Search found 263 matches

by jchef
Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Excel 2010 and Windows 7 -- Where to go from here?
Replies: 39
Views: 4557

Re: Excel 2010 and Windows 7 -- Where to go from here?

At some point, they will no longer be updated for security
Be aware that it may be sooner than you think.

- Windows 7 end of support is January 2020.
- Office 2010 end of support is October 2020.
- Office 2011 for Mac end of support is October 2017 (3 months). [/list]


I'd recommend moving to something with a longer lifespan. Most people don't have a problem with the transition to Windows 10 or Office 2016. If you aren't looking to switch to a Mac, Windows 10 and Office 2016 are probably the way to go.
by jchef
Sun Jan 01, 2017 8:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Resolved: PJW should use GnuCash in parallel with MS Money
Replies: 16
Views: 3147

Re: Resolved: PJW should use GnuCash in parallel with MS Money

How do you use Money/GnuCash? Do you rely on financial institutions providing you with data in OFX or QFX format?

With the continued growth of Mint and Intuit's sale of Quicken, I expect the risk of financial institutions stopping the support of OFX and QFX is greater than the risk of not being able to run Money.
by jchef
Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Internet going down
Replies: 32
Views: 5051

Re: Internet going down

why should a computer even need to talk to Dyn to find out where CNN is? Why don't computers come with a preset hostsfile that has CNN's address right in it, along with all the other big-name sites? I'll start off with a warning that I'm not an expert in this area... A company such as CNN likely has multiple servers scattered around the world, both for fault tolerance reasons and also to allow servers close to the request to respond in order to speed up the communication. Using dynamic DNS is one method of performing load balancing. So if you ask CNN for a web page, your request will first go to Dyn and Dyn will point you towards a CNN server than is close to you and isn't too busy. And even if DNS wasn't used for load balancing, you still...
by jchef
Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [500 million Yahoo accounts hacked, what should you do?]
Replies: 86
Views: 11355

Re: What are you YAHOOERS doing?? [due to security breach]

wander wrote:
serbeer wrote:Can only affect those who did not change password in the past 2 years, since the breach occurred in 2014.
Actually, they stole all security questions so even if you have changed your password recently they still can reset your password. You need to also change your security questions.
Yahoo has invalidated all of the security questions (and it doesn't appear they are allowing you to add new security questions right now). So if you tell Yahoo you forgot your password, Yahoo isn't going to ask you the security questions.

But if you use the exact same security questions on another website, then it's possible they can be used there.
by jchef
Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [500 million Yahoo accounts hacked, what should you do?]
Replies: 86
Views: 11355

Re: What are you YAHOOERS doing?? [due to security breach]

I guess this issue still has me baffled. With only a Yahoo email account, what can be obtained from that since it has no personal info. About all I gave them is nickname and sex. I suppose, hackers could send me mail and try to trick me. Also banks always ask for email address and a hacker would know where I have accounts but nothing more. I do have some non/financial sites where the email is the user name. Should I be loosing any sleep over this :? Do you have shopping accounts (such as Amazon or Best Buy) that use the yahoo email address as a log in? If so, they can go to those websites, say they forget their password and a temporary password will likely then be sent to the Yahoo email account. They can then log on that shopping website,...
by jchef
Sun Sep 04, 2016 4:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Google Word Processing and Spreadsheet
Replies: 29
Views: 5805

Re: Google Word Processing and Spreadsheet

Casimir wrote:I use open office. It is freeware, open source, good security, private, with regular updates and extensions, and has good user help via internet. You can keep your private information on a thumb drive and don't need permanent hard disk or cloud.
It's not directly related to this thread, but you should be aware that OpenOffice is considering shutting down. Most of the developers that used to work on OpenOffice moved to LibreOffice a number of years ago. LibreOffice has an extremely similar look and feel to OpenOffice and all of your files should work on LibreOffice without any problems. So you may want to consider switching.


http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... shut-down/
by jchef
Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommend Ad Blockers
Replies: 56
Views: 7590

Re: Recommend Ad Blockers

How about Android tablet and Android phone? Thanks. If you have root access, AdAway works quite well. And it works for all apps, not just the browser. https://adaway.org/ If you don't have root access, things are a bit more complicated. The easiest is probably installing Firefox for Android and then installing the uBlock Origin add-on for Firefox. (And if you're not sure if you have root access, you very likely don't) No root access and using Chrome on both. Have not use Firefox since last century. I am tempted on the tablet though. If you want to stay with Chrome, there is a way to get Adblock Plus working without root and it will work for all apps. But it only works over wifi and it's more than a little bit clunky. https://adblockplus.or...
by jchef
Thu Aug 04, 2016 12:51 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommend Ad Blockers
Replies: 56
Views: 7590

Re: Recommend Ad Blockers

htdrag11 wrote:How about Android tablet and Android phone? Thanks.
If you have root access, AdAway works quite well. And it works for all apps, not just the browser.

https://adaway.org/


If you don't have root access, things are a bit more complicated. The easiest is probably installing Firefox for Android and then installing the uBlock Origin add-on for Firefox.

(And if you're not sure if you have root access, you very likely don't)
by jchef
Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Last day for free update to Windows 10
Replies: 46
Views: 5048

Re: Last day for free update to Windows 10

mikep wrote:Your DVD player now costs $14.99 with windows 10 which used to be free. Great. I saw this after upgrading the desktop so I'm skipping upgrading the laptop.
There are free DVD player options.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2953724/ ... -free.html
by jchef
Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: google sheets - so frustrating...
Replies: 26
Views: 4096

Re: google sheets - so frustrating...

Have you tried Microsoft Office Online?

In case you weren't aware, Microsoft now offers a free online version of Office accessed through a web browser. It doesn't have as many features as the standard desktop version and it only works when you have an internet connection, but you may find it more to your liking if you having been using MS Office for a long period of time.


But if you are trying to do something complex, you may find that both Google Docs and MS Office Online don't support it. Neither is as feature rich as the desktop version of MS Office.
by jchef
Wed Jul 27, 2016 4:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Password Management and Safekeeping
Replies: 80
Views: 13129

Re: Password Management and Safekeeping

But, I have been afraid to put it on the devices I travel with (phone and tablet). What happens if your phone gets stolen or your tablet gets hacked when it's sitting in a hotel room in a foreign country? Is it safe to have my important passwords on these devices? If you have a strong password you're fine. Take a look at this website (and don't enter real passwords into this site): https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm If you have a strong 16 character master password that contains numbers, upper case and lower case letters, it's going to take on average thousands of centuries to crack the password. Now if your master password is one or two dictionary words, then the situation is a lot different. So as long as your password is fairly strong and...
by jchef
Sat Jul 23, 2016 2:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Arrgghhh !!! Windows 10 installed overnight
Replies: 92
Views: 15029

Re: Arrgghhh !!! Windows 10 installed overnight

From a recent article in Forbes.... Mehdi omitted this, but those upgrading to ‘Windows 10 Pro’ from a professional version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 will also lose their right to free upgrades. The retail price for Windows 10 Pro will be $199. What does this mean? I'd lose rights to free upgrades of what? That was just an oddly worded paragraph by the article author. The quote by Mehdi mentioned that Windows 7 or 8 Home users would be losing the free upgrade on July 29. The author of the article was also trying to say that Windows 7 or 8 Pro users will also lose the free upgrade on July 29. And the new version coming in August have been publicly available to beta testers users for a while. The new features are well known. You can read...
by jchef
Sat Jul 23, 2016 2:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should one upgrade to Windows 10? Free thru July 29?
Replies: 35
Views: 4808

Re: Should one upgrade to Windows 10? Free thru July 29?

I'm staying with Win7, it does fine what I need and little that I don't. As for the "free or or pay later" rationale advocated here, I figure when I buy a new system sometime in the future it will come pre-loaded with 10 and for the systems I have now I'll jump to Linux in 2020 when updates end, or I'll just stick with Win7. My plan as well. I do have a Windows 10 laptop that was upgraded via a backdoor method from Vista. I only have it just to have it. I am in the software development field, so I do have to sort of keep up-to-date with technology. My mother's Vista laptop will get upgraded to Linux in 2017 when Vista support ends. I am now looking for a Windows 7 PC for her. My main concern now is the UEFI BIOS which prevents Li...
by jchef
Thu Jul 21, 2016 4:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: medical alert bracelet or something
Replies: 8
Views: 979

Re: medical alert bracelet or something

If you get an official MedicAlert braclet it contains an ID number. So you can store all of your information with MedicAlert and hospital personnel can use the ID number of the braclet to get the info from MedicAlert.

https://www.medicalert.org
by jchef
Sun Jul 17, 2016 6:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely
Replies: 44
Views: 9582

Re: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely

rec7 wrote:Looking at this chromebook does it have a SIM?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/45622188?wmls ... 3=&veh=sem
No, it doesn't. You'll have to use wifi.

If you want further confirmation you can look at the Acer website and it also only mentions wifi.

http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.G15AA.001
by jchef
Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely
Replies: 44
Views: 9582

Re: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely

Artsdoctor wrote:While accessing my Gmail account while in an airport, I had someone lift my password (while I was using my iPhone as my hotspot).
Are you sure they weren't looking over your shoulder? Any time you send your password to Google it's encrypted before it leaves your computer. There's no practical way they could grab it over wifi.
by jchef
Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely
Replies: 44
Views: 9582

Re: When traveling what do you use to bank online safely

Without encryption, your plain text data passes unprotected through the air as radio signals And that is not even considering those that setup a "Free" Wi-Fi to catch your IDs and passwords and emails by spoofing legitimate sites. It's the bold part you have to pay attention to. If you are connecting to a secure site through https, you aren't sending plain text data. Here's a quick example: Let's say at home you use Comcast as your ISP. When you connect to your bank's website through https, no one at Comcast can see contents of the digital conversation between you and your bank. All of the conversation is passing through Comcast's servers, but they can't decipher any of it because it's encrypted. The encryption and decryption tak...
by jchef
Sat Jan 09, 2016 3:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Smartphone security 101?
Replies: 45
Views: 5341

Re: Smartphone security 101?

Mudpuppy wrote:You can pick those up all over the place, and it really places a limit on accidental in-app purchases (or young kids not understanding how much money they're racking up by clicking "ok" if you let kids play games on your phone).
Both iOS and Android have options to always require your password when making purchases (including in-app purchases).
by jchef
Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Smartphone security 101?
Replies: 45
Views: 5341

Re: Smartphone security 101?

I don't do banking shopping etc etc on my phone, and I don't have a lock on it. I figure if the phone is lost or stolen the most I could be out is sme apps on the App Store and long distance phone calls which I would dispute with the carrier. Example of someone disputing stolen phone charges: http://www.tbtam.com/2007/05/what-to-do-if-your-cell-phone-is-lost-or-stolen-2.html#.VpFL2SaDmrU Is your main email account available on your cell phone? Because you can do a lot with an email account. For example if you tell Amazon you forgot your password, they'll send the replacement password to your email account. Then someone can log into your Amazon account. And so on... There's a well known story of how someone had a lot of damage done to their...
by jchef
Sat Jan 09, 2016 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Smartphone security 101?
Replies: 45
Views: 5341

Re: Smartphone security 101?

Virus scanners aren't of much use on Android (or iPhones for that matter). Apps, including virus scanners, aren't allowed access to much of the phone. Meaning there is no way for them to scan much of the phone. As well, Google actually has a built in scanner that most people don't know about it. It's called Verify Apps and it runs regular checks of the apps on your device. It's often turned on by default, but that's going to depend on the manufacturer. (Or does Google now ask permission to turn on Verify Apps the first time you install an app? I honestly not certain) You should check to see if you have an app called "Google Settings", although it possibly may go by other names. Once that app is opened, click on security and see if...
by jchef
Wed Jan 06, 2016 5:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any good free kindle books on Amazon?
Replies: 22
Views: 3695

Re: Any good free kindle books on Amazon?

Once of the things I like about the Kindle is the Send to Kindle add-on for Firefox and Chrome: http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle

Using this you can easily send web articles to your Kindle.


You may want to look at Longform's best Business articles or best articles of 2015 to see if you can find anything you like.

http://longform.org/business

http://longform.org/lists/best-of-2015
by jchef
Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Using a Samsung Stardust android phone to replace an iPod?
Replies: 6
Views: 861

Re: Using a Samsung Stardust android phone to replace an iPod?

I'm not into podcasts, but I know the two apps mentioned by matjen are quite popular.


As for music players, I'd suggest Shuttle+, Poweramp or GoneMAD. I believe all three of these should meet your needs, except for the podcast support, which I don't believe any of them support.

Both Poweramp and GoneMAD have free 2 week trials. And there's a free version of Shuttle+ called Shuttle that has many, but not all of the features of Shuttle+. So you could test all three of the music players to see which one you like the best.
by jchef
Fri Dec 18, 2015 7:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: safe inexpensive secure password site
Replies: 31
Views: 3704

Re: safe inexpensive secure password site

heartwood wrote:Perhaps I'm not facile enough, or have missed an instruction somewhere. In Edge if you link to a site with a password, you have to enter it manually, or open some other app or file that you can copy the PW from. As far as I see there is no link to LastPass that will populate the PW, nor is there an option to import your stored PWs from LastPass or Chrome or any other manager. I've googled it and get information that it's a flaw in Edge that may be fixed in 2016.
To use LastPass a browser needs to support extensions or add-ons.

Edge doesn't currently do so. However Microsoft has indicated they hope to have the ability soon. Once they add this feature to the browser, I would expect LastPass will have an extension ready very quickly.
by jchef
Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer Photo Backup
Replies: 54
Views: 5538

Re: Computer Photo Backup

corysold wrote:I still need to download to my computer and then back up to an external drive if I want to go that route also, correct?
Correct.
by jchef
Mon Dec 14, 2015 8:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer Photo Backup
Replies: 54
Views: 5538

Re: Computer Photo Backup

My photos are all in the "My Pictures" folder, mostly in individual folders labeled by the date they were downloaded. Most of these cover 3-4 months and 500ish photos. We basically download whenever our phones fill up. So they are somewhat orderly, there are just a lot of files. I'm not sure if this interests you, but the Google Photos app for iOS and Android has the ability to automatically backup photos you take on your phone. It has the option to only backup photos when on wifi and/or charging. If I was to do this, and based on what I described above, with 150ish different file folders in one main "My Pictures" folder, can I simply download the "My Pictures" or would I need to download each filed individual...
by jchef
Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer Photo Backup
Replies: 54
Views: 5538

Re: Computer Photo Backup

Afty wrote:Google Photos is integrated with Google Drive. If you upload all your photos to Google Photos, then a new folder will appear in your Google Drive that contains all your photos.
That's available as an option, but it can be turned off inside Google Drive. I'm honestly not certain if the default is for it to be on or off.
by jchef
Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer Photo Backup
Replies: 54
Views: 5538

Re: Computer Photo Backup

Google Drive will almost do that. There is a copy in the cloud, and replicated copies on my desktop and laptop computers. This happens automatically. But it should be pointed out that Google Drive is different from Google Photos. If you use the Google Photos Desktop Uploader to upload your photos from the desktop, they don't get moved to Google Drive. Instead they get hosted by Google Photos. And if you accidentally or intentionally delete a photo from your desktop, this deletion will not be replicated to Google Photos. All of your photos will remain on Google Photos. If you want to delete something from Google Photos you need to do it from the Google Photos website or using the Google Photos mobile app. And note that Google Photos gives y...
by jchef
Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Websites/services that helped me
Replies: 3
Views: 1103

Re: Websites/services that helped me

profnot wrote: It's the only search engine I know that allows me to use Boolean tools:
Google also supports this, although the syntax is a bit different.

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433


The And is implied if you don't attach a modifier. And to use OR is has to be capitalized.
by jchef
Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:52 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to encrypt files for backup?
Replies: 41
Views: 6795

Re: How to encrypt files for backup?

I just downloaded 7-zip. Very slick, but what format do you use? I would have thought 7z would have been the preferred format, but these instructions from Northeastern University say to use zip. The simple answer is that it doesn't matter. Both formats have been around for quite a while and won't be going away anytime soon. I prefer the 7z format, as it will often produce smaller file sizes. If you are going to share the encrypted files, zip may be better as people are more familiar with the format. One warning about using the zip format is that there are two forms of encryption available. You want to use AES, as the ZipCrypto encryption is quite weak. (Older versions of WinZip only support ZipCrypto, so that's probably while the option is...
by jchef
Tue Nov 24, 2015 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do you view family photos?
Replies: 22
Views: 2714

Re: How do you view family photos?

If you are willing to upload them to Google, using a Chromecast to view them on your TV is quite handy. You can use the Google Photos app on Android or iOS to cast sideshows of choosen albums to your TV.

As well, the Chromecast has the option to randomly cycle through all of your photos as the background image when you aren't doing anything else. So when you aren't using the TV for anything else, you can just switch to the Chromecast and see a random slideshow of all of your photos.
by jchef
Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:45 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Photo Storage Options
Replies: 16
Views: 2047

Re: Photo Storage Options

Is the cloud an option?

Flickr offers 1 TB of free space and will leave the photos untouched (you can download the exact the identical photo after uploading it). I'm not sure if they offer editing tools.

Google photos offers unlimited space, but will resize any photos larger than 16 megapixels. It also compresses all photos, although most people don't notice a difference. It does offer some basic editing tools.


Both services won't display your photos publicly if you don't want them to.
by jchef
Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Windows 7- removing Windows 10-related "updates"
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

Re: Windows 7- removing Windows 10-related "updates"

packet wrote:
gd wrote:...recommend a one-stop solution ...
adamthesmythe wrote:...the BEST way to avoid installing windows 10 by accident?...
Easy
Unless you have Windows software that doesn't have a decent alternative on Linux. Or Linux doesn't have drivers for some of your hardware. Or you don't have the time to learn how to set up a new OS to your liking, etc...

While Linux is great for many things, it's not always the answer for everything.
by jchef
Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Windows 7- removing Windows 10-related "updates"
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

Re: Windows 7- removing Windows 10-related "updates"

adamthesmythe wrote:If possible I want to make sure that it requires multiple errors on my part, not just a single mistaken click.
No, it's not one click. It's not something you're going to accidentally install.

As well, if you use the standard upgrade, it will keep your Windows 7 installation as a backup for 30 days. You can return to the old operating system within those 30 days.
by jchef
Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is it risky to use XP if I do not want to buy a new computer?
Replies: 39
Views: 3274

Re: Is it risky to use XP if I do not want to buy a new computer?

rec7 wrote: So in six months the Vista folks will be out of date also with Chrome?
Correct.

It's a bit of a surprise, since Microsoft is supporting Vista until 2017. But since Vista has such a small market share it seems Google doesn't feel the need to support it after April.
by jchef
Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is it risky to use XP if I do not want to buy a new computer?
Replies: 39
Views: 3274

Re: Is it risky to use XP if I do not want to buy a new computer?

rec7 wrote:I should have added I only use chrome.
Google announced today that the last version of Chrome for Windows XP and Vista will be released in April 2016. So if you stay with Chrome, you'll only get 6 more months of security updates for your browser.


http://chrome.blogspot.ca/2015/11/updat ... pport.html
by jchef
Tue Nov 10, 2015 8:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: GPS App, Android (no data plan)
Replies: 34
Views: 2751

Re: GPS App, Android (no data plan)

Google just announced that they are going to start rolling out offline navigation with Google Maps. They didn't provide a lot of details, so it still isn't clear if you are going to be able to download large maps or if the maps are automatically deleted after 30 days.


https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/11 ... nline.html


(edit: Like most Google launches, this is likely to be a staged rollout. So probably only a few users will get it at first. And if all goes well, then more will get it until Google is happy there are no major bugs and it's made available for everyone.)
by jchef
Mon Nov 09, 2015 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: GPS App, Android (no data plan)
Replies: 34
Views: 2751

Re: GPS App, Android (no data plan)

SpringMan wrote:Here Maps looks like it won't download to a Micro SD card. When I select download it shows only available storage as that directly on the phone. My LG phone only has 8 GB including the OS, about 3 GB is free but plenty of free space is on my 32 GB Micro SD card. Otherwise Here Maps looks like a good solution for those with enough available storage on their phone.
I don't have a device with a SD card to test, but according to their website you can store the maps on a SD card.

http://360.here.com/2014/10/27/android- ... questions/ (3rd question)
by jchef
Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: GPS App, Android (no data plan)
Replies: 34
Views: 2751

Re: GPS App, Android (no data plan)

livesoft wrote:I used Google Maps in offline mode. Download the maps with a wireless connection, then use where no cell phone towers are around.
One thing to be aware of is that the Google Map apps delete the data 30 days after it's downloaded. Google claims it's to stop you from using out of date data, but it's really annoying if you forget the re-download the data when you need it.

And this may have changed, but I believe if you want navigation with offline Google Maps you need to perform the navigation while online. Google Maps will then remember the navigation. But if won't be able to perform new navigation once offline.
by jchef
Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: GPS App, Android (no data plan)
Replies: 34
Views: 2751

Re: GPS App, Android (no data plan)

if im not mistaken all GPS/Location enabled apps will require a data connection. That's not correct. Many work offline by storing maps on the device. However a lot of phones use A-GPS (assisted GPS) to get a location lock. Meaning they use data from cell towers to help speed up a location lock. So if you're offline, it can take some phones quite a while to manage to get a GPS lock. But they have a lock, they'll work fine with navigation systems than are set up to work while offline. Edit: The OP may also want to look into an Android app called GPS Status (the free version is fine). The app has an option to automatically download the A-GPS data over wifi everytime it's opened. So if you are currently connected to wifi, but know you are goin...
by jchef
Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:50 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: GPS App, Android (no data plan)
Replies: 34
Views: 2751

Re: GPS App, Android (no data plan)

Here Maps is a great choice and it's free. It was developed by Nokia and uses their maps. And the offline navigation works really well.

It was recently sold to the group of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Apparently the three companies are planning to continue offering it free for phones, while making it part of their in-car navigation systems.
by jchef
Sun Nov 08, 2015 9:52 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Password managers (eg Keepass, Lastpass, 1Password etc)- security risk
Replies: 29
Views: 5161

Re: Password managers (eg Keepass, Lastpass, 1Password etc)- security risk

In order for that tool to work it needs to be installed on your machine.

If someone has the ability to install software on your machine, you already have a huge problem. They could install a keylogger, change your browser to a modified browser that looks the same but actually records everything you do, or many other things.

So it's not really a big deal that there's a new tool that can do bad things if it gets installed onto your machine. There was already plenty of old tools that could do that same.
by jchef
Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:38 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Use the chip credit card in the US?
Replies: 20
Views: 2830

Re: Use the chip credit card in the US?

Walmart does at the ones I visit. AFAIK the requirement was only that vendors have the ability to be able to accept chip cards, not necessarily that they had to start using them. Likely a verbiage loophole, have the equipment but not functioning still counts as having the ability to accept them so not subject to extra fines. To be clear, there are no fines. There wasn't a law passed, instead the terms retailers have with the credit card companies have changed. This is a bit oversimplified, but if a merchant processes a chip card using the magnetic strip instead of using the chip and the transaction turns out to be fraudulent, the merchant is fully responsible for the fraudulent charge and will not be reimbursed by the credit card company. ...
by jchef
Sat Oct 24, 2015 5:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New computer, trouble with Keepass
Replies: 6
Views: 916

Re: New computer, trouble with Keepass

Microsoft is discouraging the use of other browsers, but there is no good reason not to use other browsers if you want to. It's a bit difficult to make other browsers the default browser on Windows 10. Here are the instructions for Firefox.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ho ... windows-10
by jchef
Sat Oct 24, 2015 5:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New computer, trouble with Keepass
Replies: 6
Views: 916

Re: New computer, trouble with Keepass

According to the Keepass forums, there is a known problem with drag and drop when using the Edge browser on Windows 10. Microsoft is looking into it.

An alternative is to use Chrome or Firefox which apparently are working fine. Or you could just double click on the user name or password which will copy it and then paste it onto the field when using Edge.

http://sourceforge.net/p/keepass/discus ... /264fcac8/
by jchef
Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Windows 10 from 8.1. Do I REALLY Want To Do This?
Replies: 31
Views: 4007

Re: Windows 10 from 8.1. Do I REALLY Want To Do This?

oc4boxer wrote:I was apparently the only person that didn't hate Windows 8, but my PC recently forced a change to Windows 8.1 on me. I'm not happy about that at all. Windows 8.1 is a mess. I find it hard to believe Windows 10 would be worse, but I'm definitely not in the mood for another tedious OS update.
Support for Windows 8 just ended. You need 8.1 in order to receive security updates.

Microsoft treated 8.1 the same as they treat a service pack, which is you need to apply the service pack within 2 years in order to keep getting support. The 2 year anniversary of 8.1 was on Saturday, so Windows 8 is now unsupported.
by jchef
Sat Oct 10, 2015 11:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Withdrawn by FBI!] FBI warning on chip & signature cards (vs. chip & pin)
Replies: 48
Views: 5499

Re: [Withdrawn by FBI!] FBI warning on chip & signature cards (vs. chip & pin)

Epsilon Delta wrote: Anybody in Germany or Austria care to comment, are you routinely using chip and signature or is Wikipedia wrong?
Germany does use chip and signature (or at least they did when I visited friends 2 years ago). However, credit card use in Germany is quite low.
Just 33% of Germans said they had a credit card back in 2011. And most of those hardly ever get used. In 2013, only 18% of payments in Germany were made via cards, compared to 50% in France and 59% in the UK.
http://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-ca ... verything/
by jchef
Sat Oct 10, 2015 10:56 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Withdrawn by FBI!] FBI warning on chip & signature cards (vs. chip & pin)
Replies: 48
Views: 5499

Re: FBI warning on chip & signature cards (vs. chip & pin)

Did they ask you before sending the card, and coding it *into* the card, or is it a number you could change if you happened to want to do so (and if so, how)? The PIN can be stored in two places, on the card or on the credit card company's computers. Storing it on the computers makes it easier to change, but they can't handle offline transactions. For example in Europe, not all credit card terminals will be continuously online. This is especially true of some automated credit card terminals. So if you use a Chip and Pin card where the pin is stored on the bank's computers, it's possible the offline terminals may reject it because they can't validate the pin. But the offline terminals also are allowed to accept it and validate it later when...
by jchef
Sat Oct 10, 2015 8:28 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: LogMeIn to acquire LastPass
Replies: 46
Views: 5297

Re: LogMeIn to acquire LastPass

Starting From Scratch wrote:Anyone know about or use Encryptr (link below) as an alternative? I know a lot of people use and like Keepass but from what I understand, KeePass is desktop only.?
No, KeePass is available for a huge number of platforms.

MiniKeePass is the most popular iOS port. KeePassDroid and KeePass2Android are the two most popular Android ports. All three of these are free and open source.
by jchef
Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:19 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: LogMeIn to acquire LastPass
Replies: 46
Views: 5297

Re: LogMeIn to acquire LastPass

While LogMeIn is a reputable company, their business practices have annoyed a lot of people to say the least.

They used to both a free and paid product, with the paid product having more features. In January 2014 they got rid of their free product, but only gave people very short notice of the shutdown. This left a lot of people scrambling to set up an alternative service or being forced to subscribe to the paid product. And as already mentioned, the prices of their paid product have been increased a number of times, without much additional useful features being added.


So it wouldn't at all surprise me if the price of LastPass Premium is increased. And either the free service will be shut down or made much more limited.
by jchef
Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99357

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

rotorhead wrote: I will stick to Win 7 until I need a new computer; may be a while.
Windows 7 support ends in January 2020.

When the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends in July of next year, end of support for Windows 7 will only be 3.5 years away.