Computer Support Blog

Have you ever had an argument with someone you do not trust?  You know the kind, the person with whom you want to settle an issue through the flip of a coin, but you know they’ll find a way to cheat.  Just as the Internet provided us with increased data storage options, Cloud-based entertainment and more sophisticated mapping services, now it provides unbiased coin flips through Random.org’s True Random Number Service.  Settle bets, stymie psychics, or simply confound your friends by showing interest in a random number generator with Random.org’s True Random Number Service!

Random.org is a cool, entertaining, website and the coin flipper is only one interface that the site offers.  Random.org’s True Random Number Service is an esoteric bit of random number generators that may be used for fun or science.  Distinguished from other random number generation sites, the True Random Number Service from Random.org does not come from a complex equation that may be predicted with enough sampling (and a mathematical mindset).

Instead, creator Mads Haahr generates the random numbers through a complex radio receptor array that uses atmospheric noise.  In fact, the software for the True Random Number Service is not available because it requires the non-computer input it receives from the radio wave observations!  This is true randomness and Random.org makes it very cool.

The True Random Number Service has a variety of interfaces, the best of which are entirely free.  The coin flipper presents simple “heads” or “tails” for one to sixteen coins at a time from an inventory of eighty-eight different coins.  Virtually every country connected to the Internet has a representation of its coins.  There are also a few ancient civilizations and novelty coins available.  There is a playing card shuffler which allows those who need to settle an issue through a game of high card (or anything else for which you would select a single card from a 52 or 54 card deck) to randomly pick a card.  There are also random dice rolls, which could make your games of RISK or Yahtzee go much more unpredictably than playing with actual dice.

There is also a very simple, very direct true random number generator at Random.org that may generate columns of random numbers from -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000!  It does not take much playing around with the system to discover just how well it works!

Random.org is an easy site to use and it does not require any additional computer support to operate any of the gadgets and widgets it provides.  With over a billion random bits generated, Random.org is the most stable random element on the Internet!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

You may already be familiar with the poplar flash-based holiday entertainment website, “Elf Yourself,” but if you have not looked at it in a few years (when it was oh-so-popular) or if you have forgotten what it is, take a few minutes to try it out again–you’ll find that it really doesn’t get old. Besides, the site has many new features that make it a great deal more entertaining.

Using a simple interface, the website allows you to plug in a photo of yourself, or even several ones to include friends or people you know, and then mounts the facial pictures onto dancing Christmas elves. The result, as you can imagine, is a fairly hilarious clip of you dancing in absurd and wild Christmas settings surrounded by snowmen and other holiday critters.

The process is very simple and well worth the short amount of time it takes to get things ready. First, the site asks you to upload a picture of yourself. To do so, you can choose a saved picture from your computer, or you can link to your Facebook account and choose one from your profile. If you have a webcam and would prefer to take a picture on the spot, you can do that too. Of course, doing so requires the dreaded Facebook permission option, but once you’ve had your fun, you can simply remove the application from your Facebook account to eliminate (or at least reduce) threats to your Internet security. Uploaded pictures have to be in either JPEG or PNG format and are limited to 3MB in size (which might be a problem for photos shot with high-resolution cameras that produce much larger file sizes).

The interface also allows you to zoom in and accurately outline or rotate your face within the picture you upload. You are also required to outline the area between your jaw line and upper lip to allow for the singing animation effect that accompanies the dancing in the final clip.

Once you add all the pictures you want, you can select what kind of dancing you want your elfed-self to perform. Choose from disco, 80’s, country, singing, hip hop, surf, and classical. The site allows you to link the short clip of yourself dancing in elf costume to your Facebook account or email it to friends. The online video has an expiration date, so once it’s over, the site prompts you to download it, naturally, for a small fee.

Overall, elfyourself is an easy way to laugh hard and get a last minute dose of the holiday spirit. If you like your video so much that you want a permanent souvenir, you can buy a DVD of your elf dancing to all the available options, custom mugs, mouse pads, and other items. To create other funny animated clips starring yourself, check out Jib Jab’s website.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Facebook has many challenges to it, both technological and commercial.  While Facebook should better monitor the applications it allows to run on its platform, some of the issues with Facebook are internal and systemic.  One of the most significant problems with Facebook is that it has an annoying persistence.  Have you ever noticed how Facebook continues to recommend the same people to you?  Have you ever noticed that the Facebook recommendation for friends just keep coming back?  What is it that Facebook doesn’t get when you click the little “X” next to their recommendation to simply not friend the people they recommend?!

The Facebook system works on the principle that there are very few degrees of separation between people.  As a result, when you add someone as a friend on Facebook, the Facebook program suggests friends of your friend be added as your friend.  From pretty much the moment you friend anyone new, you will begin to see on your sidebar, people that Facebook recommends you add as a friend.  A great way to test this is to add someone you do not know well at all as a Facebook friend.  After you add an acquaintance watch how Facebook suggests all sorts of people you don’t know from your new “friend’s” friend list.

Who cares?  Why is this an issue?  Unlike friend requests that you can deny and they go away, Facebook insists you consider their recommendation.  If you have ever gone to the complete list of people Facebook recommends you “friend” and painstakingly gone through the list to clear the (often) hundreds of people Facebook wants you to friend, you will discover your time was completely wasted.  Go back there now and you will see!  You can go through your entire list, remove everyone that Facebook recommends and the next time you log in, their recommendations will be back.

Facebook: “No means no!”  When you inform Facebook by clicking on the “no” button – indicating you do not want to add their suggestion to your friend list – Facebook ought to listen.  The Facebook program not only wants to connect people, it is persistent in a troubling way.

Facebook needs to simply be programmed to respect our wishes and stop making the same mistake.  Whether you have one of your ex’s friends and do not want the whole barrage of their other associates or have left a real social situation where you only want to retain a relationship with one person from that group through Facebook, there are millions of situations where you might want one person as a friend, but not everyone with whom they are associated.

Forget the Timeline, forget the “dislike” button, all you really need is a Facebook that listens and provides a way to permanently stop suggesting a person once you have indicated you do not want the Facebook-suggested individual as a friend.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Performing a Google search on people has become a normal, even necessary, way of doing an amateurish background check. Employers use Google to verify information about job candidates or check if anything noteworthy comes up like encouraging (or discouraging) reviews, pictures of excessive and unflattering partying, or significant past achievements. Likewise, friends and potential dates are frequently turning to the simple Google search for information about others. Of course, no discussion of Google searches would be complete without mentioning the searches that we perform on ourselves!

Curious about the strength of their own Internet security and the public availability of their information, many people Google their names to see what they get. In fact, this is an easy and powerful practice that many people frequently ignore. For those who have not done this before, now is the time.

Even if you are too scared to find out what’s out there about you, Google your name as soon as possible because whatever you can see, other people like friends, employers, and worst of all, creepy stalkers, can see too. By performing a Google search on your name, you can empower yourself by working to clean up messy and undesirable links that find their way online.

Perhaps a Google search of your name brings up old or unflattering pictures, or perhaps your results contain a link to a blog you wrote in high school that you now regret. Regardless, there are several ways to approach deleting links to blogs, articles, pages, pictures, or videos that you don’t want to be available to the public.

The easiest way, naturally, is to try to delete the content yourself if you still have access to it. If it’s a blog comment that you don’t like, see if you can retrieve the user name and password for that particular blog and manually erase it. When this isn’t an option, try contacting the webmaster and polity ask that he or she take down the negative content.

When it comes to extensive online activity that you just can’t even begin to tackle and delete manually, consider using an app like “Exfoliate” which works on iPhones and Smartphones to delete old Facebook content like comments, likes, and posts.

Sadly, it is often the case that despite having a lot of tech support skills and being highly computer savvy, some links are too stubborn and will continue to linger in cyberspace, even when you might not want them there. The best solution to such problems is monitoring what you allow to get online in the first place. Being information paranoid isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So go ahead and freak-out about sharing anything online. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

We’ve searched the web for articles, blogs, and lengthy school policies on how professors should use Facebook and created a condensed version of the multitude of those tips. Here are the Rescuecom Ten Commandments of Facebook for College Professors (violate them at your own risk):

1)   Thou shalt never, ever, send a friend request to an undergraduate student still enrolled at your institution. Almost every online resource that provides information of Facebook ethics for academics insists on this point. It’s by far the most important rule, so please abide by it.

2)   Thou shalt accept student friend requests consistently. That is to say, either accept all requests from your students or accept none. Picking and choosing is a blatant display of favoritism, not to mention an easy way to get a zero on the “Instructor is impartial” question on your evaluation. (Nota bene, this doesn’t apply to students who have graduated. Once they’re out, feel free to reject and accept as you please.)

3)   Thou shalt not comment on your students’ photos, especially embarrassing ones. Remember that you need to maintain formality, even when Facebook tries to do away with whatever formality is left.

4)   Thou shalt not poke your students. No one likes pokes. They’re annoying and awkward. Imagine how awkward they are when they come from a professor.

5)   Thou shalt be friendly and encouraging—albeit proper—when students share links with you or write on your wall.

6)   Thou shalt not post anything you wouldn’t share with your students in person. Make sure you adjust your Facebook Internet security settings to limit what students can see.

7)   Thou shalt not use your students’ profiles against them. When a student emails you with an excuse for missing class, don’t snoop around his or her profile to check the claim. That’s just creepy and cumbersome.

8)   Thou shalt maintain an academic and professional tone to your Facebook—be an example to your students.

9)   Thou shalt not post class material, syllabi, grades, or announcements on Facebook. Even if you are Facebook friends with every single one of your students, Facebook is still not a reliable way to make announcements because it lacks formality. Also, do you really want to give your students yet another excuse to be on Facebook.

10)  Thou shalt not use social network services like Facebook in place of email communication. Email correspondence, once again, is infinitely more formal than Facebook correspondence—and you want to keep communication serious and academic. Besides, email can provide you with official records of correspondence if you ever need them. Imagine how odd it would look if you were to use Facebook transcripts in a plagiarism hearing, for instance.

It may be unfair to place so many restrictions on how professors and educators use Facebook, but it’s just another job hazard. Sorry, professors.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Facebook users log into the social network over one billion times a day. Hackers and imposters trying to access other users’ accounts make up 600,000 of those log-ins according to The Telegraph. With over 800 million users, it’s not surprising that the website gets so many daily hacking attempts. Hackers try to take over other users’ accounts to post images, send out spam or phishing links, spread malware through Facebook content, and access users’ private information.

Just recently, Facebook suffered from an extensive flood of porn and violent images that appeared across the website. CNN reports that Facebook had a security team work to identify the source of the spam and remove it.

As Facebook becomes increasingly aware of the Internet security issues it faces, the website is taking significant steps to inform users about such threats, as well as add new defense mechanisms to its already sturdy arsenal.

Facebook has issued a detailed infographic full of interesting little facts about the numerous steps involved in protecting users’ security. The first step towards accessing an account is, naturally, logging in. The graphic points out that users can enable an HTTPS connection for all Facebook related activity by adjusting their account settings. In case of a forgotten password, the website asks a user to identify tagged friends, a task which a hacker would not be able to do. Other initial security checkpoints include keeping track of a user’s location and log-in device to detect anomalies or sudden changes.

The social network giant is also introducing some brand new features to strengthen password security and resolve threats that emerge when users are locked out of their accounts. The “Trusted Friends” feature allows you to confirm your identity with the help of trusted friends. If you can’t log in, several pre-selected friends receive a code that they pass on to you. You then use the code to create a new password.

Still, despite the occasional spam that slips through Facebook ’s many security precautions, last week’s being the most graphic example of this, the website claims that less than half a percent of users experience spam, a remarkably low number compared to email spam, for example.

If you’re really interested in the details of Facebook security, check out the infographic. For now, there’s no full-proof method for ensuring Facebook security, unfortunately. Be vigilant in your online interactions, post and respond carefully, be selective in what links you click on, and change all your passwords every few weeks if possible.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

People are listening to more music than ever before, and free Internet radio is all the rage these days. Millions of people rely on Internet radio like Pandora and Jango to provide their daily dosage of tunes. Internet radio continues to garner more popularity as it offers listeners free music, as well as the chance to more-or-less customize their music preferences. It’s a great way to discover new favorites while remaining in your musical comfort zone. But what happens when you don’t want to just tune into what’s playing and want to listen to a specific song? In case you are wondering, no, the answer is not to illegally download the music, a practice that poses an immense threat to your Internet security, among other inherent reasons not to. Well, one option is to buy songs and use Google Music or iTunes to organize your library, but what if you don’t own that much music and you don’t want to pay every time you want to listen to Adele in the background? The answer is Spotify, an Internet music streaming service that lets users pick the exact tracks they want to listen to!

The first question that comes to mind is price. The good news is that Spotify offers a free version. Naturally, subscribers to the free plan experience occasional radio ads and other limitations like a lower sound quality and no offline mode. According to Wikipedia, after an initial grace period, the free version supports only 10 hours of music streaming per month, which is not that much for many people. Still, most Spotify users, around 7.5 million, currently use the free version, and given the service’s popularity, these numbers are certainly going to increase!

Upgrading to an unlimited account has the advantage of better music quality, fewer ads, and ability to listen in an offline mode. Spotify also boasts smartphone apps iOS and Android. So, similar to Google Music’s online storage feature, Spotify can act as a cloud music library. Regardless of which version you use, Spotify offers more than 15 million songs, having reached agreements with the big four music labels.

The service is quickly expanding to many European countries, and despite only having been active in the United States for a few months, it’s gaining immense popularity. Spotify recently announced in a blog post that is has reached 2.5 million paying users. Another recent major development has been the collaboration of Spotify and Facebook. To register for the service, you must use a Facebook  account—there’s no way around it. Once you sign up, you can share playlists and songs with friends, see what tracks others are listening to and follow your friends’ recommendations.

There are plenty of ways to listen to music. Spotify is just one of them, sure, but it’s also drastically different. Finally, we have a service that actually lets us listen to the music we want, share it, and instantly stream it for free.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

If you’re ever in the mood to find out if your email account’s user name or password have been compromised by a hacker—and if you’re brave enough to want to know the truth—consider giving PwnedList.com a try. The website offers a tool that allows people to check if some of their online data has been compromised.

The website began as an experiment to see how many compromised email accounts could be harvested programmatically, according to the tool’s creators. In less than two hours, approximately 30,000 accounts (usernames and passwords) were collected, showing just how vulnerable some people’s Internet security was.

PwnedList does not hack into people’s accounts to collect their data! It extracts usernames and emails from account dumps and stores the usernames and passwords in an encrypted form to prevent them from being re-hacked.

“The purpose of this project is to hopefully to raise security awareness, encourage users to be more proactive about handling their personal security in cyberspace and at the same time help people monitor their accounts for potential compromises,” says the PwnedList website.

One way to understand how PwnedList works is by thinking of it as a volunteer who searches the Internet, both manually and using complex programs, for information dumps. When PwnedList finds dumps of usernames and passwords, it encrypts them then adds them to its database. At the time this article was written, PwnedList bragged 4981012 discovered usernames and emails.

As cool as PwnedList is, it’s important to remember that it’s by no means an alternative to safe Internet security practices. The easiest of these is changing your passwords regularly and making them long and difficult. PwnedList is merely a way to casually check if any of your accounts’ information has been collected by a hacker somewhere.

The limitation of the tool, though, is that it references your information against the data it has collected over time. In other words, your information may very well have been hacked or compromised but not collected by PwnedList. If that’s the case, relying on PwnedList as a litmus test can be misleading.

Overall, PwnedList is a cool tool that offers an interesting, albeit limited, service. Give it a try. And don’t get too excited if your results come back positive—that means you’ve been hacked!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

In the wake of news stories about viruses and identity theft, Internet security remains a very real concern for everyone who goes online today.  Internet security issues have created a big business for programmers in the virus removal industry. But with dozens of computer anti-virus programs available on the market, it is hard to know which provides the best virus removal and the greatest Internet security.  For that, the best response may be overkill.

Researching Internet security issues and virus removal protocols is enough to make the head spin of anyone who is not a trained computer expert.  Astute computer users who just want to check out what the current threats to their computer are become baffled by technical jargon.  Looking at reports from the major Internet security companies like Symantec are likely to leave the average computer user confused.  After reading their report on the Packed.Generic.340, most computer users will not know how serious a threat it represents to their computer or if they need any form of virus removal.

Many companies that specialize in Internet security rely upon more than one antiviral software product to ensure they are adequately protecting their computer or network.  Some of the leading Internet security companies take the time to test the leading products on criteria like malware detection and virus removal.  AV Comparatives recently released their report on their tests of anti-viral software.  Even that, though, may be too much for the common computer user to handle and process.  Their testing methods are rigorous, methodical and designed for the best minds in Internet security and virus removal to understand.

Businesses only survive online when they have adequate Internet security and powerful virus removal.  Thousands of businesses and home computer users use the Rescuecom Internet Security Suite.  Rescuecom has one of the most reputable Internet security and virus removal products on the market.  As a leader in Internet security and virus removal, Rescuecom has a proven track record for business and home computer users.  Even though the Rescuecom Internet Security Suite may have more virus removal options and greater Internet security provisions than the average user is likely to need, you have to ask, “If the professionals are using this much protection, shouldn’t I?”

The answer, of course, is that you should.  With the threats of identity theft, infections that require aggressive virus removal and emerging Internet security concerns, private computer users should not skimp on their anti-viral software: overkill is safer than being under protected.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

When it comes to giving wedding gifts, dressing for interviews, drinking tea, writing thank-you letters, and an endless array of other social situations where proper etiquette is desirable, Emily Post’s Etiquette might just be the official American canon of Etiquette. The fact that the book’s latest edition includes several new chapters on online activity, social networking, and digital communication etiquette is a sign that etiquette is very much a dynamic standard. More importantly, though, it’s a sign that digital communication—Facebook , for example—has become such a significant and serious part of our lives that it demands inclusion in the canonical discussion of etiquette.

According to Fox News, the latest edition of the book confirms some common sense expectations about handling email correspondence, for example. “Etiquette” says that you should respond to personal emails within two days and to business correspondence within 24 hours. While it’s good to keep that knowledge in the back of our minds, in reality, most of us already respond to emails very quickly. Still, larger business and big companies who take forever to respond might want to skim through Post’s new book for an etiquette tip or two.

When it comes to Facebook, Emily’s advice might seem counterintuitive to many, but in the end, it comes as a relief. According to the book, Facebook users aren’t obligated to respond to every friend request. What a relief. We’ve all gotten undesirable friend requests from family members, coworkers, or, simply, annoying people that we don’t want to let into our cyber social space! Recent changes to Facebook now allow users to delete unwanted requests, instead of just ignoring them or leaving them in, what was colloquially known as, Facebook quarantine.

In fact, the etiquette guidelines not only permit rejecting friend requests, but they also permit unfriending (AKA, defriending). In other words, having contacted an old lost friend or family member once, there’s no rule that says that person must forever have access to your Facebook  profile and social activity. Indeed, regularly unfriending low-contact friends and acquaintances is an easy way to protect your online Internet security—the less people have access to your account, the less you risk your information falling in the wrong hands.

For many of us, this might seem a little odd. After all, one of the biggest reasons we accept annoying friend requests is our fear of being judged or a sense of guilt. We shouldn’t feel guilty at all, though. Requests require approval for a reason—they’re not mandatory. Also, never feel guilty or embarrassed about untagging yourself from a photo or link that you don’t like. The same applies to posting photos. If the photos aren’t of your event, then don’t post them unless you have permission.

For a more detailed analysis of etiquette, in general, and online etiquette—or netiquette as some call it—check out the latest Post edition, all 736 pages of it.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com