Since my last post, we have had issues using Office 365 and decided to dump it. The biggest complaint is the excessively large “ribbon” which takes up too much room and makes no sense. (neither of us needs all of the options available at the same time – the old pull-down menus work just fine.) Other than my wife using Outlook for email, we both use Excel more than any other part of Office. As she had previously used Office 2003, we installed that and have had only one issue – Outlook 2003 on Windows 10 does not work well with IMAP email. We went back to using POP/SMTP and everything seems fine.
(In all fairness, I must state that I am no fan of any word processor since Windows was introduced, I much prefer something that does not edit my text or layout for me – spreadsheets do an excellent job without as much hassle) )
All devices having Windows 7 or above except a tablet (on Windows 8.1) have been upgraded to Windows 10. Two problems. First, it seems very easy to overwhelm the operating system and thus have to wait while it catches up. While I noticed previous Windows versions doing this, Windows 10 seems to be more likely to have it happen. Second – a much bigger problem – searching. In Windows 7, when you started typing in the search field, Windows started looking for anything matching. Windows 10 always wants to search the web. I must admit that I have turned off Cortana as I can see no purpose for it – especially as it won’t work without “location” being turned on. As most of our computers are desktops and therefore don’t move, there is no value for this. I would like to find something else to use for searching the files – something that actually works.
Windows 10 – Experiment Part 4
Windows 10 – Experiment Part 3
While working on the previous, I purchased an additional refurbished HP computer with Windows 7. I upgraded this computer to Windows 10 Home. This is to be my wife’s “new” computer. After making sure that it could find our two existing network printers as well as the other computers on the network, I installed Office 365 and started moving files and programs to the newly upgraded computer.
The upgrade to Office 365 for my wife will be interesting – for upgrading to Windows 10, we got a free one month trail of Office 365. If she likes it, I may move our other computers to it as well. Having all computers on the same version of Office will be helpful I put an Office alternative on the new laptop. After using OpenOffice on my other computers, I am trying WPS Office on the new laptop. If I like it, I may not continue to use OpenOffice. We will see…
So far, both my wife and I don’t have any major complaints with Windows 10.
Windows 10 – Experiment Part 2
While I was testing my current software on the laptop from the previous post, we purchased a refurbished HP laptop with Windows 7 Home. I first had it check for updates for Windows 7. After supposedly checking for updates over night and still not completing, I shut it down believing that it had gotten stuck in a loop.
The next evening, I had it start the ugrade process. Again after supposedly downloading over night and not finishing, I shut it down.
After a Google search of downloading Windows 10, I ran across a Microsoft page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. I decided to try it and created a USB drive with the Windows 10 install files. This page will also allow you to create a DVD install disk as well as a USB drive one. If you decided to to this, make sure select the appropriate 32 bit or 64 bit version. This page on about.com, http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-10/fl/download-windows-10.htm has more information.
Using the same Microsoft page, I started the upgrade on the new laptop and this time it upgraded with no problems. At this point, I have not decided what this laptop will be used for, so this is where it at now.
Windows 10 – Experiment
After reading all about Windows 10, both the good things as well as the bad things, I decided to try it on one of my computers. Even though I was not buying into the rumors that Microsoft was going to copy the entire content of my hard drive(s) to their servers, I was concerned that the software I usually use would not work.
I copied the personal files that existed on the chosen laptop to another location. I then allowed Windows to upgrade from Windows 7 Home to Windows 10 Home. Even though I don’t remember exactly, it didn’t take a long time to complete the upgrade. Windows then insisted on going to the web to check for updates. After a couple of reboots, it finally came up in Windows 10 Home. It even still uses the same password.
The next step took a couple of weeks, due to other time commitments, but I finally tested all of the software I normally use. Everything worked. Admittedly, I don’t use a lot of software that taxes the system, but I was still concerned.
Help Desk Phone Scam
Today I received a call from a California number – 510-962-4562. The caller said he was from the “Windows Support Team” and that my computer was sending them messages saying that my computer was downloading trojans that would cause my computer harm. I played along feeling that this was a scam. He said that each computer with Windows on it has a unique ID number. He said to prove that they have my computer’s number – which was: 00c04fd7d062. He had me hold down the Windows key and press the R key. (The Run window) He then had me type CMD and press Enter. This starts a command prompt window. He then said to type assoc and enter. After the many lines stopped, he wanted me to verify that the line starting with .zfsendtotarget ended in my “unique” id – which it did. But so did the one on my laptop. When I asked him why the numbers were the same on both computers, he said that it was because they are on the same internet connection.
At this point, I was tired of playing the game so I told him that I thought this was a scam at which point he still tried to convince me that he was a legimite help desk person. When I didn’t buy his line, he hung up. He had a strong Indian (as from India) accent although his English was better than most actual Help Desk people I have talked to.
This is a scam in which they want to connect into your computer, accessing your personal files and data and ultimately cost you time and money. Please don’t fall for it. The links below relate similar scam calls. The CLSID is probably the same on most if not all Windows computers, so obviously not unique. From what I saw on those links, this has been going on for some time and from many different states, although always with an Indian (as from India) accent.
Mike
California Phone Number 510-962-4562
CLSID 00c04fd7d062 – supposedly unique computer ID
line from the command line window:
.zfsendtotarget=CLSID\888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062
links from other sites with additional information:
http://www.welivesecurity.com/2011/07/19/support-desk-scams-clsid-not-unique/
http://blog.eset.com/2011/07/19/support-desk-scams-clsid-not-unique
http://www.tangomanfromqc.com/node/61
New Business Arrangement
A new business arrangement has been completed between M D Computer Works and Dcent LLC. We have had a long term relationship to complement each other when something was beyond the technical availability of the other company. Due to some changes, we are now going to work more closely with each other. Specifically, any direct computer work will be handled by Dcent LLC and any web site or programming work will be handled by M D Computer Works. This is not to mean that there will be no crossover as there certainly will be, just better defined roles.
If you need direct computer work, please contact Dcent LLC and please let them know we sent you. Thanks Mike
Tax Information Needed Spam
This post is about several emails I have received recently asking for me to update tax related information that Intuit has. There are some problems with this, not the least of which is that the email is not from Intuit even though it seems to be. You might be fooled by one of these emails if you have used any software from Intuit, such as Quicken or Quickbooks. Reminder – these emails are NOT coming from Intuit!
I have included the text from three different emails including the email address that each is supposedly coming from, followed by the link that you would be sent to if you clicked on it. As with most of this type of emails, someone wants to trick you into giving your information to them. At the bottom of this post is a link to another article about these emails.
As usual, please be careful when surfing the web, and thanks for stopping by….
Email 1:
From: “INTUIT INC.” (tools@intuit.com)
Subject: Correct tax information is needed.
Good afternoon,
In order to guarantee that exact information is being kept up on our systems, as well as to provide you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has partaken in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.It appears that your name and/or Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number, that is specified on your account is different from the data provided by the SSA.In order to check the data on your account, please click here.
Regards,
INTUIT INC.
Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://autoquiz.it/J5nEoYSB/index.html
Email 2:
From: “INTUIT INC.” (security@intuit.com)
Subject: Request for the urgent update of your tax information.
Good afternoon,
With intent to assure that precise information is being sustained on our systems, and to provide you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has participated in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.It appears that your name and/or Taxpayer Identification Number, that is stated on your account does not match the information obtained from the IRS and/or SSA.In order to verify the information on your account, please click here.
Yours sincerely,
INTUIT INC.
Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://crazeydazey.me.uk/zDB0KeU8/index.html
Email 3:
From: “INTUIT INC.” (software@quickbooks.com)
Subject: Your tax information needs verification.
Dear Account Holder,
With a view to assure that exact information is being kept up on our systems, and to be able to grant you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has taken part in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.For some reason your name and/or TIN, that is specified on your account does not match the information on file with the IRS and/or SSA.In order to enable INTUIT INC. to update your account, please use the following link.
Yours truly,
INTUIT INC.
Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://qerameis.com/Q21dievt/index.html
American Airlines Email Scam
As the year is about to end, I received two emails saying that they were from American Airlines and I should printout the enclosed ticket. As I have no travel plans, it seemed obvious that these were scam emails. The attachments on both are zip files and probably include something to attack my computer. The message from one of them follows. I did a Google search and came up with a couple of other sites warning about these emails, including American Airlines itself. The links to some of these also follow. As usual, your best response is to not open the attachment and delete the emails, as I did.
Be careful and watch out for problem emails.
Email contents:
From: “American Airlines”
To:
Subject: Your order has been completed
Dear Customer,
FLIGHT NUMBER AA532
ELECTRONIC 702697058
DATE & TIME / JANUARY 24, 2012, 10:14 AM
ARRIVING / Detroit
TOTAL PRICE / 192.54 USD
Your bought ticket is attached to the letter as a scan document.
You can print your ticket.
Thank you for your attention.
American Airlines.
Related Web Links:
post on Windows Secrets
Thanks for stopping by…
A Timing Change
Due to some unforeseeable schedule changes as well as some other problems, I find I am unable to meet my original plan of one post a week. For the foreseeable future, I will add a new post when I am able.
Please continue to check back from time to time. Thanks…
Scam Alerts on consumeraffairs.com
Scam Alerts on consumeraffairs.com
Today I want to tell you about a web site I ran across recently.
ConsumerAffairs.com state that they are a consumer news and advocacy site. They have lots of interesting information and sections, but I am primarily refering to their section about computer related scams today. If you go to their home page: consumeraffairs.com
and click on the Scams tab or go to their Scam Alerts page, you will see many links to pages describing individual scams.
While I have not checked out each page, the ones I did check did have good information. I have listed a couple of links below with their titles for them.
Seven Ways To Spot A Scam Email – There are always telltale signs
Top 10 Scams of 2010 – Our annual list of deceptive schemes designed to part you from your money
A couple of last thoughts on this web site. This site has several
sections in addition to the Scam Alerts, including consumer news, recalls and consumer comments. Their about ConsumerAffairs.com has more information and tabs. There are advertisements on many of these pages which may appear to be part of the content but are not. All of the pages that I looked at had the ads under “Ads by Google”.
Thanks for stopping by..