Computers and Networking for Home Owners
& Small Businesses
& Small Businesses
written by Sid Plait
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Computers and Networking for the Home Owner and Small Businesses - by Sid Plait
Make like a banana
Well, it's started. I have another blog site! It ain't pretty yet. That will happen over time. Also,over time, I will move all the social posts from this site to that one.
The new site is called "Outside a Dog", and you can find it at anelephantinmypajamas.wordpress.com. I won't tell you the origins of the name or URL here. Go there to find them. Subscribe if you like what you see.
I hope that those of you who enjoy a good conversation will join me there. Those of you who came here for the scoop on how best to use and maintain your computers and networks, stick around. That's what this blog is for from now on. And I promise to provide useful advice and information.
Feel free to comment on anything I write, especially if you can't quite figure out what I am trying to say or you don't understand a reference. I love to share. And besides, when you do so, I'll know someone else is out there.
Sometimes, it is important to act like an ameoba
I am going to split this blog into two. I have been pondering this for quite a while, and I realize that I must honor the title of this blog and stick to the technical stuff while writing under its umbrella.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the new blog, which will be dedicated to exploring humanity and its quirks, foibles, and other odd words, as well as me and mine. Mostly me and mine.
I have to find a good blog site/engine and an outstanding name for it.
Ideas, please!
And, thank you to all who read this, and to all who comment. You (and I) never know where your comments (and my responses) may take me, and I truly appreciate where I get to go!
Can I change the world? Can you?
I started out to write the following as a response to a comment I got regarding my last post, and decided, when I saw how long and involved it got, that it should be a separate thread.
The original post was about how so many people misuse and abuse the English language. So, I share with you the commenter's words, then mine:
Freiddie wrote:
The first issue I noticed is that "100s" is subject to confusion between "hundreds" and "100 seconds", but technically 100 seconds should be written as "100 s".
While you might be an enforcer of the English language, I find myself an enforcer of SI conventions. I agree it is important to stick to proper conventions in communications, because that is the only way to avoid ambiguity and confusion.
I don't know how many times I've heard of the improper use of "X and I/me". I read the proper usage from an English textbook in grade school and never forgot about it. It's true that very few people teach grammar systematically nowadays - what a shame.
I'm glad you stepped up to mention this -- I'd be too coward to talk about it.
My response:
Now that you bring that up, except for scientific and math documents, it probably should be "100 secs".
I hate to ask Freiddie, but what are "SI conventions"?
And I don't know that I am an "enforcer". That sounds so strong. I'm more of a "nudger". I don't go around with a marker fixing people's signs, although, if I could do it without getting arrested, I probably would.
Another interesting one MBH brought up is the use of the word "they" to denote an individual, instead of saying "he or she", "s/he", or "him or her". It's lazy to say "they".
Oh, yeah, and it's incorrect!
In terms of being a coward, I don't know. Social mores these days don't allow for criticism. Even highly constructive criticism is not well received by many people.
I used to walk around in my own little world, not realizing there were other people around. When someone crashed into my world, it was often a harsh interruption (or at least, perceived as one) and took me out of my comfort zone. I was immediately defensive. When I was "on guard", I wasn't always receptive to just anything being said, even if it was delivered politely or in a friendly way.
Something I learned about five or so years ago is that being an interruption for other people can change their perception of their reality radically, and for the positive, if done in an open and friendly way. An example might be to open a door for someone entering or leaving a store and saying something pleasant, such as, "good morning!" in a warm way (and actually meaning it). They get to see a human who just might care for them right at that moment and it can take them out of their contemplative state and into the reality of a world full of real people for a while. Maybe, hopefully, they will repay the kindness by being open to doing something positively for someone else later in the day.
The truth is, we never really (and most often cannot) know how our interactions with others affect them. Therefore, I try to be that interruption as my day goes on, and I try really hard not to have negative reactions to what other people do that appear thoughtless and, sometimes, dangerous. It can be difficult, but I remind myself that they aren't doing whatever they are doing aimed at doing it to me, they are just surviving in the world trying to get to their next appointment or figuring out what to make for dinner or some other issue they get to struggle with.
I know I sometimes come across harshly with my written words. I don't know how to do it better and still have time to do all the stuff that takes up my day. Running my own business is not an easy thing for me. After all, no matter how erudite I appear to be, I am not a natural-born businessperson. It takes a lot of work and struggling against much of my own nature. I work late hours and get up early, and I still struggle.
However, I constantly work at making it all easier and myself better. Maybe, someday, this will all be easier (BEFORE I die is the goal).
Maybe, someday, because of an interruption I was (or will be) to someone, the world will change and we'll all be nice to each other and care about how we speak and interact with each other. I'll never know, and that doesn't matter. I just hope, whether I am responsible for it or not, that it happens. And really soon.
I guess what I'm saying is that I really care about all this, and that's why I write about it. I am coming to realize that when I am annoyed, or even angry, it's not about the person or action I appear to be angry or annoyed about, but at myself for not being enough to change that behavior (not mine, but his or hers). It's taken me fifty years just to get to the point where I just begin to realize who my negative emotions are aimed at. I find that a little sad, but at least I am getting there.
I think the greatest thing for me is that MBH and I have a daughter who gets all that right now, and she is engaged to a man who gets it, too. So maybe that's my legacy. Cool, huh?
When I look at the stats for this blog, I see that 58 people visited my site yesterday. Not many in a world of 6 billion, but more than I would have had a chance to affect without the blog. Maybe a couple of them will read this and it will make some sort of impression on them, hopefully for the good, and they will pass it on to others.
And as you go through your day, pass it on, OK?
Maybe you 'n me, we should go learn to talk English gooder.
Did you catch the grammatical mistakes in the title of this post? I see at least four, maybe five.
For some people (e.g. me, MBH, and readers Ivan and Thomas), listening to others talk can be discordant sometimes. It's a lot like listening to a beautiful melody when someone hits the obviously wrong note. I've done that while singing in public and the reaction was swift and painful. The lesson I learned was to not sing in public anymore,
Now, I don't mean to insult anyone here. This is a sticky subject, and people take great offense sometimes to being corrected or criticized about the way they use English. Heck, I don't like to be criticized myself. However, most often the comments are useful. I've learned to think about the things people say about me and look constructively at those things to see whether making the change is important enough for me to act on {other than punching them in the mouth ;>)}.
And I know there are a few areas in the use of the English language where I sometimes misspeak. The most evident (especially to MBH) is when I say something like "It is important to he and I...". The correct wording is "It is important to him and me...", and I am working on that. Well, him and me are, anyway.
So I know. No one is perfect. Especially me.
So what??
If no one ever says anything about it publicly, it will NEVER be right. So, I have to try. (If you don't bet, you can't win.)
In my last post, which was about the Conficker.C worm, I mentioned a form of speech that many people don't use correctly, and I got several different comments on the statement about the issues some of us have with the way many (too many) people abuse the American English language. The abuse is not intentional.
Our schools don't teach sentence construction and proper word usage much anymore. (My daughter, the High School English Teacher will kick me for saying that, but I believe that statement is generally true.) Many journalists, in this time of instant "news" (do YOU care what Paris Hilton did while eating scrod last night?), don't run their scribblings past proofreaders in an effort to be first to report. When reading other blogs on the 'Net, it is obvious that many people don't read through their comments even once before hitting the Send button.
I was born an analyst, and through an interest in how to use English properly, I picked up all kinds of useful information during my early years - through school, books, newspapers, and other forms of communications. I love using language properly, because, when I do, people who are listening have a chance to really hear what I am saying.
Here's a reverse example of what I mean:
While listening to a commercial for a jewelry store yesterday, the person said (and read this carefully) "jewlery" in a sentence. There is no such word in either of the two proper English languages. The word is "joo-well-ree", not "joo-leh-ree". From that point on, I didn't hear anything else in the commercial except for the name of the "joo-leh-ree" store. With my English pronunciation prejudice, when I want to buy "joo-well-ree", I won't shop there. If someone doesn't take the language seriously, at what ELSE are they sloppy? ( I SAID it was a prejudice!) And besides, they probably don't even have any "joo-well-ree" amongst all the "joo-leh-ree" they sell.
The same goes for the way "Realtor' and "realty" are pronounced. There is no word pronounced "ree-lit-tor"; it's "ree-uhl-tor". There is no "ree-lit-tee", only "ree-uhl-tee".
When those words are pronounced properly, I don't notice them. They are just part of the symphony and I get to hear the music, not just a note. When they are not, I get distracted, and sometimes annoyed (prejudice, remember?). I am annoyed at the person for misspeaking, as well as the fact that I am now distracted (unnecessarily) from listening
The same goes for the written word, especially the written word. There are so many ways to proofread writing that there is almost no excuse for misspelling words, using poor (or bad) phrasing, misusing words or punctuation, or using words that don't exist. Are you aware that there is no such word as "irregardless"? The correct word is "regardless" (and my spell checker just confirmed it).
Another example is the difference between the terms "i.e." and "e.g." "e.g." means "for example". "i.e." means "that is". Although subtle, they are different. Often, one is mistaken for the other. Basically, "e.g." is used when you want to provide one or more examples of what you are saying, for example:
Sid wrote about the mispronunciation of several words, e.g., "realty" and "jewelry".
and "i.e." is used when rephrasing what was just said, e.g.,
Sid writes about stuff that is of interest to him, i.e., things he likes to do or think about.
There are probably better examples of the use of these terms out there. Look 'em up!
Lastly, I will talk about the poor apostrophe. It is so misused today that it lacks an identity.
The mighty apostrophe is used properly when it denotes a combination of two words into one (i.e., a contraction, and e.g., "won't", "can't", and "it's" for "will not", "cannot", and "it is").
It is also used when discussing possession, e.g., "Phil's blog", "Tom's comment", and "the room's color". The one counter example to that that I am aware of is "its" when talking about possession. That is possibly the most misunderstood and misused possessive of all. The possessive form for the word "it" is "its", with no apostrophe.
It is never proper to use the apostrophe for plurals (e.g., "there are several room's on the first floor", "the 1960's were good to me", and "We sell CD's and DVD's"). Those apostrophes are all used incorrectly.
When using acronyms, the letters of the acronym should be capitalized, while the "s" is lower case. And NO APOSTROPHE IS USED!!! (Sorry for shouting.) MLB and I have gone 'round and 'round about his. He doesn't agree with me, but he's just wrong!! (I'm tired of winking, so just assume one.)
However, whatever city I go to, I see examples of the apostrophe's misuse. I guess it's the "ree-lit-tors" that have signs saying their homes start in "the $300's". The signs that say "We have CD's and Record's for sale" drive me bonkers!
Wow! When I write this all down I sound like a fanatic, and "perception is reality", as "they" say. So, I guess I am.
However, these are not things I think about all the time. It usually only strikes me when I see or hear an example of misuse, because the misuse interrupts my ability to enjoy what I was reading or hearing.
I know the world, especially us fallible humans, will never be perfect. That's 'way too hard and too much to expect. Besides, if it was (and we were), I think life would be quite boring.
However, the point I am trying to make is that what we say and how we say it impacts our ability to communicate, because it can impact the listener or reader and interrupt their train of thought or perception. After all, when communicating with someone, we don't know how they listen or comprehend our writings. Therefore, if we are aware of that possibility, it is our responsibility to speak and write clearly and correctly.
But, only if we wish to make our point. (Sorry - bad sentence construction there! I used it to make a point.))
Oh, yeah. Another point - people don't like to be lectured to unless they pay for it or are formally invited. So, either consider yourself invited to read this post or send me money (email me and I'll send you my address, checks made out to "His Highness, Sid Plait", please).
Comment's, anyone? <|(;>)}
URGENT - Windows PC owners - take immediate heed!! (Mac owners - go back to having fun.)
Two cautionary tales for you that require IMMEDIATE attention:
Firstly - There is a worm (malware) that has infected many computers on the Internet and will activate itself on 1 April (and, no, this isn't a joke) called Conficker.C. Read more about it here and get a free tool to remove it here. If you don't do this, you are looking for trouble on the 1st. Read the article, run the removal tool. If you don't think you have it, run the tool anyway. You are much better off safe than sorry.
Secondly - Botnets are bad news. They are trojan horses that get on your system without you knowing it and they send whatever you do on your computer to someone you don't want to share the information with and you don't want to know (i.e., bad people). This article, posted on the MSNBC site, gives unsettling information about the breadth of this problem. BE AWARE, you may be infected and not know it.
HOW TO DO YOUR VERY BEST TO MAKE SURE YOUR DATA IS PRIVATE (besides never getting on the Internet):
Make sure your Internet security software is up to date and that your system has been scanned lately. (If you only have anti-virus software, you probably aren't protected. Get a full Internet security package.*) If you have even the slightest concern (and you should always have plenty of it, especially if you do any online banking, stock trading, purchasing of online goods, or log into ANY site whatsoever - which means YOU!), use a free online scanner to check out your PC. While online scanners typically do not remove harmful stuff from your computer, they at least alert you to problems not picked up by your security software. Remember (or KNOW if no one has told you this before), when malware gets loaded on your computer, the first thing it does is disable your security software from being able to detect the bad stuff. As a result, it is a good idea to perform an online scan every once in a while just to make sure everything's copasetic.
In my next post, I will discuss which Internet security product I suggest and why.
Thirdly - have you noticed how so many people use transition words (such as "firstly", "secondly", and more) incorrectly? I see so many news articles and hear many people just say "first" or "second". Poor English! (Another pet peeve of mine and the subject of another post. Oh, yeah, and MBH, be aware that I know that there are one or two things I say incorrectly. I am trying to be more cognizant of them.)
Lastly - "Be carful out there!"
________________________
* - A full Internet security package consists of a number of protection features, including anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-adware, possibly some other antis, and definitely a firewall. Some include parental controls to keep kids from accidentally or intentionally going to bad places on the Internet. Internet security packages are all updated constantly trying to keep up with the bad guys out there.
There are computer people out there that feel you should buy or download free copies of the individual aspects of Internet security products. Having worked with homeowners and small businesses for years, I know they will not keep up with individual products, because it takes lots of time. So use a whole package.
Jott it down over the phone
A couple of months ago, someone mentioned a site on the web that allows anyone to send messages anywhere through their telephone. That sounds pretty mundane, but there's more to it than it sounds.
I looked up Jott, and saw that I had a need for one of their services, Jott Assistant. Basically, it allows me to call a specific phone number, where I can leave a voice message that is transcribed to text and sent as an email to my mailbox. When I am on the road and a client calls wanting to set up an appointment, I can speed dial Jott and leave myself a message to make sure the appointment gets on my calendar as soon as I stop somewhere. When things are moving fast, I worry about forgetting to post an appointment and leaving a client waiting at home for me when I am not coming. With Jott, I don't have to worry about it.
The service is extremely simple to use, and is very inexpensive. There are two more services they offer with nice features. Check it out for yourself, and spread the word. Our roads are dangerous enough as it is. If we can avoid texting and writing notes while driving, maybe I will live a bit longer (and you, too)!
Apologies!
The other day, I posted about technology and unusual uses, as well as social networking. Thosell of you who subscribe to this site received four copies of the first post in your inbox. The error was mine, and I apologize for inundating you with messages.
That day, there were TWO posts, so the first message you got and the last one are different. I hope you read the last one, too.
Thanks for listening to my blatherings!
With Skype you get egg roll (or Spider, Rainbow, or California Roll)
I began a new chapter (or maybe continued an old one) in my life the other day, and technology made it all possible.
MBF (my best friend, other then my MBH - my better half) and I have known each other since 1986, when we both worked for (shudder) BellSouth in a startup technology group. As I tell people, much to their disbelief, it was an entrepreneurial organization within a Bell Telephone company. Whoda thunk?
Anyway, Peter and I became good friends over the years, and we developed a love for good sushi restaurants in Atlanta. We would meet once a month or so at Nakato on Cheshire Bridge Road and sit at the sushi bar and drink sake and eat (mostly) raw fish and seaweed and rice. We developed a love for Ama Ebi, or sweet shrimp. It is the only shrimp served raw (in the US, anyway), and they tempura the heads (tentacles and eyes and everything) and serve them.
MBF (my best friend, other then my MBH - my better half) and I have known each other since 1986, when we both worked for (shudder) BellSouth in a startup technology group. As I tell people, much to their disbelief, it was an entrepreneurial organization within a Bell Telephone company. Whoda thunk?
Anyway, Peter and I became good friends over the years, and we developed a love for good sushi restaurants in Atlanta. We would meet once a month or so at Nakato on Cheshire Bridge Road and sit at the sushi bar and drink sake and eat (mostly) raw fish and seaweed and rice. We developed a love for Ama Ebi, or sweet shrimp. It is the only shrimp served raw (in the US, anyway), and they tempura the heads (tentacles and eyes and everything) and serve them.
I also favor seaweed salad and Spider Rolls (tempuraed soft-shell crab meat in a wonderful roll, served warm). Mmmmmmmmmm!!
After Peter and HIS BH (Melissa) moved to Asheville, NC, it became our custom to go out for sushi together every time either of us was in the other's town. It has been fun, but the visits have been fewer and farther between over the years than when we inhabited the same city.
So about two months ago, Peter suggested we both get Hue web cams and, every so often, "get together" over the Internet and have sushi! Well, last Monday, we did that very thing.
I went to a sushi place near my home that has a terrific sushi bar (Osaka, for those of you in the area - their food is great!) and picked up a Dragon Roll and some nigiri, wasabi, and ginger, and called Peter over Skype* at the promised time. The only things missing were the warm sake (I will rectify that next time by buying a bottle and keeping it at home), being able to hug each other, and having the sushi chef to thank before ringing off. (I still leave a tip.)
So, we have modified an old tradition of ours using technology so that we can partake of specially prepared fish more often. It isn't exactly the same, but it's better than waiting until we can be in the same city. I am going to suggest to him that we do it again next Monday.
After Peter and HIS BH (Melissa) moved to Asheville, NC, it became our custom to go out for sushi together every time either of us was in the other's town. It has been fun, but the visits have been fewer and farther between over the years than when we inhabited the same city.
So about two months ago, Peter suggested we both get Hue web cams and, every so often, "get together" over the Internet and have sushi! Well, last Monday, we did that very thing.
I went to a sushi place near my home that has a terrific sushi bar (Osaka, for those of you in the area - their food is great!) and picked up a Dragon Roll and some nigiri, wasabi, and ginger, and called Peter over Skype* at the promised time. The only things missing were the warm sake (I will rectify that next time by buying a bottle and keeping it at home), being able to hug each other, and having the sushi chef to thank before ringing off. (I still leave a tip.)
So, we have modified an old tradition of ours using technology so that we can partake of specially prepared fish more often. It isn't exactly the same, but it's better than waiting until we can be in the same city. I am going to suggest to him that we do it again next Monday.
How have YOU used technology in a unique, weird, or otherwise unsane way that is legal?
* - There are other video telephony services on the web. If you are planning to use one, just Google (or click this link) "free web video telephone services".
Social Networking is NOT for the unthinking!
For some, social networking is out of control. There are people out there twittering their entire lives away without thought to what they are saying or doing. (Is that why they are called "twits"?) If you read the comic strip Doonesbury over the past several weeks, you saw a parody of a "journalist" tweeting his stories. It is a sad commentary on how some people use that service. (Click the link for the first strip in the series. This one is the second in the series and sets up the character, in case you don't know who Roland Hedley is.)
I stay away from Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, mostly because I just don't have time to get lost in them, as so many do. There are huge risks to using those networks, and I don't like to risk my privacy. (BTW - the history of each of these sites and others can be found on the Wikipedia site.)
Kids give up enough information for bad people to figure out their online passwords (and sometimes even their parents' passwords). I don't need to know your birthday or your dog's name. Oh, and by the way, that is exactly the kind of info many people use for their passwords. Worse yet, I don't need to know your best friend's birth date or dog's name. You might be giving away SOMEONE ELSE'S passwords!!
Some people even share what they ate for breakfast and how many times they went to the bathroom today. This is stuff I REALLY don't want to know. You wouldn't tell me that when we meet on the street. Why (oh, WHY) would you think I'd want to share that information with 1000 of your closest friends??
I know there are good reasons to use social networking. For instance, I use LinkedIn to keep in touch with professional friends and acquaintances. There are work- and job-related reasons for doing so, and they make sense.
But, as I said above, some people are out of control. That story is a cautionary tale.
So, please, if you use social networking sites, use critical thinking (other definitions of the term can be found here and here) when posting information. Think about what you are posting. If you think it might be even the slightest bit negative, wait an hour before posting it. If you still feel obligated to post it, by all means, do so. Just be aware that you might be hanging yourself.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I started this blog about six or so months ago. I want to thank all of you who read it, and especially those who comment. You all add a little bit to my life! I hope I do the same for you.
So, on to 2009 and better times!