The emoji’s just about say it all, don’t they? You don’t need me to tell you why you hate wireless printing. I hate it too. But I bet you’d like some answers about what to do when your wireless printer is having a bad day. I would also like to give you my tips for purchasing a new printer for when the time comes. I’ve been wanting to have this conversation with the world for awhile now, so, here we go.

So here’s the bottom line about wireless printing… it’s terrible. The only other way to say it is that wireless printing is complicated, because it can be easily interfered with, and solutions are not easy, even for tech experts. I’ve set up many wireless printers for clients, some have no problems printing, and others have constant problems printing. For a time, I couldn’t get wireless printing to work in my own home office. I used to think it was me, that maybe my skills weren’t up to snuff, but then I spoke to other tech consultants who on mention of wireless printing would just begin moaning and shaking their heads. I asked Google why wireless printing is so unreliable, and sadly, what I found was tons of complaints, just a few improvement tips, but very little explanation as to why wireless printing is so unreliable and hasn’t improved much over the years. I mention that so you know that this article is largely based on my own experiences setting up and troubleshooting printers.

In my experience, what I notice most of the time when wireless printers won’t work, is that they have ‘fallen asleep’ on the network. This is my own description, not a technical answer. When this happens, you get a message on the device from which you are printing that says that it can’t find any available printers. Sometimes, the solution here is easy; turn the printer Off and back On, and that usually will ‘wake up’ the printer as it reboots and reconnects to the WiFi network, and then you can try printing again. If that doesn’t work, the next step is to do the same to the device you are printing from; restart your computer, iPad, iPhone, etc., and try again. If the same bad luck persists, then also reboot your router simply by unplugging it from the wall and plugging it back in again. Keep in mind that while it only takes a minute or two to reboot your printer and or device, routers can take a few minutes longer to reboot fully. Those three devices are the only devices we can reboot, so if you’ve rebooted all of them with no success, then sadly we’re on to the more abstract solutions.

Wireless printing can be interfered and complicated by lots of other factors that can be difficult to troubleshoot. These other factors can include the locations of your devices, the age of your devices, the materials and objects in your home such as signal boosters, large wooden doors, pipes, refrigerators, and even large fish tanks. Here’s my Top 6 list of things to do to improve your luck with wireless printing.

1. Rearrange your home setup so that all necessary devices are located in the same room (printer, router, and computer/mobile device). I know your printer is ugly, but don’t hide it!
2. If No. 1 is not fully possible, at least have your Internet provider install your router on the same floor as where your printer is located and from where you do your computing work. I often find routers are located in a closet, or basement rafters or corners… bring it into the open space on the floor in which you live your life.
3. Step away from your fridge when printing from your mobile device. Don’t try to print through large heavy doors, down staircases or through long hallways. If your printer, router, and computer/mobile device can’t be in the same room, make sure all three of those devices have clear line of sight between each other.
4. Make sure your printer and computer/mobile device are using the same WiFi network. Those using signal boosters should know that boosters often change the name of the extended network that they generate, so if your iPad and your printer are not both using the same portion  of your WiFi network (extended or not extended), wireless printing becomes impossible because your printer and device are technically on different WiFi networks.
5. Update and upgrade. Update means making sure the system software is up to date on all your devices. Even printers and routers use what’s called ‘firmware,’ which is the equivalent of system software for non-computer devices. Upgrade means replacing your computer, iPad, or iPhone if they are terribly old. (Please don’t forget this list are suggestions that can help, not guarantees). Before replacing the aforementioned devices, call your Internet provider and ask if they can bring you a better router. Internet providers (all of them) bring their customers the bottom-of-the-barrell quality routers. For a charge, they may be able to bring you a higher quality product that may work better for wireless printing.
6. Forget about printing wirelessly. Use a good old fashioned USB cable to hardwire connect your computer and printer. Those who don’t own a computer and only use mobile devices do not have this option unfortunately. Those who do use a computer, this means your computer and printer need to be relatively near each other so the cable can reach between the two.

I hope these suggestions will be helpful. Sadly, one of the best things you can do when setting up wireless printing is to set your expectations low. Plenty of people have no problem, and others will have constant problems. For some, even the suggestions mentioned above won’t fix the problem. We have to hope that this technology improves as it matures.

OK, moving on. Briefly wanted to mention a few tips for replacing your printer when the time comes. Here’s another Top 6 list:

1. Never buy a printer that costs less than $150. You WILL be disappointed. Even if you plan to buy in-store, shop online to compare models and take your time. Look at the star ratings and read some of the reviews. Stick to well-known brands like Epson, Canon, HP, and Brother.
2. Buy a printer with an LCD screen. Some printer manufacturers have done away with LCD screens to make their printers prettier. Having an LCD screen can be super nice when setting up a new printer, or when the printer needs to communicate with you. Without an LCD, your printer may just beep at you to let you know there is some problem. An LCD can tell you what kind of problem exists; the WiFi is disconnected, the ink has run out, the paper has run out, a firmware update is necessary. Some printers with LCD’s can even display a video on how to access and change the inks!
3. Decide if you like separated ink tanks. Some printers come with two ink tanks; Black and Tri-Color. Other printers come with separated ink tanks, usually resulting in 5 ink tanks; Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and another Black tank larger than the others dedicated to printing B/W documents. Ink tanks are expensive no matter which way you go, but when a printer using the two tank system runs out of Yellow, you replace the entire Tri-Color tank even if Cyan and Magenta are not empty. The two tank system might mean replacing  your ink tanks less often, but you’ll pay a lot more for ink in the long run.
4. Decide if you really need color. If you don’t, consider LaserJet printers, which have really come down in price. LaserJet printers use dry toner instead of wet ink. The benefits of this are many; your printed pages aren’t wet and warped, you replace the toner far less often than inks, you don’t need to worry about wet ink cartridges drying up and needing to be replaced before they are empty.
5. Decide on a scanner glass and a document feeder. Most printers will automatically come with a scanner, so that you can scan photos/documents into your computer, or use the glass to make copies from existing hard copies. A document feeder makes it possible for you to make those copies without having to lift the lid to access the glass. Additionally, a document feeder means you can put a multi-page document into the feeder to make copies without having to scan each page manually. Most printers will at least have a scanner, but many printers do not include the feeder. Decide what’s important to you and then be sure to ask your salesperson for the printer that has the features that you want.
6. Don’t forget a USB cable. Many people already have a USB cable laying around in a big box of cables somewhere, so you may not need to buy one. If you plan to print the more reliable way via USB hoping to avoid wireless printing headaches, you’ll need to purchase a USB cable separately, as no printer on the market comes with one. To be technical, it’s called a USB Device cable, and it hasn’t changed at all in many years. If your old printer has a cable in use, you can likely use the same one on your new printer. Newer computers may not have any traditional USB ports, and so may require a USB to USB-C adapter to connect the cable to the computer.

OK, that’s it. Happy printing!

More often than I like to admit I hear from a client who tells me their computer has crashed. My first question is always the same; “Do you have a backup?” Many times the answer is ‘Yes’, but too often the answer is ‘No.’

If the answer is ‘Yes,’ here is what you can expect: Replace the computer, and use the backup to transfer your data. You’ll pick up right where you left off… easy as pie.

If the answer is ‘No,’ here is what you’re up against: You’ve lost your data. You’ll first need to replace your computer,. Then you’ll need to choose if you want to pursue recovering data from the crashed computer, or, forego this process and take the loss.

It might be good to know that many times, data is recoverable from the hard drive. When a computer crashes, the problem may or may not be connected to the internal hard drive. If the problem is not the hard drive, the drive can be extracted and put it in a casing. Your old internal drive is now an external drive, and you can just plug it into another computer and retrieve the data. This process takes a few hours and might cost you a couple hundred dollars. If the problem that made your computer crash was the hard drive, you may still be able to retrieve the data. There are companies that will extract the drive and use other tools to recover the data from a failed drive. This process can be expensive, sometimes over a $1000, so you’ll need to evaluate what your documents and data are worth to you.

Now contrast both of those options to the better alternative. Purchase a backup drive for $50-100, and schedule a few minutes each week to run a backup. Both Mac and Windows computers each come with backup software built-in to the computer, you just have to provide the external hard drive. For laptops, be sure to purchase a portable drive, which is powered by the computer when you plug it in. For desktop computers, use a desktop drive, which has its’ own power cord. The desktop drives are meant to be left plugged in to your computer all the time. They just sit behind your computer and quietly do their one job… to complete at least one backup every day. The portable drives, while cheaper, are not meant to be left plugged in to a desktop computer all the time. Doing so will shorten the life of your backup drive, so use these only for laptops, and break them out once a week to complete a backup.

Now, what about the cloud… aren’t my documents ‘up there?’ Well… maybe. It depends on your cloud settings. Popular choices include iCloud, One Drive, Google Drive, and Drop Box. All of these options can work well for those familiar with using the cloud to store documents. Some cloud services will store the contents of some folders in the cloud, but other folders are likely excluded. The cloud has limits that are not well understood, and I’d like to address those limitations.

When it comes to backing up your iPhone and iPad, those devices backup the entirety of their data to Apple’s iCloud. But iCloud (and other cloud services) don’t usually back up the entirety of your computer, and that’s because your computer is too big. Your computer typically holds much more data than mobile devices. You can often enable settings to back up a couple commonly used folders from your computer, but there will be exclusions. With Apple’s iCloud, you can only tell your Mac to store the contents of your Desktop and Documents folders to the cloud. For other cloud providers, you’ll have to look at your settings to see what can and what can’t be sent to the cloud. There will be likely be exclusions, and below is a list of folders that typically don’t go to the cloud, leaving some of your data at risk for loss in the scenario of a computer crash when you have no backup.

Applications – Any apps you install on your computer are stored locally on the internal hard drive. These can be re-installed on a new computer, but it takes time and energy to remember what apps you need and where you got them.

Downloads – Of course you can re-download anything, but most people have no idea what’s in their Downloads folder, and it’s usually… a lot.

Music – Song files are a little big for the cloud. Music you’ve purchased digitally can always be downloaded again, but any tunes you’ve ripped (copied) from CD’s may not be recoverable.

Photos – Depending on your settings, your photos could be in the cloud, and for many, they are in the cloud. That’s the good news, but also for many, items like scanned photos/documents, or photos copied from a flash drive, etc, reside in the Photos folder, but are excluded from the database/collection of photos that sync to the cloud. I find this to be the case on many clients’ computers, and so that is the bad news, that some photos/scans could be lost in a computer crash.

Movies – Although many people never do any video editing on their computer, those that do could lose movie and slideshow projects.

The User folder – Sometimes called the ‘Home’ folder, this folder is the ‘parent’ folder to other folders like Desktop, Documents, and Downloads. The User folder is not intended to be a place for documents and other data, but I can’t tell you how many times I find people have files stored here, when they should be in the Documents folder. This ‘parent’ folder is excluded from the cloud, even though some of its’ ‘child’ folders (Desktop and Documents) are included. Any items stored in this folder would also be lost in a crash.

Any data not cloud synced – Data like Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Tasks, Reminders, and Browser Bookmarks are often set to sync to the cloud. I find that many have the cloud setting turned Off for these apps, making data in those apps susceptible to loss.

But here’s the good news… guess what’s included in a backup with an external drive? Everything. Yes, EVERY… THING.

So even though, yes, it is possible to manage your computer in such a way to use the cloud as a backup, most computer users just don’t have the time, energy, or skills to make it happen. And when a backup drive will cost you $50 and 10 min per week, there is just no reason that everyone shouldn’t have an external backup drive. Using the cloud definitely has its’ place for syncing and backing up select documents. Having a backup on an external drive, however, makes dealing with a computer crash SO much easier!

In the event that I’ve convinced you to go get a backup, here’s two last words of advice. Most people don’t need anything bigger than 2TB for their backup, but sometimes you can’t find anything smaller than 3 or 4TB. That’s fine, just don’t let a salesperson convince you that you need anything more than 2TB. There are a lot of good brands out there… I like Seagate and Western Digital, both very popular, easy to find. You should also double check your computers’ ports to see what kind of plug you need with the new backup drive. Does the computer use a traditional USB plug, or the new slimmer USB-C plug? Don’t forget, get a portable external drive for a laptop, and an external desktop drive for a desktop computer.

Setting up your backup once you have the drive is another article yet to come, but your computer may walk you through the process once you plug it in. You can always let me know if you need help. To be continued…

At the time of this writing in late May 2021, iOS 14.6 has just released, a minor update that won’t be terribly interesting to many. Even these updates that don’t sound interesting are still important to install, because small security patches often get bundled with new features, and we should always keep up with these security patches to keep our devices as protected as possible.

iOS 14.5, now more than a few weeks old already, had some improvements that are worth noting. I won’t discuss the exhaustive list, but I’ll comment on the things that either you’ve heard about in the news, or the more useful but subtle new features.

1. App Tracking – This is the biggest deal of iOS 14.5. If you don’t know, Apple is big on privacy, more so than most big tech companies out there. Apple feels that we should have some say in whether or not the apps we use should have the ability to track our online activity. You might experience the results of being tracked when you look at new shoes on Amazon, and then saw ads for the very same shoes while you were checking your Facebook timeline later that day. This is called ad retargeting, and apps and websites can track you and share information to display to you these creepily relevant ads. If you like the sound of putting a stop to being tracked across the Internet, open your iPhone or iPad and tap Settings > Privacy > Tracking, and turn Off the setting that says ‘Allow Apps to Request to Track’. Turning this Off means that when you download and install a new app, the app is told up front not to bother you with a request to track you because the answer is No! If you leave this setting On, then when you install new apps, you’ll see a pop-up message asking if it’s OK for the app to track you, and you’ll have to respond to each new app with a tap on either ‘OK’, or, ‘Ask App Not to Track’. It’s important to note that turning this feature Off does not mean that you won’t see ads, it means the ads you will see won’t be as relevant… it won’t be the shoes you just looked at on Amazon, it will be something a little more random. As you can imagine, companies like Facebook and Google are not too happy about this new feature, which limits their ability to deliver you those retargeted ads.  You may even see messages from Facebook asking you to turn that feature back On. The ad retargeting may or may not give you the creeps, so you can decide what you’d like to do. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes as those tech giants do battle on this topic. Just for fun, watch this short, fun, and creepy video that Apple made about that demonstrates what happens with tracking. Click HERE to watch.
2. Unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask – For those who have Face ID setup on their iPhone X or newer, you’ve not doubt noticed that while you’re wearing a face mask, that your iPhone does not recognize you. This feature has been highlighted on the news, but I have to say, it’s not that great. Doing this requires that you also have an AppleWatch, and the watch has to have its’ own passcode on it. So, when you want to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask, you can lift your wrist and punch in your 4 digit code to unlock the watch, which will in turn unlock the iPhone. For those who don’t own an AppleWatch, you can’t do this. For those that do, you have to enable a passcode on the watch, which means every time you want to see more than the time, you have to punch in your code. Personally, I would rather just pull my mask down briefly so the iPhone can recognize me in order to unlock it with the Face ID. Perhaps you’re not somewhere you can drop your mask, so why not just punch in your passcode into the iPhone itself to unlock it, rather than punching it into your watch…!? Beyond that, it’s warm outside, mask mandates are diminishing, this new feature is too little, too late. :0(
3. AirTags – This is the next big deal of iOS 14.5. If you’ve ever heard of a little device called ‘Tile’ that allows you to track your own stuff, AirTags are Apple’s attempt at the same thing. AirTags are small devices that you can attach to your keys, bag/purse, bicycle, car, whatever! When any of these items go missing, you can use the Find My app on your iPhone or iPad to track these lost items. You can buy these directly from Apple for $29 each, or 4 for $99. Older iPhones and iPad won’t be able to track lost items… don’t forget, you need iOS 14.5 on your mobile devices in order for them to work with AirTags. Make sure your device can update to iOS 14.5 before you stock up on AirTags.
4. Podcasts – For the podcast lovers out there, Apple just redesigned the Podcasts app, and it makes a lot more sense now! Gone is the word, ‘subscription,’ which was confusing and made people think you had to pay for podcasts, which are in fact Free. Now, instead of subscribing, you ‘Follow’ a podcast, which makes it easy to find in the Library section. Additionally, the Podcast app won’t download and bulk up your device anymore with dozens of episodes that you intended to listen to but never did. You don’t have to ‘Add’ shows to your Library before you listen to them anymore. When you find an episode you want to hear, there’s a Play button right there so you can stream it in the moment, or you can tap More (…), and Download it for offline listening later, or even Save it without downloading it. The Library section is clearly labeled with sub-sections for Shows (that you’re following), Downloaded (episodes for offline listening), and Saved (episodes you’ve bookmarked so you can find easily later). It’s a HUGE improvement… check it out!
5. Maps – A few really nice changes have been added to the Maps app as well. The most obvious thing is that during GPS driving navigation, the red END button has disappeared from the bottom of the screen. That may not seem like a good thing, but I’m guessing lots of people were accidentally turning off their navigation. So now, you see a little Up arrow instead, tap that and you’ll see a big red X to end your navigation when you’re ready. Another addition is a new feature stolen from popular competitor map app, Waze, where drivers can report things like accidents, speed traps, etc. This crowd-sourced data improves the accuracy of the map as it displays what’s happening along your route. To report something, tap that same Up arrow (you have to be GPS navigating at the moment), tap Report, and then choose either Accident, Hazard, or Speed Check. Finally, the last improvement fixes that scenario where you’re driving, and you need a gas station. You end the navigation so you can search for a nearby gas station (while someone else is driving of course!), but the map shows you gas stations that are behind you, and you don’t care to turn around. Now, while navigating, tap that same Up arrow, and tap Add Stop, and choose what you’re looking for, gas, restaurant, bank, convenient store, etc., and you’ll be shown these businesses along your route, not behind you, without having to stop your navigating to conduct the search. Brilliant!!
6. Reminders – The Reminders app gained two small, but nice features. First, you can now sort the items on your list. Open the Reminders app, and then tap a list to see its’ contents. Tap More (…), then Sort By, and then you can choose how you want the list sorted by Creation Date (date items were added), by Title (alphabetical), or by Due Dates and Priority (if you use those features). Secondly, you can finally print a list! Open a list and tap More (…), and then select Print from the menu. It’s about time on that one! :0)
7. Translation – The Translation app was completely new in iOS 14, and now in iOS 14.5, Apple has added a small, but helpful change. I anticipate that many people will begin traveling again, so this feature may come in real handy if you plan to travel to a foreign country. Open the Translate app, select your languages at the top (left is your language, right is new language). Tap ‘Enter text,’ type a short sentence, and tap Go. You’ll be able to read the translation on the screen, but you can also tap the triangle Play button to hear it spoken. What’s new is the ability to long-press the Play button to see some options to slow down the spoken translation, so you can hear it a little better. Not new, but good to know, is to turn your iPhone sideways to enter conversation mode, where two people speaking the languages you’ve selected can take turns pressing the microphone button and speaking so the iPhone can translate. This mode prevents you from having to switch the native and foreign language setting back and forth, as the iPhone will listen and detect BOTH languages simultaneously  and translate automatically into the opposite language. Amazing!

OK, that’s enough, right!? That’s a lot, for a little update. There were more changes as well, but this list is my own selection that I think will be most useful for my audience. Enjoy!

 

New phishing email scams appear every day, that is nothing new. My wife originally heard about this one on the radio, and then immediately checked her spam folder, where she found more than a few of these fraudulent messages. These email messages vary in topic, but I saw messages like the ones below:

1. 1800flowers – You are eligible for a loyalty prize
2. Amazing Deals – A reward from Lowes
3. Bryant & Stratton – Complete your medical degree

I’m certain that there are plenty more topics and businesses that these fraudulent emails will represent. These messages seem to be a cut above the average email phishing scam because they look like they could actually come from the business that the email header says it’s from… but these messages all come from the same sender: newsletter@mokfield.com. This reminds me… do you know how to check the sender’s email address to make sure a message is legitimate? If an email message looks good enough to seem legitimate, looking at the sender’s email address should help you identify a fraudulent scam message.

On iPhone or iPad, open the Mail app (blue and white envelope icon), and open any message. Look at the header at the top of the message, which contains the email addresses of both sender (on top), and recipient (below). Note however, that the sender can mask their email address in favor of a company name. You can look behind this company name to see the actual email address that sent the message. Tap the header at the top, and the sender and recipient names should turn from black to blue. Tap again on the sender’s name and a page should appear displaying the sender’s email address. Tap Done to close this page.

On a Mac where you are using Apple’s Mail application (not a web browser), open any email message, and hover your cursor on top of the email senders name. The senders name should highlight and display a tiny down arrow. Click that down arrow, and the sender’s email address will display in a pop up menu. Click anywhere outside the pop up menu to close it.

There are too many email systems and providers to describe how to see the sender’s email address for each, but there is undoubtedly a way to do this for those checking email via web browser, and it’s probably very similar to the methods described above for Apple products. If you’re using a browser to check email, I would start by hovering the cursor over the sender’s name in the header of any email message.

So what’s so important about seeing a sender’s email address? Seeing the full email address can provide a huge red flag to a message that might otherwise look legitimate. Everyone should know how to do this, and it’s good practice before you click a link in any email message, to look at the sender’s email address. A legitimate email will always display the company name somewhere in the email address, usually after the ‘@’ symbol. Addresses like; service@sales.lowes.com, or donotreply@amazon.com have a ring of authenticity to them. An address like: luckystars@.xyz.mnm.ru does not have a ring of authenticity. For starters, no business name appears anywhere in the address, there’s a string of seemingly random characters after the @ symbol, and the address ends with .ru, which means it comes from Russia.

Many of the messages in the email campaign from newsletter@mokfield.com look legitimate, like they might be from known American businesses. Normally, after verifying an email address is legitimate, it’s a good idea to unsubscribe from messages that you don’t wish to receive. Fraudulent messages however, may not display an unsubscribe button (another red flag), or worse, unsubscribing is part of the scam. In the newsletter@mokfield.com examples, the messages look legitimate enough, that I believe part of the scam is that they want you to try to unsubscribe.

It’s hard to know what exactly is the end game of these email scams, but the bottom line is… Don’t click links in these messages, including unsubscribe links, until you have looked at the sender’s email address to make sure it’s legitimate. There are still some other red flags that you can look for to see if messages are legitimate. Here are a few of my top fraud message red flags;

1. Sender’s email address contains no business name
2. Poor English grammar and spelling
3. Contains panic-inducing language – “Your account has or will be deleted, locked, or compromised”
4. Contains threatening language – “If you don’t respond in 24 hrs, we will shut down your account”
5. Offers you a loyalty reward or prize
6. Asks you to “verify” your account
7. The message is ‘out of the blue’-  You weren’t expecting it and/or have never done business with this company
8. The message has no name, or signature at the bottom

Did you know that you should always put a signature, or at least your name at the bottom of any email message that you send out? Not doing so could land your message in your recipient’s spam folder!

OK, a couple final things to mention… sometimes a business will legitimately ask you to “verify” your account. This should only occur immediately after you have created the account. If ‘Paypal’ is asking you to verify your account, but it’s been years since you created the account, the message is a scam. It’s also possible that a fraudulent message may display the business name in the sender’s email address, and that’s why it’s good to look for multiple red flags. You may check the sender’s email address on a suspicious message and the header displays the legitimate email address of someone you know! This happens when a scammer gains access to someone’s email account, and then proceeds to send messages to everyone in their contacts list so that the message appears to be legitimate. In this scenario, look for other red flags like poor English, a missing signature, and also ask yourself: “Does this message reflect how my friend normally talks?” By the way, if you get a message like this, you should do your friend the courtesy of letting them know that they should reset their email account password in order to revoke access to the scammer.

As for the mokfield newsletter messages – You don’t want to unsubscribe since the messages are fraudulent. The best thing you can do here is to mark them as junk or spam, and then delete them.

Stay safe everyone. It’s a crazy world out there!

So here’s the scam… Out of nowhere, you receive an email from someone you don’t know, and in their message they claim to know that you’ve been looking at porn online. They know this, they say, because they activated your web cam, they installed key-logging software on your device, and they’ve been monitoring all your online activity. They say that they are going to expose this activity on your social media accounts, thereby destroying your reputation and character. That’s not even the worse part… they seem to know one of your commonly used passwords. Right there at the top of the email message is your name and password, and then they describe your shameful behavior, before telling you that they will keep their mouth closed, if you’ll send hush money in Bitcoin to such and such address.

Have you seen this scam yet? If not…, you very well may soon, so you should know how to respond.

This blackmail scam is totally bogus, don’t fall for it! What gives this scam a ring of credibility is that they know your password… but which password is it, and how did they get it!? You may not know which account used that password, unless you tend to use the same password on many sites. Passwords are actually not that difficult for criminals to acquire. Yes, you should make your passwords unique and difficult to guess, but if your password is part of a password dump, then the complexity of your password doesn’t matter.

What is a ‘password dump?’ A password dump is when a hacker is able to get into the servers of a company where you have an online account, and the usernames and passwords stored on that server are acquired. Those usernames and passwords are then bought, sold, and exposed on the dark web for other hackers and criminals to use. A password dump is totally out of your control. We trust the companies that we do business with to keep this information safe and secure, but clearly, it doesn’t always work.

This is where this blackmail scam emerges. A criminal gets ahold of your name, email address, and your password (for whichever account was compromised). The criminal then sends you an email, stating your name, and listing the one password he or she knows, hoping that displaying this information combined with some nasty threats about ruining your character that this will be enough to frighten you into swift action. By the way, any email that puts a short timer on your response is always a HUGE red flag! They don’t want you to have enough time to calm down and figure out the scam, they want the initial panic to carry you through the action of sending the money.

So, what do I do if I get one of these email messages? Stay calm. Delete the message and live your life. Look through your little black book of passwords to see which online accounts use the password exposed in the email. Visit those sites and reset your password for that account to something different. You can initiate that process on most sites by clicking Sign In, but then instead of signing in, click Forgot Password, and that will walk you through the process. Don’t forget to write down your new password in your little black book. Do that for each site that used that exposed password.

That’s it. Stay calm, and carry on!  :O)

I’ve gotten several emails from concerned customers in the last couple days regarding a mysterious email they’ve received from Google, saying that their Google+ account is going away. I’ve copied and pasted a portion of this message from Google. Take a look, and then see my comments below.

 

— — —

From: Google+ Team <noreply@plus.google.com>
Subject:Your personal Google+ account is going away on April 2, 2019

You’ve received this email because you have a consumer (personal) Google+ account or you manage a Google+ page.

In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content.

On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.

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Friends, this is NOT a scam, and it requires no action for most people. Let’s first answer the question, “What is Google+ ?” It is Google’s answer to Facebook, a social media platform designed to connect Google users and provide a place to share photos, and communicate to large audiences. You may have never heard of it, and that’s because it never really took off. Facebook is a pretty big competitor, and Google+ was too late to the game, and couldn’t keep up.

 

“I don’t have a personal Google+ account,” you might say. Well, if you use Gmail for your email, then actually, yes, you do have a personal Google+ account. Your personal Google+ account is an online account that comes with many Google services, of which the primary is Gmail. Google’s other services are automatically a part of your personal account. Many people only use Google to search the Web, but if you use Gmail, then you also have a Google+ account. The language is a little confusing here, but think of your personal Google account as the umbrella, under which also resides your Gmail account, Google Photos account, Google+ account, etc. Access to all of those services comes bundled together with one Google account. Saying that you have a Gmail account is interchangeable with saying that you have a Google+ account. All these accounts tie into your personal Google account.

 

Getting back to the mysterious email now, due to the lack of people using the Google+ service (and a few data breaches), Google is shutting down the Google+ social media service. This means that Google+ is being removed as a service from your Google account. For those who never used the Google+ social media service, this means nothing for you. Your Gmail email service will continue to function as normal, and as mentioned in the email from Google, if you’re using the Google Photos service to store your photos in the cloud, that service will continue to operate as well.

 

For those who did or do use the Google+ service, this means that all message posts and photos will be removed and deleted unless you click the download link in the email you received.

 

Google+ will continue to function for Google business customers, as a part of the paid Gsuite services, but the consumer (personal) version of Google+ is done as of April 2nd, 2019. If you were never a Google+ user, then you can just delete that email from Google, and carry on as normal.

A client of mine recently installed an update on her Apple device. She was greeted with a strange message saying something about Two Factor Authentication. I got an email soon after asking “Do I want it?” “Do I need it?” “What is it?”

 

Welcome to iOS 10.3.1 or macOS Sierra 10.12.4. These two recent  software updates (as of April 2017) for Apple devices are triggering requests to set up two factor authentication (2FA).

 

2FA is something that you’ve already been using for a long time. When you go to the bank and you want to cash a check, you often need both your bank card and an ID. When you go through security at the airport, you have to show them your boarding pass and your ID. These higher risk activities require two ways of establishing who you are. Someone pretending to be you could easily get their hands on one form of your ID without too much trouble. Getting their hands on a second form of ID is not impossible, but it is harder.

 

Apple would like you to consider protecting your Apple account and devices in similar fashion. The password that accompanies your Apple ID is only one form of authentication. Passwords can sometimes be guessed, phished, or otherwise bypassed. Even complex passwords can only do so much to protect your account.

 

2FA adds a second layer of protection to your account. Here’s when and how it works. 2FA appears either when you (or someone else) attempts to sign in to your Apple account on the web, or when you (or someone else) attempts to sign in to your Apple account when setting up a new device (Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.). In these situations, you will receive a single-use code on one of your other devices. This six digit code must be entered in addition to the password in order to access the account.

 

The theory is that while cyber-criminals may acquire your password, they probably don’t also have possession of your other devices. The required code (sent to another device) can therefore prevent a hack.

 

While 2FA makes it harder for hackers to access your account and devices, it also makes it harder for you. The bad news is that even 2FA is not impossible to get around, so it may only thwart the lightweight hackers. The good news is that the heavyweight hackers are not typically interested in you. Hackers are usually more interested in large companies. There they can gain access to larger quantities of user data stored on company servers.

 

So what is at stake? Well, if a hacker does gain access to your Apple account, they could at a minimum see the data that you have stored in iCloud. This could include photos, contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, and possibly email. This is only true of email if you are using an Apple domain email address (mac.com, me.com, or icloud.com). Documents stored in iCloud Drive would also be accessible. A hacker may be able to delete this data, or possibly even hold your data ransom and demand payment to restore it.

 

So should I use 2FA? It is up to you if you want to use 2FA, and following are a couple scenarios and questions to help you decide. Are you somewhat tech savvy? Do you store documents in iCloud Drive? Do your notes, photos, or email contain sensitive or important data? If you answered ‘No’ to all questions, then 2FA may not be something with which you need to complicate your digital life. If you answered ‘Yes’ to any one question, then using 2FA is a good idea.

 

While 2FA is not new, Apple’s push for users to set it up is new. If you set it up and then decide it’s a pain, you can always turn it off. Setting up 2FA is your choice, Apple is not forcing anyone to use it. Follow the prompts on your devices to set up 2FA after you install Apple’s recent updates (as of April 2017).

 

You can also manage 2FA settings in your Apple account, which is accessible on the web at appleid.apple.com. Once you’ve signed in to your profile page, you can turn Off 2FA if you like. You can also change 2FA settings directly on your iPhone or iPad, but only if your software is up to date (as of April 2017). On your iOS device, tap Settings, then tap your name at the top, and then tap Password & Security. Sign in with your Apple ID password and you’ll have the options there to turn On or Off 2FA.

I’ve been receiving almost one call a week regarding this latest scam going around now. I want to make you aware of what it is, and what to do. What can happen is while you are visiting a website, a pop up window appears saying that you have a virus so call the listed phone number immediately for help. Unfortunately, the pop up window locks your cursor so that you can’t do anything, creating panic and prompting people to call the phone number. People who have called the number have reported the voice on the other end to have a strong eastern Indian accent, so this is one way to know immediately to hang up the phone. The person answering the phone will unlock your machine, remote control your computer, navigate to some strangely named system files as evidence of a virus, install some free anti-virus software and pronounce your computer free of viruses. Then it comes time for the bill which can be as outrageous as $600 or more for the (free) anti-virus software that they’ve just installed.

 

It’s all a scam!! If you see a window pop up like the one described above, DO NOT call the phone number. On a Mac, Force Quit your browser by holding down the Command + Option keys and then press ESC. Select your browser (Safari, FireFox, or Chrome) and click Force Quit. Restart your Mac and all should be good. On a Windows PC, Force Quit your browser by holding down the Control + Alt keys and the press DELETE. Select your browser (Edge, Explorer, FireFox, or Chrome) and click End Task. Restart your PC and all should be good. If these options are not available, press and hold your power button in for 5 seconds to turn your computer (PC or Mac) off. Let it rest 30 seconds and turn it back on. This option is a last resort as it’s not healthy for the computer for it to be turned off via the kill switch.

 

Update: Recently I’ve been now receiving as many as 3 calls per week regarding the scam above. The scammers are getting serious, and they’re getting smarter! Recent reports now tell me that the Indian accent is gone and the voice on the other end of the call speaks clear, native English, making it more difficult to discern a scammer from a legitimate technician. Here’s another way to discern the scam if you do end up on the phone: Ask how much the service will cost. You’ll first be given a number as high as $600. Tell them you don’t have that much money and see if they lower the price. What technician haggles on their service price!? If they lower the price, you know that you’re speaking with a scammer who is trying to get whatever money you can afford. If they won’t haggle the price and stick to $600, then you’re better off buying a new computer for that much money.

 

The bottom line is this – If any window pops up while you’re surfing the web that says you’ve got a virus and to call a provided phone number for help, it can only be a scam. Let me also add that you may read this article and think that it all seems so obvious that it’s a scam, but when it happens to you, it will be terrifying, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll consider calling the number for help. But stay calm and follow the instructions above and you’ll be just fine. If by chance you’ve already been victimized by this scam, be sure to call your credit card company and let them know you’ve been scammed so that they can remove the charges. I would ask them if reissuing the card is an option they recommend as well.

First of all, what is Flash Player? Flash Player is software, made by Adobe, that allows your computer to play files that are saved in a Flash file format. We find Flash files on websites that stream video like YouTube, and on sites that offer games like those on FaceBook. Sites like Lumosity also use the Flash file format for their brain training exercises. Flash is a file format that is widely used on many websites, but the unfortunate thing about Flash is that it requires an update seemingly every couple months. On top of that, the process for updating is not all that simple. So, the steps to update your Flash Player are below. This guide was created for Mac users, but the process would be similar for PC users (Instead of System Preferences, look for Control Panels, instead of Finder, you’ll need My Computer, and instead of Safari, another browser like Edge, Chrome, or Firefox. Please also note that this process can vary slightly depending on what system software you’re currently running, so be sure to read each pop-up window on-screen as you compare and read through this guide. If you would prefer a document to print with these same step by step instructions that has helpful images inserted, you can download it here; Updating Flash.

 

These instructions begin as if you want to update Flash without following any pop-up windows that say you need to update Flash (perhaps one did appear but is now not on the screen, begin at step 1). If you are prompted to update Flash with a pop-up window, then you’re instructions will begin at step 6.

 

1. Click the Apple logo top left of your screen, then click System Preferences.

 

2. Near the bottom of the System Preferences, click Flash Player.

 

3. In the window that appears for the Flash Player preferences, click the Updates tab (or the Advanced tab if there is no Updates tab) at the top right.

 

4. Click Check Now near the bottom to see if there are any updates available.

 

5. If you get a message saying you’re up to date, then all is well. Close all windows and return to life as usual. If you get a message saying that there is an update available, click the button that would begin the process; OK, Update, or Install, etc.

This should open Safari and take you directly to the Adobe Flash Install website.

 

6. If you originally saw and clicked a pop-up message about updating Flash, it should jump you directly to this step. From this website, click Install Now (this step actually downloads Flash, the install is later). It should only take a minute or two to complete the Flash Player download.

 

7. Open your Downloads folder to find the Flash installer file. Click the Finder (blue happy face) on your Dock (typically at the bottom left of your screen). Once you’ve clicked the Finder icon, in the window that appears click Downloads in the left sidebar to display its contents which should reveal the compressed Adobe Flash Installer program. Find and double click the Adobe Flash Installer file (ends with .dmg).

 

8. Double clicking the compressed Flash Installer file in step 7 will uncompress the file and reveal it to you in a new window. Again, double click the Install Adobe Flash Player file (the red box icon).

 

9. Before the Installer can work, your Mac wants to know if it’s a safe file, so you’ll see this message saying “Install Adobe Flash Player is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?” It’s safe so click Open.

 

10. Your Mac now asks for your authorization to install software. Enter your Mac administrator user account password, the same password you use to log into the Mac. This is NOT your Apple ID password. Enter the password and click OK.

 

11. The Flash Installer will ask you to set updating preferences, (the recommended option is fine). Click Next and the Flash begins an attempt to Install.

 

12. If Safari is still running in the background, you’ll see a request to close Safari. Click Close Safari and the install resumes. Click Finish when the install completes.

 

13. Safari reopens on its own to a website where Adobe offers a product to you. Don’t buy anything, just close Safari as you normally would.

 

14. You may still have an Adobe Flash Player Installer on your Desktop and in your Downloads folder. The one on your Desktop is the uncompressed version of what is in your Downloads folder. But after the installation is complete, these can both be placed  in the trash.

 

15. You’re all done! You can now return to life as usual. Hold onto these instructions, as Flash will undoubtedly need to be updated again in the next couple months!