If you've been around computers long enough, you remember when anti-virus programs weren't essential. You remember when only a few early adopters had home networks. Anti-virus programs have been extended to protect against all kinds of threats and they haven't been optional for decades. It seems like just about everyone has a home network these days. Now it's time for everyone to have a password manager.
There are free password managers, but the better choice is invariably a paid application. These range from LastPass and Zoho Vault at $12 per year to LogMeOnce and Dashlane at $40 per year. Some of the paid applications also have free versions. I've used LastPass for several years. Although it has a low price, it also has a surprising number of features and the newly released version 4 gave the application a new and improved look and feel.
Even the free version has a lot of features, but additional useful features come at a cost of just $1 per month. LastPass was acquired late last year by LogMeIn and that's given me a cause for concern. LogMeIn once offered a free service, too, but discontinued it without notice and priced the paid service so that casual users couldn't afford it. I'm hoping that this doesn't happen to LastPass.
When you install LastPass, you'll be asked which browsers you want to have it activated for, whether to log into your account when you open the browser, whether you want to keep a history of logins and form activations, and whether error messages should be sent to LastPass to help developers improve the product.
The installation process may or may not install add-on features into all browsers. Some manual effort is needed for some browsers and currently add-ons don't work at all with Microsoft Edge.
Password managers encrypt your user names and passwords and store them on your computer or on a server or both. LastPass does both. When you connect to a password protected site, the password manager decrypts your credentials and logs you on. The password manager is, of course, protected by a password. That password needs to be both strong and memorable: Strong so that your other passwords remain safe and memorable so that you don't forget it.
When you log on to a new site, LastPass captures your user name and password and then offers to store it. LastPass can create a secure password for you (example: bA3MA^*$^5765h3q); by default, the password generator creates 12-character passwords that use digits, capital letters, and small letters. I recommend changing that to 16 characters.
The LastPass vault shows a list of sites you've saved. Clicking one of the links takes your browser to the site and logs you in. The free version of LastPass displays ads, but these are eliminated if you choose the paid version.
In addition to saving website addresses, user names, and passwords, LastPass can save secure notes and information needed to fill Web forms. This can include names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card information.
LastPass also includes a security challenge that examines saved passwords and identifies duplicate passwords, weak passwords, and passwords that haven't been changed for a long time. It also warns about passwords that are associated with sites that may have been compromised.
The service offers to update passwords automatically for more than 75 of the most popular websites, but I found that this process didn't always work.
A relatively new feature is provides emergency access to those who you trust. This could be a valuable feature in the event of your death or injury. Users specify who can have access to any given password and also specifies a waiting period for each trusted person.
An Internet creep with uncommonly good timing tried to hijack my Facebook account this week. I'm used to receiving messages from Facebook when I log on from a new device or a new location, but the message I received on Wednesday was clear: Somebody had attempted to change my password and that person had failed.
Why would someone want to do this? Mainly it's an attempt to to spread malware or use social engineering to get money. If somebody gains control of your Facebook account, that person can send a message to all of your friends. "Help!" the message might say, "I've been traveling in Europe and thieves stole all of my money in Kiev. Until I pay my hotel bill, I can't leave. Could you wire me $1000 to SomeFakeAccount and I'll pay you back as soon as I'm home?" I've received messages like that. Usually they claim to be from people who don't like to travel or who don't have enough money to travel. But some people do fall for the trick.
I quickly changed my password from something that was rather basic but still fairly secure to a 16-character password that is extremely secure. I then disconnected all devices from Facebook. That meant that I had to re-enter the password on every computer (multiple browsers), tablet, and phone where I use Facebook, but LastPass made that process easy.
So without even trying, I have a good example of why a password manager is no longer a luxury.
LastPass warned me about several duplicate passwords. Some duplication is OK. For example, the Worthington Public Library has several services that share the same credentials. Additionally, I'm not concerned about having duplicate passwords on trivial sites such as newspapers.
Another useful LastPass feature allows users to share passwords securely. When you share a password, you can specify whether the person you're sharing with can see the password or just use it to log in. Those who use LastPass will see a notification within the program. When you share a password with someone who doesn't use LastPass, that person will receive a link to install the free version of LastPass. Premium users can create a shared folder. This is useful for members of a family. You can specify whether other users can just see and use the passwords or be able to edit records.
Some applications that run on your computer or mobile device require passwords and LastPass can help there, too. Premium users can download LastPass for Applications. Each application needs to be set up, so you might find an application such as MacroExpress to be a better fit on Windows computers.
I mentioned that you need a strong and memorable master password. If a crook manages to figure out that your master password is "NYPublicLibrary42nd@5thFuzzCat", then that person has access to all of your accounts. (This is not my master password or the password I use for any service.) You can add another layer of protection by using multi-factor authentication, which is available in both the free and paid versions.
The free version uses Google Authenticator, Twilio Authy, and Duo MobileFree. Users can log in only if they know your master password and also have access to your smart phone. Or you could use a multi-factor option that uses a numeric grid on a small card you can carry around. The premium version can use a fingerprint reader if your computer or mobile device has that functionality built in. There are also several options that use a USB device.
The free version of LastPass can be installed on Windows, Macs, Linux systems, Apple and Android photos and tablets, but you can't synchronize them. For $1 per month, Premium users can. If you have more than one type of device, I think you'll find that's worth $12 per year.
Everybody needs a password manager and LastPass is a good choice.Great functitonality and reliable security at a reasonable price. LastPass is compatible with all browsers except Microsoft Edge and Edge will support add-ons sometime this year. It also supports Android and Apple devices. Your passwords are encrypted and stored locally and on the LastPass server. If you can't spare $12 per year, the free version is still quite powerful.
Additional details are available on the LastPass website.
Medical care is a lot different than it used to be. Insurance companies have websites that provide health information and explanation of benefit forms. Physicians make it possible to schedule appointments, request prescription refills, and view the results of tests on-line. Some organizations even give people a way to work with a physician by phone or computer to handle routine medical issues.
The changes have been relatively rapid and many of them profoundly change the way medical care is provided. This became particularly clear to me on February first, when I dropped by my doctor's office for a routine exam. I had scheduled and confirmed the appointment on-line. The medical practice started computerizing all of its records a year or two ago and that process is mostly complete.
During the exam, both the nurse and the doctor entered vital signs and other information into notebook computers. The practice has Wi-Fi throughout the building so all of the information is collected in a central server. When the doctor decided to make a slight change in one of my prescriptions, he typed the change into the notebook computer and received immediate confirmation from the pharmacy. The updated prescription was delivered a few days later.
Because this was an annual physical, some blood work was done. Instead of receiving a print-out with some handwritten notes a week or two later, I was able to go to the practice's website the next day and view the results.
Instead of sending paper copies of explanation of benefits forms, insurance companies send e-mail messages when new forms are added to an account. Patients can then go on-line immediately to review them.
But perhaps the most significant changes on both physicians' websites and insurance companies' websites is the addition of health-related information, ranging from advice on how to stay healthy instead of treating illness (better both for people and insurance providers) or finding a physician, to answering questions about medical issues or replacing a lost insurance ID card.
One medical advance that provides fast, low-cost on-line access to physicians is a variant of telemedicine. Telemedicine uses telecommunications, computers, and Internet technologies to provide clinical health care at a distance. Often it allows specialists in large cities or at teaching hospitals to interact with patients in small, rural hospitals where there may be no local specialists.
The variant that provides access to more generalized medical care often uses the term "telemedicine", but it allows individuals to contact physicians for routine medical needs or to discuss a medical concerns that aren't emergencies. Emergencies still need to be dealt with by hospital emergency departments or by urgent care providers, but it can be a worthwhile option for people who need a prescription or prescription refill or who have a routine medical question that they'd like to discuss with a doctor. Frequently these plans cost just $20 or $30 per month. More information: www.telemedicine4you.com.
Another interesting service that operates in the healthcare space is ZocDoc.
The founder of ZocDoc suffered a burst eardrum in 2007 and couldn't get an appointment to see a doctor for 4 days. Nick Ganju thought there should be a better way to find a doctor. After all, we can order lots of things on-line and have them delivered the next day.
ZocDoc shows open appointment availabilities so that prospective pateints can select the earliest appointment and book it on the computer. This is particularly helpful when you're searching for a specialist or if you're new in an area and need to find a primary care physician. More information: www.zocdoc.com.
Microsoft has released build 14257 of Windows 10 in the Fast ring, but it continues in the pattern of other recent releases by providing little that even testers will notice. Developers are working on what will be the second major Windows 10 update that will be released sometime during the summer.
Research done too quickly came back to bite me. Thanks to Joe Lovett and John Garrity, the first and second people who told me that the rocket at the right is an Atlas missile, first used for Glenn's orbital flight. The Atlas replaced the Redstone missile that had been used for the previous sub-orbital flights.
At least I have a picture of the correct Atlas missile and that is John Glenn's Friendship 7 at the top.
It's nicknamed Redstone and I could probably make some sort of lame joke about how Microsoft is rocketing into the future. For those who weren't around in the 1950s and 1960s, Redstone rockets were short-range ballistic missiles. They were taken out of service in 1964. NASA used the Redstone to launch Mercury space capsules.
Here's a Redstone rocket carrying John Glenn (later to become a US Senator from Ohio) into orbital space flight. Alan Shepard made the first Mercury flight, so he was the first American in space (for 15 minutes). Gus Grissom was a Mercury astronaut in another sub-orbital flight. In 1962, Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7.
TechByter Worldwide now returns to Earth.
The image is courtesy of NASA.
The latest Windows 10 preview release consists mainly of all but invisible fixes and performance improvements. Gabe Aul, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of the Engineering Systems Team says that teams are still early in their work on new features, so changes in this build are mostly about laying the foundation for those features to start coming into builds.
Microsoft is picking up the pace of Fast ring builds. Aul says "You’ll note that this build is only 6 revs newer than the last build we sent to the Fast ring," and that means that there will be fewer big changes between builds as opposed to this time last year when builds were about 30 days apart.
Some of the fixes in this build include:
As I said -- for the most part, changes in this release are invisible.
Known issues in this release include at least one that could be very serious and that illustrates why the Fast ring build should never be used on a production computer: "If you choose 'Reset This PC' under Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, your PC will be in an unusable state. There is no workaround if your PC gets into this state and you will need to reinstall Windows. This issue will be fixed in the next build. You can still rollback to the previous build if for some reason this build doesn't work out for you. This bug also existed in Build 14251 so please avoid resetting your PC on these builds." If that doesn't frighten you, it should.
One of my computers runs on the Fast ring just so that I can keep an eye on how things are progressing, but the primary desktop system sticks to stable versions and so should you with any computer that would be problematic if you suddenly had to stop everything and reinstall the operating system.
