COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Tizer]

I note that there are more security upgrades from Canonical than there used to be, is this right or am I just a suspicious old bugger?

Everything is subject to increasingly frequent updates because the scammers, fraudsters and general mischief makers are increasingly more active. As for the question `am I just a suspicious old bugger?'...no comment!

`Currys PC World customers scammed via eBay' LINK
`Fraudsters have stolen thousands of pounds from Currys PC World customers after hijacking the retailer's eBay account. Criminals were able to change payment details on a number of eBay listings, including for the iPhone 11. This enabled them to siphon money from unwitting customers who paid for goods via a PayPal account....'

Note this, lower down in the article: `Cyber security expert Graham Cluley said the scam - known as a homograph attack - exploits the close similarity between two different characters or letters. He said: "For instance, a lower case "l" for lima looks very much like an upper case "I" for India in many fonts. "For years, scammers have been duping unsuspecting internet users into clicking on dangerous links by using this simple technique and, by the sound of things, are fooling users into paying the wrong PayPal accounts too."

[Stanley]

Problem is Tiz, the older you get the more often you have been bitten!

Another small security upgrade this morning. I am glad the lads at Canonical look after us and your example about Paypal being affected is a timely warning. It's a jungle out there!

[plaques]

I'm now including anything related to TV delivery via the internet as computer related. Readers may remember the endless problems I had with TalkTalk in getting a stable supply for the WiFi and wired connections. After a lot of internet 'chat' the problem eased but never completely disappeared. Over the last week it was back with a vengeance. Switch on an extra lamp or watch at a peak viewing time and the signal disappeared. Finally I came to the conclusion that the D-Link powerlines getting the signal from the router to the YouView box were working on a knife edge and any reduction in signal level would cause a total drop out. Biting the bullet I bought 40 metres of cat 6 cable to replace the powerlines. A trial connection gave 100% performance. Now the only thing to do is drill holes through the outside walls and feed the cable through in a tidy manner, that's why it was 40 metres. Anything for a quiet life.

[PanBiker]

Cant beat a wired connection for a guaranteed constant solid feed. I have an internal CAT 5 lead from my router to the Freesat box and a small switch behind the TV to share it with an Android box. The two devices are mutually exclusive so full bandwidth to either or.

[Tizer]

If you're going to drill holes through the outside walls, Plaques, I suggest you do more trail runs first to be absolutely sure it works every time, otherwise it's a lot of effort and mess for nothing. I suggest that even though I suspect we have something similar with our powerline plugs to the two PCs. But it's less of an issue than it would be if we used Internet TV. Five minutes of PC downtime a couple of times a day we can easily cope with but it would be different if watching a film on internet TV.

Digital security (or lack of) is much in the news...
`Brittany Kaiser calls for Facebook political ad ban at Web Summit' LINK
It has a detailed explanation of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal

`Facebook reveals privacy flaw in Groups' LINK
Facebook says it has discovered a new privacy flaw on its platform that lets some app developers access data in Groups that they should not have.

`Trend Micro rogue employee exposes customer data' LINK
`Cyber-security company Trend Micro says the personal data of thousands of its customers has been exposed by a rogue member of staff. The company says an employee sold information from its customer-support database, including names and phone numbers, to a third party.'

[plaques]

If you're going to drill holes through the outside walls, Plaques, I suggest you do more trail runs first to be absolutely sure it works every time, otherwise it's a lot of effort and mess for nothing.

When I did my trial the powerlines were already giving trouble the wired connection sorted everything out. The TalkTalk router enables you to interrogate it to see what equipment is connected, invariably it was the powerline that was dropping out although for some reason it sometimes took out the smart TV dongle WiFy. The wired connection gave a solid performance and I could use appliances and sections of the power circuit that were taboo with the powerlines. Mrs P was against me having to drill holes etc: but she reached the end of her tether when she was missing her favorite programmes. Lets get Cat 6 done!!

[Stanley]

I suspect I have the same problem with the connection via the power plugs but haven't the faintest idea what a 'Cat 6' cable is or how to use it! Could it make any difference if I tried a different plug socket?

[PanBiker]

If it's working, leave it alone. Power line adaptors rely on both sockets being on the same circuit. In the case of a ring main that is basically all the sockets connected to your consumer unit.

[plaques]

My amateur explanation for possible powerline problems is that the router internet signal enters the mains circuitry through the entry powerline box which then whizzes round your mains circuits including all your consumer unit box outlets, then pops out at your secondary powerline box and into your TV or other appliance to feed the TV. In my case using the plug socket immediately prior to the powerline pickup upset its performance. Why?? a mystery.
Cat 6 cables are cables were the internal strands are twisted together in pairs first in one direction then the other to minimize cable signal losses. Generally speaking the cables are good for 100 metres of transmission at our speed usage.
I know experts like Ian could give a more succinct explanation but I think I'm somewhere in the ball park.

[PanBiker]

No point typing all this up, save to say that CAT 6 is and enhanced version of CAT 5 and capable of handling better speeds and more bandwidth. The link below has the info:

Cat5e and Cat6 comparison

[PanBiker]

One thought Plaques, have you the wherewithal to terminate the RJ45's at each end? or is this a pre-terminated length in which case you will need to drill bigger holes?

[plaques]

Ian. I bought them ready made up since I didn't envisage ever wanting to do it again. Buying the cable, the connectors and the crimping tool for a one off would have been more expensive than the ready to use one. £30 for 40 metres. door to door two day delivery. Cable Monkey. I have a set of masonry drills 24 inches long to go through the 20 inch thick walls. First hole drilled this morning into the bedroom /office. Round about 10mm diameter took the end connectors no trouble. The next is through the ground air vent and up through the floorboards. Mrs P will be hovering like a hawk telling me where I'm going wrong and not to make a mess.

[PanBiker]

Answers my question P. If you were stuck I have all the kit as I used to do a lot of network infrastructure installs to earn a crust.

[plaques]

Very kind of you to offer. I'm saying its a one off but the other month it was a None off. Who knows? I can already see Mrs P's thinking lamp flickering as she looks at the smaller tele.

[Stanley]

Tell her I say go for it. I reckon you are a soft target!
One minor point, remember that all masonry drills are blunt even when new. Find someone like me who has a green grit wheel and get them to sharpen them for you. Makes a difference when going through a thick wall....

[Cathy]

If you are like me and have trouble using the Search Engine to bring up a Topic that hasn’t been used for a while, and that you know you have posted in, just go to Your Posts and scroll thru to bring it up and post.

[Stanley]

I've never tried that Cathy...... Good tip!

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz is having trouble with her Samsung Tab A tablet. Several times now she has found that it is not giving the sound when a text arrives or there is a phone call. When she goes to settings the ring volume slider for notification sounds has shifted to zero, but she hadn't changed it. She's now wondering if it's a result of something in the regular updates. On the other hand, is there some other way that the ring volume can be changed accidentally, such as a swipe. I can't find any such thing in the manual.

[Stanley]

That reminds me of something that has always bugged me. At one time in the dim and distant past I had a sound alarm in a WP programme that warned when caps lock had been accidentally triggered. How I wish we had it now!

[Tizer]

One step closer to controlling drone usage...
`DJI makes app to identify drones and find pilots' LINK

[Stanley]

I hadn't seen that but noted the other day a proposal to force licensing and registration of all drones above a certain weight. As usual, legislation is lagging behind technology!

[plaques]

A call from Open Reach prompted me to look at the road works in Pendle. Lots of things going on allover the place including Barlick. Worth a look at.Road works

[Whyperion]

Labour wanting to nationalise openreach, and providing Fibre access to all households (and businesses ?) by 2030 at no charge. That would save me around £27 a month, but, couple of unintended consequences - Do I really want a full infrastructure under the full control of the state (I realise unless one builds ones own private network at the main interconnects are state controlled)? W ill the capacity be enough to cope with the extra demand on usage ? Finally will the government expect every interaction with it to be via internet rather than phone, post and face to face events ? I find it difficult enough to remember my relevant passwords for government gateway access.

[Stanley]

Canonical have been very active this week with security updates.....

[Tripps]

Canonical have been very active this week with security updates.....

So have the lads at Windows. I've had two full security updates in the last few days. I'm not looking forward to Windows 7 losing support soon, though I suppose I'll adapt .