Hopefully, you use different passwords for websites, ISPs, software / file protection (Quicken / Money), and other things that can identify you or cost you money. Unfortunately, most people use passwords that can be guessed easily by hackers or others.
Several utilities can help you generate passwords and keep track of all your user IDs and passwords, credit card numbers, email addresses, PIN and other info you'd like to secure, including these free programs:
From PC World: The spam designation - referring to unsolicited e-mail - comes from a Monty Python's Flying Circus skit, circa 1970. A couple tries to order breakfast in a cafe where every menu item includes Spam. Meanwhile a clutch of helmet-headed Vikings break into song, chanting "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam" and drowing out everyone in the joint.
Posted by: kguske on Monday, October 22, 2018 @ 20:10:36 CDT
After getting about 10 calls in 1 day from a robo caller selling some shady insurance, I'd had enough. I answered the call and asked the person, "Why do I keep getting calls from this..." Click. The bastard hung up.
This annoying scene plays over frequently on both home and mobile phones. In this case, the calls came from 201-204-xxxx numbers. Almost every call came from a different number, but they all had the same area code and exchange.
Rise of the Machines
How do these digital scumbags sleep at night? Unfortunately, probably pretty well. Even though this was not "Steve" from Pakistan telling me he was from Microsoft and here to help, but a North American (possibly Canadian) accent, the scam is practically the same - and just as frustrating. Yes, my number is registered with the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not Call Registry. That's about as effective as asking Central American dreamers to obey immigration laws. But unlike illegal immigrants whose (sympathizer) votes help keep politicians in office, robo callers annoy everyone without preference to ideology. And right now, there isn't much you can do about it. Or is there?
Hasta la vista, baby!
A quick review of mobile phone apps and services yielded some possible solutions with varying degrees of success. The CTIA guide "How to Stop Robocalls" is helpful. Consumer Reports recommends using a call blocking app like NoMoRobo ($2 / month) or a service provided by your carrier, like Verizon's Caller Name ID with call blocking ($3/month). None of the call blockers let you block calls using this combination, though open source NoPhoneSpam (free, Android only, hasn't been updated in over 2 years). Though some of the mobile apps work for free, the saying applies: If you are paying for a product, you (and your data) are the product. In this case, the apps get access to your call history (which isn't too bad) and your contacts, with the excuse that they need to verify if a caller is known to you. Right. And you can get a bargain on beach front property in Arizona.
Since I get spam calls at home, too, I checked with my carrier, MagicJack. I was pleasantly surprised to find a different approach that I'll call "phone captcha" and MJ calls "automated call screening." Basically, all callers must enter the specified random digit before the call rings through. Yes, this might cause issues for legitimate robo calls coming from schools, doctor's offices, airlines, etc. But it's like that most get those calls on their mobile phones. A mobile app, provided by the carrier or by an independent company, should be able to implement this feature for free as in beer. You could easily add a list of approved callers (or match them to your contacts - you are the product!) to automatically allow calls through. But unless it was provided by the carrier, it might need to ring at least once to trigger the screen.
It will be interesting to see how these tools and services evolve, especially if Congress stops campaigning long enough to actually pass legislation to address this. If they do, I'll be back.
Posted by: kguske on Thursday, September 13, 2018 @ 00:11:48 CDT
Android TV apps continue to evolve and expand, even as old favorites like Kodi decline. Here are the SwampGeek recommended Android TV & Fire TV apps for December 2017.
Click the image to view screenshots of the December 2017 Android TV Apps
Although popular Kodi plugins have disappeared, others have evolved and been renamed in order to continue providing links to content.
New Android apps, also supported by Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, offer good alternatives to the ever popular Kodi, including:
Terrarium TV - probably the best alternative, but must be downloaded from backup sources as the GitHub download has been removed
Stremio - available in the Play Store
Pluto TV (untested)
Cloud TV (untested)
TubiTV (untested)
YouTube
(commercial) Amazon Prime Instant Video (not available in the Play Store for Android phones, tables and TV boxes for newer Android versions)
With increase of online usage, the number and sophistication of attacks against personal computers are on the rise. The How-To Geek offers some excellent advice on "Basic Computer Security: How to Protect Yourself from Viruses, Hackers, and Thieves." This primarily focuses on real-time and reactive detection and blocking. It also suggests being aware of scams, avoiding malicious links in email (assuming you know they're malicious), and how to protect your information when using the Internet and email.
But it leaves out other important ways to protect yourself and your computer, including recovery / backups and preventive (vs. reactive) blocking of malicious software (aka malware). These can be especially important in the age of ransomware, encryption, spoofing, phishing, pharming, and the old stand-bys from the 1980s: adware, keyloggers, spyware, trojan horses, viruses and worms.
Here are the SwampGeek recommendations to protect yourself against malware, invasion of privacy, drive failures and more using powerful, free software:
Backup
Realtime cloud / offsite backup:
Crashplan Look for plan that lets you back up all computers you own, but also can use the software to backup files to another system to protect again drive failures and encryption attacks. (Crashplan no longer offers a consumer / family plan and current users must move off by October, 2018)
Password Manager - create unique, secure passwords for each site
LastPass (works with all browsers; free version is fine for most, but paid version is only $12/year)
Browser ad & malware blocking and privacy addons / extensions / plugins (most are available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera but not Internet Explorer)
Adguard AdBlocker (filter known counters and analytical systems, but turn off other custom filters)
Here are the simple steps, many with video, to cut the cable cord with Kodi:
Use a commercial VPN, like Private Internet Access, to keep your ISP at bay. ($40 / year or less, for up to 5 devices, including routers, which count as 1 device no matter how many are connected)
Install Fire TV Stick, connect to a router with VPN installed, and disable "Collect App Usage Data"
From the Fire TV home screen, select Settings, Application, Collect App Usage Data (off)
Note from the "If you aren't paying for it, you're the product" department: To use Amazon Underground apps and in-app items you are required to enable the "Collect App Usage Data" setting on your device. This allows you to download and use Amazon Underground apps, games and in-app items for free.
Install Firestarter and Kodi (without Firestarter, Amazon makes accessing Kodi on a Fire TV device really hard) Update: Use this link to install Firestarter: http://bit.ly/1NzPaKE
The Breakdown by Usage Type chart shows my Verizon family plan usage by line. The first and 4th lines are college students living away from home. Both have wifi access when they aren't in class. The first line, a Moto X running Android Kit Kat, normally has more usage than the 4th, an iPhone 5s. Why does the iPhone have almost 5 times the usage of an Android phone that likely has more usage?
Here's what I've learned so far:
iOS applications still use mobile data, even if connected to a wireless network, including:
iTunes and app updates
Facetime
Text messaging (by default)
You can turn off mobile data by application, but sometimes it comes back.
You can manually turn off mobile data, but the only way to automate that is by jailbreaking the phone.
Wireless access is deactivated when the phone sleeps, but iOS updates and other background activities will still happen using mobile data.
Poor reception will cause the phone to continuously connect (this happens on all smartphones).
The mail app will continuously attempt to send unsent mail from the Outbox.
To be fair, I had a similar problem with the Amazon store (not to be confused with the Amazon app store) on an Android phone. It synchronized 100MB of data, images and information on every product I viewed on the Amazon website), even though I didn't use the app on my phone. That isn't trivial (and I suspect it would happen on any phone with the Amazon store), but it pales in comparison with what I estimate to be the 5GB of phantom data usage on the iPhone.
Unfortunately, for now it seems the best option is to manually turn off mobile data unless, and only if, it's necessary. I'll update this as we learn more...
Posted by: kguske on Sunday, September 14, 2014 @ 12:27:52 CDT
While working on a social media marketing plan for RavenNuke™ CMS (content management system), a review of three major CMS applications provided some interesting insights into different approaches for similar software, including Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress.
This compares the main navigation, about and getting involved pages, social media marketing (links, calls to social media action, etc.), use of major social media functions (Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus), and marketing support. Although the main navigation, about, and getting involved pages aren't specifically intended to support social media marketing, this content provides insight into the important messages these projects want to make on the project website - and in social media marketing efforts. The links to major social media functions enable quick reference to see how well the actual social media content support those efforts.
Cloud storage and synchronizing services pop up and disappear almost as quickly as Instagram's employees became mega millionaires. Who remembers Apple's MobileMe, Microsoft's Foldershare, MyBloop (unlimited storage), oosah, XDrive, or HP's Upline? More recently, Motorola acquired and is shutting down ZumoDrive, which even has mobile clients unlike its many predecessors.
Perennial cloud storage favorites DropBox and Box.net have a new competitor: Cubby from remote access powerhouse LogMeIn (currently in limited Beta testing by request). With 5GB free online storage, file versioning and built-in synchronization that lets you choose whether or not to use online storage, Cubby has most of the best features of DropBox, Windows Live Mesh / SkyDrive and Crashplan. What's the catch?
First, welcome to Android! One of the major benefits of this open operating system is flexibility - instead of one-size-fits all, you can choose to replace any app or function with something different and better - for you.
For links, see my Appbrain list of apps for new Androids. If you get an AppBrain account (and install the AppBrain App Market & Fast Web Installer), you can select all these apps and install from the list. And since this list changes as apps improve or new apps are released, you can follow the list.
I've tested over 500 apps - very few of which were games. Since games & social apps are more subjective, my list includes security , replacement of standard apps, widgets / productivity, and utilities. Most are free. 2 that aren't on the list because they aren't on the market: Amazon Appstore and GetJar (both offer free paid apps). It also doesn't include apps that require root access (there is another list for that).
After getting about 10 calls in 1 day from a robo caller selling some shady insurance, I'd had enough. I answered the call and asked the person, "Why do I keep getting calls from this..." Click. The bastard hung up.
Hasta la vista, baby!
Be careful what you wish for...
