Here is a picture of PrivacyFix's Facebook guidance page:
A source of computer tips and secrets for friends, neighbors, and family of Duane Leet. Noone reading this blog is tracked and no information is associated with anyone.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Facebook, Google, you name it: a tool to protect your privacy
Here is a picture of PrivacyFix's Facebook guidance page:
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How to Make the Windows 8 Start Screen Work for You
When Windows 8 initializes, it shows a splash screen with date and time, nothing else. (A side benefit of this is that it starts very fast!) There is nothing obvious on what to do next. For desktop users, to access programs or log in to your account, click on this splash screen. The result is either a login screen or the "Start" screen. If you have a login, then, after you enter your password, you will get the Start screen. No desktop! For most users, that is a major drawback. (Watch this: it is instructive. Note that they started on the Start Screen, avoiding the initial splash screen.)
The way I get around this is to use my two monitors to advantage. I have them set to show as one big screen. This means, for example, that I can have an application screen half on one screen and half on the other. This gives me a lot of real estate for my desktop, and I have essentially set up a tile like arrangement using an application called "Fences" (search "cnet Fences") As a side benefit of this arrangement, when the Windows 8 start screen displays on this two monitor arrangement, it only displays on the left monitor. The right half of my desktop displays on the right monitor. So, I have all the tiles of the start screen on the left and my desktop on the right. It is actually a convenience.
I should note that once I click on a tile on the Screen disappears and the app starts. To access the screen, I have to go to the lower left corner of the left monitor and "wiggle" the mouse, which brings up a small tile. Click that to access the Start Screen.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Cyber Monday Routers and Networks
Computer Dust Covers a Great Christmas Gift
I make it a point, when I look inside a computer case, to clean it using an air can. (I get six air cans at a time at Costco. It is one of my most used tools.) However, there is another alternative that is preventive: a dust cover for your computer. These covers are "breathable" and remain on your computer as a filter.
Google "computer dust cover(s)." I didn't find them on Amazon, but a number of companies sell them. Note that you should know take the dimension of your tour to purchase the correct cover size.
This makes a great Christmas stocking stuffer. If you don't know the size, then give a note promising one computer dust cover.
Friday, November 9, 2012
I will be teaching a Furman OLLI course winter quarter
- Buy a newer Windows Operating System (7 or 8). Cost will be about $100 plus probably hiring me to do the installation and transfer your files from the old system to the new. (Total might be about $160.) Note that there is an additional risk going to Windows 8- it will require significant learning.
- Buy a new computing device with a newer Windows Operating System already installed. Cost is whatever you're willing to pay for a new computer plus perhaps hiring me to transfer your files and install the programs you need.
- Install the free operating system Ubuntu. The desktop and general behavior of this system is the same (actually better) as the latest Apple operating system. Cost: nothing.
Well, there really is a cost to the last one, and that is to take a course I am teaching at Furman Olli from Jan to Mar on installing and using Ubuntu. Typically we would install Ubuntu as a second operating system on your computer, so you would continue to use XP when you need to. However, your default would be to use Ubuntu and never go on-line withing XP.
If you are a "power user," then Ubuntu is for you. If you are a novice and only do web searches and any combination of email, photos, and music, then Ubuntu is for you. (If you have to use iTunes, then it is a little more complicated, but I can show you how.)
So, ummm... I can't think of a reason to not have Ubuntu on any computer, at least as a second operating system. And there are so many reasons to install it.
A couple of articles:
- Ubuntu vs Windows 8
- Ubuntu vs Mac OS X. In this article, it talks about "usability." This article was written for a previous version of Ubuntu. I find that Mac OS X is so constrained and "automated" that it is more difficult to use if you have any conditions other than the ones Apple targets; for example, your ISP is bellsouth/att.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Disaster Preparedness
Prepare Your Business for Hurricane Sandy with Our Checklist
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- How to set up a crisis communications plan for your business
- Enroll in the Red Cross’ Ready Rating Program
- Visit Ready.gov/Business for information from our partners at FEMA
Register Now for Free Winter Weather Preparedness Webinar
- November 13, 2012
- 2pm ET
Your Private Info In South Carolina Dept of Rev has been hacked
"The South Carolina Department of Revenue has announced that millions of Social Security numbers and debit/credit card numbers have been compromised.
Monday, October 15, 2012
New Computer Technology and New Computers
- Wiki article
- A layman's article on Haswell (unfortunately nothing is layman when it comes to explaining what is changing!
The first ultrabook I've seen in this technology is the Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook. I actually can't find a web page that describes this device. Strange?? But it is under 1/2" thick, has the new generation processor, 4G RAM, 256GB SSD drive (a huge flash drive) plus reasonable ports, such as USB 3.0, etc. The screen is touch and it ships with Windows 8. Battery life? 12 hours!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Internet Explorer Blank Screen But No Errors
A couple of DLL’s were not properly registered. To solve this problem, enter the following two commands in the cmd window.
(For XP, click the Run icon on the Start Menu, type cmd and hit enter. For Vista and up, type "cmd" in the search field and click on the icon when it shows up on the search list.)
regsvr32 jscript.dll
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Problems with Windows Live Mail
I have been contacted about unwanted, sudden changes to Windows Mail… like the font changes, you can’t access attachments, or the frame that showed the content of the current message you are on in the message list goes away. Here is some information:
{From http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1207873&posted=1#post1207873, AnneMarie}
Windows Mail relies on functions provided by Internet Explorer for many of its features. Internet Explorer 9, which is installed automatically in Windows Vista via Windows Update, changes some of those functions so that Windows Mail features are adversely impacted and no longer work properly. Users see the following impairments:
a. The default message viewing font is no longer what is specified in Windows Mail via Tools | Options | Read | Fonts (for instance, the user may have Arial selected but with IE 9 installed sees Times New Roman instead).
b. Messages which include attachments no longer indicate they have attachments and the attachments cannot be saved (no paperclip indicator is present and File | Save Attachments is disabled).
c. Messages which have linked images embedded in them no longer display the yellow information bar to enable showing the images.
Uninstalling IE 9 rectifies these problems. Workarounds also exist to overcome some of these bugs:
a. For the font specification issue, one can go to Tools | Internet Options | Fonts in IE 9 and then change the default font there and then the default font in Windows Mail will be that font. One can also use MS-MVP Grzegorz Niemirowski's OE Power Tool (http://www.grzegorz.net/oe/oept.php) to create a custom css file and dictate the proper font that way.
b. For the attachments issue, if the user goes to Tools | Options | Read and checks the option to read messages in plain text only, then after reopening the message one can again see the paperclip and save the attachments. Or one can open the message in a separate message window, rather than reading via the preview pane window, and then one is able to save the attachments from the attachment toolbar (but not from File | Save Attachments).
c. For the infobar issue, if one opens the message in a separate window, then the info bar will appear again. One could also go to Tools | Options | Security and uncheck the option to block linked images, but that would then reopen the user up to spam, so it is not advised.
Microsoft has been largely unresponsive to MVP requests for fixes to these bugs, so the user is stuck with either employing the workarounds or just uninstalling IE 9.
And then I got this from another website, regarding the missing preview pane:
On my version of Windows live I clicked on "view/ then in the top center of the window are four boxes. One of the boxes says "reading pane". Just click on that then select "off". It worked for me. I imagine there are different versions of Windows Live mail out there but this worked for me. Most trojans that were caught by my anti virus software were trojans coming through my email. Leaving the preview pane open is a bad idea.
Monday, October 1, 2012
I just bought a new computer with Windows. Question about Microsoft Office and Alternatives
As an alternative, there are two fully functional and free Office replacements:
These are in the class of software called "open source." They are no cost and are developed by a combination of company and individual effort.
I don't see much difference between the two, though you might have a preference. Let me know what you think.
PS. Delete the MS Office Starter using standard program deletion (eg, Start, Default Programs, Programs and Features).
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Using an Attached Monitor Instead of Your Laptop Screen
The keys along the top are labeled F1 through F12. BUT there is also a small symbol on the key. This picture highlights the special symbol for a “generic” keyboard. Both the details of the symbol and to which key the symbol is assigned depend on the manufacturer.
These symbols are "function hotkeys.” If you hold down the fn key (1 above), push one of the function keys and then release both simultaneously, then something will happen, which depends on the function assigned to the symbol. In the above generic keyboard, the symbols relate to the following functions:
- Display system information. fn+esc
- Open Help and Support. fn+f1
- Open the Print Options window. fn+f2
- Open a Web browser. fn+f3
- Alternate between computer display and external display. fn+f4
- Initiate Hibernation. fn+f5
- Initiate QuickLock. fn+f6
- Decrease screen brightness. fn+f7
- Increase screen brightness. fn+f8
- Play, pause, or resume an audio CD or a DVD. fn+f9
- Stop an audio CD or a DVD. fn+f10
- Play the previous track or section on an audio CD or a DVD. fn+f11
- Play the next track on an audio CD or a DVD. fn+f12
I want to focus on the function of moving your display from your laptop screen to an screen that is attached to your laptop. (This attachment can be through one of serveral plugs on your laptop, depending on your laptop.) I assume you have your alternate screen attached to your laptop and turned on.
The symbol for moving the display from one screen to another may be different than the above example. On my Lenovo Laptop, f3 has the screen toggle function and it the symbol is a rounded square, then a line, then the outline of a laptop.
All the special function symbols are in orange. (Whatever the color of the symbols, the fn key will be the same color.)
So, in this example, holding the fn key down, pushing the f4 key and releasing both simultaneously will toggle the display. Note that there might be a third "toggle." The sequence might be: (1) laptop only, (2) attached screen only, and (3) both screens.
If you don't want to, or can't figure out how to use the function keys, you can go to the control panel and use the Display function. This description will only cover Windows Vista/7 and does not take advantage of some of the built-in functions of fancy video drivers. If you are using the "not-classic" view of the Control Panel, then you click on Start, then Control Panel to open the Control Panel window. Then Click on "Mobile PC- Adjust commonly used mobility settings." Then look for "External Display." Click the "Connect Display" button. If you are Classic view, click "Windows Mobility Center" and do the same thing. The dialog should take you through the steps.
When in doubt, Click Start, then click "Help and Support," usually on the right side of the Start menu, and type "External Display" in the search bar. The resulting list should include specific instructions for your operating system and machine.
If you have specific questions, please ask by submitting a comment.
What are PDF files? Alternatives to Adobe Reader
A basic unit of information stored on a computer is the “file.” A file has a name. Sometimes you give the file that name and sometimes the operating system (eg, Windows 7) gives the file the name.
On Windows systems, a file name has the format xxxxxxx.yyy. It is the “yyy” that is the topic of this blog entry. You’ve seen files where yyy is pdf; eg, “lessonplan.pdf.” The yyy tells the Windows system what program can read the file. “pdf” tells Windows that it needs to use the program registered to read .pdf files to open the program. Almost always either the web page or your computer will say that Adobe Reader is required to read .pdf files.
Well, Adobe was the company that first embraced the .pdf file standard and so, historically Adobe Reader has been used to read these files.
If you download a .pdf file, the web page, even a government web page, will stipulate that the file has to be read by Adobe Reader. The page may even contain a link to download Adobe Reader.
I have a complaint about this practice. Almost always, Adobe Reader is NOT the only program that can read .pdf files. In fact, it is one of the bulkiest, least functional of the group of programs that read .pdf files. Furthermore, hackers have exploited weaknesses in the design of Adobe Reader to place malware on your computer. Somewhere I read that, in 2011, some 40% of all malware attacks were using Adobe Reader weaknesses. That is one reason you have been getting almost weekly updates to Adobe Reader, as the developers try to fix the bugs in that program. And in fact, in some cases the fixes introduce new bugs that then have to be fixed.
Adobe Reader introduces a number of inefficiencies; eg, it takes up a lot of space on your hard drive AND it takes up a lot of memory when it is being used.
In my opinion, there are better free .pdf file readers that include more free functionality than Adobe Reader plus being more secure "out of the box." A couple of nice features:
- Annotate (write on) a PDF document and save the annotations.
- Fill PDF forms by editing the form- you type in the fields. You don't have to print the file and hand fill-in the fields
- Provide electronic signature to a form
I recommend either one of two Adobe PDF Reader substitutes:
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Make sure banks don't share your personal information!
I wonder if we should push for South Carolina to limit this information so we opt in instead of out plus perhaps other limitations. What do you think?
Friday, September 28, 2012
Problems Coming Out of Sleep Mode, Windows 7
The screen saver is displayed for a time and then, when it is the set time for the computer to go to sleep (set in the Power Options), the screen goes black. This is normal. However, when I jiggle the mouse to wake up the computer, Windows does not go directly to the desktop; it goes to a blue screen with a box containing my user name and the word "locked". There is another icon I can click that says "switch user". If I click that, another screen appears with my name under an icon (my avatar). I click on that and I'm back into my session.
How can I change back to the behavior where jiggling the mouse takes me back to my desktop?
Answer:
Click Start and then Control Panel and then Personalization to get:
More Information
Windows Standby How-to
Tweeking Windows Sleeping Habits
Disable Automatic Lock
Friday, September 21, 2012
How to attach a file using Google Mail
First, start an email message (Compose).
In the resulting email window, you will find an icon that is a paper clip, or it may say something like "Add Attachment" or "Add a File". In Google, this is found right under the subject field.
Click once on it. The result is a the standard Windows dialog box used to navigate to the file. In general, For example:
- Browse through your files and click the name of the file you'd like to attach.
- Click Open.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
MyWebSearch (or My Web Search)
- Has the option box checked
- May have the text notifying you of the option skillfully hidden on the web page or the dialog- as you are clicking through a download you click right through the checked option.
I don’t have visibility into the algorithms the parent company uses and whether or not they can actually obtain your personal information. Better safe than sorry.
So, if you ever see this, it is not a necessary addition to your browser, is at least an invasion of privacy, and I recommend removal using the instructions linked below.
I recommend the free tool Revo Uninstaller to remove the product. It removes all the vestiges of this adware.
Helpful links:
Monday, August 20, 2012
How to Create a Complete Inventory of All Software + Versions and Hardware
This means: A list of every software program, including all windows programs. All hardware, including versions, drivers. You name it.
Download Belarc advisor and run it. Save the results as a full web page.
This is a great program. Run it every six months and save the results in a safe place.The Ordeal of Changing from Land Line to VOIP Phone Service Part 2
From the customer point of view, the procedure for switching from a land line provider to a VOIP provider is this:
- Apply to the land line provider (ATT) to split your service, so you have one account for voice and one for DSL.
- ATT splits the account, giving the a new account number, which is actually a phone number, to the DSL account.
- ATT lets OOMA know this has been done and releases the phone number to OOMA, which enters it in their database. (Note: When you start the OOMA account, you are given a phone number, but this is replaced by your old phone number when OOMA enters that number in their database. This means that, if you log on to their web site, your account number will have changed; you can't get on with the original phone number: a little gotcha.)
- From this point on, ATT will bill you the unbundled DSL rate and OOMA will bill you for taxes. Of course OOMA has an optional premium service that costs so much per month, but I'll that is a different topic
Sounds pretty clean doesn't it? Not. When you got the new DSL account, did you remember to ask for your ATT email to be moved over to the new ATT account? Oh, it wasn't in the instructions. Too bad. You have to ask. Then comes the nightmare.
I'm not real clear on what kicks off what, but ATT has to do two things:
- Create a service ticket to come to your house and do something with your phone service at the external box- Committed time to complete: 48 hours, but that doesn't mean a thing. It seems like when 48 hours is up the ticket is closed, whether or not it has been done.
- Create another service ticket to move your email user id over to your new stand alone DSL account. Why is it not connect to the DSL account in the first place? Maybe you'd better ask the president of the carrier that question. Again, commitment is 48 hours, but same actual criteria. What do they have to do? 5 minutes of work entering it in a database.
So, its been 10 days elapsed time and 5 days I've been fighting the system. 3 days for moving the user id over. They closed the original ticket but didn't do the work. But they complain about overlapping tickets, so you get to wait 48 hours, then spend hours talking to different technical people (at level 3 no less) to find out why you can't log on even though you can ping anything (meaning the internet is there, but you can't get to the DNS servers to get to any site via a browser). I talked to 4 people over the course of this time, each with a different approach to the problem.
Finally I talked to someone who researched the problem and discovered that the ticket to move the email was closed but that some database had not been modified. I expect/think that the problem is that the merger between our old phone provider and the new one resulted in data systems that don't talk to one another. So people have to manually cross the gap.
The outcome next...
The Process of Converting to VOIP from a Land Line- The 11th Day
I’m writing this on the 11th day after the first ticket was cut to establish a Voice Over IP service (VOIP) to replace my landline service. Previous blog entries have detailed the problems I have had to this point:
- Obtain service from the VOIP provider, which is OOMA. This was relatively painless. I selected a new phone number and installed the VOIP provider's phone device.
- The land line provider (ATT) had to split my account into two accounts to enable the IP service to receive my current phone number. This took a couple of minutes on my part and the "apparent" elapsed time was a couple of days for the transfer to occur.
- I wanted to keep my current email address. This was a nightmare of mess ups and lack of knowledge on the part of the technicians.
- ATT had to activate my DSL account. After dealing with 4 different technicians multiple times over 5 days. and with ATT having to reissue action tickets, this was finally completed. I was without both phone and DSL for 5 days.
At this point I should be done, right? Not! When ATT created the new DSL account, the speed they assigned to the account was the slowest they offer! At the time my DSL was activated at 9 days in, I told the technician that my speed was not set to the speed of my old account. (VOIP requires speedy and relatively noiseless DSL.) He apologized and connected me to the appropriate department to make the change. The technician I talked to said that the database had not been updated to show my account, so the change could not be made. I was told to wait 4 hours and I would be called.
After 4 hours I called back and got a different technician. He said that the account had not been updated and that he would make a note to himself to call me tomorrow, but it could take two days. Two days! (Note that the technician that got my DSL running appears to have had no idea that it would take two days to change the DSL speed!) I pointed out that this was Friday and asked if he was working the weekend. He said no, he was not working the weekend, so it would be Monday (13 days from the start of this ordeal). He also mentioned that this should not have happened. The conversion to a new account should have been to the same performance level as the old account. Aaargh!
So, it is Saturday, 11 days in and I am running at 765kbps download and 133 upload!
An update: I called on Saturday and was able to get someone that could put in the order. (Apparently my account was fixed between yesterday and 10am today.) I did put in the order and was informed that the service would require 3 days to implement! If that is true, it will be 14 days.Bellsouth to AT&T
The AT&T policy is to get everyone off bellsouth.net and on to att.net. They will do this through attrition. So, if for some reason you want to change your bellsouth userid, you’ll get an att.net along with it. For example, if I want to move my userid over to a VOIP account, unless you get someone special at AT&T who’s willing to work with you, they will assign you a {whatever-you-want}.att.net user id. You won’t be able to get a bellsouth.net user id. Every new customer will get an att.net user id.
AT&T Changes to Registration
If you ever change your router or make any other changes to your DSL, you will have to re-register. The temporary PPPoE userid and password to enter into your router are:
UserID: attreg@att.net
Password: attreg
You can get to the registration page through your browser as long as your router is working OK. Type http://attreg.att.net/ into the address field.Multiple Chrome Processes, Only One Tab Open: Why?
I was having some performance problems and looked at task manager (Ctl-Alt-Del) to see what was running. I had about 10 Chrome processes, even though I only had one tab. Why? I found this answer in one of the Google forums:
Main Process
Chrome's main process handles the UI, tab management and so on. There are usually only one process that do the work.
Renderer Process(es):
The renderer handles rendering the page. Roughly, each tab consume one, but some special case make tabs into a single one - same domain uses same renderer, and no more than 20 renderer - newly opened tabs will use existing renderer if exceeded. Renderer Process runs in a sandbox that can increase security by separating in sandboxes. When one renderer crashes, other tabs or the main process will not be affected, and users will be able to reload the page by refreshing.
Plugin Process(es):
As plugins should have higher permission than a webpage, and in order to keep Renderer Processes in the sandbox, plugins are separated. Also when one crashes, other plugins or tabs or the main process will not be affected.
Extension Process(es):
Similar to the others, separating extensions into processes is to keep them in sandbox... and a crashing extension will not let the whole browser down.
Built-In Task Manager
There is a built-in task manager for Chrome. Press Shift+Esc or "right click on title bar -> Task Manager" to launch it. You can see clearly - and may end processes if one's not responding. Ending processes this way will keep those addresses on your browser, with a "sad tab" replacing it, as mentioned in "Renderer Processes".
You may have a look at http://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/multi-process-architecture.html or read the Google Chrome comics http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.htm
I followed the "right click on title bar" method and clicked on the "Task Manager" option. I found that there was one process for chrome itself, one for the single tab that was displayed, and one for each of the add-ons. Mystery solved!
Monday, August 13, 2012
The Ordeal of Changing from Land Line to VOIP Phone Service Part 1
I’ve been looking at the possibility of dropping my land line service for some time. From a business point of view, the land line doesn’t make any sense:
- We are paying for DSL, at the speed and quality that should support Voice over IP (VOIP).
- The phone service costs somewhere around $70/mo for unlimited long distance + local calls. VOIP can be either free or much less expensive. In fact, I should save over $900/yr the first year and about $700/yr after that
- The service level agreement with our provider- AT&T, states that, when there are problems, DSL has priority over voice. So we should get better maintenance service than we would with the phone line.
- I've used Skype for several years. As my DSL speeds have improved, so has Skype quality. Video quality can sometimes be a problem, especially when the video goes from my system to a G3 cellphone system on the other end. But voice quality is great.
- There is more functionality with a VOIP phone than a land phone.
- You'd think cell phone service would suffice for backup. We have cell phone service and I have to have a fairly high number of minutes on that service to handle my business phone calls. But, as most of you have experienced, there are many homes in our communities, including mine, where cell phone service is iffy: anywhere from 0 1x bars or a white and red no service symbol to 3 3x bars- at the same spot in the house! However, as a whole, our cellphone service is reliable.
- I've been warned that voice quality would not be good. There is the possibility that when both ends talk simultaneously, the signals will "collide," making the conversation muddled.
- VOIP does use bandwidth. So, if someone is downloading a lot of data, voice might be impacted. (This can be managed with router settings or by having the right VOIP box plugged in to your Router.)
Note that the phone numbers, etc stored in your base station remain accessible; you don't have to reenter all your stored numbers and recent phone calls.
This service is similar to Vonage, but you buy the Telo device. You don’t a fee unless you want their Premium service. You do pay taxes(about $4/mo).
I read through the directions on how to change from AT&T to OOMA. As written, OOMA says you just sign up and you are given a phone number and off you go. That’s true. But we, of course, don’t want the inconvenience of changing our telephone number. OOMA offers to transfer the number for $40. It is a simple exercise for OOMA. ATT gives them an OK to use the number and they enter it in their database. OOMA warns you that the carrier might take a while to give the OK because of what ATT has to do, which I’ll spend a couple of blog entries detailing. But it doesn’t sound like a big deal, maybe a half day.
Well... I'm writing this without internet service. The process started 10 days ago and I'm still without either phone or DSL service- We had phone service for 5 days but have been without both for another 4 days. I'm writing this offline. When you read this is when the DSL service was finally restored and I could upload it. I'll give you a final count at that time.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Another AT&T Problem: Faulty DNS???
Since my internet came back, I have had problems loading some web sites. There is no real pattern to this. To paraphrase the browser message: “Can’t load website, do you want to load a cached copy.” If I click on the cached copy, it loads, but the page is not properly formatted. If I click on a link of the displayed page, I get the “Can’t load Website…” message again.
After looking at browser settings and trying Chrome, IE, and Firefox with the same result, I turned off my firewall. That did not help.
I then thought about how technology obtains a web address: there are layers of servers containing the names of websites and relating them to IP addresses. These servers are called Domain Name Servers. The first DNS that is queried for us is the AT&T DNS. DNSs have IP addresses and we normally set both the router and the computer to obtain these DNS addresses automatically from AT&T. It occurred to me that something might be wrong with AT&Ts DNS servers. I know of other DNSs I can go to. I changed my router setting so that I could enter the Primary and Secondary DNS server IP addresses manually. I made the change and bingo! I could reach all the address I wasn’t able to reach before.
So you have to conclude something is wrong with the AT&T DNS servers. I’ve filed a Ticket on this. Let’s see what happens.Sunday, August 5, 2012
Problems with AT&T DSL Revisited
Do NOT contact them before you have eliminated equipment outside AT&Ts responsibility:
- http://leetlinktips.blogspot.com/search?q=speedtest#!/2009/06/why-might-your-dsl-service-be-so-bad.html
- http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4224036224359508359#editor/target=post;postID=5823549266310849265
- http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4224036224359508359#editor/target=post;postID=8257477957874380151
Thursday, August 2, 2012
How to Manage Multiple Accounts With Lastpass
When I want to log on to Gmail, if I just bring up the gmail page, Lastpass responds like this:
Now “jumble” was not the user I wanted to log on. I wanted to log on as “sleepy” What happened? Look at the three button in the upper right of the picture: Autologin(13), AutoFill(16), Never….
· Autologin(13): This means I have 13 different gmail accounts that are set to Autologin: when I bring up Gmail, Lastpass will automatically fill in the Username and Password and “click” the Sign In button.
· Autofill(16): This means I have 16 different gmail accounts that are set to Autofill: when I bring Gmail, Lastpass will automatically fin in the Username and Password but you will have to click the sign in button. WHEN YOU HAVE MULTIPLE LOGIN ACCOUNTS TO THE SAME WEB PAGE, THIS IS HOW EACH ACCOUNT WILL BE SET UP. If you “Autologin,” you won’t be able to stop Lastpass before it clicks the Sign In button in order to change the Username and Password to another account. In the above example, jumble was set to “autofill” or, if sleepy was also set to autofill, then, since, sleepy is alphanumerically after jumble, jumble was entered.
· Never: won’t fill in anything.
If you are not Autologged in, then you can change the user id and password by clicking on the autofill OR autologin button and the 13 or 16 different usernames will be listed in a dropdown. I can’t show this with my example, but here’s link to a page from the Lastpass User Guide that shows it. Click on the link you want; the username and password will be filled in and, depending on wither it is from the AutoLogin list or the Autofill list, the Sign In button will be automatically clicked.
How is “Autofill” or “AutoLogin” assigned to a site. It is easy to see from the standard “edit” interface for a site:
There are 4 checkboxes near the bottom of the form:
· Favorite: Check this and this site will appear in your list of Favorites
· Never AutoFill: Check this and the username and password will not be filled in. Note that the default for Lastpass is that it will fill in the username and password but it will not “click” the sign in button
· AutoLogin: Check this and Lastpass will click the sign-in button. If you only have one username and password for a site, checking this provides the convenience of automatically logging into a site. But if you have more than one username and password for a site, it can be very inconvenient!
· Require Password Reprompt: says that your Lastpass password is required in addition to the userid and password in order to log in to the site. You probably won’t use this option, so it will probably be left unchecked.
Oh, I heard that question: How do I get to the form to edit a site? Click the red Lastpass button in the menubar of your browser. On the resulting list, click “My Lastpass vault.” It should be the first entry after the Logoff entry.
The result will be a list of all your sites. I can’t show you much of a what I have, but here’s a snippet:
It goes on with all the categories you have chosen. Clock on the little white arrowhead in front of the folder and the folder expands to its contents. A single site has a line that looks like this:
To edit the site, which shows the form I discussed above, click the pencil icon.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Important: Changes to client email settings for att and bellsouth
att.net | POP: inbound.att.net Port: 995 | SMTP: outbound.att.net Port: 465 | SSL: Yes | CustomerID@att.net | Type: POP3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
bellsouth.net | POP: inbound.att.net Port: 995 | SMTP: outbound.att.net Port: 465 | SSL: Yes | CustomerID@bellsouth.net | Type: POP3 |
As an example, for Windows Live Mail:
Sunday, July 22, 2012
ATT optout "ad service"- You should do it
So, I recommend going to http://www.att.com/ecpnioptout and fill out the form to opt out. Otherwise, no response and you've "opted in."
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Windows 8 Cost Info + Buy New Windows Computer now or wait until Windows 8?
Windows 8 availability: in time for the Christmas season. You can get an advance beta copy here. This link shows the new features of Windows 8 as well as giving a link to the download.
Windows 8 cost to buy separately: Don’t know
If you purchase a Windows 7 computer and want to switch to Windows 8: Between now and Jan 31, 2013 the cost is $15 and the information suggests you can get Windows 8 Pro for that price if you have any version of Windows 7 other than the Starter edition. (More information)
Should you wait and buy a new computer with Windows 8 after Windows 8 is released? (Article) Net: Only if you want to take advantage of new features, which are primarily oriented toward touch screen device. So, to take advantage of new features you would buy a touch screen device. There will be a new category: laptops with detachable keyboards and a touch screen. There will also be major changes in the new processor chips to make the machines faster. However, if you just do email, browsing, music, general document editing, and pictures, the advantages of the new hardware is questionable.
New cost program to earlier Windows versions (eg XP) with Windows 8: There will be a promotion to upgrade from XP through 7 to Windows 8: $40 to download, $70 for disks. This will last from release until Jan. 31, 2013. (Article)
For all upgrades on your old or new computer, factor in:
- For your existing computer: check hardware requirements; you have to move all your current programs and data over. If XP or Vista, expect some pain.
- For your new computer: you have to get all the advertising crap and unwanted apps off; you need to add antivirus/malware (Windows 8 comes with the equivalent of Windows Security Essentials, so, for most home use behind a modem/router firewall, that should be sufficient.); you have to move all your current programs and data over.
If you need help, schedule some time. The best thing to do is to let me have your computer(s) to make the necessary changes. That way, I won't spend a lot of time just waiting for things to happen; I can be doing other things while I wait.
Friday, July 6, 2012
You need to run this test on your computer by July 9- FBI
There is a web site you visit to check if you have a problem and, if you do, to fix it: click here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
List on my Blog Entries RE: You've Been Hacked
- Important! What To Do If Someone is Using Your e-Mail
- Warning! LinkedIn and eHarmony Hacked
- Details on How To Create a Strong Password
Details on How to Create a Secure Password
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Facebook Security Setup- Since Security Issues Should be Your Focus Right now
This brings me to Facebook. Facebook is a prime target for this community. You can get names, email addresses, and personal information. How is the personal information used? Someone can log into your bank account. They fail because they don't get the password right. But the bank asks a personal question. The "someone" has your Facebook (Or LinkedIn for that matter) personal information available and can then answer the personal question. It is reported that Mitt Romney's personal email account was hacked this way.
This is a long way around to warning you to closely manage all the personal information on the internet, but especially Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Here is a link to a good article on Facebook security. You can also go to the links at the bottom of the article for more information.