purpose than forwarding of this newsletter

indle Daily Deal

Amazon.com.au
Kindle Daily Deal

Kindle Books

Appstore for Android

As someone who has shown an interest in the Amazon Appstore, you may like to know about the Free App of the Day Photography Favourites pack worth over $16 available today, Friday May 16.

Download Now

Free App of the Day Photography Favourites See all Free Photography Favourites Apps

PicShop Photo Editor

FireFrame Digital Picture Frame

Paper Camera

Camera ZOOM FX

Perfectly Clear

Rhonna Designs

PicFrame

TouchRetouch

Discover More of Kindle

Free Kindle Reading Apps

How to Tell if An Android App is Potentially Dangerous [HowToGeek]

2014-05-07T17:12:00.002-07:00

With the rise of new technology like mobile phones and devices (tablets, smart tv) it is not surprising that the battle for security is moving to a new front. Like any 'computer' you need to be carefule what you do with your smart device - what sites you visit, what attachments you open and what programs/apps you load. Some good advice for Android users is below

How to Tell if An Android App is Potentially Dangerous
Yes, some Android apps can be malicious — Apple, Microsoft, and the media seem happy to remind us about this. Take a few basic precautions and you can avoid these potentially dangerous apps.
Google doesn’t manually approve apps like Apple does, but they do scan apps in the Google Play Store for malware. Permissions, reviews, and other reputation information can also tell us a lot.
It’s Not In the Play Store
Android allows you to install apps from outside the Google Play Store thanks to sideloading. This extra freedom allows for more choice — like the ability to install apps from the Amazon App Store, if you prefer — but it also opens up extra risks. Just like on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux, you can get software from anywhere on the web and install it. And, also like on desktop operating systems, people can write malicious apps and distribute them via the web.
As we mentioned in our overview of whether Android antivirus apps are worth using, most malicious Android apps come from outside the Google Play Store. If you download a pirated app from a shady website, you shouldn’t be surprised if it brings malware onto your system.
Google doesn’t vet applications before they appear on the Play Store, but they do perform automated scans to see if apps are malicious. If an app you install from the Play Store is later discovered to be malicious, it can be remotely removed from your device. Attackers will try to distribute dangerous apps outside the store so they can get around this protection.
Android does now offer to scan apps for malware when you install them from outside the Play Store, but — like any antivirus solution — this isn’t perfect. If an app isn’t available on the Play Store, that’s a warning sign and you shouldn’t install the app unless you have good reason to do so. If you do install an app from outside the Play Store, be sure to allow your device to scan it for malware when you’re prompted. Leave the Verify apps setting enabled to have Android perform regular scans for malicious apps. If Android warns you about an app, uninstall it.

Its Permissions Don’t Make Sense
Some apps request too many permissions. For example, if a simple flashlight application requires permission to read your address book, access your location, and connect to the Internet, this is awfully suspicious. The app could upload the contents of your address book along with your location to an advertising network’s servers. If an app requests the ability to send SMS messages and it shouldn’t need this permission, the app may try to send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers and run up charges on your cell phone bill.
Permissions are a serious problem in the Android ecosystem, as apps often request too many and there’s no easy way to disallow them without rooting your device, as there is on Apple’s iOS. It’s normal to come across apps that require too much permissions, but it’s often because that app actually is using your phone number, address book, and location to an advertising network’s servers so they can track you and serve ads to you.
Be sure to keep an eye on permissions when installing apps. If an app you don’t trust much requires too many permissions, that’s a red flag that the app will potentially abuse those permissions. Apps can request access to additional permissions when they update, but you’ll have to agree to the update manually.

Installs, Reviews, and Reputation
As with desktop applications, it’s important to evaluate whether an app is trustworthy before you give it access to your system. On Android, this means looking at the number of times an app has been installed and checking out its reviews. If an app has been installed by just 50 people and has negative reviews, that app probably isn’t worth your time and may be potentially malicious.
On the other hand, if an app has four-to-five-star reviews and has been installed by more than a million people, that app is much more likely to be trustworthy. Of course, this isn’t always true — some bad apps manage to trick a large number of people into installing them and reviewing them well.
The reputation of the developer also matters. An app made by Google is probably safer than an app made by some person you’ve never heard of. An app created by an organization you’re familiar with — your bank, for example — is probably more trustworthy than an organization you’ve never heard of.
The permissions system also comes into effect here. Let’s say you want to install a little app and that app requires no permissions. It should be perfectly safe to use because the app couldn’t do anything malicious even if it wanted to. On the other hand, if that tiny app required permissions to access your contacts, accounts, location, SMS messages, and other sensitive data, you should view the app with much more suspicion.

As with any software, there’s no foolproof way to know whether an app is malicious. Stick with apps from Google Play, if possible. Pay attention to permissions, the number of times an app has been installed, the reviews, and the general reputation of the developer.
Image Credit: othree on Flickr

How to access your computer over the internet and other articles [howto geek]

2014-05-05T21:58:00.001-07:00

Some interesting articles for you to review
A how to Geek Article advising how to remotely access your home computer
recommends TeamViewer which we have used and reviewed at Mullies but also the Remote Desktop extension built in Chrome Browser which I haven't tried

Beginner Geek: How To Access Your Desktop Over the Internet

Remote desktop software allows you to access your computer from another room or halfway around the world. You can also share your desktop with someone temporarily — ideal for remote tech support.
Setting up remote desktop access isn’t hard, but you’ll need to know the right software to use and how it works. The software built into Windows isn’t ideal for home users.

Reader Request: How To Repair Blurry Photos

Do You Really Need to Safely Remove USB Sticks?

Why is My Download Speed Slower Than the Internet I Pay For?

5 SMS Apps You Should Try Out On Your Android Phone

A Look Into: Google’s New & Improved Official Camera App

How to Scan and Repair an Infected Computer From Outside Windows

Windows XP Support Ends Today- Here’s How to Switch to Linux

What is the Heartbleed Bug and Why You Need to Change Your Passwords [How-To Geek]]

2014-04-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

HTG Explains: What the Heartbleed Bug Is and Why You Need to Change Your Passwords Now

The last time we alerted you to a major security breach was when Adobe’s password database was compromised, putting millions of users (especially those with weak and frequently reused passwords) at risk. Today we’re warning you about a much bigger security problem, the Heartbleed Bug, that has potentially compromised a staggering 2/3rds of the secure websites on the internet. You need to change your passwords, and you need to start doing it now. Important note: How-To Geek is not affected by this bug.

What Is Heartbleed and Why Is It So Dangerous?

In your typical security breach, a single company’s user records/passwords are exposed. That’s awful when it happens, but it’s an isolated affair. Company X has a security breach, they issue a warning to their users, and the people like us remind everyone it’s time to start practicing good security hygiene and update their passwords. Those, unfortunately, typical breaches are bad enough as it is. The Heartbleed Bug is something much, much, worse.

The Heartbleed Bug undermines the very encryption scheme that protects us while we email, bank, and otherwise interact with websites we believe to be secure. Here is a plain-English description of the vulnerability from Codenomicon, the security group that discovered and alerted the public to the bug:

The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library. This weakness allows stealing the information protected, under normal conditions, by the SSL/TLS encryption used to secure the Internet. SSL/TLS provides communication security and privacy over the Internet for applications such as web, email, instant messaging (IM) and some virtual private networks (VPNs).
The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.

That sounds pretty bad, yes? It sounds even worse when you realize roughly two-thirds of all websites using SSL are using this vulnerable version of OpenSSL. We’re not talking small time sites like hot rod forums or collectible card game swap sites, we’re talking banks, credit card companies, major e-retailers and e-mail providers. Worse yet, this vulnerability has been in the wild for around two years. That’s two years someone with the appropriate knowledge and skills could have been tapping into the login credentials and private communications of a service you use (and, according to the testing conducted by Codenomicon, doing it without a trace).

For an even better illustration of how the Heartbleed bug works. read this xkcd comic.

Although no group has come forward to flaunt all the credentials and information they siphoned up with the exploit, at this point in the game you have to assume that the login credentials for the web sites you frequent have been compromised.

What to Do Post Heartbleed Bug

Any majority security breach (and this certainly qualifies on a grand scale) requires you to assess your password management practices. Given the wide reach of the Heartbleed Bug this is a perfect opportunity to review an already smooth-running password management system or, if you’ve been dragging your feet, to set one up.

Before you dive into immediately changing your passwords, be aware that the vulnerability is only patched if the company has upgraded to the new version of OpenSSL. The story broke on Monday, and if you rushed out to immediately change your passwords on every site, most of them would still have been running the vulnerable version of OpenSSL.

You can use the Heartbleed Bug checkerhere to see if the vulnerability is open still or, even if the site isn’t responding to requests from the aforementioned checker, you can use LastPass’s SSL date checker to see if the server in question has updated their SSL certificate recently (if they updated it after 4/7/2014 it’s a good indicator that they’ve patched the vulnerability.) Note: if you run howtogeek.com through the bug checker it will return an error because we don’t use SSL encryption in the first place, and we have also verified that our servers are not running any affected software.Now, mid-week, most sites have begun the process of updating and by the weekend it’s reasonable to assume the majority of high-profile web sites will have switched over.

That said, it looks like this weekend is shaping up to be a good weekend to get serious about updating your passwords. First, you need a password management system. Check out our guide to getting started with LastPass to set up one of the most secure and flexible password management options around. You don’t have to use LastPass, but you do need some sort of system in place that will allow you to track and manage a unique and strong password for every website you visit.

Second, You need to start changing your passwords. The crisis-management outline in our guide, How to Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised, is a great way to ensure you don’t miss any passwords; it also highlights the basics of good password hygiene, quoted here:

Passwords should always be longer than the minimum the service allows for. If the service in question allows for 6-20 character passwords go for the longest password you can remember.
Do not use dictionary words as part of your password. Your password should never be so simple that a cursory scan with a dictionary file would reveal it. Never include your name, part of the login or email, or other easily identifiable items like your company name or street name. Also avoid using common keyboard combinations like “qwerty” or “asdf” as part of your password.
Use passphrases instead of passwords. If you’re not using a password manager to remember really random passwords (yes, we realize we’re really harping on the idea of using a password manager) then you can remember stronger passwords by turning them into passphrases. For your Amazon account, for example, you could create the easily remember passphrase “I love to read books” and then crunch that into a password like “!luv2ReadBkz”. It’s easy to remember and it’s fairly strong.

Third, whenever possible you want to enable two-factor authentication. You can read more about two-factor authentication here, but in short it allows you to add an additional layer of identification to your login.

With two-factor authentication enabled it makes it very difficult for someone who has gained access to your login and password (like they could with the Heartbleed Bug) to actually access your account.With Gmail, for example, two-factor authentication requires you to have not just your login and password but access to the cellphone registered to your Gmail account so you can accept a text message code to input when you log in from a new computer.

Understanding Geo-blocking: watch whatever you want, when you want [PC & Tech Authority]

2014-04-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

Some ideas on how to watch US (e.g. HULU) or UK (BBC) content on your computer

This article is almost 12 months old and in recent times it has gotten even easier to achieve

I have had success using the simple HOLA plug-in in my browser
For use on all devices connected to a home/local network, including smart TVs, you may need to consider a paid VPN set up

Understanding Geo-blocking: watch whatever you want, when you want - PC & Tech Authority

It’s frustrating to watch from the sidelines as American viewers enjoy unfettered access to Netflix and Hulu while the British gorge themselves on BBC iPlayer. Even in the Amazon and iTunes stores, Australians are treated as second-class citizens compared to what people enjoy in other countries.Visit Netflix or Hulu from Australia and you’ll be turned away due to geo-blocking. But where there’s a will there’s a way and geo-dodging is becoming easier than ever.
But what, exactly, is geo-dodging?
It’s not a new practice, and it’s something that many Australians are doing right now to access content from all over the world. These are users who do not want to resort to actual piracy, and torrent sites that financially harm content creators and publishers. At the same time, however, geo-dodging is a giant legal grey area, and some of the practices undertaken by its practitioners are clearly in violation of the terms of service of some of the companies we are going to talk about.
It should also be mentioned that a lot of geo-blocking techniques will require you to obfuscate your actual address. If the thought of any of these practices make you uncomfortable, then we recommend that you should probably stay away from geo-dodging. However, should you wish to understand just how it’s done, you can safely read along.
Chances are the gadgets already in your lounge room can tap into foreign video services, once you know the tricks of the trade.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to geo-dodging and you can’t be sure that today’s tricks will work tomorrow. Everything that follows is stamped with a big red “Your Mileage May Vary”. It’s a cat and mouse game, so keep an eye on online forums for the latest tips and tricks.
Shut up and take my money!The secret sauce of geo-dodging is knowing how to pay.
You don’t need a credit card to create a foreign iTunes account. Simply log out of iTunes and switch to a foreign store by clicking on the flag at the bottom right. Now try to download a free app and click Create Apple ID.
This is where a separate gmail account can come in handy, rather than your own email address, especially if yours ends in .au. You’ll also need a legit foreign street address and phone number – a lot of geo-dodgers Google the address of foreign Starbucks outlets, or even use the addresses of friends or relatives. Watch out for sales tax – many geo-dodgers swear by Oregon or Delaware as good options in the US. It’s also worth checking emailed receipts for sales tax.
You don’t need to add a payment method to your iTunes account; you can simply click None and then top up the account with US gift cards. Gift cards for iTunes and practically every other video service online can be bought online, and PriceUSA.com.au is apparently one of the best places to look. Alternatively you can ask travelling friends to stock up for you. Don’t load up your accounts with too much credit, just in case your account becomes disabled. Also keep in mind that even if an ISP offers unmetered iTunes access, it probably doesn’t apply to the US iTunes store.
If you log back into iTunes later and are told “before you can make purchases you must click okay and then verify your payment information”, click None as the payment option, and then Done.
To set up Netflix or Hulu, use the free Hola plugin for Chrome or Firefox to mask your location. Hulu lets you sign up with a gift card and then top up with more gift cards, but Netflix insists on valid credit card details even if you’re using gift cards anyway. Netflix recently relaxed its block on foreign credit cards and an Australian card might just do the trick these days. Some services let you get away with using an Australian credit card if you use your own name and street address with a US state and postcode, so a lot of geo-dodgers experiment. You might get a call or text from your bank when using your card overseas, however. Don’t panic, they’re just checking your card hasn’t been stolen, much like when you use your card overseas while travelling.
You can also create Netflix and Hulu accounts directly from an Apple TV and link them to your US iTunes account. You’re sent emails with your account details so you can also log into other devices. Hulu happily starts its trial with no credit card attached to the iTunes account, but Netflix doesn’t.
Alternatively, you might have luck with a rechargeable pre-paid credit card. Sites such as buyfrompowerseller.com offer pre-paid US Visa cards to set up Netflix and Hulu accounts, although Netflix is cracking down on this. Some people also have luck with Australian pre-paid cards, like a Visa Load&Go purchased from your local Australia Post shop. An online portal gives you the ability to top up the balance on the card, as well as add a mailing address, which can be a favourite foreign Starbucks.
Many US streaming services also accept US PayPal accounts, although you still might need to associate a valid US credit card to the PayPal account. You can create a US PayPal account at paypal.com/us, again with a foreign Starbucks address. You might be able to associate an Australian card using your Starbucks address, or else a pre-paid card using that address. When PayPal asks for US bank account details, log out and then log back in. Now you can use the PayPal account without supplying bank account details.
By way of experiment, Netflix accepted our Australian Visa card but didn’t like the Visa Load&Go, nor would it accept a US PayPal account linked to our Load&Go or Australian AMEX. Hulu didn’t like any of our cards, but accepted US PayPal accounts linked to the Load&Go or to our Australian AMEX. iTunes refused all the cards and PayPal tricks, but you don’t need these to get started.
It was possible to create a new Amazon account with a US address and Amazon Prime accepted our Visa Load&Go for the free 30 day trial, using Valued Cardholder as the name of the card holder, but it knocked back the card when we tried to rent a pay-per-view movie. During our experiments we even managed the same trick with our Australian Amazon account and AMEX card, signing up to the trial and watching the Prime library but unable to pay for rentals.
The trick is to remove your card from the Amazon account, then visit tinyurl.com/3end7d and enter a new address. Press “Save & Continue”, not “Save & Add payment method”, and then make it your default 1-click address. Now log into your Australian Amazon account, visit http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3063530011, and email yourself a gift card. Log back into your US Amazon account and redeem the gift card. Now you can rent pay-per-view movies as well as watch Prime subscription movies. When your $79 annual Prime subscription is due after 30 days you can’t pay with gift cards – you must use a credit card. If you reinstate your credit card and Amazon refuses to accept it for the Prime subscription, you’ll need to investigate rechargeable US pre-paid credit card options – perhaps from the likes ofbuyfrompowerseller.com. It’s possible to cancel your Prime trial and just watch pay-per-view using gift cards.

Plex Media Server software - Plex for Android on special

2014-04-03T20:29:00.001-07:00

Plex

At the March Mullies meeting we discussed the Plex Media Server and how it is good for sharing your downloaded or recorded TV, Movies and music around your own home network and even over the Internet.

It makes a difficult process (sharing media to lots of different device) easy and pretty

For those who are itnerested the Plex App for Android is currently on special at Amazon for $0.99 - The usual price is $4.99 so quite a saving.

To buy and download at this price you need to install the (free) Amazon App Store first. Amazon have regular specials and freebies so it's worth a download. Once installed the app is just like one direct from Google.

Amazon.com: Plex for Android: Appstore for Android

Free Classical Music Album at Google Play Store

2013-12-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

This offer is good for anyone who has a Google account (Gmail, Youtube) and/or anyone who uses an Android device

Essential Classical

Click this link to go to the Google Play Store and access this classical music album
it's a mixture of 'essential' classical music songs by various artists

It's a great way to get into using your Google Music service
Give it a go!

How to View your Old Notifications in Android [labnol.org]

2013-12-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

How to View your Old Notifications in Android

Learn how to access notifications history on your Android phone and also learn about the various apps that are pushing these notifications to your home screen.

There were a couple of pending notifications sitting in the status bar of your Android phone and you have just tapped the “Dismiss” icon to clear them all. And then it occurred that you may have dismissed certain important notifications. Where did they go? Can you retrieve the old notifications even if they have have removed from the notifications bar?

Well if your phone is running a more recent version of Android, Jelly Bean or later you can get a log of notifications that have pushed by various apps. Here’s how.

Go to your Android home screen and tap the apps icon. Switch to the Widgets tab, tap and hold the 1×1 Settings Shortcut and place it on your your home screen. Now select “Notifications” from the available choices.

Tap the settings icon that you have placed on the home screen and it will display the notification history in reverse chronological order. You will know the name of the app that pushed the notification, the title of the notification and the time when that message was pushed.

You may also use the notifications shortcut to prevent certain apps from sending notifications to your phone. Just tap the name of an app and deselect the option that says “Show Notifications” from the App info page.

How To Remove Snap.Do Toolbar

2013-12-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

We have a question from Lynette who has a problem with the Snap.Do Toolbar search add on

When I downloadedFreemake Downloader you recommended the SNAP.DO program must have been downloaded in the background. Now I can get it off my computer and it is messing up my browser searches do you know how to get rid of it? I have googled and done some of the things suggested, I have run C Cleaner, and also run my malware program all to no avail. Everytime I click on Firefox browser snap.do come up instead. PLEASE HELP!!!!

First off Lynette you can take solace in the fact you are not alone. Ross was experiencing the same problems at our Mullies meeting last week. At the meeting we ran MalwareBytes to clean the PC but that wasn't enough.

First off - be careful what you install!

When I recommended Freemake I specifically said "careful to untick the buttons offering to load extra programs". Many free downloads try to earn some cash by bundling extra programs - many of them not useful or downright harmful. I try to avoid any programs that bundle in unwanted extras but find Freemake very good - you just have to be a bit careful.
Whenever installing something - even an update - always select the 'custom' install and uncheck any boxes to install extra programs. Of course a system restore point and (even better) an image back-up can be useful in reversing negative changes too.

The steps here should help (step by step instructions with pics)

http://www.wintips.org/remove-snap-do-search-snap-do-toolbar/

Basically you should

Uninstall applications installed by "snap.do" from your Control panel.
See the link for a list of what to unistall
I highly recommend Revo Uninstaller but your normal Windows Control Panel "Add/Remove Programs" should do

Remove "snap.do search" and snap.do toolbar from your internet browser application.
Note - if you have two or more browsers, e.g. IE &/or Chrome &/or Firefox, you will have to remove from each one individually

Run MalwareBytes full scan and delete entries
(note the Wintips site link has 2 extra steps involving additional programs but I don't think they are necessary and downloading even MORE utilities could make matters worse)

Run through these steps and your PC should be clean again - let us know how you go
And remember - untick those boxes! :)

Proposed Mullies Meeting 12 Dec 2013

2013-12-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hi all
You will recall the November Mullies meeting was put off due to ill health. Proposed new date is this week 12th of December. The lead up to Christmas is a hectic time so we thought we would ask for an RSVP

Could any members that are keen on attending please let Ross or Matt know so that we can organise - we will even buy Xmas Cake! Comment here, on Facebook or just email mulligrubs@miltonulladulla.com Please reply by Wednesday and we will confirm

If we don't get more than 5 or 6 replies we will skip this meeting and wait till January.

I hope you are all well and looking forward to Christmas.

Regards Ross Johnson

Download a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data

2013-12-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

Many Mullies users are fans of Google services, particularly Gmail.
I know I have many attachments in years worth of email messages including photos, sent and received, documents and personal and business messages.
There have always been ways to download and archive email messages - via smtp connection for example - but now Google have made it even easier - Read Below

Lots of users are keeping regular details in their Google Calendar as well.
For example if you note each time you went to the Doctor on your Calendar you could download the data and have a record of your medical checks

Having all these items stored in the cloud is one of the advantages of using an online service - so I recommend you leave a copy on Google's servers.
But having a local copy can't hurt as well should you want one

Download a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data

Posted: Thursday, December 05, 2013

Posted by Nick Piepmeier, Software Engineer

Having access to your data and being able to take it with you is important, especially if that data contains precious memories like old love letters, your first job offer, or that 100-message thread discussing the merits of various cat videos. Starting today we're rolling out the ability to export a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data, making it easy to back up your data or move to another service.

You can download all of your mail and calendars or choose a subset of labels and calendars. You can also download a single archive file for multiple products with a copy of your Gmail, Calendar, Google+, YouTube, Drive, and other Google data.

The ability to download your Gmail messages will be rolled out over the next month while Calendar data is available to download for everyone today.

You’re being followed! How to block Web tracking WindowsSecrets

2013-11-29T03:06:00.000-08:00

You’re being followed! How to block Web tracking

By Patrick Marshall on August 1, 2013 in Top Story

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re not being watched.

When you’re on the Internet, there are good reasons to have that eerie sense of being followed.

By now, most of us know that websites can gather a surprising amount of information about your computer. For example, the page request you send to a site’s server includes detailed information about your browser — not just which browser you’re using, but the exact version, its configuration, and even the screen resolution the browser is running in. Other gathered data includes the page you came from, what document you’re requesting, and — yes, your IP address.

And don’t think you have anonymity just because your service provider gives you a dynamic IP address. At a minimum, visited websites can tell what service provider you’re with and what city or region you are in.

What’s more, any communication with a Web server gives it the opportunity to deposit a cookie on your computer. Benign cookies — small text files downloaded through your browser — simply record information needed to make your Web experience better. That can include sign-in information, where you visited on the site, interface customizations, and the like. Most cookies also keep an identifier for each visitor, so that the next time you connect to a site’s server, it can match you up with its records of previous visits. That way, you won’t have to start from scratch whenever you go to the site.

Less benign cookies can let websites track your movements around the Internet, and they often collect more information than you really want to give.

Typically, the information gleaned by trackers doesn’t include your name and street address. But by putting together all the collected data from page requests and cookies, Web servers can effectively fingerprint individual computers and thus track users across the Internet.

What many users don’t know is the extent of the information now collected. If a webpage contains an advertisement, your browser will often send a request to a third-party ad server to download the advertisement. In addition to telling the ad server what site you’re visiting, the request contains yet another identifier — still not your name, but a number that corresponds to your computer.

And that ad server might deposit its own cookie on your computer.

So far, all this tracking hasn’t identified you by name and address. But online tracking companies will have a considerable amount of information — including, again, your computer’s IP address — about your online activities. On some sites, the result is targeted ads, tailored content, and possibly a Web experience that’s customized specifically for you (or, more precisely, customized for the activity on a specific computer).

For example, one day I searched for “line trimmers” on Google. The next day, I went to the Home Depot site. What was the first thing I saw? An ad for line trimmers — and it was no coincidence. Some users will be happy with that result; others will not. Let a friend or family member browse the Web with your computer, and ads for products you have absolutely no interest in might follow you around the Internet for days or weeks.

Good intelligence analysts might be able to figure out who’s behind a computer by analyzing online activities, but for most users, the real danger comes from joining social-networking sites such as Facebook or Google+. By their nature, social sites encourage you to feed them lots of personal information — including your name and address. The social site, and any organizations with which it shares data, can connect the dots back to a specific individual — as opposed to a specific computer. (And we can assume government agencies are doing the same.)

And you know all those social widgets you find on visited sites? Page requests are sent to those servers as well. If you’ve logged into Facebook in the past month, for example, and you haven’t specifically signed out, the widget can track your presence across all sites that also have the widget. If you want to see how visited websites communicate directly with each other, download the Collusion (see Figure 1) add-on for Firefox and Chrome.

Figure 1. Collusion graphically shows the connections between sites you visit.

Trackers can also use embedded bugs or beacons — typically invisible to users — to get notifications when someone has viewed a site or opened email. And any of the sites you visit might use JavaScript to examine your browsing history.

Browsers offer limited tracking controls

So what can you do to manage or reduce tracking? In this article, we’ll start by looking at the built-in controls available in the three most popular browsers. Unfortunately, though these user-configurable tools provide some protection, you can’t rely on them to fully protect your online identity.

In a following article, I’ll go into third-party add-ons and utilities that provide better protection.

The privacy tools in the major browsers focus primarily on cookie management. To understand how the tools work, it’s important to understand the various types of cookies. Here’s the short explanation:

Session cookie: When the cookie doesn’t carry an expiration date, it’s usually a session cookie — one that will be deleted when the browser is closed.

Persistent cookie: Also called a tracking cookie, the persistent cookie will remain on the computer until it reaches its expiration date. These cookies can be accessed by their creators whenever you connect to the creators’ Web servers.

Secure cookie: If the cookie is set with an HTTPS attribute, it’s sent from the Web server in an encrypted form to prevent cookie theft.

HTTPOnly cookie: Such cookies can be transmitted only through HTTP or HTTPS requests, which also helps protect them from being stolen.

Third-party cookie: These cookies come from a source other than the site you’re visiting. Webpage ads, for example, typically deliver their own, third-party cookies.

Supercookie: Tracking technologies that typically do not use HTTP, supercookies are often created by applications, such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, that you might have installed on your computer. These cookies can store up to 10MB of data, whereas an HTML cookie is limited to 4K. Supercookies can also track user behavior across multiple sites.

Zombie cookie: These cookies are automatically re-created after a user has deleted them. This is done by a script that gets the data from a supercookie. For more on zombie cookies, see Woody Leonhard’s Aug. 5, 2010,Top Story, “Eliminate Flash-spawned ‘zombie’ cookies.”

All major browsers give basic controls over the allowed types and duration of downloaded cookies. Some browsers provide additional controls — and they differ in how easy it is to access, understand, and configure these controls. Here’s what you get with the leading browsers:

Firefox: To its credit, Firefox has made it simple for users to access and navigate the browser’s privacy-related tools. All tools and settings — with one exception we’ll deal with below — can be accessed by clicking the Tools menu, then Options, and the Privacy tab.

Firefox can be set to automatically send a Do Not Track notification to websites that support the technology. Once that’s set, every website visited will receive a request in the page header that you not be tracked. But let’s be clear: this is just a request. Firefox isn’t actively preventing tracking; it’s up to each website to honor the request. But it can’t hurt to ask. To do so, just click the radio button next to “Tell sites that I do not want to be tracked” (circled in yellow in Figure 2).

Figure 2. Firefox does the best job of gathering its privacy tools into one easy-to-access location.

Next, you’ll want to adjust your history settings. By default, Firefox accepts all cookies and remembers your browsing history, downloads, and search history. To change that behavior, click on the History/Firefox will: button and select either Never remember history or Use custom settings for history (see Figure 2). You can easily switch between these settings, depending on the sites you plan to visit.

Selecting the custom settings brings up a layered array of controls. I opted to disable my browsing and download history while retaining my search and form history. Then, it was on to cookies. A drop-down list gives you two choices: always accepting third-party cookies or never accepting them. I chose to never accept them, but had I accepted them, I could have stipulated that Firefox delete them when they expire or when I close the browser — or to prompt me each time I close.

The Exceptions button lets me specify sites that will be exempted from the set policy. Try this option for important sites that have lost functionality.

Finally, you can check a box that automatically clears your browsing history whenever Firefox closes.

I had to search for the setting that would disable local-domain (DOM) storage so that supercookies could not use it. As it turns out, this technique — suitable primarily for advanced users — requires manual editing of Firefox’s configuration table. To do so, type “about:config” in the URL bar and hit Enter. A long list of browser configuration settings appears. Scroll down until you find DOM.storage.enable. Right-click on the listing and then click Toggle.Close the browser Window and you’re in business.

Figure 3. To disable local-domain storage, you'll have to call up Firefox's somewhat-hidden configuration page.

Firefox is the only one of the three browsers that lets you set private browsing as the default. While Private Browsing (more info) is on, Firefox doesn’t save a history of visited pages, search-bar entries, passwords, cookies, etc.

That doesn’t mean, however, that websites can’t collect information about your PC during a Private Browsing session. Also, some websites might not have their full functionality when you have private browsing on.

To block beacons, scripts, and other forms of online tracking agents in Firefox, you’ll need to download and install add-ons. Fortunately, they are free and easy to install, as I’ll discuss in Part 2 of this series.

Google Chrome: This browser is the least intuitive of the three browsers when it comes to finding and configuring privacy settings. All Chrome settings are configured on webpages (see Figure 4) that are not especially well designed for ease of use. Moreover, users have to go through several layers to find many of the tools.

To set cookie policy, you start by clicking the three-bar icon in the upper-right corner of the Chrome toolbar and selecting Settings. The Settings page will open in a new browser-window tab — but you won’t see a heading for Privacy or Cookie settings until you click the “Show advanced settings” link at the bottom of the page. Scroll down the now expanded Settings page until you find the Privacy heading.

Figure 4. Google Chrome uses standard webpages for its many settings. Note that Privacy is well down the fully expanded Settings page.

Now click the Content settings button; you’ll finally find the options for managing cookies (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Chrome doesn't make it easy to find its cookies settings, and the options are relatively basic.

Chrome gives you four choices for controlling cookies: allow or disallow all cookies, allow cookies to be kept just during your current session, or allow only specific third-party cookies.

Like the other browsers, Chrome allows you to enable or disable JavaScript on sites, and you can make exceptions. However, disabling JavaScript entirely might make some sites difficult to use. It would be more helpful if Chrome (and other browsers) detected scripts that are undesirable — as some available extensions (add-ons) will do.

Chrome also lets you show all images on sites — or none. Although it’s not explained, blocking images is a way of blocking Web beacons. Again, if you want to be more discriminating about what images are blocked, you’ll need to download a Chrome extension — a step I recommend.

Finally, like other browsers, Chrome supports Do Not Track requests.

The tools for clearing existing cookies and other tracking information are located on another page. Click on the three-bar icon again and select Tools/Clear browsing data. You’ll then be able to select the specific types of stored data you want to clear. Although it’s not well explained, selecting Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data will remove Flash cookies. (Nothing is mentioned about other types of supercookies.)

Figure 6. Chrome's tools for deleting browsing data are simple to use — though not especially informative.

In Chrome, unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent supercookies from using local storage — unless you preventall cookies from using local storage.

Chrome includes Incognito mode (more info) for private browsing. It works much like Firefox’s Private Browsing, but cannot be set as the default.

Although Chrome provides many of the same basic privacy controls found in competing browsers, we can forgive users who get the impression that Google really doesn’t want us to use Chrome’s privacy controls. After all, Google is one of largest collectors of online-behavior data.

Internet Explorer 10: Microsoft’s browser has a relatively strong set of privacy tools, though it would be better if they were in one place. As it is, you’re forced to work through several menus to configure all privacy settings.

Starting with cookie management, click IE’s gear icon in the browser’s upper-right corner and select Internet options; then select the Privacy tab. A slider offers six levels of protection, ranging from blocking all cookies to allowing all cookies (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. IE's Privacy tab lets you quickly select from six cookie policies — or set a custom policy.

Intermediate settings allow or disallow third-party cookies that don’t have compact privacy policies and which save information that could be used to contact you. (The dialog box doesn’t say what a compact privacy policy is or why it’s important; briefly, it allows IE to read a site’s embedded policy. For more info, see The Lunch Pail blog.) You can also block first-party cookies that save contact information.

To create a custom policy, click the Advanced tab; you’ll then be able to specify whether first- and third-party cookies should be blocked or allowed, or whether you should be prompted for acceptance. In addition, you can allow or disallow session cookies.

Bear in mind, however, that these settings apply only to HTML cookies and do not impact supercookies, which are managed by other applications. And even though IE 10 doesn’t delete all supercookies when you delete your browsing history, if you have Flash 10.3 or later loaded, IE will at least delete Flash cookies.

To clear your browsing history, simply click the Tools menu (not the gear icon) and select Delete browsing history.IE will then display a list of delete/preserve options, including temporary Internet files, cookies, your list of visited sites, download histories, etc. (See Figure 8.)

Figure 8. The Delete Browsing History tool makes it simple to select just what you want to delete from your browser history.

You can also set how long IE 10 retains its history of online activities. To do so, return to Internet options and select the General tab. In the Browsing history section, click Settings and choose the History tab. Then simply set the number of days. Alternatively, you can simply check the Delete browsing history on exit box back in the Browsing History section.

Next, turn on IE 10′s Do Not Track option. In Internet options, click the Advanced tab and scroll down to the checkbox, Always send Do Not Track header.

Figure 9. You'll have to dig a bit to have IE send Do Not Track headers, but it's worth doing.

You can expect better results, however, by activating IE 10′s Tracking Protection. Click Tools/Tracking Protection, and the browser’s add-on manager will open with Tracking Protection highlighted. When I did so, I found a single, disabled entry labeled “Your Personalized List.” I highlighted that item and clicked the Enable button down in the lower-right corner of the Manage Add-ons window.

Next, I deselected “Your Personalized List by clicking a blank area just below it, which popped up a new link, Get a Tracking Protection List online. Clicking the link took me to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Gallery, where I was offered a choice of additional and much more extensive, third-party lists. Clicking the Add button for Abine Standard added this list to Tracking Protection (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. IE's Tracking Protection feature offers a quick way to download and integrate third-party tracking protection lists.

Once you’ve enabled tracking protection lists, IE 10 will block all data from going out to those sites.

You can also add some Internet protection with IE 10′s InPrivate Browsing, found in the Tools menu, which works in much the same way as Chrome’s Incognito mode. As with Chrome, InPrivate Browsing can’t be set as the default — you have to enable it for each browsing window.

There are two other controls in Internet Options you might want to use. Click the Privacy tab and check the Never allow websites to request your physical location box. Or click the Advanced tab and uncheck the Enable DOM storage box to prevent supercookies from using local storage.

Beyond cookies: Additional privacy controls

Even though all three browsers offer basic controls over cookies, you’ll need to do more and use additional tools if you want to avoid being tracked on the Internet. Perhaps reconsider your membership in social networks. Or at least review the privacy settings you use on those sites and the information you post.

To beef up your browser, you’ll want to install add-ons that detect and block Web beacons and other data collectors. I’ll be looking at several of the major add-ons in Part 2 of this series.

No Mullies Meeting tonight

2013-11-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

Hi all
Organiser Ross is a little unwell after having a minor op and won't be able to make the meeting tonight
As we don't usually have a meting in December I thought we could just delay our scheduled meeting for tonight and hold in a couple of weeks?

New meeting date will be 12/12/13 and we will have a Xmas theme - yes even Xmas cake!

Hope everyone is able to come on the alternate night
And remember if you have any questions or problems in between meetings you can always send them to us at:
Email mulligrubs or

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/mulligrubs/

Become Better At Finding Stuff With Search Engines: Boolean Search Logic Explained [MakeUseOf.com]

2013-11-17T11:42:00.000-08:00

The number of websites currently in existence is unimaginable. And while – on a bad day – it only takes Google’s thousands of servers half a second to query approximately 50 billion indexed pages, it takes you significantly longer to scan only the first page of search results. On top of that, you are likely to digress and open irrelevant sites. Why don’t you do your constantly distracted and easily overwhelmed brain a huge favor and learn how to properly construct a search?

Boolean search logic illustrated in Venn diagrams can help you visualize what you are searching for. If you think this sounds suspiciously like mathematics, you’re spot on. But don’t let that discourage you! It’s pure and simple logic, demonstrated with pretty and very simple diagrams, and so it’s easy. I promise! And I have fun examples to prove it.

The only case in which you won’t need any search logic, is when you search for only a single word, like Earth.

What Is Boolean (Search) Logic?

In a search query, Boolean logic helps us define the logical relationship between multiple search terms. The operators used to express the relationship are AND, OR, and NOT. Any number of boolean search terms can be connected with these operators to refine your search results. Let’s look at each operator separately.

OR

search results will contain either one or several or all of the search terms

best used when you want to pull together results on similar topics

Example: Wind OR Fire

The Venn diagram above reveals that a search for Wind OR Fire will show results for Wind, Wind AND Fire (overlapping areas), and Fire.

Example: Earth OR Wind OR Fire

Likewise, this diagram demonstrates that all boolean search terms by themselves, as well as overlapping content will be shown when connecting the terms with OR. And here is a chance toearn a Like including 5 bonus points if you can tell me who those folks in the center are.

Here are the numbers for Google’s search results for the three search terms and the OR combinations shown above:

Earth: 1,280,000,000 results

Wind: 909,000,000 results

Fire: 2,090,000,000 results

Wind OR Fire: 2,980,000,000 results

Earth OR Wind OR Fire: 4,210,000,000

As you see, in the case of a Google search, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts; it’s actually smaller. But since there is redundancy, i.e. overlapping areas, as can be seen nicely in the Venn diagrams above, that makes sense.

Instead of OR you can also use the vertical bar | character when performing a Google search.

NOT or rather -

exclude keywords from your search

best used when your search is ambiguous

Caution: While NOT is a valid term in Boolean logic, Google doesn’t appear to operate with this term. Instead of NOT, you should use the - character. Note that there is no space between the dash and the keyword you want to exclude.

Example: Wind NOT Fire or Wind -Fire

The Venn diagram above depicts the results in theory. Below are the actual numbers:

Wind: 909,000,000 results

Fire: 2,090,000,000 results

Wind NOT Fire: 377,000,000 results

Wind -Fire: 1,810,000,000

and just for fun… Fire -Wind: 5,010,000,000 results

The numbers will vary, depending on which Google domain you are using (my browser defaults to Google.ca) and obviously they also change over time. However, the results above are nothing short of confusing. Let’s say that Google doesn’t necessarily give us all the results, so those numbers are not a reliable source of information. Looking at the first page of results, however, can give you an idea of whether or not your search worked.

Actually trying to understand the results quickly reveals that Google tends to think for you, rather than with you. For the majority of users that’s good because they don’t know what they are doing. Google appears to serve results based on its “experience” rather than the search terms and operators used in the query. This actually is a little disturbing, but good to be aware of. So let’s continue with the theory…

AND

search results will contain all search terms

results where one of the terms is missing will be excluded

best used when you want to retrieve only those results where the search terms overlap

Example: Earth AND Wind AND Fire

Once more, the numbers:

Earth: 1,280,000,000 results

Wind: 909,000,000 results

Fire: 2,090,000,000 results

Earth AND Wind AND Fire: 80,500,000

and just for fun… Earth Wind Fire: 86,800,000

At least Google cooperates with this boolean search operator. Mind you that AND typically is the default operator in search engines. So whenever you type in more than one keyword, the search engine will automatically connect them with the AND operator. Hence Earth Wind Fire in theory will yield the same search results as Earth AND Wind AND Fire.

Processing & Nesting

You can connect multiple search terms with different operators. But since Boolean logic operates based on mathematical principles, the order in which you connect your keywords will have an effect on your results. To influence your results, it helps to understand how the terms are processed. Per default, keywords are processed from left to right.

Example: Earth AND Wind OR Fire

If you want to change the order in which your keywords are processed, you can of course literally change the order. You can also enclose a set of search terms and operators in parentheses, i.e. nest them. Processing will still be left to right, but the nested elements will be treated as one unit.

Example: Earth AND (Wind OR Fire)

This result looks quite different, doesn’t it?

Conclusion

It’s generally good to know how Boolean search logic works when you are working with search engines, at least if they strictly adhere to those operators. Apparently, Google does not, meaning a simple search will often get you exactly what you need, without having to think about it. If you do want to be sure that Google does what you want it to do however, use Google’s Advanced Search. The field all these words corresponds to the AND operator, any of these words equals OR, and none of these words works like NOT. Now you should be able to narrow down your searches a lot better – in theory.

If you desire to become a real power user, I recommend reviewing our article on how to master Google search operators, or how to reduce irrelevant results, or which tricks to use when you don’t know what to search for , or simply review Google’s list of search operators.

Have you ever had trouble getting Google or another search engine find what you were looking for?

Happy Halloween - Mulligrubs Meeting October 2013

2013-11-01T03:26:00.000-07:00

It was a spirited meeting last night on Halloween eve

Some of the programs and discussions we touched on were:

Network Information
Ross showed a video about what Routers/Modems and Switches are and how they assign IP addresses on a network.

Video is here Microchip LearnerCentral.com

What is Naked ADSL and can I buy it in Ulladulla?

Naked Adsl is basically a way of paying for an internet connection without buying any other producet or service including not having to have an active phone line and paying for line rental
There is a full explanation of Naked ADSL here

The shhort answer to Alan's questions is – No you can’t buy it in Ulladulla
Telstra controls the ADSL equopment at the exchange and sets wholesale prices too high to allow others to offer ‘naked’ packages

Remote Access to Computers
We logged on from one PC to another using Teamviewer
Once connected you can see the remote computer on your local screen and run any program or do most anything that the local user can do - but from afar
Could be very useful when helping a friend from a distance

We then logged on to control a PC from an Android tablet using the Teamviewer app
Both worked well – although quality of the connection depends on the quality of the internet connection.
Operating a desktop or laptop from an Android device was alittle tricky given that the Tablet device is touch and the PC is keyboard and mouse based. However it did work
Teamviewer is free for personal use and can be run without install or registration.
LogMeIn was also mentioned but not shown

AirDroid

Airdroid is an app to allow you to access and control your Android device from your PC. Both devices need to be connected to the same (wifi) network – so it will likely only work at home or work and not remotely (like Teamviewer does). You load the free app from the Google Play Store and then open the access in your browser. Once the link is established you can copy and paste files (pics, songs, movies) to or from your device, access your contacts , send sms from your desktop and more. Totally free and worth a look if you have an Android tablet or phone

Website Woes

we discussed the issues with the Mullies website and Facebook Group
Website www.mulligrubs.miltonulladulla.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/mulligrubs/

The way some items are being posted to the web isn't copying across well to the Facebook group

In some cases the website links aren't clickable - however you can copy and paste the address into your browser address bar to follow them

I have updated a few settings on the website and altered the way I am posting
So I hope {fingers crossed} there will be fewer problems from now on :)

Facebook Advice

2013-10-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

Some tips and tricks for those that use Facebook - and a little fun at their expense too :)

Articles from Hongkiat.com

Essential Facebook Etiquette: 10 Dos And Don’ts

What’s Your Facebook Pet Peeve? Here’s Our 5

10 Common Types Of Facebook Updates

5 Things That Shouldn’t Be On Your Facebook

14 Most Common Types of Facebook Profile Pictures

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] Well hello![/caption]

The Rise of Google [HongKiat.com]

2013-10-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Rise of Google [Infographic].

Free Wallpapers

2013-10-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

Some fantastic high quality computer wallpaper images with a space/fantasy theme are available at the following site from the site GTgraphics.de - check them out

Gamers solve decade old HIV puzzle in ten days [ZME Science]

2013-10-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.zmescience.com/research/studies/gamers-solve-decade-old-hiv-puzzle-in-ten-days/

Scientists from University of Washington have been struggling for the past decade to decipher the complex structure of an enzyme that exhibits behavior similar to that of an enzyme key in the development of AIDS from an HIV infection, and which might hold a critical role in building a cure for the disease. Gamers playing spatial game Foldit have managed to collectively determine the enzyme’s structure in ten days.

Puzzled by the intricate structure of the M-PMV retroviral protein, an enzyme that plays a key role in the development of a virus similar to HIV, scientists have striven to find its chemical key for ten years now. Each enzyme has millions of possible combination in which it can fold its atom bonds, and determining its precise structure is a very laborious enterprise even for high-end computers with large processing power.

Ingame screenshot of the Foldit interface.

As a long-shot University of Washington biologists sent the virtual 3D model of the M-PMV to the online game Foldit, where gamers folded and turned it into a myriad of combinations. Eventually, and remarkably enough, the gamers obtained the optimum one – the state that needed the lowest energy to maintain. Now unlocked, scientists have a concrete means of understanding how the enzyme works, and consequently how to attack it.

“This was really kind of a last-ditch effort. Can the Foldit players really solve it?” Firas Khatib, a biochemist at the University of Washington and the lead author on the recently published research paper told MSNBC. “They actually did it in less than 10 days.”

Foldit is a very simple game, which tackles biology’s biggest issue – folding proteins. To play the game you don’t need any biology background, just your native spatial reasoning skills. Motivation comes in the form of competition, and from this stand point, the game has been more than suitably designed. Basically you get scored for three factors: how well you pack the protein, how efficiently you hide the hydrophobics and how you clear the clashes. Trust me, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds.

“Foldit attempts to predict the structure of a protein by taking advantage of humans’ puzzle-solving intuitions and having people play competitively to fold the best proteins,” states the game’s website.

“Since proteins are part of so many diseases, they can also be part of the cure.

Protein folding had proved to be one of the more popular uses for distributed computing
“Players can design brand new proteins that could help prevent or treat important diseases.”

The game allows players to chat with each other and collaborate, thus various gamers built up each others work and collectively managed to crack the code for the most energy efficient enzyme structure – the most important structure to study.

The reason why computers haven’t been able to do this, despite their evidently superior processing capabilities, is that they’re still far from being capable of having human-like spatial reasoning. Interestingly enough, Foldit records the players’ actions and processes them in an algorithm which will eventually help the AI behind the game to someday be able to compile successful structures on its own.

Seth Cooper, a University of Washington computer scientist and lead designer and developer of Foldit, is hoping that more scientists send them problems that fit within the Foldit format.

“The critical role of Foldit players in the solution of the M-PMV [retroviral protease] structure shows the power of online games to channel human intuition and three-dimensional pattern-matching skills to solve challenging scientific problems,” said the study, which was published by Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. “Although much attention has recently been given to the potential of crowdsourcing and game playing, this is the first instance that we are aware of in which online gamers solved a longstanding scientific problem.”

Still, the breakthrough is amazing by all means. Next time somebody tells you you’re wasting time playing a video game, you can always show them this article and tell them you’re helping save the world.

Breathe New Life Into Your Old iPad With These Tips

2013-10-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

via MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-the-most-out-of-your-old-ipad/

What Is Tumblr? [MakeUseOf Explains]

2013-10-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

via MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-tumblr-makeuseof-explains/

Evernote's New Web Clipper Is The Ultimate Content Saving Tool

2013-10-17T04:11:00.001-07:00

via MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/evernotes-new-web-clipper-is-the-ultimate-content-saving-tool/

How to Quickly Download a Video From YouTube

2013-10-17T04:11:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a quick way to download video from YouTube to your computer? Look no further!

The post How to Quickly Download a Video From YouTube appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

via Make Tech Easier http://maketecheasier.com.feedsportal.com/c/35299/f/660863/s/328c437d/sc/4/l/0L0Smaketecheasier0N0Cdownload0Evideo0Efrom0Eyoutube0C/story01.htm

5 Ways To Prevent Hackers From Accessing Your Online Accounts

2013-10-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Getting hacked is an unfortunate part of being on the Internet today. The cold hard truth is that if you want to stay 100% digitally secure, then stay off the Internet. But it’s not all doom and gloom — by using some simple, yet effective security measures, you can make any hackers dream of getting into your accounts, an absolute nightmare. Always Use Strong Passwords The sheer amount of people that still use extremely basic passwords is astonishing. For example, I recently had a client whose password for PayPal was something along the lines of “doggybag” and this was for...

Read the full article: 5 Ways To Prevent Hackers From Accessing Your Online Accounts

via MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-prevent-hackers-from-accessing-your-online-accounts/