Hang up immediately!

This week's tip comes from Sharon Cutrell:

If you get a phone call from "Windows" or "Microsoft" or "The Help Desk" telling you that you have problems with your computer, HANG UP ON THEM IMMEDIATELY.

If you have a pop-up message that isn't from YOUR antivirus telling you that you need to call a number or go to a website, DON'T DO IT.  Shut down the computer and then start it up again, and don't go back to the website you were visiting (since that is where the pop-up came from).

These are the methods used by people who are trying to hack into (and lock) your computer so that you can't  EVER get into Windows or into your files again.

http://triplescomputers.com/blog/casestudies/solution-this-is-microsoft-support-telephone-scam-computer-ransom-lockout/ will give you more information about this issue.

Silencing your cell phone

Have you ever been in a meeting or at an event when someone's phone (or your own phone) begins to ring? And, it rings, and rings, and rings.....

I was in two different meetings last Wednesday and a total of 3 people's cellphones rang loudly and continued to ring because they couldn't figure how to mute them.  I will be the first to admit that I sometimes forget to mute my phone before a meeting, BUT if my phone rings at the wrong time, I know how to quickly silence it.  And, it isn't difficult.

Question:  Do you know how to quickly mute your phone when it is ringing?
Answer:  On MOST phones, tapping the Sleep/Wake button once instantly mutes the phone when ringing and sends the caller to voicemail.  (The Sleep/Wake button is the one you use to completely shut down your phone - often found by itself on the side, top or back of your phone).

I'd like to encourage you to try this out TODAY by having someone call your number (or use your landline to call your cellphone).  Try it out several times until you are comfortable with it and think you can remember how to do it.

For us seniors, this needs to be an automatic response.....unless we want the younger people in the audience turning and rolling their eyes at us while we fumble with our phones!

And, as always, let me know if you have questions.

We are headed to Pennsylvania soon to celebrate our granddaughter's 5th birthday!  Very.excited!!  So, if I forget to send out a Tech Tip next Tuesday, you'll know it is because I'm having too much fun playing with our two special girls! ;-)

What happens to online connections after I am gone?

Some of you may have seen the clip on the news last evening - "Protecting Your Digital Afterlife."  It focused on one family's inability to access their father's online business account after he suffered a series of strokes.  Yahoo would not allow them to access it and the business failed without their ability to access their father's online business records.

Yahoo is not the only company that does that.  Information on how other online companies handle your accounts after death/disability can be found here. (iCloud, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and more.)

Recently I gave some advice to my cousin who runs the family farm, "You really should make a list of all your online accounts and passwords, put them in a folder, and tell your family and the hired hand where that folder is located.  You might even want to get a red folder to make it easy to spot."

Well....I'm much better at giving advice than always following it, so watching the news clip yesterday reminded me that very soon I need to:
1) make a list of all my online accounts including usernames and passwords - banking, medical, financial accounts, Facebook, Gmail and other email accounts, etc.
2) choose a location and tell my family where the information/folder is located. And, I probably should remind them of it from time to time.
3) remember to update the list every time I change passwords or create new online accounts.

I do not recommend sending a copy of your information via email for two reasons: 1) email is not secure and private and 2) you will need to update the document from time to time and you don't want multiple copies of out-of-date information lying around.

Troubleshooting

"It's not working right! What should I do?"

Today's tip is very simple but one we ALL need to remember when our digital devices aren't performing like we want them to.  If you're experiencing problems with your phone/laptop/mobile device, do this first because 99% of the time it will resolve the problem:

Shut down the application and restart the device.
Shut down the application and restart the device.
Shut down the application and restart the device.

Problem: My phone is acting strange.
Resolution: Shut the application down and restart your computer/phone/mobile device.  
(FYI - Phones also begin to act strangely when there is a system update waiting to be installed so check that, too).

Problem: I can't close an app on my phone.
Resolution:  Shut down and restart your phone.

Problem: My browser isn't letting me open webpages.
Resolution:  Quit your browser, shut down your computer (or device) and restart.

Problem:  My computer won't let me quit the applications and shut down the computer.
Resolution: Press and hold down on the Power button until the computer/device shuts off then restart.

This will solve your problems 99% of the time!