Family Tech: Tech Support Scam

Alert your less tech savvy family and friends that Microsoft will never call them to tell them there is a virus on their PC.

There's a scam apparently that's been going around for a few years that could cost users money, control of their PC and time.

The Family Tech for March 21, 2013 covers it.

How To regain control of your hacked email account

In my Family Tech column that appeared March 28, 2013, I wrote :

One of the scariest things that can happen in our online lives, is to lose control of our email account.

With our email account controlled by another, they may get information about your banking, your bills, and many facets of your digital life.

A nefarious person can ask for password resets on other accounts you have, and those resets are sent to the email they control.

Note:  To send a link to this page to a friend, 
use this shortened link :  http://bit.ly/10o8Xl1

This How-To is designed to help a person regain control of an email account that has been taken over by someone else.

The intent is to provide a resource we can send friend's who have had their accounts taken over.

And by taken over, we mean had their email account's password discovered by someone else.  That person then logs into the email account, changes the password and other details to prevent the true owner to easily regain control of the account.

That nefarious person then uses the email account to attempt to defraud the users friends, or use the email account to send out Spam that will not be blocked by Spam Filters initially since the account was not previously known for sending spam.

More details about how account passwords are obtained are in the column.  It should be available online around April 4, 2013.

After this break, we'll discuss how to know if an email account has been hacked, how to get control back, and what to after you have regained control.

Free Amateur Radio Course

The Woodbridge Wireless Ham Radio Club is holding a free technical training course May 11 for anyone interested in learning about amateur radio and perhaps even sitting for a Technician test.

There is no minimum age, although the material can be technical.  Even motivated teens have passed the test, and some even younger.

Check out this flyer for details, times, location and web sites to review before attending.

Links to March 21, 2013 - Support Scam

For more information about the Tech Support scam, see Microsoft's page about it, and the FTC's page.

The FTC's site, OnGuardOnline.gov alerts us to a variety of online scams, and ways to educate ourselves and our children.

Family Tech: Many Cameras at one event

Many cameras in the family, all taking photos of the same event.  How do you consolidate the photos?

One method is discussed in this Family Tech column.

How to : Consolidate Photos from Several Cameras using Dropbox

Update 4/21/2016 : This solution using Dropbox is being superseded by a new process using Google Photos. 

See the updated How-to.



In the Family Tech column published March 14, 2013 we discuss how several family members using their camera phones might take pictures of the same event, and how the family might want to consolidate those photos into one place.

For example, a family of four might go on vacation.  Both parents, and both teenage children, have smart phones and are taking photos during the entire vacation.

How can we easily get all of these photos into one place so we can share them as a family, then publish them to friends and family and finally back them up for long term safe keeping?

There are any number of methods, but the one outlined in the column has each person creating their own free Dropbox account.

Be sure to test this setup on your system extensively to be sure it works for you and does not put your photos at risk.  Be sure also
to use this method with another backup system to insure the 
safety of your photos.

The entire process is outlined here step-by-step :

1.  Create Dropbox accounts for each member of the family

     a.  Go to the dropbox.com website
              (if you use this link, the size of your box should be 2 gigabytes + 256 megabytes bonus)

     b.  Create a new account for primary user.
             Be sure to record the email address and password you use to create the account.

    c.  Be sure to log out of Dropbox when you are done creating the account.

    d.  For every other member of the family, repeat steps a, b & c.

Family Tech: Your ISP is watching

Your ISP may have started watching your downloads, and if they feel you are downloading copyrighted material, they might cut your internet speed down, yet charge you full price.

This is the topic of Family Tech for March 7, 2013.  

Family Tech: Beyond Facebook

Everyone knows Facebook.  What about other useful social sites?

Family Tech for February 28, 2013 has been posted.

Links for March 7, 2013 - Six Strikes

There are no links for the March 7, 2013 column.

Update 03-12-13:  Column posted here

Incredible iPad Case

Today I saw a child take his iPad and repeatedly slam it against a table.

I don't mean once or twice, but probably ten or more time this ten year old raised his iPad above his head and with all his might, slammed the iPad down against the table.

Afterwards, the iPad screen was intact, and the iPad worked.  I had to ask the mother the name of the case on their iPad.

It was a Kidbox. [Amazon Affliate Link]

They run about $35 for a full sized iPad, and about $30 for the mini.

I can't guarantee that it will perform for everyone this well, but today, it was amazing!

Evernote Alert

Security Notice: Service-wide Password Reset | Evernote

Family Tech: Have you thought about your PC lately?

Family Tech for February 21, 2013 asks if you have worried about your PC lately?  Have you checked your anti-virus?  What about backup.