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    Software How-To

    The Computer Tutor

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

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    Latest Episodes:
    Recognizing an online car sale scam Nov 09, 2020
    Show notes

    Shopping online for a used car? You need to be able to identify the scam ads – and there are a lot of them.

    car scam

    Everyone wants to score a great deal when they buy a car. If you go to a car dealer, you might be able to negotiate a fair price. But if you shop around and look for a car being sold by an individual, you might get a REALLY great bargain. Sometimes people have a car and they just want to get rid of it, and they aren’t really worried about getting the price that it’s really worth. That’s what a lot of potential car buyers are looking for. But that strong incentive to find an amazing deal is also what ends up costing the buyer a lot of money – because they fall for a scam.

    There are a few things to look for when you’re shopping the used car ads – things that should pop up as a red flag that what you’re looking at might be a scam. Here are a few of them.

    First, a ridiculously low price. For example, I went on OfferUp and just searched on the word Honda. This is one of the first ads that came up. A nice 2012 Honda Accord, only 86k miles, always garage kept and it has no mechanical issues. You might expect to pay $8000 to $10,000 for a car like this. But look, this one is only $1400!

    Car scam

    And when an ad like this comes up, a lot of people will say, “No way that could be real” and they keep scrolling. BUT…there are a certain percentage of people who think, “I know that doesn’t really make sense, but what if it’s just a really good deal? I have to investigate further!”. That’s the exact response the scammer is looking for.

    Second, look for the seller to include an email address in the description. They want you to contact them by email, rather than clicking the “Contact seller” button on the website.

    car scam

    Why is that? Because if you start a conversation using the website’s communication service, the scammer might have you believing the whole story and ready to make the purchase. Then, someone else sees the ad and reports it – and the scammer’s account gets immediately closed. That means he immediately loses his avenue of communication with you. If you start off using email, he can continue the scam even if his seller account gets shut down. Of course, his email account could also get deleted, but that’s less likely..

    Really, those first two items should tell you to NOT pursue buying this car because it is definitely a scam. But if you do continue (maybe to just act as a buyer to see what happens, even if you know it’s not a real car for sale), here’s the next thing to watch for: an emotional story.

    I emailed an ad a while back (research purposes), and this is the message I got back from the “seller” –

    car scam

    So I guess in this case, her potential scam victims aren’t just people looking for a good deal on a car, it’s also those who are willing to practically steal a car from a grieving widow. Nice!

    The other very common story with these scammers is that they are in the US military. That is very deliberate, because it plants a subconscious evidence of honesty and credibility into the story. After all, would a United States soldier lie to you? In the case of the letter above, she claimed to be a recent widow AND a military doctor. Must be legit, right?

    And finally – if you keep going this far with the fake seller – they will try to assure you that it’s all real, because the deal is going to happen through the security of eBay selling process. But wait a minute, you didn’t find the car on eBay, did you? It was listed on Craigslist or OfferUp or some other online classified ad site. So how is eBay involved? Answer: eBay is not involved at all.

    The scammer wants you to feel confident that it’s all real, so they pretend that the whole transaction is going to happen through ebay Motors. They will tell you that you have no shipping costs, and you can even drive the car for 5 days before your money is even released from eBay to the seller. This is 100% false. If the car was not listed on eBay, and purchased by your bidding on the eBay listing, eBay has zero involvement with this sale and they will not protect you in any way.

    What should you do when you see a scam car ad?

    Well, in most cases I would tell you that you should report it so that the scammer’s account gets removed. But now I’m kind of leaning toward the notion that it’s not really worth your time. When I recently went on OfferUp and searched for the word Honda, the FIRST FIVE LISTINGS were all scams. I don’t think the websites can keep up with all the fake listings.

    Check this out – on OfferUp, there’s a seller named Gianna who had a Honda Accord for sale for just $800. This was in Gulfport, Florida, about 30 minutes from where I live.

    But when you look at her “other items” for sale, you can see she has the SAME CAR listed 19 different times. And that car is supposedly for sale in multiple cities in Michigan, Louisiana, California and Massachusetts (and other cities). And every ad I clicked on had just been created MINUTES earlier. The oldest ad I saw was 27 minutes old.

    car scam

    This means that the scammer can get their account shut down by someone reporting the scam, and they are immediately ready to open a new account with the complete set of listings posted almost immediately. It seems like the seller sites could come up with some kind of mechanism to defeat this, but so far it seems to all rely on the scammers being reported by other users. And that doesn’t seem to be very effective.

    Bottom line – watch out for these things and don’t fall for the scams. Always deal with a seller face to face. Never send cash or Western Union (or iTunes gift cards). Don’t let your desire for a bargain override your common sense.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post Recognizing an online car sale scam first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    How to change the default font and size in Word Oct 26, 2020
    Show notes

    I used to have a routine whenever I would open Word and create a new document. I would always start by changing the font to one that I like, and also the font size. What a waste of time!

    MS Word

    The default font in Word, if you don’t change anything, is Calibri. The font size is 11. It looks like this:

    Calibri 11

    It’s not a bad font. Pretty clear and easy to read. But what if you want all of your documents to be in Times New Roman, size 14?

    Times New Roman 14

    It’s also a nice font, very classic style. You could type your whole document in the default Calibri 11, and then highlight the entire thing and change it to Times New Roman 14. But that only fixes the document you’re working on right now. Using that strategy, you have to go through that process every single time.

    There’s a better way! You can just change Word to automatically default to the font and size you want to use, every time.

    Here’s how to change the default font and font size in MS Word:

    First, open a new, blank Word document.

    Up in the toolbar at the top, find the section labeled “Font”, and click on that little arrow in the lower right corner of that section:

    Font choices

    That opens up the font dialogue box. You’ll see three columns – this is where you choose the font itself, the font style (regular, italic, bold) and the size. You can see I’ve chosen Times New Roman, regular, size 14:

    font choices

    And the final step is to just click the “Set as Default” button in the lower left corner:

    set as default

    Oops, one more step – you need to tell Word if you want this to be the default font for just THIS document, or for all future documents:

    font choice

    If you choose for it to be all documents, click OK and close Word. Then open a new blank document, and you should see that it’s already in your chosen default font and size. Easy!

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post How to change the default font and size in Word first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    How to show full URL in the Chrome address bar Oct 12, 2020
    Show notes

    Sometimes it’s the little things, you know? Why does Chrome, by default, only show part of a website address in the address bar? I don’t know, but here’s how to fix that.

    Chrome

    This one is pretty simple. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about here, just open Chrome and go to any website. As an example, we can visit my own website, ComputerTutorFlorida.com.

    The actual, full website address is this: https://ComputerTutorFlorida.com. But this is what is shown in the address bar in Chrome:

    Chrome address bar

    Why doesn’t it show the full URL? I don’t know. But for me, I just like to have the full website address displayed there. I like seeing the https:// to clearly show that the site is secure, and if a site is not secure, I want to see the http:// (even though Chrome will show a message that says “not secure” on sites that don’t have a valid security certificate).

    Fortunately, it’s easy to force Chrome to show the full address each time.

    Type the following line into the Chrome address bar:

    chrome://flags/#omnibox-context-menu-show-full-urls

    Of course, you could just copy and paste it as well. When that text is in the address bar, hit Enter on the keyboard.

    You’ll see some options come up in Chrome, and the first one listed will say “Context menu show full URLs”. Out to the right will be a drop down menu – in that menu, choose “Enabled”:

    Chrome full URL

    Now go to the bottom of Chrome and click on “Relaunch”.

    When Chrome opens again, do a RIGHT click on the address bar, and choose “Always show full URLs”:

    Chrome full URL

    Now you’ll see the complete website address for any site you visit!

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post How to show full URL in the Chrome address bar first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    Best way to search Craigslist nationwide Sep 28, 2020
    Show notes

    If you’re looking to buy something from an individual, one of the best places to find a bargain is on Craigslist. But what if you want to shop on Craigslist outside of your local area? You have another option!

    Craigslist

    I have made a LOT of purchases over the years on Craigslist (craigslist.org). It was the original online classified ads site, and it’s still going strong (even though there are some other good options such as OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace).

    If you’re looking for something like a lawnmower, a used car, a bedroom set, a bike – Craigslist will have lots of listings. These are things that are common enough that you can almost always find someone selling it within 5-10 miles of where you live. If you don’t mind shopping around for a bit, you can get a bargain. For some items, I do a search on Craigslist using my criteria (location, price, etc) and then I save that search and set an alert. So when something that matches is listed, I get an email within 20-30 minutes of when it goes live, so I have often been the first call on an item and gotten a deal just by being quick.

    But what about if you’re searching for something that’s not quite as common? Maybe you’re a collector of first edition books. Or perhaps you’re shopping for a particular model Rolex watch. Yes, you might find what you’re looking for within a 20-mile radius of where you live, but your chances are much better if you expand your geographic area much farther than that – like the entire country.

    But Craigslist itself doesn’t offer that option. You can pick and choose other cities to do your search one at a time, but that could get very tedious. Instead, there is another site that allows you to do this.

    It’s called Search Tempest – SearchTempest.com.

    SearchTempest

    Right there on the home page, you just enter the item you want to find, the category, your local zip code, and the farthest distance the search should include.

    So let’s say I’m looking for a John Grisham first edition book. I enter the relevant information:

    SearchTempest

    And when I click the Search button, it shows me what’s available. And guess what – there’s a first edition John Grisham book available for just $5. And it’s at the other end of the country, in the Sacramento, California area. I certainly never would have found that just searching the traditional way on Craigslist.

    Of course, at this point, it’s up to me to contact the seller and explain that I’m not in their local area. Usually when you list something for sale on Craigslist, you either get local calls from prospective buyers, or you get emails from scammers. So this seller might be a bit hesitant when my email says I’m in Florida and I want to purchase that book. Most likely, I would need to send the money first, and I would need to cover the cost of shipping.

    In addition to showing you what’s available on Craigslist, you’ll also see the search results for your item in eBay. You could do that directly in eBay obviously, but it’s definitely convenient being able to do both in one place.

    And if you want to try out another universal Craigslist search engine, check All Craigslist Search (https://AllCraigslistSearch.com). I haven’t tried that one yet but it looks like it would work as well.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post Best way to search Craigslist nationwide first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    What to do when you see the “new” Microsoft Edge Sep 14, 2020
    Show notes

    With some recent updates, you might see a new icon on your screen – the icon for Microsoft Edge. What do you do with it?

    In case you didn’t know, Microsoft Edge is the web browser that comes with Windows 10. Microsoft doesn’t want you to use Chrome or Firefox (the high-quality web browsers) – they want you to use their crappy browser, Edge. That’s why, sometimes after a Windows Update, you might find that your default browser has been changed to Edge.

    Here’s an interesting bit of information.

    When you get a new Windows computer, the default web browser is set to be Microsoft Edge. So if you don’t do anything, that’s the program you’ll be using to view websites. So you’d think, since Edge is the default, that a lot of computers would still have it as their web browser. Often in situations like this, people are just lazy and don’t bother to change a program, they just go with what is already there because it’s convenient.

    But not in this case. As I write this, roughly 70% of computer users around the world have their default web browser set to be Google Chrome. Only 7% are using Edge.

    What does that tell us? It tells us that Edge is so awful, one of the first things people do when they get a new computer is download and install Google Chrome, and set that as their default browser. The vast majority of people do that, so that they don’t have to use Edge. Installing Chrome is definitely one of the things I do every time I set up a new computer – I put Chrome on there, and set it up with ad blockers so you don’t have to see all the junky ads when you visit websites. Chrome has all kinds of great extensions and ways you can customize it for the way you want to work and how you want to view websites.

    But here’s what I want to tell you today. With a recent update, you might see the Microsoft Edge icon as a new icon on your desktop screen. You might also see it down at the bottom of your screen, on the taskbar. It looks like this:

    Microsoft Edge icon

    Microsoft Edge icon

    In fact, you might even see a full size window filling your screen, telling you to download the new Edge:

    Edge download screen

    If you see that full size screen, just close it with the X in the top right corner.

    If you see the Edge icon at the bottom of your screen on the taskbar, do a RIGHT click on it, and choose “Unpin from taskbar”.

    If you see the Edge icon as a new icon on your desktop screen, do a RIGHT click on it, and choose Delete.

    If you find that Microsoft has changed your default browser from Chrome (or Firefox) to Edge, you can just change it back:

    1. Click the Start button, then click the Settings icon.
    2. Click on Apps, then click on the Default Apps section on the left.
    3. Scroll down and click on “Web browser”, and choose Chrome (or Firefox if you prefer) from the list.

    By doing these things, you aren’t actually removing Edge from your computer. You can’t really do that easily, since it’s part of Windows 10. But these steps will at least move it out of sight so you don’t accidentally click on it.

    And don’t be surprised if you have to do these things again after another Windows Update.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post What to do when you see the “new” Microsoft Edge first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    The RV giveaway scam Aug 31, 2020
    Show notes

    If you’re on Facebook, you’ve most likely seen the posts talking about the Jayco RV company having a promotion and offering to give away a free RV to some lucky winner. Well… I have some bad news for you.

    The Facebook post that you see was most likely shared by one of your friends. And they shared it because they saw one of their other friends share it. It’s crazy how fast these things blow up.

    The original post reads like this:

    With a lot of people out of work and Covid-19 keeping them out of work, we know money is tighter more now than ever! So by 9 pm Thursday, someone who shares and also comments will be the new owner of this Jayco Embark 2020 RV, paid off and ready to drive away, keys in hand!

    And of course it’s accompanied by some beautiful pictures of the $150k RV, which of course is designed to make everyone salivate and really, really want to be the winner. So the eager “contestants” do as instructed, and click the Like button, and make a really creative comment like “I’d love to have this” and click the Share button.

    The sad thing is, they have only accomplished two things. They have cluttered their friends’ Facebook news feed with (yet another) hoax, and they’ve told all their friends that they’re kind of gullible for believing this is actually real.

    Jayco is not giving away an RV. There is no contest or drawing. Don’t comment and don’t share it. If anything, tell the person who shared it that they should delete it.

    This has become so common, and so many people have shared it in order to win, that the Jayco RV company had to actually come out with a statement explaining that it was all fake. This is what they posted on their company Facebook page:

    no rv giveaway

    So what’s the point of this? Why would someone create a fake Facebook page about giving away an RV?

    Well, the scammers usually have one of these plans in mind:

    First, they might get thousands or hundreds of thousands of Likes and Shares. That means that the content that gets posted on that Facebook page will get seen by a lot of those people. So they’ll eventually change it from the RV giveaway to something else, like a spammy product they want to sell. The “RV Giveaway” might change to “Get free quote on your auto insurance!”. And since it cost them nothing to get all of these followers, it’s free advertising.

    Second, they might just build up the Facebook page with a lot of likes and follows, and then just sell the page on the black market. Any Facebook page that has a high number of followers has value, so it is something that certain people will pay for.

    So when you see something like this, know that it’s just a scam. Don’t help the scammers! Click the 3 dots at the top, then click on “Report page”. Hopefully Facebook will agree that it’s just a hoax and take it down quickly.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post The RV giveaway scam first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    How to resize the Windows 10 Start Menu Aug 17, 2020
    Show notes

    Did you know that the Windows 10 Start menu is re-sizable? It’s really easy to do too.

    Microsoft seems to be obsessed with making the Windows 10 Start Menu be so large that it takes up much of the desktop screen. Of course, it doesn’t help that they fill it by default with a bunch of junk like XBox games and Candy Crush and Bing News. But we can fix all of that.

    There are actually a couple of ways you can configure it so that the Windows 10 Start Menu takes up less space on your screen.

    First, you can get rid of all the tiles they stick in there. This is one of the things I do as standard procedure when I’m setting up a new computer – either a computer that a client has just purchased new, or a laptop that I’m setting up for resale. None of those tiles are needed, so I get rid of all of them. All you have to do is right click on each tile individually, and in the little menu that comes up, click on “Unpin from Start”. And that tile is gone. When you’re done, open the Start Menu again and you’ll see that all that’s there is the scrollable list of all your apps and programs. Much cleaner.

     clean Start Menu

    The second thing you can do is physically re-size the Start Menu. You’re able to actually make it taller or shorter, as well as wider or thinner.

    To do this, just click the Start button so that the Start Menu appears on the screen. Then put your cursor at the top edge of the Start Menu. You’ll see that the cursor changes to an up-arrow and down-arrow icon, and when it’s like that, you can click and drag the top edge of the Start Menu up or down. Just move it to where you like it and let go. You can do the same thing with the right edge of the Start Menu – just click and drag left or right and make it the size you prefer.

    For me, I like for the Start Menu to be as small and inconspicuous as possible. But that’s just my personal preference. You can set yours to look the way you want. And I’ll bet if you show your friends this Start Menu resizing trick, it’s probably something they didn’t even know was possible.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post How to resize the Windows 10 Start Menu first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    Back up your files BEFORE this forced update comes in Aug 03, 2020
    Show notes

    Quick tip today – big Windows Update is coming, so be ready for it by backing up your computer.

    Windows 10 May 2020 update

    This update was actually released a few months ago, and is referred to by two names:

    • The May 2020 Update
    • Windows 10 version 2004

    Even though it is called both names, it’s the same update. Some Windows 10 computers have already received it, but many have not.

    Here’s how to check to see if your computer has already received it:

    1. Hold down the Windows key on the keyboard, and tap the letter “r”
    2. In the Open box, type: winver and click OK

    This will open a new window which will show your version number for Windows 10:

    Windows 10 version

    If you already have the update, it will say Version 2004. The version just prior to that is 1909. The one before that is 1903.

    What to do:

    If your computer is at version 1903 or earlier, I recommend that you get updated to at least version 1909 (it’s quite stable).

    If your computer is running version 2004 and not showing any problems, that’s good.

    If your computer is running version 1909, you don’t need to get the newest update yet – but it’s coming. You need to be ready for it.

    In some cases, the newest big Windows Update can cause problems for Windows 10 computers. So you need to have a full system image backup in place, so you are ready in case your computer gets stuck in an endless loop during a Windows update.

    The program I use for this update is called Macrium Reflect. It’s free for personal use, and it works great. I have quite a few clients who have avoided losing data after a hard drive crash, because they had this backup. It’s a bit complex to set up initially, but once it’s in place, doing a backup is super simple. You just plug in the backup drive at night, and unplug it in the morning. It’s an incredibly easy thing to do, in order to avoid the huge headache that comes with losing all of your important files and folders.

    So my challenge to you today is this: get your backup in place. If you need help with this, I can do the whole thing remotely. So you don’t have to have anyone come in to your home or office, and you don’t have to bring your computer anywhere.

    AND – if you are one of my many clients who already has Macrium Reflect set up to do that overnight backup – when was the last time you did it? I do mine every single night, because it’s just easier to be in that habit. Do your backup tonight, and don’t worry about what a Windows Update might do to your computer.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    The post Back up your files BEFORE this forced update comes in first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    A scam that sounds very convincing Jul 20, 2020
    Show notes

    If you read this blog or listen to my podcast regularly, you should probably by now be pretty good at spotting a scam. Or at least being suspicious enough to investigate further. But what if the scammer shows that he has your actual password?

    This is one that I get calls about pretty regularly. Many of my long-term clients and readers of this blog or listeners to the podcast can catch when a scam is fairly obvious, but this one makes them think twice. Or in some cases, they believe that the message that they received is actually true (it isn’t).

    Here’s the email that usually gets sent (for this example, we’ll assume that the recipient of the email has used the word “pineapple89” as one of their passwords, either in the past or currently):

    From: scammer@email.com
    Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020
    To: recipient@email.com
    Subject: Your password pineapple89

    Your password is pineapple89. I know a lot more things about you than that.

    How?

    I placed a malware on the porn website and guess what, you visited this website to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching the video, your web browser acted as an RDP (Remote Desktop) and a keylogger, which provided me access to your display screen and webcam. Right after that, my software gathered all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook account, and email account.

    What exactly did I do?

    I made a split-screen video. The first part recorded the video you were viewing (you’ve got an exceptional taste haha), and the next part recorded your webcam (Yep! It’s you doing nasty things!).

    What should you do?

    Well, I believe $4900 is a fair price for our little secret. You’ll make the payment via Bitcoin to the below address (if you don’t know this, search “how to buy Bitcoin” in Google).

    Bitcoin Address:

    gb399Hi492hEN7Gvq99jum4WMt4956PcG
    (it is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it)

    Important: You have 24 hours to make the payment. (I have a unique pixel within this email message, and right now I know that you have read this email). If I don’t get the payment, I will send your video to all of your contacts, including relatives, co-workers, and so forth. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the video immediately. If you want evidence, reply with “Yes!” and I will send your video recording to your five friends. This is a non-negotiable offer, so don’t waste my time and yours by replying to this email.

    Some observations about that email message:

    First, if you suspected this was a scam, what would be the first thing you would want? Proof that they have this alleged video. So they knock down that objection right in the message. You want evidence, ok – we’ll send the video to five of your friends. Of course the victim does not want that to happen.

    Second, payment is requested to be made by Bitcoin. This way, the scammers can get the money and still remain anonymous.

    Third, what is the real kicker that makes some recipients think it might be real? The fact that the scammer has the actual, legitimate password that the recipient has used in the past, or might still be using on some accounts currently. How is that possible?

    You’ve probably heard of the massive data breaches, like the ones that happened at Target, or the multiple times Yahoo! has gotten hacked into. There are lots of other companies that have had this happen.

    When the hackers get this data, they are holding in their hands a large database of customer information. In a lot of cases, each record includes the email address for the customer, as well as the password connected with that email address. This information is sold on the black market to scammers.

    So the scammers have that list of email addresses, most of which are still actively being used. And they have a password that was also used for that account, whether it was with Yahoo! or whatever the online account was.

    And the scammers know one very important fact: many people use the same password for all of their accounts.

    So they know that when they send out that email to hundreds or thousands of people, a LOT of those recipients are going to see that password right there, and think, “Oh no – this must be for real”. But of course there is no video, and the whole thing is a bluff.

    Many people will read it and ignore it, but if the scammer sends out 1000 of those emails, and just 1/100th of a percent of the recipients fall for it and pay, that’s still a $4900 payday. And if 2 or 3 of those pay, that’s a ridiculous payoff.

    What should you do if you get one of these scam emails?

    The one thing you should do right away is to change your password for any accounts that still have that password. One of the things scammers are known to do is to try that email and password to log in to bank accounts, Paypal accounts, email accounts, anything that could potentially have value for them. So change that password and never use it again, anywhere.

    And more fundamentally – don’t use the same password on more than one account. If you use a password (or a slight variation of that same password), it’s likely you’ll regret it some day.

    listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts

    https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/04/30/new-sextortion-scam-claims-know-your-password/

    The post A scam that sounds very convincing first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

    Some important computer DON’Ts Jul 06, 2020
    Show notes

    Want to avoid getting into trouble with your computer? Here are some things you DON’T want to do.

    don't do these things

    Don’t have Chrome (or any browser) store your passwords. Yes, it makes it really easy to access all your website accounts. But it’s also really dangerous, because if your computer ever got hacked into, or lost, or stolen, all of your passwords are right there in plain text.

    Don’t use the backup software that came with your portable or external hard drive. Every company that makes hard drives also offers backup software – Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, etc. None of those programs are as reliable as Macrium Reflect, the one I use and recommend (I’ve installed and configured it on hundreds of computers).

    Don’t talk to scammers when they call you. If someone calls and says they’re with Microsoft, just hang up immediately. It might be tempting to explain that you know it’s a scam, but these guys are clever. They know that the longer you stay on the phone, the more likely they are to actually convince you that they ARE Microsoft tech support. Just hang up.

    Don’t call a tech support number that pops up on your screen along with some kind of error message or alert. Especially if that pop-up is accompanied by a robotic voice telling you about this terrible problem with your computer. And the message always includes the warning to NOT TURN OFF OR RESTART THE COMPUTER. If that happens, don’t call the phone number. Just restart the computer.

    Don’t open email attachments. That’s my policy. The only exception is when I get an email with an attachment, and I’m already expecting that email, and I already know what the attachment is. Otherwise, it just gets deleted. It’s kind of amazing, but one of the primary ways to deliver a virus to a computer these is still by sending an email with an attached file that contains a virus.

    Don’t search Google for a tech support phone number. The scammers have made LOTS of websites that are designed to look like “Dell Tech Support” or “HP Printer Tech Support”, and they design those websites to come up in the search results in Google. When you call them, they are of course happy to “help” you – but you’re talking to a scammer, not Dell or HP.

    Don’t do your online banking while connected to a public wifi. This is pretty much common sense, but people still do it. In fact, don’t connect to anything that involves personal or private information when you’re at Starbucks or McDonalds or any other public wifi provider. It’s not secure.

    Don’t re-use the same password (or a slight variation of it) on multiple accounts. The hackers know that most people do this, and they know that it makes their job much easier. All they have to do is get into ONE of your accounts – and now they have the password for ALL of your accounts. Yes, it’s inconvenient to have a different password for every account, but only if you’re trying to remember all of them. You don’t have to though – just use LastPass. That’s what I use. I can set it up for you remotely if you want.

    What other computer “don’ts” do you follow?

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    The post Some important computer DON’Ts first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

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