Wednesday 14^th February 2018

Browser Favourites/Bookmarks

All web browsers (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Safari, etc) allow you to 'bookmark' a web page so that you can easily return to it at a later date. Some browsers refer to these bookmarked web pages at 'favourites'. Safari, the default browser on your Apple iPad or iPhone, uses both terms, where 'Favourites' are the special bookmarks that you might use very frequently and they appear as soon as you tap the Address Bar.

If you have built up a collection of bookmarked web pages, it is a good idea to backup this list, just in case you have to re-install your browser or operating system, or if you move to a new device. Brian raised this issue last time and, after the last meeting, I found this site (which I mentioned in the last blog) which explains how to export/backup your browser Bookmarks/Favourites on a number of different browsers:-

https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000524.htm

This explains the process on a PC. If you use the same browser across several platforms, for example, using Chrome on your PC and your iPad, you can sync your bookmarks between them, provided you sign into both with the same Google account.

iPhone Restore Problem
Tony mentioned that he did not get all his apps on his new iPhone when he set it up by restoring data from iTunes. I suspect he should have restored his data from iCloud instead. iPhones and iPads can be set to automatically backup to iCloud whenever they are charging and on Wi-Fi, so I would expect to find a recent backup on iCloud. Backing up to iTunes (i.e. backing up to your PC using a USB connection) is not an automatic process, so the iTunes backup may have been much older.

It might be useful to talk more about the backup settings on both iOS and Android next month.

Multiple Accounts on iPhones/iPads
Linda asked about moving things from her iCloud storage (which is quite full) to her husbands iCloud storage. I'm afraid I did not really answer this question at the session. However, I think you may be able to achieve this by logging into iCloud.com on a PC. If the bulk of the information is in iCloud Drive or Photos, you could download the files or photos to the PC and delete them from iCloud. Then log out of that iCloud account and log into the other one and upload the files or photos as required. I will go over this again at the next session.

Multiple Users on Windows PCs
Windows, unlike iOS, is designed for multi-user use. The ideal way to set up a PC, in my opinion, for several users is as follows:-

1. Create a Local User as an Administrator. An Administrator can add/remove software and change system settings, so this account would only be used for that purpose.
2. Create Microsoft Accounts for other users who will all be Standard Users. This means that, in everyday use, users will not have Admin rights. This is more secure, since, if you were hacked, that hacker would also be unable to install software or change security settings without knowing the Administrator password.

So, if Alice and Fred Jones use the same PC, they could set it up as follows:-

• A Local Account (with a password) called "Jones" which is an Administrator account,
• A Microsoft Account for Alice which is a Standard account, and
• A Microsoft Account for Fred which is a Standard account.

If Fred or Alice need to install some software, they don't have to log out, but they would need to enter the password for Jones.

Meltdown and Spectre - Update

We discussed these two recently discovered processor vulnerabilities last time. Security expert, Steve Gibson, has produced an easy-to-use program for checking how exposed your Windows PC is to these vulnerabilities. The program is called “InSpectre” and can be downloaded from the Gibson Research Corporation web site at:-

https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

Just download and then double-click on the file to run the program – it does not require installation.

While there have been some reports of anti-virus companies finding sample code potentially using these exploits, these do not appear to be fully-fledged attacks.  These are difficult exploits for the hackers to use, and some doubt that any wide-spread serious attacks will ever happen – see:-

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/02/there-no-evidence-wild-malware-using-meltdown-or-spectre/

All you can do is make sure that you do all the Microsoft Updates (which should be automatic), and apply any updates that your computer manufacturer may offer you.

Biggest Tech Companies

Following on from a discussion that cropped up at the last session, I thought we should take a quick look at who the biggest technology companies are. Company size can be looked in various ways, but this is the Fortune Global 500 list of Technology companies ranked by revenue:-

http://fortune.com/global500/list/filtered?sector=Technology

1 Apple - $216 billion.

2 Samsung - $174 billion.

3 Amazon - $136 billion.

4 Hon Hai - $135 billion (known as Foxconn, assembles phones for Apple and others)

5 Alphabet - $90 billion (better known as the parent of Google)

6 Microsoft - $85 billion

Chinese chip and phone manufacturer Huawei comes in at number 9 with revenue of $78 billion, Chinese PC maker Lenovo is number 19 with $43 billion and Facebook at number 31 with $28 billion.

Google Doodles
While showing the Google search page, someone commented on the special Google logo for Valentine's Day. These special Google logos crop up for particular events and are known as "Google Doodles". If you want to have a look at some past ones go to:-
https://www.google.com/doodles

DNS

If you have registered with the Cheshire Police Alert system (https://www.cheshirepolicealert.co.uk/), you may have recently received information about changing your DNS settings to Quad9. We did look at DNS and, in particular, how to use OpenDNS back in October 2012, which unfortunately, was before I started this blog! The explanation of OpenDNS is still available in my documents – use the link on the right to All Roger’s documents and look for Quick Guide No 01.

DNS is the Internet’s Domain Name System, which is the equivalent of a giant phone book for web addresses. The Internet actually uses IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to find web pages. However, to make things simpler for us humans, we tend to type in web addresses in words. Here is a 6-minute video which explains the process in fairly simple terms:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQZVYPuDGU

By default, you will be using the DNS server provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), but other free alternatives are available:-

1.      OpenDNS is currently owned by Cisco and was launched in 2006. It’s addresses are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. For details see
https://www.opendns.com

2.       Public DNS is operated by Google and it uses IP addresses of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. See:-
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/

3.       Quad9 uses 9.9.9.9 (hence the name!) and was launched last year in partnership with IBM. This is their web site:-
https://www.quad9.net

So they are all backed by large, trustworthy organisations.

Theses alternative DNS providers may offer benefits of speed and extra security over your ISP's service including some protection from fake or malicious web sites. Check the above web sites and google for reviews for more information.

Changing the DNS settings in your router is not too difficult (except on BT Home Hubs!), but the exact details vary between models. Try googling for instructions for your particular router. You access your router from a web browser. You will need to know the IP number of your router and enter this in the browser’s Address Bar. You will need to know the username and password to access the router. This may be found on a label on the back or base of the router. Router’s have a default username and password which will apply if you ‘factory reset’ the router, but these should always be changed (usually by your ISP if they supplied the router) to something unique to prevent your router being easily hacked. Once you have signed in, you can change the DNS settings and reboot the router.

For more details on accessing your router, have a look at Quick Guide No 21 in my documents.

Backup on Windows 10
Brian made the point that you should use File Explorer from time to time to check that you are actually saving the backups you think you are!

The simplest backup on W10 is File History. To enable this, connect an external hard drive and go to Start, Settings, Update & Security, Backup. File History backs up files that have changed every hour in the typical user folders - you can click on More options to modify the folder list. You can view the backed up files by using File Explorer and selecting one of the backed up folders and clicking on History on the Home tab. Use the left/right arrows at the bottom of the screen to go back in time or forward again.

Having a hard drive always connected may not protect you if you are attacked by crypto-malware which encrypts all data folders it can find and then demands payment to decrypt them. So I would suggest having a second hard drive which you only connect from time to time to do a full back up, then immediately disconnect it again.

Next Session

Wed 14^th March 2018 1:30 to 3:30pm.
As mentioned above, I will try to cover:-

• Backup settings on iOS and Android.
• Transferring data between iCloud accounts using a PC.

I also hope to cover the "Find My Phone" functions which are built into iOS and Android.