Posts Tagged: ‘Miscellaneous’

Cruising 2019 – Originally Published January 2019

January 19, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

It’s January again!  If you know the wife and I, you can probably guess where we are and what we’re doing.  We’re out on the ocean again.  I hated to go, but my wife dragged me along.  I was kicking and screaming.  Unfortunately, I was kicking and screaming because I had stubbed my big toe really hard.  It hurt almost as bad as when I look at the poor participation on the club website.

This year, I’m going to cut way back on the amount of tech I’ll be taking along.  I’ll definitely take my laptop as it just makes it easier to do things like my daily web browsing, the club newsletter, updating my various websites, etc.  Of course, I’ll be taking my tablet.  I’ve got a lot of book reading to catch up on.  I’m sure that I’ll also be playing “The Room”.  Finally, my phone is the device I use for magazine reading, audio books and some quick brain games.  Of course, I’ll also be taking a couple of sets of Bluetooth headphones, assorted cables and my power banks.  One of the most important things to remember is to bring a power strip.

Perhaps more notable is some of the tech that I won’t be taking along.  This year, I’m going to leave my camera bag behind.  My old Canon still takes better pictures than my pocket computer, but I just don’t take too many photos anymore.  I’ll be leaving my cable/adapters bag behind.  Other than a couple of USB cables, it just ends up being extra weight.  The one thing I haven’t decided on yet is whether I’ll bring my binoculars.  Usually, I bring them along and they just sit in the stateroom.  I’ll probably take them because of this year’s itinerary.

So where are we going?
• Cozumel, Mexico – this island is a staple for cruise ships. I think they all stop there.  I’ve been there so many times that I don’t think there is anything new to see.
• George Town, Grand Cayman Island – the capital of the Cayman Islands.  Yawn.
• Ocho Rios, Jamaica – this port is on the north coast of the island.  I’ve cruised to Jamaica quite a few times, but I don’t believe I’ve ever visited this town.
• Freeport, Grand Bahama – is another stop for most of the cruise ships.  There are some interesting things to see, but I probably won’t see them again.
• Nassau, Bahamas – is on of my favorite ports on the cruise circuit.  I think this is because of it’s abundant pirate and Royal Navy History.  Every time I visit here, I spend hours at the Pirate Museum.  I’m almost always the only one of the group to do so.  Last time I was in Nassau, I got a tattoo.
• George Town, Cayman Islands – yes, it is a repeat.  Our 28 day cruise is actually two seven day and one fourteen day cruise.  Double Yawn.
• Oranjestad, Aruba – is another nice island to visit.  I think I like this one mostly because of my Dutch heritage.
• Willemstad, Curacao – has lots of interesting things to see.  My favorite is the floating bridge.
• Panama Canal – the day I am most looking forward to this trip.  It will be my third time.  The first I was much younger on a Navy warship.  I didn’t get to see a lot because of having to work.  Years ago we took a Carnival cruise for a complete transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  This was one of the best trips that I have ever taken.  This time, we’re supposed to just transit the first set of locks into Gatun Lake and turn around.
• Puerto Limon, Costa Rica – I’ve only been here once and am looking forward to seeing it again.
• Cozumel, Mexico – so that everyone can do some last minute shopping.  I wonder if that tattoo parlor I went to about twelve years ago is still in business?

That’s all for this month.
Thanks for reading.

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My Annual Christmas Wish List – Originally Published December 2018

December 8, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

It’s that time of the year again.  When the holidays come around, I usually make a list to help my friends decide what to buy for me or their other techie pals.  I can hope the emphasis in that last sentence is on the word “me”.

If you buy this Toshiba 84‑inch Ultra HD smart LED television, your gift recipient will definitely have something to brag about.  Not only will they tell everyone about their smart TV, but you can be sure they will mention the giver.  Unfortunately, there is a small shipping charge of $1190.  That is relatively modest when you compare it to the product price of $115,299.99.

What computer geek on your list couldn’t use a 1.6TB SSD.  Why cheap out on a gift like this?  You can buy them a 10 pack for the low price of only $122,803.25 with free shipping.  Since you are saving money on shipping, you might want to throw in some drive mounting brackets.

Lets admit it.  Even technological people occasionally have to answer the call of nature.  Wouldn’t it be nice to enter the little room and have the toilet seat automatically open for you?  Did you know that if your business sometimes leaves an odor, you can have it deodorized?  Best of all, just think how much money your gift recipient will save on toilet paper.  The DXV Toilet will do all this for the low price of $4200.

If you don’t like shopping on Amazon, there are a lot of other web sites when you can fill your Christmas list.  Although I’m not an Apple user, I might change if someone would buy me this iPhone Diamond 4.  It will only set you back about eight million dollars.  I wonder if it comes with a protective case?

I’ve got to admit that I would rather have someone give me an Android phone this year.  I especially like this GoldVish Eclipse.  It even has some decent specifications.  The price is much more reasonable than an iPhone Diamond.  It is only 32,000 Euros (about $36,500).  For that low price someone could gift me two of them in case I drop one in the toilet.

If you read my October article, you already know that I bought a new desktop.  Now I need a new laptop for my occasional travels.  Lamborghini is well known for their quality automobiles, so it stands to reason that the Automobili Lamborghini VX7SX must be a pretty good machine.  After all it was really manufactured by Asus.  You might notice that there isn’t a price listed.  I’ve looked it up for you.  It retails for only $355,000.

Let’s face it.  No one will ever buy me any of those expensive toys.  Here are some suggestions for stuff I could really use.  I’m getting a little old and often find myself having to use the facilities in a hurry.  This survival kit would be really useful.  A book to read would also be nice.  It is starting to get cold in Louisiana.  My feet often get chilled.  I could always use another pair of socks.  Some candy canes are always a good Christmas gift.

Who the heck am I trying to kid?  No one is going to buy me any of the things in this article.  Maybe I can just get someone to buy me a tank of gas so I could drive to Lake Charles and attend the annual SWLAPCUG Christmas Party.

Thanks for reading.

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Alienware Aurora R7 – Originally Published October 2018

October 7, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve got a jealous grandson.  He is envious of me.  I think I have figured out why.  I recently replaced my HP Pavilion a6342p Desktop PC, circa around 2006 or so.  At the time this machine had some pretty impressive specifications.  Over the years, I made a few upgrades, but it was still becoming a frustrating machine to use.  Sometimes it would take minutes to load a program.  One day it will be re‑purposed, probably as a Linux media server.

I bought an Alienware Aurora R7 desktop with some pretty impressive specifications.
• Processor: Core i7 8700K (3.70GHz) Six-Core
• Memory 16GB, Speed DDR4-2666
• HD Interface SATA 6Gb/s, Capacity 2TB
• Video GPU Type NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, Memory 11GB GDDR5X
• Gigabit LAN
• LAN Data Rate Speed 10/100/1000Mbps
• WLAN Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Wireless Technology 802.11ac
• 6 USB 2.0 (Type-A) Ports
• 3 USB 3.1 (Gen 1 Type-A) Ports
• 1 USB 3.1 (Gen 2 Type-A) Port
• 1 USB 3.1 (Gen 2 Type-C) Port
• and much more

I’ll admit it.  This machine is overkill for my typical use.  When I was running tests, I finally got it to slow down a little.  I had opened Scribus (publishing software), LibreOffice Writer (twenty documents), VLC Media Player (playing a movie), NPVR (tuned to a TV station with the sound muted) and FastStone Image Viewer (playing a slideshow with continuous loop).  I didn’t stop any of my normal system programs that were running.  Then I opened my Firefox Browser and started opening tabs from my bookmarks.  After about 120 tabs, I started to notice the other programs slowing down.  I didn’t check system resources because I knew that in real life I would never have this scenario.

Like almost everything electronic, there are a few downsides to this machine.  Although there are a lot of USB ports, there isn’t a dedicated SD card reader.  I was thinking of removing the 15-in-1 (4 slot) reader from my old desktop and installing on the new machine.  I have found that I don’t really need it.  Other than in my pocket computer, I just don’t use SD cards much anymore.  My only other quibble is that the machine comes with Windows 10, but that is a whole other subject.

The first thing my Grandson said when he found out I bought an Alienware, was “can I get one for Christmas?”  I told him he would have to talk to his Mother and Father about that.  I think he’ll start saving his money.  I did set up a guest account, so now I’ve got Steam, Epic Games and a few other things installed that I’ve never had before.  I’ll probably set up a Steam account myself as there are a few games that do look interesting.  I sure hope everyone that reads this article is as jealous as the Grandson was.

Thanks for reading.

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My New ISP – Originally Published September 2018

September 9, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I miss Suddenlink.  The Mrs. and I are getting settled in our new abode.  There will likely be many future whatchamacallit articles on tech in a new parish.  Of course, that’s assuming I have internet in the future.  I’m not saying it’s bad, but I’ve already made several calls to tech support.  I think that might be as many as I’ve had to make to all other tech companies I’ve dealt with in twenty years.

We moved on Saturday, July 14.  To prepare, the day before I drove to Livingston to set up electricity, water, garbage, etc.  Since I finished early, I decided to also start cable and internet.  I should have paid heed to the fact that it was Friday the 13th.

The apartment leasing office recommended that tenants use EATEL, a company that I had never heard of.  Like many other ISPs, their website advertised a fiber optic network with all of the bells and whistles.  I decided to drive to the business office (about 20 miles) and arrange for service to start.  Aside from an internet plan, I needed TV for the Mrs.  The package had to include the Game Show Network (also not for me).  I’m personally fine with streaming services, but I know that I could never teach the wife to use them.

Of course, I wanted to use my own modem and router but was told that I couldn’t because their network was fiber.  She told me they didn’t have a rental fee.  After being told that no, they couldn’t give me the equipment and let me do the setup, I made arrangements for a service call on Tuesday morning.  That was a tough weekend for me.  The cell phone service here is terrible and I started having internet withdrawal symptoms.  After asking the sales representative to write down my account number, I was on my way back to Livingston to sign a new lease.

July 17: Tuesday morning I was pretty impressed when the installer arrived only about thirty minutes late.  He installed a modem and a router.  The reason he could not use my router is the television box is Wi‑Fi and could only connect to their router.  (At least that was the reason I was given.)  I allowed the setup because I knew I could connect my router later and have my same secure network names and IDs that I had previously used.  I was pretty giddy.  After all, I could get online again.

After he left, I realized that there wasn’t a DVR.  I didn’t think this would be a problem because I was planning to call support anyway and set up an e‑mail account with an @eatel.net address.  I would only be using this account for the off site address for my web hosting service.

July 23: I called support and gave the lady my account number.  She couldn’t find the number in her system.  She searched for my name and couldn’t find it.  She finally found it by an address search.  It turns out that when I signed up for service, I wasn’t given the complete account number.  There should have been a -001 appended to it.  I asked for a recommendation of what DVR I should buy to use with there system.  Tech Support seemed amazed that the installer hadn’t installed a DVR since it came with the plan.  Another service call was scheduled for DVR installation.  She set up my EATEL e‑mail account and gave me a temporary password: Etl‑10981. I repeated it back to her at least four times, making sure of the hyphen and numbers.  I even used my old military training to repeat the letters: Echo – tango – lima.

July 24: We received our first EATEL bill in the mail.  The due date was for July 12.  We had moved into the apartment on July 14.  I told the wife that I was calling them the next day anyway.  The e‑mail password wasn’t working and I also could not sign in to “Light Wave TV”, the service that lets you stream TV stations that you subscribe to.

July 25: I got an e‑mail from EATEL explaining that the due date was incorrect and should have read August 12.  Once again, I called Customer Support.  This gal was really nice and told me that I could easily use other e‑mail services like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.  She said they might be easier for me to set up.  I calmly explained that I was pretty good at setting up e‑mail addresses as my other 92 of them were all working perfectly.  She transferred my call to Tech Support.  In less than five minutes the problem was solved.  It turned out that the password I so carefully verified was wrong.  It should have been Eatel instead of Etl.

July 26-AUG 1: I went to Yankee land for a reunion of my siblings.  Each day, I expected a call from the wife asking what to do about the internet.  Thankfully, no long distance trouble shooting was required.

After a month of several frustrations, I am finally mostly satisfied.  One day I was so upset that I went to Spectrum.  I was going to change even if I lost the money I had already given to EATEL.  I was surprised to find out that Spectrum couldn’t service my address.  I’m pretty certain that this is because the apartment owners have a deal with EATEL.  I am getting upload speeds of about 290-300 Mbps.  When I use my VPN service, speed drops to about 50 Mbps.  Interestingly, when I go online with a UK address, I get about 90 Mbps. Some day when I have time, I’m going to test all my VPN servers to find best speed.  There are 128 of them (25 in the USA).

One of the reasons for such a drastic speed loss is because I’ve connected my router to the system and am using it for access.  I feel much better knowing that I have control of my local networks.  The biggest difference with my setup here than in Lake Charles is that I am only running four networks instead of seven.  I still miss Suddenlink.

Thanks for reading.

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Reviewing a Review – Originally Published July 2018

July 5, 2018 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1.  A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2.  An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

This month I’m going to do something a little different.  Instead of reviewing a program, I’m going to give you my opinion on 101 of the Best Free Software and Apps for Your Windows PC.  The link is to an article on Make Tech Easier, one of my favorite tech sites.  It was published on June 24, 2018 and is a comprehensive list free software in some major categories.  Here are my thoughts on the programs.

Gaming Tools: I don’t play many games and haven’t tried any of these programs.

Office Suite: I’ve tried all of these programs except for Calligra.  They all work well.  WPS Office was my default program for many years.  I quit using it when it the Chinese government started funding it.  I sometimes use Google Docs if I need to do a quick edit or I am writing something on a mobile device.  I started using Libre Office when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems and quit supporting Open Office.  Over the years I have become familiar with Libre and use it almost exclusively.

Note-taking apps: Evernote is one of the few programs that I actually pay for.  I have had an annual subscription for four years now.  The free version just doesn’t do everything I need.  I’ve tried all of the others except for Apple Notes.  Every year when my subscription is due, I usually once again review all of the others.  They have gotten much better, but I’m still giving Evernote my $70.  Maybe this year will be different.

Web Browsers: I change my default web browser more that some people change their underwear.  All of the tech sites tell us how fast each on is at rendering web pages.  A millisecond or two has never made much difference to me.  Between all of my active computers, I usually have about twelve browsers installed.  I do this mostly for testing my various websites before uploading.  For daily use, I mostly utilize Firefox and Pale Moon.  I normally use the Chrome Browser only when I need to access my Google account.  On Linux machines, I use either Chromium or Firefox.  Over the years, I’ve tried to like the Opera browser, but I never could.  I don’t know why.  I only have one Windows 10 computer where I use Microsoft’s Edge.

Media Players: Years and years ago I used SMPlayer and Potplayer.  Now I use VLC to play all of my media files.  It plays almost everything.  I might be a little old fashioned, but I still use Windows Media Player for MP3 files.

File Compression: Does anyone compress files anymore?  With the size of hard drives there is almost no need to do so. I  keep 7-Zip installed on my computers.  I can’t remember the last time I compressed a file.  I mostly use it for extracting files that I’ve downloaded from the internet.

Instant Messaging: How quaint. I don’t think that I’ve sent an instant message since ICQ was the best program.  I haven’t tried any of these programs and I don’t intend to.  There is no one I want to either bother or be bothered by.

Email Clients: I may be the only club member that still uses an e‑mail client instead of web mail.  I usually have between 60 and 100 active e-mail addresses.  I like the control that Thunderbird gives me.  I haven’t tried any of the other three, but Mailbird looks interesting and I may test it.

Torrent Managers: I have BitTorrent installed on one of my computers, but I don’t Torrent very often.  I haven’t tried any of other managers.

Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus: Whenever I set up a new computer, Malwarebytes is one of the first programs I install.  I have never tried AdwCleaner.  I don’t let toolbars and adware get installed in the first place.  I’ve demonstrated Kaspersky TDSSKiller to the club several times.  It is a great stand‑alone program.  I haven’t tested USB Disk Security but have put it on my list of things to do.  The best way to protect against USB drive infections is don’t plug in any USB drives you do not know the source of.  I quit installing third party anti‑virus programs about two years ago.  I have found that Windows Defender is adequate.  I still use Avast on one of my computers, but will probably remove it.

The Other Stuff: FTP clients are necessary if you do a lot of uploading (or downloading).  I’ve used all of these and they all work well.  CoreFTP is my choice.  I’ve long urged the use of password managers.  I’ve used KeePass for many years.  Windows integrated ISO software works fine for me.  I don’t use a download manager.  Windows Snipping Tool works fine for all of my needs.  There are hundreds (or maybe thousands) of code editors for users that need them.  I usually use KompoZer or BlueGriffon.  Paint.net is my graphics editor of choice.  I even converted Tom into using it.  Does anyone read an e‑book on their computer?  I haven’t run a game emulator for years.  Same thing with diagrams and charts.  Windows backup works fine for me.  Finally, the only optimization program on this list that I use is CCleaner.  I didn’t even know that PC Decrapifier was still around.

All of the programs on this list are free for personal use and as far as I know, they are from reputable sources.  If you find anything that looks interesting or useful, why not download it and give it a try?  If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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I’d Like To Apologize – Originally Published July 2018

July 5, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

King Charles I said, “Never make a defense or an apology until you are accused.”  Things sure haven’t changed much since the 1600’s.  It seems like every day, someone in politics is apologizing for something stupid.  Who am I kidding.  It is more like every couple of hours.  My personal favorites are when they say they are sorry and then in the next sentence, explain that it was because they weren’t really at fault.

I could elaborate for hours on how the President is sorry he has to separate children from their parents because of the Democrats.  I won’t though.  After all.  This is a technology column, not political.

In the technology world, we have our own “Apologizer in Chief”.  Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 and made his first privacy apology in 2007: “We simply did a bad job with this release and I apologize for it.”  In 2010 he made another apology: “We just missed the mark,” he said.  “We heard the feedback.”  Then there was an apology in 2011: “I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes.”  There have been many other apologies from Mr. Zuckerberg.  Maybe his apology tour will be the culmination.

Of course, Facebook isn’t the only tech company that has recently made a confession and an apology.  Apple is sorry they slowed down older phones.  Uber didn’t know their drivers did naughty things.  Sony is always regretting something.  Wells Fargo is so sorry that they re‑invented the company.  I can’t remember if Equifax apologized or not.  One of my favorite apologies was when the Twitter CEO was sorry that he ate at Chick‑fil‑A.

With all of the apology fever going around, I thought I had better make an apology or two myself.  After all, apologies are serious business.  I’m more or less a serious guy.

I’d like to apologize to the computer club for publishing last months newsletter on Thursday.  I know that everyone expects it on the Monday before the meeting.  Although I’ve attempted to find someone or something to blame it on, it was late due solely to my own laziness.  I hope that no one was too severely inconvenienced.

I would like to apologize to the Golden Triangle Computer Club for the bad joke I made at one of their meetings.  When a Norton Utilities Disk was the featured door prize, I told them I hoped I would win it.  Then I could throw it in the trash and there would be one less Norton program in the world.  Although I made the comment in a moment of complete lucidity, I certainly regret offending any Texans.

Lastly, I would like to give a sincere apology to all of the companies whose EULA’s I claim to have actually read.  As everyone knows, “End User License Agreements” are very important in the computer world.  Like many other people I have many times clicked that little box that says I have read and understand everything in their short documents.  Actually, I have never read them.  I use a program and a couple of websites that do it for me.  I’m so sorry that I deceived the affected companies.

I was going to apologize to the reader for writing this article, but I’m not sorry I did.  I started with a quote and I’ll finish with one from Jim Bouton: “It never hurts to apologize, especially if you don’t mean it.”

Thanks for reading.

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Over-Technologied Redux – Originally Published June 2018

June 10, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Way back in November of 2010, I invented a new term.  I can’t believe that it hasn’t caught on.  Over‑technologied is a term that I made up to describe a situation where technology is used either unnecessarily, stupidly, inadequately or in some other silly manner.  I think that people who have the latest, greatest, newest technology and then don’t know how to use it are extremely over‑technologied.  I made up the word, so I guess I can make up the definition.

At the recent Google I/O Show, they announced their updated Google Assistant (with six new voices).  By now everyone has probably heard the call to the hairdresser and the restaurant making an appointment.  Although I don’t know how much was real and how much was made to sound nice for playback, I think this is another case of being over‑technologied.  Making an appointment is one thing.  Can you imagine what it will be like during election season when the politicians call to beg for money?  How about the many other spam call companies?  Personally, I plan to handle those problems by just not answering any calls from unknown telephone numbers.

How many people do you know with so many flash drives, storage cards, disk drives, etc. that cannot find a file because they can’t remember where they stored it?  Do you think they might be over‑technologied?  I’ve got a hint for them.  Cloud storage is cheap.

Every year manufacturers release their new cell phone with higher prices.  They justify having to gouge us by increasing the over‑technology that is installed.  Do we really need two cameras?  Is massive storage required when almost all data is stored in the cloud?  How many people really need sensors to check blood pressure, atmospheric pressure, light intensity, relative humidity, etc.?  How many people do you know that actually use a fingerprint sensor to unlock their phone?  My phone has the ability to fast charge with a special power adapter.  I’ve used it exactly two times.  The first was when I bought the phone and checked to see if it worked.  One other time, I forgot to charge the phone and used quick charge for about ten minutes.  Like almost everyone else, my phone is over‑technologied.

Our homes are definitely becoming over‑technologied.  Do we need refrigerators that keep track of how much milk is left in the jug?  How about those toilets that can warm the seat, automatically lower the lid, etc.?  I haven’t done a search, but I would be willing to bet that you can find one that automatically washes and blow dries when you finish your business.  My DVR is so over‑technologied that when the time changes, it doesn’t.

I’m probably going to get a lot of disagreement when I say that almost every Operating System has become over‑technologied.  Windows has been in such a hurry to add features that almost every time there is an update, there will be complaints about systems becoming inoperable.  If you survey a hundred different Android users, you will be lucky to find ten of them with the same OS.  Linux is about the same except that you would have a hard time finding a hundred users.  Even Apple suffers the same problems as the others.  The technology has advanced so much that they are not able to keep up with the security.  Additionally, you would be hard pressed to find anyone that uses all of the newest features in any OS.

Much of the over‑technology I wrote about eight years ago is still valid today.  Maybe I’ll have to address the subject again in 2026.

Thanks for reading.

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Android App Permissions – Originally Published June 2018

June 10, 2018 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Would you mind if I came to your home and looked through your house to get some ideas for things to write about in this column?  If I find anything useful, I promise not to tell anyone where I got the information.  I promise that I will keep any details about your private life secret.  Of course, if I change my mind later, you won’t be able to do anything about it because you gave me permission.

If as I suspect you answered “no”, I hope you are as diligent with your Android phone.  When you install an application, do you give it permission to look through your data and use it for marketing or other purposes?  Over the years, there have been many Android programs that have wanted to do similar things on your phone.

Android forces apps to declare the permissions they require when they install them.  You can protect your privacy, security, and cell phone bill by paying attention to Android app permissions when installing those apps.  Prior to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) all applications declared their permissions before installing.  You could either accept and install, or decline and not install.  The problem with this system was that many users didn’t pay attention. An application for a game could potentially harvest all of a users contact data.

In newer versions of Android, apps have to individually request each permission. Keep in mind that if you deny a permission, the application might not work as designed.

It is easy to check the permissions of an Android application.  If you have already installed it on your device, go to Settings>Apps.  Scroll down to the app you want to examine and tap it.  Click the permissions field.  If it is an application you are thinking of installing, open the Google Play Store and go to the app.  Then click on the “Permission Details” tab.

Why is it important to check permissions?  Simply because our phones contain so much personal information.  They have our exact location, contact data, personal pictures and more.  They can record everything we say and do.  In short, access to your Android device is access to you.

An internet search will find millions of sites that tell you what each permission is.  Probably the best place to research permissions is Google Support.  There are two informative articles:
1. Review app permissions thru Android 5.9
2. Control your app permissions on Android 6.0 and up

Use common sense when you install apps. If a flashlight program asks to read contact information, it might not be the best one to install. Reputable app developers will tell you why their software needs each permission.

Thanks for reading.

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More Things I Hate About Technology – Originally Published May 2018

May 13, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Way back in October 2009, I wrote an article about things I hate about technology.  I’m not going to regurgitate the whole thing, but I will say that I still hate: 1) having to use several different types of USB cords and connectors; 2) End User License Agreements; 3) SPAM and forwarded e‑mails; and 4) buying a water filter for my refrigerator.

In fact, buying a water filter is what caused this months rant.  I recently went to a popular home store to buy a new filter for my Whirlpool refrigerator.  This is the same one I owned back in 2009.  After that experience, I learned to keep a file in my Evernote account listing serial numbers, product codes, manufacturer information, and most importantly, replacement part numbers.  The only problem, none of the numbers on the filters in the store matched the one I needed.  It turned out that the filter manufacturer had changed the numbering system.  The employee told me I should have brought the old filter in to the store.  I asked why since I had the number.  They were polite, looked up the new number on their fancy computer and promptly sold me the wrong filter.  After another trip the next day, I got the correct filter.  I have noticed this problem on many other items in the past.  I wonder if manufacturers think that people will buy the wrong part and just lose their money?

Maybe hate is to strong of a word, but I’ve always disliked how companies almost always have to use a proprietary document format.  The perfect example is word processing.  Why must each program have a different extension?  Is it good for business to make consumers remember “.doc”. “.odf’, “.wps”, “.docx”, “.odt”, “.txt”, “.rtf”, “.abw”, “.abi” and hundreds of others?  Almost all word processing software has a save as feature to convert files to other formats.  They can’t be that much different.  Why isn’t there a standard where all programs save in a standard format?  After all, this idea seems to work pretty well for HTML internet files.

Have you ever heard how technology brings the world closer together?  Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and many other social networks supposedly are the main reason.  Personally, I dislike how technology does the opposite.  Have you ever been in a conversation and the other person is busy fiddling with an electronic device?  Did you ever notice that many younger people don’t have simple skills like making change, telling time, following a map, etc.  These and many more are because they rely on technology too much.  I would suggest that we are moving farther apart.

I guess that I’ve done enough complaining for this month.

Thanks for reading.

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Start Your Own Website – Originally Published March 2018

March 11, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I purchased my first internet domain name on May 10, 2001.  For several years before that, I had a personal website that I hosted on the AOL free server.  Fast forward to 2018 and I’m the owner of a dozen different domain names. (I’m counting the club websites which I lease to the SWLAPCUG at cost).

I think that everyone should get their own domain for a variety of reasons.  The biggest reason is so that you can easily control your e-mail.  If your e-mail address is YourName@suddenlink.net, you would lose it if you ever changed your Internet Service Provider to AT&T or another company.  If you had your own domain, you could have the e-mail address of YourName@yourdomain.com or .net, or .org, etc.  You would keep that e-mail for as long as you owned the domain.  Never again would you have to change your e-mail address.  Not only that, you could have many e-mail addresses.  I usually create a new address for different sites.  If I get a lot of spam, I know who sold my e-mail address.

Owning your domain isn’t expensive.  For instance HostGator, the club’s web hosting service, charges $12.95 a year to register SWLAPCUG.org.  Hosting services are $7.16 a month.  If you sign up for three years, the rate drops to $3.96.  If you do a web search you will find many companies and many different pricing plans.  For that low fee, you get unlimited e-mail addresses, disk space and bandwidth.  There are several other hosting sites that offer similar pricing.

Once you’ve purchased the service, you can easily make a website to show off your hobbies, a family photo album, share recipes.  Other uses for personal domains and websites are to give family members their own e-mail address, host private chat rooms, backup files, etc.

You could also do like me: plain old fashioned BS.

Although it is helpful, there is really no reason to know HTML coding.  There are several free programs that can have your personal website up and running in just a few hours.  Most hosting companies offer easy installation of these applications.  Web searches will find you many more.

The club website is powered by open sourced bulletin board software.  On my personal site I use several free programs: RV Web Site Builder, WordPress, Blue Griffon, to name just a few.  My point is that if you can use a word processor, you can use website software.

I sure hope I’ll be checking out some new websites in the near future.  After all, if I can create a website, anyone can.
Thanks for reading.

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