Webmail Woes Redux

Posted on September 12, 2016 by davidm

Just over 4 years ago, I wrote a post here called Webmail Woes.

It was about losing your email, contacts, attachments and how to prevent it.

It’s still good but needs a little update because a number of clients have run into real problems, some catastrophic.

One recent example is a client who had EVERYTHING about their business in their webmail account. In this case, Yahoo Mail.
It could have easily been Gmail, Outlook.com (Hotmail) or a number of others.

The account got hacked and they were locked out. They lost invoices, appointment dates, confidential business and client documents – important stuff.
It was also the only place they had a contacts list with email addresses and phone numbers.

Sure, when they had set up the account, they had put in a “recovery” email address where Yahoo could send a link to change their password and get back in.

BUT, the email address no longer existed. Strike One.

There was no mobile phone number that Yahoo could text a code for getting back in. Strike Two.

And there were no “Secret Questions” that would identify them as the real owner of the account. Strike Three.

Out.

There was absolutely no recourse but to create a new email account and start all over.

So, this update is to remind you to keep those recovery options up to date.

And don’t forget: if you use webmail, NONE of your stuff is on your computer or phone or tablet. None of it.

It’s all in the infamous Cloud. Far away and out of your hands.

Back up or download those documents, pictures, messages if you really need them.

There, I’ve told you. I’ve told you twice.

Windows 10, Ready or Not (Here It Comes)

Posted on July 24, 2015 by davidm

You may have heard me say that Microsoft will never call you or email you. Today proved me wrong about that.
I got an email from them reminding me that I’d registered to upgrade to Windows 10 at the end of the month.

Yes, that’s right, Windows 10 is coming out on July 29, ready or not.

You may have received the email from them, too, and are wondering if you should go ahead and take this “free” upgrade.

Or you may have already signed up for it. You would know if you had if you suddenly saw a new little icon in your “system” tray a few weeks ago. (The system tray, sometimes called the “notification area” is that little row of icons down to the right of your Windows screen near the clock.)
The icon itself appears like this:

You got this because you have a computer with a qualifying version of Windows 7 or 8 and it came as part of your regular Windows update.
If you didn’t get it, then Microsoft has determined that your operating system isn’t ready for it.

In Microsoft’s words: (from their Windows 10 Q & A webpage):

“If you don’t see the Get Windows 10 app on your PC, it might be because:

Your device isn’t up-to-date with at least Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update.
Windows Update is turned off or is not set to received updates automatically.
You’ve blocked or uninstalled the necessary Windows Update functionality.
Your device is not running genuine Windows.

Running Windows Update and installing any available updates will fix the first three issues. Need more help? Go to our Windows Community Forum.”

Before we go any further (or even if you have), a quick heads-up about this “Upgrade” and the sneaky little “Get Windows App”, as Microsoft calls it.

Quick and dirty: Windows 10 is the long-awaited fix for Windows 8. Plain and simple. Think of Vista and how Windows 7 came out quickly afterwards.

They left out ME. Understandably.

Why would you want Windows 10?

Mainly, if you have Windows 8 and hate all the tiles, you get your Start Button and Desktop back.
In fact, you get a choice of having it either way. It depends on whether you like to use your computer like a smartphone or not.
That’s all I can really see. Windows 8 was never a bad operating system – it was just the interface that was awful.

And just because you can get it for free isn’t a a good reason, ok?

Why wouldn’t you want Windows 10?

Here are some reasons:

1. Your computer and/or peripherals are not compatible. For instance, when Windows 8 came out, my scanner would no longer work and never would.

2. Your software is not compatible. An example is Office. Office 2003 (my fave) will work on Windows 7 but not on Windows 8 or later.

which brings me to:

3. You have a whole year, starting on July 29, to get this upgrade. Free. Common sense and experience say why not hold off for a few months, at least, till they get the bugs out.

and

4. You’re quite happy with Windows 7 or can tolerate Windows 8. And don’t forget: updates for both Win 7 and 8 will be available for years. There ain’t no rush.

That’s about all I can say about Windows 10 right now.
The bottom line is, I’d hold off for a while on installing this upgrade. I will be doing it myself only because I need to learn it.

But just a note or two about that notification icon, also known as the “Get Windows App”.

If you’ve been gifted with one of these, you can do a few of things with it.
1. Reserve or cancel your reservation:

Right-click on the icon and you’ll get a pop-up.

Click on “Check Your upgrade status” and you’ll get this:

To cancel the reservation, click on the “Cancel Reservation” link. Who’da thunk?

2. To check if your computer is ready for Windows 10, LEFT-click on the white icon again and look for the 3 horizontal lines in the top left corner. Click on that (with the left button of your mouse) to get the following pop-up.

Now you will see the next screen and you can click on “Check your PC” to get a compatibility report.

Here’s what I got when I clicked on “Check your PC”

and finally

3. To get rid of the Get Windows 10 App icon:

1- Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Installed Updates.

2- Do a search for KB3035583, double-click it, and then click Yes, to uninstall the update.

In some cases, the thing will come back. It’s a Windows Update after all, and may get reinstalled the next time you update.

You can repeat the above process to get rid of it OR you may simply HIDE it.
Left click on the “show hidden icons” arrow (probably just to the left of the Win 10 icon), then on Customize.

Pick “GWX” from the list, then choose “Hide icon and notifications”. Like so:

Even then, the darn thing may persist. There are more drastic things to try but I don’t recommend them for most people.

For answers to more questions, try Microsoft’s Windows 10 Q&A page.

And, again, there’s no need to rush into this.

Go Ahead and Back Up!

Posted on July 5, 2014 by davidm

Alright, hands up – how many of you do regular backups? Be honest now.

I realize that it’s hard to get excited about this sort of thing. Backing up your computer’s files is not the sexiest thing in the world.
There aren’t even any good pictures to go with it.

For most of my clients, computers are not even a huge thing in their lives. Email, web browsing, and the occasional picture. That’s about it.
When computers go bad, there may be more at stake.

Banking and tax documents, passwords, contact lists, shopping receipts, as well as personal photos, music, videos, internet bookmarks … the list goes on.

Sometimes you don’t even think of what you have on your computer until it crashes. That’s when you wish you’d made a backup.

Unfortunately it’s one of those things you have to experience to truly appreciate. May it never happen to you.

You have to decide what your computer files are worth to you. If your computer was lost, stolen, or damaged beyond repair, would you pay $50 to get all your pictures and documents back? That’s about what most professional backup software costs.
Both Windows and Mac computers come with their own backup utilities (the Mac being superior by far), but they’re not the greatest. And you need a working Windows or Mac computer to get at them.

So, let’s agree that we’re going to make a backup and get going.

There are so many ways to do a backup that I’m going to keep it as simple as I can.

First, what you need:

You need something OUTSIDE your computer to back up to.

1. An external hard drive

2. Blank DVDs or CDs

This is as close as it gets to permanent. DVDs can’t be erased by magnets like hard drives can.
The disks normally hold 4.7 Gigabytes’ worth of data unless you buy the “dual-layer” kind which will hold up to 8 Gb.
I use these for backing up stuff I couldn’t possibly face losing. That’s personal, financial, legal kinds of documents. Personal doesn’t just mean love letters, it also includes any of my journaling, creative writing, and website work. Maybe some love letters.
I don’t use DVDs for my music, pictures or videos. They just can’t hold enough.

3. a USB Flash Drive, (also known as “ Memory Sticks”, “USB sticks”, “Thumbdrives”

One of these flash drives may be big enough to hold the files in your “Documents” folder or all of your absolutely-must-save files but I wouldn’t bet on saving all your big Picture, Music, and Video collections on one. For that, you should really get the external hard drive.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these things get lost easily. They get used for other things easily. If you are using flash drives for your backup, please remember to keep them in a secure place.

4. A “cloud” account: an “online” server

First, you know that there’s no such thing as The Cloud, right? That’s marketing talk for “someone else’s server”.

I’m not a big fan of “The Cloud”. For some people it is a great solution – especially if they are travelling or working away from home a lot and they need access to their documents. Personally, I don’t like having my files on someone else’s server but you can make up your own mind whether this kind of backup is for you.
I should say that I’ve been known to upload some files on a temporary basis to a “cloud” server, but only if I know I can’t get at them any other way. And I always go back and delete them when I’m through. That is, if you believe you can ever delete something from the Internet.

But I digress. Ahem.

Methods for Backing Up Your Computer:

1. The Built-in Windows Backup Utilities
2. The Built-in Mac Backup Utility
2. Free backup apps
3. Paid backup programs
4. The “Manual” backup
5. The “Cloud” – Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive, Apple iCloud, Google Drive and numerous others.

1. The Built-In Windows Utilities

Windows 7 and, to some degree, Windows 8 have built-in backup utilities. Windows 7’s is called Backup and Restore.

Windows 8’s is called File History.

Naturally, if you’ve got Windows, these aren’t going to cost you anything extra and that is their main appeal.

Finding them and using them is another matter. Let’s take Windows 7 first.
I will do a complete walk-through of the Windows 7 Backup and Restore program because Windows 7 is what most of clients have.

The only other method I’ll do a blow by blow guide on is the Manual Backup. I’ll give good links to tutorials on the others.

Windows 7 Backup and Restore

1. Make sure your external hard drive is plugged in.
2. Click on your Start Button and type in “Backup” (no quotes)
3. Select “Back Up and Restore”

You get this screen:

Click on “Set up backup”.
In the next figure, Windows will search for a suitable drive to store the backup:

Select your backup drive, and click Next.

This is the next thing you’ll see:

You can have Windows choose what to backup or you can choose the files and directories yourself. I like to be able to pick what I want backed up, so I select “Let me choose”.

You can see above that I’ve chosen to back up EVERYTHING in my “Libraries”.
You will also see a check mark beside “Include a system image of drives:…”. This backs up more than just your personal files. This will make a copy of your Windows operating system, all your programs, and user accounts. It is recommended to check this box, especially if you don’t have an original Windows disk or if you have not made “System Recovery DVDs”. If your computer suddenly stops working or if the operating system gets corrupted beyond repair, you can restore everything back to normal with this option.
The only downside to checking this box is that your backup will take a long time. Well over an hour in most cases.

By the way, I don’t consider making a “system image” to be a substitute for having System Recovery Disks. These are usually made when your computer is new and being set up for the first time. Neither Windows or Mac computers come with an original installation CD or DVD anymore, so it’s imperative you make these disks.

If you already have a Windows installation DVD or have made System Recovery disks, you may opt for just backing up your data files.

Click Next and you get to review your choices:

You can also change the schedule for your back up by clicking on “Change Schedule”:

I don’t do automatic backups, myself. I don’t like that my external hard drive always has to be connected. Sometimes, I like to use it for something else and an external hard drive that is connected to your PC can get hit by the same power damage or malware as your internal hard drive. I only connect it when I need to.

Once you’ve done the scheduling (or not), click OK. You’ll go back to the previous screen.
Now, click on “Save settings and exit” and your first backup will start.

Click the View Details button to see exactly what is being backup during the process.

And that’s it. Now you wait.

If you’d like to see a little video of how it all goes, Microsoft has one at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-up-files#1TC=windows-7

NOTES:

This is the simplest way to do a backup on Windows 7.
Once you start the Backup and Restore program, you basically follow the instructions and pick what you want to back up.
There are a couple of things to be aware of, though, and I’ll mention them now.

The first time you do a backup with Backup and Restore, it will do a FULL backup. That means everything you’ve selected. Be prepared for it taking quite a while. It could take well over an hour. Be patient.
The next time you do a backup, the program makes what is called an INCREMENTAL backup. The program checks what’s new or been changed with your documents etc. and only backs up the new or altered stuff.

Sometimes, it’s happened that Backup and Restore will do a FULL backup every time you run the program.
You can tell if this is happening if you get a warning that there is not enough space on the external drive for a back up. Or, if your backup is taking an inordinate amount of time to complete – like, hours.
This seems to be a glitch. It happens rarely but you then have to make a choice whether to try to rectify the problem or go with a different backup solution.
Usually, you would use the “Manage Space” and “View Backups” option to clear out old backups. But there’s no guarantee it won’t keep making full backups. If it does, I recommend switching to one of the free backup programs I mention later.
Once more, this rarely happens but I say it here as a “heads up”.

The Built-In Windows 8 “File History”

Microsoft got rid of its Backup and Restore function with Windows 8. They want you to use their online service called OneDrive.

Instead, they put in something called File History. I can’t really recommend it and I can’t improve on the following tutorial by the “How To Geeks” people.

http://www.howtogeek.com/74623/how-to-use-the-new-file-history-feature-in-windows-8/

If you want to follow Microsoft’s own video on how to use File History, here is the official link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-8/how-use-file-history

2. The Built-in Mac Backup Utility – “Time Machine”

This is certainly one time you can believe Apple’s old slogan: It Just Works.

The icon for starting Time Machine is right there on your Dock at the bottom of your Mac screen.

There are people who have spent a lot more time than me making this stuff simple. Here’s a link I recommend:

http://www.cultofmac.com/46726/how-to-backup-and-restore-your-mac-using-time-machine-macrx/

And here is the office Apple way:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427

See, it just works. Saved me some time, that’s for sure.

4. The Manual Backup

Because this is known as “The Hard Way”, I’ve provided a little music link to Chet Baker’s version of the song by the same name.
It helps the medicine go down (no link to that one – sorry).

Windows (all versions)

It doesn’t get mentioned much but this is the good old fashioned method. Basically you copy and paste folders and files from one location to another. It’s not automatic and it does require some basic Windows skills. It has some good things going for it, though. You get an exact duplicate of the folder you want to back up, without needing any other program to open it or check it’s contents.

Pros:
It works with every kind of computer.
No new software to buy or learn.
No compression or funny archived files that you need a special program for.
You get an exact copy that you can easily transfer and open.

Cons:
You need to pay attention.
It takes some explaining to do it the first time.
You need to have basic Windows skills (which are not so basic for some folks).
Copying can take a long time while you want to do something else with your computer.
It can be hard to keep track of newest files, especially if you’ve got more than one computer.
Takes up more storage space than compressed backups.

There are two basic ways to do a Manual Backup:

1. The simple way with Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Windows 8) opened once, and:

2. The “two-pane” Windows Explorer method. I prefer this method myself because I can see more.
I can see the folders on my hard drive and I can see where it’s going on the external drive, and if it got there.

Here is a checklist of important folders to back up:

My Documents or Documents
My Music or Music
My Pictures or Pictures
My Videos or Videos
Desktop Folders (you may wish to re-file these to an appropriate folder, like Documents, just to keep all similar kinds of files in one place.)
Contacts
Links, Bookmarks,
Downloads
Favorites (keep the American spelling)
Saved Games
Searches
Any other folders you’ve created yourself

Backing up your Email will vary depending on what program you use. If you use any of the webmail services, your mail is already stored on the Internet. You can, however, save any attachments and individual messages to your own computer. There are so many variables involved in backing up your email that I’m not going to get too far into it here. One good thing about using a program like Microsoft Outlook, Mac Mail, among others, is that it stores all your email, contacts, calendar items in a folder in My Documents. So just backing up your Documents folder will do the trick. For older versions of Outlook (before 2007) and Outlook Express (for die-hard Win XP users), it’s much trickier. Here are a couple of links that can help you:

Find your Outlook and Windows Mail

Find your Windows Mail and Data

Backing up webmail, like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail (now Outlook.com), Gmail and so on, can be a cumbersome affair. Aside from opening and saving each email message one by one, (every web browser does this differently), you could copy and paste the messages into a Word or text editor program and save them that way. It’s a pain.

It is highly recommended, though, that you save your contacts, important messages and attachments to your hard drive for safe keeping. Or, good heavens(!), write those contacts in a notebook.

1. The Simple “One-Pane” Windows Explorer Method

1. Plug in your USB or external hard drive
2. Open Windows Explorer – press the Windows key and “E”.

3. Select (C:) > Users > [yourusername] and expand it.
(You should now see all your user folders (Contacts, Desktop, Downloads, etc)
4. Starting at the top of the list, right-click on the first folder
5. Mouse-over the Send to: menu item
6. Click on the USB or external hard drive from the list. In the picture below, the drive I want to pick is “Expansion Drive (K:).
That’s the name of my external drive.

7. Windows will now copy the selected folder and it’s contents to your backup drive.

8. Repeat this process for each folder. Be prepared for it to take some time.

Note: The above method will not let you choose a destination folder, only the drive. So, when you “Send” a folder to your backup drive, i.e. your Documents folder, it may send a whole lot more than you’d like (such as Music, Picture, and Video folders). You may want to check the contents of your folder for huge or unwanted files first.

2. The “two-pane” Windows Explorer method

This is the method I use.

1. Open up two copies of Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Windows 8)

In Windows 7:

2. Open Windows Explorer – press the Windows key and “E”.

Do it again.

Now, move the windows beside each other so they look something like this:

You can resize and move these windows around any way you like. I’m showing what’s on my C drive on the left (the “source” drive) and, on the right, is my “destination” drive, in this case an external USB drive that I’ve plugged into my computer.

Now, it’s a matter of copying over your folders from the left side to the right. The two easiest methods are

1. Copy and Paste (not Cut and Paste)

Simply right-click on the icon for the folder you want to copy, and select “Copy”. Who knew?
Now, mouse you mouse pointer over to the place on the right where you want to copy the folder, right-click, and select “Paste”.

2. Drag and drop

Here, you select the folder you want to copy and left-click on it. While holding down the left button, drag it over to the place on the right side window and release the button.

If all that is too much, you can invest in third party applications like xplorer² or teracopy.

3. Free backup apps

Keep in mind you often get what you pay for. These programs will do the job but may come with advertising or without all the options of the full “paid” product.

For Windows, I’ve used:

1. EaseUS Todo Backup Free

EaseUS Todo PCTrans Free logo

2. Cobian Backup

For the Mac, I haven’t been able to find any good free programs. There are paid programs that have 30 day trials but what are you going to do after a month? Either use Time Machine or get a commercial backup program like Carbon Copy Cloner.

4. Paid Backup Programs

For Windows:

1. Acronis TrueImage

I’ve used Acronis for years and is my first choice for a commercial backup product.

Colleagues of mine also recommend

2. NovaBACKUP

There is no shortage of other choices out there. Just make sure you Google around for reviews about their reputation.

For the Mac:

1. Carbon Copy Cloner

I love this program. I used to love it more when it was totally free! Now you can use it for 30 days to see if it’s for you. Personally, I think it’s worth it.

2. Acronis also makes a good backup program for the Mac.

5. The “Cloud”

Does this look like a cloud to you?

It’s actually one of Facebook’s massive server farms. There’s nothing magical or atmospheric about the “Cloud”. What it really is a network of huge rooms full of computer servers.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on Cloud (online) backups. I simply can’t put my trust in any of them. Not one of them will guarantee the safety of your data. Here’s an example from Dropbox:

“You, and not Dropbox, are responsible for maintaining and protecting all of your stuff. Dropbox will not be liable for any loss or corruption of your stuff, or for any costs or expenses associated with backing up or restoring any of your stuff.”

Pros and Cons of Cloud Backups

Pros:
Access from anywhere.
It’s a relatively cheap “offsite” backup (as opposed to a bank vault or the trunk of your car).

Cons:
You have to be on the internet and have a fast connection.
Unless you’ve got a small amount to back up, they cost.
Backing up and accessing files can quickly exceed the limit on your Internet plan. Every backup is data transfer.
System Restores do not work so well from the Cloud.
The “trust” issue. Accounts can be hacked and spied upon.
Cloud companies can go under or be sold, renamed, changed – it’s all out of your control.

Like I said, I’m not going into great detail on how to back up your data to the Cloud in this post.
If you think it might be for you, Google any of the above services and they will be happy to instruct you.

——————————–

The Off-Site Backup

At the risk of overwhelming everyone, I have to talk about the “Offsite Backup”
There is a thing called the Golden Rule of Backing up It goes like this:

1. Backup to three different places.
2. At least two of the backup locations need to be on different media.
3. One of the locations needs to be offsite.

So far, we’ve made a backup to an external hard drive (Rule One) and we’ve saved the really important stuff to DVDs (Rule Two).
The “Offsite Backup” is taking at least one of those backups to a place other than your house or apartment. And that’s Rule Three.
Some inexpensive places could be a friend’s house, the trunk of your car, your workplace. You might opt for the free online version of Microsoft’s OneDrive or Apple’s iCloud. You get a few Gigabytes of storage that way, but with the caveats I’ve mentioned before.
Anyway, I’ve fulfilled my obligation to talk about this extra security measure.

You don’t miss your water till the well runs dry

Someone did a song with those lyrics. And Joni Mitchell sang:

“Don’t it always seem to go
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”

That, in essence, is what I’ve been trying to get across in this post. Computers crash, files get deleted, stuff happens.
A backup can put it all right again, without pain. So why don’t you prevent the headache now and, for Pete’s sake, back it up.

Whew!

I think we all deserve some soothing music after all that. Please enjoy:

Wave – Oscar Peterson

Putting It All in One Place (or Saving Your Computer’s Mind)

Posted on May 27, 2014 by davidm

Professor Higgins:

♩♩♩♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬

Why is thinking something women computers never do?
And why is logic never even tried?
Straightening up their hair hard drives is all they ever do.
Why don’t they straighten up the mess that’s inside?

(a mangled excerpt from) Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man by Lerner and Loewe fr: My Fair Lady

Look at these two things:

Don’t they look so neat and self-contained? So aesthetically pleasing?

Well, they can be an absolute mess inside.

A cute and snazzy package on the outside, a quagmire of bloat and chaos on the inside. I’d like to remedy this.

The Overview

This is the first part of a little series of imperatives for tidying up your computer and making a secure backup of all your data.

It will be about Cleaning, File Management, and the Backup itself.

N.B. Keep in mind that the steps below really do require the use of your computer’s “file manager”. For most, that will be Windows Explorer (or “File Explorer” in Windows 8) or the Finder on a Mac.

For Windows users, right-click on the Start Button on the bottom left of your desktop screen.
You’ll get a little pop-up that let’s you select Windows Explorer.

In Windows 8, it’s a little different, unless you’ve installed Classic Shell or some other program that gives you back your regular Start button. In Win 8, you have to get to your desktop and click on the folder icon on the bottom on your screen (the taskbar).

On the Mac, there is the Finder icon on the Dock, the strip of icons at the bottom of your desktop screen.

If this is all voodoo to you, let me know and I’ll do a separate post about it.

To continue:

As I look back over the BIG problems I’ve been called about last year, it seems that those which were catastrophic were all fixable if my client had made a back up.
There were some clients who lost EVERYTHING. No backup.
Even if your hard drive is toast or your computer is generally kaput, you can regain your sanity if you’ve made a back up. Computers can be replaced, your documents, pictures – anything personal – cannot.

Steps for making a good backup and having some peace of mind.

**The Clean Up – Before you back up.**

It just makes sense to thoroughly clean up your computer’s files before you do a backup. This is especially true if you’re transferring all your files to a new computer.

1. Organize Your Documents

For most Windows and Mac users, the place where everything is saved is called My Documents or Documents, respectively.

This where almost all your written documents, pictures, music, and videos are stored by default.

Recently, Windows has broken out the My Documents folder into “Libraries” with “Documents” to mean Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, pdf files and the like. There is also a dedicated folder for Music, Pictures and Videos.

To view these, open up your Windows Explorer (“File Explorer” in Windows 8).

You can make up your own folders and organize them any way that makes sense to you. Some way that you’ll remember.

Then, move similarly themed files into those folders. Drag them, copy and paste them – whatever you’re most comfortable with.

Now it should be like Ikea came to your house and made everything just so.

2. Pack away all those stray files!

Chances are, you have stray files on your Desktop (that’s the main screen) and they really ought to be tucked away somewhere sensible, such as your My Documents folder.

You may have picture files (jpg files etc) that have been scattered all over the place – a surprising number end up mixed with written documents. Stick those in your Pictures folder. Make a new folder under Pictures if you want to.
Long ago, I got fed up with the way Windows had all these “My” folders and started making my own.

If I look only at “My Documents” I get 13 (!) various “My …” folders:

Ridiculous!

Instead I have something like:

All out in the open where I can get at things. (This is my idea of hanging out at Home Depot, folks).

Now, let’s get rid of the “dust bunnies”. There can be all kinds of files, folders, icons, shortcuts and downloaded programs cluttering up your Desktop. Check if you really need them and delete them if you don’t.
And move files to folders where you can find them again.
In other words, you don’t want a bunch of orphan files that aren’t filed away nicely in an easy to find folder. This will make it so much more easy down the road when we do the big backup. (Yes, it’s a new word now like “parenting”).

In Windows: Use Windows Explorer (now called File Explorer in Windows 8)

On a Mac: use The Finder:

3. Clean up your email (and don’t use your email program as a file manager – bad!)

This is the single greatest sin I see being committed. Whether you use the email program on your computer or a webmail service like Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Outook.com or iCloud, people have a tendancy to use their email program as if it’s a separate hard drive. Often that’s the only place their contacts are stored. Very risky. If your webmail account gets hacked (and they get hacked all the time) there goes your whole address book. This should be saved to your hard drive.

Consider whether you need those HUGE attachments people have been sending you. If you really want to keep them, don’t they really belong in a real folder such as My Pictures? They do.

4. Find and dump any duplicate files. Enough said.

5. Get rid of temporary Internet files (including cleaning out your web browser’s cookies and history).

Each web browser has its own way to delete temporary files, whether it’s called “Clear Cache” (Mac), “Delete Browsing History” (Internet Explorer), “Clear Browsing Data” (Chrome) or “Clear Recent History” (Firefox).
As a supplement, you could always download and use the highly useful and free program SuperAntiSpyware (I know, I know) to clear out unwanted cookies and possible malware.

6. Take out the Trash . At the end of this long journey- empty out the already deleted stuff in your Recycle Bin, Trash folder, and Deleted Items in your email program

*7. Defragment your hard drive. *This is an optional step
If you’ve really gone to town and deleted Gigabytes worth of files, you may want to “defrag” your hard drive. This sticks all your data up nice and cozy against itself and makes the computer run better, and faster.

For Windows 7 users, go to your Start Button/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter. You can then just “Analyze” your hard drive to see if it needs to be defragged, or go straight to “Defragment”. This will take a while.

For Windows 8 users, if your using the “Metro” screen with all the tiles, just type “defrag” and you’ll see a pop-up list which includes “Defragment and optimize your drives”.

Click on that. Proceed as with Windows 7.
If you’re using a “shell” program on Windows 8, like Classic Shell or “Start8”, go to your Start button and type in “disk defrag” in the Search box. You’ll see something like this:

Click on “Defragment and optimize your drives”, and continue as above.

For Mac people, you’re in luck. You don’t need to defrag your hard drive. The Mac OSX operating system takes care of it by itself, like a self-cleaning oven.

As in cooking, if you take time to do a few little chores, computer maintenance will make life easier at the end of the day.
Cleaning as you go , you’ll end up with all your work done and no mess, no stress.
Then you’re going to be able to find your stuff fast and without stress. Believe me, it will take the fear out of a lot of using your computer (laptop, desktop, tablet, smart-phone).

In the next installment, we’ll get into making a good, solid, backup.

Staying With XP – If you Have to

Posted on March 25, 2014 by davidm

This week, if you still are using Windows XP, you may start up your computer and see this message:

Don’t panic, your computer won’t stop working.
It’s only a message from Microsoft that comes with the latest Windows Updates and announces no more official support for the 13 year old operating system.

Obviously, this does not apply to people using Macs, later versions of Windows like Vista, Windows 7 and 8. Or Linux.
The rest of this post is just for XP users. If you’re not sure what version of Windows you’ve got, click on this link:
XP How to Tell if You’ve Got It

Now, for the 50% of my clients, and 30% of computer users worldwide, who still have XP, there are some things to know.

First, what does “End of Support” mean?

It means that Microsoft will no longer be providing updates, notably security updates. The bottom line is that your computer will be a lot more vulnerable to hackers, scammers, malware and spyware bad guys.
In plain English, you could be a sitting duck.

It’s been reported that hackers have been stockpiling viruses, malware, and other “exploits” which will take advantage of XP’s vulnerable state after April 8. They have been selling these exploits from $50,000 to $150,000. That’s what they’re worth to people who’d like to infect your computer with bad things.

The other main consideration is that your Internet experience may start to suffer. That means that web pages may look strange or not display at all. That’s because XP can only use older versions of web browsers such as Internet Explorer and the Internet world has changed. Web pages are fancier, require newer programs to keep up.

Internet Explorer, Windows built-in web browser, is going to be a problem.

Just so there’s no mistaking it with Windows Explorer, this, below, is the icon you click on to start up Internet Explorer:

Because Internet Explorer (on XP computers) will no longer receive security updates, you may want to try another web browser i.e. Firefox or Chrome.
Chances are that most viruses, malware, and spyware will come through your web browsing, so this is important.

Aside from the nuisance of gobbledy-gook on your computer screen, you could run into problems with things like on-line banking, using forms on the Internet for shopping etc. At the very least, anything that is confidential or personal will not be safe.

But back to my main point: what to do if you HAVE to stick with XP.

There are many reasons why people will stay with XP. Namely, who wants to change when they don’t have to?

Not everyone cannot afford to buy a new computer. Not everyone can afford to upgrade their familiar software that won’t run on Windows 7 or 8.

It is recommended that if you can afford to upgrade your computer that you do so. Or, if you’re in the market for a new laptop, or tablet, or desktop that this is the time.

Keep in mind that you can still get computers with Windows 7, until early fall 2014.
Windows 7 is painless compared to Windows 8 if you are used to XP.
You can read more about what I think of Windows 8 here:
http://reluctantcomputers.com/windows-8-1-new-and-unimproved/

If you stick with XP, what can you do?

Simply put, the only way to be totally secure is to stay OFF the Internet. That means email as well as web browsing (going to web sites like Facebook, included). It also means online banking, stock trading, shopping (Amazon etc.) are no-no’s.

There is some protection built in to your home modem or router, but try to avoid local wi-fi in cafes etc.

Without going into all the little things you can do, here is what I recommend:

Get and Install these free programs:

1. A good anti-virus program like Avast or Avira.

You can download Avast at:
http://www.avast.com/en-ca/index

or Avira at:
http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

2. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (this is the go-to program for avoiding the bad guys or cleaning up after them.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

3. SuperAntiSpyWare – a horribly named program that does a good job of zapping the bad things that other programs miss.

http://www.superantispyware.com/

There are others that cost money and may have more features but they aren’t really any more effective. Just remember that you have to use them. Regularly, like daily or weekly.

PLEASE, make a back up of your important documents, pictures, music, videos, email – anything you don’t want to lose. In the worst case scenario, a serious malware or virus infection can lose you all this stuff.
I will be writing a post on backups soon.

PLEASE change your password(s) for online email, banking, shopping etc. Change them often.

PLEASE do not fall for scammers who call you on the phone and say they are from Microsoft or Windows or any other computer service. Hang up on them. Remember that Microsoft will NEVER phone you or email you. Only the crooks will. So just hang up on any “computer experts” who say they can fix what’s wrong with your computer. They don’t know and, if you follow their directions, they will soon have complete control of your computer. And your credit card information, too.

Of course, if you decide that now is the time to upgrade to a newer version of Windows, or change to a Mac – give me a call and we can do that.

If you need any help with upgrading or staying with XP, give me a call or email, too.

XP – How to Tell If You’ve Got It

Posted on March 25, 2014 by davidm

For those who aren’t sure what version of Windows they are using, it’s simple to check.

Here are 5 ways:

1. Go to the Start button on the bottom left of your screen and click on it.

Up the left side of the window, it says “Windows XP (and the edition of XP: Home, Professional etc.)

2. Go to the Start button on the bottom left of your screen and click on it.

Then, right-click on “Computer” and select “Properties”. You’ll get a screen like this:

And you’ll see under “System” what version of Windows you’ve got.

3. Check for Windows Sticker on your computer

The sticker can be on the bottom of your laptop or somewhere (back, front side, top) of your desktop computer.

4. Watch the screen when your computer starts up – Windows XP is often displayed at this time. This is called the “Splash Screen”.

5. If those steps don’t cover it for you, you can check out Microsoft’s own webpage:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/which-operating-system

All versions of XP will be affected by the April 8 (2014) End of Support date.

A New Angle on PC Online Scams

Posted on October 29, 2013 by davidm

A year ago, I wrote about people calling my clients and trying to sell them on support for their computers.
They would call themselves “Microsoft” or “Windows” and sometimes were pretty convincing.

Now they’ve gotten even weirder.

This past weekend, a client called me very upset about a phone call he’d received from the usual gang calling themselves “Microsoft”. This time, they said they were moving their offices back to the U.S. and wouldn’t be able to support him anymore. So, they wanted to give him a refund (!) of $250.

What he had to do to get this refund was to give them his credit card number, then go to his bank and see how much money he’d be allowed to withdraw in one day.

They had him go to a web site on his computer to finalize his refund. That’s when they took control of his computer and planted a few goodies (not!) on it. They told him not to turn off his computer and they would call him again the next day.

Alright. The thing is, he’d never actually subscribed to their services in the first place and it dawned on him that things were getting a little out of control. He hung up and called me.

First, I told him to shut off his computer immediately so the scammers couldn’t continue to access it.

Second, I told him to call his bank right away and report this. I would go over to his place next morning and check out the damage.

The next morning, there was indeed damage. Starting up his computer, we were confronted with a Windows log-in screen that would not accept his password. “They” had changed it and my client was effectively locked out of his own machine.

Luckily, I had an little utility with me that finds such passwords and we were able to change it and get into Windows. Now the fun really began.

This is what we saw when Windows finally started up:

Automatically, my client’s computer was booting up and connecting to the bad guys. Eek!
It took two hours of scouring to get rid of every trace of the phony “Microsoft” mischief.

In reality, the only protection against further fraud is to hang up the phone when they call. These guys are clever – you won’t be able to trace their calls. There isn’t much your bank can do except issue you a new credit card. And the police can’t touch them as they live in another country – almost always India.

Just so you know, Microsoft, the real Microsoft, will never call you.

By the way, Mac users take note: if you think this is a Windows-only threat, be warned that online scammers are now targeting you, too. So, I’ll say it again: if you get a call from anyone who wants to sell you a subscription to take care of your computer, HANG UP!.
Instead, call me or another professional you personally trust.

Windows 8.1– New and Unimproved

Posted on September 6, 2013 by davidm

Coming this October 18 is Microsoft’s new version of Windows – version 8.1.
Many see this update as Microsoft’s chance to address and remedy the complaints about their latest operating system.

It’s no secret that heads have rolled, stocks have dropped, sales of computers have plummeted over Windows 8. The thing that Windows 8 is really meant for – their Surface tablet – has not done well.

And what are these complaints? Here are the two most popular ones:

1. The Start Screen (sometimes called “Metro”) looks like an electronic cash register for people who can’t read. None of your usual programs are there and it’s ridiculously hard to find them, or find anything.
Maybe it’s called “Metro” after the grocery store chain?

2. No Start Button. This is a deal breaker for a lot of people.
Recognize these?

Chances are that’s how you get to most things on your computer.
Forget about it. It’s not coming back.

Oh, and yeah, just try shutting it down without being shown how.

There are loads of other gripes and Microsoft has heard them all. But have they listened to their customers? Have they managed to make good with this quickly released new version of their operating system?

Not that you’d notice.
In fact, several changes to Windows 8 make it worse (in my and other’s opinions: e.g..1 and e.g..2).

This October 18th, then, you may find yourself with the choice of updating to Windows 8.1

If you already have the original Windows 8 on your computer, the new version will be offered to you as a free update. It will come as an “optional” update via your regular Windows Update.

While the offer of a free update may sound irresistible, there are some serious things to consider”

No real new Start Button. It looks like it’s there but just takes you to the old Win 8 “Metro” screen. Why did they bother?
There is a thing called “Smart Search”. It keeps track not only of your web browsing history, but any searches that you make on your own hard drive. Then it sends those search results to advertisers. Not so long ago, Microsoft was accusing Google of doing the same thing.
Needless to say, you don’t get paid for being spied upon,
By default you have to create a Microsoft Account (it’s almost impossible to install Win 8.1 without one)
– the above is a way to keep you in Microsoft’s “Cloud” as much as possible and to take you to their Apps Store – to be avoided
The File Explorer (former Windows Explorer) now hides your “Libraries” such as My Documents and My Pictures.
– they really want you to use their online Sky Drive which means all your personal files will get synchronized to their server. No thanks.
The Backup and Restore is all different. Good luck even finding it.

There’s more but you get the idea.

I’ve prepare a little Windows 8.1 questionnaire to make it easier for you.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I want to do things easier and faster?

2. Do I want to find my stuff easier and faster? Or at all?

3. Do I want to let Microsoft spy on my computer and send what they find to advertisers?

4. Do I want to hang onto what sanity I have left? (in this world of mortality and confusion?)

5. Have I been bad and need to be taught a lesson by fashion designers posing as computer programmers? (think Office Ribbon)?

(Good grief! Does it come in pink?)

The correct answers are:

1. Yes, but they won’t be.

2. Yes, but I won’t be able to.

3. No, I’m already red with rage about telemarketers and about the NSA reading my emails.

4. Yes. Please!

5. No. Maybe. After all, I need to use Office. And I will if I can ever figure out the Fisher Price Office Ribbon.

Here’s my advice:

Stick with Windows 7 if possible, especially if you’re buying a new computer.
If you’ve already got Windows 8, think hard, twice or three times, about upgrading.

Major computer manufacturers aren’t so taken with Microsoft’s arrogance, either.

Lenovo, the world’s largest computer maker, is adding a “real Start button” to their Windows 8 computers.
But it is a “work around” shell program called “Pokki”, one of the many applications that make Windows 8 work and look like Windows 7. The trouble is that Pokki will also “nag” you to install apps for games, and utilities galore. Meh.

What will I be doing? Well, I have to be my own guinea pig – so I may load it up. But only because I’ll be helping others with it down the road. Much like the original Windows 8.
Whatever I do, I’ll continue to use Classic Shell to add back the familiar Start Button.

I actually have to get work done – not be a sheep to Microsoft’s focus groups.

The Verdict Is In- And Out, and In Again

Posted on July 16, 2013 by davidm

The verdict on Windows 8 is pretty much in: avoid it.

Personal, business and industrial judgements are in agreement that:

1. Windows 8 is for tablets and smartphones and is a dreadful, frustrating, experience on a desktop or laptop computer.

2. Windows 8 offers nothing of value over Windows 7. In fact, it takes away much of the functionality of Windows 7 (and XP). There is no need for it.

3. Microsoft is not going to listen to its customers and will continue to take Windows 8 in the direction of hand-held devices. Some consider this a suicide mission.

That leaves most of my clients with Windows XP or Windows 7.

The problem is that Windows XP is on the way out.
Microsoft will stop supporting it next April.

What that means is that you will no longer receive windows updates including security updates, and your computer could be wide-open to hackers.

From Microsoft’s own website, here are the announcements:

“Support for Windows XP is ending on April 8, 2014. If you’re running this version after support ends, you won’t get security updates for Windows.”

The fine print:

“An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information. Windows Update also installs the latest software updates to improve the reliability of Windows—new drivers for your hardware and more.”

The other bad news about staying with XP will be your Internet experience. Websites will be slower to display and may appeared garbled. This will be especially true for people using Internet Explorer as their browser. The latest version that XP can use is version 8. Already, many websites look terrible or won’t load at all with this old version. Add to that increased difficulties in doing online transactions, from software downloads to banking to purchasing movies or music.
It will not be an enjoyable experience.

Microsoft’s solution: “Upgrade to Windows 8”

Very helpful, but we won’t be taking their help. Thanks anyway.

So, if you’ve recently been thinking of getting a new computer or are planning to get one within the next year, think about doing it now.

There are a couple of compelling reasons:

Right now, laptops and desktops, are priced to sell. All computer manufacturers are in a sales slump (largely thanks to Windows 8) and it’s a buyer’s market.
You can still get Windows 7 on a new computer. How long you will be able to do so is not certain.

So, unless you’re a Mac user or a dedicated tablet person, the clock is ticking.

A Vending Machine in Every Home and in Every Hand

Posted on March 1, 2013 by davidm

This is a vending machine:

So is this:

And so is this:

The “smartphone” (iPhone, Blackberry, Android la la la…) and the tablet are ingenious. Ingenious marketing tools, that is.

You not only have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy one, but you also get to sign up for expensive data plans from service providers.

And they are out-selling laptops and desktop computers by a good margin.
Just look at everyone on the street with a “device” in their hand. (don’t worry, they won’t notice you).

But the real money makers are the “Apps”.

You bet there’s an app for that.

Basically, the makers of smartphones and tablets, and the phone carriers and internet service providers, have just sold you a device and a plan so you can really spend money – on the Apps.

I believe this is called “Freebie Marketing” or “the razor and blades business model”.

The razor blade companies would give away their razors for free, knowing that customers would have to buy the blades forever. They made their money from the blades.

So who is the latest player in the Bait and Hook marketing model?

Why it’s …. Microsoft.

And so now, here is the latest vending machine – and it gets to sit, not in your hand, but right in your home:

Are you sitting down? You’ll want to be, though Microsoft would prefer you use your hands.

Welcome to the Windows 8-o-Mat

When was the last time you sat down to use a vending machine?

The last time you started up Windows 8, that’s when.

All those tiles, those “apps”, look just like a snack vending machine.

I just want to sit down and work.

Up until Windows XP, I could do that. Years of learning DOS and Windows started to pay off with XP. The computer became an understood, transparent, tool. I thought no more about operating systems than I did about using a telephone or a toaster. This, I thought, was progress.

I used to tell my clients, who were actually frightened of using computers, that things would get easier, faster – that the computer would become almost invisible. And with a little training and time, they did.

For no apparent good reason, along comes a new operating system – and it is in their way. I have yet to see any real benefit to any computer user since XP. The final product (documents, graphics, music …) has not benefited from a re-vamp of the UI (user interface – the screen) or UAC (the horrible requests for permission to run a program) or all the little fiddlings that go on in the background.

They have to roll out new version of Windows for the sake of rolling out new versions of Windows. It’s the cult of the “new”, and the motive is simple: profit.

I’m not even complaining about Microsoft’s (or Apple’s) desire or right to make money.

Ford does it, GM does, GE and General Foods do it – that’s biz.

What I do not go along with is having marketing, pure and simple, shoved down my throat.

Windows 8 tries to get me to subscribe to a bunch of “apps” that I don’t want or need and can’t easily opt out of. It’s a kind of “negative billing”.

It treats me like a consumer, not a producer of “output”. Sure, I want to listen to music, watch videos and read email. But don’t make me sign up for a new email account, and subscribe to a bunch of online services to do it. I already know how. And so do my clients. They deserve better.

Except that Microsoft, like the smartphone and tablet vendors, is charging for the primary product AND the complimentary product. At least Gillette had the proper sense of shame to give you the razor for free.

We are quickly being coerced into two classes of computer users. The Consumer and the Producer (Professional).

The consumer has already switched over to the cell phone and tablet as passive users. The professionals – people who actually use computers for work – will still need to have the computing power and software to produce their graphics work, music production, novel writing.

If Google and Microsoft and Apple have their way, we will soon just have some sort of screen to press our fingers on, and everything else will be in the “Cloud”. All our programs, all our files, all our money.

At the risk of sound like a paranoid of a conspiracy theorist, it seems that with the arrival of Windows 8, we are somehow being pushed into it.