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27 Oct 2019 - Podcast #666 - (20:38)
It's Like NPR on the Web
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Hmmmm. Just ahead of Halloween ...
Being impersonated online is nowhere near as serious as having your identity stolen, but it's still annoying and it's something that's not hard for crooks to do.
Remember Steven Spielberg's movie "Catch Me If You Can"? The motion picture was based on the real life adventures of Frank Abagnale, who now has an honest job as a security consultant and as an advisor with the AARP. He's also taught at the FBI Academy for more than 40 years and says that crime is much easier today because of all the technology.
So the technology that has made life easier for honest people has also made life easier for crooks.
Have you been told that a Facebook friend received another friend request from you? If so, your account hasn't been "hacked"; instead, someone has used your profile picture and is using your friends list in an effort to expand their nefarious web. The first thing to do is NOT accept the friend request. That would allow the crook to have access to your friend's list of friends unless your friend has locked access.
Also, if you receive a message from someone who says they've received a friend request from you, take it seriously. Differentiate, though, between a message telling you that a friend has received a friend request from you and the nonsense "send this to everyone" message like this one: "Be careful: I got a message from you or it shown on your wall here.. Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept friendship request from Andrea Wilson. She is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received. Hold your finger down on the message. At the bottom in the middle it will say forward. Hit that then click on the names of those in your list and it will send to them THIS Is REAL". In short, it's not real and it's nothing but nonsense as the sender could have found out by simply checking Snopes.com.
Someone can create a Facebook account that uses your exact name. There are several "Bill Blinn" accounts on Facebook. Facebook keeps track of these by assigning each account a unique ID number. There's a lot going on in the background to keep things straight so someone can't just create another "Bill Blinn" account and begin to impersonate me. If you accept a friend request from a fake friend, that person might be able to see your friends list unless you have increased the privacy settings. That's something everyone should do.
Here's how. Click the account button (your profile picture) and select the Friends tab. Then click the pencil icon and select Edit Privacy. At a minimum, set your (1) Friends List so that only you may view it. Highest security would call for setting (2) the list of people you are following and (3) your followers so that only you can view them. I have set these so that friends can see them. None of these should be set to Public.
While you're there, it's a good idea to scroll through the list of friends and remove (unfriend) any that you don't recognize. You can also set the friendship level. Use the Close Friends list for friends who should show up more in news feed. Use the Acquaintances list for friends who should show up less in news feed. Use the Restricted list for friends who can only see posts and profile info you make public. If you want to be sure you never miss a close friend's post, click Get Notifications.
But to get back to the main point, if you've heard from someone who claims to have received a new friend request explicitly from you and you hadn't yet restricted access to your friends list, this would be a good time to let all your friends know that your account has been cloned and that any new friend request from you should be ignored. What I describe here is specific to Facebook, but Instagram has similar procedures.
You can probably identify the imposter's account by searching for yourself on Facebook. If you do, go to the account, click the elipses dots, and choose "Find Support or Report Profile." Then choose "Pretending to be Someone" and let Facebook know. The fake account will be eliminated. You might be tempted to send the fake account a message. Don't bother.
If you contact the scammer, you'll only encourage the crook.
What's the scammer's game? Those who accept the fake friend request might hear from the scammer who, claiming to be you, will weave a woeful tale about being in a another country where illness or robbers have struck. And while he hates to ask for a favor, would you be able to send him some money so that he can pay medical bills or buy an airline ticket home? The bottom line here is that someone posing as you will try to extract money from people you know.
So do what you can to protect your own accounts, be wary of friend requests from people you already know, and spend your time on the internet with caution and perhaps even with a bit of paranoia. There are people who are out to get your money and your friends' money. As Frank Abagnale would say, it's easy.
Windows isn't perfect. That's probably not a surprise to you. In fact, no operating system is perfect. Nor is any application on any computer. Microsoft's Feedback Hub allows users to report problems, make suggestions, and troubleshoot issues.
For most users, troubleshooting is the most useful feature. Initially, though, the Feedback Hub was limited to those in the Windows Insider Program. In 2016, Microsoft made it available to all users, but most people probably don't know that.
You might expect to find the Feedback Hub in Settings, but that's not where it is. It's an app that you'll find on the Start Screen or just tap the Windows key and type "Feedback". Then click Feedback Hub to open the app.
Recently the Windows key on my primary computer stopped working. Was it the keyboard, the USB connection, or something else? The keyboard has two Windows keys, one on the right and one on the left. Neither worked and the Ctrl-Esc keystroke that can be used to open the Start Screen also didn't work, but the rest of the keys on the keyboard did. That essentially ruled out the keyboard because it would be all but impossible for two Windows keys and the alternate keys to fail simultaneously while the other keys functioned. It also ruled out the keyboard cable, the USB socket, the USB hub, the switch used to assign the keyboard to the Windows computer or a Mac, and all the internal circuitry and drivers.
Not much was left and I concluded that the problem would likely disappear if I rebooted the computer but I thought I'd take a look at the Feedback Hub to see if anyone else had reported a similar problem.
What I found was this: One user had reported some of the shortcut keys that use the Windows key weren't working as expected. That report was made two weeks ago but it didn't describe the problem I was having and the shortcut keys were working for me. The quick search revealed that what I was seeing wasn't a widespread problem so I rebooted the computer. Problem solved.
That was a trivial problem with an easy solution but the Feedback Hub can sometimes help by revealing other users' solutions to a problem you have. The Feedback Hub is an internal and external tool, so some problems are reported by Microsoft software engineers and some of the comments come from software engineers.
If you don't find the solution to your problem, you can file a bug report. It's important to create an actionable bug report. "Feature X isn't working" is not actionable. At the very least, software engineers need to know exactly what you were doing when the problem occurred, the full text of any error messages you've seen, information about the version of the operating system, a list of applications that were running, and information about the hardware (CPU, memory, disk drives, and such).
So if you file a bug report, take the time needed by attaching a screenshot or a file if you can and, if you can repeat the problem consistently on your computer, provide a precise list of steps that will cause the problem. Software engineers, whether at Microsoft or elsewhere, want their programs to be the best they can be. Many years ago I apologized to a software developer when I gave him a list of things that seemed not to be working right. He told me bluntly that I shouldn't apologize for telling him what needed to be done to make his application work better.
That same attitude is what I encountered in 30 years of working with developers. When something isn't working right, they want to know about it and fix it. One exception was a developer who sometimes fixed the problem, ran a test, and then reported that the problem didn't exist. We knew what he was doing and he knew that we knew what he was doing. It was amusing to see how fast he could fix the problem.
Most software engineers work in teams now and many people may be working on a single application. Code has to be checked out, updated, tested, and checked in so the quick, silent fix is no longer an option.
Whether you report a bug or not, the ability to use the Feedback Hub for troubleshooting is helpful. It's possible, when searching, to limit the search to just the version and build of the operating system installed on your computer. Be sure to examine the list for reports that have been noted with "An official response has been posted." This means that a Microsoft software engineer has commented on the bug report.
When you find a report that describes the problem you're seeing, click "up-vote". This lets the development team know that you have the same problem.
When you host a business meeting at a restaurant, you may need a copy of the receipt. Or if you have paperwork from a hospital that you need to submit to your insurance company, you'll want a scanner. Or will you?
My younger daughter recently had a baby and needed to submit some of the hospital's paperwork to her insurance company. She asked if I still have a scanner (I do; actually I have two or, if you count the film scanner, three) and wondered if I could scan some paperwork for her. I said I'd stop by her house and pick up the papers, but that I might be able to provide what she needed without taking the pages with me. I had an app on my phone.
Then she wondered if she could download the app. Of course she could. We both use Android phones but scanning apps are available for Android and IOS devices. The one I use is Microsoft's Office Lens, which has both Android and IOS versions. She downloaded the application, scanned the page, and submitted the PDF document to her insurance company.
Using the Capital One app, I can have my phone take a picture of a check and deposit it to my account. The same technology works well for receipts, full page documents, or anything in between. Let's say that for some reason I need to scan a receipt from Jebbia's Market in Wheeling, which may be the best place to buy fruits and vegetables anywhere in the country. The receipt is small (just 3 inches wide and 6 inches tall — and it had been crumpled). Could I capture a usable image?
Well, yes, I could. With the crumpled receipt lying on the desk, I used the phone to snap an image.
After capturing the image, Office Lens told me that I could add it my my gallery, create a PDF, send it to OneNote, send it to OneDrive, create a Word document using the built-in optical character recognition function, or send it to PowerPoint. I selected PDF and OneNote.
The result was an image that I could use for nearly any purpose. The information on the receipt was clear and readable. The PDF document, if I had needed to submit it to anyone, would have been acceptable. So don't discount the phone in your pocket when you need to copy an piece of paper.
There's a good chance that the device you carry around in your pocket, the one you may think of as a camera that can be used to send text messages and occasionally even make phone calls, is more powerful than you imagined.
Office Lens is available for Android and IOS devices. To download a the app for your phone, visit the Apple App Store or Amazon's Play Store. And, by the way, if you ever find yourself in Wheeling, be sure to stop at Jebbia's and then grab a fish sandwich at Coleman's Fish Market. Earlier this month I spent more than four hours on the road just to go get fish sandwiches and produce.
A few weeks ago I added a new item to the Spare Parts section of the website. Each week there's a brief account about something that seemed to be top-of-mind (at least top of my mind) twenty years ago. Back then I occasionally wrote about websites that I found interesting.
As I put it in January 1999 "From biblical references to a former porn starlet's site -- they’re all here." Even back then I warned about the dangers. "[I]t's important to keep in mind that anyone can put up a page. Read anything you find there carefully and don't take anything at face value."
I wondered how many of the websites I thought were worth visiting were still around 20 years later.
Is any of the web that I remember from 1999 still around? WhatIs.com still is, but it's no longer just an attempt to explain the internet in plain English. Now it's part of TechTarget.com that tries to explain everything.
Ask Jeeves is gone. So is a Toronto television station's 22 Online satire site.
The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939 and in 1999 we were in the midst of a revival. The site that was set up then is still around, but it's been modified to include Blu-Ray and now 4K Blu-Ray versions available for sale.
Back then a camera had been set up to show the Kremlin in Moscow. The website no longer exists. One site that still remains, 20 years later, is one operated by Asia Carrera, a porn actress in Utah. She was 26 at the time and if you want to know more about her, check out Wikipedia. If you wondered, I didn't list Wikipedia 20 year ago because it didn't yet exist. Wikipedia was launched on 15 January 2001.
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities' October newsletter contains suggestions for avoiding online fraud. "Every person and business should consider themselves vulnerable. Organizations in both the private and public sector, and of all sizes, should talk about data preparedness and take seriously data handling, storage, and usage."
You can read the full issue on the department's website and subscribe to receive each update by email. It doesn't matter whether you're a resident of Pennsylvania or not.
The newsletter notes that digital tools we use every day make life easier and connect us to the people who matter most and online services are constantly collecting material about us that is valuable in the marketplace. Companies make money selling the data we provide, and this information can be bought and sold, used and reused, by anyone who has it for marketing or sales purposes.
The data breach that affected Capital One exposed 140,000 Social Security numbers, 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers were compromised, along with names, addresses, and credit scores. The anticipated cost to Capital One is between $100-150 million for customer notifications, credit monitoring, technology costs and legal support. The average cost of a data breach in the US in 2019 is $8.19 million, and to American financial institutions it’s $5.9 million. Companies have a social and corporate responsibility to avert this level of financial damage and loss of trust.
Individuals need to protect themselves from online crime by examining accounts and banking statements frequently; avoiding public Wi-Fi to conduct online banking; freezing credit reports through Equifax, Transunion, and Experian; changing passwords often; understanding how to identify scams; and remembering to think before you click.
I heard from a reader in California this week who had a question about Windows 7. He's still using the operating system, as are about one third of Windows computers, and was wondering about his options.
I said that he could install Windows 8.1(about $90 at Amazon) but that would deliver all the annoyances of the new interface without the not insubstantial advantages of Windows 10. The options as I see them:
Those who stick with Windows 7 can buy support for the next three years, but only if they have Windows 7 Enterprise (used in large organizations) or Windows 7 Professional. It appears that Windows 7 Home doesn't qualify. Enterprise users will pay $25, $50, and $100 per year per machine for years 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Pro users will pay $50, $100, and $200.
Today's smart phones are really cameras that can be used to send text messages, surf the web, and occasionally even make phone calls, but things were a lot different in 1999: "Visto and mobile-phone maker Nokia say they will provide users with mobile-phone access to web-based personal content. That's right -- the Internet will be on your cell phone. Users will have access to e-mail, calendar data, and address books via the Nokia Wireless Application Protocol and Visto's Web-based personal information service."
This presented a problem for me: "I can't claim I was out of touch. I can't claim I was lost. I can't claim I forgot. Arrrgh!"