Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the podcast of today’s show will be here. Recent shows are here.

 

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio. Today’s show ran a bit long — about 20 minutes into the following hour.

 

Glenn thanked the listeners who support KVMR. If you’d like to make a contribution, please visit kvmr.org.

The show started with talk about automobiles. Paul was helping someone whose car’s engine warning light came on along with strange noises and smells.
– Cars made since the 1990s come with onboard diagnostics.
– You need a code reader device to decipher what’s wrong.
– You can take the car to Auto Zone and they’ll loan you a reader
– “The diagnostic system itself tests itself at times”
– When the engine light comes on you should stop as soon as possible and when it’s safe to do so. You should stop and turn the engine off. Don’t wait until an exit ramp.
– When something goes wrong with the automobile you should stop driving it and find out if the check engine light indicates a serious problem.
– Cars of a more recent vintage have more sensors that can cause the check engine light to come on, but the warning systems aren’t yet smart enough to pinpoint the exact problem.

The power steering is designed to work, though with greater effort on your part, when the something goes wrong and the power assist no longer works. As with cars lacking power steering, it’s best to have the car moving, if only slightly, when turning the steering wheel. It then takes much less effort to turn the wheels.

Cars with automatic transmissions aren’t supposed to be towed by simply attaching a rope or chain an pulling. This is mainly because the person in the towed vehicle doesn’t have full control of the car, according to Paul. And with rear-wheel drive cars you’re not supposed to tow it with the front wheels raised from the ground. The car is designed to have the transmission driving the rear wheels, not the wheels driving the transmission. Also, you can’t ‘bump’ start a car with an automatic transmission — you may risk damaging the transmission.

The guys helped someone set up a new Windows 10 computer who then wanted to copy a DVD. It turned out that the process was not so intuitive. There were no instructions. Glenn eventually discovered the method was to highlight the files or folders you want to copy from the first DVD and drag them to a folder on the desktop. Once they’re copied over, remove that DVD and insert a blank DVD into the drive. At that point you’ll be prompted to highlight the files/folders you created on the desktop and then move them to the blank DVD, at which point the files will be burned to the disk. Paul said that most versions of Windows 10 have an ability to burn DVDs and CDs. He said you can also use iTunes to burn a disk in either audio format (like the regular music CDs) or as a data disk (where the files are stored similar to a hard drive).

Some time ago, Paul found free CD/DVD burning software called ImgBurn. As time went on, newer versions of the software tried monetize its popularity by installing affiliated software like various toolbars. It became irritating to have to say no to the installation of each piece of third party software. Even cnet.com stopped hosting IMG Burner because of its foistware.

Paul is now looking for different free burning software. There’s one called ISOburn <this might be it> that copies CD/DVDs track by track. He asked listeners for other suggestions.
<I’ve used Infra Recorder with success:
or you can also get it here (note the .mp3 plugin)
I also found ISO Recorder but haven’t used it.>

The guys talked about an issue with the Chrome browser that occurred a couple of years ago at KVMR and was mentioned on this show at that time. A visitor to KVMR used the Chrome browser at KVMR to log on to their own account (an account unrelated to KVMR) and, apparently, didn’t logout when they were finished. Later, when Glenn used the computer, he noticed he had access to that person’s accounts and, disturbingly, even their home computer. The guys didn’t have a solution when they first encountered the problem, but Paul has some suggestions now.
– Don’t use Chrome if you don’t have to, though it’s otherwise a fine browser.
– Paul goes by the adage: you can’t have security and convenience at the same time.
– Here’s what Paul thinks happens…

When you first install Chrome, which is made by Google, you’re presented with a sign-in page. If you sign in with your Google account there’s an unexpected side effect. If you later try to sign in to Chrome on a different computer, there’s an option to make it forget you used this second computer, but it’s not obvious. And it’s not enough to close Chrome when you’re finished. So, when you start using Chrome on the second computer and you login (at your bank, for instance), it saves the bank login in your Chrome account <at Google>, not locally in the 2nd machine. Now, when you login to Chrome, no matter where you are, the bank login/password is immediately available.

Paul then told us how to get around this ‘feature’ in Chrome. When you use Chrome on an unfamiliar computer, click the menu icon (the one with the 3 horizontal bars, or maybe 3 dots) -> settings -> new incognito window. This mode will not make you anonymous but it will throw away cookies, discard the cache and logins when you’re finished. You can do the same in other browsers like Firefox. <Incognito mode may sometimes go by another name like ‘private’ window.>

Paul said, “you can change the settings in Chrome, by the way, and I recommend doing this. They don’t make it obvious. Again, under the triple bar where it says configurations, again go down to settings, and this is not apparent, instead of on startup opening a new tab page, inviting you to login to Chrome, you could check ‘continue where you left off’, or the third one, which I choose, is ‘open a specific page or set of pages’. And then the word ‘set pages’ follows that.” When you click ‘set pages’ there may be some already set and you can edit them. Paul likes to have https://google.com as one of his set pages.

While you’re there you can set a couple of other things. Paul likes to ‘show home button’. And the other option is to ‘always show bookmarks bar’. Google’s webpages use Ajax that saves things as you go along.

Glenn related a story about an email that he got supposedly from a friend who was stuck in Turkey and couldn’t get help from the embassy. Glenn figured it was a scam because he knew that person wasn’t in Turkey. He warned the listeners not to reply to such emails. Sometimes the reply-to address is a slightly modified version of the actual address belonging to your friend, and the reply will go to the scammers instead. Paul said such bogus emails often originate at Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL. In fact, Apple no longer accepts Apple IDs that are AOL addresses. Paul noted that your security software is usually no help in these situations. Paul noted that if you choose to abandon your email at Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL, be sure you kill it completely,

Paul talked about the possibility of having your Facebook page cloned. It can happen if one of your Facebook friends doesn’t logout of Facebook on a machine where others can grab information from your profile and recreate the content. They then ask your friends to join as friends at the bogus page. “If you get offers of joining a friend that you’re already friends with be very circumspect about it”.

Paul mentioned the Panama Papers. He said there are a number of ways info can be leaked. It could come from a disgruntled employee. Or it could be the theft of a computer — one of the top security breeches, according to the FBI.

Paul offered a tip for remembering your passwords. He suggested using a password composed of the first letters of the words in a familiar phrase. “A stitch in time saves nine” can become the password ‘asits9’. And it’s safer to write the phrase on a piece of paper than the password itself.

Paul said he’s tried using speech recognition software to create a text of a Zen Tech broadcast. It didn’t work out very well because he started with an .mp3 file, he suspects. A .wav file should do better.

Paul mentioned a free audio-editing program that’s been around for years. A new version (2.1.2) of Audacity came out Jan of this year.

Kate called. She switched from Peachtree accounting software on a Windows machine. She wondered if there’s anyone in town that offers instruction on the Mac. She also wanted to know if there’s a simple accounting program for the Mac to do invoicing and reports.
– Apple itself is an option. They have a store in Roseville.
– The guys have discussed putting on classes themselves. They still have to work things out.
– There’s also the Quickbooks software for the Mac at $200. They have a 30-day free trial if you go to quickbooks.com/mac. There’s also an online version that you can subscribe to at $24 month.
– There are online invoicing services. Paul uses Simple Invoices. <this might be it> It’s free but you have to install a program and he doesn’t recommend it “unless you’re a computer person”.
– Paul asked listeners for other suggestions.

Jack called with a suggestion for Kate. He said lynda.com provides instruction, is very inexpensive and you can learn just about anything you want about the Mac. He also suggested she buy a book on the Mac. There’s a lot of software that comes with the Mac that many people aren’t aware of.

Paul noted some conventional wisdom that has turned out to be wrong. He had thought that when pruning tree limbs, one should use some stuff to cover the cuts. Well, he had a chance to talk to someone who services trees and found out that since 1985 it’s been proven by a 10 year long study that it’s the worst thing you can do. Covering the cut blocks the sterilizing UV light from the sun, makes it damp, humid and horrible and prevents it “from being flushed out” and it traps liquid sap underneath as well a bacteria and mold.

The disclaimer…
The views and opinions expressed on KVMR are those of the speaker only and not necessarily those of KVMR, management, staff or underwriters.

A couple more things from the conventional wisdom file:
Don’t cover your sneeze or cough with your hand. You’ll end up spreading germs to what ever you handle. Instead, sneeze into the crook of your elbow. And sugar doesn’t cause diabetes but it does aggravate the condition if you already have diabetes. Life style and heredity are its main cause. Also, removing amalgam fillings in your teeth because you think it’s a health issue just releases the mercury from the filling.

Changelog:
In a comment, added link to CD/DVD burner Infra Recorder and here
In a comment, added link to CD/DVD burner ISO Recorder

Last Updated 2:41 PM 4-29-2016