Safety on Facebook [Guide for Beginners] Part 2

Facebook privacy has been changed over the last year. The access to privacy settings is more user-friendly and finally is not that complicated. In my previous post: “Safety on Facebook [Guide for Beginners]Part 1″ I shared information regarding passwords, privacy settings shortcuts, activity log and who can search for you on Facebook.

Timeline privacy

update status – when you update your Facebook status you have the option to set privacy settings for individual post (update status) even if your general privacy settings on your Timeline are set to “Public” or “Friends” you can still change those settings just for the individual post. All you need to do is to select who can see your update: “public/friends/only me/custom”.


Private message

In case you want to send a “private message” to one or more friends on Facebook go to “messages”

and click on “+new message” then add name or names of your Facebook friends who are going to receive your private message.


Facebook Graph Search

Facebook Graph Search search any “public” information published by Facebook users, whether it’s Facebook Page you “liked” or your status update (as long as you published it as public). If you want to make sure that all the content you shared on Facebook is secured then simply go to “activity log”.
Here you can watch a short good explanation on the misleading status message floating around Facebook about Graph Search:



Additional useful information regarding Facebook settings:

• More information regarding Facebook Privacy Settings & Tools
• More information regarding Facebook Graph Search

Friendly reminder: make sure to take time to check the different Facebook privacy and account settings that are available. Don’t forget about strong and unique password. Do not share sensitive content (home address, etc.) unless you really want to.
Have fun!

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7 Ways to Find FREE Wi-Fi

When you are getting ready for a trip and you ask yourself a question: where can I get access to a FREE Wi-Fi connection? Of course nowadays we use internet connection on our smartphones or tables via mobile providers but that’s something we need to pay for and in case we want to watch a movie on-line (which use a lot of data transfer) the best option is Wi-Fi connection.

The question is where do you find the free Wi-Fi connection? First you might think of the fast-food chains (e.g. McDonald’s) or coffee-shops (e.g. Starbucks with over 8,000 locations) but there are more places you can take under consideration. Here are 6 ways to search and find free Wi-Fi and 1 safety on-line tip at the end.

Search for free Wi-Fi hot spots & other mobile applications

There are some mobile applications that can help you to locate free Wi-Fi around you:

• Free Wi-Fi Finder (by JiWire Inc.) – this little application helps you to scan for Wi-Fi hotspots around you. You can filter results by location (cafe, hotel, zip code, etc.) or provider type. It works on-line and off-line. Good for Skype users on the go. Available on iPhone/iPad and Android phones/tablets
• Yelp! mobile application – is a good place to start your search for different type of places: stores, coffee-shops, restaurants, cinemas, etc. That might help you to find the address and additional information, such as: access to free Wi-Fi. Application is available on iPhone/iPad and Android smartphones/tablets.
• RetailMeNot – yes it’s a mobile application that helps you to find coupons but guess what, there are free Wi-Fi coupons available as well and the app is free. Available on iPhone/iPad and Android smartphones/tablets.

Public Places

• Library – not only books you can find there but also a lot of libraries offer free wireless internet connection but also they have computers (with internet connection) you can use during the visit.
• City Hall – great place to get some information if you are new in town and there is a chance to find a free Wi-Fi as well.

Shopping malls, supermarkets & book-stores

• Grocery stores (e.g. Safeway) or shopping malls offer a free Wi-Fi connection so if you need to check an email or find something on-line – that’s the solution for you.
• Book-store (e.g. Barnes&Noble) is a good place to find a free Wi-Fi and most of the time there is a small coffee place as well so you can find place to seat and enjoy the free access to the internet.
• Apple stores – a lot of people go to Apple store to check their emails on the store Mac computers. There is also free Wi-Fi available.

Restaurants & Coffee-shops

• Starbucks – the largest coffee-shop chain in the USA offers the free Wi-Fi.
• McDonalds – it’s easy to find and most of the time you have access to free Wi-Fi.
• Local coffee-shops & restaurants – you can always ask if the have a free Wi-Fi available.
• Caribou Coffee – coffee-shop chain in eastern and Midwest states and yes – free Wi-Fi.

Use your smartphone/data plan

• use your smartphone as a Wi-Fi hot spot (tethering) – it’s not a free option, because you need to use the data plan you have on your smartphone but if there is nothing else you can do, that’s the option you should take under consideration. Thanks to this option you can connect your laptop or tablet to the smartphone and use its internet connection. But first you need to make sure you have the shared-data plan (that allows you to connect more devices to your smartphone).
• FoxFi mobile application – this application turns your Android smartphone into a free Wi-Fi hot spot. FoxFi usage is covered under the same smartphone data plan you have and no tether plan needed. Unfortunately the free version now has a usage limit that requires you to restart FoxFi to continue using free mode. In case you need more free Android Applications for tethering – check theMashable’s article.
• more information regarding tethering please check those links: how to tether your iPhone and how to tether your Android smartphone

Truck stops & hotels

• Truck stops – not only you can find there a decent food, barbershop, laundry but also (most of the time) a free Wi-Fi connection. Visit Truck Stop Guide – it’s a website where you have many search options (including wireless internet).
• Hotels/Motels – before you book a hotel/motel check if they offer complimentary Wi-Fi access or search for free Wi-Fi coupons (via RetailMeNot).
• Some gas stations offer free Wi-Fi.

Safety First

Before you connect your smartphone, tablet or laptop to a free Wi-Fi network please remember about safety on-line.

• free/public Wi-Fi – it is free and PUBLIC so everyone else has an access as well. That means that strangers can snoop around and they can hacked your e.g.: on-line bank account. So you should keep your device as safe as possible while using the free/public internet connection.
• on-line shopping – While you shop on-line (usually) you need to provide your credit card number, adress, etc. so it’s better to stay on the “safe” side and instead of public/free Wi-Fi use more secure internet connection.
• on-line banking – if it’s not necessary simply don’t check your bank account on-line. And if you really need to then better use your smartphone internet connection instead of public Wi-Fi.
• turn off file sharing – File/folder sharing is an option you can use when you are connected to your home Wi-Fi network (so you can share folders and files between computers connected to your home network).
  Windows users: When you connect your laptop to a free/public Wi-Fi make sure you set it to “public” (you will see that option when you connect to the Wi-Fi network for the first time).
  Mac users: you have to change “system preferences -> sharing” and un-check all sharing boxes. Don’t forget to check those boxes after you finish using the free/public Wi-Fi.
• make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder while you are on-line and don’t leave any passwords in a place that everyone can see them (e.g.: sticker on your laptop).

How about you? Do you have any experience in finding a free Wi-Fi while you are in a new place?

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Social Media for Non-Techies

Social media basics for Non-Techies and all who are in need or just would like to know more about:

• what is social media?
• how to use social media applications?
• how to stay safe on-line?
• how to get in touch on-linefamily or re-connect with old friends?
• how to find information on-line(newspapers, magazines, vacation tips, health tips, hobbies)?
• how to discover or explore new interests on-line?

You have been working all your life, you’ve been busy and didn’t have time to learn and use social media that much. Now (finally) you have more time for yourself and others. It’s time to re-connect with old friends and get in touch with your family, but you know that email is not enough.

First of all – no worries. Don’t be afraid to use your computer, it’s just another tool, like remote control or a coffee-maker. You don’t need to know everything about it – and still be able to use it. Same thing with social media applications: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Flickr, Google+, Blogger, etc. you can use it, have fun and remember about privacy settings.

Here you can check an interesting youtube video about “Social Media Revolution 2011″

If you would like to know more about Baby Boomers on-line in 2012. Get some numbers and see how on-line world is popular among Baby Boomers, please watch this video from AARP:

Have fun and stay safe on-line.

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How to Hide Friends (List) on Facebook

After all those privacy changes that Facebook made in 2012 and now the new Graph Search, I think it’s time to check Facebook privacy settings. It’s very easy to control almost everything on Facebook: what others can see on your profile, what they can share with you, etc. The access to privacy settings is more user-friendly.

How to hide your Friends (list of all your friends) on Facebook:

• 1. go to your Facebook Profile
• 2. click on friends tab next to the “about” section



• 3. click on edit to be able to chance settings. You will see a pop-up box – “Who can see your friends list on your timeline?”



• 4. select the option you want (visibility): Public/Friends/Only Me/Custom (if you want to hide your friends from others choose “Only Me”)
• 5. to make sure that your friends can’t see your Friend’s list (they can only see your mutual friends from your Friends’ list) go to Activity Log and select Friends on the right side bar



• 6. on the top of the page you can see “Who can see your friend list on your timeline?”. Make sure that it is set up the same way as you did in step #4 (Public/Friends/Only Me/Custom). Click on the lock and choose one of the options

That’s it. Make sure to check your Facebook privacy settings from time to time.

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How to Create a Strong Password?

We use several on-line platforms, mobile applications. We have Facebook profiles, email accounts, etc. To have access to most of them (if not all) we need a passwords. Do you know how strong are your passwords? It’s hard to remember all passwords and because they should be strong (difficult passwords) it’s even harder to keep track of all of them.

Here is the list of the WORST (but still popular) passwords of 2012

Unfortunately it’s a bad list – those passwords are NOT strong enough to keep your digital life safe.

• password
• 123456
• 12345678
• abc123
• qwerty
• monkey
• letmein
• dragon
• 1111111
• baseball
• iloveyou
• trustno1
• 1234567
• sunshine
• master
• 123123
• welcome
• shadow
• ashley
• football
• jesus
• michael
• ninja
• mustang
• password1

Just in case – please don’t use passwords from the above list.

How to create a strong password tips:

• length: use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. Think about short words (it’s easier to remember the password), e.g.: “golf_time_city!” or “go for a walk at 9?”
• several accounts = several (different) passwords: avoid using the same username and password combination. So if you have a Facebook profile, email account, Twitter account, bank account, etc. use different password for each account
• password manager applications: if you have problems remembering all your passwords try password manager applications that help you to organize and protect your passwords. CheckSplashID Safe, 1Password, LastPass, mSecure
• update your passwords: it’s important to update your passwords once in a while. Every few weeks, every other month.

Simple passwords are not good enough to keep your online accounts safe. I know it’s easier to remember password: “Sun123″ than “RdI9So?249E5x#” but the first one won’t keep you safe as the second example. Password manager applications can help you with the problem.

Do you use any password manager application? or do remember all your passwords? What’s your idea of keeping your passwords safe and remember them.

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Facebook’s Graph Search

What do we need to know about Facebook’s new Graph Search. The new Facebook feature helps you find people, places and things and explore Facebook in a new way. You can find more of what you are looking for through your friends and connections. So far the search box we use was not very powerful. We could search for friends, Facebook pages, etc.

What Facebook’s Graph Search means:

• it’s a new search engine (searchable database)
• helps users to find content based on certain criteria – e.g. “tourist attractions in Spain visited by my friends” (for more check Mashable.com)
• Graph Search is available now in a very limited beta program in English (US) audiences. You need tosing up to find out when you can start using Graph Search.
• it will allow everyone to search easily across the network and their friends’ information.
• how privacy works with Graph Search? – check the Facebook Page – Graph Search for more details

What about the privacy issues?

• privacy issue #1: If your “likes” are public, those “likes” are Graph Searchable by all.
• Any of your content that could be discovered before Graph Search will be discoverable after Graph Search, and it will not cause any content to be revealed that wasn’t already accessible.
• privacy issue #2: others will be able to use Graph Search to find any content that you already share with them.
• like in the past in Facebook: any photo of you that someone else uploads will be searchable per that user’s privacy settings.
  e.g.: if a friend uploads a picture of you at a bar, geo-tags it and sets it as public, it will be Graph Searchable to anyone who searches for pictures from that bar. What you can do is: untag yourself or request the uploader of the photo remove it from Facebook or change the privacy settings.

Make sure to check your Facebook privacy settings:

• “who can see your stuff” – go to privacy settings and then choose privacy. Now you can see the option: who can see my stuff?

more privacy settings:

• timeline and tagging – go to privacy settings and make sure what you safe with others on Facebook

• your privacy choices determine what’s searchable – you can look up anything shared you on Facebook, and others can ind stuff you’ve shared with them, including content set to Public. It means – different people see different results.
• it’s time to review your Facebook privacy settings – to make sure how much of your information are going to be searchable. Check your data on Facebook to make sure you are NOT sharing anything publicly that you wish you were not.
• Privacy settings tips:
  1. set your default preferences to share with “friends only”
  2. check your “likes” and get rid of some of those “likes” you don’t want people to know about. Check the Gizmodo post on that issue
  3. check your photos. Make sure that photos that are tagged of you and untag the ones you don’t like or may be inappropriate.

What do you think about the idea of Facebook’s Graph Search? Are you looking forward to test this new feature?

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Facebook New(s) Feed for Beginners

Facebook, the largest social media platform, presented a new look for News Feed! It’s not a surprise that Facebook changed something – it’s just the part of the social media world. I’m definitely looking forward to be able to test the new design.

Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook team shared some information regarding the redesigned News Feed’s look:

• rich stories – visually engaging
• choice of different feeds
• mobile consistency – the same Facebook experience across mobile devices/laptops/desktops computers
• the new News Feed is uncluttered

The new look = all stories put together so you have richer & simpler news feed, that’s focused on the things you are interested in: what’s your friends are saying, what your network is sharing and what’s going on with people and pages you like and care about.

Facebook added more feeds so we are going to have more control over the stories we are seeing on the news feed.

1. The old News Feed design: what your friends are posting and pages you “like”. Previously you could select between 2 feed options: “Most Recent” and “Top Stories”
2. The new News Feed design: now you have more control of which of these feeds are going to be seen on your Facebook homepage. There are different feeds you can choose from:
• “All Friends” – everything your friends are sharing on Facebook listed in chronological order
• “Music” – a feed with posts about the music you listen to
• “Most Recent”
• “Close Friends”
• “Photos” – a feed with photos from your friends and the Pages you like. The great thing about this is that all photos are way much bigger in the new News Feed
• “Games”
• “Following” – a feed with the latest news from the Pages you like and the people you follow

The old News Feed design was approximately 40% of total of the screen. Now, the new design takes over way much more. Facebook learned the lesson and chose more visualization approach, it’s designed the way people are sharing content today. Facebook designed the new News Feed to reduce clutter and focus on stories from your friends.

Why Facebook changed the look of the News Feed? Maybe because we like pictures – so now we can spend even more time on Facebook. Good thing we now have a little bit more control what we want to see.

“Less Clutter, More Stories”

Are you looking forward to test the new Facebook News Feed?

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How to Set Processor Affinity in Windows 7 and 8

These days, almost everybody has a multi-core processor. One thing that many Windows users don’t know is that you can set which processors are processing certain tasks. Knowing how to set processor affinity in Windows 7 and 8 is a quick tech trick that may really help you to run certain applications much faster.

Changing processor affinity settings is a quick and straight-forward procedure, which is actually similar in Windows 7 and 8. You just have to access Windows Task Manager by simultaneously pressing the Control + Alt + Delete keys on your keyboard and then clicking the “Start Task Manager” button. This will bring up the task manager.

Now that you have the task manager up and running, make sure you are on the processes tab as seen above. Next, you can simply right-click on the process that you want to change the affinity for and then click the “set affinity” link. This will bring up the processor affinity dialog box. You can see this below.

At this point, you can use the check boxes to determine which processors you want working on the task. In my example above, I am setting the processor affinity for my Firefox browser I have open. One more thing I want to note is that I don’t have 8 cores on my processor. My processor is a quad-core Intel chip with hyper-threading. For those who don’t know, hyper-threading, through virtualization by the OS, makes a single processor look and act like a dual-core chip. Either way, it is nice to have control of these virtual cores.

How is Processor Affinity Useful

Setting processor affinity on a task can be helpful in two pretty distinct ways. First, if you have a process that is using too much processing power, you can limit the process by only allowing it to run on a few or maybe even just a single processor. One example of this is if you have to render a video. However, you also want to play a game while this video is rendering. In this case, setting the video rendering down to only 1 processor will be helpful.

We can use this same example of rendering a video to show how you may want to use processor affinity to speed up the rendering process. In this case, you can make sure that the rendering software is able to use all cores. If you have any other processes running that are using a decent amount of CPU resources, you could then set these processes to use only 1 core. I also want to point out that an alternate way of doing this is to set the process priority a bit higher for the rendering process.

There are some additional considerations you may want to keep in mind. First, it’s not a great idea to change affinity settings for system processes unless you are really sure what you are doing. Next, the biggest benefits of changing processor affinity will come from resource intensive processes. For example, video editing software, sound editing software, engineering programs, and games are usually processor hogs. The last thing to keep in mind is that the affinity settings you specify will last only while the application is open. Once you close an application, its affinity settings will go back to default.

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Simple Steps to Stave Off Hackers from Accessing Your Computer

Although computers come with their own security software, sometimes they are not enough to ward off bound and determined hackers, scammers and identity thieves from stealing your personal information. This is a fact of life in the digital age. Scary as this may sound, you do not have to give up on the Internet altogether so as not to fall prey against these malicious elements. With the right tools and tweaks in your computer, you can ward off these digital offenders. Here are some simple steps you can do to fortify your PC.

Image source: FoxNews.com

Have a powerful security software in place

The easiest ways for hackers to sneak into your online accounts and eventually take over your computer’s system is through a virus. When your computer gets infected, it is easy for hackers to cause chaos, such as delete your files, steal your personal information, etc. So to defend your PC against viruses, worms, Trojans and other malicious programs, you need to have a powerful software security in place.

There is a lot of premium options that you can purchase for certain costs. However, protection doesn’t have to be expensive. There are numerous security software available online that you can download for free. Some of the best ones include Avast!, AVG AntiVirus, Avira AntiVir Personal, Outpost Firewall, Zone Alarm, SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Malwarbytes just to name a few.

Set passwords that aren’t easy to break

There are hackers who won’t bother infecting your PC with virus. Some of them simply prefer to use sophisticated programs capable of guessing account passwords. And once they have one of your accounts, they can easily make their way into your other accounts. In such case, the best protection you have is to use not just difficult-to-guess passwords but to assign one different password for every account you have.

The same thing goes with your PC. You will never know when someone is going to break into your home and attempt to access your data. So it pays to password-protect your computer. Always stick with a long password as it is harder to crack. It should be a minimum of 8 characters, with a combination of numbers, symbols and letters.

Don’t take security questions lightly

The passwords you use as well as your security software will be rendered useless if the answers to the security questions in your accounts are easy. Hence, pay attention to how you fill up those security questions. Your best bet is to go for random answers or a string of random characters, making them hard to remember. Consider it as though you are adding another password to your account.

Keep your network in check

If you have multiple computers at home and you use a network to connect all of them to the Internet, beware that this single network can be a magnet for hackers. They can simply sneak into your network and relentlessly gather all your information, including the details you transfer from one PC to another. To avoid that from happening, protect your home network. Encrypt it and regularly check your network for unauthorized users, then lock them out. It is also wise to make a unique SSID and a separate Wi-Fi network for guests.

Be mindful of your computer activities

All of the aforesaid things will be good-for-nothing if you are not mindful of your computer activities. Keep in mind that hackers always reinvent their methods of attack almost everyday and if you are not vigilant, they can attack right under your nose without you noticing it. So always be careful with the sites you open online. And remember, no amount of passwords, security software and setting changes will replace watchful eyes.

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How to Avoid Falling for A Phishing Scam

Ecommerce is big business. Hundreds of billions of electronic transactions occur globally each year and this figure is set to continue to rise. Unfortunately as this business has grown it has become prey to some nefarious operators who are keen to get their hands on a slice of the money by any means necessary. Hackers have managed to come up with many devious ways of intercepting sensitive information through the use of malware like viruses and Trojan horses. One method which has been responsible for theft of vast sums of money is known as ‘phishing’.

What are phishing scams?

Image credit

The word phishing refers to a term where email lures are used to ‘phish’ sensitive data like bank logins and passwords from unsuspecting victims. The use of ‘ph’ instead of an ‘f’ in the word comes from early hackers that were known as ‘phreaks‘.

Phishing scams have been around since the mid 1990′s and since their initiation they have grown and developed in order to evade detection. The original method of deceiving users into replying to e-mail requests for passwords and credit card details has now evolved to include fake web pages, installation of Trojan key-loggers, man-in-the-middle data proxies and screen captures.

All of these methods are delivered through electronic communication channels and target sensitive information belonging to the victim.

As a result of the high success rate of phishing scams these systems now even include fake job sites or job offers. Applicants are attracted with the promise of high earnings for a small investment of time. In order to participate all they are required to do is to create a new bank account, then take the funds that have been transferred into it, less their personal commission, and transfer it forward as an international money order. This is money laundering and although the victim here might not lose their own personal funds it is possible to suffer prosecution and even imprisonment as a result of this ruse.

How to spot suspicious signs

Luckily, although hackers are technically gifted, they are also prone to making mistakes and there are plenty of tell-tale signs that will let you know that the email you have received, or the webpage you are on, is part of a phishing scam. If you have an email from a company that you have not dealt with before, it is probably part of a scam.

Phishing emails often have small spelling and grammar mistakes which you will not find if the source is legitimate. Pay close attention to the senders address and if you are unsure compare it with other emails that you have had from that bank or business. If the message requires an immediate response or contains a threat of legal action it may also be part of a con. You should also pay close attention to the security certificates and web address for any site that you are on. Secure web addresses will start with https and display a padlock symbol to show that they are safe.

How to make sure you don’t become the victim of a phishing scam

You do need to pay close attention to what you are doing when performing transactions on the internet. Take care with any emails that you receive and check them carefully before you proceed. Do not click on links in messages and use the address bar on your internet browser to locate websites to check their level of security. As a general rule of thumb, if you don’t think it looks right, do not enter your information.

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