Tech Help and Discussions

There’s a reason why companies that handle sensitive billing information may ask customers to verify their email addresses before sending any communications. It’s to prevent customers from seeing things they shouldn’t. So why doesn’t AT&T have such a safeguard in place for its customers? Consumerist reader Joshua emailed us recently with an issue he was having trouble getting resolved. He received an order confirmation from AT&T for a home security system at an address in Detroit — which is an issue, because he lives in Minnesota. The order contained the person’s first name, date the order was placed, their address, the type of service, type of credit card used…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 24, 20168 yr

Victims that had their computers locked by a ransomware that uses the CRYPTED file extension can now free their files using a special decrypter created by Emsisoft security researcher Fabian Wosar, who by the way, should be having a statue by now for the number of ransomware decrypters he created. This particular ransomware, which has yet to receive its own name, is spread via an intense spam campaign that delivers a JavaScript file attachment, which when downloaded and executed will install the Nemucod trojan on a victim's PC. Nemucod previously delivered TeslaCrypt Nemucod is a malware downloader, a trojan virus used to download other malware on infected PCs. W…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 24, 20168 yr

A friend of mine in another state here wants to put Windows 7 on an old Dell Vostro 1000. There are no drivers listed for Windows7. Anyone know whether Vista drivers may work with a Windows7 install?

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IceMan37 replied March 24, 20168 yr

The iMessage vulnerability got a lot of attention, but another bug allows for remote execution over Wi-Fi, which is a much bigger threat. Apple released new versions of several operating system products earlier this week, fixing vulnerabilities in OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 among others. Because encryption and Apple are big news these days, the attention mostly went to an admittedly interesting flaw in Apple's encryption for iMessage, reported by a research team, led by well-known cryptographer Matthew Green. But the bug is not an easy one to exploit and doesn't even expose a lot. There are much scarier vulnerabilities in this week's disclosures. Perhaps at the …

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starbuck replied March 23, 20168 yr

Yesterday, during the announcement of new hardware products, Apple's Phil Schiller pointed out that he thought it was a sad fact that over 600 million PC users were using machines that were over five years old. It seemed the statistic was intended to support the idea that those 600 million out of date users were the perfect target audience for moving over to the original IPad Pro and new smaller iPad Pro which was announced at the event. As we pointed out yesterday, many PC users on Twitter disagreed with the assumption and characterization of that group of users, and now today I want to take that one step further. I have spent many years building and upgrading m…

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Mommalina replied March 23, 20168 yr

Earlier today Apple held their Spring press event to announce new hardware to the press and masses of their customers. However, one group of product users were dismissed as sad according to one of the on stage executives. During the presentation of all things iPad Pro, the 9.7 inch model announced today, Apple's Phil Schiller shared a stat with the audience that first hit social media timelines last week during the Samsung announcement for their new 2-in-1 Galaxy TabPro S for Windows 10. At the 46 minute mark in today's product keynote, Schiller shares that a large group of users that made the move to what is now the original iPad Pro were Windows users. He then …

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AWS replied March 23, 20168 yr

A quick command in Run turns File Explorer into an at-a-glance display for all your installed programs and Windows Store apps. Say what you will about Windows 8, but the operating system's All apps screen was handy for quickly viewing all your installed programs. On Windows 10, you can scroll through the Start menu, but that isn't the same thing. The Windows 10 full-screen Start doesn't help either since you still end up scrolling through the same single-column list just at a larger scale. Besides, who wants to use the full-screen Start full-time on a PC? An easier option is to uncover Windows 10's all-applications view in File Explorer. Using a simple…

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starbuck replied March 22, 20168 yr

Unless you’re happy reading the material that’s on your older Kindle right now forever and ever, you’ll want to heed Amazon’s advice, and quick: some e-readers will need to be updated by March 22, or they’ll lose the ability to connect to the Internet. Amazon has been emailing Kindle users to remind them and has posted a notice on the company website, but if you’ve been pishtoshing those warnings, you’ll want to listen up before it’s too late. Well, before it’s too late to update the devices automatically. First, check to see if your device is one of the below: • Kindle 1st Generation (2007) • Kindle 2nd Generation (2009) • Kindle DX 2nd Generation (2009) • Ki…

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Tony D replied March 22, 20168 yr

A user of mine running XP on an ancient system is having Facebook issues -- he can see all the pictures in the ads but none of the pix anywhere else -- posts, avatars, etc. Any thoughts what setting needs to be switched to fix this? I've written to Facebook support twice -- not even a note to tell me to go away. Thanks folks. Stephen

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Mommalina replied March 21, 20168 yr

What will they come up with next? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Ui-9bP9_Y

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Mommalina replied March 21, 20168 yr

Four to six digits stand between most iPhone users' personal data and the prying eyes of snoops, criminals, and investigators. To access records stored within, a hacker has little choice but to barrage a lock screen with possible PINs until the electronic tumblers click. Problematically, these "brute-force" attempts trigger built-in time delays--and potential data wipes. A court recently ordered Apple to develop an operating system stripped of such barriers to aid an FBI investigation into the December shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. The company has emphatically objected for fear that the tool could be abused. Depending on the strength of a user's passcode, however…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 20, 20168 yr

Microsoft is ready for Windows 10 testers to start using Edge browser extensions. After an extended wait for the beta feature, Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 build 14291 today with browser extensions support for Edge. Microsoft will offer three extensions to test, including Microsoft Translator, a Reddit extension, and Mouse Gestures. Each extension can be manually installed, and because of the way Microsoft has crafted its extensions support they can also be installed in Google Chrome. Microsoft has chosen to make it easier for developers to port their Chrome extensions over to Edge. While the software maker is only releasing three basic extensions today, developer…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 19, 20168 yr

Why wouldn’t you want an entire Windows computer on a tiny little stick? As someone who uses a MacBook day in and day out, the idea of $159 Intel’s Compute Stick, a Windows 10 PC shrunken down to the size of a tiny plastic rectangle, really pulls me in. Take it anywhere, plug it into an HDMI slot, and it turns nearly any TV or other display into a Windows machine. You supply your own mouse, keyboard, and display — just like any other mini PC. But this is the most “mini” PC I’ve come across. I’ve used it at the office. I’ve used it in my living room. I’d have no problems using it at a hotel. I’ve streamed Xbox games on it. And despite some clear limits with the hardware…

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IceMan37 replied March 19, 20168 yr

If you've got a Windows 7 or Windows 8x computer that is not owned and managed by your company, and you haven't upgraded it to Windows 10 yet, Microsoft has come up with another way to nag you to upgrade: an ad in your Internet Explorer browser. The company has added the ability through a security patch, the company says in its security patch documentation. Microsoft has explained in its documentation that one of the patches it has added to the security update "adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10," Microsoft explains. The new upgrade nag apparently appears in the…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 19, 20168 yr

Anyone using JV16? I remember using it some years ago. Gotta say I don't remember why. I've received an email that they're changing their licensing model.

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IceMan37 replied March 19, 20168 yr

This new strain of malware designed for the iPhone and iPad poses a major risk to hundreds of millions of devices, because it can infect non-jailbroken devices without the user's knowledge. A new strain of malware designed for the iPhone and iPad poses a major risk to hundreds of millions of devices, because it can infect non-jailbroken devices without the user's knowledge. The Trojan, dubbed AceDeceiver by security firm PaloAlto Networks, installs itself on iOS devices without enterprise certificates. "AceDeceiver is the first iOS malware we've seen that abuses certain design flaws in Apple's DRM protection mechanism -- namely FairPlay -- to install malicious a…

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starbuck replied March 17, 20168 yr

Your browser’s private or incognito mode can be useful for many reasons, but you should always know what it is and isn’t hiding. Here’s exactly what’s happening when you launch a private window. First of all, this is the data that isn’t kept: searches, visited pages, and cookies won’t stick around on the local computer once you’ve closed all of your private tabs. As far as your browser application is concerned, you were never online — well, almost. Downloads and bookmarks will be saved, so be wary of leaving saved files on the desktop or anywhere else that are going to point to your online activities. We’re assuming you wouldn’t bookmark anything while you’re …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 15, 20168 yr

Bitcoin was almost dealt a major blow today when it seemed Microsoft would stop accepting the cryptocurrency for digital purchases through customer accounts. But the company now says an update to a support page was posted erroneously and contained "inaccurate" information. Bitcoin, Microsoft says, will still be honored. "We continue to support Bitcoin for adding money to your Microsoft Account which can be used for purchasing content in the Windows and Xbox stores," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Verge. "We apologize for inaccurate information that was inadvertently posted to a Microsoft site, which is currently being corrected." It's…

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AWS replied March 15, 20168 yr

My card insists on placing a folder in my temp folder - %temp%. I would like to not have it there. Is there a way to make this happen. I have removed all of nvidea in programs and features except the driver. I run Win 10 x64 and never saw it there before. Thank you

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 14, 20168 yr

The Amazon Echo, our favorite gadget of 2015, has quickly become the smart home hub that everyone is gushing over. With voice commands, the ability to play music from the cloud, fast weather and sports scores, and control of your smart home devices — all done in a fast, intuitive way — it feels like something straight out of Star Trek. Because the Echo is always listening for commands, users have started discovering that it can be "hijacked" whenever it hears it's activation phrase "Alexa," even if it's not from a person that's actually in the room. Several listeners of the NPR-produced Listen Up radio show wrote to its host Rachel Martin to inform her that a segmen…

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Tony D replied March 13, 20168 yr

BleepingComputer needs your help to fight a frivolous lawsuit and defend its RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH! Enigma Software is suing us because of a negative review of SpyHunter. Enigma Software doesn't like this post and instead of publicly defending their product, they are trying to bully us into censoring it. We are asking for your help to defend the suit. The hallmark of a SLAPP suit, which is what we think this is, is to file a frivolous claim to try and silence your opponent. It is true, “freedom isn’t free”. We can’t afford to fight on our own. But you can help us crowd fund our defense. A case like this could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dolla…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 13, 20168 yr

Hello I have read all I can about file>quick access>commands>send email but none of the Googling has help. I cannot send a 2010 word doc as an an email attachment. I have win 10 x 64 and a MS account, Gmail account and a Comcast account. I have made windows 10 Mail the default. What am I missing? TY

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peterr replied March 12, 20168 yr

Yes, I still run Outlook 2007 on my Win 10 Lenovo laptop. A weird setting change occurred that I'm not sure how to fix. When I'm reading an email, rather than the normal arrow cursor I now have a hand. Left-click the mouse and the hand closes and scrolls through the message. This is worthless. I can no longer highlight text to move/copy it. What setting do I need to change back to have Outlook back to normal? Thanks. afab

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 12, 20168 yr

I have had this card for 4 years but lately nvidea has been sending out a lot of updates. Yesterday they sent one out that caused a file to get stuck in my temp folder. It may be OK but I prefer not to have it there. Occasionally I empty that folder and for all my PC life it has become empty. Point being is I would like to have only what is necessary in the control panel. I know 'experience' has to do with facilitating updates. Question, which of these nvidea entries in the attachment should I keep so I can remove the others. I have the low end card and these updates are for gamers which i am not. I just want to be safe yet have a good screen. TY Peter

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allheart55 Cindy E replied March 12, 20168 yr