Wifi Archives - Geek for Hire

It’s the end of the year. Here are some Technology Tips of things that you should be doing!

Check Your WiFi Speed

Are you getting what you’re paying for? First, using your smartphone or on your computer, head over to SpeedTest. Then click on “Begin Test”. Have you signed up for the 10 Mbps plan but you’re only getting 6? Plug your computer directly to your router, then check it again. Sometimes there is a degradation of speed through the walls of your home. If it’s still below your threshold, check it again over the next few days, keeping a log. If your WiFi speed is consistently under your contracted speed (while plugged into the router), call your ISP. Tell them about your findings, then ask them to fix the issue AND request a refund for the time when they weren’t providing you with the contracted bandwidth.

Back Up Your Data

Yes, you probably should be doing this monthly. So, make the geeks happy and at least do it at the end of the year. As a result, if your hard drive happens to crash, you’ll at least have the one backup.

Change Your Password

First of all, take the time to change your password on all of your banking sites. Then, change the password on your social media sites. Finally, change the password on all of the other sites that you regularly log in to. I recently wrote a blog on creating a good secure password. You can find that here. (But, yes, you probably should be changing your passwords more frequently than once a year!)

Organize Your Files

Organize your photos by year and month. First of all, under your “My Photos” or “Camera Uploads” file, create a new folder for 2016. Then under that folder, create twelve more folders, one for each month. Next, select all the photos you took last January, drag and drop them into the January folder. Then, do that for each month. If you’re on a roll, or have time to kill, do the same for photos you took in 2015, 2014, and so on. It makes it much easier to look for the photos of your vacation in the June 2015 folder, than to search through one massive folder for those photos. For more info on organizing your files, check this blog I wrote last year.

Were these Technology Tips helpful? What else do you do at the end of the year?

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 and remote service throughout North America.

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Save

I read an interesting report released by Senator Markey last month. His office was concerned that appropriate measures were not being taken to secure cars and trucks on American highways. With most modern cars having built in WiFi, Bluetooth and other technology, they wondered what happened to the collected data, and how vulnerable the cars were to outside influence. Turns out they were right to be concerned.

Here are their key findings:

“Nearly 100% of cars on the market include wireless technologies that could pose vulnerabilities to hacking or privacy intrusions.
Most automobile manufacturers were unaware of or unable to report on past hacking incidents.
Security measures to prevent remote access to vehicle electronics are inconsistent and haphazard across all automobile manufacturers, and many manufacturers did not seem to understand the questions posed by Senator Markey.
Only two automobile manufacturers were able to describe any capabilities to diagnose or meaningfully respond to an infiltration in real-time, and most say they rely on technologies that cannot be used for this purpose at all.
Automobile manufacturers collect large amounts of data on driving history and vehicle performance.
A majority of automakers offer technologies that collect and wirelessly transmit driving history data to data centers, including third-party data centers, and most do not describe effective means to secure the data.
Manufacturers use personal vehicle data in various ways, often vaguely to “improve the customer experience” and usually involving third parties, and retention policies – how long they store information about drivers – vary considerably among manufacturers.
Customers are often not explicitly made aware of data collection and, when they are, they often cannot opt-out without disabling valuable features, such as navigation.”

Most striking to me was this sentence:

“The diversity of responses received by Senator Markey shows that each manufacturer is handling the introduction of new technology in very different ways, and for the most part these actions are insufficient to ensure security and privacy for vehicle consumers.”

While it’s unlikely that a particular car will be targeted for hacking, the privacy issue is concerning to me. Read your manual or check with your dealer to see if there is a way to turn off data collection. It may be as simple as turning off your GPS feature, but check with your dealer to be sure. If you have an older car without GPS, OnStar, Bluetooth, etc., you likely do not have to worry about this.

Here is the Press Release from Senator Markey’s office along with a link to the original report: http://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/markey-report-reveals-automobile-security-and-privacy-vulnerabilities

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing 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 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) 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 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.

Tag: Wifi

Car-Hacking…

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