These are articles we write for local Village magazines. I’ve posted them here so if you missed one, you can re-read it. The Buckland Monachorum Parish Magazine ‘Outreach’ is published every two months. I was astonished to find that my archive of articles goes back to 2016. I have only gone back to 2022 as much of the previous information is now out of date.

2024 Articles

October/November 2024

Sad to say that I’ve heard of more people recently being tricked by scammers. Luckily no money was lost but it was a close run thing on both occasions. BT seems to be the latest ‘hook’ to get you talking and I can see this increasing as the Digital Switchover gets closer. Before I talk about that, remember than you should never respond to ANYONE who rings and tries to tell you that your computer, bank account, credit cards, Amazon, Netflix, etc have ‘a problem’. And do not let them install software called ‘Anydesk’ on your computer or mobile phone as it gives the scammer complete control of it! Be careful too, if you happen to be waiting for a call back from any of the above because you have a genuine issue. That is often how a scam starts, because you are genuinely expecting a call. Scammers don’t know that, they ring hundreds of numbers in the hope they will catch someone unawares. That’s how these things generally start.

Always be naturally suspicious of a phone call and think A.B.C.D. Assume nothing, Believe nothing, Check everything, Disconnect (ie Hang up) if at all suspicious.

The Digital Switchover mentioned above is where BT/Openreach are going to ‘switch off’ the copper wire network we’ve been using since the year dot. If there’s a power-cut, you still get a dial-tone and can make calls, because the power for your handset comes from the Telephone Exchange. Note: digital phones don’t work as they are powered from the mains, so you must have an old-style plug-in phone. As I see it, because your broadband has to get to the house somehow, you will still have a wire coming to the house, it’s just that you won’t have a normal telephone plugged in. You can still use your old phone but it will be plugged into the router using a special adapter.

Now I know many people are giving up their landline phone as they have mobiles but the down side is that if there is a power cut, you will have to rely on a mobile signal to make calls as your router will go off and your mobile (probably) relies on the router to make calls. This is called WIFI Calling and is standard on all modern routers. In Buckland Monachorum, we have no mobile signal unless we stand upstairs and stick the mobile out the window, but with WIFI calling on, we have a four-bar signal. Luxury!

Some time ago, I mentioned using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to keep your router running if there’s a power cut. I’ve used these in the past quite successfully. The down side is that the internal batteries in the UPS have a finite life and it can be an expensive option.

Finally for this month; Many of you still using Windows 10 are getting reminders that support for it is ending in October 2025. You will also still be blocked from upgrading to Windows 11 because ‘your computer is not compatible’ with the new Operating System (O/S). My experimenting shows that a clean install of Windows 11 works quite happily on almost any PC which currently runs Windows 10. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a PC/Laptop running Windows 10 and want to see if it will run Windows 11.

Stay safe and remember A.B.C.D.

August/September 2024

As I write this, it is supposed to be Summer but the rain, wind, cold and drizzle isn’t very summery at all. It does mean I don’t feel bad about being indoors typing!!

Since the last Outreach, I have had some very clever phishing emails, many directed at my webhosting service. All of them trying to trick me into divulging my login details. Over 32 million emails have been sent to report@phishing.gov.uk leading to over 329,000 websites being removed or blocked. Text message scams have also increased and you can report these by forwarding them to the number 7726 (that’s the whole number). It is fiddly to do and you will probably have to google it as forwarding text messages is different for Android and iphones.

You may recall my comments about Windows 11 in the last issues. Well it seems that without any announcements, Microsoft appear to have relaxed their stringent rules for installing Windows 11 on older laptops and PCs that ran Windows 7, 8 and 10. When released, you had to have various tech things built into the computer, which if they weren’t present, meant Windows 11 would refuse to install. I have recently been experimenting with a range of computers and have been installing Win 11 without any trouble. It even lets me create a local account again. Hmmmmm!

I was reminded recently about the massive TV and film archive that is on the internet. Head on over to https://archive.org and you will see a huge range of just about anything you can think of stored online. Far, far too many options to list here, but one section is stuffed full of vintage TV shows and B&W films. Obviously there are gaps with TV shows, because when video-tape was used to record them, they were only held for one repeat showing and then wiped to be re-used. Terrible when thought about now, but at the time, video-tape was very, very expensive. Note that the archive has content from around the world not just the UK, which is why there are nearly 3 million files in the TV Archive alone!

Searching the archive can be a tricky business because of the rather random nature of the archive’s structure. For instance, it lists the most viewed items first. You can sort it alphabetically but this falls down when people upload files with spelling mistakes. If you know the name of the show, or its year of broadcast, that will help. After I had tried searching for TV shows, I eventually found them by googling ‘classic tv’ which took me to a page full of shows. Audio is also part of the archive, I found old Goon Shows very quickly and there are sections for old 78rpm records and cylinder recordings, live recordings of bands, classical recordings, the list goes on and on.

Many of the shows in the archive have been uploaded by individuals. I have heard of one chap who scours car boot sales and ebay looking for people getting rid of old reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes. His hope is to find rare and lost recordings of radio shows that a family member recorded at the time. So don’t throw tapes away! In fact, if you have any reel-to-reel tapes, I still have a machine capable of playing them. Ditto VHS video tapes which can be transferred to DVD.

That’s all for now. Hopefully we will get some sunny weather soon and we can get outside. In the meantime, I’m off to try and find a radio show broadcast one Saturday afternoon in 1987, by a band called ‘The Hooters’. I have a part-recording and want to hear the rest. Happy searching.

June/July 2024

Well I didn’t know that the bosses of Microsoft read Outreach! No sooner had I told you last month how to bypass getting sucked into having to have a Microsoft ‘online’ account when you bought a new computer, then they went and removed the ‘hack’ that allowed you to create a ‘local’ account instead. Even Elon Musk has weighed into this apparently. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will allow this in the future.

It’s not really surprising that they have done this, as you already have to create a Gmail account for an Android phone, and an icloud account for any Apple phone or laptop, so a Microsoft account for a PC just follows this trend. Personally, I don’t want to ‘sign in’ every time I use my laptop. As Elon Musk was quoted as saying, “it’s MY computer not yours Microsoft”.

I have been asked about a browsers ‘home page’ and how to change it. The home page, is the webpage your browser (Edge or Chrome mostly I guess) starts on. I generally set this as the Google search page when setting up a computer, but it can be any page you like. To change this, click the three dots in the top right corner of the page and scroll down to ‘settings’. Now click ‘Appearance’. With Edge, you now have to scroll down a bit to find ‘Home Page’ and then click ‘show home page’ and then ‘Set button URL’. Now you can type in the page you want (or copy and paste the URL) and click ‘Save’. If you now scroll up a bit, you will see ‘When Microsoft Edge starts’. Put the same details in ‘Open these pages’ and press enter. With Chrome, click ‘show home button’ and add your chosen page and press enter. On the left menu, find ‘On start up’, and put the same details in there to. Again, press enter to finish. Click the ‘house’ icon to get to your home page, (especially as Edge opens Bing when it starts – which you cannot change). By the Way: URL is short for Universal Resource Locater, a fancy name for (for instance) www.bucklandcomputers.com etc.

Changing your ‘search engine’ will take a lot more space so I will add it to the version of this article that can be found, along with previous articles, on my website, which I just happened to mention in the previous paragraph! Clever, aren’t I?!

I think scammers must be getting desperate as we all get more savvy to their tricks. A couple of people have told me that recently, having hung up on a scam call, they have immediately been rung back and shouted at for doing this. Ignore them. I know I keep stressing this, but always be on your guard when the phone rings, or an odd email/text arrives. Just remember A.B.C.D. Assume nothing, Believe nothing, Check everything. DELETE. Eventually, we will put the scammers out of business.

Finally, have you discovered Merlin? No? Then you should if you love going for walks around our lovely countryside. Merlin is a free app for your mobile phone, created by Cornell University, (with NO advert popups) which will identify bird songs around you. So no more, “I wonder what that bird is?” when you’re out and about. After listening for just a few moments, the app will tell you what you can hear. It then highlights each bird as it sings so you can pick out the one want to identify. A recent stroll on the moors highlighted, Yellow Hammers, Meadow Pipits, and Linnets, amongst Robins, Chaffinches and….. well you get the picture!

Stay safe and remember A.B.C.D.

April/May 2024

I hope you have all been watching the ‘Scam Interceptors’ program on BBC? If not, then you do need to. It’s available on iplayer, just search for ‘scam interceptors’. The program highlights the tricks of scammers and their methods. There is also a section on the programme’s webpage all about some of the latest scams out there. I’m really pleased that many of you now tell me you that you hang up on scam calls, delete phishing emails, texts and check with your Bank to ascertain that nothing is amiss with your account. Great stuff. Do not drop your guard! Let’s make the scammers poor.

So what’s been going on in the world of IT? Well Microsoft have been continuing their attempts to trap you into creating an MS online account, sorry, sign up to their wonderful range of unbeatable services. (Ha!) If you’ve bought a new Windows 11 laptop, you’ll get to the bit during set-up where you have to connect to the internet, and then sign-in to Microsoft. You cannot bypass this stage as you could do in Windows 10……unless you know how. When it asks for your account details, simply enter ‘no@thankyou.com and then anything into the password bit. Windows 11 says ‘OOOPS! Something went wrong” and then allows you to put in a local account, thus not ‘tying’ you to Microsoft. I discovered this trick doesn’t work however, when Windows 10 does one of its regular updates and then suggests you “..complete the setup of your computer” by, you’ve guessed it, by signing in with an MS account. If you get caught in this trap, powering the computer off and on should get you past it. “Dear Microsoft, I don’t want you spying on everything I search for and buy online, thank you.”

Both MS Edge and Chrome browsers have been updated several times recently, this happens without you doing anything and the first you are aware of it is with the ‘what’s new’ page that appears. Edge also tries, (surprise, surprise) to switch you to Bing search engine, which you can decline by ticking ‘keep my settings’ and it also has, what I will call a ‘synchronise everything’ start-up page. You have to make selections to get by it, but at least you can say ‘No’ to everything.

I downloaded a new browser called Brave, which promises not to track what you search for. It also stops those really irritating advert pop-ups when playing youtube videos. Combine it with the DuckDuckGo search engine for tracking-free internet browsing. 

I was discussing ‘CCleaner’ the other day with a friend. This once excellent independent program for deleting unwanted files, temporary internet files and for fixing registry errors was bought up by Avast antivirus some time back. It was then targeted by hackers and fell out of favour with people like me. I use an old version of the program because new versions insist on starting up when Windows starts and popping up annoying suggestions, (a bit like Norton AV). It still does what it says on the tin, but you should go into the settings and turn off auto-start features if you use it.

February/March 2024

Well here we are at the start of another year (I’m writing this at the beginning of January) and there’s so much to talk about. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being talked about everywhere it seems but what does it mean for the likes of you and me? I hear that your vacuum cleaner will soon ‘know’ all about your floors and set itself accordingly, and that new AI fridge will be ordering your usual items before they run out. Yikes! Fraudsters will, of course, being using AI to create more sophisticated scams, while security companies will be using it to defeat said scams.

I know most of you do now, but please, please remember to put the phone down on any ‘out of the blue’ phone calls, no matter what. I heard of someone who ‘lost’ £20k+ before Christmas with a ‘your accounts are under attack and you need to move your money’ scam which has been doing the rounds for quite a while. They were refunded BTW. Amazon have been targeted with their ‘unique delivery code’ system, where the courier demands a code (sent by Amazon) before handing over the parcel. You then get the parcel, only to find it is empty, or has dog food or similar inside, because someone has pinched the contents. But of course, you’ve now accepted the parcel.

What would you do if you found you’d had a parcel delivered you weren’t expecting, and then found the courier had come back saying the parcel had been wrongly delivered and could they have it back? Would you hand it over? Well don’t. It could be that someone has ordered a phone (say) using your address on the order. It is sent to you (of course) but when you aren’t expecting it, you give it back to the ‘courier’ who makes off with it. The first you know is when you are chased for payment some time later. Never hand over the parcel, open it and contact the sender first. Make a note of all calls etc if making a return to the sender. Also check your bank account for unusual payments.

Two factor authentication (2FA) is becoming more usual now with everything. Even logging into Google on a new laptop/phone needs the OK from another device you use first. It is a ‘must’ that you regularly check your settings in accounts (such as Google). Is your recovery phone number correct? It should definitely be a mobile number as you will be sent a code by text message. Do you have an alternative email address set up as well, so that you can unlock your phone or tablet if you forget the password or pin? This can be as easy as using your partner’s (or sensible child’s) email address. Then they should use yours in their recovery settings. And of course regularly change your password. I covered creating passwords way back in August 2020 and you can read the article on www.bucklandcomputers.com/weblog.

Finally; if you ring the shop phone number, you won’t, for some reason, here a ringing tone while waiting for me to pick up. No idea why. The phone is re-routed to my mobile when I’m not there so it’s a good number to ring as it will usually find me.

December 23/January 24

Christmas is on the horizon, although it seems to have arrived in early September this year judging by the shop displays. This means the scammers move up a gear in trying to separate you from your money. Latest one I’ve picked up on is targeting the younger members of the family, with the opportunity to obtain much sought after concert tickets. The “chance” to buy the tickets comes via social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc) when a friend of a friend says they have spare tickets that they now cannot use (for some reason). Now, as you can imagine, my family has “scam alert” drummed into them, so when they saw some tickets for Taylor Swift on offer, they did all the necessary checks (and double checks) to make sure all was OK. It was only after they paid over half the asking price, that suspicions were aroused. Luckily they were able to cancel the payment so no money was lost, but it was a very clever (and plausible) scam. The person “selling” the tickets had had their account hacked (and cloned) and were unaware of what was being done.

Which neatly brings me on to the reminder to regularly update (ie change) your passwords on social media, Paypal, Amazon, ebay, etc. Your Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook accounts should also be regularly updated, along with any security questions, mobile phone numbers, recovery email addresses. That way, when you suddenly need to recover an account, you will be able to do so. In the not too distant future, we’re all going to be using passkeys to log into websites. Not something I’ve used but I will be trying them out and will (hopefully) write about it next time.

The BBC recently ran some programmes on TV and radio about scams, highlighting the various tricks the scammers use. With all the publicity about fraud/scams it’s always sad to hear of somebody being caught out. It’s heartening for me, when one of you tells me they told a scammer to “<insert expletive here> off when being told there was a problem with their computer/bank account. I read in the press that the Indian Government had shut down 76 scam “factories” following work by Amazon and Microsoft. Doubt it will be long before they pop up somewhere else! We have had no scam phone calls for weeks I realise now.

Microsoft have a very good (short) video presentation on scams which you can view here: Microsoft Scam Help and the Amazon scam help page is here: Amazon

To finish, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I turn 70 at Christmas and have been working on computers for 40+ years. Astonishing! I still can recall the many, many nights spent huddled over a ZX Spectrum computer, typing in games and making them work, then moving on to an Amstrad 512, on which I wrote my book, “The Building of the Plymouth, Devonport and South-Western Junction Railway”. My how time flies!

October/November

I have seen an increase in the number of ‘phishing’ emails recently, especially ones claiming I have bought Apple products at suitably eye-wateringly, panic inducing, prices! All tosh of course, but they are easy for me to spot because the same email generally arrives in two or three of the different email accounts I monitor. If you get one of these, hit delete. The more annoying emails ore ones with “invitations to invest in property” usually in Leeds for some reason. Again, the same email arrives, often from a different originating email address and whilst they look genuine they aren’t. Many hope you will reply, perhaps saying “no thanks” or by clicking the “unsubscribe” link. Don’t do either, Please. This action simply flags up that the email they have used is real, still works and is active. Cue a barrage of other emails as your email quickly gets sold on by the phishers. The only time to use the unsubscribe link is when you buy something online and the site ignores your “no follow up” request and sends you further emails.

I also had an email claiming to be from an Irish couple who had won the lottery and were giving some of the money away. It included links to a BBC news report about the win. Whilst the story of the lottery win is true, further searching revealed that the scammers had (of course) moved in and were trying to trick people into applying for funds by sending out emails. Never forget that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

There has also been an outbreak of ‘click-bait’ virus warnings. You’ll know what I mean when I say your computer suddenly freezes with a warning on screen that you have a ‘virus’ and you must call the number on screen. Usually, this is easy to bypass, as long as you don’t panic. If using a desktop PC, turn it off, either by pressing the power button and letting it shut down, or by pulling the power plug out. On a laptop, press and hold the power button for about 15 seconds. Don’t release it when the picture disappears but keep it pressed. Once off, you can restart the laptop/PC and all should be OK. Open the browser you were using but don’t click on the ‘restore websites’ button, (if you do, chances are you will be back to square one) and you should find you can use it as normal. If you get locked out again, the temporary internet files storage will need clearing. Best ring me about that.

This article was going to follow on from last time’s one about Browsers, by discussing search engines. That very quickly turned into something approaching War and Peace size so was put to one side for now. Instead, you might be interest to check out the free Internet Archive (https://archive.org). This currently has masses of archived films, TV Shows, books, magazines and music which you can download. Grab it while you can though as ‘big business’ has decided to challenge the Archive over copyright issues so some of it may ‘disappear’ unless you pay for it.

August/September

Let’s discuss Internet Browsers as I know there is still a lot of confusion about them. The first question is; what is ‘an internet browser’? Put simply, it is a program (or APPlication to use modern parlance) that you use to look at webpages on the internet. So, when you are looking for something on Amazon or e-bay, or reading the news on the BBC or newspaper site, you are said to be ‘browsing’ the internet, (Some also refer to it as ‘surfing’ the internet but let’s not add to the confusion!). The program or App that you use is known as an internet browser.

The two commonest browsers are Microsoft Edge (the blue swirly wave symbol) and Google Chrome, (the coloured wheel symbol). There are other browsers beside these, in fact there are lots of them. There is Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi and…. Well you get the idea. Edge comes ‘free’ with all versions of Windows, whereas Chrome (and all the others) has to be installed. Now I should add here that Google Chrome was originally created for use on Android phones and tablets. If you have an Apple ipad or iphone you will use Safari for the internet. Both Google and Apple have created versions of Chrome and Safari that work on Windows PCs, but I’m not going to look at Safari here.

The actual core differences between Edge and Chrome are tiny, as they are both written by the same team of people, using the same coding. It’s a bit like the difference between (say) Tesco and Morrison’s. They look very similar, but just have different branding. Most browsers track what you do, where you go, what you buy, much like your shopping loyalty card (if you have one). Websites also track you, which is why you get those annoying ‘allow cookies’ pop-ups. Whilst you can add an ad-blocker to Edge and Chrome, some other browsers specifically don’t track you or allow pop-ups. In fact, they actively advertise that they don’t track you and automatically block sites that attempt to try. Brave is one that I use if I want to look for things that I don’t want to find popping up on Facebook and other social media apps later.

Another part of the internet browser to consider is ‘The Search Engine’. You can set your browser to use any search engine, and trust me when I say there are probably more search engines out there than you can shake a stick at. Microsoft promotes using its Bing search engine with Edge, while Chrome wants you to use Google search (unsurprisingly). The Brave browser uses a search engine called “DuckDuckGo” which doesn’t track your searches. You can set DuckDuckGo to do your internet searches in Edge and Chrome by changing this in ‘settings’ on your browser or you can install the new DuckDuckGo internet browser which claims to block all website tracking and also adverts on Youtube. I have started trying this out recently and it seems OK so far.

I hope that’s given you a bit of an insight into browsers and search engines. It is a tricky subject to cover in 600 words so if you want to know more, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Lastly this time; my trial use of an uninterruptible power supply on my phone line has been a great success. We’ve had a few power cuts recently and the UPS has kept the internet on and also kept the Sky-box happy too. Quite useful being able to use the laptop when the power goes off as it too, runs off a battery!

June/July 2023

I need to return to an old subject which I’ve covered several times in the past: Backing up your files. The reason is because I have recently had several failures of solid state drives (known generally as SSDs) which meant that data could not be recovered. Luckily, none of these resulted in lost pictures, and documents but it could have done.

Since personal computers came into regular use, they have used some sort of ‘drive’ to store your files. In the beginning, there was the 5¼ inch ‘floppy disc drive’ so called because of their size and the fact they were, floppy! Then came the 3½ inch floppy drive, that wasn’t floppy at all as it was in a hard plastic case. At about the same time, hard drives came into being. So called because the storage disc was sealed in a metal case. These are the ones we’ve been using for years but they are relatively slow by modern standards. I could describe why but that would fill the rest of this article and put you all to sleep!

A few years back, floppy discs (the ones that are not floppy) went out of fashion as their storage capacity was quite small and whilst there was a move to using recordable Compact Discs, these took a long time to record and could only be used once (until re-recordable ones arrived – but they never caught on either). What replaced the floppy disc was what became known as the ‘USB Penstick’. There are lots of other names too but they all plug into a USB slot on the computer and can be read and written to at will. The storage capacity of these has gone up and up, while the price of them has stayed really low. They are fast because they have no moving parts, as everything is stored on integrated circuits (chips to you and me).

So far so good. The next step was to replace the hard drive, with its spinning magnet disc, with a drive full of chips, hence we have SSDs. Because these are fully electrical, they are susceptible to sudden electrical failure. That is, they go phutt! with no warning.

If an old-style hard drive failed, there were various ways you could get at the stored data, as it was held on the internal magnetic disc. However, if an SSD fails, you can only, possibly, get at the files by opening the case and unsoldering the storage chips. These are then put into a separate piece of kit to read the contents. Hopefully the chip won’t have been damaged by the short circuit because if it has there is no way back. Data is gone forever.

Which brings me to the point of all this, PLEASE, please make sure all your files are backed up, and backed up regularly too! Use either an external hard drive or use online storage, such as onedrive or Google docs. Incidentally, Android phone photos get automatically stored in google photos. Apple photos should get stored into your icloud account. These can then be viewed on your computer by signing into google or icloud.

Next time I’ll discuss online storage as google limits you to 15Gb of free storage and then makes you pay for more. Every photo you take, fills up that 15Gb so if your phone keeps saying you’re running out of storage, that’s why.

April/May 2023

This year I reach 70. A terrifying thought. It also means I have been messing about with computers for the best part of 50 years, having got hold of my first one, a ZX81 (with the famous additional wobbly RAM-pack on the back) back in 1982. Computers have come a long way since then. Oh the hours spent typing in programmes from magazines, and then the hours spent spotting the mistakes so they would actually work! Time well spent I think because every computer, ever since, has pretty much worked to the same principles meaning that when I see a problem today, identifying a fix becomes almost second nature. I did say almost though as I still get stumped occasionally. Those early computers used a single ZX80 processor but todays ones can have 24 processors in one device. Trying to understand how these are made really does make your head hurt.

Now, just as we were getting used to Windows 11, comes news that Microsoft are working on Windows 12! (no really – they are!) Marked for release in 2024 apparently, which is interesting as they are supporting Windows 10 until October 2025. Windows 8 (and 8.1) are now out of support since January 2023 so if you are still using this, now is definitely the time to get that upgrade to Windows 10 done. It’s still a free upgrade and while that’s being done, get a Solid State Drive (SSD) installed too. This will massively speed up your computer, and that’s a promise! The proportion of computers running Windows 10 has apparently now reached 74%. Most Windows 10 computers aren’t able to upgrade to windows 11 (and beyond?) because of technical restrictions that Microsoft decided to implement.

There is currently a ‘push’ from technology companies to get all websites to have HTTPS at the start of their domain name. HTTP is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and the added ‘S’ simply means secure, so that the connection between your computer and the website is locked, (the padlock symbol) and cannot be hacked. You should never try to purchase anything online from a site which doesn’t have HTTPS and the padlock symbol. Some internet and email providers have been enforcing this by ‘bouncing’ emails back saying they cannot be sent. To explain further (and easily): If I send an email to a gmail account, when Google receives the email, it checks the sending mailserver against a list of ‘secure’ mailservers. If it’s not on the list, Google bounces the email back. This is exactly what started happening to me recently. In order to pass this test, my website and associated mailserver, had to have to have a ‘Secure Socket Layer’ (SSL) added to the DNS records held globally. Unfortunately, this does come at a price. Sorry if that got a bit ‘techy’!

News from across the pond (in the US) of a new (and scary) scam. Apparently, scammers can now use Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to mimic real voices. If they can get a short audio sample of your voice, the software can create whole sentences which they can use to try and trick friends or relatives. One report says that a lady got a call from her ‘Grandson’ saying he’d been arrested and needed bail money. Luckily their Bank Manager was aware of the scam and alerted them so no money was lost. This comes after a flood of text messages allegedly from a relative asking for help and money tricked a lot of people last year.

Remember, scammers need money and will not go away. Always be suspicious of any phonecall or text message that comes out of the blue, especially with an element of urgency in it. I know I keep banging on about this, but I don’t want you to get caught out. If in doubt, hang up and ring Stephen!

By the way, I may be almost 70, but news of my impending retirement have been greatly exaggerated!

February/March 2023

I dislike starting every article about scammers, but sadly, they aren’t ever going to go away, and I still hear of people falling for their convincing patter. Since the last Outreach, three people came within a whisker of being taken to the cleaners, one of whom had been caught before (which made it harder to understand why they went along with it the second time). I do try to instil in everyone that no-one, (I repeat, no-one) will ever ring you from Microsoft, Windows, BT, et al, to tell you your computer/router is infected with a virus, or has been hacked. Neither will a Bank ring you to tell you that your account has ‘suspicious’ activity on it. Beware too of the ‘parcel delivery failure’ text message or the email, that ‘so-and-so has failed to get a payment for a new iphone’ email. Be instantly suspicious of any, out-of-the-blue phone call or text message, especially ones with an element of urgency (you must do this now or your account will be closed – etc).

The simple watch-words are; with phone calls, “if it’s out of the blue it’s not for you” and text/email, “if it’s out of the blue, don’t click through”. If you really aren’t sure, hang up and ring me! I much prefer telling you ‘it’s a scam’ than trying to fix a compromised computer with locked/deleted files.

And now for something completely different (well almost). Those of you using Windows 10, who have a PC/laptop that is capable of running Windows 11, have, until recently, been able to stay on Windows 10 by saying ‘not yet’ to the upgrade. Not anymore. During December, I noted computers are now having the upgrade installed on them whether you wanted it or not, as if it were a normal update. Now there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Windows 11, as it isn’t a lot different looking from Windows 10. There is the usual thing about making menus etc look different, and shoving the short-cut bar, which has always been in the bottom left of the screen, into the middle (like an Apple computer screen). Windows 10 will be supported (with updates etc) by Microsoft until 2025 and probably beyond if there is a major security issue. Older Windows 10 computers won’t ever (as far as I can see) be allowed to upgrade to Windows 11.

I am still finding the odd Windows 7 and 8 computers in my travels. I can still upgrade these to Windows 10 with a free upgrade licence from Microsoft. At the same time, I would also fit a solid state [hard] drive (SSD) to really speed things up. In fact, every computer benefits from having an SSD fitted in place of a hard drive. I may have mentioned this before but an SSD has no moving parts inside it, it’s just integrated circuits, meaning it is much, much faster at transferring data than previous models. If using your computer feels like wading in treacle, then this is the way to rejuvenate it.

Keep safe and don’t fall for a scam.

December 2022/January 2023

If we ever wanted to know how dependant we have become on the Internet, we were reminded recently at the beginning of November, when at around 6pm on Sunday the 6^th, all broadband in the local area went off, and stayed off until around 10am on the Monday morning. It followed an almighty flash and clap of thunder in the middle of the afternoon but whether or not the two events were connected I’ve not been able to ascertain. I’m sure, like everyone else, I started unplugging routers and telephone cables to see if it would come back on. Unlike when the power goes off, you can’t tell if it is just your house affected because you have no internet to check. With the router off, mobile phone coverage is also lost unless you can hang out of an upstairs window. I actually drove down to my shop in Horrabridge to test my router, which is when I discovered how widespread the failure was. Happily, normal service resumed and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 & 11 have proved to be very reliable and although we cuss when yet another update arrives, they are important to keep the software running smoothly. Most updates are installed automatically, but not all of them and I find a lot of computers I go to have updates waiting for you to install them manually. This wouldn’t be an issue if you were prompted to do this but you aren’t, (and in any case, many would be reluctant to click an ‘install updates now’ link in case it was a scam) so it relies on you checking yourself. And here’s how you do it.

First save any work you’re doing and close any programs you have open. Windows 10 & 11 have a slightly different look to what we are going to do, but fundamentally, the steps are the same. All ‘clicks’ are left mouse button unless specified otherwise. Backing up your computer isn’t crucial at this point (you are backing up anyway aren’t you?!) but is advisable of course.

Click on ‘Start’, then ‘Settings’ (which is the cog wheel icon). Now click on ‘Updates & Security’ then ‘Windows Updates’. Regardless of what it says at the top of the page, click on ‘Check for updates’ and wait for it to finish checking. You may find it now automatically does an install, but there may be an ‘Optional Feature Update’ lower down the page which needs you to ‘Download and Install’. You may also see ‘View optional Updates’ which when clicked, takes you to ‘Driver updates’. Click on this and then tick any boxes shown and download and install these too.

If your Windows 10 computer is able to run Windows 11, you will also see that offered as an ‘update’, but it’s up to you whether you do or don’t install it. There is a ‘not yet’ option to click on for this. At the end of all the downloading and installing, you may or may not be asked to restart the computer, but do it anyway. When you’ve done that, repeat the above until clicking ‘check for updates’ just returns you to the ‘You’re up to date’ message.

Well that’s another year done! May I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

October/November 2022

As many of you know, I am not a fan of ‘driver update’ software. I always find they are pretty useless at doing anything other than separating you from a few quid in your bank account. Usually arriving via an accidental ‘click-bait’ event, they ‘scan’ your PC for ‘outdated drivers’ and when you click on the ‘fix now’ button, low and behold you have to pay a licence fee. Happily, at that point, most of you go ‘no thank you’ but then have to put up with the nagging pop-up. Worse still, is when the software also starts warning about potential ‘viruses’ etc and if you ‘just click here’ it will all be sorted. Yea, right! But apparently, not all these programs are bad and I have been alerted to one called “Snappy Driver Installer Origin” (great name by the way!). It’s free, completely free with no nags or pop-ups. I’ll be trying it out on a few machines to see how it is so I’ll keep you posted.

My uninterruptible power supply (UPS) which I have been trialling has been great. With all the recent power cuts and brown-outs, out broadband has stayed rock steady, along with the Sky Q Box! Our laptops, with inbuilt battery, have meant suffering in the dark has become normal!

As we move more and more into the era of two-factor authentication, (2FA) the need to keep security details and passwords up to date are becoming even more important. This includes any mobile phone number you have registered with a website. It is more usual now to keep a mobile phone number but I still find the occasional one listed that hasn’t been active for years. Another issue is any second email address you may have had. This is a more common problem where you have switched, say, from BT to TalkTalk, and have not used the ‘old’ email for a long time. Sites which are especially strict about recovering accounts are Microsoft, Apple/icloud, Google, and BT but of course there are others. If you have an Apple phone, then you will have an Apple/icloud account and a Google account if you have an android phone. Both of these will be secured with your mobile number. Microsoft accounts come in many flavours! If you bought a Windows 10 or 11 computer, chances are it made you sign up for one, and if you have/had a Hotmail account, or an Outlook account, they are also Microsoft. All ‘different’ but actually the same.

These all store phone numbers, email addresses and have ‘security questions’ stored which you have to answer 100% correctly to get back into your account if you lose the password or get locked out. So now is a good time to go and check those settings.

You should also regularly change passwords for Facebook, Twitter etc to keep the hackers at bay, but I’ve said that before.

As we switch to 4g/5g phones and routers, the lack of a mobile signal in your home will get less of an issue. Any new mobile phone should have ‘wifi calling’ built into it but make sure it does when buying or upgrading. And ask if it is compatible with your ISP (BT, Sky, TalkTalk etc) as not all phones are. I had to buy my Samsung mobile through Utility Warehouse (my utility supplier) in order to be able to make calls from inside the house. But now we have four-bars indoors so no more ‘Game of Phones’! Hurrah!

August/September 2022

The scammers have been busy lately and they keep trying new angles and variations. A nice foreign sounding chap (usually called Kevin, or Colin) has been calling to tell us that our ‘router is reporting that it has been compromised’ etc etc. It’s quite fun stringing them along for a while, but when they ring at the crack of dawn, you generally can’t be bothered and give them short shrift.

Another scam in the headlines recently is the message from a loved one explaining they’ve broken their phone and so are using a spare, but they need bills paid urgently. There are excuses given as to why you can’t ring them and they entice you to pay, with the promise of reimbursing you later. As a variation to this, and literally as I was writing this article, I received a message from a friend asking ‘if I used Amazon?’ I replied that I did and then received the following: “Good to hear from you, I’ve been trying to purchase a £200 Amazon E-Gift card by email from Amazon, but it says they are having issues charging my card. I contacted my bank and they told me it would take a couple of days to get it sorted. I intend to buy it for a friend of mine who’s having her birthday today. Can you purchase it from your end for me? I’ll reimburse you once my bank sorts the issue out. I am just trying to put a smile on her face in these trying times. Let me know so I can send you her email address.

All very plausible? Could be, and this how the scammer usually gets in. I wasn’t suspicious of the first enquiry as my friend is on holiday and they might be asking a genuine IT question. But the second message rang a very large alarm bell, simply because they wouldn’t use that form of wording with me. Also note the element of pressure, the ‘birthday’ is today, no time to check etc. Always, always, always be suspicious of any message that seems out of the ordinary, both on text messages and email. Always ring or message the person on the number you usually use. Wait a decent time for them to reply if they don’t pick up immediately. You can also check with friends to see if they’ve received the exact same message, which is what happened here, with about a dozen people receiving the exact same message. Remember: Scammers never give up!

Back on the IT front, Microsoft has sent out a reminder that support for Windows 8, (or Windows Hate as it is usually refer to) runs out on the 10^th Jan 2023. You shouldn’t really be using this anyway as the upgrade to Windows 10 is still available, still free, and better. Incidentally, if you are still on Windows 7, the upgrade to 10 for this is also still available, and free. Whilst on the subject of upgrades, I have continued to rejuvenate laptops and tower PCs by fitting the latest Solid State Hard-Drives (SSD) in them. It really is astonishing the increase in speed that is achieved by doing this. So if your PC is dragging its proverbial feet, then this is a worth-while upgrade.

June/July 2022

I’m going to start this month’s article with a regular reminder to back-up your data and photos. This is because I have had two hard drives recently which failed completely, meaning the data is trapped inside and will need specialist (ie expensive) work to recover it. Both of these were Solid State Drives (Known as an SSDs) and while they will make your computer run and perform faster than one of the mechanical hard drives, because they are made up of integrated circuits then tend to just stop working. And they don’t usually give much warning of impending failure either.

Following on from last month, when I reviewed Anti-Virus software, my attention was drawn to a Which Report, that didn’t rate Microsoft’s Defender Anti-Virus very highly. I do quite like reading their reports on things but I think they may be off the mark this time. Based on my experience with you all, I’ve not had anyone using Microsoft’s AV get infected with a virus. I touch wood as I type that as they could be famous last words! I sincerely hope not.

A banking service I found out about recently could prove extremely useful for everyone. If you think you’ve been scammed, then pick up the phone, make sure you have a dial-tone and then dial 159 and you will be instantly connected to your Bank. This number has been set up by the Banks and Financial Institutions to try and stem the tide of fraud that is costing us all millions. You can read all about this by going to the website; www.stopscamsuk.org.uk. The phone number (159) has been set up to be similar to ringing 101 (for Police) or 111 (for the NHS).

And another tip for you is about Paypal. This excellent online payment service has been around for quite a while. It’s a great way to protect your debit/credit card when paying for things online as the person you’re buying from doesn’t get to see the card details. However, I discovered you do have to keep an eye your Paypal account, as some services you buy, can set themselves up as ‘auto-payments’ within Paypal. The first you realise this has happened is when you see a mysterious payment on your bank statement, so if you have a Paypal account, log in, click on ‘Activity’ and then ‘Type’ and then select ‘Pre-approved payments’. Hopefully you won’t find anything but I found several ‘auto payments’ for software I had tried and then rejected.

I’ve heard that the plan for a mobile phone mast to cover Buckland Monachorum, may have been ditched. Although the planning permission for a mast near the sewage works is still live, there seems to be no enthusiasm from Vodaphone (I think) to undertake the work. Airband have been busy running in cables everywhere so we will have to wait and see if things improve. Certainly, if you have a router that can provide 4G (such as BT one) and your phone does WIFI Calling, you can make and receive mobile phone calls at home. I used to have a Utility Warehouse ‘WIFI Calling’ box plugged into my router, but have been able to turn that off now. Bliss! No more sticking the phone out the window to try and get a signal!

April/May 2022

Many of you will know, that I’ve been recommending Kaspersky anti-virus products for over 30 years. Not anymore. I obviously haven’t spoken to Eugene Kaspersky about the Ukraine situation, but regardless, I no longer feel happy about having Russian software on my computer. It is a shame because it has kept me (and many of you, my customers) free from viruses for all this time. Luckily, there are many good anti-virus products out there now and I have switched to using Norton 365, which is something I never thought I’d type. Currently (early March) a year’s Norton 365 is just £10, if bought from their website, www.norton.com.

I have heard unofficially that a call was put out for hackers and scammers to target Russia so it may be that for a while, there will be less scams going around. We will see. But it may be that we may get reciprocal attacks coming back the other way, so don’t let your guard down.

The phone has been quiet for several weeks and I’ve not seen any phishing emails recently either. They haven’t gone away though. I heard recently, from someone who was suddenly bombarded with dozens of random email messages, in various languages and seemingly unconnected. However, after further ‘digging’ they discovered to their horror, that someone had hacked their savings account and were in the process of transferring their life’s savings to a rogue account. The transfer was stopped and nothing was lost, but in conversation with the fraud department, they discovered that towards the end of last year, they had apparently been tricked into ‘updating their account details’ on a completely fake banking website. Why the scammers then waited several months before trying to remove funds is anyone’s guess, but it does highlight a good point. If you get a request to ‘update your account’, always type in the bank or business website address yourself, never click on a link in an email. I have seen a fake Lloyd’s website and it was very good, and could easily catch you out.

If you want to create a desktop shortcut for your bank website, (so you don’t have to keep typing it in each time) then this is what to do. First, Google Chrome: Open the website you want. Now go to the top right and click on the three dots. From the drop-down menu, select ‘More Tools’, then ‘Create Shortcut’. Give the shortcut a name and click ‘save’. The procedure for Microsoft Edge is different. Open the website as before and click on the URL so it highlights (goes blue). Hover the mouse over the highlighted address and then right-click the mouse and select ‘copy’. Now go back to the desktop, right-click on an empty area and select ‘New’ then ‘Shortcut’. Paste the link you copied into the bar, click ‘Next’ then give the shortcut a name and click ‘Finish’.

I am going to run a ‘repair table’ at the monthly Village Hall Market & Coffee Shop, for people to ask computer/IT questions, or to ask about getting a repair on some household item or another. So if you’ve got something at home that’s broken (Lamp, tape recorder, jukebox – yes I can repair jukeboxes!) and you don’t know who to ask about getting it repaired, do drop by for a chat. I can’t promise to be a miracle worker, but if it saves one thing from the tip, that would be fantastic.

February/March 2022

I should really start this article by wishing you all “A Happy New Year”, bearing in mind it’s only the 6^th January as I type this. But of course it will be February before you read it, so maybe “How’s the year going so far?” might be more appropriate. We might even be on lockdown IV by then if ‘Plan B’ doesn’t hold up, or maybe looking at a new Prime Minister?

The scammers were busy thinking up new ways to trick us before Christmas, with the ‘parcel charge’ scam. They have also been targeting facebook accounts and if someone you know gets hacked, you get sent an “I think you’re in this video” message from them. I’ve not found out what happens if you click on the link. Another one is targeting people by posing as a friend or family member in need of help and asking for money. These messages can be via email, text or whatsapp so be careful if you get one of these as quite a few people have lost money from this one so ALWAYS be suspicious of money requests, especially when there’s an element of panic or urgency in the message.

With accounts being hacked, you should think about updating those passwords you haven’t changed since, well, whenever.  While you’re doing this, also see if you’ve set up a recovery phone number or other email address and check that they’re still valid. I’ve had the odd few occasions where the recovery phone number is an old mobile number, long since replaced.

An interesting item has been in the news recently about phone lines. It seems BT (et al) are keen to get rid of ‘fixed land lines’, (those copper cables bringing the phone system to your house) and we will all have fibre-optic cables coming direct to the home instead. This will be known as ‘fibre to the home’ or FTTH, whereas now we have ‘fibre to the cabinet’ or FTTC. “So what?” I hear you ask. Well, the current copper land-line system is not affected by power cuts. If the power goes off to your house (or town/village) you can still call friends, or for help, because the system has a back-up supply in the telephone exchange to keep your plug-in phone working, (although of course the broadband is lost because it relies on a powered router in your home). The new system, uses “Voice Over IP” or VOIP for short (love all these acronyms!) and relies on the router in your house for a connection to the phone system. This means when the power goes off, so does your router, and bingo, no phone to call for help on! Now this isn’t too much of an issue if you have a decent mobile signal, but how many of us do? And how many of you have ‘WIFI Calling’ on your mobile which relies on, yes, you’ve guessed it, your router!

The answer will be to have your own battery back-up system. Some, (mainly businesses) have been using these for years to keep their computers going in a power cut, and to protect them from power surges. They vary hugely in price, size and how long they will keep things running, (which of course is also dependant on what power is drawn by what you have plugged in) but a reasonable sized one for your home should cost less than £100. I’m going to be trialling one at home to keep our current broadband running in a power cut, so I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.

END