Tech – for Everyone

Tech Tips and Tricks & Advice – written in plain English.

Facebook (and iPad) in the news (Important)

Many of you use Facebook. Yet again, Facebook is changing their “Privacy Policy”.

* Facebook alters privacy policy: Is your personal data now ‘fair game’?

“Facebook is making changes to its privacy policy which will change the way you use the site. If you do not like the changes you have until tomorrow to comment. Or you can just delete your account.” Read more..

I put ‘Privacy Policy’ in quotes because the founder of Facebook has publicly said he doesn’t think you have any privacy online.. is against the whole notion.
(Makes me glad I never ever even signed up….)

In other news:

* iPad 3 LTE comes to Verizon, and all hell breaks loose

“The iPad 3 is going to give a lot of LTE customers “sticker shock” on their billing statements.” Read more..

I read the other day that there’s, like, already 10 times more people using cellular data than they have the “infrastructure” for… but are they gonna stop selling tablets/smartphones or discouraging people from signing up? Like they should? Until they build more towers? I think they have a different strategy in mind for discouraging us from ‘streaming’ too much…

(Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry..) Saving Best For Last Department:

* New scam involves PayPal and Western Union

“There’s a new variation on the old “Nigerian” or “419″ scam, one that invokes the names of PayPal, Western Union, and the FBI — and the scammers are raking in billions ¹.

Let me introduce you to the way these scum operate — and show you a few tricks that may keep you from adding to their booty..” Read more..

(This is a very good read.. even if you think you’re not interested..)

* It seems Google Wave is going bye-bye.. they sent me an email: “This is a reminder that the Wave service will be turned off on April 30, 2012.”

Aw.

Bummer.

This is kinda fun: Test your reaction time ‘reflexes’ with this simple (and fun) test.. click here and see how many sheep you can dart.

Today’s quote: “Hollywood views regular people as children, and they think they’re the smart ones who need to tell the idiots out there how to be.” ~ Trey Parker

¹ emphasis mine

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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March 22, 2012 Posted by | advice, computers, cyber crime, Internet, News | , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

PayPal Account Has Been Limited

It’s called “phishing”. And what that translates to is: casting a net (or “a baited hook”) out to catch suckers, rubes, and victimize them.

In this example, Hotmail did a good job, and caught this particular “bait” email, and moved it to the Junk folder for me, but I cannot rely on that happening – I have to learn to spot a “phish”.

This one has several clues: one, it’s scary/alarming. Emails saying there is something wrong with your banking, or email, or such, and you NEED TO ACT NOW BY CLICKING THIS LINK are 99.9999% fake, frauds, cons, criminal attacks on you.

Another clue is the  “!”s. Just about any email that has !!! in the subject line is garbage at best. (Usually, it is a scam, like this one.)

Now.. it so happens that I do have a PayPal account. And it also so happens that I do not want it to be “limited” in any way.. but I know better than to even open this email.
If I was really worried that there might be some truth in it, or just might be valid, what I would do would be to open a new browser tab, and go directly to PayPal, login, and check my status there. Or call them on the phone.

I know.. I know.. this is old stuff. Why am I talking about it in 2012? Trust me, there are plenty of people who opened this, even though most webmail mark it as Junk — the fear and curiosity it evokes is too much for them to resist..

Let’s be safe online people – exercise some good healthy “paranoid common sense”. Just viewing an email such as this can have bad consequences.. so I remind you of the old, old watchwords – if you do not know and recognize the Sender > Don’t open it.

Too funny: This just came in..

Today’s quote: “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” ~ William Shakespeare

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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February 11, 2012 Posted by | advice, e-mail, Phishing, security | , , , , | 11 Comments

Service Pack 1 and Polite Phishing. OddJob & Meow.

Service Pack Released. Holdouts can migrate to Windows 7 now.

Last night my Win7 machine told me that there were Updates available. So, like I always do, I clicked to view the details. I noticed that one of the “Important” updates was not checked. So I looked closer and saw that it was indeed the awaited first Service Pack, which rumors had said was coming soon.
I placed a check in the checkbox, and clicked “Install”. Because Service Packs are good things. And I have been testing IE 9, so I let that upgrade to the new “Release Candidate” as well.

After a twice rebooting install, which went smoothly, my upgrades were in, and my Windows 7 machine was now 72 times faster and three times shinier. Yay!

Okay. You know I’m kidding.. right? “Service Packs” sometimes do bring new features to the operating system, but generally are simply a collection (a “pack”) of security patches and bug fixes. There is an old saying in the Geek world – Do Not Buy Until The First Service Pack Is Released.

That’s good advice. Generally speaking, you do not want Version 1.0 of anything. You want the next version.. the one where most of the bugs have been found and fixed. I have been telling people that Windows 7 is an exception to that Rule – being already remarkably stable and bug free. However, if you have been waiting, SP1 is now here.

So what is in the first Windows 7 Service Pack (aka SP1)? I quote, “Win 7 SP1 sports a little nip here and a roll-up tuck there — but there’s not a single significant enhancement to Win7.”
Woody Leonhard wrote a great piece for Windows Secrets that sums things up in a nutshell: What you need to know about Windows 7 SP1

* For those who have trouble with this Update (or.. Updates in general), see Microsoft notes Windows Update “inconsistencies,” provides fix

Cybercriminals try the polite approach:

I ask non-regular readers to note the attachment ‘paperclip’, and to trust me when I say that it is a clear signal that you do NOT want to do anything with this email except delete it — opening the email will put you on the Global Sucker List. And opening the attachment…. probably worse.
And I believe that regular readers will know that “Please confirm your identity” translates to “Please hand me your identity”.

Related?

“A new banking trojan targeting U.S. customers has the ability to keep online account sessions open after customers believe they have logged off, enabling criminals to surreptitiously steal money, according to researchers at web security firm Trusteer.

Eastern European cybercrooks are using the trojan, dubbed “OddJob” by researchers, to attack banking customers in the United States, Poland and Denmark…“

Learn more here, Trojan steals session IDs, bypasses logout requests

Too kewel not to post:
A reader shared with me a photo. I am not a “cat person”, but one look at this fellow…

King of his hill

and I had to smile. One ‘cool cat’ there.

Have a great day everyone!

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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February 24, 2011 Posted by | advice, computers, IE 9, Microsoft, News, PC, performance, Phishing, tech, upgrading, Windows, Windows 7 | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How To Remove Your Name From Search Engines and Social Networking Sites

Your Private Information Made Public

Folks, sometimes it is best to not reinvent the wheel; so today I am going to refer you to three excellent resources for the methods you need to know about if you are concerned about your personal information, and how websites (and the Gov’t) are collecting – and posting – it on the Internet.

If you are serious about protecting your identity and personal security, you should take actions now to block your personal information from public viewing.

Remove Your information from People Search Databases, Social Networks, and Search Engine Results— JessicaM

“Do you know what kind of personal information about you can be found from Internet? Do you know how to remove your name, address, phone number, pictures, bad comments and negative reviews from Google and other search engine results? Do you know how to delete your personal information from online people search database records?“

I am putting this one first as it is comprehensive and well researched. It is four pages long, and packed with good info.

How To Permanently Delete Your Account on Popular Websites — Cameron Chapman

“What we often don’t realize when signing up for all these accounts, though, is how difficult it can be to permanently delete our accounts when we’ve had enough. Some require complicated, multi-step processes that can stretch over the course of days (or weeks). Others take less time, but still require multiple steps by the user.“

This article outlines the steps for removing your account/profile on:
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google, Ebay, Wikipedia, Flickr/Yahoo!, Windows Live, StumbleUpon, WordPress, Amazon, YouTube, and PayPal.

If you want to stay inconspicuous while online, here are some products, services, and best practices to put to use.
How to Stay Anonymous Online — Erik Griffith

“Some might say that the Internet was built on anonymity. Without it, the Internet might not have become what it is today—a place where free speech reigns supreme (maybe to a fault). However, as social networks prevail—and über-companies like Google do all they can to market to you more effectively—your privacy on the Web comes into question. The good news is that you can take back control of what others see and know of you online. Here’s how.“

Subtopics: Safe Surfing, Anonymous E-mail, Social (Network) Security

The article contains links to programs and tools you may be interested in.. if your privacy is a concern to you.

Update: Here is another resource, brought to my attention by Rick Robinette:

“I came across a really cool site that, if anything, is a real education about online accounts and profiling. The site is called AccountKiller.

AccountKiller – Do you care about your personal data? We provide instructions to remove your account or public profile on most popular websites, including Skype, Facebook, Windows Live, Hotmail / Live, Twitter, MSN / Messenger, Google and many more. Want to create an account somewhere? Check our Blacklist first to see if it’s even possible to remove your profile!

What AccountKiller specializes in is collecting direct links and deleting instructions to make account termination an easier process.” Read more..

*     *     *

Bonus: additional recommended reading: Does a Blogger’s Opinion Really Matter?

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved. jaanix post to jaanix.

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June 15, 2010 Posted by | computers, how to, Internet, privacy, security | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments