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Tech News & Commentary
Vince in Albuquerque, New Mexico listens to the Podcast asked us: “There is a continual threat going on with the Internet Explorer, I know there’s Firefox, Chrome. I’m running Windows 7 on my desktop PC. My question is what is the recommended safer browser to use so someone won’t get these threats or hacks. I heard on the news that they’re strongly recommending that we don’t use Internet Explorer at all.”
Vince, Firefox and Chrome right now are the safest to use in regards to security. You might need to download a few add-ons on Firefox to get the extra attention but it will it give you the security as well as with Google Chrome. The Department of Homeland Security advises to 
use alternative browsers while Microsoft fixes security issues.
One advantage Chrome has going for it is that it auto-updates, it doesn’t really prompt you and tell you “hey, there’s an update, would you like install it now or keep clicking Not Now forever?” instead you close it, open it again, and it’s running a newer version that it never told you about, that means that, for the most part, Chrome users are always running the latest stable version of the browser without having to really go out of their way to update, the only exception are the people who literally never close the browser, they would have to go to a menu and select to update it manually (or just close it and reopen it), but most users are always up-to-date.
Of course, an auto-update feature isn’t unique to Chrome, Firefox has done that for a while also. Chrome simply does it silently without telling you that it’s happened, while Firefox makes a point of displaying an upgrade screen to tell you what’s new.
We use a mix of Firefox and Chrome, and find a lot to like about both browsers. If you are a hardcore Google fan and believe that you can’t spell email without “G-mail,” then Chrome is probably the better choice. It does a better job of integrating seamlessly with your Google accounts.
But if Google seems a little too “big brother” to you, using Firefox is a wise choice as well. As long as you’re not using Internet Explorer, which Microsoft seems completely unable to make safe.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Eddie in Nashville, Tennessee listens on SuperTalk WTN 99.7 FM and is calling via the App asked: “How do those Internet reputation defender type programs work. And how would a person actually remove their negative things from other peoples’ websites? Or does it throw up some kind of block when a person’s name is typed into a search engine. And is there little-known search engines you can use to get around this and find out about a person’s background if they use a service like this to try to hide their background?”
Eddie, Reputation websites work a number of different ways depending on what problem you’re trying to fix.
If you want to just “improve your reputation,” they’ll post articles about you on thousands of blogs based on your job, interests, hobbies or anything else you provide them that you think people may be searching for. That’s supposed to push your current search results down the list so they show up so many pages back from the main page that most people won’t see them, and will instead see their glowing blog posts about you.
There is no block though, and there is no guarantee that it will work forever, Google and all other search engines change their algorithms regularly, and often do it to avoid the exact tricks that these companies are using, that same “publish junk articles in a blog to increase web presence” is the main trick SEO companies charge a lot of money for to improve their clients standings on web searches.
Their criminal record products work a different way, in that case they try to get a judge to expunge the offenders criminal record, which basically hides it from the public domain. That may work, or it may not, since some sites may be hosting their own mugshots and information created from criminal information that was once available, they may not be hotlinking to your criminal record, they may have their own saved copy of it, and that copy won’t go away so easily.
Needless to say, if these companies are filing any kind of paperwork in court, you can expect to have to pay a fairly large sum, those services probably won’t come cheap.
One other technique these reputation protection services do is monitor the prominent customer feedback sites (for example, for a restaurant, they might watch Yelp! and Urbanspoon) and respond to any customer complaints as you. It’s pretty easy to tell when that’s being done, because the responses are all pretty generic ones. “Please call our office and we’ll get this fixed for you!” — those sort of things. But it’s still effective in the eyes of prospective customers to seem like you watch these forums and respond to consumer complaints. Sometimes, they just want to know that you see them and you care!
However, we do want to point out that some sites have begun aggressively removing positive comments from posters they discover are associated with reputation protection services. Yelp! recently took down some reviews when they discovered that the people making them were not actual customers of the business.
So be careful because your attempt to protect your good name might backfire on you!
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Erin J. Morgart, CEO, Ms. United Nations 201 – Erin J. Morgart Enterprises
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The history of electronic exhibitions began on December 4th 1924 with the German Radio Show in Berlin in Germany, where the art of engineering was most advanced. The event attracted more than 200 exhibitors to display the new technical wonder machines on an area measuring 75,000 sq. feet. The public was excited; more than 180,000 people came to this event. They were fascinated by the detectors and the first valve radio receivers on show and to the fantastic new world of listening to something transmitted from distant locations to their home. The show still exists as IFA and is the biggest CE show in the world.
Greg in Tennessee listening on SuperTalk 99.7 FM asked: “I got a windows phone and I’m trying to use my computer to text and have it sync with my same number from my cell phone and do it from the computer keyboard. I’ve seen some program for androids and I know how you love Androids, but I’m trying to find something that will work with windows phones, and see if there is an app out there that can help me.”
Greg, There is an online service called Zipwhip, it allows you to send text messages on their website or from a program available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and have them go out from your phone number.
We haven’t actually used the service ourselves, but we know it’s compatible with AT&T T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon, so you will most likely be covered, and since the text goes out through their server, your phone doesn’t matter.
You can also look at Google Voice. This VOIP service gives you a single phone number you can use for voice calls and text messages. Calls can be routed to any phone, whether it’s a mobile phone or a landline. Text messages can be sent and received using both a mobile phone and your computer, simultaneously. The service is completely free.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Google doesn’t love Windows Phone very much. While they support iOS and Android with an official Google Voice app, Windows Phone users are stuck with third party applications. MetroTalk has been probably the best of these.
We say “has been” because the other bad news is that MetroTalk will be closing down this month, when Google begins enforcing a ban on third party Google Voice apps by shutting down the API they use. There is an HTML5 app designed by Google itself that was intended for BlackBerry users, and we hear that it works okay on Windows Phones as well.
So, kind of a mixed bag there, but it sounds like you may have some options Greg.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Larry in San Jose, California asked: “Some company called Netmax Communications says that all the hype about privacy with social media is bunk. They claim that even cloud situations are not private. Is there a way to keep doing business and protect ourselves from the agony of social media knowing everything we do and then sending it to everyone?”
It depends on what you mean, Larry. If you mean sites like Facebook, they make money by publicizing your pretend life, so… they won’t stop.
If you’re making actual dollars from using them, keep using them and deal with the fact that you’re exchanging privacy for money, if you’re not making actual, real world, tangible dollars from them, then why use them? they’re a time suck and time is limited, dedicate that time to actual money making endeavours.
If you mean “cloud situations” like Dropbox or enterprise clouds, treat anything that goes through a third party as public, since you don’t control the protocols and implementations that keep that data private. True enterprise solutions are far, far more robust and trustworthy than consumer-level services, partly because you can’t work with distributed sites if it means publicizing information that can threaten your business’ survival or even people’s lives, and partly because they’re paying a lot of money to keep things that way. Those cloud services require very expensive infrastructure, very expensive monitoring, and are typically only used by large corporations that are likely to face some kind of attack at some point.
If you’re dealing with low risk information, you should be safe enough using services like Dropbox, if you’re dealing with delicate information and you don’t have particularly aggressive and well funded competitors, you should be safe enough using a VPN to access your private network. If you’re dealing with sensitive information that someone may try to get their hands on, then you should be making it very hard to access and you should make sure there’s a chain of responsibility so, it’s up to you to determine what risk is reasonable.
If your concern is Facebook and those kinds of sites, you’re not a customer, you’re a product, they make money by selling your eyes or your information to advertisers, so they won’t be making any big effort to make things more private that they absolutely have to be to keep from losing users, if using them is not making you money, then just stop using them, otherwise you pay for their service with some of your privacy.
To our knowledge, cloud storage providers like Dropbox do not examine the contents of the data you store with them, nor do they sell any information about it to third parties. So if you’re just using a cloud storage provider for backup or file sharing, you shouldn’t been seeing anything related to that showing up on Facebook or any other social media. If you are, then your computer might be infected with some kind of malware that is tracking your activity and reporting it to Internet marketing services.
If what you’re asking is how you can both use Facebook and not have Facebook track what you do using Facebook, we have to say that’s like being a “little bit pregnant.” You’re either on Facebook or you’re not. There isn’t any middle ground. It sounds from your question as though you don’t care for social media, so we would suggest that you handle this in the simplest way possible and refrain from signing up for a Facebook or Twitter account (or Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, or really anything else that involves teenagers taking selfies).
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Kamal in Erie, Pennsylvania Listening on 1450 WPSE asked: “When I’m using my laptop, I get on YouTube and try to play a song. It plays for a bit then the screen goes blank and the internet connection is disconnected. What can I do to fix this? It started doing this about a month ago.”
Kamal, YouTube is likely not the cause — but perhaps the trigger. Videos move a lot of data, we’d be willing to bet that if you try to move a large file over WiFi the same will happen. Your network card is failing when it’s put under heavy use for some reason.
The reason could be hardware, which would be the worst case, that would mean either replacing it, if that’s possible, or getting some kind of USB replacement. A USB WiFi adapter wouldn’t cost a lot though, so it may be an easy way out of the problem if it’s hardware based.
It could also be drivers. Sometimes a faulty driver may, for lack of a better explanation, get overwhelmed under pressure and shut down or do something wrong. If you can reinstall the drivers and any software related to your WiFi adapter and see if that fixes the issue. Some VAIO laptops in particular were having a problem like the one you’re describing that was due to drivers, but even if you’re not using a VAIO you may still be using the same faulty driver.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Other World Computing (OWC): Nuguard KX phone cases for Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 4/4S and 5
Phone Halo: StickR TrackR — Find any object you attach it to with your smartphone
PURE: Jongo Wireless Adapters — Allows you to stream all your music wirelessly to your home audio system.
Tylt: A plethora of USB charging cables for iPhone and Android phones and iPhone battery cases.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!