Wednesday 14th June 2017
Q&AMalwarebytes
Linda asked how to download the free on-demand virus scanner rather than the full anti-virus product. Go to https://www.malwarebytes.com and click on Free Download to download and install Malwarebytes.
This will install a 14-day "Free Trial" version which gives full, real-time anti-virus protection (i.e. it will replace Windows Defender). After the 14-day trial, if you do nothing, it will revert to an on-demand virus scanner. You can turn off the real-time protection before the 14-day period ends by going to Settings, Protection and turning off all 4 items under the Real-Time Protection heading.
To check which real-time anti-virus app is in use, Press the Windows Key (or click the Start button) and type Security and Maintenance. Press Enter or click on it to run the Security and Maintenance Control Panel applet. Click on Security to expand it and check under Virus Protection.
Anti-Virus
The above question led to some discussion on Anti-Virus (AV). My view is that the free AV called Windows Defender which is built into Windows 10 (and Windows 8.x) is perfectly adequate and there is no need to spend money on third-party AV products such as Norton or McAfee. In fact, there is a school of thought that using third-party AV on Windows may increase the risk of attack rather than reduce it - for example, see this article:-
https://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2017/01/antivirus-is-bad/
It was mentioned that some Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including BT, now offer a free version of an AV product such as McAfee. Although you might be getting the product for free, bearing in mind what I said above, there is still little or nothing to be gained, in my view, from installing any third-party AV on Windows 10.
Printer Problem
Linda had a wireless printer which could be found by an iPad but was not working from the PC. I suggested uninstalling the printer software and then re-installing it, carefully following the manufacturer's instructions. To uninstall the software, click on Start, Settings, Apps, Apps & features and find the printer software in the list. Click on it and click Uninstall. (Note if you are still on Windows 10 version 1607, it's Start, Settings, System, Apps & features).
Next, open Control Panel by pressing the Windows Key or clicking on Start and typing Control Panel. Click on Devices and Printers and look for the printer that is not working correctly. Right-click on it and select Remove device.
Having removed the problem printer software and drivers, you can re-install using the CD/DVD or downloading the installation software from the printer manufacturer's web site.
Alternatively, you can try using the Add a printer function in Devices and Printers.
Email Apps
We had some discussion about email apps. First, it is worth noting that there are two ways to access email. You can use a browser and go to to the relevant web site and sign in. For example, if you have a Gmail account you would go to gmail.com. This is really the most direct approach. The other method is by using an Email App (also known as an Email Client). Examples of mail apps are Mail on Windows 10, Mail on Apple iOS, etc. A point of confusion is that some email providers also produce a mail app. For example, on Android or iOS, there is an app called Gmail, but this is not restricted to accessing just your Gmail account, it can also access any other email account you may have. Similarly the Yahoo Mail app can access any email accounts, not just Yahoo. You can install a number of mail apps on your device at the same time and compare them. Provided they are all set up to access mail using IMAP, there will be no conflict between them.
Most apps can change the Inbox view to group emails as "conversations" which puts all emails from a sender together rather than simply putting them in date order. The Windows 10 Mail app also has what it calls "Focused Inbox" which places the important ones together. Things like Focused View and Conversation View can be turned on or off in the app's settings.
Locking Devices
Where you set up apps to access your services, e.g. your email, Facebook, etc, anyone who gets access to your device could also access that service. For this reason, it is wise to set mobile devices to lock when the device goes into Sleep - you will then need to unlock it when you wake it by using a fingerprint or passcode. Both iOS and Android allow you to set a time delay of, say, 5 minutes after the device sleeps before it will lock.
On Windows 10, you can return to the Lock Screen at any time by pressing Windows Key+L, and you will then need to enter your password to resume (unless you have a local account with no password, which is a bad idea!). You can set the system to lock automatically after a period of inactivity by going to Start, Settings, Personalisation, Lock Screen, Screen Saver Settings where you can select a suitable Screen Saver and tick the box labelled On resume, display log-on screen.
News
WannaCry Ransomware
On
Friday 12th May, organisations across the world, including the NHS
in the UK, were seriously affected by malicious ransomware called WannaCry.
This, like other ransomware, encrypted the user’s data files (including any drives connected to the system) and asked for the
payment of a ransom (in bitcoin) for the decryption key. In addition to
encrypting files on one machine, this malware was able to spread to other PCs
on the same network or other systems on the Internet. Malware that spreads in
this way is called a worm. Microsoft
had released an update back in March which would have prevented this exploit spreading
from machine to machine. Unfortunately, many systems had not had the update
applied, so were still vulnerable. Windows XP has not been supported since
April 2014, so it remained vulnerable. However, Microsoft have now released a
patch for XP.
It
is possible that the initial infection on a machine could also be caused by
clicking on a link or attachment in an email. Even though a fully patched
Windows 10 system could not be infected by the worm, it could still be
introduced to the PC by such user actions.
More Q&A
What is Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a decentralised, digital currency. It is often the chosen currency of the crooks behind various scams and malware attacks such as the WannaCry worm mentioned above. For a simple explanation of how Bitcoin works, have a look at this video:-
Windows Privacy Settings
You are asked to set your Privacy settings when Windows 10 is first installed, but you can change them at any time by going to Start, Settings, Privacy. You can then view and change a whole range of privacy options.
In addition, I like to change the way Windows Updates are delivered. You can do this by going to Start, Settings, Update & Security, Windows Update, Advanced options, Choose how updates are delivered. In addition to Updates coming directly from Microsoft, you can allow them to be downloaded from other PCs. This can be just PCs on your local network (i.e. connected to your router) or any PCs on the Internet worldwide. I would suggest you either turn this off, or restrict it to just PCs on your local network.
How To Print Fractions
Ray asked about printing fractions.
In Word, the AutoCorrect function can automatically replace the three characters "1/2" with the single character "½". To enable or disable this function in Word, go to File, Options, Proofing, AutoFormat As You Type and (un)tick the Fractions box.
LibreOffice Writer does something similar using the AutoCorrect function. To configure this, go to Tools, Options, AutoCorrect, AutoCorrect Options, Replace and add or remove the required item in the replacement list.
Other programs, such as your email app, may not have such an auto-correct function, but you can directly enter the single character representing, say ½, by typing the appropriate Alt Code. To find the Alt Code, launch Character Map (click Start and type Character Map). In the Character Map window, choose the required font and and then look for the character you want and click on it. For example for ½, you will see, in the bottom right corner "Keystroke: Alt+0189". This means that you can enter this character by holding down the Alt key, pressing "0189" on the numeric key pad and then releasing the Alt key. Note, you must use the numeric pad, it will NOT work using the numbers on the top row of the keyboard. If you have a laptop without a numeric pad, it may have a function key (Fn) which allows other keys to emulate the numeric pad.
There are only a small number of simple fractions which can be represented by a single character. To print others, you may be able to modify the font using subscript and superscript in some programs (e.g. Word or LibreOffice).
You can add specialised fonts which display more fractions, but you will probably have to pay for them.
In Word, the AutoCorrect function can automatically replace the three characters "1/2" with the single character "½". To enable or disable this function in Word, go to File, Options, Proofing, AutoFormat As You Type and (un)tick the Fractions box.
LibreOffice Writer does something similar using the AutoCorrect function. To configure this, go to Tools, Options, AutoCorrect, AutoCorrect Options, Replace and add or remove the required item in the replacement list.
Other programs, such as your email app, may not have such an auto-correct function, but you can directly enter the single character representing, say ½, by typing the appropriate Alt Code. To find the Alt Code, launch Character Map (click Start and type Character Map). In the Character Map window, choose the required font and and then look for the character you want and click on it. For example for ½, you will see, in the bottom right corner "Keystroke: Alt+0189". This means that you can enter this character by holding down the Alt key, pressing "0189" on the numeric key pad and then releasing the Alt key. Note, you must use the numeric pad, it will NOT work using the numbers on the top row of the keyboard. If you have a laptop without a numeric pad, it may have a function key (Fn) which allows other keys to emulate the numeric pad.
There are only a small number of simple fractions which can be represented by a single character. To print others, you may be able to modify the font using subscript and superscript in some programs (e.g. Word or LibreOffice).
You can add specialised fonts which display more fractions, but you will probably have to pay for them.
Next Computer Club Session
Wed
12th July 2017 1:30 to 3:30pm.
