Has Your Computer Been Ransomed? Here's What is Happening:

A computer is "ransomed" when a message pops up that says you can't use your computer any more, or the computer is severely compromised and a phone number is provided to "fix the problem."  Call that number and you will typically be switched to some overseas (outside the US) number.  They will charge a price to fix the problem, plus offer to give you ongoing support.  You will be asked for your credit card number and other personal information.  They will typically ask for access to your computer to fix the problem.  ALL THESE REQUESTS ARE "NO-NOs".

The typical example looks like this:

Sometimes the message shows from within the browser, but usually it takes over your entire screen.  The latter is a coding trick that forces your browser full screen.  I hit escape on the above message to bring the browser image back down to "normal" full screen browser size.  Most users don't know to do this, so they don't see the address window and they can't find a way to get rid of the image.  Note the url in the address bar:  malware-present.com?  Not likely!  So, if you get a message and you can't seem to get rid of it, go into the task manager (Windows- ctrl-alt-del at same time)  If you don't see a "Processes" tab at the top and you are using Windows 8 or above, Click on the "More Details" down arrow on the lower left of the Task Manager window.

On the Processes tab, find the process or processes that are associated with your browser. Click on each one to highlight, then click the "End Task" button for each.  Next, start Malwarebytes* and run it.  Delete all the objects it finds.  Then restart your computer.  Restart your browser, and go to the Settings page.  Find extensions or Add Ons.  Look through the list for anything you don't want.  Trash or disable them.

*Everyone, Mac or PC alike, should have Malwarebytes installed.  Since this is a "browser-"initiated ransom, both OS and Windows systems are vulnerable.  Download the free version.  When installing, make sure you don't install the Pro version unless you want to pay for the Pro version.

Leap Year Program Flaws- Walmart

This is fun.  When I was with IBM, I wrote a number of "AI" manufacturing quality control programs that dynamically controlled both equipment and product throughout the world.  Among the most difficult things to do in a manufacturing environment is to implement the leap year; that is, if you don't have the correct programming methodology.  (Daylight savings time implemented world-wide, when you are controlling in real time, is also a bugger.)

I renewed an RX at Walmart.  When my wife went to pick it up, they said there were no more refills.  She called me asking why.  I called the Pharmacy.  This particular prescription was one of those that can't be refilled early.  Long story short, they couldn't fulfill the RX because the correct number of days had not passed.  Woops!  They apparently forgot to program for a leap year.

(In their defense, testing a program for conditions like this is unusual.  It takes an iron-willed, willing to be fired on principle, quality control project manager to force testing for leap year.  It takes careful thought and perhaps a lot of resource to set up the right test conditions that expose this kind of error of omission.)

Pass this on... This is instructive!      

How to Check All Your Social Sites, eMail, and Whatever for Privacy Security

Just a reminder that there is one website that can check all your privacy and security issues on all your online presences... facebook, linkedin, twitter, youtube, google+, etc.  The site is https://privacyfix.com/.  This is a product of AVG.

Making and Receiving Cell Phone Calls When You Don't Have Cell Coverage, No Matter What Brand or Carrier

Some "experts" may say that Apple products are special because there is a feature available on later OSs that allow calling from your cell phone through your wifi, no cell signal available.  However, the "special" designation is not true.

No matter what your cell phone operating system brand, Windows, Apple, or Android, you can make and receive calls using wifi only to and from your cell phone using Google Hangouts.  This is an app available through whatever app store you use.  I've used it myself and it has additional features over and above what is available with the Apple OS, such as aggregated calling, where all your different phone numbers get routed to your cell phone, integrated video and SMS.  If you are familiar with Skype, it is a lot like that desktop application, but it works with cell phones... (as does the Skype App, but Skype does not work to your cell phone number.)

For details, read https://support.google.com/voice/answer/6079055?hl=en.  There are some important links at the bottom of the article.

Evaluating 4G LTE as your primary internet provider technology

Suppose you have poor internet "in-ground" service and no prospect of an inexpensive (to you) upgrade in that service in the near or foreseeable future.  It is reasonable to evaluate cell service in general and 4G LTE and followon technologies in particular as an internet provider.  There are three issues to be examined:

1. The quality of the any existing signal (strength, speed)
2. The data plans associated with the available providers
3. The total investment cost and ongoing cost

Greenfield vs Brownfield

The starting point for answering these questions is to answer this question:  Are you going to proceed with a greenfield environment or a brownfield environment?  These terms mean:

• greenfield:  no existing signal to evaluate or obviously inadequate signal.  In this case, you would be working on a plan to get cell coverage to you. You might get the latest equipment, engineering to enhance the signal strength and speed in your location, etc.  
• brownfield:  cell technology exists in your area and you are going to work with what you are given for signal.

I'm just going to address the brownfield environment.  From here the order is the recommended order for evaluating if 4G LTE internet is viable for you.

Make Sure Your Device Is Capable of Full 4G LTE and 4G LTE Extended

Some devices aren't even capable of 4G LTE.  For example, some iPhones and pads aren't.  (Read iPhone capabilities.)  So you can't test your signal first.  Perhaps a friend has a 4G LTE device, or you have another device, such as an iPad or other tablet that has real 4G LTE capability?

Use speedtest.net app to determine current signal performance

The first thing to do is to determine the speed and signal strength at your location.  Download the speedtest.net app to your cellphone and run it.  Run it a number of times.  There is an icon at the bottom of the main screen that is called "Results."  This is a running list of the results of the test.  The results include the time, from what phone antenna the signal was measured (wifi, bluetooth, cell), the download speed, upload speed, and ping.  You can evaluate the speeds for your needs.

Use a Cell Tower Identifier App to Identify the Cell Tower You Are Using

As I've mentioned in previous posts, 4G LTE (and future technologies) can achieve their rated speeds only when the transceiver (eg your cellphone) is locked on a cell tower.  There are engineering adjustments that can be made to your transceiver, your cell tower, or moving to a electronically moving to a different tower to improve your signal. The provider has to be contacted to do this and, to save considerable time and frustration, it is important that you know what cell tower your receiver is using.   There are a number of apps that provide this information.  I've tried several and, so far, Cellmapper seems to work the best.  This gives the coordinates of the cell tower as well as the identifying name.  There is a mapping function in the app that uses Google maps to show your reception history.  Your data can be automatically or manually uploaded to the Cellmapper web site where you can see a lot of data.  (The website is somewhat techie and I haven't learned all the bells and whistles.)  To me, it is interesting to go to Google Maps yourself and enter in the coordinates of the cell tower.  (instructions)

Determine need for signal booster

If the signal strength is low and your support call to your provider is fruitless, then you can consider getting a  4G booster.  References on 4G boosters:

• https://store.weboost.com/collections/boosters-home-office
• https://www.weboost.com/us/news/blog/do-cell-phone-boosters-actually-work/
• https://www.weboost.com/us/news/blog/weboost-ultimate-consumer-guide-to-cell-phone-signal-boosters/
• https://www.repeaterstore.com/pages/iphone-signal-booster-guide

Note that boosters might be needed for one or more of the following reasons:

1. The structure of the place where you need the signal inside your house or business is interfering with the cell signal.  In this case, you may want to install and exterior to interior booster.
2. The signal outside is low at the point where you want to use it.  In this case, you want to install an exterior to interior booster where the exterior part is located where the signal is strongest.
3. The signal transmitted is just low.  In this case, you should consider an interior booster. 

Also note that these boosters are not the same as the contraptions ATT provides, which itself depends on an internet connection.

Cell "Pucks"

Cell pucks is the nickname I give to any of the devices that receive the cellphone signal and convert it to a wireless (or ethernet) signal for internet use.  The Verizon name for this device is "Jetpack."  These are portable, little black boxes.  There are also larger, intended to be stationary, devices that have a standard router footprint.  To get an idea of the options, go to Amazon and type "4G modem" in the search bar.  For a specific example, see the 4G LTE Broadband Router with Voice option.

Cell Data Plans

When you want to obtain your internet from a cell wireless provider, you will want to get a data only plan to associate with either your Jetpack or your modem (or router)  (Your cell phone data plan would be separate and used for your cell phone when you are out of range for the puck.)

The following is for US only...

Verizon offers 2 data plans.  One would be for a Jetpack implementation, the other for a 4G LTE broadband router with voice implementation.

First, the router plan:

• 10 gig $60/mo
• 20 gig $110/mo
• 30 gig $120/mo
• each additional gig above your plan rate is $10.
• The router does not cost anything with a 2 year contract.  

For the Jetpack, the plan is:

• 10 G $60/mo
• 20 G $110/mo
• 30 G $185/mo

The plan actually has 2 G increments, but you get the idea that above 20 G the cost is not linear to the 10-20 G line. For a little more information, go here.  (Note that this page doesn't work in Google Chrome.)

Note that you might be eligible for reduced rates through your current or former employer.   

It is important to mention that it appears that a feature and price war re data plans has just started (Feb, 2016); plans are changing on a daily basis.  So ask for a discount based on someone else's plan, and, if they don't agree, wait a week.

Verizon doesn't have a widespread offer for unlimited data, but their competitors do provide unlimited data options. For more details, see this high level business summary. .

There is "the small print" on these unlimited plans.  For example, Sprint's data plan for internet is "unlimited" in that you get so many Gigs at 4G speed and then, when your limit is reached, the speed is throttled to 2G.  

The bottom line on cell plans is- change is underway toward lower prices due to competition and 4G network maturity.

FAQS

I've had a few questions, which I'll answer here:

- What is a sufficient speed so that I don't need a booster?

That depends on why you use the internet.  In general, the most demanding use of the internet is for streaming- when you are watching a video from any source through the internet. Streaming is any video source, whether Youtube, an ad, Netflix, ... etc.  The difference in data demand depends on resolution (SD, HD) and the size of the image.  It all comes down to the number of pixels that have to be displayed. If you want to watch it real time, instead of recording the video or waiting until it buffers, Netflix says 5.0 Mbps. is the speed required for HD, watching it full screen.  I think 6 to be safe.  Any speeds above that:  it depends on your temperment.

- If I want to do away with my DSL from ATT and go cellular, I need to get a Jetpack from verizon - correct?

The "pucks" go by different names.  Jetpack for Verizon and ATT. For ATT, go to to https://www.att.com/cellphones/att/wireless-home-phone-and-internet.html#sku=sku7130587.

The costs for the data portion:
- 10 Gbps $60
- 20 Gbps $90
- 30 Gbps $120

Or for the ATT Velocity, go to https://www.att.com/devices/zte/velocity.html#sku=sku7420235.
Or for the ATT Unite Pro, go to https://www.att.com/devices/netgear/unite-pro.html#sku=sku6910270   

I connect the Jetpack to my laptop and it creates a hotspot in my house that other devices can connect to via WiFi. The other iPads do not need to be cellular, just be WiFi capable. Is this right?

In general, pucks are wifi.  No plugin needed. It is like getting wifi at the library.

- What do you think about keeping Verizon for my cell phone and getting a separate data plan from Sprint.  Will the Sprint signal be just as strong as what you measured?

Some data plans cover both phone and your puck.  Of course, if you don't have a puck you have a data plan for your cellular devices.  Some plans do not offer a separate plan for the puck; the plan covers all devices.  Other carrier plans allow you to split your plans.  You'd have to research your options.  By the way, I've found that the online information is often incorrect.  It is best to call the provider.  I've also found that sometimes there is some flexibility in prices and packages.

Your thought of using Sprint for data would work.  Your two data plans would be independent.  The signal strength and speed would be independent too.  So you would have to measure the Sprint signal at your location.

- If I wanted to have internet in my outbuilding, would I need a booster or something else to be able to receive the WiFi signal from my home "hotspot"?

Pucks can be "router-like" or truly mobile.  Just pick it up and take it with you.  That is one of the major benefits.  I traveled around England with a Puck.  It cost me $5/day to rent, with sufficient data for what I was doing.  Of course, if you have the puck in the outbuilding, the signal may be weak in your house.  If it is bad and you need the signal in both places simultaneously, you need a standard wifi extender.  A wifi extender takes a weak wifi signal from your puck and amplifies it.  It is not a cell signal booster.

4G LTE Performance

There is a lot of misinformation floating around about LTE performance.  Obviously, when there is this misinformation, and proper project management practices are not followed, wrong decisions can be made.

Regarding 4G LTE performance:  I can sit in my mountainous neighborhood at some geographic points and get over 16Gbps down and 8 Gbps up. 41.34 Gbps down and 16.78 Gbps up (found a new spot) I am not even "under" a tower.  (I actually haven't gone out of my way to find a best place for the cell phone signal.)  I go to another point and can't get any cell service at all.  I switch providers, and I can't get over 8Gbps anywhere.  You've all experienced this variability when moving around.  The technology used to transmit is not the best (see the next paragraph).  That is the current nature of being in the US and being in a hilly area.

But that is not the fault of the technology.  Read this article:  U.S. drops to 55th in 4G LTE speeds.  In that article, New Zealand has an average download rate of 36 Mbps and South Korea has an average download rate of 29 Mbps.  Both have "hilly" geographies.   It is true that there are "shadows" in the grid that provide less speed.  But this is the average.

This is the most important thing to get from this blog entry:  If you are looking for a internet solution that provides speed, then you are talking about fixed antennas transacting with fixed receivers.  You are not driving.  So speed can be maximized and the antennas designed for the traffic they will receive.  There is a lot of technical detail around 4G LTE that is difficult to communicate, but the one technical detail you should understand is that in order for 4G LTE to keep to its upper speed, it needs to lock in to your receiver and the supplier needs to know the signal traffic.  If you are moving, then the antenna software has to be recalculating and resending signals and the area controller that talks to many antennas has to be involved in passing your signal off to another transmitter.   Only the designer knows what the assumptions were for traffic.

What do you do if you, eg the US, have old or poor technology?  Well, you are at the mercy of the communication companies, who want to get the most they can out of their existing investments.  Plus, community decision-makers only know what they have experienced. With cable you, uh, well, it depends on what is in the ground, but you have a basic hardware limit.  If copper wire is in the ground, you will have to dig it up (optional) and replace it with something faster.  If you have coax and want to improve from there, you will have to dig it up (optional) and replace it with fiber.  And all the in- ground oriented techniques have a distance related speed limitation.  (So does cellular wireless, but the solution isn't as costly, at least in a community environment!)

Something that might be obvious but needs to be stated:  With cellular wireless,  if you start from scratch for a community, you can use the latest technology.  You aren't bound to the 'average.' 

The key upgrade feature of cellular wireless is that perhaps the antenna needs changing, an antenna added for a different wave length set, or a receiver updated.  In many cases, at least within specification timeframes, like 4G LTE (and its faster follow-ons), software changes and an additional antenna are all that are needed. (Most, if not all, current transaction boxes are built for later upgrade.)  This is not the tower, this is the dipole or array that actually sends and receives signals.  Worse case, you add a new transaction box to the site.

In addition, as we have experienced, cellular wireless can be improved incrementally in ways other than improving the technology, such as adding another station.  This station does not have to be the tower we see, or not in a city landscape.   This can be a small device on the side of a building or on an existing structure, even a tree.

Cellular wireless technology lends itself to an incremental build out and improvement strategy.

So, those of you who are interested in improving your internet speed for your home, consider a cell wireless solution.  With the recent announcements by some providers of unlimited data, and with other providers providing a data only option, where you buy a data plan for your home and the cell phone can be separate, you might find this an very affordable replacement for your land phone, internet, and (streaming) TV needs.

For builders and developers, it is much less expensive to provide small cell wireless that has excellent internet performance than it is to ground-wire a development.

Which Laptop Should You Purchase, 2016 New Year's Edition

I'm going to make this short and to the point.  Well, maybe not short.

• Laptops are a commodity.  Their sales are being squeezed by sales of tablets and smartphones.  This means you can get bargains at places like Amazon, Newegg, Costco, and Walmart.  
• The best bargains are near the end of each quarter.
• Because laptops are a commodity, quality is "shaved" as close as it can be- cheaper components made with "dirty" elements, with little extended testing after assembly.  Many will fail soon after the warranty is up.  But, then, like inkjet printers, it is usually cheaper to buy a new one than repair the old one... with some exceptions if you are a power user. 

Consumer Reports came out with their quality/repair reviews.  The data were obtained from CR subscribers.  Does the CR subscriber population statistically represent the overall population.  I haven't researched this.  This is what they say.  Based on my experience, this survey is skewed because the respondents are just CR subscribers and I suspect the computers they buy and use are not typical.  With that observation, CR says the quality is ranked in this order, from best to worst:

1. Apple, 10% after 3 yrs
2. Samsung, Gateway, 16% "
3. Acer, Lenovo, 18% "
4. Toshiba, HP, Dell, Asus, 19%

The first year failure rate, typically when the device is under warranty, is Apple by itself, then everyone else about the same, around 9 or 10%.

Other than Apple, there is only 3 % difference after 3 years.

One comment in the article raised my suspicion about the knowledge of the people doing the survey:  "It stands to reason that the more you use your laptop, the more likely it will break down."  I spent 25 years in computer/semiconductor component test.  My experience:

• As long as your device has good power management and heat dissipation, leaving your computer on is better than turning it off and on.  It is the off and on cycles that stress the electronic components.  It is heat that causes them to fail prematurely. 
• Typically to almost always, Chinese made components are way more likely to fail than Taiwanese, US, etc components.  Chinese components are made of "dirty," less pure, materials.  That, and less testing, mandated by the intense price competition of the commodity market, make all laptops, including Apple products, more sensitive to failure due to on and off cycles.   

My experience, based on computers I repair, is, quality from lowest to highest quality

• HP, Acer, Toshiba (Toshiba getting better)
• Samsung, Gateway
• Dell, Asus
• Lenovo, Apple

Apple is the mystery- why it is rated so high in the survey but why I see many more problems with Apple, especially the iMac (that's the desktop, not a laptop).  The root cause problem with Apple is that heat management, aka fans, heat sinks, is not best of breed.

Two more points:

1. Hard drives are failing earlier than they used to.  IMO, that is due both to the high density = high reliability risk of the new generation of the hard drives and inadequate heat management. 
2. The feel of the keyboard and mouse is an important consideration.  Many people have trouble with the big single pad for a mouse.  Touch typists have trouble with the chicklet keys.  Of course, you have the option of getting a separate keyboard and mouse.  

Another key issue with new laptops is the amount of "junk" software on the computer, usually supported by a piece of software called Wildtangent, which some security analysts, including me, consider spyware. (See this article on junkware removal.  I use both tools discussed in the article.

Don't overbuy.   Buy a computer that can do what you want to do but don't buy a computer that does more than you will ever need.  Assume you will need to replace it due to failure in about 3 years.

Back up your important data.  Don't back the data up on your computer.  Use an external drive, or best choice, use a cloud backup solution, from Google Drive (free) to Carbonite or equivalent (fee).

Often, an Intel i3 processor laptop is all you need if you aren't a power user.    Get 8gig of memory.  If you do a lot a financial stuff or do video streaming, then you need a better graphics processor (eg NVIDIA graphics) and an i5 processor.  If you are a gamer and do a lot of photo stuff, then get an i7 processor.  (AMD makes competing processors and graphics processors.  Go with Intel unless the AMD is significantly cheaper.)  Go to 16 Gig of memory for an i5 or i7, though 8 gig might be OK if you have a great sale... It is a cost/performance tradeoff.  In general, the constraint in my use is memory.  I usually have a lot of stuff going at once, so 16 gig is attractive to me.

Oh, on touch screens, I find they aren't used unless the laptop can be converted into a tablet, eg, a "flip."

Questions:  use the comment section below to ask.