Category: social

A Half Mac–Half Windows Bulletin

Social Media Tips of the Week 

I don’t know if you are on Instagram but I decided to sign up a few years ago due to the fact that I had some clients on it who needed me to teach them a thing or two.  I don’t actually post anything on there but I use it to follow personalities in the realm of health and other fields.  It is sort of a “one way Instagram for me.”   On Instagram you can share or view photos from family and friends without the mess of Facebook or nastiness of Twitter.   One account that I like following is @poetic_outlaws.   The account owner always posts timely, thought provoking content from writers who lived on the edge (ie. Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Mary Oliver, Ayn Rand, etc).   If you like a daily dose of stimulating quotes, check it out.


End of Windows 7 

Since half of my clients use a Mac, I did not share this with all of you last week.  However, January 14th marked the end of life for Windows 7.  It will no longer get security update from Microsoft.  Therefore, users should either upgrade to Windows 10 or buy a new computer.   In case you are unaware, Windows 7 was released in late 2009.  It is truly one of the best operating systems of the past 20 years and was the last Windows operating system written solely for the computer (with no tablets or smart stuff in mind).   Here is my somewhat sentimental, somewhat humorous tribute on the passing of Windows 7 — https://theacronym.com/2020/01/15/celebrating-the-life-of-windows-7/


Mac OS 10.15 – Catalina

I think I have discussed this a bit in the past, but it doesn’t hurt to bring it up again with a new spin.  Mac OS 10.15 is the latest yearly operating system released by Apple.  It came out in the fall of 2019.  While browsing the internet and emailing and other basic functions work just about the same as they always have — there are major changes under the hood.  This operating system, coded named Catalina, only runs 64-bit Mac apps.  That means all of the older 32-bit apps will not run in this OS.   If you depend on old software that has never been updated by the developer or software that you are not ready to purchase / learn / install an updated version of — I don’t think Catalina is ready for you right now.   Furthermore, it has come to light that some devices on the Mac — critical ones — like PRINTERS — don’t always play nice with Catalina.  Today, I was all set to recommend a very new model of HP printer to a client.  Then I read that in order to get basic features to work — an app called HP Smart needed to be installed from the Mac App Store.   HP Smart is actually brilliant app in Windows, but has been poorly executed on the Mac thus far.  I’m glad I recommended a different printer.

I believe I have told this to many of you already — but if I have worked on your Mac since the fall — I have actually blocked Mac OS 10.15 from installing.  I did you a favor.  You are fine with OS 10.14 for now.  It is still getting security updates. You are current.   10.14 (aka Mojave) was the OS that came out in late 2018.  Unless there is some feature that you are dying to have in 10.15 Catalina — let’s keep holding off.  We should talk about getting you on the latest Mac OS at the end of 2020 or early 2021 if you are going to stick with your current Mac.  At that time an upgrade to 10.16 will likely be in order.

Coming Soon…

I want to let you know what equipment is truly required to become a cord cutter or at least a video streamer in 2020

Facebook and Google Privacy

If you are a Facebook user, I would encourage you to tweak your privacy settings or get some help doing so.  From the computer, when you are on Facebook.com you need to click the triangle in the upper right corner of the Facebook page.  From there click on Settings.  Then click privacy.  Those settings can be tweaked to your liking. I  think the most important one is the setting all the way down at the bottom.   Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?  That should be set to “No.”   After you have adjusted those options, you will also want to look at Apps and Websites from the Settings page.   There you will see all of the websites and apps that you have given access to using your Facebook account.  Some of these may be valid, but there may be some that you want to revoke.   In the Security and Login section you can turn on two factor authentication for your Facebook account.   I highly recommend it if your Facebook account is important to you and you want to prevent unauthorized access.   Finally, you need to go to your Facebook profile page by clicking on your name at the top of the screen.  You should go through each entry in the About section and decide whether info like your birthday, employers, Likes, and so on are shared with Only Me, Friends, Friends of Friends, or the whole world.   It’s time for a tune up!   You may need to put the same effort into your Google account as well. 

Facebook is not a safe place to hang out

Just wanted to give everyone this article that came into my news feed today —
This article is proof positive why most of us have no business being on Facebook.   They own the rights to our lives and everything we put on there.

http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/27/facebook-privacy-app-exposes-facebook-status-drugs-boss-hangover/

Facebook has gotten so open by allowing application developers to use whatever data they want to build software that exposes what other members are doing — for scores of curious people to find.       Though this is merely my opinion — get off of Facebook!  It is a disaster waiting to expose you, your family, hurt your career and hurt your children.     Aside from this recent development, my biggest rationale for this has always been — Facebook is a free service.  There is no customer service.  You have no recourse when things go bad.

Here are just a couple of alternatives to specific Facebook functions — which are much more accountable should things go wrong.

Job seeking / looking to professionally network?   — LinkedIn.com  —  their free option doesn’t get you anything — but the real LinkedIn is $25 to $50 a month.  You don’t have to be a member forever, though depending on your line of work you may need to be.

Photo backup / management / sharing? — Flickr.com  (a Yahoo company) — Free account has some pretty good features or $25 a year for a full featured account.   SmugMug.com  — $40 a year, catering to more serious amateur / professional photographers.

Want to delete that Facebook account?    Go to the help section once you’ve logged into your account.  In the search box, type  ‘permanently delete Facebook account’.     Follow all the prompts, you will have to enter your password once or twice.    As long as you don’t log back in for 14 days — your account will remain deleted.