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The Computer Tutor — Software How-To
The Computer Tutor

Computer repair, personal computer instruction in Safety Harbor, Clearwater, Tampa, St Pete

Latest Episodes:

Nanny Scam — Don’t get nailed by the Nanny Scam! Feb 02, 2015
Show notes

My wife Jeanne recently embarked on a new career – she is a nanny for a young couple with a newborn baby girl. She loves babies anyway, so spending her days taking care of one is pretty much her dream job. And of course the baby’s parents love Jeanne because she has tons of experience with kids (successfully raising our own two, plus she taught First Grade for 17 years).

When my wife was searching for a family in need of a nanny, one of the services she used was Care.com. That’s an online service that matches up families and nannies. Unfortunately, it’s also a site that is used by scammers to take advantage and steal from kind-hearted people. One of the ways they do that is through the Nanny Scam.

How the Nanny Scam works

There are a few variations on this scam, but the basics are usually similar. When a nanny is looking for a family, she’ll usually post a profile on Care.com that lists previous experience and availability, and perhaps a photo. The scammer finds that profile as a potential target and contacts her to offer the “job” (which doesn’t exist of course). At some point in the beginning, the scammer sends a message that is something like this one:

Of course, the made-up story really pulls on the heartstrings of anyone that reads it and believes it. A single mother who lost her husband and baby in a tragic auto accident, and now she’s trying to make it with her small son who barely survived but needs a wheelchair. And conveniently, the “mother” can only communicate through text or email so actually speaking with her is not an option.

This is the photo that is often sent along with the heartbreaking message:

As you can see, every aspect of this back story is designed to create emotion and sympathy. And it works. Now that the bait is taken, it’s time for the scammer to set the hook. The next message explains that the son – “Joe” – needs some type of new medical equipment such as a leg brace or a wheelchair. So the mother asks if she can send the prospective nanny a check to cover the purchase of the wheelchair PLUS a few hundred dollars to compensate for the nanny’s time. The nanny just needs to deposit the check and then send the money for the wheelchair on to the medical device supplier via Western Union (or some other “same as cash” service).

So the poor gullible nanny deposits the check. She might even wait for the bank to confirm that the funds are clear, just to be safe. Then she gets cash from the bank, goes to Western Union and sends the money to the “medical device supplier” for the wheelchair.

Once that money has been sent, the nanny never hears from the mother again. She DOES however hear from the bank – telling her that the check was no good and that she needs to pay back that money. Usually the check turns out to be stolen from a company or even from an individual (often taken from the back of the checkbook so it doesn’t get noticed right away). Even though the bank has said the funds are “clear” it often can take a few weeks for them to be notified that the check was no good, which is when they tell the victim that the money needs to be returned. And if she can’t pay back the money? She could very well be headed to jail for grand theft.

It’s bad enough when a scam victim gets stung because they thought they stumbled across a once-in-a-lifetime chance to snag a bunch of money. But in this case, the person is victimized because of having a good heart and wanting to help someone. It’s often devastating to finally realize that the very person she was trying to help is the one that stole thousands of dollars from her.

Here’s a news story about a young lady who was victimized by the Nanny Scam. Hopefully raising awareness will prevent some kind-hearted people from losing their their money to these scumbags.

The post Don’t get nailed by the Nanny Scam! first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

nanny scam letter — Don’t get nailed by the Nanny Scam! Feb 02, 2015
Show notes

My wife Jeanne recently embarked on a new career – she is a nanny for a young couple with a newborn baby girl. She loves babies anyway, so spending her days taking care of one is pretty much her dream job. And of course the baby’s parents love Jeanne because she has tons of experience with kids (successfully raising our own two, plus she taught First Grade for 17 years).

When my wife was searching for a family in need of a nanny, one of the services she used was Care.com. That’s an online service that matches up families and nannies. Unfortunately, it’s also a site that is used by scammers to take advantage and steal from kind-hearted people. One of the ways they do that is through the Nanny Scam.

How the Nanny Scam works

There are a few variations on this scam, but the basics are usually similar. When a nanny is looking for a family, she’ll usually post a profile on Care.com that lists previous experience and availability, and perhaps a photo. The scammer finds that profile as a potential target and contacts her to offer the “job” (which doesn’t exist of course). At some point in the beginning, the scammer sends a message that is something like this one:

Of course, the made-up story really pulls on the heartstrings of anyone that reads it and believes it. A single mother who lost her husband and baby in a tragic auto accident, and now she’s trying to make it with her small son who barely survived but needs a wheelchair. And conveniently, the “mother” can only communicate through text or email so actually speaking with her is not an option.

This is the photo that is often sent along with the heartbreaking message:

As you can see, every aspect of this back story is designed to create emotion and sympathy. And it works. Now that the bait is taken, it’s time for the scammer to set the hook. The next message explains that the son – “Joe” – needs some type of new medical equipment such as a leg brace or a wheelchair. So the mother asks if she can send the prospective nanny a check to cover the purchase of the wheelchair PLUS a few hundred dollars to compensate for the nanny’s time. The nanny just needs to deposit the check and then send the money for the wheelchair on to the medical device supplier via Western Union (or some other “same as cash” service).

So the poor gullible nanny deposits the check. She might even wait for the bank to confirm that the funds are clear, just to be safe. Then she gets cash from the bank, goes to Western Union and sends the money to the “medical device supplier” for the wheelchair.

Once that money has been sent, the nanny never hears from the mother again. She DOES however hear from the bank – telling her that the check was no good and that she needs to pay back that money. Usually the check turns out to be stolen from a company or even from an individual (often taken from the back of the checkbook so it doesn’t get noticed right away). Even though the bank has said the funds are “clear” it often can take a few weeks for them to be notified that the check was no good, which is when they tell the victim that the money needs to be returned. And if she can’t pay back the money? She could very well be headed to jail for grand theft.

It’s bad enough when a scam victim gets stung because they thought they stumbled across a once-in-a-lifetime chance to snag a bunch of money. But in this case, the person is victimized because of having a good heart and wanting to help someone. It’s often devastating to finally realize that the very person she was trying to help is the one that stole thousands of dollars from her.

Here’s a news story about a young lady who was victimized by the Nanny Scam. Hopefully raising awareness will prevent some kind-hearted people from losing their their money to these scumbags.

The post Don’t get nailed by the Nanny Scam! first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Inspector Gadget — Cool tech gadgets that are cheap on Amazon Jan 26, 2015
Show notes

This week, some fun stuff. It’s good to have computer tips and security alerts and warnings to back up your important data, but sometimes we need to take a break and check out some things that can amuse and entertain us. And really, some of these things can be considered computer-related or technical in some way.

Inspector Gadget

What we have here are some cool little items. All of them are:

Cheap – around $20, some a lot less

Amusing/entertaining – some may actually even be useful

Available on Amazon – at least it was when I wrote this

Have fun!

Wireless LED Motion Sensor Light

This little light just sticks up anywhere you have too much darkness, like in a closet or a pantry. It measures 3 inches square and is run by 3 AA batteries. Wherever it is, as soon as it sense motion (such as you getting into your closet to find something), the light comes on. When you leave the light goes off. Could be pretty handy.

$15.00

Quirky citrus spritzer

I can definitely see where this might be useful. It looks like one end is tubular with sharp edges. The other end is a pump sprayer. You just jam the sharp end into a fat piece of fresh fruit, then use the pump sprayer to spritz the fruit juice on your food. No batteries required, just finger motion. Doesn’t get much fresher than this!

$4.99

Talking Toilet Paper Holder

Seriously, who would not want one of these things? You can record your own message (and re-record it if you want). Then, when someone pulls on the toilet paper, it plays your pre-recorded message. I can think of a few message possibilities. It’s funny and creepy all in one.

$9.99

Laptop cooling pad

If you use a laptop regularly, you need one of these. Even if yours does not seem to get excessively hot, it does get hotter than the average desktop computer. The cooling pad pulls the hot air out and away from the computer, meaning it will run more efficiently, and therefore it should last longer. Whenever I am repairing a laptop, it’s on a cooling pad.

$9.99

Sport headband with built-in headphones

I would use this for when I run or walk. I wear a hat anyway, and I often use headphones. This gadget just combines the two. The only thing I see as a disadvantage is that the headphones are wired (the ones I use are bluetooth-enabled so they are wireless). But I still see a lot of people running with wired earphones anyway, so I’m guessing this would be pretty popular for those that like music and warm ears in the winter.

$19.99

Ringtone Annoy-a-tron

One of my favorites in this list. It’s a variation on the original, which was simply the Annoy-a-tron. The original was a tiny little device that you stuck somewhere in your victim’s house or office (in a place that it would not easily be found, like the underside of a table or the interior of a file cabinet). Then at random intervals, it would produce a little “beep” or “chirp”. Nothing loud or obnoxious, just enough to be heard and to make the victim wonder what in the world continues to make that noise. This new model mimics some common phone ring tones, and it’s also less expensive than the original, which currently sells for around $35.

$20.99

Mini stealth universal TV remote

I used to own one of these and it was a lot of fun. Small enough to hang on your keychain, so you can carry it with you everywhere. When you’re at someone’s house you could have the TV randomly change channels. It’s even more effective if you’re not actually one of the ones watching TV – maybe you’re sort of off to the side having a conversation with someone. It does confuse people since they can see the actual remote sitting there and no one is touching it. Even more fun – go to a sports bar on Super Bowl Sunday, and just as one team is about to score, switch the channel to a Hallmark movie. Just make sure no one EVER finds out it was you.

$2.72

Temperature sensitive LED faucet light

This is one of those things that has almost no practical value. The only real use for it is that you can see by the color whether the water is hot or cold. I guess that’s sort of handy. I just like it because it looks kind of cool, and it’s cheap. I think that whoever wrote the description on Amazon was probably not a native English speaker, as one of the lines read, “Make water colorful and beautiful to bring you good feeling”.

$4.39

Stink bombs

Now these obviously have LOTS of practical value. If you have a sense of humor like mine anyway. I have used these so many times over the years. The ingredient in these little things is ammonium sulfide. Sulfide like sulphur, or that wonderful “rotten egg” smell, and ammonium like ammonia, to make it really strong. That wonderfully funny chemical is inside a container made of very thin glass, so that all you need to do is put it on the floor and step on it to break it. That unmistakable, horrible smell will fill the room very quickly. If you’re at a dinner party and you happen to notice that one of the other guests goes into the bathroom, just go and “activate” one of these near the door and of course that person will catch the blame when they come out.

$6.01 (for a package of 36)

Runny nose shower gel dispenser

I don’t know when I stopped using bar soap in the shower, but it really does seem kind of old-fashioned now. Shower gel or body wash is my preference. And if you’re going to lather up in liquid soap, why not have it squirt out of a giant wall-mounted nose? The reviews aren’t that great though – apparently the nose leaks in between uses. At least it doesn’t cost very much to try.

$6.08

Blacklight flashlight

Looks like a regular flashlight, but it puts out ultraviolet light. When you shine one of these in the dark, it illuminates some things that you couldn’t see with the light on. For example, police use them to investigate a crime scene because it enables various bodily fluids to show up. You can also use it to spot certain types of rocks or minerals. Or if you use a particular type of invisible pen, anything you write can only be seen under a black light. And if you’re considering purchasing an expensive piece of art, you can use this to reveal any cracks or previous repairs.

$6.99

Battery-saving mousepad

I’m not yet convinced of the science that says the mouse pad you use can make your mouse battery last longer, but apparently that is what the “lab testing” has shown (according to the seller’s description). They say it can extend the life of your wireless mouse by up to 50%. A lot of the reviews had nice things to say about it but they weren’t talking about the battery-saving aspect of it; they just like the way the mouse pad feels, and the fact that it is adhesive so you can stick it to the desk and not have to be bothered with it moving around.

$6.99

Digital video recorder sunglasses

If you need to record a conversation or something else on video, and you can’t advertise the fact that you are recording, this would be a good way to do that. It’s a great example of how technology is able to keep making things smaller and smaller (except for smartphones – they’re getting bigger). These actual polarized sunglasses have a tiny hold in the center front and that’s where the camera lens is. It records HD video, and since the memory is expandable up to 32 GB, it can hold a LOT of video.

$19.99

Handerpants

The Amazon description says that these are a vaguely inappropriate fashion statement, and that they will distract enemies and prevent chafing. Good enough for me.

$19.50

Ham dogger

What do you do if you want to have hamburgers for dinner but the only buns you have on hand are hot dog buns? You just make the hamburgers into the shape of hot dogs! That’s what the ham dogger does. I’ve never actually seen one of these used before, but I would sure be willing to try it out.

$7.82

Muscle man chest plate

This is supposed to be something you put on under a T-shirt to make it look like you have a muscular chest and washboard abs. It sounds great in theory, but several of the reviews said that it’s just very thin rubber and doesn’t work as described. That’s probably why it’s only $18. Apparently you have to spend $60 or more to have the chest of a male model. Hey, even at that price it’s cheaper than a gym membership.

$18.09

The post Cool tech gadgets that are cheap on Amazon first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

motion sensor light — Cool tech gadgets that are cheap on Amazon Jan 26, 2015
Show notes

This week, some fun stuff. It’s good to have computer tips and security alerts and warnings to back up your important data, but sometimes we need to take a break and check out some things that can amuse and entertain us. And really, some of these things can be considered computer-related or technical in some way.

Inspector Gadget

What we have here are some cool little items. All of them are:

Cheap – around $20, some a lot less

Amusing/entertaining – some may actually even be useful

Available on Amazon – at least it was when I wrote this

Have fun!

Wireless LED Motion Sensor Light

This little light just sticks up anywhere you have too much darkness, like in a closet or a pantry. It measures 3 inches square and is run by 3 AA batteries. Wherever it is, as soon as it sense motion (such as you getting into your closet to find something), the light comes on. When you leave the light goes off. Could be pretty handy.

$15.00

Quirky citrus spritzer

I can definitely see where this might be useful. It looks like one end is tubular with sharp edges. The other end is a pump sprayer. You just jam the sharp end into a fat piece of fresh fruit, then use the pump sprayer to spritz the fruit juice on your food. No batteries required, just finger motion. Doesn’t get much fresher than this!

$4.99

Talking Toilet Paper Holder

Seriously, who would not want one of these things? You can record your own message (and re-record it if you want). Then, when someone pulls on the toilet paper, it plays your pre-recorded message. I can think of a few message possibilities. It’s funny and creepy all in one.

$9.99

Laptop cooling pad

If you use a laptop regularly, you need one of these. Even if yours does not seem to get excessively hot, it does get hotter than the average desktop computer. The cooling pad pulls the hot air out and away from the computer, meaning it will run more efficiently, and therefore it should last longer. Whenever I am repairing a laptop, it’s on a cooling pad.

$9.99

Sport headband with built-in headphones

I would use this for when I run or walk. I wear a hat anyway, and I often use headphones. This gadget just combines the two. The only thing I see as a disadvantage is that the headphones are wired (the ones I use are bluetooth-enabled so they are wireless). But I still see a lot of people running with wired earphones anyway, so I’m guessing this would be pretty popular for those that like music and warm ears in the winter.

$19.99

Ringtone Annoy-a-tron

One of my favorites in this list. It’s a variation on the original, which was simply the Annoy-a-tron. The original was a tiny little device that you stuck somewhere in your victim’s house or office (in a place that it would not easily be found, like the underside of a table or the interior of a file cabinet). Then at random intervals, it would produce a little “beep” or “chirp”. Nothing loud or obnoxious, just enough to be heard and to make the victim wonder what in the world continues to make that noise. This new model mimics some common phone ring tones, and it’s also less expensive than the original, which currently sells for around $35.

$20.99

Mini stealth universal TV remote

I used to own one of these and it was a lot of fun. Small enough to hang on your keychain, so you can carry it with you everywhere. When you’re at someone’s house you could have the TV randomly change channels. It’s even more effective if you’re not actually one of the ones watching TV – maybe you’re sort of off to the side having a conversation with someone. It does confuse people since they can see the actual remote sitting there and no one is touching it. Even more fun – go to a sports bar on Super Bowl Sunday, and just as one team is about to score, switch the channel to a Hallmark movie. Just make sure no one EVER finds out it was you.

$2.72

Temperature sensitive LED faucet light

This is one of those things that has almost no practical value. The only real use for it is that you can see by the color whether the water is hot or cold. I guess that’s sort of handy. I just like it because it looks kind of cool, and it’s cheap. I think that whoever wrote the description on Amazon was probably not a native English speaker, as one of the lines read, “Make water colorful and beautiful to bring you good feeling”.

$4.39

Stink bombs

Now these obviously have LOTS of practical value. If you have a sense of humor like mine anyway. I have used these so many times over the years. The ingredient in these little things is ammonium sulfide. Sulfide like sulphur, or that wonderful “rotten egg” smell, and ammonium like ammonia, to make it really strong. That wonderfully funny chemical is inside a container made of very thin glass, so that all you need to do is put it on the floor and step on it to break it. That unmistakable, horrible smell will fill the room very quickly. If you’re at a dinner party and you happen to notice that one of the other guests goes into the bathroom, just go and “activate” one of these near the door and of course that person will catch the blame when they come out.

$6.01 (for a package of 36)

Runny nose shower gel dispenser

I don’t know when I stopped using bar soap in the shower, but it really does seem kind of old-fashioned now. Shower gel or body wash is my preference. And if you’re going to lather up in liquid soap, why not have it squirt out of a giant wall-mounted nose? The reviews aren’t that great though – apparently the nose leaks in between uses. At least it doesn’t cost very much to try.

$6.08

Blacklight flashlight

Looks like a regular flashlight, but it puts out ultraviolet light. When you shine one of these in the dark, it illuminates some things that you couldn’t see with the light on. For example, police use them to investigate a crime scene because it enables various bodily fluids to show up. You can also use it to spot certain types of rocks or minerals. Or if you use a particular type of invisible pen, anything you write can only be seen under a black light. And if you’re considering purchasing an expensive piece of art, you can use this to reveal any cracks or previous repairs.

$6.99

Battery-saving mousepad

I’m not yet convinced of the science that says the mouse pad you use can make your mouse battery last longer, but apparently that is what the “lab testing” has shown (according to the seller’s description). They say it can extend the life of your wireless mouse by up to 50%. A lot of the reviews had nice things to say about it but they weren’t talking about the battery-saving aspect of it; they just like the way the mouse pad feels, and the fact that it is adhesive so you can stick it to the desk and not have to be bothered with it moving around.

$6.99

Digital video recorder sunglasses

If you need to record a conversation or something else on video, and you can’t advertise the fact that you are recording, this would be a good way to do that. It’s a great example of how technology is able to keep making things smaller and smaller (except for smartphones – they’re getting bigger). These actual polarized sunglasses have a tiny hold in the center front and that’s where the camera lens is. It records HD video, and since the memory is expandable up to 32 GB, it can hold a LOT of video.

$19.99

Handerpants

The Amazon description says that these are a vaguely inappropriate fashion statement, and that they will distract enemies and prevent chafing. Good enough for me.

$19.50

Ham dogger

What do you do if you want to have hamburgers for dinner but the only buns you have on hand are hot dog buns? You just make the hamburgers into the shape of hot dogs! That’s what the ham dogger does. I’ve never actually seen one of these used before, but I would sure be willing to try it out.

$7.82

Muscle man chest plate

This is supposed to be something you put on under a T-shirt to make it look like you have a muscular chest and washboard abs. It sounds great in theory, but several of the reviews said that it’s just very thin rubber and doesn’t work as described. That’s probably why it’s only $18. Apparently you have to spend $60 or more to have the chest of a male model. Hey, even at that price it’s cheaper than a gym membership.

$18.09

The post Cool tech gadgets that are cheap on Amazon first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

hard drive — Why does my hard drive show less space than it actually has? Jan 19, 2015
Show notes

I recently got an email from my friend Preston, who had this question:

“I’m wondering why, when you get a new hard drive, you don’t get the full amount of space that it says on the box? When I got my PC a few years ago, it said I had that 500 GB hard drive, but when I look at the drive, it only says I have 465 GB.”

So what do you have to say, hard drive manufacturers? Is this some kind of scam on the computer users of the world?

Not a scam. There’s a legitimate explanation for this. Actually there are a few reasons why this happens.

In case you’re not familiar with this, here’s what Preston is talking about. Your computer has a primary hard drive, and it was built to store a certain amount of data. The data is measure in either gigabytes or terabytes (1000 GB is virtually equal to 1 TB). Common sizes of hard drives these days are 500 GB, 750GB, 1TB, 2TB and sometimes even larger.

For example, the primary drive in my main computer is 2 terabytes. If I pulled the drive physically out of the computer, you would see right on the label that it says it’s a 2 TB drive. But if I check it while it’s in the computer (you can do this by holding down the Windows key, and tapping the letter E), it shows a different capacity:

That’s telling me I still have 1.5 TB of free space, but it says that the total overall space on the drive is only 1.81 TB. Why would it say that, if it’s supposed to be a 2 TB drive? There are a few reasons for this.

First, there could be a hidden partition on the drive. The most common type of hidden partition on a hard drive is a recovery partition. That partition contains the files and folders that would be used if Windows got messed up and needed to be reinstalled.

You know how when you first boot up your computer and for a few seconds you see on the screen that it’s telling you to hit F10 or some other key for “Recovery Options”? That what that hidden partition would be used for. Not all computers have this – it really depends on the manufacturer. And why do they hide that partition? So we computer users don’t mess with it and screw it up! But it still uses some of the space on your hard drive even though you can’t see it normally.

Second, there is a function in Windows that uses some space. That function is called System Restore. You’ve probably heard of it. This is where you can take your computer back to the state it was in on a particular date in the past, in order to fix some kind of problem that has come up more recently. It’s a handy thing to have in certain situations, but it can use up a good bit of space. Even just storing a single “past date” hard drive system state can be substantial – and if you check your System Restore window, you could find that you have 5 or 10 of them stored!

The third reason is the file system of the hard drive itself. The data on your hard drive needs to be stored in an organized manner, and it doesn’t do that on its own. There has to be a system to organize all those bits and bytes. And that system takes up a bit of space on its own.

Think of a physical file cabinet, like the one you might have in your office. That file cabinet might have a certain amount of space inside. But can you really use 100% of that space to store your files and folders? Nope. You will need something to hold your folders in place. Usually you start with a frame like this:

That takes up a small amount of space on its own. But then you also need the things that hang from that wire framework:

Then after you have that all set up, NOW you can start filing away your manila folders with your important papers. Granted, the frame and hanging files don’t take up a LOT of space, but they do take up SOME space – meaning you don’t really get to use 100% of the space inside that file cabinet for storage of your stuff.

So when you see that your 500 GB hard drive only has 465 GB of usable space, don’t worry, because it’s normal.

The real scammers? Cereal manufacturers!

The post Why does my hard drive show less space than it actually has? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

hard drive — Why does my hard drive show less space than it actually has? Jan 19, 2015
Show notes

I recently got an email from my friend Preston, who had this question:

“I’m wondering why, when you get a new hard drive, you don’t get the full amount of space that it says on the box? When I got my PC a few years ago, it said I had that 500 GB hard drive, but when I look at the drive, it only says I have 465 GB.”

So what do you have to say, hard drive manufacturers? Is this some kind of scam on the computer users of the world?

Not a scam. There’s a legitimate explanation for this. Actually there are a few reasons why this happens.

In case you’re not familiar with this, here’s what Preston is talking about. Your computer has a primary hard drive, and it was built to store a certain amount of data. The data is measure in either gigabytes or terabytes (1000 GB is virtually equal to 1 TB). Common sizes of hard drives these days are 500 GB, 750GB, 1TB, 2TB and sometimes even larger.

For example, the primary drive in my main computer is 2 terabytes. If I pulled the drive physically out of the computer, you would see right on the label that it says it’s a 2 TB drive. But if I check it while it’s in the computer (you can do this by holding down the Windows key, and tapping the letter E), it shows a different capacity:

That’s telling me I still have 1.5 TB of free space, but it says that the total overall space on the drive is only 1.81 TB. Why would it say that, if it’s supposed to be a 2 TB drive? There are a few reasons for this.

First, there could be a hidden partition on the drive. The most common type of hidden partition on a hard drive is a recovery partition. That partition contains the files and folders that would be used if Windows got messed up and needed to be reinstalled.

You know how when you first boot up your computer and for a few seconds you see on the screen that it’s telling you to hit F10 or some other key for “Recovery Options”? That what that hidden partition would be used for. Not all computers have this – it really depends on the manufacturer. And why do they hide that partition? So we computer users don’t mess with it and screw it up! But it still uses some of the space on your hard drive even though you can’t see it normally.

Second, there is a function in Windows that uses some space. That function is called System Restore. You’ve probably heard of it. This is where you can take your computer back to the state it was in on a particular date in the past, in order to fix some kind of problem that has come up more recently. It’s a handy thing to have in certain situations, but it can use up a good bit of space. Even just storing a single “past date” hard drive system state can be substantial – and if you check your System Restore window, you could find that you have 5 or 10 of them stored!

The third reason is the file system of the hard drive itself. The data on your hard drive needs to be stored in an organized manner, and it doesn’t do that on its own. There has to be a system to organize all those bits and bytes. And that system takes up a bit of space on its own.

Think of a physical file cabinet, like the one you might have in your office. That file cabinet might have a certain amount of space inside. But can you really use 100% of that space to store your files and folders? Nope. You will need something to hold your folders in place. Usually you start with a frame like this:

That takes up a small amount of space on its own. But then you also need the things that hang from that wire framework:

Then after you have that all set up, NOW you can start filing away your manila folders with your important papers. Granted, the frame and hanging files don’t take up a LOT of space, but they do take up SOME space – meaning you don’t really get to use 100% of the space inside that file cabinet for storage of your stuff.

So when you see that your 500 GB hard drive only has 465 GB of usable space, don’t worry, because it’s normal.

The real scammers? Cereal manufacturers!

The post Why does my hard drive show less space than it actually has? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

free wifi safety — How to be safe on a public wifi connection Jan 12, 2015
Show notes

After last week’s post and podcast about the dangers of sharing your wifi signal with your neighbor, I had several people contact me about how to keep a computer safe “the other way around”. Meaning, if you are using your neighbor’s wifi signal (with permission of course), what type of precautions should you be taking in order to protect and secure your own computer?

In general, the best plan is to use your computer the same way you would if you were on a public wifi connection and wanted to stay safe and secure.

So that naturally brings up the next question – how do you keep your computer safe on a public wifi connection?

1. Don’t have your computer connect to a public wifi automatically
This is something I’ve been guilty of. I could be in a place that has a free wifi signal, which I have used at some point in the past. And when I look at my laptop, it has already “remembered” the network and connected to it. Not good! Your computer should only go online when you are aware of it and you intentionally want it to connect to the internet. Usually when you click to connect to a wifi signal, there’s an option to “Connect automatically” – just make sure that box is not checked when you sign on.

2. Use 2-factor authentication for sites that offer it
This is a security feature that is becoming more and more common. Slightly inconvenient, yes, but only slightly. 2-factor authentication means that someone would not only need your password to get into an account; they would also need access to your phone. For example, you can have this enabled for a Gmail email account. So if you have your laptop connected to a public wifi network, and you want to check your email, you would go to the Gmail website like you normally would. You enter your email address and your password. But you’re not immediately logged into your account. Instead, Google asks you for a confirmation code as the final step before accessing your account. And you get that code through a text message on your phone. When you enter the code, you get into your email. So even if some hacker somewhere in the world guesses your Gmail password, they can’t get into your email because they don’t have your phone.

3. Turn off sharing
When you’re connected to the wifi at Starbucks, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll be planning to share any files with the other people on that same network. So you shouldn’t have the various “Sharing” options enabled. Go to Control Panel and open the Network and Sharing Center, and click on “Advanced Sharing Settings”. Turn off Network discovery, File and printer sharing, and Public folder sharing:

4. Make sure you know the actual network name
If you’re in some public place like an airport or hotel lobby, and you check to see what wifi is available, you might see a network called “public wifi” or “free wifi” or “guest wifi”. It would be really easy to think, “Hey, that’s nice of them to offer people a free wifi connection!”. But you should not connect to one of them without FIRST verifying where it came from. Yes, it might just be a local business offering it to the community. But it could also be that guy over in the corner with his own wifi hotspot, wanting people to log in to HIS network so he can snoop around on your computer.

5. Consider using a VPN
That’s a Virtual Private Network. I’m not going to get into all the technical details about what a VPN is or how it’s set up. The bottom line for you is that you can run software on your computer, log in with your user name and password, and once you’re signed in you’re safe. So whether you’re signing in to your Facebook account or your email account or your Paypal account, all of your communication is encrypted. So no one can intercept it and read it.

There are lots of VPNs available for you to use. Some are free, some you pay for, depending on the features. If you want, use the comments section below to let me know which one you like best and why.

And in addition to those 5 practices, you should also do the things that are considered common sense:

Have strong antivirus/antimalware on your computer

Use strong passwords, and a different one for every account. And don’t store them in your browser.

Don’t click on a link unless you know where it will take you

Do you use your neighbor’s wifi? Do you use public wifi? What precautions do you take?

The post How to be safe on a public wifi connection first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

wifi safety — How to be safe on a public wifi connection Jan 12, 2015
Show notes

After last week’s post and podcast about the dangers of sharing your wifi signal with your neighbor, I had several people contact me about how to keep a computer safe “the other way around”. Meaning, if you are using your neighbor’s wifi signal (with permission of course), what type of precautions should you be taking in order to protect and secure your own computer?

In general, the best plan is to use your computer the same way you would if you were on a public wifi connection and wanted to stay safe and secure.

So that naturally brings up the next question – how do you keep your computer safe on a public wifi connection?

1. Don’t have your computer connect to a public wifi automatically
This is something I’ve been guilty of. I could be in a place that has a free wifi signal, which I have used at some point in the past. And when I look at my laptop, it has already “remembered” the network and connected to it. Not good! Your computer should only go online when you are aware of it and you intentionally want it to connect to the internet. Usually when you click to connect to a wifi signal, there’s an option to “Connect automatically” – just make sure that box is not checked when you sign on.

2. Use 2-factor authentication for sites that offer it
This is a security feature that is becoming more and more common. Slightly inconvenient, yes, but only slightly. 2-factor authentication means that someone would not only need your password to get into an account; they would also need access to your phone. For example, you can have this enabled for a Gmail email account. So if you have your laptop connected to a public wifi network, and you want to check your email, you would go to the Gmail website like you normally would. You enter your email address and your password. But you’re not immediately logged into your account. Instead, Google asks you for a confirmation code as the final step before accessing your account. And you get that code through a text message on your phone. When you enter the code, you get into your email. So even if some hacker somewhere in the world guesses your Gmail password, they can’t get into your email because they don’t have your phone.

3. Turn off sharing
When you’re connected to the wifi at Starbucks, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll be planning to share any files with the other people on that same network. So you shouldn’t have the various “Sharing” options enabled. Go to Control Panel and open the Network and Sharing Center, and click on “Advanced Sharing Settings”. Turn off Network discovery, File and printer sharing, and Public folder sharing:

4. Make sure you know the actual network name
If you’re in some public place like an airport or hotel lobby, and you check to see what wifi is available, you might see a network called “public wifi” or “free wifi” or “guest wifi”. It would be really easy to think, “Hey, that’s nice of them to offer people a free wifi connection!”. But you should not connect to one of them without FIRST verifying where it came from. Yes, it might just be a local business offering it to the community. But it could also be that guy over in the corner with his own wifi hotspot, wanting people to log in to HIS network so he can snoop around on your computer.

5. Consider using a VPN
That’s a Virtual Private Network. I’m not going to get into all the technical details about what a VPN is or how it’s set up. The bottom line for you is that you can run software on your computer, log in with your user name and password, and once you’re signed in you’re safe. So whether you’re signing in to your Facebook account or your email account or your Paypal account, all of your communication is encrypted. So no one can intercept it and read it.

There are lots of VPNs available for you to use. Some are free, some you pay for, depending on the features. If you want, use the comments section below to let me know which one you like best and why.

And in addition to those 5 practices, you should also do the things that are considered common sense:

Have strong antivirus/antimalware on your computer

Use strong passwords, and a different one for every account. And don’t store them in your browser.

Don’t click on a link unless you know where it will take you

Do you use your neighbor’s wifi? Do you use public wifi? What precautions do you take?

The post How to be safe on a public wifi connection first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

wifi sharing — Should you share your internet with your neighbor? Jan 05, 2015
Show notes

Recently I got an email from Barbara in Maine, with an interesting question. She wrote: “I have a next door neighbor who wants to hook into my internet and share expenses. Is that not legal to do? What do I need to know about it?” Great question, Barbara!

I’ll tell you right up front, if I were asked this by one of my neighbors, my answer would be no. For several reasons:

1. I don’t trust my neighbor enough to justify the risk this deal creates for me

That’s not to say my neighbor (let’s call him Daniel) is not a nice person, or would do anything intentionally malicious. On the contrary, Daniel and his wife are wonderful people. Always friendly, helpful, just nice to have as neighbors.

BUT – I don’t know how secure their computers are. I would be letting their computers into my network, and I don’t know what antivirus or antimalware they use. I don’t know if their software is up to date, or if their computers are even set to install Windows Updates at all. Their computers could already be riddled with viruses and malware, and I would be letting them into the “trusted” side of my wifi router, with the potential to infect all of the computers in my house.

2. I can’t really know who would be accessing the internet through my connection

Even if Daniel and his wife are completely up to date and totally secure against any viruses, what about someone else that comes to visit? I couldn’t possibly trust those people since I don’t even know them. Maybe Daniel’s 24 year old nephew, who just got out of prison and needs a place to stay for a little while, goes online with his laptop that is NOT fully protected. That puts all of your computers at risk again.

3. I could be compromising my privacy

This would depend on how you have your network set up, but in some scenarios, your neighbor (or his wife, or his criminal nephew Daniel, or Daniel’s buddies that come over) could access the files on your computer.

4. I’m responsible for the activity on my internet account

What if whoever is sharing your wifi signal decides to download some illegal music or software? Or maybe they make just a brief (or even an accidental) visit to an illegal porn website? Any activity like that would be traced back to the IP address – and that’s all on you. Are you willing to risk prison time just to share your monthly internet bill?

5. Your internet provider might not allow it

If you check the terms and conditions for your internet account, you might find that your internet provider does not allow you to share your wifi signal with any of your neighbors for the purpose of splitting the monthly cost. Of course they are aware that this does go on all the time, so if they do find out about it, they might cancel your internet account without notice.

6. Your internet could slow to a crawl

At 10 pm when you just want to get some emails processed, or you’re doing some research on the web, and you notice that web pages are loading really slowly. Maybe you’re just imagining it, or… maybe your neighbor has 3 computers and they’re all logged into Netflix with different people watching separate movies.

Hopefully those are enough reasons. For me, I would just rather pay for my own account and have it all to myself.

The post Should you share your internet with your neighbor? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

listen to my podcast in iTunes — Should you share your internet with your neighbor? Jan 05, 2015
Show notes

Recently I got an email from Barbara in Maine, with an interesting question. She wrote: “I have a next door neighbor who wants to hook into my internet and share expenses. Is that not legal to do? What do I need to know about it?” Great question, Barbara!

I’ll tell you right up front, if I were asked this by one of my neighbors, my answer would be no. For several reasons:

1. I don’t trust my neighbor enough to justify the risk this deal creates for me

That’s not to say my neighbor (let’s call him Daniel) is not a nice person, or would do anything intentionally malicious. On the contrary, Daniel and his wife are wonderful people. Always friendly, helpful, just nice to have as neighbors.

BUT – I don’t know how secure their computers are. I would be letting their computers into my network, and I don’t know what antivirus or antimalware they use. I don’t know if their software is up to date, or if their computers are even set to install Windows Updates at all. Their computers could already be riddled with viruses and malware, and I would be letting them into the “trusted” side of my wifi router, with the potential to infect all of the computers in my house.

2. I can’t really know who would be accessing the internet through my connection

Even if Daniel and his wife are completely up to date and totally secure against any viruses, what about someone else that comes to visit? I couldn’t possibly trust those people since I don’t even know them. Maybe Daniel’s 24 year old nephew, who just got out of prison and needs a place to stay for a little while, goes online with his laptop that is NOT fully protected. That puts all of your computers at risk again.

3. I could be compromising my privacy

This would depend on how you have your network set up, but in some scenarios, your neighbor (or his wife, or his criminal nephew Daniel, or Daniel’s buddies that come over) could access the files on your computer.

4. I’m responsible for the activity on my internet account

What if whoever is sharing your wifi signal decides to download some illegal music or software? Or maybe they make just a brief (or even an accidental) visit to an illegal porn website? Any activity like that would be traced back to the IP address – and that’s all on you. Are you willing to risk prison time just to share your monthly internet bill?

5. Your internet provider might not allow it

If you check the terms and conditions for your internet account, you might find that your internet provider does not allow you to share your wifi signal with any of your neighbors for the purpose of splitting the monthly cost. Of course they are aware that this does go on all the time, so if they do find out about it, they might cancel your internet account without notice.

6. Your internet could slow to a crawl

At 10 pm when you just want to get some emails processed, or you’re doing some research on the web, and you notice that web pages are loading really slowly. Maybe you’re just imagining it, or… maybe your neighbor has 3 computers and they’re all logged into Netflix with different people watching separate movies.

Hopefully those are enough reasons. For me, I would just rather pay for my own account and have it all to myself.

The post Should you share your internet with your neighbor? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

hacker — Hackers’ most effective route to your computer: website ads Dec 29, 2014
Show notes

There used to be a traditional set of guidelines that you could go by, and by doing so you could be reasonably sure that your computer was safe from being attacked or infected by a virus or malware. Use a good antivirus, don’t open email attachments, don’t click on a link unless you know for sure where it leads, and don’t visit sketchy websites. Those are all still good and important, and I highly recommend all of those guidelines. But hackers have another way into your computer – advertising on websites.

That’s right – your computer can get infected simply by visiting a website that displays a malicious ad. And before you say, “That’s okay – I don’t click on any of the ads” – it doesn’t matter. The attack does not require you to click on anything.

This type of attack is called “malvertising”. Here’s why it can be so effective:

1. It shows up on safe, respectable websites

One of the first rules you hear about for keeping your computer safe is that you shouldn’t visit sketchy websites – AKA “internet bad neighborhoods”. These usually include sites that are about pirating software, cracking passwords, downloading music or movies illegally, that kind of thing. When you visit places like that, you should just about expect to get infected.

But what if you go to a well-known, popular website that is popular in the mainstream and considered very safe? An infected ad can easily show up there. Websites for companies such as Yahoo!, CNN, Tumblr, eBay – they are all susceptible to this at different levels.

When an ad can appear on the most highly-visited, trusted websites, you can’t just filter it out based on the website’s domain because you’d be cutting off access to virtually all of the internet.

2. The attackers can usually remain anonymous

It would be easy if a website simply made a deal with a particular company to sell a particular advertising campaign. If that package of ads was found to be malicious, it would be clear who is at fault. But that’s not how it works. Website advertising for the large companies is done by ad networks. This means a website would purchase a “package” of advertising that includes lots of different ads from a wide range of companies. This is a convenient and efficient way of selling advertising, but it also makes it very difficult to dig down and find out which ad served up the malicious content.

3. Hacker attacks can target a very specific group of users

One of the greatest innovations in advertising is the ability to focus on a demographic. But this is also a curse, as it allows the bad guys to target just exactly who their victims are. If an attacker creates a pop-up ad that says “Your client records are infected – click here to fix this immediately” he might want to have that only show up on the computers of lawyers and doctors. When they focus on a certain type of user, they can use much more specific language, and even incorporate terminology and geographical references that make the user less suspicious because it all sounds so legitimate.

How do you avoid this problem?

Since you can’t just avoid going to the websites where malicious ads might appear, how do you keep these ads from infecting your computer? You can instruct your web browser to not display any ads.

For my computers, I use AdBlock Plus. It’s free at adblockplus.org.

AdBlock Plus is what’s known as a browser extension. This just means it gives your web browser (such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera) additional functionality.

In this case the added functionality is the ability to block display ads. I’ve been using AdBlock Plus for quite a few years, and believe me – the web is a much nicer place without all the obnoxious ads to distract you. You can get more details about AdBlocker Plus, and install it in your preferred web browser, at the link listed above.

While you’re on that site, click on the “Features” section, and when you scroll down you’ll see this information listed:

This means that not only are the annoying ads not displayed, but also if a website displays content from a known malicious server, that would also be blocked. It’s just another layer of protection against the bad guys. Of course, they are constantly trying to figure out ways to get past security, so this type of protection may not always work (and it may not work indefinitely). So you can’t just install AdBlock Plus and assume it’s safe to visit any website and click on everything in sight.

When you are on the AdBlock Plus website and viewing the “Disable Malware Domains” as shown above, click on the “open this dialogue” link and make sure the feature is enabled. This is what mine looks like:

Those items that are checked are various lists of malware domains and ad servers that are blocked. You can subscribe to any of the lists you want, but I subscribe to all of them.

And a final word about blocking ads. There are some people who feel that ad blocking is an issue of ethics. Their position is that having a website costs the website owner money, and if the site is providing information or valuable content for free, the site has to have advertising in order to continue. It’s a valid point.

I’m still okay with using AdBlock Plus though, because they have taken this issue into account. The software does not block 100% of advertisements (although you can set it so that it does that if you want). By default, you will still see what are determined to be “acceptable” ads (guidelines here). So you definitely won’t see the ads that are flashing and jumping around on the screen, or the ones that play sound. You know the kind I mean. This way, it encourages the website owners to only display ads that the internet community as a whole considers acceptable. So the site can still make money via advertising.

And as I’ve said before, you still need a strong antivirus and antimalware system in place. And you need to make sure your other software such as Adobe, Java, web browsers, etc. are kept up to date. Don’t give the bad guys any advantage!

The post Hackers’ most effective route to your computer: website ads first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

adblocker plus — Hackers’ most effective route to your computer: website ads Dec 29, 2014
Show notes

There used to be a traditional set of guidelines that you could go by, and by doing so you could be reasonably sure that your computer was safe from being attacked or infected by a virus or malware. Use a good antivirus, don’t open email attachments, don’t click on a link unless you know for sure where it leads, and don’t visit sketchy websites. Those are all still good and important, and I highly recommend all of those guidelines. But hackers have another way into your computer – advertising on websites.

That’s right – your computer can get infected simply by visiting a website that displays a malicious ad. And before you say, “That’s okay – I don’t click on any of the ads” – it doesn’t matter. The attack does not require you to click on anything.

This type of attack is called “malvertising”. Here’s why it can be so effective:

1. It shows up on safe, respectable websites

One of the first rules you hear about for keeping your computer safe is that you shouldn’t visit sketchy websites – AKA “internet bad neighborhoods”. These usually include sites that are about pirating software, cracking passwords, downloading music or movies illegally, that kind of thing. When you visit places like that, you should just about expect to get infected.

But what if you go to a well-known, popular website that is popular in the mainstream and considered very safe? An infected ad can easily show up there. Websites for companies such as Yahoo!, CNN, Tumblr, eBay – they are all susceptible to this at different levels.

When an ad can appear on the most highly-visited, trusted websites, you can’t just filter it out based on the website’s domain because you’d be cutting off access to virtually all of the internet.

2. The attackers can usually remain anonymous

It would be easy if a website simply made a deal with a particular company to sell a particular advertising campaign. If that package of ads was found to be malicious, it would be clear who is at fault. But that’s not how it works. Website advertising for the large companies is done by ad networks. This means a website would purchase a “package” of advertising that includes lots of different ads from a wide range of companies. This is a convenient and efficient way of selling advertising, but it also makes it very difficult to dig down and find out which ad served up the malicious content.

3. Hacker attacks can target a very specific group of users

One of the greatest innovations in advertising is the ability to focus on a demographic. But this is also a curse, as it allows the bad guys to target just exactly who their victims are. If an attacker creates a pop-up ad that says “Your client records are infected – click here to fix this immediately” he might want to have that only show up on the computers of lawyers and doctors. When they focus on a certain type of user, they can use much more specific language, and even incorporate terminology and geographical references that make the user less suspicious because it all sounds so legitimate.

How do you avoid this problem?

Since you can’t just avoid going to the websites where malicious ads might appear, how do you keep these ads from infecting your computer? You can instruct your web browser to not display any ads.

For my computers, I use AdBlock Plus. It’s free at adblockplus.org.

AdBlock Plus is what’s known as a browser extension. This just means it gives your web browser (such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera) additional functionality.

In this case the added functionality is the ability to block display ads. I’ve been using AdBlock Plus for quite a few years, and believe me – the web is a much nicer place without all the obnoxious ads to distract you. You can get more details about AdBlocker Plus, and install it in your preferred web browser, at the link listed above.

While you’re on that site, click on the “Features” section, and when you scroll down you’ll see this information listed:

This means that not only are the annoying ads not displayed, but also if a website displays content from a known malicious server, that would also be blocked. It’s just another layer of protection against the bad guys. Of course, they are constantly trying to figure out ways to get past security, so this type of protection may not always work (and it may not work indefinitely). So you can’t just install AdBlock Plus and assume it’s safe to visit any website and click on everything in sight.

When you are on the AdBlock Plus website and viewing the “Disable Malware Domains” as shown above, click on the “open this dialogue” link and make sure the feature is enabled. This is what mine looks like:

Those items that are checked are various lists of malware domains and ad servers that are blocked. You can subscribe to any of the lists you want, but I subscribe to all of them.

And a final word about blocking ads. There are some people who feel that ad blocking is an issue of ethics. Their position is that having a website costs the website owner money, and if the site is providing information or valuable content for free, the site has to have advertising in order to continue. It’s a valid point.

I’m still okay with using AdBlock Plus though, because they have taken this issue into account. The software does not block 100% of advertisements (although you can set it so that it does that if you want). By default, you will still see what are determined to be “acceptable” ads (guidelines here). So you definitely won’t see the ads that are flashing and jumping around on the screen, or the ones that play sound. You know the kind I mean. This way, it encourages the website owners to only display ads that the internet community as a whole considers acceptable. So the site can still make money via advertising.

And as I’ve said before, you still need a strong antivirus and antimalware system in place. And you need to make sure your other software such as Adobe, Java, web browsers, etc. are kept up to date. Don’t give the bad guys any advantage!

The post Hackers’ most effective route to your computer: website ads first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

low disk space — 4 ways to free up space on your Windows hard drive Dec 22, 2014
Show notes

Years ago, hard drive space was an issue that I dealt with more often. Back in the days of 40 gb and 80 gb hard drives, it didn’t take a whole lot to fill one up. Then you started getting the warnings “Drive C is getting low on space”. These days, with hard drives more commonly in the 1 terabyte (1000 gb) range, it’s not as big of a problem (but that creates a different problem, which I’ll talk about in a minute). But even now I sometimes see a client’s computer that is getting pretty full. And by “pretty full” I mean that less than 10% of the drive’s storage capacity is still available.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do quickly and easily to free up some space. In fact, you might even be surprised at how quick and easy it is.

First, you can delete temporary internet files. When you visit a website, your computer will often store the images from that site temporarily on your hard drive. That way, if you go back to that same site tomorrow or next week, the site will load more quickly because you’re loading all those images from your hard drive instead of downloading them from the internet again. As you might imaging, storing those images can take up a chunk of space on your hard drive. You can get rid of them.

Second, you can empty your Recycle Bin. I must confess, I don’t do this very often, and my Recycle Bin gets pretty full. Whatever is in there is taking up valuable hard drive space.

Third, you can delete temporary files. Wait a minute – isn’t that what we did in step one? Nope! In what might seem like a confusing choice of terminology, these are two different things. These temporary files don’t come from the internet, they come from programs installed on your computer. Some programs are designed to store some files on your computer for a period of time, but they aren’t really necessary for your computer to function properly, so you can get rid of them to save space.

Fourth, you can delete Windows Updates that are already installed and working. Don’t worry, deleting them doesn’t actually remove the update itself; it just removes the installer file that was originally downloaded. Sometimes these can take quite a bit of space, and you don’t need them any more since they have already been installed.

So there you are, four ways you can immediately save some space (maybe a lot of space). It sounds like you’ll have to jump through all kinds of hoops and follow a lot of complicated steps to do all those things, right? Wrong. It’s easy!

(Note: the steps below are based on Windows 7. If you have Windows 8 or 8.1, go to Control Panel and click to open Administrative Tools. Then double click on Disk Cleanup. Then start with Step 4 below. And yes, there are other ways to get to that same place. For another option on how to do this, listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the “play” button above.)

Here’s how you free up space on your Windows 7 hard drive:

1. Click the Start button (the MS logo in the lower left corner) and type: cleanmgr

2. At the top of the Start menu, click on cleanmgr.exe

3. Choose the drive you wish to clean up (usually this will be drive C):

4. The program will go through and analyze several areas of the drive:

5. Now you will see the results of the analysis. This is the window where you will look at the 4 areas we mentioned above, check the box for each one. You will see that there is a calculation of the total amount of disk space you will gain by deleting these files. In my case, it was a little over 7 gb. To proceed, click OK and then confirm by clicking “Delete Files”.

6. You’ll see a little progress window as the files are deleted:

When that’s finished, you’re done. If you want, you can go back and check it again and see that the totals have been reset back to zero (or close to zero).

You can run this and delete these files as often as you wish. But if you find yourself constantly running out of hard drive space, this is really only a temporary fix – you really need to either replace your drive with a bigger one, or add a second hard drive just for storage. Or, you could just get a new computer – the new ones come with huge hard drives and you’ll probably never lack for space.

One more thing. I mentioned above that the newer machines with the really big hard drives cause a different problem. That problem is disorganization. When your hard drive is small and you only have limited storage space, you tend to be organized, and frugal about what you put on the drive. Now, with the larger drives, many people just download everything and store stuff all over the place. Since they don’t have to be concerned with running out of space, they tend to be careless about how much they download and where it all goes.

You can of course use your computer any way you want, but my recommendation is that you keep it organized. This will save you time and potential headaches down the road, when you’re trying to remember where you stored a particular file or folder.

The post 4 ways to free up space on your Windows hard drive first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

low disk space — 4 ways to free up space on your Windows hard drive Dec 22, 2014
Show notes

Years ago, hard drive space was an issue that I dealt with more often. Back in the days of 40 gb and 80 gb hard drives, it didn’t take a whole lot to fill one up. Then you started getting the warnings “Drive C is getting low on space”. These days, with hard drives more commonly in the 1 terabyte (1000 gb) range, it’s not as big of a problem (but that creates a different problem, which I’ll talk about in a minute). But even now I sometimes see a client’s computer that is getting pretty full. And by “pretty full” I mean that less than 10% of the drive’s storage capacity is still available.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do quickly and easily to free up some space. In fact, you might even be surprised at how quick and easy it is.

First, you can delete temporary internet files. When you visit a website, your computer will often store the images from that site temporarily on your hard drive. That way, if you go back to that same site tomorrow or next week, the site will load more quickly because you’re loading all those images from your hard drive instead of downloading them from the internet again. As you might imaging, storing those images can take up a chunk of space on your hard drive. You can get rid of them.

Second, you can empty your Recycle Bin. I must confess, I don’t do this very often, and my Recycle Bin gets pretty full. Whatever is in there is taking up valuable hard drive space.

Third, you can delete temporary files. Wait a minute – isn’t that what we did in step one? Nope! In what might seem like a confusing choice of terminology, these are two different things. These temporary files don’t come from the internet, they come from programs installed on your computer. Some programs are designed to store some files on your computer for a period of time, but they aren’t really necessary for your computer to function properly, so you can get rid of them to save space.

Fourth, you can delete Windows Updates that are already installed and working. Don’t worry, deleting them doesn’t actually remove the update itself; it just removes the installer file that was originally downloaded. Sometimes these can take quite a bit of space, and you don’t need them any more since they have already been installed.

So there you are, four ways you can immediately save some space (maybe a lot of space). It sounds like you’ll have to jump through all kinds of hoops and follow a lot of complicated steps to do all those things, right? Wrong. It’s easy!

(Note: the steps below are based on Windows 7. If you have Windows 8 or 8.1, go to Control Panel and click to open Administrative Tools. Then double click on Disk Cleanup. Then start with Step 4 below. And yes, there are other ways to get to that same place. For another option on how to do this, listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the “play” button above.)

Here’s how you free up space on your Windows 7 hard drive:

1. Click the Start button (the MS logo in the lower left corner) and type: cleanmgr

2. At the top of the Start menu, click on cleanmgr.exe

3. Choose the drive you wish to clean up (usually this will be drive C):

4. The program will go through and analyze several areas of the drive:

5. Now you will see the results of the analysis. This is the window where you will look at the 4 areas we mentioned above, check the box for each one. You will see that there is a calculation of the total amount of disk space you will gain by deleting these files. In my case, it was a little over 7 gb. To proceed, click OK and then confirm by clicking “Delete Files”.

6. You’ll see a little progress window as the files are deleted:

When that’s finished, you’re done. If you want, you can go back and check it again and see that the totals have been reset back to zero (or close to zero).

You can run this and delete these files as often as you wish. But if you find yourself constantly running out of hard drive space, this is really only a temporary fix – you really need to either replace your drive with a bigger one, or add a second hard drive just for storage. Or, you could just get a new computer – the new ones come with huge hard drives and you’ll probably never lack for space.

One more thing. I mentioned above that the newer machines with the really big hard drives cause a different problem. That problem is disorganization. When your hard drive is small and you only have limited storage space, you tend to be organized, and frugal about what you put on the drive. Now, with the larger drives, many people just download everything and store stuff all over the place. Since they don’t have to be concerned with running out of space, they tend to be careless about how much they download and where it all goes.

You can of course use your computer any way you want, but my recommendation is that you keep it organized. This will save you time and potential headaches down the road, when you’re trying to remember where you stored a particular file or folder.

The post 4 ways to free up space on your Windows hard drive first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

mystery — Questions that seem to have no answer Dec 15, 2014
Show notes

I have 3 mysterious questions for you this week. Don’t worry, there will be a computer-related tip before we’re done here.

Mystery number 1: Why can’t I add simple numbers in my head?

This is just a simple addition problem. But you cannot use a calculator or a pencil and paper. This must be done completely in your head.

Try it:

Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10.

What is the total?

I’ll put the answer at the end of this post. No cheating! Come up with the answer in your head and see if you got it right.

Mystery number 2: Where did the other dollar go?

This one has been one of my favorite word problems for many years. It seems so simple, but can be so confounding.

Here’s the story:

Three men are traveling and stop for the night at a hotel.

They decided they want to save some money and share a room. The clerk tells them that a room for the night is $30.

So each man pays $10, and they go up to the room.

A little while later, the clerk realizes that he made a mistake. The room was only supposed to be $25.

So he gives the bellhop $5, and tells him, “I overcharged the 3 men – go and give them this $5 back.”

The bellhop heads toward the room, but he’s not very honest. On the way to the room, he decides to keep $2 for himself. He goes to three men and only gives them back $3 (which of course is a refund of $1 each).

Now let’s think about this. We started out with the men paying $30 total, right?

So originally each man paid $10. Now each man got a dollar back, which means that each man has now paid $9.

$9 x 3 men = $27. The bellhop kept $2. That’s $29.

Where did the other dollar go?

Mystery number 3: Why do people continue to pay for a service that they no longer use?

This question is the one that’s computer/internet related.

A long time ago, back when the internet was still a new toy to a lot of people, America Online was a very popular Internet Service Provider. Most people still had dial-up service. And no matter where you went, there was a display of AOL computer discs – always free – that would install the AOL software on your computer. This would create an account for you to connect to the internet, and back then it was like $9.95 per month. It gradually grew to $12 and later $15 per month.

That monthly fee was what allowed the customer to actually connect to the internet.

Fast forward to today. Most people now use cable or some other type of high-speed internet connection. There are still some people (like those in very rural areas) who use AOL’s dialup internet service, but that number is steadily declining as high-speed access spreads.

But guess what – many of the people that no longer use AOL to connect to the internet still pay AOL for that monthly subscription.

It’s true. The average AOL “subscriber” currently pays $21.35 per month and AOL continues to increase the monthly fee by adding on additional “services” such as antivirus and premium tech support. But millions of those people don’t even use AOL’s service because they have switched to a high-speed internet connection.

In fact, in the most recent fiscal quarter, the division of AOL that includes dialup service took in $139 million. With a continually declining user base, the one thing keeping AOL alive right now are these millions of people that are paying for nothing.

For some of these people, I know the reason why because I have talked to them personally. They think that in order to keep their AOL email address they need to keep paying their monthly subscription. This is not true. AOL email is free (and in my opinion, even that is overpriced).

So here’s the computer tip for today: if you are still paying AOL just to keep your email account, stop! Cancel your AOL subscription. You won’t lose your email address. And when you do cancel, check your credit card statement to make sure they don’t just “forget” and keep charging you anyway – that’s the standard practice for AOL.

And the correct total for the first mystery question is 4100. Most people, myself included, come up with 5000. Get a calculator and check it.

The post Questions that seem to have no answer first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

AOL disc — Questions that seem to have no answer Dec 15, 2014
Show notes

I have 3 mysterious questions for you this week. Don’t worry, there will be a computer-related tip before we’re done here.

Mystery number 1: Why can’t I add simple numbers in my head?

This is just a simple addition problem. But you cannot use a calculator or a pencil and paper. This must be done completely in your head.

Try it:

Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10.

What is the total?

I’ll put the answer at the end of this post. No cheating! Come up with the answer in your head and see if you got it right.

Mystery number 2: Where did the other dollar go?

This one has been one of my favorite word problems for many years. It seems so simple, but can be so confounding.

Here’s the story:

Three men are traveling and stop for the night at a hotel.

They decided they want to save some money and share a room. The clerk tells them that a room for the night is $30.

So each man pays $10, and they go up to the room.

A little while later, the clerk realizes that he made a mistake. The room was only supposed to be $25.

So he gives the bellhop $5, and tells him, “I overcharged the 3 men – go and give them this $5 back.”

The bellhop heads toward the room, but he’s not very honest. On the way to the room, he decides to keep $2 for himself. He goes to three men and only gives them back $3 (which of course is a refund of $1 each).

Now let’s think about this. We started out with the men paying $30 total, right?

So originally each man paid $10. Now each man got a dollar back, which means that each man has now paid $9.

$9 x 3 men = $27. The bellhop kept $2. That’s $29.

Where did the other dollar go?

Mystery number 3: Why do people continue to pay for a service that they no longer use?

This question is the one that’s computer/internet related.

A long time ago, back when the internet was still a new toy to a lot of people, America Online was a very popular Internet Service Provider. Most people still had dial-up service. And no matter where you went, there was a display of AOL computer discs – always free – that would install the AOL software on your computer. This would create an account for you to connect to the internet, and back then it was like $9.95 per month. It gradually grew to $12 and later $15 per month.

That monthly fee was what allowed the customer to actually connect to the internet.

Fast forward to today. Most people now use cable or some other type of high-speed internet connection. There are still some people (like those in very rural areas) who use AOL’s dialup internet service, but that number is steadily declining as high-speed access spreads.

But guess what – many of the people that no longer use AOL to connect to the internet still pay AOL for that monthly subscription.

It’s true. The average AOL “subscriber” currently pays $21.35 per month and AOL continues to increase the monthly fee by adding on additional “services” such as antivirus and premium tech support. But millions of those people don’t even use AOL’s service because they have switched to a high-speed internet connection.

In fact, in the most recent fiscal quarter, the division of AOL that includes dialup service took in $139 million. With a continually declining user base, the one thing keeping AOL alive right now are these millions of people that are paying for nothing.

For some of these people, I know the reason why because I have talked to them personally. They think that in order to keep their AOL email address they need to keep paying their monthly subscription. This is not true. AOL email is free (and in my opinion, even that is overpriced).

So here’s the computer tip for today: if you are still paying AOL just to keep your email account, stop! Cancel your AOL subscription. You won’t lose your email address. And when you do cancel, check your credit card statement to make sure they don’t just “forget” and keep charging you anyway – that’s the standard practice for AOL.

And the correct total for the first mystery question is 4100. Most people, myself included, come up with 5000. Get a calculator and check it.

The post Questions that seem to have no answer first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

AVG sucks — AVG has gone to the dark side Dec 08, 2014
Show notes

There was a time when I used and recommended AVG as a reliable option for a free antivirus. I stopped using it about 4 years ago, mainly because the software itself wasn’t really compatible with all Windows computers. When I make a recommendation, I try to make sure it’s something that won’t freeze up your PC. Now, AVG has given us some new reasons to not use their software. AVG has become one of the “bad guys” – now they’ll try to sneak malware and junkware on to your computer.

Kind of ironic, isn’t it? One of the companies that asks you to trust it to keep your computer clean of viruses and malware actually ends up trying to put that junk ON your computer.

To verify this for myself, I went through the process of installing the free AVG antivirus program on my computer.

At the AVG web page, the first button to click on is a big tipoff:

You can see that the big green button indicates that the download is not coming from the AVG website, but rather from CNET – probably better known as Download.com. Back in the early days of the internet, CNET was a great source for technology news. And I used to go to Download.com all the time to find new software and try it out. But that has all changed, a good while ago. Download.com is one of the biggest sources for deceitful junkware and malware on the internet. Rather than delivering quality content, they now make their money by sneaking garbage on to your computer.

I downloaded and ran the installer. Of course, the first thing that comes up is to accept their terms and conditions. Nothing to be surprised about there, really – just about every software installation has this now.

I was a bit surprised at the size of the Agreement, however. I copied it into a Word document and checked the size, and it came to 23 pages – 11,814 words. That’s a lot of legal talk for a free program. Wonder why their lawyers had so much to say?

Here’s the big “fork in the road” during the installation process where many people make the wrong choice. You can do the “Standard” install or the “Custom” install. Of course “Standard” is pre-checked because that’s what AVG wants you to do. And look at the “Custom” option – it says it’s for “advanced users”. How many people would consider themselves “advanced users” – just that phrase would intimidate some people and they would choose the Standard install just because they assume it will be easier.

Here’s a tip for whenever you are installing software on your computer: ALWAYS choose the custom installation option. Here’s how you should really read it:

Standard install: We have a ton of junk we want to put on your computer, and you’re agreeing that we can put ALL of it on without giving you any further warnings.

Custom install: We’ll show you the list of junk we want to put on your computer, and you can choose which ones actually get installed.

But for the purpose of this review, I chose Standard installation like a lot of people would. Now the real download begins:

When the download was completed, I was graciously offered the chance to give my email address and get another program – “Quick Tune”. It says Quick Tune can speed up my PC by fixing common computer problems. This is crapware that you don’t want, but the makers of Quick Tune have paid AVG to offer it to you as a “benefit”. I declined.

And now the onslaught begins.

Shortly after the installation, I got a pop-up on my screen:

This is where the true irony comes in.

One of the primary purposes for having security software is protect against something called browser hijacking. Browser hijacking is what has happened when you suddenly notice your home page has changed to a different website. A true hijack also changes your default search engine and your “new tab” page (the website that shows up by default whenever you open a new tab in your web browser).

That pop-up from AVG wants to do all of those things. If I allowed this (as a lot of people do, when they see the big “OK” button there), then every time I open up my web browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) it’s going to automatically go to the AVG Secure Search page, rather than whatever page I currently have it going to. And when I open a new tab, that new tab is also going to display that page. And whenever I do a web search, I won’t be searching on Google now – I’ll be searching on “AVG Secure Search”.

So by clicking on the AVG pop-up that is offering to protect my web browser, that very thing is going to infect my web browser with all those changes that I don’t want. No thanks, AVG.

What we’ve gone over so far is more than enough to tell you that AVG is no longer one of the good guys. They are just another company that has given in to the temptation of sacrificing their customers’ user experience on the altar of making money.

But they’ve only just begun!

Check out the interesting link right in the middle of their program window:

Have you ever had a problem with your computer’s performance? Maybe it was running too slow? That’s by far the biggest complaint I hear when someone brings me their computer. So of course there are TONS of people that will click that button, thinking they are going to speed up their computer. But what really happens?

When I clicked the button, I suddenly see a new program – one which I did not request, or even know about. It’s called PC Analyzer. And there it goes, supposedly checking my registry for errors, my hard drive for defragmentation, etc. And what a surprise – it found “Severe” problems with my computer. As you might already know, this is a standard practice for scam malware programs to make money. These are the basic steps:

Alert you to the “danger” areas in your computer (problems that were previously unknown, but now you know about them thanks to this lifesaving program)

Offer to fix these non-existent problems (a solution which you need to pay for, of course)

And that is exactly the process that AVG is using. It found all of these supposed dangerous errors on my computer, and right next to the “Fix Now” button was this little explanation:

So they are offering to sell me the solution to the problems that they “found”. I guess if a scam works, there’s no point in changing it. I would love to know how much money AVG makes just from this one small area. Again, so many people will just click the “Fix now” button without reading the fine print – and that’s what AVG is counting on.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go uninstall some garbage from my computer.

And if you’re looking for a really GOOD antivirus solution that truly protects your computer (and keeps your other critical software up to date), scroll to the top of this page and click on Scott’s Managed Service Plan.

The post AVG has gone to the dark side first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

AVG sucks — AVG has gone to the dark side Dec 08, 2014
Show notes

There was a time when I used and recommended AVG as a reliable option for a free antivirus. I stopped using it about 4 years ago, mainly because the software itself wasn’t really compatible with all Windows computers. When I make a recommendation, I try to make sure it’s something that won’t freeze up your PC. Now, AVG has given us some new reasons to not use their software. AVG has become one of the “bad guys” – now they’ll try to sneak malware and junkware on to your computer.

Kind of ironic, isn’t it? One of the companies that asks you to trust it to keep your computer clean of viruses and malware actually ends up trying to put that junk ON your computer.

To verify this for myself, I went through the process of installing the free AVG antivirus program on my computer.

At the AVG web page, the first button to click on is a big tipoff:

You can see that the big green button indicates that the download is not coming from the AVG website, but rather from CNET – probably better known as Download.com. Back in the early days of the internet, CNET was a great source for technology news. And I used to go to Download.com all the time to find new software and try it out. But that has all changed, a good while ago. Download.com is one of the biggest sources for deceitful junkware and malware on the internet. Rather than delivering quality content, they now make their money by sneaking garbage on to your computer.

I downloaded and ran the installer. Of course, the first thing that comes up is to accept their terms and conditions. Nothing to be surprised about there, really – just about every software installation has this now.

I was a bit surprised at the size of the Agreement, however. I copied it into a Word document and checked the size, and it came to 23 pages – 11,814 words. That’s a lot of legal talk for a free program. Wonder why their lawyers had so much to say?

Here’s the big “fork in the road” during the installation process where many people make the wrong choice. You can do the “Standard” install or the “Custom” install. Of course “Standard” is pre-checked because that’s what AVG wants you to do. And look at the “Custom” option – it says it’s for “advanced users”. How many people would consider themselves “advanced users” – just that phrase would intimidate some people and they would choose the Standard install just because they assume it will be easier.

Here’s a tip for whenever you are installing software on your computer: ALWAYS choose the custom installation option. Here’s how you should really read it:

Standard install: We have a ton of junk we want to put on your computer, and you’re agreeing that we can put ALL of it on without giving you any further warnings.

Custom install: We’ll show you the list of junk we want to put on your computer, and you can choose which ones actually get installed.

But for the purpose of this review, I chose Standard installation like a lot of people would. Now the real download begins:

When the download was completed, I was graciously offered the chance to give my email address and get another program – “Quick Tune”. It says Quick Tune can speed up my PC by fixing common computer problems. This is crapware that you don’t want, but the makers of Quick Tune have paid AVG to offer it to you as a “benefit”. I declined.

And now the onslaught begins.

Shortly after the installation, I got a pop-up on my screen:

This is where the true irony comes in.

One of the primary purposes for having security software is protect against something called browser hijacking. Browser hijacking is what has happened when you suddenly notice your home page has changed to a different website. A true hijack also changes your default search engine and your “new tab” page (the website that shows up by default whenever you open a new tab in your web browser).

That pop-up from AVG wants to do all of those things. If I allowed this (as a lot of people do, when they see the big “OK” button there), then every time I open up my web browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) it’s going to automatically go to the AVG Secure Search page, rather than whatever page I currently have it going to. And when I open a new tab, that new tab is also going to display that page. And whenever I do a web search, I won’t be searching on Google now – I’ll be searching on “AVG Secure Search”.

So by clicking on the AVG pop-up that is offering to protect my web browser, that very thing is going to infect my web browser with all those changes that I don’t want. No thanks, AVG.

What we’ve gone over so far is more than enough to tell you that AVG is no longer one of the good guys. They are just another company that has given in to the temptation of sacrificing their customers’ user experience on the altar of making money.

But they’ve only just begun!

Check out the interesting link right in the middle of their program window:

Have you ever had a problem with your computer’s performance? Maybe it was running too slow? That’s by far the biggest complaint I hear when someone brings me their computer. So of course there are TONS of people that will click that button, thinking they are going to speed up their computer. But what really happens?

When I clicked the button, I suddenly see a new program – one which I did not request, or even know about. It’s called PC Analyzer. And there it goes, supposedly checking my registry for errors, my hard drive for defragmentation, etc. And what a surprise – it found “Severe” problems with my computer. As you might already know, this is a standard practice for scam malware programs to make money. These are the basic steps:

Alert you to the “danger” areas in your computer (problems that were previously unknown, but now you know about them thanks to this lifesaving program)

Offer to fix these non-existent problems (a solution which you need to pay for, of course)

And that is exactly the process that AVG is using. It found all of these supposed dangerous errors on my computer, and right next to the “Fix Now” button was this little explanation:

So they are offering to sell me the solution to the problems that they “found”. I guess if a scam works, there’s no point in changing it. I would love to know how much money AVG makes just from this one small area. Again, so many people will just click the “Fix now” button without reading the fine print – and that’s what AVG is counting on.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go uninstall some garbage from my computer.

And if you’re looking for a really GOOD antivirus solution that truly protects your computer (and keeps your other critical software up to date), scroll to the top of this page and click on Scott’s Managed Service Plan.

The post AVG has gone to the dark side first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Safe File Converter — How to convert files without getting malware Dec 01, 2014
Show notes

This is a scenario that’s repeated many thousands of times on the internet, every single day. Someone has a file on their computer, and it’s in a particular format, and they need it to be in a different format. For example, they have an MP4 video, and they want it to just be an MP3 audio file. So they go on Google and search for “how to convert mp4 to mp3” and they see lots of free software that offers to do this. They click to download and install one of them, and within minutes their computer is infected with pop-ups, fake virus alerts, and in some cases, actual viruses.

There are some actual legitimate programs that will do this, but depending on what type of file conversion you need, it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You could spend a lot of time experimenting with the ones you find by searching Google before you find one that does what you want without putting a bunch of garbage on your computer.

I recently came across a service that offers file conversion, and it’s entirely web-based – which means you don’t install anything on your computer in order to use it. And it’s free (though the free option has some limitations – I’ll get to that in a minute).

As you know, I don’t recommend anything here unless I’ve used it myself. So I tried it out.

The site is called Zamzar. You can see it at Zamzar.com. No idea where they came up with that name, but that doesn’t really matter. On the home page of their site, they claim to be able to do over 1200 different types of file conversions. If you click on the link at the top of the page that says “Conversion Types” you’ll see the list of the conversions they offer, and it’s pretty impressive.

As I was browsing that list, trying to decide which one I wanted to try as a test, I saw that one of the options was to convert a video file (MP4) to an audio file (MP3). That sounded like a good one to try. This would come in handy if you have a video on your computer, like maybe your nephew giving a speech in school. But you want to listen to it in the car, so you only need the audio portion rather than the whole video.

So I chose a video file that I had already stored on my computer, and began following the simple instructions on the Zamzar website:

Step 1: Choose the file

Step 2: Choose what format you want to end up with

Step 3: Enter your email address so they can send you the link for the converted file

Step 4: Click the Convert button to start the process (Zamzar’s Privacy Policy includes: “Zamzar does not rent, sell, or share your personal information or email address with any other companies.”)

Since my file size was nice and small, I almost immediately got the notification that the file was successfully uploaded to their server:

They say their goal is to do all conversions in 10 minutes or less. For this one, it was less than a minute – the email showed up with a link for me to click.

I clicked the link, downloaded my newly-created MP3 audio file, and it played perfectly in my media player program (I use VLC Media Player, but you probably already have Windows Media Player installed on your computer for this).

Overall I was pretty impressed at the speed. A larger file would probably take longer of course. But the thing I really liked about this whole process is that there was never any chance for me to accidentally click to install malware or junkware on my computer. The website is supported by ads, but I didn’t see any deceptive ones that tried to trick you into clicking. Your experience with their ads might vary (and when I turned AdBlock Plus back on, I didn’t see any of their ads anyway).

The ads are one way the site makes money. But probably the bigger revenue for them is selling the paid version of their services.

As you might expect, the free version (the one I tried out) has some limitations:

Your original file has to be less than 100 mb in size (some video or image files can be much larger than that). Paid accounts can convert files that are up to 1 gb in size.

Your converted file is only stored on their server for you to download for 24 hours. Paid accounts get up to 100 gb of storage space that you can use continuously.

Conversions for free accounts are only done if there are no “paid” conversions being processed. Paying customers go to the front of the line.

Paid accounts also get an online “inbox” where you can manage your various files.

Their least expensive paid account is $9 per month. They also have an “intermediate” account for $16 per month, and a top paid account at $49 per month. Here’s a comparison chart for the various paid accounts (click the image to see it larger):

Personally, I really can’t see that it would be cost effective to pay monthly for a service such as this. If I’m doing that much file conversion, I’m just going to go ahead and purchase the software to do it myself. Maybe for some people and some situations it would be worthwhile, just not for me. But for the occasional times that I need this, it could be handy. And like I said, the big advantage is there is nothing to install.

They also offer conversions from a URL (for example, you want a YouTube video converted and saved to your computer). And if you want, you can even get a file converted without going to their website – they’ll do it with a specially configured email (you just attach the file you want to convert). Those services are described in the Tools section of their website.

If you try out the Zamzar service, let us know your opinion in the comments section.

The post How to convert files without getting malware first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

file conversion — How to convert files without getting malware Dec 01, 2014
Show notes

This is a scenario that’s repeated many thousands of times on the internet, every single day. Someone has a file on their computer, and it’s in a particular format, and they need it to be in a different format. For example, they have an MP4 video, and they want it to just be an MP3 audio file. So they go on Google and search for “how to convert mp4 to mp3” and they see lots of free software that offers to do this. They click to download and install one of them, and within minutes their computer is infected with pop-ups, fake virus alerts, and in some cases, actual viruses.

There are some actual legitimate programs that will do this, but depending on what type of file conversion you need, it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You could spend a lot of time experimenting with the ones you find by searching Google before you find one that does what you want without putting a bunch of garbage on your computer.

I recently came across a service that offers file conversion, and it’s entirely web-based – which means you don’t install anything on your computer in order to use it. And it’s free (though the free option has some limitations – I’ll get to that in a minute).

As you know, I don’t recommend anything here unless I’ve used it myself. So I tried it out.

The site is called Zamzar. You can see it at Zamzar.com. No idea where they came up with that name, but that doesn’t really matter. On the home page of their site, they claim to be able to do over 1200 different types of file conversions. If you click on the link at the top of the page that says “Conversion Types” you’ll see the list of the conversions they offer, and it’s pretty impressive.

As I was browsing that list, trying to decide which one I wanted to try as a test, I saw that one of the options was to convert a video file (MP4) to an audio file (MP3). That sounded like a good one to try. This would come in handy if you have a video on your computer, like maybe your nephew giving a speech in school. But you want to listen to it in the car, so you only need the audio portion rather than the whole video.

So I chose a video file that I had already stored on my computer, and began following the simple instructions on the Zamzar website:

Step 1: Choose the file

Step 2: Choose what format you want to end up with

Step 3: Enter your email address so they can send you the link for the converted file

Step 4: Click the Convert button to start the process (Zamzar’s Privacy Policy includes: “Zamzar does not rent, sell, or share your personal information or email address with any other companies.”)

Since my file size was nice and small, I almost immediately got the notification that the file was successfully uploaded to their server:

They say their goal is to do all conversions in 10 minutes or less. For this one, it was less than a minute – the email showed up with a link for me to click.

I clicked the link, downloaded my newly-created MP3 audio file, and it played perfectly in my media player program (I use VLC Media Player, but you probably already have Windows Media Player installed on your computer for this).

Overall I was pretty impressed at the speed. A larger file would probably take longer of course. But the thing I really liked about this whole process is that there was never any chance for me to accidentally click to install malware or junkware on my computer. The website is supported by ads, but I didn’t see any deceptive ones that tried to trick you into clicking. Your experience with their ads might vary (and when I turned AdBlock Plus back on, I didn’t see any of their ads anyway).

The ads are one way the site makes money. But probably the bigger revenue for them is selling the paid version of their services.

As you might expect, the free version (the one I tried out) has some limitations:

Your original file has to be less than 100 mb in size (some video or image files can be much larger than that). Paid accounts can convert files that are up to 1 gb in size.

Your converted file is only stored on their server for you to download for 24 hours. Paid accounts get up to 100 gb of storage space that you can use continuously.

Conversions for free accounts are only done if there are no “paid” conversions being processed. Paying customers go to the front of the line.

Paid accounts also get an online “inbox” where you can manage your various files.

Their least expensive paid account is $9 per month. They also have an “intermediate” account for $16 per month, and a top paid account at $49 per month. Here’s a comparison chart for the various paid accounts (click the image to see it larger):

Personally, I really can’t see that it would be cost effective to pay monthly for a service such as this. If I’m doing that much file conversion, I’m just going to go ahead and purchase the software to do it myself. Maybe for some people and some situations it would be worthwhile, just not for me. But for the occasional times that I need this, it could be handy. And like I said, the big advantage is there is nothing to install.

They also offer conversions from a URL (for example, you want a YouTube video converted and saved to your computer). And if you want, you can even get a file converted without going to their website – they’ll do it with a specially configured email (you just attach the file you want to convert). Those services are described in the Tools section of their website.

If you try out the Zamzar service, let us know your opinion in the comments section.

The post How to convert files without getting malware first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

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