April 2017 - Geek for Hire

Ducking iPhone! How to change your auto-correct settings

Posted on April 25, 2017May 30, 2017 by Gail Eddy in iPhone, Tips

My friends and I joke about the auto-correct feature on our Smartphones. (We call it “auto-cucumber”.) I don’t use the “F” word often, but when I do, I never mean to type “ducking”! Then there are the times when you have to type in your email over and over again, and you wish your iPhone could just remember it. And, there are words that you ALWAYS misspell. How many times have I typed in “Boukder”, and had to go back and change that “k” to an “l”?!

This is easy to fix!

First, click on “Settings”, then click on “General”, scroll down to “Keyboard”, and finally, click on “Text Replacement”.

Once you’re there, check over the existing auto-correct list that the iPhone may have already created for you. Do they all make sense? Delete the ones that you don’t want to keep by swiping the word to the left.

Now it’s time to add your customized auto-correct words and phrases!

Click on the plus sign in the upper right corner to add new words and shortcuts. In the “Phrase” field, type in what you want to appear on your screen. In the “Shortcut” field, type in the shortcut. Some suggestions:

Type in the first few letters of people in your family as a shortcut
Type in a common misspelling and it’s correction
Add your email address
I added the shortcut “ty” for “Thank you!”
I added the shortcut “omw” for “On My Way!”
And “GFH” becomes “Geek For Hire, Inc.”

Think about the words and phrases you commonly use on your iPhone and add them to your Auto-correct.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission if you sign up.)

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Stop using the Internet! 4 ways to maintain your online privacy

Posted on April 18, 2017November 2, 2019 by Gail Eddy in Internet Searching, Privacy, Social Media, Tips

The other day I was thinking about new shoes. I went to Google and typed in “Keen Mary Janes”. Now, all I see when I’m on my computer (and phone!) are ads for Keens and ads for Mary Janes. So much for my online privacy… I keep wondering if I do decide to buy them will the ads disappear and I’ll start seeing ads for a different product that I’ve Googled.

I’ve been thinking a lot about privacy lately, ever since the House & Senate passed a bill last month in favor of blocking internet privacy rules. You can read more about that here. This bill essentially gives Internet Service Providers more leeway in selling our searching info to advertisers.

There are ways to keep our data more private, one of them being setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN). That’s a little over my head, so I’ve asked Chris to write a blog about that. In the meantime, there are four pretty easy ways of keeping your searching history more private.

Online Privacy – What can you do?

You could….

Well, you could just stop using the Internet. No more email. No more Facebook and other Social Media. No more online shopping sprees. No more checking the news online. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen!

Or, you could….

Do all of your shopping in person. With cash. Without signing into the store’s reward program. A good friend of mine once went to a store and bought a pair of pink Ugg boots for a friend with cash. Unfortunately she did use the store’s reward card. For weeks afterwards she got ads on her computer for Uggs!

Or, maybe…

You can go to your local library. As long as you don’t sign in to your email or any other account, your online privacy is maintained. You can search for anything while you’re there without worrying about what your ISP will see. You can print off the relevant pages, fork over 10¢ or 20¢ per page, and be on your way.

Realistically…

You can use apps that protect your privacy. Two that come to mind are DuckDuckGo for Internet searches and WhatsApp for texting. I also use a Virtual Private Network. (What is a VPN?)

I like What’s App’s description of their end-to-end encryption:

“WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is available when you and the people you message use the latest versions of our app. Many messaging apps only encrypt messages between you and them, but WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you’re communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. This is because your messages are secured with a lock, and only the recipient and you have the special key needed to unlock and read them.” Here’s the link to download WhatsApp to your Smartphone or tablet.

It’s easy to change your default search engine on the iPhone to DuckDuckGo. Click on the Settings icon, then scroll down to Safari. Click on Safari and select your preferred Search Engine. On your computer, just bookmark the DuckDuckGo page and use it whenever you do a search. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and am not noticing a difference in the quality of responses to my searches.

Using DuckDuckGo and WhatsApp doesn’t protect you 100% but it does help you maintain some online privacy.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30 day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Two Factor Authentication

Posted on April 4, 2017March 2, 2019 by Gail Eddy in Tech Terms, Technology Tips, Tips

What is Two Factor Authentication?

Two Factor Authentication (TFA or 2FA) or Multi-factor Authentication refers to a practice commonly used by financial institutions and other sensitive applications to make sure that the person signing into an account is really that person and not a hacker. Two Factor Authentication is used in addition to the usual login credentials. You use 2FA without realizing it. Like me, when I first encountered it a few years ago, you may have been annoyed that your bank was asking you to prove your identity when you’ve already entered your username and password.

Can you explain that again?

Your UserID and Password together make up the first factor of authentication. The second factor is a code only you know. For example, when you receive a six digit code on your cell phone to provide after you’ve entered your password. Credit cards also use 2FA. The credit card number, expiration date, and the sneaky code on the back are all available to someone with the card in their hands. 2FA would ask you for your billing zip code.

Why is 2FA important?

Two Factor Authentication provides another level of protection for your accounts. It will work with your computer, your tablet, and your phone. It helps to ensure that your sensitive information isn’t available to hackers.

According to Secure Envoy: “With standard security procedures (especially online) only requiring a simple username and password it has become increasingly easy for criminals (either in organised gangs or working alone) to gain access to a user’s private data such as personal and financial details and then use that information to commit fraudulent acts, generally of a financial nature.”

Want to learn more? Check out these articles:

https://www.cnet.com/news/two-factor-authentication-what-you-need-to-know-faq/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2456400,00.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication

We recommend that you enable Two Factor Authentication for all of your email, financial, and other sensitive accounts.