That new computer, how pretty

There it sets. Santa brought a brand new binary buddy sporting the Windows 10 operating system. For some, opening the box, pulling out the PC and setting it up will be child’s play. For some of us, it will seem as if Shakespeare himself screams, “cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war.” (Martha, Shakespeare in a computer column?) But let not the beast convey tribulation to a worried brow.

What information should we gather prior to opening the box? Collect e-mail addresses and passwords. Make sure we have the name of our wireless network and the password if we are going to connect to the Internet wirelessly. For folks that use Comcast, Centurylink, Verizon or other wireless modem/routers the SSID (network name) and the password are usually located on a label on the modem. Those of us that have our own wireless routers will have to find that hidden piece of paper with the password written on it.

If we have an e-mail address that ends in @msn.com, hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com then half the battle of setting up the computer is done. If we don’t have one of these don’t worry we have choices.

It’s time to turn on the new computer. Windows will go through a series of questions before taking us to the desktop for the first time. It will ask us what Country, language, and keyboard  layout we want to use, and to accept the Microsoft License Agreement.

Note, if we don’t accept the agreement the computer won’t work.

Next it will ask us to sign into the PC with a Microsoft ID which would be one of the addresses ending with the extensions mentioned before. Don’t have a Microsoft e-mail address? There are three choices, create a new Microsoft account using our existing e-mail address, create a new Microsoft address or to set up the computer without a Microsoft account. Each choice suffers pros and cons.

Creating a new Microsoft e-mail address ending in a Microsoft domain is my preferred method. We can also use our existing e-mail address as the user name for our new Microsoft account. The dilemma is that we can confuse one with the other. Example, our regular e-mail is abc@comcast.net with a specific password. We can use abc@comcast.com as our Microsoft username as well with the same password. Good so far. However the day will come when we change our Comcast password at Comcast for our e-mail. However this doesn’t change our Microsoft abc@comcast.net account password because that must be changed at Microsoft. So thinking that we changed our password we try to log into our computer with the new password but that isn’t the password for Microsoft  and we can’t login. Finally we can choose to skip using a Microsoft account and log in with what is referred to as a local account. This precludes using Microsoft products, such as Skype, OneDrive, Mail, Cortana or others. But to use one or all of the Microsoft Products we will have to create and or use a Microsoft account.

Now comes setting up our email, moving files from the old computer and installing any programs we want.

My head is spinning, more next week.

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house,

lights flashed on the tower, tablets and mouse.

The Webcams were ready, installed with great care.
In hopes that grandkids would be virtually there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of computer games danced in their heads;

Mamma in her rocker, a tablet on her lap.

To check Santa’s route on Norads’ tracking map.

Last minute shopping, I knew it would matter,

Receipts from the printer were spit with a clatter.

The e-mails and texts began to beep and flash,

Away to the laptop I flew in a dash,

An e-mail from Santa, I pulled from the cache.

The sleigh was loaded, the springs sitting low
Boxes of computer games, only kids know.

Mars Effect for Tommy, and SIMS 4 for Sue,

Xbox, Wii, Playstation and Nintendo too.

Neither Mamma nor I had Santa forgot,

A 4G smartphone and Alexa in the lot.

From a dronecam flying some far away place

An image so small, across the screen it did race.

What could it be I wondered, what would appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

I toggled the volume and turned it up loud

As his digital facade flew over the clouds

At the speed of Moore’s law his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dell! Now, Gates! Now, Jobs and Wosniak!
On, Bezos! On Ellison! On, Hewlett and Packard!

To the top of the toolbar! The top of the screen!

Now pixels are changing, amazed by it all!

The picture expanded as closer he drew

His exact location surely only he knew.

But Google Street view offered a hopeful clue.

Just a click of the mouse, our house was in view.

With the sleigh full of downloads, upgrades and such

St. Nicholas too, might it be just too much?

The broadband was humming the router secure

A shiny new computer I’m sure will allure

Firewalls open for the jolly red elf.

Presents are coming, surely some for myself.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

A mystery for sure I pondered aloud.

Could Santa be real an answer I vowed.

An Internet search for the jolly St. Nick

“Santa Claus: could he be real” should turn the trick

Pages and pages of results did appear

To read them all might take ‘til Christmas next year.

My eyelids grew heavy then started to droop,

A short nap was needed so I could regroup.

Foggy and confused from my slumber I stirred,

“You’ve got mail,” from the speakers I heard.

An e-mail from Santa’s own smartphone it said,

A tight schedule barred his waking me he pled.

Presents for all under the tree he had spread.

Click here for a live video feed of the sled.

The digital image danced and sparkled bright.

Santa driving his sleigh on its magical flight.

But he posted to Facebook, ere he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Court Nederveld owns his own computer consulting and fixit service –Bits, Bytes & Chips Computer Services. 

Better living through Cell Phones

This week a client informed me that they still had an old flip phone and used it only for emergencies. The question is what denotes an emergency? For many of us, the smart phone has complemented or replaced our desktop or laptop computers. But how many of us stretch the capabilities of our smart phones to their limits. Almost all smart phones are set up to retrieve and send e-mail, text and messaging. We can use them to shop, check reviews, even move our car in and out of parking spaces when the spot is a bit tight. But how about simple day to day tasks that in the past might require separate tools, dangerous positions, pencil, papers or rulers and tables? For example, I needed a part for a twenty year old vertical blind. The blind parts company asked for the model or serial number of the unit to determine which parts it required. Now, in the old days, I might have gotten out the step ladder, climbed up and unfastened the blind, taking it down, knocking over the lamp that I set off to the side so I wouldn’t knock it over, finding the tag and carefully ascribed the numbers and letters on a note pad. But my baby binary buddy, with the camera set for a selfie, or using the front camera, was able to be held up behind, over and under the valence while I perused the screen until I found a label. Now to record that label’s information was a simple touch on the screen and a photo was taken that could be enlarged if my eyes required it.

Want to give up car ownership? Put an app on the smart phone for Uber and Lyft. The Uber app tells us how many Uber cars are nearby, (eight right now) gives three options ranging from everyday drives to more complex rides. The rate for the basic ride from Punta Gorda to Murdock for 4 people is $18.92, my credit card is charged, and according to the app, the car will arrive in nine minutes to pick us up. In the meantime, I can check out the driver’s customer ratings, see a picture of the driver and the car. No cash transfers between passenger and driver unless of course we receive exceptional service which might elicit a tip. As important as the passengers rating the driver, the driver can also rate the passengers as to their behavior. Now sell that old car. No insurance, no registration, go gas, the list goes on.

The possibilities are endless; an app called Loseit will allow us to track every calorie we stuff in our mouth. Amazing how when we see the calories consumed how our hunger seems satisfied much sooner and the pounds seem to fade away.  Another app called Life360 allows our spouse or others to track our travels, which Martha likes to do when I’m out on a long bicycle ride around Charlotte County.

What do you use your smart phone for?

Court Nederveld owns his own computer consulting and fixit service –Bits, Bytes & Chips Computer Services. He makes house calls in Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte! 

Windows Security..Your Computer is Infected

Fake virus infection Web pages are rampant. By now almost everyone has seen the screen that screams Virus Alert – Warning” text within Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. The screen is actually a popup window and the technical mechanism behind that fake page is called the iFrame injection attack, a common kind of XSS (cross site scripting) attack. That tech jargon isn't important to us but illustrates that this is not an infection of our binary buddy, but is a bogus webpage. We can be victims of this attack by clicking on a compromised link, ad or even surfing a tricked webpage. Recently the NY Times website was affected by an ad placed by a scammer. Readers of the NYT were getting these fake webpage popups just from being on the NYT webpage.

Unfortunately there is little we as users can do to prevent this attack. It isn't email based or controlled by anything on our PC. There are several things we should do however if we see one of these fake warnings appear on our computer. First and foremost, repeat, first and foremost, do NOT call the phone number that it says we must call. Calling this number will lead to a carefully scripted con job, control of our machine and ultimately their possession of our credit card numbers and removing $399 from our account.

Now that we know it isn't real and just a webpage in our browser, the easiest thing to do is restart the computer. This causes our browser to close, removing the sham warning page. Bear in mind that if we simply put the computer to sleep rather than restarting it the hoax will still be there when the computer wakes up.

If we can't shut down the computer then we need to close the browser. The X in the top right corner may not be accessible so use the mouse to right button click on the time and date in the corner of our computer. This will open a menu, from the menu left button click on Task Manager and from the dialogue box highlight our browser, be it Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox and then click on the button labeled End Task. This will crash and close the browser. If we then open the browser it may attempt to take us back to where we were and the hoax page may appear again. Repeat process and the browser will ask us if we want to restore the previous pages or start fresh. Choose start fresh. Alternatively, if we are fast enough, we can open the browser and on the tab at the top for the counterfeit warning page, click the close X to shut down just that tab.

Finally if all else fails call a local tech. Not only will they remove the offending webpage, they will double check for any other issues and in my case try to educate the user on how to handle this problem the next time it appears. Because it will. Don't fall for a rip-off webpage.

Court Nederveld owns his own computer consulting and fixit service –Bits, Bytes & Chips Computer Services.

Something special for my blog readers. Over on the right is the ability to purchase my book, Grumbles from the Keyboard. Chock full of tips and tricks. This book is about 4 years old now and it is interesting to see some of the stuff it covers that isn't even used anymore. But, here is the special deal. I have about 17 copies left and anyone that purchases it from this blog will also get as my gift a copy of my book, Epicuria: Adventures that Really Cook! Yes it is a cookbook and that a computer tech can write a cookbook is worth the price any day. When they're gone they're gone so order yours today.  

Go Where You Want, Not Where You Think You Are!

The Internet is an amazing resource. It provides information, shopping, entertainment, how-to, recipes and access to software to accomplish almost any task. There is a dark side as well that we can avoid with just some simple common sense actions.

Most folks get in trouble because they don’t differentiate between a search and a website address. The easiest way to tell if we are performing a search is after we type in what we think is the name of the site we are trying to find, a page with a list of possible results appears. If we actually typed in an address, the resulting webpage will be the company we wanted to see. Example: if we use the search field and type in hp support we see a list of websites that have the words hp and support. But only one of them is going to actually be HP.com. If we type www.hp.com in the URL (Universal Resource Locator) usually at the very top of our web browser (not in a search field) we will see the HP website appear instead of a list of possibilities. In this exercise, the safe way to get to HP support is to type www.hp.com in the URL and then on the HP page click on the Support tab and then find Contact Us. Now we are actually talking to HP. This holds true for any company we are trying to find.

This week I had my own little goof, I typed way to quickly outlok.com instead of outlook.com. Immediately a warning popped up and sirens went off telling me my computer had been infected by the Zeus Trojan virus and unless I called Microsoft at the number on the screen I would lose all my data and the hard drive would be burned to a crisp.

Interestingly, the warning was a webpage from the Internet and did not originate from my binary buddy. The Zeus Trojan virus is a 2003 virus, resurrected in 2013 and doesn’t warn the user that it is on the PC. Any antivirus program is familiar with and easily removes the virus.  It certainly doesn’t infect a computer and then tell us that we should call Microsoft to have them remove it. The bogus webpage does prevent us from closing our browser or more accurately it compels us to force the browser closed. Our browsers try to be helpful and bring us right back to the same website we were at when the browser was closed which means we come right back to the goofy warning page. Probably the easiest way to close the browser is to restart the computer. We can also hit the CTRL+ALT+Delete keys on our keyboard, open up Task Manager, then find and End Task any browser windows open. Finally, run a full antivirus scan or use Malwarebytes to scan the computer. we can also type in the address bar http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/utility# (not the search bar) and follow the instructions to download TDSSkiller from Kaspersky. If we have a Trojan virus this will find it.

Finally, given a choice between Rashid (pardon me Mark) from Pakistan or a local tech, choose local.

Court Nederveld owns his own computer consulting and fixit service –Bits, Bytes & Chips Computer Services. He makes house calls in Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte, FL! You can reach him at adakeep@hotmail.com

The old e-mail bag ripped open again this week so let’s open a few letters of general interest and see if there is a solution to the problems.

Long time reader Mike pens, “Skype is offering a free upgrade. They opened a window (which I have seen other times) that asks, "do you want this program to change my computer"? Yes or No. I always say No, which doesn't allow the upgrade, but concerned that if I say Yes I will be messing up my computer and won't know how to correct it. Is this a valid concern?”

This question actually has two components. First there is the upgrade, and the upgrade or update can be from any program currently on our binary buddy or even one that is attempting to install for the first time. Legitimate programs do offer updates from time to time, sometimes to fix a problem or to add features that the program didn’t previously have. Other examples are iTunes, Adobe Reader and more. The second component is our operating system. Every time a program is updated or changed or even installed for the first time, the computer’s operating system, Windows, is going to be changed. New entries will be written to the registry; programs added and uninstall executables added to Programs and Features.  The OS then asks, “Do you want this program to make these changes to the computer?” If we know what the program is, for example Skype, then answer yes and the changes are made. If we say no, then the update, install or upgrade is not completed and we will be asked the same question the next time the program tries to update.

Another e-mail received this week was from Carbonite. This is a company that I use to back up all the files and pictures on my digital domestiques. It can be downloaded and installed from www.bitsandbytesonline.com, just look for the Carbonite logo, click on it and follow the instructions. The e-mail indicated that Carbonite was resetting all the users’ passwords and that we must log in and set a new password. This was not due to a computer hack of Carbonite but a hack of Linkedin a social networking site. Apparently, passwords and user id’s were stolen from Linkedin and as many of us do, some of those credentials were also used as the login information for many other sites as well. Two things to do here, if we use the same password and user id for multiple sites, think about changing them. Also if we receive an e-mail claiming a security issue with one of the companies we do business with telling us to login and reset our password, remember to never ever click on a link in the e-mail to initiate the reset. Go to the site from a browser’s URL. Example: surf to www.mybank.com and reset from there. The e-mail could very likely be a phishing attempt using current news to trick us into clicking on the link and giving up our login credentials.

Keep those cards and letter coming.