Senior Challenge #2 - Password Security Questions

OK, this is a biggie for a lot of my seniors.

First, they are unfamiliar with the concept of providing security questions when signing up for an online account and so aren't particularly careful to choose their questions wisely.

And then when they actually need to use them to recover a password they don't remember the answer because it may have been years since the account was set up and the current answer to the question is not the same as the original answer.

Photo Credit Steven Goodwin via FreeImages.com

Case in point, one of my clients needed to recover her AOL password. When she set up the account umpteen years ago her challenge question was "What's your favorite restaurant?" She named her favorite restaurant. Then over the years she moved twice and experienced other major life changes. So when she needed to answer the security question she had no idea what her original answer was, and after repeated guesses we had to give up.

We finally contacted AOL by phone and managed to get her back into her account. The AOL rep was nice enough to explain that her initial guess was correct. We were just spelling it wrong. Ouch. 

Another client's security question was "Where did you meet your spouse?" That one seems fairly straight-forward. But nope, she couldn't remember whether it was Wisconsin, Madison, the lake, at college or something else.

The takeaway here is that if you are asked to choose security questions when setting up an account, write them down. Because you are simply not going to remember them five years from now. Especially since many websites require you to choose multiple questions, and each website has different options. 

Following the advice I gave in Senior Challenge #1 here's a good format:

Amazon.com
User ID = Gmail address, Password = 5432Helen
Security Question 1 - name of favorite sports team - jets
Security Question 2 - name of first pet - hammy
Security Question 3 - favorite hobby - curling

Senior Challenge #1 - Passwords

It's hard to keep track of passwords. Full stop. It's hard for everybody, young and old. But the seniors I work with have some special challenges.

Photo Credit - Sufi Nawaz via Freeimages.com

The first is that many have memory difficulties. Another is that a friend or relative may have set up their email or Amazon accounts for them. Another is that they are often unsophisticated users of the web and don't realize that the password for their email may be different from the password for their bank.

The single most common response I get from someone in their eighties or nineties when I ask them for their email password?  "I don't have one".  That's because for the most part they never need to type it in. Once their account is set up they're never asked for it again. Until something goes wrong, which may be years later. And so they forget all about it.

Many people, myself included, use password manager programs like LastPass or 1Password to keep track of the passwords. But I generally don't recommend these for my older clients because they're overkill for someone who needs to remember only  two or three passwords.

So, what to do?

Keep it simple. Have a single piece of paper that clearly lists each website and its associated user ID and password. For example: 

Amazon.com
User ID = Gmail address, Password = 5432Helen

Make sure that the list gets updated if the password ever needs to be changed. And make sure it's kept somewhere handy. 

Coming Up - Challenges for Seniors

It's a little embarrassing to look at the dates on this blog and realize that my last post was in 2011. Good lord, can that be right?  No excuses, I just got busy and a bit lazy. But I'm back and I'll try to keep more current.

An increasing percentage of my tech support  involves working with Seniors.  I'm getting a better idea of the challenges they face using all the new gadgets and gizmos on the market today. So for the next few posts I'm going to focus on the things I see with my older clients that cause them the most frustration. Perhaps it will help them and their families/support teams to avoid the most common pitfalls of an increasingly online world.

Export Your Webmail Contacts List

I heard a scary story on the radio the other day. I was listening to Leo Laporte's Tech Guy call-in show on KFI and someone called in to say that clients had recently lost all of the contacts from their online email account. And there was no way to get them back. They were devastated. Years and years of email addresses and other info, gone in a flash.

The caller was recommending that everyone immediately export their contacts list so that they will have a backup in case they run into this sort of situation, and Leo agreed.

They were using webmail of some sort, and it doesn't really matter which one - AOL, Yahoo!, Gmail, hotmail or anything else. The point is that it's foolish to rely on them to keep your data safe. It's rare for a disaster to happen, but it's not impossible, as these poor people learned.

Each system will have different methods for exporting a file with all of your contact information, so I won't try to walk you through it here. But check it out now, before it's too late.

What Do You Mean When You Say Google?

What exactly are people talking about when they refer to Google? Well, if we're talking about the seniors I work with they could mean any number of things - the most common are the Google Search page, the Google Search bar,  Gmail, and the Google Chrome browser. It's very helpful to know, first of all, that they are not all the same thing, and secondly, what each one is.

The Google Search Page:

Google.com - This is where you go when you want to "google something". In other words, to look something up, to look for information about something or find a link to a web page.

Google Search Bar:

Many people have something like this built in to whatever browser they are using. Sometimes it is in a separate line all by itself and sometimes as seen here it is just a little window on the same line as the address window where you type in web addresses (URLs). It functions as a shortcut to Google search. It simply saves you the trouble of going to the main Search page. You can type your search term in directly without going to the main google.com web page.

Gmail

Some people call this Google Mail. This is just a regular email system like hotmail or Yahoo! Mail or AOL mail. You send and receive email by going to the Gmail web page (gmail.com) and signing in with your email address and password.

You can do this from any computer that is connected to the internet. It is not connected to Google Search, they just happen to be produced by the same company.

The Chrome Browser (seen in the screenshot above)

This is also referred to as Google Chrome, but I try to avoid that term because Google has other products named Chrome - an operating system called Chrome and a netbook computer called the ChromeBook .

But the Chrome Browser is exactly what it says, a web browser, and is a competitor with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, and Apple's Safari. You use them to navigate the internet.

You do not need to be using Google's browser (the Chrome Browser) to use the other Google products like Search and Gmail. Most people in fact use IE, Firefox and Safari. I prefer to use the Chrome Browser because it is fast and the interface is uncluttered, but I don't need to just because I have a Gmail address.

Once you've got these separate products straight you won't get so confused when someone else says they "just use Google". You'll be able to say with confidence, "Oh, did you mean Gmail or are you using the Chrome Browser".

Why You Should Have More Than One Browser

I ran into a situation with a client the other day that reminded me how dangerous it is to have just one browser application installed on your computer.

With this particular client the problem was that Internet Explorer suddenly stopped working. At all. Every time she launched it it shut down immediately. It apologized first and offered to report itself to Microsoft, but still.

At that point it became clear that we were in real trouble, because the easy solution would have been to update IE or to download another browser. But we couldn't. Because we needed a working browser to do either.

It eventually got all sorted out, and she now has both Firefox and Chrome installed, but the experience put the fear of god into me. Everyone should have an extra browser or two around for emergencies. Download one now.

Laptop vs. Desktop, Part 2

In a previous post I mentioned that a laptop may not be the best choice for an older user because they may need a large screen because of vision problems and a separate keyboard because of mobility issues. To expand on that theme, here are two more reasons that a desktop setup may be the better choice.

1) Many older people have an awful time trying to move the cursor around the screen with the touchpad that is typical on a laptop. Using a mouse is difficult enough. The touchpad is nearly impossible for anyone with hand tremors or severe arthritis.

2) Laptops are by nature portable. But an older person with unsteady gate or coordination problems may not appreciate that portability. What you see as an advantage they see as a hazard, something that they can drop and smash.

And while I'm on the subject of mobility issues, when shopping for a computer for an older person be sure to take a look at some of the all-in-one models like a Dell Inspiron One or an Apple iMac. They will be much easier for a senior to manage simply because they'll never have to get down under the desk to turn the damn thing on or off.

A Telephone Scam Targeting Older Users

Unfortunately there seems to be no end of people trying to scam unsophisticated computer users out of their cash and banking information. You could be their next target.

I just read an article by David Einstein in the San Francisco Chronicle about a scheme that is making the rounds now. I am going to paste the whole thing below for my clients who may have trouble finding it on their own, but here is a link to the original article. And I highly recommend that everyone read Mr. Einstein's excellent column in the Chronicle every Monday:

Computing Q & A - by David Einstein

From the S.F. Chronicle, Monday August 8, 2011 - Computing Q&A - by David Einstein 

Q: Do you know anything about a company called LiveTech? I received a call this morning from an "unknown" number (I only answered because I thought it might be my mother). The caller said my computer was receiving "malicious malware" messages. When I asked, he said his name was William and that he worked for LiveTech. When I tried to inquire further, I was disconnected. Is LiveTech legit?

A: First of all, why don't you know your mother's phone number? Second, the bit about "malicious malware" messages has scam written all over it. How can anyone know what's in your computer unless you give them access to it? I'd steer clear of LiveTech. It's run by CyberDefender, the company that owns MyCleanPC.com, MaxMySpeed.com and DoubleMySpeed.com. You may have seen their ads on TV. These sites offer to diagnose your computer for free, then try to sell you mediocre software to fix the problems they find.

If you think you have a malware problem, use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, Avast Free Antivirus, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or Microsoft Security Essentials. They're all available for free at download.com.

How to Save Emailed Photos - Step-by-Step

Here's a question I get a lot. Someone just emailed me a photo. I want to save it. How? Sounds simple, but it can be daunting because there are a lot of steps, especially if you're a Windows XP user as most of my friends are.

So here's a step-by-step guide using Gmail as an example. If you're using another email program your process might be a little different, but will be very similar.

Step 1: While looking at the email that has the photo attached, click on the "Download" link. See the red arrow below.

Step 2: In the window that pops up that says "File Download" click on the "Save" option (circled in red).

Step 3: In the next window that pops up, if you see an icon for "My Pictures" in the column on the left, then click that. If, as in the example below, you don't see a "My Pictures" icon, then click on the one that says "My Documents".

Step 4: Those of you who clicked on "My Documents" in Step 3 should now see a "My Pictures" item in the main window (see the red arrow below).  Double-click it.

Step 5: At this point everybody should see "My Pictures" in the small "Save as:" window at the top (circled in red below).  That indicates that the photo will be saved in your "My Pictures" folder, which is where Windows XP wants you to save everything. Click "Save" and you're done.

If you have any sub-folders already created you should see them in the main window. If you want to create a new sub-folder, you'll need to click on the small yellow and orange icon indicated by the red arrow below.

Step 6: If you've opted to create a new sub-folder, you can name it here.

Once you've named your folder, click "Open".

Step 7: Now you should see your new folder in the "Save as:" window at the top. Click "Save" and you're done.

Malware bites

One of my friends recently was bitten by a nasty piece of malware that I've been hearing about for a few months. I'd never actually seen it in action until now though. And it's a real problem, especially for people who aren't comfortable with computers in the first place. People get hit with these things in different ways. And it's usually by doing something that is not inherently dangerous, like clicking on an image in a Google search result, or visiting a web site that has been hacked by the bad guys. In my friend's case she opened an email attachment that seemed to have been sent by someone she knew. It wasn't.

A window popped up that said her computer had been infected with a virus and then it seemed to perform a scan that showed how bad the infection was and then offered to sell her a program that would get rid of the problem. The alert window looked very much like a Microsoft Windows alert. Very sophisticated. No misspellings or egregious grammar errors to tip you off.

[caption id="attachment_513" align="alignright" width="500" caption="The actual malware my friend encountered had a slightly different name, but was remarkably similar to this screenshot example."][/caption]

But to be very clear, it was a scam, pure and simple. What the scammers were after was her credit card number. If she had fallen for the scam two things would have happened - she would have spent $80 to purchase a bogus malware removal tool and she would have had to cancel her credit card so that the scammers wouldn't have been able to use it.

Unfortunately, the malware authors are clever enough to make the program hard to bypass, and until you remove it the computer is not functional. So in her case she is going to have to pay someone like the Geek Squad to get it running again.

I know, there are ways to clean the system yourself. If you do a Google search for "fake spyware" you'll find all sorts of sites that give  instructions for removing it yourself. But it involves editing the Windows registry, which is something that most casual computer users are not comfortable with. And frankly they shouldn't even be attempting it because they may cause more harm than good. So it's best left to a professional or a good friend with a lot of spare time.

Why a lot of spare time? Because here's the bad news. Once your computer has been compromised by something that has managed to infiltrate the registry settings, how certain are you that they haven't caused more harm than you can see? It's possible that they have left behind other viruses and malware that you can't easily detect.

My strong recommendation is that once you've been bitten by one of these programs you reformat your hard drive. It's really the only way to be completely safe.

Learn the language. Please?

I love to help people with their tech issues. I really do. But the most frustrating part of the job is often just trying to figure out exactly what's wrong, or what's being asked, because the user can't communicate clearly.   Today's gadgets are wonderful tools and can open up whole new areas of fun and learning. But you've got to put in some work if you expect your friends to help you out when you're in trouble. It's just like learning a few words of Spanish before you get on that bus that's going to take you into the backcountry in Mexico. You don't need to know any Spanish but you'll be glad you do if there's a problem.

The days are long gone when you could pretend you didn't know what a mouse was and people thought it was cute. It's time to cram some basic terminology into your brain.

Desktop - The word that people use for what you see on the computer screen when there are no programs running. It makes no difference that it doesn't particularly resemble the top of any desk  you're familiar with. That's what it's called. Live with it. There are usually icons on the desktop that you click on to open the programs. As with real desktops some are messier than others.

Browser - The program that you use to access the internet. There are quite a few options:  Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and others. You need to know which one you have. You should see the name of the program in the upper-left hand corner of the window when you have the browser open.

Address Bar - The area where you type in a URL (aka the web address) to get to a website. It is at the top of the browser window, but looks slightly different in every program.

URL - the address of a website - amazon.com is a URL

Search Bar - Most current browsers have an area to the right of the Address Bar where you can do a quick web search without going to a separate website. For example, regardless of what page you are currently looking at you could type search terms into the Search Bar and get taken directly to a Google results page. The Google Chrome browser goes one step further and lets you do searches by just typing in your search terms in the Address Bar.

Window - The rectangular area that pops up when you open a program that lets you work within that program. For example, if you open up the Word program a window will pop open so you can create a document. If you open up your web browser program (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) a window will pop open that lets you go to web sites by typing in a URL . Windows can be resized and also moved around on the screen. That lets you look at more than one thing on your desktop at a time and you can bounce between the different windows and even copy text and images from one to another.

Don't print everything in color

Printer ink is expensive. Really expensive. Every computer I know lets you change the print settings to default to black and white. But out of the box the default will invariably be to print color. Which is a huge waste of money. Learn how to change the settings. I can't tell you here exactly how to do it, not knowing what software and hardware you have. But there is a way to do it and if you look in the printer manual or look online you will be able to figure it out.

Back it up - again

Again with the backup reminder, you say? Well, yes, again. Because you're still not paying attention. 3 - 2 - 1

Do it.

Text, Email or Phone? What's the Difference?

Now that so many of you have not only cell phones but cell phones capable of sending text messages and email, it has become clear that some of you aren't sure which method to use when. So here's the short course:

When you want to reach someone right away and need an answer right away, send a text message. If the recipient has their phone turned on and with them, they'll get it - right away.

When you want to tell someone something but don't need an immediate response and you don't care if they read it for a few hours or longer, send an email. Most people don't check their email on their phones, so there's no guarantee that they will see your message right away.

If you absolutely, positively need to speak to someone in person, call them and leave a voicemail. But don't be surprised if they don't pick up. More and more, people are starting to prefer texts and emails over talking on the phone.

Examples:

If you are in the middle of Home Depot and have wandered away from your spouse, don't send her an email asking where she is. Send her a text. She'll get it right away.

If you want to let somebody know that you had a really good time at their party last night and ask them for the recipe for the bean dip, don't send them a text. There's nothing that needs urgent attention and you may interrupt her in the middle of something important. At the very least you're going to annoy the hell out of her.

Don't call someone on their cell phone and not leave a message. Unless you have blocked your number they'll be able to see who it was who called them. So don't leave them hanging, leave a message.

Things You Can Change

Again, this is really, really basic stuff. I've been amazed recently to find so many of my friends being irritated on a daily basis by their cellphones and computers. Unnecessarily irritated in many cases. So here's a few tips: Cellphones:

• You can change the ringtone.
• You can change the volume of the ring.
• If you find them annoying you can turn off the alerts for incoming emails and text messages.
• You can change the order of the icons on your home screen to make them more convenient for you.

Computers:

• You can change your desktop background.
• You can even replace it with a photo of your own.
• You can turn the speakers off so that you won't get startled when you go to a website that automatically plays music.
• You are not stuck with the Yahoo or Comcast home page that the cable installer set up for you on your browser. You can make it anything you want.
• You can add your own shortcut icons to your desktop to make it easier to get to your photos or emails or web pages.

Gadgets these days are extremely customizable. If you find something annoying, ask somebody how to change it. Chances are it's easy.

Email - you can't have one foot in and one foot out - make up your mind

Some people don't want to use email. Not a problem. Don't want to? Don't.

BUT.....if you start using it and you send people your email address and you send even the occasional email to your friends and relatives you are then obligated by the rules of common courtesy to keep using it until you notify them that you are stopping.

Why? Because if you don't, how are your friends supposed to know that you never got the emails they sent you? Huh? Ever thought of that?

If I sound peevish it's because I am. Somebody just did it to me again. Here's the problem:

She sent me an email late on Tuesday asking if I was going to be available for lunch Friday. I didn't see it until I got up Wednesday, but I answered it right away. Then... nothing. Not a peep.

Then Friday morning I got a phone call complaining that she never heard from me. When I mentioned that I'd replied to her email she said, "Oh, I don't check my email very often." Are you kidding me? You emailed me first! That's like asking a question and then turning your back and sticking your fingers in your ears.

If you start a conversation using one method, whether it's email or texting, you need to continue it using the same technology. By the same token it is not ok to reply to an email with a text message. You're just asking for trouble. And confusion.

I have a bigger issue with people who just never check their email regularly. As I said, if you don't want to use email that's fine. Don't use it. But you can't just use it when it suits you and then ignore it when it doesn't. Because people won't know that you don't check it, and they'll send you emails that they think  you're reading. And they're expecting you to answer.

There are two kinds of people in the world...

.... those who want to learn how to use their computers and gadgets and those who say they want to. I don't know why it's taken me so long to figure this out, but I have a feeling that now that I have my life will be much more serene. Up to this point I have always assumed that when someone asked me to show them how to do something, like change their desktop background or email their photos to their kids, they really wanted to learn. And I would try to teach them. With mixed results. Extremely mixed. Sometimes things would go well and other times not. There might be some stomping off involved. Sometimes.

So here's what I've discovered. A typical request for help starts out, "Can you show me how to do X." Some people mean it. Others mean "I can't figure this out myself, and frankly I don't want to, but it sure would be nice if you'd just do it for me and then I won't have to." The problem is that the second group never says that. Don't ask me why.

So the trick is to find out which group people are in before the fight starts. Because the people in the second group will never remember what you show them, because they weren't paying attention, they were just waiting until you fixed the problem for them and they could go back to what they really wanted to do.

I think I've been slow to figure this out because I enjoy solving problems and I love all the latest tech gadgets. It's been difficult for me to accept that not everyone is as excited as I am. But alas, they are not. So in the future, I'm going to be sure to ask the right questions at the outset, "Would you like me to do that for you? Or do you really want to learn how to do it yourself?"

How not to address an email

I do not want the email addresses of everyone in your address book. And I'm sure that most of the people in your address book don't want mine either. So stop sending them to us.

Did you notice you were doing it? Probably not. And even if you did you probably didn't know how to avoid doing it or you wouldn't have done it in the first place.

So here's the deal. When you send an email out to more than one person by typing or copying the address into the "to:" field, everyone can see it. That means that if you've included all 150 people in your address book they all get to see each other's addresses. Ditto with the "cc:" field. And some people might not appreciate you sending their email address to total strangers (or ex-husbands). Also, if your list is very large it can be a drag to scroll past all those addresses to get to the actual message.

How to avoid this? Use the "bcc:" field instead of the "to:" field. Most young people aren't familiar with the origin of "bcc", but those of us who remember the days of carbon paper and typewriters know it was used in business letters. It meant "blind carbon copy" and let the author signal to his secretary to send a copy  to one or more people without the original recipient being aware of it.

In an email, when you paste those addresses into the "bcc:" field everyone who receives your email will see only that you sent it, but not to whom.

So - put your own address in the "to:" field, leave the "cc:" field blank, and put all those other addresses in the "bcc:" field.

Much cleaner, and much appreciated by all your friends.

Control-F is for Happy

Often it's the little things in life that make me happy. Control-F  makes me happy. Or more accurately, Control-F when I was using a PC. Now that I'm using a Mac my heart belongs to Command-F. They both do the same thing. F is for find. And they let you find text on a web page. That's it. Doesn't sound like much, but oh my, the time it saves you.

I'm sure you've had the experience of googling a search term, then clicking on a resulting link and being totally baffled about why google sent you to that page. If you wind up on a page that has a lot of text and goes on forever, it can be really tedious to search through it looking for what you're interested in.

So, just hold down the Control key (the Command key on the Mac) and hit the letter F at the same time. Then look around. A small pop-up window will  appear somewhere on your browser. Might be at the top, might be at the bottom. Just enter the term you're looking for and it will get highlighted for you. Try it right now, on this page.

Happy?

How I Know

How do I know the keyboard shortcuts to type the degree symbol? How do I know how to create a web page? How do I know how to transfer shows from my Tivo to my iPhone? People ask me for computer help all the time, and sometimes they ask me how I know all that stuff. I just figured out the answer myself the other day. I know how because I am interested, and because I don't have anybody to ask. So I have to figure it out for myself. My friends don't have to figure it out themselves. They can ask me. And I'm glad they do.  Most of the time.