plodr

I run CCleaner, even the registry cleaning part. I don't run it very often and I always save a copy of the registry fearing that if I don't, that will be the one time I run into a problem. I don't update CCleaner monthly. I can't see the point. Even a browser, which I use daily, doesn't get monthly updates. I'm on Windows 7 and I don't need features added for Windows 8 and 10. I just checked and I'm still using v 4.19.4867 from Oct. 30, 2014. So I've passed on 34 updates!

I go to several banks online. (I mainly check for deposits and checks cashed and I might move money around. I do not pay bills online. Years ago I set up automatic deductions and deposits so things go in and come out without much input from me). Thank goodness none demands that I install that software. I've read lots of problems on computers that needed it installed. I too run Windows 7 and prefer Palemoon over IE. I refuse to install chrome on a Windows computer. I'll use chrome on my tablets and phone - at times. But I'd never go to a bank site on my tablets or phone.

I grabbed CCleaner, Recuva and Speccy. I'll archive them. I don't use defraggler; I let Win 7 handle defragging.

I was asked to update the calculator (I don't remember if it was on the phone or tablet). I look over the permissions. It wanted access to my photos. I see no reason why a calculator app wants to know what pictures I take! Needless to say, I did not update the calculator. If people would read permissions and see something they question, stop and don't install the app! In fact, I install very few apps.

A married couple went to the County Fair every year. Every year the husband would say, “I would really love to take a ride in the plane, hon.” and the wife would reply. “No, it cost fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” Every year, it would be the same “No, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” This year at the fair, the pilot heard them talking and said, “I’ll make a deal with you, I'll give you both a ride, only if you promise not to say a single word the whole time you are in the air. If you say any word at all, you’ll have to pay fifty dollars.” They both agreed to the deal and off they went. The pilot did all kinds of stunt flying, up and down, sideways, and never a word from his passengers. When he landed, the pilot said, “I’m really surprised, I thought I could get you to say something.” The husband replied, “Well, I was going to say something when my wife fell out, but fifty dollars is fifty dollars.”

Yup, I have one more computer to vaccinate. An interesting article by Dan Goodin, says this wasn't designed as ransomware, but rather to wipe hard drives. https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/06/petya-outbreak-was-a-chaos-sowing-wiper-not-profit-seeking-ransomware/

Source: http://www.sun-gazing.com/dont-fooled-new-walmart-scam/ We give NO ONE except the IRS, banks and Medical Offices (but that will change when the new medicare cards come without our SS numbers on them) our SS numbers. Last week we planned to sign up with a different oil company. The woman wanted the last 4 digits of my husband's SS number. Needless to say, he said no and said we'll stick with the current company who has no need for our SS number.

Thanks. I will spread the word!

Ask first if encrypting the hard drive is really necessary. Far better, safer and faster, is to simply encrypt some files or folders. 7-zip can do this. You zip it up and password protect it. I've seen lots of posts where people forget passwords or something goes wrong with the hard drive and EVERYTHING is lost. It is a lot less painful if the OS is intact and you simply lose access to a folder because you've forgotten the password.

If it is the only computer on your network losing the connection to the internet then it is probably not the modem and/or router. MS updates drivers. Perhaps your wireless driver was updated and is not using the one that is best for the system. If you've archived drivers, you might be able to see the version of wireless driver that Win 7 was using. I'd advise you to turn off driver updates in Windows 10. My theory, if a driver is working, there is no reason to update it. I was burned in the past by installing a MS suggested driver. I don't do this any more.

Cindy's post reminded me of an old cartoon I keep in the kitchen. I think I cut it out of the Parade Magazine when they used to run cartoons.

Perhaps What's My Computer Doing? http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/whats_my_computer_doing.html

One Lollipop and two Marshmallows here. I did try to load Underground on one tablet but then read this https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/28/amazon-is-shutting-down-its-underground-actually-free-program-that-gives-away-free-android-apps/ Thankfully it never installed. Perhaps MBAM or ESET stopped it from installing. I run both of those on all 3 devices.

My husband has a pacemaker and we have a hard wired burglar alarm system. Both work way better with a copper wired system. I don't answer the phone. Legitimate callers let a message. My husband answers the phone then gets annoyed. (I guess he thinks the annoyances will stop. :big_ha:).

We have a copper phone line. It doesn't work on them. We got 4 or 5 calls in a row on Friday from the IRS (yeah, right!). My husband called Verizon. First frustration getting to talk to a real person rather than a robot who didn't understand what he wanted. Second frustration, telling Veizon the phone number these calls came from figuring they might be able to do some and getting a lukewarm response. Obviously Verizon could care less about annoying phone calls.

I have about 10 live sticks right now. I make them with "persistence". I could never get puppy to work with a save folder so I gave up on that distro. I'm not exactly a novice so if I had a problem with persistence, I suspect a new user to linux might have a problem. My current favorite is LXLE desktop. http://www.lxle.net/

Or, I encourage people to boot a linux live distro from a USB stick to surf safely. That way, they don't have to worry about partitioning a hard driveand perhaps messing up the "boot manager" when something updates. I haven't dual booted in years. I have one PC that dual boots (Windows 2K and PCLinux OS). Because it has 2 hard drives, I'm not changing a thing. It doesn't go on the internet so I only fire up Wink 2K once in a blue moon.

More Laws of Life 1. Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains? 2. Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool. 3. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. 4. He who laughs last thinks slowest. 5. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. 6. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. 7. The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese. 8. Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back. 9. Mind like a steel trap - rusty and illegal in 37 states. 10. Quantum mechanics: the dreams stuff is made of.

My husband and I discovered a few old papers with Laws of Life on them. I'll be posting some of them here from time to time. 1. A day without sunshine is like, night. 2. On the other hand, you have different fingers. 3. I just got lost in thought; it was unfamiliar territory. 4. 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. 5. 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. 6. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe. 7. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you. 8. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges. 9. Honk if you love peace and quiet. 10. Remember half the people you know are below average.

WAIT! https://www.askwoody.com/2017/no-you-dont-want-the-rollup-preview-patches/

I give my husband a computer, put an icon to the browser on his "desktop" and he doesn't worry about what OS he is on. As long as he can read his email and surf a few websites, he is happy. He maintains a database of members belonging to the alumni assn. of his high school so one of his daily stops is looking over obits. He tries to keep the mailing list current. I still have my Win 2K that I fire up once in a while. The last time was to grab some webshot desktop images. I have a program on there that converts the old webshot files to jpg so I can use them elsewhere. We also have 2 XP computers. My husband likes to print from the very old HP 722Cse attached to his XP (offline of course) so he grabs a stick with his file and prints on it. Last we have four Win 7 computers: 2 desktops and 2 netbooks. The current crop of computers do everything we need. Windows 10 and its forced updates - NO THANKS! I've gotten burned by MS updates too many times in the past to be comfortable with that. I can break a computer without any help from MS. At least when I break something, I look at my notes and can undo the damage. With forced updates, I'm clueless as to what was done. I'm too old to hand over my hardware to MS.

Windows 7 will be the last Windows version I run. I told my seniors that need a new computer that I won't be providing free help because I don't know 10 and won't waste my time figuring it out. I now have 3 android devices which will be good for surfing and emails. I'm spending my time with android and linux.

I had to help a senior with her computers. She had a desktop someone gave her, running Vista. I can see why they gave it away. Her laptop was her daughter's old one and that was running Windows 8 (not 8.1). I had a hard time offering much in the way of help because i didn't know either of those OSes.