“Hello, Microsoft calling. You have infected files on your machine.”
Savvy folks know about the “Microsoft” scam phone calls. The scam has been around for years and years now. But recent conversations – and today’s Windows Secrets newsletter – tell me that this fraud scam is still alive and well, and snaring “average computer users”.
Please read – and forward to your less-savvy friends and neighbors..!! There’s no reason this scam should still be working, except ignorance. Which we can cure! Don’t let this rip-off victimize one more soul.
(And this is a good read even if you are aware of this scam. Learn how the con artist works their trade.)
See Security alert: Bogus tech-support phone calls
By Fred Langa. on February 27, 2013
“Hello. This is Microsoft Tech Support. Your PC has notified us that it has an infection.”
The call is a scam — an extremely prevalent one. Here’s how it works and what you need to know to stay out of the trap.” Read more..
Note: If you receive (or have already received) a scam-related phone call, the FTC requests you dial (toll-free) 1-877-FTC-HELP or visit the Complaint Assistant site.
If you’re on the receiving end of an attempted scam via the Web (rather than by phone), file a complaint on the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s free website.
(I have a cure for this disease.. but I can’t print it.)
Today’s quote: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” ~ Henry Ford
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
That Grim Reaper
Today’s Article Is Not Tech-related
Yesterday was one of my better days.
Well.. it was, up until I checked in on a friend.
And heard the news.
My friend was not having a good day.
Not at all.
My friend had just lost their son. Rather suddenly and unexpectedly. About an hour before I dropped by.
How’s that for a kick in the ‘nads?
Just getting by, and getting along, in this life is plenty tough. Sure, there are some Good Times. But when Death (or.. divorce) comes and permanently removes someone you love, everything changes. In some cases, I imagine it’s a bit like waking up to find yourself on another planet.
Grief.. mourning.. capital “L” loss.. bereavement. These “natural things” are – I believe – truly life’s biggest and most difficult challenges. The “big earthquakes” of Life. They tell me coping with loss is a “process” and they tell me “everyone mourns in their own way”. I have known a few who were not up to the job.
My friend seems reasonably okay. And thankfully they have a terrific ‘support group’ of caring friends, and we will help them however we can.
Not everyone has such a ‘network’, and their “process” is experienced mostly alone. If that describes you (or someone you know), there’s a “coping with loss” Q & A article on WebMD that you may find practical and helpful, here. And I think the info on this page may help out as well. It is a challenging job – probably our most challenging. Some of us may need a little help doing it. No shame in that.
… I don’t think I’m going to be as quick to get frustrated by traffic, or long lines at the checkout, for a while.
… and I’m going to take the time to ‘count my blessings’ and ‘smell the roses’ .. and savor this mug of hot cocoa. I have some thinking to do.
Carpe diem.
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
Tuesday Extra-Extravaganza
Folks, this week has -so far- been a busy one.. with the majority of my calls being “Solve My Emergency, Yesterday!!” type (aka “business critical” failures/outages).
You know.
Category AA problems (threat level red).
Now, I ain’t complaining. That’s what I do here. (This writing is just a non-profit “labor of love”) And truth is, I just got back to the office from my morning’s spectacular save. And on this last one.. I even impressed myself, and I’m feeling pretty good right now. It’s days like today when the things I do (this job) feels “worth it” (and far from the usual routine tedium).
And so I am going to bask in the mood a little, and kick back for a minute, and watch a great band play a great song that I hope you have heard before, and if you haven’t, will give an open-minded listen to.. Um, yeah. (My apologies to those of you who know that “grammar” stuff.) No article posting today.
Carpe diem (and here’s the video).
And, yes. That song is rather famous.
“Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been.“
* * *
Apropos of nuttin’ at all: I also just finished a marathon read last night. I read – in ebook form – the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, in The Complete Sherlock Holmes.
Yes.. they were written over the course of 30 years at the turn of the century (the 20th Century) and are set in Victorian London. But no.. that doesn’t make them irrelevant, or the stories unreadable. What makes humans tick, then and now, is much the same (if not identical).
And (further) yes.. the book is better than the movie(s). Fans of the Mystery genre, and/or Detective Fiction should not wait as long as I did to meet Mr. Holmes, as he was originally presented to the public in 1887. (Did you know? Holmes never once utters “Elementary, my Dear Watson.”)
(And Watson is not the bumbler that Nigel Bruce portrayed.)
The eBook is free from Amazon.
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
Sunday Beauty #116 (Picture of the Year 2012)
Folks, another interesting image for your Sunday. (It is, in fact, a Picture of the Year winner.)
Click on image to view other sizes
The 7th Picture of the Year Contest was an event where the images that became Featured Pictures during the year, were voted on by members from all Wikimedia projects, to produce a single winner.
2012 Winner: European Bee-eater, Ariège, France. The female (in front) awaits the offering which the male will make. created by Pierre Dalous.
Click to see Other POTY 2012 winners · Click to see Previous years
Today’s quote: “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” ~ Marie Curie
* * *
Okay. Here’s your Sunday Ugly:
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
The End Of Hotmail
Well, I took grief for it, and was snickered at, but one of my oldest, still functioning and used-daily “tech items” is Hotmail — which I first signed up for ages and ages ago (back when AOL was king).
I have been informed that – like it or not – Hotmail is going away. I have to (repeat: have to) “upgrade” to Microsoft’s hip and slick new email system, called “Outlook.com”.
With it’s spiffy new “Metro style” graphics, and too-simplified controls. Which I do not like, and probably would not like even if all my devices were ‘touch screen’ controlled.
WHY?
Why I am being forced to change? And adapt to a new interface? So that I can have “fun email” (again?).
Because I am a brain-dead; a 20-something; I dress like that; and I just wanna have fun. Like these Outlook.com users are having with their email.
Oh, wait. I am supposed to LOVE! the “integrated SkyDrive and Skype phone calls” that will be part of my Inbox.
Thanks, Microsoft!
Shaft anyone over 30, right? Can’t get them to adopt, f-o-r-c-e them, right? (I mean, everyone else is doing it, right? And Office’s “Ribbon” went over so well with the public..) Guess what, Microsoft: the 20-somethings are not using email. This tactic is not going to change that. (And only Über Geeks are going to drop Dropbox for SkyDrive, I’d wager.)
You know what I’d like to see as an “improvement” for an email system? Not anything that requires me to learn a new way (I’m too busy), but notifications telling me how you arrested (or otherwise put out of business) several spammers. And also those *creeps* that sent me the virus-as-an-attachment. Tell me how you are doing something about the disease.
When Hotmail as I know it goes away (soon), so will I as a ‘consumer’ and user. (Further: I won’t buy Windows 8, and I’m not alone.) I am getting rather peeved at this industry trend. We gotta stay hip! And ‘with it’! Create a ‘buzz’!
(But: alienating/losing a customer, in this market/economy??? Smart!)
But you don’t care, do you Tech Giant? I’m well over 20 years-old, and not your ‘prime demographic’. (Guess what? I don’t Twit or Face, either.) So I won’t waste my breath telling you what I think of that photo. I will suggest to you (or.. remind you, Dear Microsoft) that ‘touchscreen’ is not where you should place ALL your bets. Remember netbooks?
Other lunacy: Google’s big Chromebook Pixel gamble: Can it upend Windows at a high price?
“With the Pixel, a Chromebook starting at $1,299, Google is trying to break free of good enough computing to dent the Windows juggernaut on the high end of the market.” Read more..
[Be sure to (also) read the comments on this one, folks.]
… These Tech Nerds are geniuses, right? I mean, you gotta be smart to work at Microsoft and Google. Top of your class.
Something isn’t adding up.
But Microsoft isn’t the Microsoft I grew up with, anymore… is it? (Subscription software sales, tablet and phone sales, etc..)
And Google (and Gmail) is not the answer. This (next) stuff scares the *stuffing* out of me (while the reviewers shrug off the implications.. because it’s just so neato. ) Google Now: The future of big data and Android’s game-changer
“While Google Now raises plenty of privacy hackles, it’s also a stunningly useful example of the power of big data and a major advantage for Android.” Read more..
I gotta get with the times, I guess.. (Or go independent)
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
Getting Through The Week
Something a little different (for your consideration) today.
(How many lines of the song do you remember?)
Today’s quote: “Never interrupt me when I’m trying to interrupt you.” ~ Winston Churchill
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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