COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Christian]

My brother works for an advertising company in analytics using a lot of the Google platform in his work. Apparently what "they" know about us is quite astounding.

Imagine, You have an Android phone with Chrome, Location Services, Playstore installed. Your computer at home has Google Chrome and you are signed in on both, You have changed your router DNS to Google's own. Its scary the amount of data that is collected. I bet they could analyse the times you goto the toilet and have got bored of reading the bleach bottle.

[Stanley]

Christian, have you read 'Move Fast and Break Things'? It's an eye-opener. How is the job going?

[Christian]

I've not read anything for a while. I'll keep a look out for it.

The job is going well thanks, been there exactly a year today. All the projects given bar one last step has been completed and even had time to get the apprentice trained up to a spec where I can leave him to do the day to day work if required.

Suggestions are taken on board and carried out where necessary. They also respect and encourage you to stay work free during your personal time which is refreshing compared to the last lot!

[Stanley]

Sounds like a sensible management policy Christian, no point in burning the assets out by being greedy!
Later..... I thought about you Christian as I listened to a report on Today from mind about burn-out at work. They say that young men like you are the most likely to suffer from it as they drive themselves too hard. It's something I never had to deal with but I am aware of the dangers that you have to negotiate. I wish you well.

[Stanley]

Canonical recently issued an improved 'upgrade' facility for Ubuntu and it seems to be working well. The software updater icon on my screen changes to green to inform me that an upgrade has been downloaded and is ready for installation. Big upgrades were always fast but now they are even quicker. This must be a boon for anyone with a slower connection.

[Stanley]

Canonical even posted an update for the upgrade of the upgrade function this morning. Someone must have found an error...... Well done lads!

[Stanley]

The new software updater is a big improvement. It's very reliable and much faster because it downloads the updates ready for you to install and is very fast.A 50mb upgrade of Firefox this morning took only a second or two.

[Pluggy]

I went to a job today. When I'd sorted the lady's problem. She went on her Yahoo email while I was still there. It popped up with a box saying yahoo was now pert of somebody or other with a blg continue button. It went into her email and she said it looked different. ( no surprise there) and when she tried to open a .PDF attachment which chrome opens itself it comes up with anther box with 2 options one to download ,their PDF app which does god knows what or cancel. No way round it I could see. Yahoo was already fairly well down into the mire with its dodgy practices. It took another step down today..........

[chinatyke]

Wouldn't that be due to malware, a scam and not Yahoo?
I wouldn't dare open it or accept it in anyway.

[Pluggy]

I'd already checked the machine out for malware. It was confident it was clean. I'd put a new hard drive in April (with a clean install) and it hadn't been used a great deal since. (She used an Ipad for most things, but the Ipad won't work with her printer). It made it clear it was only a chrome plugin which makes it a safer option (it lives only in the Chrome browser) but its still dubious behaviour in my book. Chrome has a perfectly good PDF viewer built in.

Having checked up it's Oath Inc (An arm of Verison) thats taken over Yahoo. They announced it last year. And that was who it said in the box.

[Stanley]

They are trying to take over the world Pluggy. I'm with China, no way I would have installed the app.... Don't these people realise that we are getting savvy about the dangers of doing things like that?
I think this is computer related.... Can you remember me complaining about my difficulties hearing my Sony bedside radio which I like to run on auto sleep timer as I drop off to sleep? I solved the problem yesterday by getting a Roberts Stream 93i box. (LINK) I shall read the 95 page manual today...... I wondered about the Wifi strength, I had a problem connecting the Samsung TV in the front room but it is fine.

[chinatyke]

I'd already checked the machine out for malware. It was confident it was clean. I'd put a new hard drive in April (with a clean install) and it hadn't been used a great deal since. (She used an Ipad for most things, but the Ipad won't work with her printer). It made it clear it was only a chrome plugin which makes it a safer option (it lives only in the Chrome browser) but its still dubious behaviour in my book. Chrome has a perfectly good PDF viewer built in.

Having checked up it's Oath Inc (An arm of Verison) thats taken over Yahoo. They announced it last year. And that was who it said in the box.

Thanks for the explanation, Stephen. I wasn't even aware that Yahoo had been taken over. I get a couple of suspicious emails every day and if I don't recognise them I report them as phishing scams and they are deleted automatically, and MSN/Hotmail can sort them out. E-mails like "Fedex delivery query", "Unread messages", "Unopened Voicemail needs action"...

Just got another one: GL you have 2 messages that will be deleted in a few days unwiser. You'd have to be "unwiser" to open it!

You've jogged me into realising I must get around to backing up my new laptop. I'm still loving Windows 10. Only thing I don't like is the Photos application which has mixed up my photos in its attempt to sort them chronologically, I suppose it's because they are not all dated correctly. I haven't done anything about installing Ubuntu yet but one day I'll get around to it.

Graham

[Stanley]

If I was you I'd have a stab at it.....All I can tell you is that I love it and have never regretted doing it.

[Pluggy]

Just to clarify, Linux variants are not immune to malicious browser plugins. The plugin works within the browser, it doesn't matter whats running outside the browser. On the plus side they can't do anything like the mischief when they can't access the operating system.

You can read up on Yahoo's checker-ed history here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Yahoo!

[Tripps]

I solved the problem yesterday by getting a Roberts Stream 93i box. (LINK) I shall read the 95 page manual today...... I wondered about the Wifi strength, I had a problem connecting the Samsung TV in the front room but it is fine.

You won't regret getting that radio. I have the predecessor Roberts Stream 83i, and it's great. Mine was supposed to have a link to a radio station Lost FM, but they've gone out of business. I think the 93i is linked to Spotify, but only if you pay for Spotify.

Doesn't matter - it's great for DAB and wifi connected stations. I am old enough to still be in awe of the fact that I can switch my black box on, and immediately listen to a range of content from Oldham Community Radio to an FM station in Alice Springs at the touch of a button - and I can choose which station with an app on my smartphone. Amazing - literally.

[Stanley]

David, I'm sure you're right but I shan't be paying Spotify or getting too adventurous. It's solved all my hearing problems and I love the no nonsense design, just a black box!
Pluggy, Firefox is pretty good at intercepting crap if you have it set up right...... It's saved my bacon at least once!

[plaques]

Normally I'm sat in the ' if it ain't broke don't mend it' class, but finally the laptops sticky/locked up keys got on my nerves. Fed up with using the ASCII character alternatives I finally bit the bullet and decided to see what the problem was. With a bit of tuition from YouTube I lifted the top off the keys and found some sizable lumps of grit wedged under the pantograph key lifting mechanism. Cleaned these out and refitted the keys. And bob's your uncle. The 'b' being one of the offending keys. Do I recommend a DIY action? Not unless you don't have easy access to some of our more professional members.

[Stanley]

I always remember Janet telling me that one of the tricks she used was to wash the keys out with warm water. I think the keyboards had a waterproof membrane.....

[Pluggy]

There was a time when keyboards often had a waterproof membrane. Not any more (on the whole, that is no doubt there are sealed membrane keyboards still out there). In the interests of economy they are simpler and not waterproof these days. Modern keyboards (both laptop & desktop) are usually just a PCB with a grid etched under each key (the PCB could just be a plastic sheet with screen printed conductive tracks) . There is then a loose piece of silicon rubber that sits over the top incorporating a 'rubber dome' switch. A dome shaped indentation with a conductive layer printed on the inside. that shorts the grid when pressed down. There are various methods of guiding a plastic key over the rubber dome. Laptops usually have the aforementioned pantograph (small plastic deckchair frame) mechanism under each key. Desktops are usually a plastic moulding with each key sliding in a guide. They are returned to the 'open' position by the rubber dome. Desktop keyboards can usually be dismantled into its component parts. Laptop keyboards are usually pressed/ glued together and other than unclipping the pantograph mechanism under each key, they can't be opened without destroying them. New keyboards for most laptops can be had for a few quid and a varying degree of time to change them (a few minutes usually) . Desktops, just buy a whole new keyboard, again a few quid with a nice simple USB plug. Not really worth the grief of repairing in either case. From the manufacturers point of view, the more often they break, the better (within constraints of course). Modern keyboards are usually dustproof but liquids will seep into them and cause problems. Why bother sealing when you can just loose layer them ?

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Pluggy, that was always my understanding. I would never wash this keyboard, no need to do because a quick blast of compressed air is perfect for cleaning the keys out.
I think I must have very hard fingertips because the reason for ditching all my boards up to now is that I wear the letters off the tops of the keys and as I don't touch type this can be a problem. (I have the same problem with touch screens as well) It was always the 'E' that vanished first and when more than one vanished I went for a new one. This Logitech board is much better, it has survived for far longer than any other I have had. Funny thing is though that the 'A' has vanished completely and the 'O' and the 'N' are going now. See the pic. At the moment it isn't causing a problem but when it does I shall replace it and the mouse as they seem to come in kits from Logitech, something to do with the receiver plug I think.

[Christian]

I'm a massive fan of the old IBM "Clacky" keyboards with high keys and the larger old ergonomic mice. I'm not cracking on in age but after 20 years of heavy PC use my hands are starting to suffer with my thumbs tensing into my hand, not sure whether its arthritis, RSI, or a trapped nerve. Must see the quack about it before it gets any worse. I've another 40 years of working to get through!

In the new job I did get given the Logitech set that Stanley uses, however I found it quite hard work for 8hour+ usage and reverted to my old kit for comfort. The new style small "travel" mice are a pain!

[Stanley]

You're right about the old IBM stuff Christian. My old Aptiva upstairs is slow but like an old steam engine, it just keeps going. They used to say that nobody ever got sacked for specifying IBM. I believe it.
My present computer alerts are that there is one pixel on my screen that's permanently a bright dot and my mouse pad is wearing out!

[chinatyke]

Check your email address at the link below to see if it has been compromised in a data leak:

check here

The address I use has been involved in 3 data leaks, 2 from sites I don't use!

[Big Kev]

Did a bit of research on the site first and it looks to be legit. It would appear I have not been compromised anywhere

[Stanley]

Same here......