Security

Fear

Fear

Fear mongering about "privacy and identity theft" is largely industry hype designed to break into your wallet. I am not saying that identity theft doesn't occur, but that it occurs in ways that aren't made safer by using software products sold to protect your privacy. Nor does it usually occur from your computer. Relax.  Here's all you need to do:


    a. Treat EVERY call or prompt to call a company that you do not initiate, as a scam. Hangup. If they pose as a financial institution, find the phone number yourself from the company website, not Google, not your caller ID. If you are being made to feel anxious and it seems like an emergency, you are moments from being scammed. Hang up. Continue your day.
    b. Give out your personal information as little as possible online. (this is key)
    c. Learn how people voluntarily give their identity away.
    d. Setup your credit or debit card to send you a text for every transaction.  
    e. Make sure your anti-virus and firewall is current and effective (see above).

Backups

Backups

To avoid the lonely, disabling pain and regret that accompanies the loss of computer data, family pictures, emails, school work, you MUST BACK UP, NOW!!!. ALL mechanical hard drives eventually fail, SSD drives much less. So will yours, usually randomly and arbitrarily, and (in our modern world of making everything as crappy as possible,) much sooner than you'll expect. I see this many times a month.

Think of it this way. If you spend the $55 for an automatic external backup drive or $85/yr to a cloud based service like Carbonite, then you are golden. You are smarter than the average bear! If you drop the computer, the hard drive fails, a ransomware virus encrypts all your files, the Windows 11 upgrade deletes your files, you spill tequila, it gets stolen, fried by a lightning strike, user account deleted by a mangled Norton update or your computer gets locked by a bogus tech support guy you let remotely log in, then you will still suffer a bit. But having that backup will make you feel really, really good about yourself.

I usually recommend Carbonite if you have more stuff than will fit in the free 2 GB Dropbox account. I do have one firm recommendation: avoid Microsoft OneDrive! It will be on your PC already. Do not encourage it, log into it, install it, or save anything to it. Office 365 will try and trick you into this, but if you take your time you can still find the option to save ONLY to your hard drive in the folders you choose. I would love to say how convenient OneDrive can be, giving you default cloud backup while you are using Word and Excel. But I can’t. I often get to people’s computer and they ask me to find their missing Word documents for them. OneDrive is an aggressive, buggy, confusing, unintuitive, piece of crap. And it is impossible for the average user to become disentangled from it once you give it control. You should always be seeking to become less beholden to Microsoft, whenever possible.

Having a backup can be easier than you think. There are many different options depending on how much stuff you got. I can help you figure this out and bring you into a state of total relaxation on the subject.

Remember, whatever backup you chose, you must have duplication. You must have two of whatever you are backing up. One on one device, and the copy on another device or in the cloud. If you save all your love poems only to your flash drive and then leave it at The Coffee Cavern because you were absent minded after a good yoga class, you have not made a backup.

Connexion

Connexion

Why wouldn’t you switch to Connexion?!
Well, what do you know! Now that Xfinity and Century-Link have competition they have decided to try and not be so despicable. Remember how we were treated when they had us right where they wanted us, with no alternatives? And don’t forget all those good times when Century-Link was Qwest and Xfinity was Comcast. I have assembled some of their Greatest Hits!

  • Ever been told by a recording to find help and options online when your internet doesn’t work?

  • Have you ever been left on hold forever, and then disconnected?

  • Does your price of internet seem arbitrary and you’ve hoped you got someone on the phone who gave you a good promotion that year?

  • Ever discover that your neighbor was paying $40/mo less for the same plan that you have?

  • Have you opened your bill and discovered expensive surprises?

  • Have you ever marveled at how many times you could be transferred to the wrong dept.?

Privacy

Privacy

Privacy - The Edward Snowden leaks about the NSA confirm that we have none. Nothing you do on the internet should be considered private, period.  At some point in the near future ISP’s and others will probably start making encryption software available that is easy enough to use for the average person. Until then assume that anything you communicate through the internet may someday be released by someone disgruntled.
A possible scenario is that a hacker or a government worker will release a large amount of illegally collected personal emails to make a point about how much info the government actually collects on it’s citizens. It may happen, because that is the only thing that will make the seriousness of the issue real for the average law abiding citizen who thinks they have no reason to worry if they are not breaking the law.  

If you really want to communicate secretly, some people use Signal or other encrypted apps and set their messages to disappear after a day. I can’t guarantee that saves you if you committed murder or if Saudi Arabia hates you, but it is probably secure enough for secret love or melodrama.

To become fully sober on the topic of how YOU, in fact, are the online product being sold, watch the movie the Social Dilemma.

My friend Zeke wrote a great post about simple ways to protect your privacy.

Teenagers

Teenagers

I am not talking about your teenage son, but if some other teenagers are sharing your computer you should virus-protect that computer like it is the shared computer in the prison library. You can't stop the sun from rising, but you can wear sunscreen. Better yet, give them your old computer and buy one that only you use.  Also, installing more than one anti-virus causes problems. Just use one good one.

Antivirus

Antivirus

Anti-virus - You cannot just use any anti-virus program.  You must use the best at the time, and what is "the best" changes from time to time. You don't have to surf like a teenage boy to get viruses. No anti-virus prevents all viruses, but from year to year your goal is to install the one that is most effective that year.  The efficacy of these programs varies wildly, and some are even viruses themselves. Knowing someone who removes viruses all day long like myself or other reputable local computer repair people is the best way to keep current and stay protected. Do not trust Best Buy, Comcast, Century Link etc.  They strike huge partnership deals with large companies like Norton and Mcafee. Everyone makes money and you get a bogus program -- for free. Then you have to pay me to clean your computer later.

If anyone recommends Mcafee or Norton/Symantec write those people off as suspicious or confused. I could spend pages telling you all the ways these programs can screw up your computer. Suffice it to say this, these programs are bloated, slow, expensive, and get this, DON'T REMOVE THE VIRUSES!

Scumbags

Scumbags

Short version: 

Any “tech support” that you are inspired to call from an ominous warning on your computer is bogus. Any ominous calls you receive that scare you about your computer are bogus. Never let anyone remotely connect to your computer! If you did not specifically go to the company website, (dell.com HP.com xfinity.com etc.) and find a tech support number directly on that website, then you are talking to fake tech support. You will have your confirmation once they ask you for money. Don’t wait for that proof until after you have already let them remotely connect to your computer. If you have given your card number and paid one of these scam companies, call your credit card company and ask to start the process of getting that money back. You almost always will. You have been a victim of fraud. Whether your fake support has actually fixed something or not is irrelevant, your initial introduction to them was fraudulent in one way or another.