USB Hub
We had a quick discussion about USB hubs before most people had joined the meeting. A USB Hub is a device which plugs into one USB port and provides a number of output ports. This is useful if you have more USB devices than you have ports to plug them into.
Some USB Hubs are unpowered, just deriving their power from the USB port. This is OK if you only plug in a small number of low-power devices. Better, certainly for a desktop system, is a powered hub, which will have a mains power supply.
Family History via Cheshire Library
Margaret mentioned that both Ancestry and Find My Past can be accessed via your Cheshire library account - see:-
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/libraries/eresources/family-history-and-local-studies.aspx
Report
Spam Texts
Ofcom
offer some advice on dealing with spam text messages:-
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-texts
As I have mentioned before, they advise that you should not reply to a spam text message, as this will simply confirm that your number is active and could encourage more messages or calls to be sent to you.
They do offer a way to report spam texts, by forwarding them to 7726. This is easy to remember as it’s the same as typing SPAM on a standard phone keypad. They state that there is no cost for forwarding texts to this number.
You may recall that we have previously mentioned that you can report spam email to the National Cyber Security Centre by forwarding them to:-report@phishing.gov.uk
While
this lets you report spam texts or emails, you are unlikely to get any specific
response.
Which?
Scam Alerts
Which?
are offering a free scam alert service which will send you regular emails on
the latest scams. You can sign up here:-
https://campaigns.which.co.uk/scam-alert-service/
BBC
Reporter Records Scam Phone Call
Thanks
to Phil for passing this one on to me.
BBC Radio 4 Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth recorded a telephone call with a scammer who claimed to be from HMRC. The scammer says that a fee of nearly £2,000 must be paid immediately to avoid arrest and subsequent courts fees or imprisonment. You can listen to the whole call here:-https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-56543849
This was featured on Radio 4’s Money Box programme on 27th March. You can listen to the whole programme on BBC Sounds here:-https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000tmb4
Scams
We had a general discussion about various phone and email scams. You might find this Age UK "Avoiding Scams" document interesting - it covers all types of scams:-
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/information-guides/ageukig05_avoiding_scams_inf.pdf
Is
Your Phone Number in a Data Breach
We
have mentioned the “Have I Been Pwned” (HIPB) web site before for checking if
your email address and password are in any known data breaches.
Data from 533 million Facebook users dating back over 2 years has recently been made widely available on a hacking forum. The majority of these records did not include an email address, although most did include a phone number. So, Troy Hunt, who runs the HIPB site, has added the ability to search the site using a phone number.
This
recent BBC article explains more:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56650387
You
can go directly to the Have I Been Pwned site at:-
https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Legacy
Edge Removed
As
mentioned at the February Club, yesterday’s Patch Tuesday update to Windows 10
removes the legacy version of the Edge browser, leaving just the new
Chromium-base version. If you are
already using the new Edge, nothing much will change – just the old version
will be removed. If you are still using
the old version, you will find it has been replaced by the new one.
Other Browsers and FLoC
Phil mentioned one of the many other alternative web browsers, Vivaldi. Vivaldi is also Chromium-based and claims to be very customisable. You can find out more and download it here:-
https://vivaldi.com/
Other browsers based on Chromium include Opera and Brave, which is the one I use. Brave aims to be very privacy-focused. The only major browsers that are not based on Chromium are Firefox and Apple's Safari.
While looking at the Vivaldi web site, we notice that it states that it does not support "FLoC". FLoC stands for Federated Learning of Cohorts, which does not really help to explain what it does! Google are experimenting with FLoC as a potential replacement for third-party cookies. The idea is to provide a system which cannot track you as an individual, yet can still identify like-minded groups (using a FLoC ID) which advertisers can use to target groups with relevant ads. You can find articles explaining more about FLoC, such as this from The Verge:-
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22358287/privacy-ads-google-chrome-floc-cookies-cookiepocalypse-finger-printing
Amazon Prime
We had some discussion about Amazon Prime. This is an Amazon service which provides free next-day delivery and gives access to Amazon Prime's streaming service which works in a similar fashion to Netflix. You can also stream over 2 million songs. There is usually a 30-day free trial period, so, as Cherry pointed out, you can just sign up for a month and cancel and it will not cost you anything. This is useful if you are planning to make a lot of Amazon orders that month, or you want to watch a series that is on Amazon Prime TV. Amazon Prime TV is available on smart TVs, Roku, Fire TV and similar devices.
For more details on Amazon Prime, see:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazonprime
Streaming Devices
Phil pointed out that you can take a device, such as an Amazon Fire TV stick, or Roku and use them while on holiday in a hotel, etc. Obviously, you need to have fairly good wi-fi access. It may work in some other countries, although some services will only work in certain regions.
We had some discussion of the speed required for streaming TV. Netflix recommend 3Mbs for watching Standard Definition or 5Mbs for HD.
HDMI Adapter
Cherry asked how to connect additional HDMI devices (such as Roku or Amazon Fire sticks) to a TV if all the HDMI ports are already in use. You can purchase an HDMI Switch which has multiple inputs and one HDMI output which plugs into an HDMI port on your TV. This 3-port device on Amazon for £8.99 has a button to switch between the inputs:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GANA-Switcher-Splitter-Supports-HD1080p-HDMI-switch-1080p/dp/B075R2DFJ1/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=hdmi+switch&qid=1618492462&sr=8-5
This switch has a remote control for switching between the inputs:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/mrocioa-Switcher-Remote-Splitter-Support-Blue/dp/B0815V9HVP/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=hdmi%2Bswitch&qid=1618492549&sr=8-4&th=1
In many cases, switching between the inputs will happen automatically when a device is first powered on.
iPad
Storage
Tony
raised this issue.
You
can check how much space you have available on your iPad/iPhone by going to:-
Settings,
General, iPad/iPhone Storage
This will show the total storage of the device (e.g. 32GB, 64GB, etc) and how much of that is used. The Operating System and Apps occupy some of this space, together with Photos and any other files. If you have too little space, the iPad/iPhone will not be able to do an update directly – you will have to connect it to a PC or Mac to do this.
Apps
You
can look through the apps and remove any you don’t want or use. You can automatically offload unused
apps. To do this, go to:-
Settings,
App Store, Offload Unused Apps
Photos
Ensure
that iCloud Photos is enabled. Go
to:-
Settings,
Your Name, iCloud, Photos
Turn
on iCloud Photos – this will automatically upload photos to iCloud (when
connected to wi-fi).
Ensure
Optimise iPad Storage is ticked.
You
need to have enough storage space in your iCloud for all your photos, backups,
etc. The free 5GB may not be enough, but
you can purchase more by going to:-
Settings,
Your Name, iCloud, Change Storage Plan
The next step after the free 5GB is 50GB for 79p per month – this would probably be enough for most people.
Here
are 2 articles with more on this topic:-
https://www.howtogeek.com/434257/how-to-check-available-storage-on-an-iphone-or-ipad/
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/delete-other-storage-ios-ipad-3794386/
The
second article looks at storage space categorised as “Other”. Unfortunately, Apple do not provide a simple
one-button option to optimise this area of storage, but there are some things
you can try, including reducing how long Messages are kept by going to:-
Settings,
Message, Message History
The default is Forever, so you might try reducing this to either 1 Year or 30 Days.
Finally, there is the “nuclear option” – completely reset your iPad/iPhone and set it up again from scratch. This process could take an hour or more and you must have your Apple ID and password together with the 2-Factor phone number. If you are unsure about this information, first go to https://appleid.apple.com/ on a PC and attempt to sign in. If this is successful, then you know you have the correct password. Once signed in, check for Trusted Phone Numbers in the Security section and edit these if necessary.
On
your iPad/iPhone, go to:-
Settings,
General, Reset, Erase All Content and Settings
Choose
the option to Backup Then Erase – ensure you have enough iCloud storage
space for the backup. You will need to
confirm your Apple ID to erase.
The
device will be set back to its “as new” condition. During the setup, choose to Set up Manually
and Restore from iCloud Backup.
You
will have to set up your Passcode and fingerprint again.
All
your apps and data should be restored from the backup.
I tried this on my own iPad and found I had about 2GB more storage space available.
Google Photos
In the past, I have recommended using the Google Photos app on iPhones/iPads instead of using iCloud Photos. Google used to offer unlimited storage for photos. However, from 1st June this year, adding photos with Google Photos will count towards your 15GB of free Google Drive storage. This is still more generous than Apple's limit of 5GB free on iCloud. If you want more storage on Google Drive, you can purchase more with a Google One subscription. For example, 100GB costs £1.59 per month - see here for more details:-
https://one.google.com/about/plans
Next Session
Wed
12th May 2021 at 2 pm by Zoom.
