Glenn was in the studio with Adam Brodel from Smarter Broadband. Paul was traveling somewhere.

Contact info for Smarter Broadband – internet service and PC repair:
530-272-4000
sales@smarterbroadband.com
<Adam was on 12-12-12 show
Not too long ago Smarter Broadband purchased Full Spectrum, which does PC repair>

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 < >

Mikail sent Glenn some links concerning Windows XP and a 3-D printer for $299.
– 3-D printers have come down on price a lot.
– Adam read about an entire house being built in Norway using a 3-D printer.
– Many kinds of thing are being created with the printers, including guns.
< $300 3D printer Kickstarter campaign raises $1 million in funding in 24 hours>
< How to survive the Windows XP apocalypse>

Support for Windows XP ended yesterday. Glenn thought that support for Microsoft Security Essentials has ended, too. Adam corrected him: support for Security Essentials will continue for now but Microsoft hasn't given a date for its demise. <I heard that Security Essentials support will continue for later versions of Windows.>
– Some anti-virus programs, like Avast, will, for the time being, will continue to be updated for XP users.
– Unless you have a very strong reason to continue using XP, it's time to move on, Adam said.
– There are places that will update your XP computer to a later operating system.
– Consider getting a new computer rather that upgrading, if your computer is about 5 or more years old. Prices for new computers can be on par with paying for the upgrade and data migration.
– Adam said his company could do the upgrade. The license for Windows 8 is about $110. Moving your data is an additional $129 (Win8 can't be installed while keeping the data and programs in place). Reinstalling the programs is an additional cost, but that's something you can do yourself.
– Adam mentioned PC Mover, an application that can move the programs without having to reinstall them. His company hasn't tried it yet so he didn't know how well it works.
– Windows 8.1 doesn't have the data mover feature that came with Win7 and Win8, so Microsoft is offering PC Mover Express for free.

Nick called to add some details about upgrading an XP machine.
– Upgrading an XP machine purchased just a couple of years ago is often not viable.
– Minimal system requirements for Windows 7 & 8 don't lead to acceptable performance of the upgraded older computer. The requirements for RAM, for instance, will tilt ones choices toward just getting a new PC.
– Video cards on machines older than a couple of years often aren't supported by Win7 or 8, even if the "arrow mode" is turned off.
– There are more details at 4reliablecomputers.net : Nick's business.
– The sunset date for Windows Defender updates is 1 year from now. <Maybe he meant Security Essentials>

Deborah called with a Mac question. She updated her Flash Player to version 13.0.0.182 and now she can't play her videos. She went to the Flash Player's web site and ran their diagnostic that confirmed to her the player was installed.
– The guys aren't very familiar these types of Mac issues. Glenn suggested she try the VLC player instead of Flash.
– Glenn asked her to send him an email and he'll consult others about the problem. Send the email to zen at kvmr at org.

Pam called with a question about her too-old-to-updated XP computer that's on a dialup internet connection. Someone told her that Win7 is better suited for use with dialup. And, is a Mac a better choice for dialup.
– Macs don't support dialup anymore.
– Adam noted that Win8 interacts with Microsoft while online, which can slow things down while using dialup. Adam uses Win7 and likes it very much
– To keep from getting bogged down on a dialup connection; Glenn suggested that she keep automatic updates turned off until she gets to a wi-fi hotspot, where she can update at broadband speeds.
– Choose a laptop for a new machine, so when you need to do big downloads, it would be easier to lug it to a wi-fi hotspot.
– Give Adam a call to see if or when his broadband service is coming to your area. His phone is 530-272-4000.

Pam called in. She has Norton for her anti-virus and wondered if it will continue to be updated on her XP.
– If you paid for it, then it will be updated, but for how long is questionable.
– An anti-virus program is not a substitute for updating the operating system.
– An anti-virus program is only as good as its last update.
– Glenn's other security precautions: if you don't recognize an email, delete it and don't click on links in emails, even if they are from a friend (unless it's something you're expecting).

Tomas called. He has an old Dell XP and has been looking to upgrade to a Google Chrome Book computer, since his needs are modest. He likes their cheap price and the prospect of fewer viruses. He wondered if there were disadvantages to the Chrome.
– Chrome is more like a tablet than a PC, Adam said. But if you're doing simple things like web browsing & email, it should be fine.
– Glenn went to Google's website and found that HP is selling a Chrome Book for $279.
– You won't be able to install something like Microsoft Office in a Chrome Book, but you can use Google Docs to get similar functionality online.
– Programs like the Flash Player & Adobe reader run as plugins on a Chrome Book: they work as part of the Chrome browser.
– Chrome Books depend heavily on the internet for the things you'll be doing, including data storage, so be sure to have a good <fast> internet connection.

Marilyn called. She downloaded some software but didn't get the registration number with it. If she upgrades to Win7, will she not be able to use that software anymore?
– It depends. If you were never sent a registration number, it may not require one. Check the website where you download it to see what their registration policy is.
– Use Belarc Advisor to scan your computer. It will tell you what programs you have installed. And for some of the programs, it will tell you their registration numbers.

Marilyn has an older version of Microsoft Office (circa year 2000) and was told that older programs like that may run on the newer versions of Windows.
– That's possible. It's one more thing to consider before upgrading.
– You may be able to set the compatibility mode for some software to mimic Windows XP in the newer Windows version, but there's no guaranty that will be sufficient.
– The documents created with the older Office can generally be read by newer versions of the Office suite or even other programs.
– Use Google Docs to edit Office documents from various versions of Office.
– Try Office 365 — a cloud version of Office. <Sounded like Glenn said it's free for now, but there will be a subscription service eventually.>
– There are other programs, like Photoshop, that are moving to the cloud and charging a subscription fee. Glenn doesn't care for that business model: Software as a Service (SaaS).

Nick called in again to say he uses Smarted Broadband and likes the service.

He also had a tip for avoiding downloads of big files over dialup. He said some email programs that run on the user's machine have a setting that prevents big files above a certain size from being downloaded automatically.
– The user has to give permission for each big file to be downloaded.
– Not all email programs have this option.
– He's never seen that type of setting in online email services <Yahoo, Gmail, etc.>, only the programs that run on the user's machine.
– Adam will sometimes advise people to use web-based email because the user can choose what to download and whether to delete email with big attachments. <I think the IMAP protocol offers that choice for people using a mail program that's running on their machines>
– Using the web-based email from your service provider, rather that Gmail, Yahoo, etc., could mean a lot fewer ads, which can slow things down for dialup users.

Nick also cautioned dialup users about lightning strikes coming over the phone lines. He said it's cheaper to replace the modem board in a desktop computer than having to replace an entire laptop. <Laptops being harder to service>

Michael called to say he's been using a Chrome Book for over a year and he's happy with it.
– He said that there are thousands of app that can be used on it.
– You can use an extern USB drive for local storage.
– You can use cloud-based storage like Google Drive for online storage.
– He offered to talk to Tomas (above) about any questions he might have. Michael's phone number: 530-277-6927

Last update 11:28 PM 4/9/2014

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 < >

Glenn & Mikail were in the studio. Paul is traveling to other parts of the world.

As with other recent shows, the Pentatonix song was played during the intro. Glenn said it is one of his favorite groups. He said the video is "gorgeous" and suggested listeners look it up on Youtube — it's called "official video of daft punk Pentatonix". Mikail noted that the Russian Police Choir performed the song during the Olympics.

They quickly went to the phone calls. John called from American River College. He recently got a refurbish Dell desktop. About once a week it won't start up after a shutdown or from sleep mode — he has to keep it unplugged for a few hours before it will start.
– It could potentially be a bad power supply.
– A graphics card "can go weird and cause some of these issues".
– Mikail suggested a "really good PC guy" in Sacramento — Ed Barns of Computer Hub, located on J street 916-441-1880. "He'll do a consultation for you and tell you what the problem is at no charge"
– Ultimately, Mikail thought it's an intermittent power supply problem.

Hugh called. His iTunes sometimes automatically launches when he starts his computer and he wanted to know how to prevent it. He has a Mac running Snow Leopard version 10.68.
– Mikail asked him to go to System Preferences (under the Apple menu in the upper left corner). Then he asked him to find the line that says Users & Groups but Hugh said it wasn't on that page. However, on that page is the item 'System' and under that is 'Accounts'. Under 'Accounts', Mikail had him click on 'Login Items' to find the iTunes setting. After clicking on iTunes there should be a minus sign down below. Click on the minus sign to change the setting.
– Mikail asked Hugh what else is on that page. When Hugh told him, Mikail surmised that Hugh has "a bunch of customized stuff in there" and that's why the menus weren't showing up the way Mikail expected.
– Mikail asked Hugh to send him the serial number of his Mac so he can determine the latest version of the operating system it can be upgraded to. It's likely that Lion would run on it and possibly Mountain Lion.

Caroline called. She had been running Microsoft Security Essentials and found out that it won't be supported on Windows XP after Apr 8. That's because XP itself will not be supported after that date. She's happy with XP and noticed other companies will continue to support that operating system. She asked about here options.
– Like Hugh's Mac 10.68 operating system, XP is a steadfast workhorse, you just won't be able to update it.
– Glenn said don't look to virus protection and security software <from any company> to make up for the loss of support from Microsoft.
– Make sure to install any updates that are offered before the end of support. <There should be 1 more set of patches for Patch Tuesday in April>
– Check with HP & Dell to see what kind of continuing support they offer.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, its board, management, staff or contributors.

Ross called. He also has a Mac running 10.68. He said up to 8 gig of RAM can be put into it, though he hasn't yet done that.
– Mikail said that if it's not a "unibody", the maximum memory you can put in it is 6 gigs. If it's a unibody it can go up to 8 and sometimes the newer ones can go up to 16 gigs.

Ross also said that the menus in his Mac have not been modified and they are like those that Hugh described. Mikail was surprised because menus in the Mac he uses in his shop don't look that way at all.

Ross said the enlargement feature in his Snow Lepoard Mac is different from Lion or Mountain Lion or Mavricks. <This is to zoom into an area of the screen> Using the track pad he can zoom by 10 times but most of the newer operating system allow only 3 times. <I think his statement was based on his girlfriend's later-generation Mac>
– You can use the keyboard to zoom. Use the Command Key + the Plus key or Command Key + the Minus key allow you to zoom in and out any amount you want.
– You can customize how the track pad works if you go to System Preferences -> Track Pad.

Peter sent in an email asking about what options there may be after the end of Windows XP support. He's currently using and old IBM Thinkpad running XP and is considering using it offline for word-processing. He also has a HP Mini that he might upgrade to Windows 8 but Microsoft wants $120 for the upgrade.
– Mikail has heard rumors that the Microsoft will be doing away with the fee for upgrading to Win8.
– Mikail likes Windows 7 but doesn't care for Win8. And Windows 8.1 "brings more chaos and havoc".
– In his email, Peter said he had heard that Microsoft is offering $100 off of a variety of new computers, to XP users. Glenn suggested he wait a bit to see if Microsoft will drop the price.
– Check with HP to see if they can offer you a deal on a Windows upgrade.

<3 easy Linux alternatives for Windows XP refugees>

"Professor" called. His computer with Windows XP died recently. He has a newer computer — a Lenovo with Windows 8.1. He's been doing some research into Linux Ubuntu and had heard rumors that computers bought thru a big-box stores may have problems if you try to install another operating system.
– Paul talked about this on recent show. The BIOS in newer machines is more difficult to get into and make it boot from an external drive.
– Go online and search with your particular model number to find if anyone has been successful in installing Ubuntu.
– Write to zen at kvmr dot org so Paul will see the message. He may be able to help. And listeners are welcome to call with suggestions.
– "Professor" said he's heard that computers bought directly from the manufacturer don't have this problem. Its all about the licensing deal Microsoft made with the big-box stores.

Glenn said he found music from the Russian Police Choir – Get Lucky from Deft Punk. It will be played to end this show. To find it, do (as Glenn did) a Youtube search with the words: russian daft punk get lucky olympics

Monty called about a presentation of music at a local venue. Tomorrow night <3-27-14> at 7pm there will be "experimental open mike" at the Off Center Stage at the Center for The Arts in Grass Valley.

Mikail said people have been upgrading their iPhone to iOS 7.1. He's not done it himself. He's heard of people having problems with it <he gave no details>. And he doesn't like some of the change in appearance — the keyboard for example.
– If your phone is jailbroken, you'll lose the jailbreak and there is no jailbreak for 7.1.
– The last jailbreak is for 7.06 and if you didn't get it then, you're out of luck until version 8.
– If you haven't upgraded to 7.1 yet, Mikail said don't bother unless you have a important reason.
– Some people with iPhone 4S have lost access to Siri "and all kinds of crazy stuff" after the upgrade to 7.1.
– Glenn upgraded to 7.1 on his iPad and hasn't noticed anything horrible with it.
– To Apple's credit, many of the advantages that have come with jailbreaking have been incorporated into the later versions of iOS.
– Mikail uses an iPhone 5 and doesn't think the 5S is worth trading up to. He'll be interested in the iPhone 6, which he speculated will come out in the Fall.
– He's heard rumors about: a Mac Book Air Retina, a 12" Mac Book (which won't have a fan), a new Mac Book Pro line

Mikail recently upgraded to the Comcast X1 platform.
– An app on his iPhone controls what he sees on the TV. He can say "Mad Men" into the phone and it will come to his TV.
– There's a device that plugs into it <the X1> that lets you "watch shows from the main DVR in other parts of the house without having a second DVR".
– It records 4 programs at a time.
– It's much quieter, "much cooler".
– It has a 500gig drive, "or something like that". He expected it to be larger. But, it's bigger than his old setup where he didn't have the time to watch all the recorded shows anyway.
– It's software-upgradable to the X2.

Glenn wondered what the Apple Comcast deal is about. Mikail said they want to have "iTunes streaming media on the Apple TV so that they can have content from Comcast".

There's talk of Apple going the route of Roku by having a dongle replace the Apple TV unit. Mikail spoke highly of the Roku unit — if you don't have one you're missing out, "it's a cool piece of tech".

Glenn complained that when he has a movie on his iPad, he can't "mirror it onto Apple TV". It will only show on his iPad.
– Mikail said it's the "limitation of some of the content media. They put hooks in there that say yay or nay". It's all about copy protection <to deter piracy>. It's not a bug but a (unwanted) feature.
– Mikail said he doesn't see the point of Apple TV when the Roku can do so much more — it's small, gives you so many channels including hidden or private channels (for people with "exotic tastes") and full Youtube access. It's under $100. And if you go with the dongle, it's even cheaper.

Last update 10:55 PM 3/26/2014

Additional notes:

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 < >

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio with guests Molly Fisk, Jeffrey Hein and Kirsten (a chicken)

Jeffery's store is located at 138 Idaho Marylin Road. The hours are Monday thru Saturday 10am to 6pm.
Phone: 530-802-0767
Website (much info here): www.thecellphoneguru.com
email: guru@thecellphoneguru.com

Molly's email: molly@mollyfisk.com
Websites: mollyfisk.com & poetrybootcamp.com
<There's a little more about Molly in the 6-14-10 show notes
And she has a Wikipedia page>

Jeffrey recently opened up a cell phone shop in Grass Valley

Jeffrey also runs a website hosting business and works with local web designers to host their clients' content. He has previously worked with Joomla, a content management system, but now prefers to use WordPress. Jeffrey is Molly's webmaster
<More about WordPress in the 8-22-12 show notes>

The last time Molly was on the show, several years ago, she was celebrating her 2000th Facebook friend. She now has 4822 friends. She said Facebook allows you to have up to 5000 friends. Having more than 5000 friends requires they be moved over to a business page, or else you can delete some of your current friends to make room. For some 20 years she's been running the websites mollyfisk.com & poetrybootcamp.com, and a more recent site is called voiceofyourown.com. Her latest site is called blowdryingachicken.com. All of her sites are now running on WordPress.

Jeffrey maintains the servers on which Molly's websites are hosted, making sure they are secure and backedup. Jeffrey's sister Shawna Heins does the actual design of the websites and trains people in using WordPress. She runs bluegraniteweb.com.

Jeffrey talked a bit about the difference between content and presentation. Content management systems, like WordPress, allow you update your site by adding articles, pictures, etc. But if you want that procedure to be easy and intuitive, it's best to hire a web designer. The presentation of the website includes such things as colors, fonts, layout, etc.

It's the 25 anniversary of the World Wide Web. What made it the defacto standard was its free distribution. It shouldn't be confused with the internet, which has been around much longer.
<The www is 25 years old today
Tim Berners-Lee put up a website marking the anniversary at www.webat25.org>

Molly explained how she named the blowdryingachicken.com website. She was teaching a class at Davis Extension and a student wrote a poem that included the phrase "blow drying a chicken". The student was asked what that meant and she explained that children in 4H don't want to take a filthy chicken to display at a fair — hence the need to wash and blow dry. The chickens look much nicer blow dried than air dried. Chickens seem to like the blow-drying and sometimes fall asleep during the process.

Paul asked Jeffrey what one needs to do to promote themself on the web.
– Professionals like Jeffrey can help people with free software and services. Website hosting is one thing that's not free.

Paul asked Jeffrey how his phone service, and others like Metro PCS, differs from the major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon & T-Mobile.
– By law the major carriers are required to allow other companies to use their infrastructure to sell phone service.
– There are about 100 "virtual providers" <second tier providers> that use the major carriers.
– When you shop for a virtual provider, it's important to know which major carriers the provider depends on. Often the choice is based on the specific phone you're using. <Some phones work only with AT&T, for example>
– Some virtual providers contract with all 4 major carriers to carry the phone calls.
– Jeffrey's business will also repair, refurbish, buy and sell phones. It's a reduce & reuse philosophy.

Molly asked Paul about his chicken, Kirsten:
– It's a Rock Island chicken with black & white speckles.
– She's 1 of 4 he has at home.
– She came from the "animal recovery place".

Molly asked Jeffrey if he uses rice to dry out a phone after it's fallen into water.
– He doesn't use that trick.
– The first thing to do in that situation is take the battery out to prevent corrosion and shorting of the main board, Jeffrey said.
– Then take it to a repair shop. Jeffrey charges $10 to diagnose the problem.
– You can try compressed air to blow out the moisture, if you want to try something before taking it to a shop.
– Paul said most phones have a spot of a chemical in a hidden location that will change color if the phone gets wet. A manufacture's warranty doesn't usually cover water damage or even dropping the phone.
– Paul also suggested that people carefully check their phone's performance before its warranty expires. If something isn't working quite right, contact the manufacturer and get a 'trouble ticket' so, when the warranty finally expires, the phone will still be covered.

Paul asked Molly about her business history and she recounted some of that.
<There's more about her on Wikipedia>

Paul noted that some people are paid, but not by Wikipedia, to post articles there. Wikipedia wants them to disclose that fact but enforcement is difficult. You can, at least, check to see the history of changes made to a Wikipedia article by using the "edits tab".

Molly asked Jeffrey what a typical phone repair would cost. He said the bench fee is $80 for 1 hour of labor. Parts are charged at wholesale plus sales tax. Any shipping fees are also passed to the customer. Easy repairs that take no more than half an hour are $40 minimum, but most phones take a lot of time for disassembly and reassembly. Jeffrey said he typically gets 1 to 5 customers per day. Many come just for the diagnostic to see if the phone is worth repairing.

Paul noted that some phone can run for a very long time at low power and that some people haven't turned theirs off for a very very long time. A friend of his had an iPod Touch that had an "up time" of 2 years.
– Jeffrey said it's not always obvious how to completely shut down a phone (not just suspend it). With iDevices you have to do something special.
– To shut down an iPad or iPhone, hold down the sleep button for a very long time. That will bring up a prompt asking you if you really want to shut it off.
– The other way is to hold the home button and sleep button at the same time for quite a while. That will either shut it off or reset it, depending on the model.

Molly complained that cell phones are frustrating because connections are often dropped. So, Paul asked Jeffrey which phones are better, which have better antennas.
– Every phone has different strengths and weaknesses.
– Many of the later smartphones don't have antennas as good as the older flip phones, Jeffrey said.

Molly is currently using an iPhone 4 on the Verizon network and would like to lower her phone bill. Jeffrey said Molly could switch to the Page Plus cellular provider, which is a Verizon virtual reseller. They have both non-contract monthly plans as well as pay-as-you-go plans that are quite reasonable. The Page Plus $30 per month plan gives you 1200 minutes of talk, 3000 texts and 500 megabits of data. The pay-as-you-go plans range from $10 to $80.

David called wanting to know if Jeffrey works on iPods. He has a "white screen" on his.
– Yes, Parts may take 2 to 3 days to receive.
– With the cost of the part and labor of $80, it should come to about $110.

Also, David just switched to Uverse, an AT&T product.
– Jeffrey said Uverse is a travesty and recommended that people not switch to it.
– Paul said Uverse is a purely digital connection and the dialtone originates in your router not the phone company. He thinks the dependability is lower.
– Being digital, Uverse is easier to trouble shoot, change and for selling more services.

The Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, its board, the management, staff or contributors.

Last updated 10:55 PM 3/12/2014

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 those who missed my tweet, the notes for the 2-12-14 show have been posted.

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio.

Much of the show dealt with computer security. Paul started by asking how do you know if you're being watched on your computer. How do you know if your computer has something malicious happening or if your internet connection is being monitored. Like any kind of knowledge, you can never be 100% certain

Even if you're 99.9% secure, that's not enough. That .1% can be all it takes to be compromised. Only a tiny portion of what you do with your computer over the internet is useful to the bad guys — passwords and credit card numbers, for example, That's all it takes for the them to wreak havoc. The only sure way to protect against computer fraud is to not have a computer at all.

The 2nd best protection is not to be on the internet. But even if you don't use the internet, someone can steal the computer and still get the info. The FBI reports that most security breaches are a result of theft of computers and flash drives. Even if you have your computer protected by a password, it doesn't take long to crack when someone has physical possession of the computer.

Paul suggested people take pictures of their monitor screens when they suspect something unusual is happening. He cited the case of Nvidia, the company that makes video chips for some Mac computers. Over the years they had a series of manufacturing defects. He said it's a good idea to document any symptoms of a malfunction before the warranty expires. This is especially useful it the symptoms are intermittent.

Glenn said no anti-virus software, no matter the brand, is foolproof. The anti-virus software is only as good as its last update.

Glenn said his email account at Yahoo was hacked even though he had a very strong password. He warned people to be suspicious of emails that only have a link to a website, even if the email is from someone you know.

Paul said that about 5 years ago someone one figured out that about 10% of the Yahoo accounts had been stolen by somebody who broke into the Yahoo servers and pulled off the password database. Since Glenn changed his password recently, Paul suspects that the database thieves are able to break in continually. Or more likely, Yahoo is vulnerable to what's called 'cross-site scripting'. This is where the frame that asks you to login to Yahoo doesn't originate with Yahoo <originates with the fraudsters>. Paul thinks that the best way to deal with such Yahoo problems is not to use Yahoo. Furthermore, when you leave an email service, don't just abandon the account, formally cancel the account so it won't be broken into and misused.

Paul went on to say that if someone breaks into your mail account, change the password and notify the people in your contacts list, telling them that the mail they've received from 'you' recently may be bogus.

Paul has heard objections to using the IMAP protocol because the technicians can read the email stored on the mailserver. In fact, email of any kind is one of the least secure forms of communication and can be intercepted and read at many points.

So, what do we recommend, Glenn asked. He said he uses Gmail and Paul said he does too. But Paul doesn't like the way Google Plus is going, His Youtube channel has been switched to Google Plus, which he doesn't like. He tried to switch it back but there was no provision to do so. Google bought Youtube a number of years ago and has spent all this time to merge it with their other services.

Glenn asked about other services Google has bought. Paul said they just bought Whatsapp <it was Facebook who bought them and Paul corrected himself later in the show>. Whatsapp is more popular in Europe because it sidesteps having to pay roaming text <txt > charges between countries.

Speaking of companies buying other companies, Glenn noted that Comcast has put together a merger plan with Time Warner. As he understands the deal, the two companies will dominate 50 of 53 major cable markets in the USA, if the deal goes thru.

The guys talked a bit about a decentralized power grid where multiple power providers sell their service over common power lines — in order to avoid duplicating the infrastructure. It works in Europe but is not so poplar in the USA. There can be pitfalls when you're asked to join other people in getting such a service. Paul added, if it doesn't make sense or can't be explained in terms that make sense. don't do it,

Paul said this applies if you're asked to install a program. If you didn't ask a program to install or something doesn't look right about it, don't do it.

Glenn said that sometimes you're not given a choice to stop a program that insists you continue — the close button doesn't work, for instance. Paul said Firefox used to be vulnerable to this — kiosk mode he called it. You'd go to a web page and find there was no obvious way to close it. He said the way to close it is to hit CNTRL + ALT + DEL (Option + Apple + Escape on the Mac). That will bring up the task manager where you can then highlight the browser you're running and 'End Task'. You can then restart the browser.

Paul encountered a person who said the mouse pointer on their Mac was moving by itself. The concern was that there was someone controlling the machine for nefarious purposes. But Paul thought that was not very likely because they would be drawing attention to themselves by the mouse movement. Data thieves tend to be more surreptitious — they siphon off data from your files. Glenn suggested that the lighting in a room could affect an optical mouse if the light hit it just right. Paul had a case where the cord to the mouse got too close to a power cable and the mouse pointer would jitter.

Bill called. He had installed Norton Internet Security 2014 on his Window XP computer with Service Pack 3. When Norton ran it detected that the file tcpip.sys had a virus. It quarantined the file without asking for permission. After restarting his computer, he no longer had internet capabilities. He tried to go back to a previous restore point. He tried the 'Remove From Quarantine' option. He tried reinstalling the network adapters. But he had no success.
– Call Norton. They should be responsible for a problem their software created. Bill said he did call them and spent about 12 hours and still had no solution.
– Bill read from his Window System Event Log <it keeps a record of recent events on your computer>. What it contained told Paul that the Norton program "has not been in conformance with the correct behavior of the operating system".
– When you start up Windows, hold down the F8 key and go back to a previous restore point. Bill already tried that.
– Norton did some work to improve the program in 2012 but apparently missed this problem, Paul said.
– Contact Norton again and tell them you want to speak to someone here in the USA.
– Bill said he googled the words: tcpip.sys norton false, and got 50 pages with reference to false detection. <Anti-virus programs sometimes show false positives on various files>.
– Find someone running Windows XP and get a copy of tcpip.sys and put it on your computer. But, Bill has already done a byte by byte comparison of the file with the one he has in his backup and they are the same. So then, Paul thought that it is the references (in the Registry) to that file that are flawed.
– Then Paul said that, when Bill installed Service Pack 3, "it reinstalled the whole networking stack". And he thought if Bill installed Service Pack 3 again, it might correct the networking problem.
– At this point, Bill still has access to the data on his drive, and Paul said make sure to backup all the important data files before proceeding.
– You may consider reinstalling Windows. And after you do, try Microsoft Security Essential. It's not very good and not very powerful, but it causes fewer problems. And it's free.

Paul noted that it's not a good idea to use 2 or 3 anti-virus programs at the same time. It slows the computer.

Paul said someone recently installed what looked like an upgrade to the Flash player and it caused mischief. The latest version of the Firefox browser has a method to disable suspect plugins like the Flash player. It will show a box where the video you were trying to play would normally be, and it would say something like: the player is out of date click here to update it. However, you shouldn't click to update. Instead do a google search for 'plugincheck'. This is a service provided by Mozilla (makers of Firefox) that checks the plugins for Firefox. It works with Internet Explorer too, but doesn't check the ActiveX plugins.

Paul said what he's said before about being contacted by a company that asks you to provide information or do some transaction that may have negative consequences. To avoid being scammed; get a known, good phone number for that company and call them to finish that bit of business.

The disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed on this show, Zentech, are of the speakers only and not necessarily of the station, its board, management, staff or contributors.

Doug called. He's going to England in a couple of weeks. He has T-Mobile smartphone and wanted suggestions for doing international calling.
– Ask T-Mobile to unlock the phone, if you've had the phone long enough <it's out of contract>, so you can use other SIM cards. There are many cellular companies in England and you can get a SIM card for as little as about $16.
– Get Skype and use wireless network for calls to the USA for about $.01/min. You'll can even call landlines. And Skype can be used even if you don't have a SIM card installed.
– Paul advised pulling out the T-Mobile (or other USA carrier's) SIM card, in any case. That's to avoid any possibility of incurring roaming charges.
– With the new SIM card, you won't be able to receive calls to your T-Mobile phone number. Those calls will go to voice mail which you can check using Skype.

James called. He uses Thunderbird for his mail program. When he runs it he gets the warning: "Unsent messages. Do you want do you want to send your unsent messages now". He wants to review those messages before sending them.
– Look for the folder called 'outbox' on the left side of Thunderbird. Those messages are in there.

Last updated 9:27 PM 8/14/2014
(fixed link to txt )

Android Emulator onscreen! https://www.manymo.com/emulators

 Additional notes:

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 < >

Both Glenn & Paul were in the studio.

Glenn thanked KVMR's subscribing members. If you'd like to support KVMR, go to kvmr.org

Glenn said that at one time he didn't know if I was a male or female and he wanted to use the correct pronoun. <My peeve at the time was the lack of a gender-neutral 3rd person pronoun in the English language>. And that led to talk about how, unlike English, other languages assign gender to words. He was looking for the words 'love' and 'peace' in Arabic for decorative work to put on some bowls at a fundraiser. He found that not only were there different words for 'love' but there were also gender specific versions. Paul noted that in some languages the inflection of a word you're using will vary according to the person you're talking to and their status.

Paul talked a bit about computer programming. The purpose of a programming language is to convey meaning to the underlying electronics of the computer.

There was an aborted attempt in the 1950s to make human-like languages to address computers with. The language Cobol was like that, and Lisp to a certain extent. Cobol was used a lot for business programs and the intent was to let the user make program-like statements to get the answers they wanted: statements like "add interest to principle" or "calculate interest times 12". But statements that make sense to a human, because humans infer much of the meaning, tended to be too inaccurate for a computer to understand precisely.

Glenn is still not completely accustomed to his Windows 8.1 touch screen laptop. < Mentioned on the 1-29-14 show>

Glenn said he was setting up a computer with Windows 8.1 for a friend and found that it "all but demands that you use a Microsoft ID to log into the computer". He had a similar situation when he tried to login to his, at that time, new laptop. At that time he tried his Hotmail ID (Hotmail is owned by Microsoft), and it worked.

But his friend didn't have a Microsoft service whose ID he could try. So, they tried establishing a "local account", but Windows 8.1 still insisted that he create an "online account". Glenn said he has to do more research to figure it out.

Paul wondered what you're supposed to do if you're not online <don't use the internet and don't have a Microsoft ID>. He noted that Microsoft is notorious for creating doubt about the necessity of registering, so he usually looks for a button that says "skip" or "later" to bypass the process. Also, he sometimes uses fake information in the registration process. Glenn's situation is a bit different, if he used a fake email address that might be a problem later if he ever has trouble logging in. <e.g. a temporary password, sent by Microsoft, may be sent to a non-existent email address>.

Paul then talked about communicating with tech support about a problem you're having with a computer. He said, one way to explain a problem to the tech is to take a photo of the screen. He said that you'll get a better picture if the ambient light is reduced so you don't have reflections off of the screen, turn up the brightness of the monitor and keep the camera perpendicular to the screen to prevent distortions <I think he meant parallel to the screen>.

Paul was recently asked what computer language to recommend to a kid who's interested in programming. Years ago one might suggest starting with the language Basic. Then moving on to structured programming using Pascal. And then possibly learning some Assembly language, for talking directly to the hardware.

These days, programmers don't do so much typing of individual program commands but use a graphical interface to put the program together, using menus and such. Paul said Apple, for instance, has a free software development kit (SDK) for programming their mobile devices that run the iOS operating system. You can search for the words: ios sdk. Or you can go to developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk.

You don't actually need an iPad to use the SDK. You load the SDK onto a Mac and create the application there while using an emulator to simulate what it will look like on an iPad. When you've finished, you can then load the completed program onto a real iPad.

That's all you need to do if you're creating an app for yourself or your friends. If you plan to sell the app thru Apple's app store, you'll be asked to pay $100 for a security certificate that validates you as a legitimate developer — proving you're not up to some mischief. Paul said that every app that's sold has to go thru Apple's app store.

Android has similar tools for developing apps. There are versions that run on Linux as well as Windows.

Glenn mentioned in-app purchases. This is where someone playing a game app would be given an opportunity to make a purchase of game tokens or artifacts to help the progression of the game. The game might have been free to download but, when you signed in to the app store to get it, you gave permission to charge your account for the in-app purchases. Kids playing games may not be aware of these charges and can run up quite a bill. Glenn said this has pretty much stopped. Now, if there is an in-app purchase, Apple requires you to re-enter your Apple ID password <which you don't give to your kids>.

Paul posed a puzzle: what is the longest word, in English, you can type using the top row of keys on a standard keyboard. <I think he meant the row just below the numbers>. He gave the clues that the word refers to what you are doing and it's 10 letters long.

Greg called. He has a Mac Mini and he can't open multiple windows when he runs multiple programs. Paul asked if he periodically shuts down the computer or if he just lets it go to sleep. Greg said he has shut it down and the problem persisted when he rebooted.
– Paul said it's a good idea to completely shut it down once in a while.
– With the Mac there is actually only one maintenance utility you can run that could make a difference — the Disk Utility, found under Utilities. Paul suggested Greg run that.
– Greg was asked to run the Finder. On the bottom left of the screen (on the dock) is a blue icon that launches the Finder. Click on it and it will bring up a list of drives and things. Greg went thru various gyrations but was not able to locate the Finder — stoking everyone's sense of irony. Paul asked him to send a picture of the screen and they'll try to figure it out after the show.

Stephanie called. Her iMac was stolen and now she has an iPad Mini, an old iPod, and a friends old Power Mac that's been upgraded to OS10. She's been trying to get the music from the iPod onto the Power Mac with no success.
– iTunes <used to manage music> "isn't capable of giving you the music back off the iPod if already it isn't on a computer". Apple designed it so you can't get music or data off the iPod or iPhone unless it started out on your computer (which is now stolen). The intent was to prevent music piracy.
– If you want to do it, you'll need what's called an iPod ripper. It's software NOT made by Apple that runs on Macs or PCs. It waits for an iPod to be plugged into the computer, reads it's contents and allows you to transfer the data.

She also said that when she would "put her iPod on just to use it as an iPod it won't play the music because that iPod is not synched to this computer", it's synched to the stolen computer.

My connection went down at this point and I lost some audio. I didn't hear the name of the program Paul was talking about. When I rejoined, he was talking about a particular ripper for $25.95. There's a free trial version that's 45 megabytes in size. He said there are at least 10 or 15 other ripper programs. <Try searching for the words: ipod ripper>.

Paul noted that newer Macs have the 'find my mac feature' for locating a missing Mac. With this option turned on, it allows you to log into iCloud.com with your Apple ID "and say locate my Mac". She doubted her Mac had that option — it was a 2004 model.

Glenn said the latest iOS <the operating system for Apples mobile devices> forces you to set a password and then periodically asks you to login. He thinks it's annoying but it protects your data in case of theft. Stephanie didn't have a password set on her iPad, which was also stolen.

Paul then talked about backing up your music to the internet. If you have Maverick or Snow Leopard or later operating system on your Mac, Apple lets you back up music you bought at the Apple Store to iCloud. It won't back up any music you put on your iPod from other sources, like from a music CD you have lying around. However, for about $29 a year you can buy a service called Apple Match which will sych ALL of the music — including music you got elsewhere. You can get the music back using any other machine, PC or Mac, that's running iTunes, when you login using your Apple ID.

Alternately, you can use Google Music to backup your music. You'll download software that allows you to use your Google Drive account to store up to 20,000 tracks for free, and it has no restrictions on the original source of the music.

Scott called only to say that Greg (above) sounded exactly like the comic Steven Wright. Scott entertained the thought that it was a put-on. Glenn assured Scott they didn't set that up.

Last updated 11:05 PM 2/22/2014