Futurelawyer

It's Y2K All Over Again!

Y2K - It's Back! Remember the kerfuffle in 1999, when the Y2K bug hit, and all sorts of computer programs that weren't programmed to deal with dates after 2000 started to fail? That was a 500 billion dollar worldwide problem; and, while it wasn't the end of the world, we thought it was behind us. Well, wait a minute, Kemosabi. Some programmers used a quick fix that changed 2000 to 2020. Nice round number; but, guess what? We are still running some of that software 20 years later. New York's parking meters have to be manually reprogrammed because of the bug. Computers are stupid, and will only know what you tell them. This might explain:

"Say you are an institution founded in 1920. It is safe to assume that you are not sitting on any information dated from before then; and so, in the double-digit date-recording system, "20" becomes your pivot year. This means that data containing a two-digit year between "00-20" will be treated as post-2000, while years between 20-99 will be interpreted as referring to the previous century." Daphne LaPrince Ringuet.

                                                          

Sometimes You Don't Want To Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name

DuckDuckGo In addition to using a VPN to anonymize your Internet access and usage, if you really want to be anonymous on the net, you need a search engine that doesn't track you and doesn't know what you search for. DuckDuckGo doesn't track you, doesn't bombard you with ads, and generally leaves you alone. Sometimes, you don't want to go where everybody knows your name. DuckDuckGo is the search engine for that. Before you make judgments about why someone might want to remain anonymous, remember that lawyers sometimes do work for clients that must remain confidential. In fact, lawyers have a duty to keep their clients' secrets. Anonymity can be  used for good purposes. Be careful out there.

How To Safely Erase Your Hard Drive

How to securely erase your hard drive | PCWorld. There are a lot of reasons to erase the data on a computer drive. You have personal stuff on there. You may be selling or giving away the computer. You may be about to be arrested. You may be about to be sued. Okay, the last two are illegal; but, whatever your reasons, there is only one way to be certain. You know what that is. Just be careful out there.  

You Already Are Using Two Factor Authentication - Don't Stop Now

Why you (and your family) should be using two-factor authentication and a password manager | Android Central. I hate to be the Grinch today; but, I must protect you from yourself. You got hacked? Guess why? You didn't lock the door. You are already using two factor authentication. Why stop now? Protect your data. Protect your friends. What, you say? I don't even know what it is. Well, you can't call yourself a reader of this blog if you don't know that I am always bringing it up. Question. Do you have a credit card? Do you find it annoying that merchants are always asking you for the little 3 or 4 digit code on it? Guess what? That is two factor authentication. They are asking for something only the person with the card in hand can know. That's you, unless your physical card is stolen; and, in that event, you should have cancelled the card. Your website use and computer use is the same thing. Use it on every site that allows it. Use it on Google. Use it on Facebook. Use it on every social media site. Take some time to set it up, and you won't be the person warning all their friends that you got hacked. Be safe out there.

Phishing Scams - Don't Take The Bait

How a Password Manager Protects You From Phishing Scams. By now, you should already be aware that clicking links in email, when you are aren't certain of the source, can be dangerous. Scammers can get your passwords, email, and banking information by loading malware on your computer without your knowledge. However, any systems that automatically inserts passwords can also protect you, because you aren't using the keyboard to type characters and numbers on the screen. So, password managers, and even browser extensions that save passwords, can be an additional layer of protection. Be careful out there.

CloudHQ - It's In The Cloud

Gmail Productivity Tools | Sync, Migration and Back up - cloudHQ. When Diane informed me she had lost or deleted all of the wedding related emails by accident, I immediately attempted to locate them on my system. I had them all stored in a label and I quickly realized that forwarding them to her one at a time would take all day. I have much better things to do with my time, so I started searching for bulk forwarding solutions online. That is when I discovered CloudHQ, which has dozens of web enabled apps for Gmail and other cloud services. It is pricey if you buy them all, so I am just using the free ones for now. Forward 20 a day for free, and $15 a month for unlimited forwarding. But, the coolest free service they provide I am using right now. Like most of you, I have several cloud storage services; in my case, more, but the ones I use all the time are Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive. It is a real pin to figure out what has been stored in which service. CloudHQ provides a tool that syncs the files in both, so that you have a single, redundant cloud back up of the files you store. Very cool. I might have to pay for CloudHQ if it works out. What's in your backup files?

Time Is Money - Speed Up That Computer

Windows 10 quick tips: 13 ways to speed up your PC | Computerworld. You know who you are. You never back up your data. You never install computer updates. You never check computer properties and clean up unused programs or data. You don't look at ways to make your computer run faster. In short, you treat your computer like some people treat their cars. They don't check tire pressure, change the oil, keep it clean, and so forth. Then, when the computer starts sputtering, slows down, or otherwise breaks down, you blame the computer instead of the person using it. Saturday is a good day to get your act together. So, clean out the Recycle Bin, turn off file indexing, update your programs and drivers, delete unused Programs, and generally do some computer Spring Cleaning. You will be glad you did. I promise. I am FutureLawyer.

Android Phone? Install Malwarebytes Now.

Unrelenting %u201Cad blocker%u201D plasters users with%u2014you guessed it%u2014ads | Ars Technica. Unwanted ads, while not necessarily dangerous, can ruin the computing experience on a smartphone. If an ad pops up every minute on your phone, annoying is not a strong enough word to describe a user's frustration. So, a false flag app that claims to be an adblocker that actually serves up ads really sucks. You may have Malwarebytes or other antimalware, antivirus program on your computer. But, you need it on your phone as well. I don't know why ad serving programs are called PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs). Trust me, they aren't wanted on my phone. Be safe out there.

Spies Are Everywhere - Protect Yourself

How to Protect Yourself From Unethical or Illegal Spying. The best security software for Windows is Malwarebytes, and I have written about it before. It is the first program I install on every new computer. Less than $50 a year, and worth ten times that. But, it is also available for Android, and is a great way to stop spyware in its tracks. Since you have your phone with you everywhere, and your life and its data and your clients' data resides on it, or is accessible in the cloud, it is essential that you do everything possible to protect it. The Android version is only $12.99 a year. Do it now.

Will Backups Protect You From Ransomware?

Will your backups protect you against ransomware? | CSO Online. Hackers who encrypt your files, and demand ransom to get the decryption key, are on the rise. In effect, the hackers are kidnapping your data and programs. Malwarebytes, and other software solutions, are the first line of defense. An educated user base that doesn't engage in risky computer behavior is the second. But, the best defense against ransomware is a recent clean image of the drive which can restore the computer with minimal loss of data. This is more complicated than it seems, as some organizations have discovered, too late, that their backup plan isn't working. The best thing you can do is to have a good backup plan, and stick to it. Then, test it. Be careful out there.