Sharing Your Social Media Identity with the Government

Posted on June 28, 2016September 4, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Facebook, Hackers, Passwords, Social Media

Every once in a while I read a story that makes me say:

WHAT?

Today was one of those days. According to this article in arsTechnica, the US Customs and Border Protection is considering adding a new field to their Visa application process. They will be asking visitors to the US to provide their Social Media Identity. Apparently it won’t be a required field, but if you leave it blank, it will look very suspicious.

“The agency says travelers coming to the US…. won’t be forced to disclose their social media handles, but leaving it blank obviously could raise red flags.”

Additionally, the verbiage associated with the request is very nebulous. According to the article:

‘Here’s what will be asked: “Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier.”‘

So, someone who is not paying attention may provide not just their ID, but might also provide their login and password info!

I have a couple of thoughts about this.

First, of course, is that anyone can find anything online, so adding a box on their form will just make the process a little easier for Customs to get your info.

Second, how will Customs keep this info safe? How will they insure that someone can’t hack into their systems and capture the info – especially if some of those applications may contain ID’s and passwords?

Lastly, how will this help? Call me cynical, but I don’t think someone entering the country with malicious intent is likely to be providing their “real” social media identity.

It is far too easy to set up multiple identities online. Just look at me. I’ve got an email for business, an email for personal stuff, an email for networking, and an email for signing up for stuff online. It was easy to do this. And once you have different emails, you can set up different social media accounts.

No, those folks will be providing their ”professional” social media account; the identity they use for LinkedIn to show that they are an upstanding citizen of their home country. I fail to see how this new field on the visa application will keep out the “bad guys”.

What are your opinions about online privacy and multiple identities? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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 fourteen 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. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

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iCloud – Valued Apple Feature or not?

Posted on June 21, 2016September 4, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Apple, Cloud, Data Backup, iCloud, iMac, iPad, iPhone

iCloud

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about Apple’s iCloud recently. iCloud is something many of us have been using for years. But are you sure how to best take advantage of it?

If you have multiple devices – an iPhone, iPad, and iMac, for example, you can listen to your music whether you’re at home, a coffee shop, in your car, or on a trip.

If you don’t have an Apple computer, you can still access some of the iCloud features from your Windows computer. Head over to www.iCloud.com and sign in with your user ID and password. Some of the features available at the website include Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Photos. Access to your music is not available here.

The “Find My iPhone” feature is available at the iCloud website. Take a minute now to sign in. Navigate around the site briefly, but especially take a look at the “Find my iPhone” feature so that if you do lose your phone, you’ll know how to use it. (Make sure any folks in your family who are challenged in the area of knowing where their possessions are, have this feature turned on!)

When you sign in to the iCloud, your user ID is probably your email. If you’ve forgotten your password, it’s relatively easy to reset it. Remember that the password for your iCloud account is different from the security passcode you may have set up to access your iPhone or your iPad. If you have set them up to be the same, please change one of them now!

Another feature I’ve just learned about on the iCloud is the ability to share photos with other people. When you click on the “Photos” icon, your pictures appear. At the bottom of the screen there are three buttons – Photos, Share, and Albums. Your Photos shows all the pictures you’ve taken from a given point in time organized by date. Albums arrange your photos by different categories like Selfies, Panoramas, Videos, and Screenshots.

To share photos, click on “New Shared Album”. Give it a title, and select who to share it with by entering their emails. Once the structure is set up, you can then add photos to the album.

If you need help setting up your iCloud properly, check out Apple’s Help pages or the Genius Bar at the Apple store.

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Summer Fun with Raspberry Pi!

Posted on June 7, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Hard Drive, Raspberry Pi

Are you looking for a fun summer project? How about seeing what you can do with a Raspberry Pi? The Raspberry Pi has been around for a few years and, for the technologically inclined, it provides computing on the cheap.

In case you haven’t heard about it yet, TechRepublic provides this Executive Summary about the Raspberry Pi: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/raspberry-pi-the-smart-persons-guide/

What it is: A credit card-sized computer that costs as little as $5 that spawned a community of millions of home makers and programmers.
What it does: A lot. Despite its low-cost, the Pi can be run as no frills PC, a pocketable coding computer, a hub for homemade hardware and more.
Why it matters: The Pi is a great machine for stoking interest in programming among schoolchildren worldwide and helping create the next generation of developers.
Who it affects: Anyone with the inclination to pick up a Pi and start tinkering.
When is this happening: Right now. More than eight million Pi boards have sold since the machine’s launch in 2012 and demand was reinvigorated by the recent release of the Raspberry Pi 3.
Where is this happening: All over the world, with the Pi’s official forums supporting a community of more than 150,000 active users.
Who is making it happen: A not for profit charity on a mission to get the world interested in how computers work.

More info and resources are available on the Raspberry Pi website. https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Reviews:

Most of the reviews like the older Pi’s better than the new Pi 3, but do like the built in WiFi.

IT-Pro: Older Pis are still better for embedded systems and others projects where the lowest possible power consumption is paramount, but for other uses, especially as a Windows desktop PC replacement, the Pi 3 is a cracking upgrade. http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-pcs/26315/raspberry-pi-3-model-b-review-1
Top New Review: The new Raspberry Pi is faster than the previous model, but it’s not the same step up as the transition from the Pi 1 to the Pi 2, when we saw a six-fold increase in performance. The 30-40% speedup over an overclocked Pi 2 is noticeable, but it’s not enough to really change the usage of the device. For us, the onboard Wi-Fi is the biggest feature of the new device. Unless you’re specifically having performance problems, the Pi 3 doesn’t offer enough new features to recommend abandoning a Pi 2 for it. However, if you’re in the market fora new single-board computer, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B should be the first device you consider. http://topnewreview.com/raspberry-pi-3-review/
Stuff: The Raspberry Pi 3 B is an almost perfect update to the Pi 2 B. We get loads more power, integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And, the best bit, no price increase. It has all the bits we wanted, none of the elements we don’t care about. A winner. http://www.stuff.tv/in/raspberry/pi-3/review

If you’re looking for some projects to do, there are a plethora available! A quick search came up with a whole bunch of projects:

Make a case from an Altoids tin – http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Raspberry-Pi-Case-From-an-Altoids-Ti/
Make your Pi Solar Powered – http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Powered-Raspberry-Pi/
Top 20 Projects – http://www.itpro.co.uk/mobile/21862/raspberry-pi-top-20-projects-to-try-yourself
9 Best Projects – http://www.stuff.tv/features/9-best-raspberry-pi-projects

You can find a complete kit on Amazon for under $75: CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit – 32 GB Edition

Check out my previous blog about free productivity software to load onto your Pi. https://geekforhireinc.com/free-substitutes/

Information About Geek For Hire, Inc.

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Here’s a link to our Covid19 Policy.

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, we earn from qualifying purchases.

More Tips Here:

Are VPNs worth it? More here.
Are you interested in learning more about Extreme Privacy?
We have seen a lot of Facebook hacking lately. Here’s what you should do ahead of time to keep your account safe.
And here are the 10 Password Mistakes you don’t want to make!

If you’re looking for a geeky recommendation for Father’s Day, Chris loves DeWalt tools! Shop Amazon – $20 off $100 DEWALT orders

Backing Up Your Data and The Cloud

Posted on May 31, 2016March 23, 2018 by Gail Eddy in backup, Cloud, Data Backup, Dropbox, Hard Drive, iPad, iPhone

It’s time again for my reminder about backing up your data! For many people, when you travel, your laptop could get banged up at the airport or in the camper. For others, summer is the season for extreme weather. It could be fires or floods or tornadoes or hurricanes, but there is always the chance that your home could be damaged, and your computer as well.

That’s why it is so important to make sure your data back up is current. The most convenient way to keep your data backed up is to use one of the Cloud backup services. I’ve had many people ask what “the Cloud” is and how it might affect them. The Cloud is a term used to describe using another company’s servers to store your data or to provide off-site computing.

Here’s a better definition from wiki:

Cloud computing, also known as on-the-line computing, is a kind of Internet-based computing that provides shared processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand. It is a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide users and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party data centers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

There are a many companies that provide cloud storage. I’ve been using Dropbox for a number of years and like the simplicity of it. (Disclaimer: if you use that link to sign up for backing up your data, you’ll get 500 mb for free, and I’ll receive 1g as a thank you from Dropbox.) https://db.tt/0ZRkMXZ

I like Dropbox for a number of reasons:

It will automatically upload a file to the cloud every time I make a change to it.
I’ve set it up so that it uploads photos I take on my phone to my account.
I can open files on my iPhone and iPad when I’m away from my computer.
Dropbox stores data for several weeks. If I get a bad virus, I can ask them to restore my data to a particular date.

All of this enthusiasm about cloud storage for backups aside, it’s also important to keep a physical copy of your data. About once a month, I backup my data to an external hard drive. Chris has set me up with the Seagate Backup 2TB Portable External Hard Drive which is convenient and easy to use.

If you need help backing up your data, let us know!

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Change Your Password!

Posted on May 24, 2016March 23, 2018 by Gail Eddy in anti-virus, Hackers, Phishing, Social Media

In the last few days, we’ve had a bunch of calls from customers who have had their email hacked. They are hearing from friends and clients that their email is sending out spam. Some of them have been aggravated with us because they feel like their anti-virus should have protected them. (Security software can’t protect you if someone else already has your password information.)

Here’s the deal. Several years ago, LinkedIn was hacked. Login credentials were stolen from approximately 117 million LinkedIn accounts! Although this happened in 2012, one of the “bad guys” has recently decided to sell the credentials.

According to this article from Tech Crunch:

Now, according to a new report from Motherboard, a hacker going by the name of “Peace” is trying to sell the emails and passwords of 117 million LinkedIn members on a dark web illegal marketplace for around $2,200, payable in bitcoin.

117 million LinkedIn emails and passwords from a 2012 hack just got posted online

CNN:Money adds their two cents:

Companies typically protect customer passwords by encrypting them. But at the time of the 2012 data breach, LinkedIn hadn’t added a pivotal layer of security that makes the jumbled text harder to decode.

Put on the defensive, LinkedIn is now scrambling to try to stop people from sharing the stolen goods online — often an impractical task. The company is also invalidating all customer passwords that haven’t been updated since they were stolen.

LinkedIn said it’s reaching out to individual members affected by the breach. This particular hack affects a quarter of the company’s 433 million members.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/19/technology/linkedin-hack/

Since many people use the same password on their other online accounts, the hackers can potentially access other accounts as well.

Our advice? Change your passwords for LinkedIn and other social media sites today. If you use the same passwords for other online sites, change the passwords for your email and banking accounts too. (If you didn’t have a LinkedIn account prior to 2013, you should be safe. This time.)

Changing your passwords on a regular basis is always a good idea!

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I <3 my auto mechanic

Posted on May 17, 2016May 24, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Tips

How is your computer like your car?

The longer we’ve had our Volvo and Hondas and continued our relationship with our mechanics, I continue to come to the conclusion that taking care of computers and cars is very much the same. I know; that sounds like Crazy Talk! I’ll tell you what I mean.

Regular maintenance:

Just like you want your mechanic to give your vehicle a once-over every 3-5,000 miles, your computer needs looking at as well. About once a year Chris will:

Clean up temporary files – this helps your machine run faster.
Check for and remove any viruses or other malware.
Make sure your drivers are up to date.
Look for any unusual behavior.
Ask you questions about how you use your machine and any annoyances you’ve experienced lately.
And other tasks as required.

Strange noises:

Unexpected noises are never a good thing. Whether it’s from your car or computer, if you’re like me, your first inclination is to ignore it and hope it goes away. Then, if it happens again you start to take it seriously! Unusual noises that some of our customers have experienced include:

Grinding fan noises. Your computer needs to stay cool in order to work properly, and that is what the fan is for. If the fan starts to make noises, it’s getting ready to fail. If it stops making the loud sound, it’s already failed and it needs to be replaced asap! If your computer gets too hot, the whole thing could fail.
Voices. Yes, voices. Lately we’ve seen some weird viruses that talk to our customers. “Make sure you call 800-555-1212 right now!”
Squeaking from a dry fan belt
A clicking sound from inside your machine could indicate that the hard drive is failing.

We’ve found that one of the most important things to do in keeping our vehicles in top shape is to get to know our mechanics. We’ve been invited to their special events and are proud to call them our friends. We have similar relationships with many of our customers too, and we’d love to get to know you as well!

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 fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.

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, but I’m tempted! 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

Q&A with Chris Eddy (iMac’s, PDF’s and Windows 10)

Posted on May 10, 2016May 18, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Apple, iMac, iPhone, Microsoft, PDF, Smartphone Apps, Tips, Win10

Contents

Question:

I’m currently running window 7 professional on my work laptop. Windows 10 want to upgrade computer software. I have office 2003 and ms project software 2010 and I’m wondering if windows 10 compatible with these programs? Also since I’ve been rejecting windows 10 computer seems to constantly upgrade software (daily) and is running slow. Any way that not upgrading to 10 can be causing this?

Answer:

I think you should decline the W10 upgrade because W7 works fine for you, I don’t think that W10 has enough new and different and better stuff that you should run right out now (metaphorically) and get it. Also, I’m seeing occasional strangeness with W10 becoming unresponsive or very disk intensive for long periods of time, and have seen occasional filesystem corruption after things like a graceless shutdown which causes the machine to require serious startup repair (not the automated one), but W7 would have recovered from that in stride.

Question:

An associate recommended PDFMerge as a great program to take individual pdf pages and be able to combine them into a document. I went to the website www.pdfmerge.com and downloaded it. …. Well now every pdf on my laptop is a soda pdf. This was not what I intended – will this cause me problems since they are no longer adobe pdf’s? Should I have you change it all back? Worried about this change. Recommendations?

Answer:

This is an easy thing to change. Go to the file using Windows Explorer, right click on the file name, go down to “Open With”, select the Adobe Acrobat Reader program, and make sure you put a check in the box to use this program for this file type in the future.

Question:

Do you have an opinion on the iMac all in one? The 21.5 ” most suitable for my space and I’d like to connect it to a TV and be able to watch TV at same time as using computer – is that possible or a pipe dream?

Answer:

In general, I like the iMac. And, in a nutshell, yes. But you’ll need an “Apple TV” device, which is a white hockey puck sized thing that connects to the house network and to the TV. More here: http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/appletv/can-i-use-apple-tv-to-mirror-my-imac-on-my-tv/QCFJP9Y472HAJP9YP

Do you have a quick question about your Mac or PC? Send us an email to support@geekforhireinc.com

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 fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.

Windows 10 – Once more

Posted on May 3, 2016April 25, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Apple, iPhone, Microsoft, Smartphone Apps

It’s almost like it’s Groundhog Day. Again. (The movie, not the holiday.) Yes, we are still getting calls from customers who have upgraded to Windows 10 and immediately began to experience issues with their machine.

What are some of the issues? Here’s a sampling of some of the questions we’ve received:

I can’t find any of my files! They all seem to have disappeared!
I can find my files, but my computer won’t let me open any of them
My applications don’t seem to work properly anymore
My computer can’t find my printer, or the network
I’ve got the dreaded black screen (or blue screen)
My computer won’t boot

The problems go on and on. I am guessing that there are plenty of times that someone upgrades to Windows 10 with zero problems. Those are not the people who call us!

We still have the same advice that we did in February: https://geekforhireinc.com/windows-10-update/

If you have a Windows 7 machine, don’t upgrade unless you have a serious business need.
If you have a Windows 8 or 8.1 machine, you should be okay to upgrade, although you may still experience some issues
If you have a Windows XP or earlier machine, don’t (DO NOT!) upgrade. Consider purchasing a new machine with Windows 8 or 10 already installed.

If you’re planning to upgrade do this first:

Back up your data. Use an external Hard Drive if you have one, or upload to the Cloud
Make sure you have a list of all the programs and applications that you use.
Make sure you know what all of your passwords are, especially if you have asked your computer to remember them for you.
Make sure you know what your WiFi Router password is.

Please let us know if you experience any issues with your upgrade. Call with any questions!

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 fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.

Review of the Word Flow keyboard for iPhones

Posted on April 26, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Apple, iPhone, Microsoft, Smartphone Apps

Smartphone Keyboard

Last week Chris introduced me to a new keyboard app for the iOS. He thought it might help me have less.carpel tunnel symptoms while typing. I’m trying it out by typing this blog with it. It is called Word Flow and was developed by Microsoft.

Mostly it is doing okay. It has good predictive skills, though not all that much better or different than the standard predictive text that comes with the standard iPhone. It only has four punctuation marks available; period, comma, exclamation point, and question mark. (But, really, how often do you use a semi-colon?!)

One issue that I am experiencing is that when it thinks I’m done with a sentence, it will randomly throw in a period! Another issue is that it doesn’t “know” the shortcuts I’ve programmed into the phone to get a jumpstart on the predictive text. For example, when I type “bou”, the iPhone will complete the word “Boulder. Word Flow doesn’t do that.

Here’s an example of what the keyboard looks like and the predictive text errors:

I think that for people who are one handed typers or thumb typers , this will be a great product. For people like me who are used to typing with both hands and more than two thumbs, there aren’t a lot of benefits.

As a person who is very much concerned with security and privacy, I did take exception to allowing Word Flow access to my data. Take a look at the verbiage for the “permissions screen”.

“Full access allows the developer of this keyboard to transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard. This could include secretive information such as your credit card number or street address.”

Ummmm, no. I think that is part of why the shortcuts I’ve programmed into my iPhone aren’t working with this app.

If you think this might be right for you, take a look at this, more positive review.

What keyboard are you using with your smartphone? Is it the standard one that came with, or another app that you’ve installed? Let us know what you are using, which phone you have, and how the keyboard is working!

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 fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.

Virtual Reality

Posted on April 19, 2016April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Facebook, Holodeck, Oculus, Virtual Reality

“The promise of virtual reality has always been enormous. Put on these goggles, go nowhere, and be transported anywhere.”

(source)

Virtual Reality is starting to get hot, again. I remember a trip to Toronto about twenty years ago. We went to the CN Tower and there was an arcade there that offered a “real” VR experience for about $20. Chris couldn’t pass that up and thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in a totally different world. Things sure have changed since then. It’s getting closer and closer to a Star Trek Holodeck experience. (Although I still don’t understand how Picard can ride a horse in the holodeck without bumping into the walls!)

But first, what is Virtual Reality? The website “How Stuff Works” describes VR as:

“using computer technology to create a simulated, three-dimensional world that a user can manipulate and explore while feeling as if he were in that world. Scientists, theorists and engineers have designed dozens of devices and applications to achieve this goal. Opinions differ on what exactly constitutes a true VR experience, but in general it should include:

Three-dimensional images that appear to be life-sized from the perspective of the user
The ability to track a user’s motions, particularly his head and eye movements, and
correspondingly, adjust the images on the user’s display to reflect the change in perspective”

From what I’ve been reading the new Oculus Rift is essentially just for playing games. When you head to their website, you can watch a video of the user interacting with some of their games. Although new games are being added all the time, it makes me wonder if there really is an future in VR beyond games.

Never fear – Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook and Oculus is all over that like white on rice. At the F8 conference last week they introduced new ways of using VR. Huffington Post reports:

“Facebook hopes to one day connect the world through virtual spaces. It owns Oculus, perhaps the world’s best-known virtual reality company, and its intent is to use the technology to break down barriers separating people from one another. (You know, things like space and time and oceans.) In the not-too-distant future, you and a friend could don virtual reality glasses, create avatars of yourselves and meet up in digital environments to play games or just hang out and chat.”

Want to learn more? Check out these links:

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 fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area.