If you’re all that, then you’re ready to become a computer genius. It’s easy. As far as dedication goes, it means you will be learning while others are wondering. The answers are everywhere. Tinker with whatever equipment you have. The tinkering generates questions and you learn better when you are looking for answers. When you try to figure things out it sets goals for yourself that you can achieve. Then, when you read, search for answers, or ask questions you get a better understanding of what you find.

You should read everything you can find about things you are interested in. If you’re not interested you’re wasting the time you spend reading. Finding reading material is simple. In a minute we’ll cover searches but books can be useful too. Libraries are an affordable resource but you should visit several of them. Some are better at getting current material than others. Check the copyright dates to make sure you’re learning from the most current books.

Searching the internet will answer any question. Not true, you say. It is common for people to search for answers and not find them because there is a trick to using search engines. When your searches aren’t turning up the answer you’re looking for try different keywords or the way you use them. The order of your keywords can effect which pages come up first where you can find them. The page you are looking for may have used synonyms to the words you are using. Read internet articles on using search engines so you understand the use of keywords, nouns, phrases, punctuation, and Boolean because internet searches are a very important part of understanding computing.

Asking questions is an important part of learning and solving problems. If you have a problem, chances are someone else has already had it. Join online news and specialty discussion groups. You will learn the common problems people are having. Use multiple groups. It is very common for one group to be struggling with a problem or even come up with the wrong solution when another group or you yourself have learned the correct solution. You will seldom even have to post a question because your searches will turn up the question that someone else has already asked.

If you are looking at someone else’s computer there are certain questions you should always ask them. What was the last thing you did before you noticed the problem? Can you describe exactly what the problem is? What have you done to try to fix it? Depending on the situation you may have to ask questions about the age of the computer or what it has in it.

If you don’t have the natural ability to figure things out for yourself then figure out a different career path. It is frequently said that every problem is unique. Other solutions are clues or guides for solving your current problem. The usefulness of that saying is that it keeps you from assuming you already know the answer. Every problem is a puzzle. You need to figure out the pieces so you can ask the right questions. This is the one skill you have to already possess. You can’t learn it. I would never encourage anyone to try to learn mechanical reasoning. If you’re already good at it then you can study it to improve.

To succeed at anything you need to show self confidence. People are gullible. They may not want to believe what you tell them but they can’t help it. If someone were to tell you, “I’m not very good at this but I’ll see what I can do”, you would not have confidence in them even if they succeeded. On the other hand, if they said, “If I can’t fix this no one can”, you would believe they knew what they were doing even if they failed. Self confidence sells your ability and that is your most valued product.

This is the how-to. It’s up to you now. When people start believing in your genius, your self-confidence will have been self fulfilling.

Always be sure that your security software is up-to-date and make sure it hasn’t been disabled, then use it to scan your computer. The scan will frequently clean your computer or offer you options on how you wish to clean it. Delete or quarantine everything the program identifies as a problem. Write down the identified name s of anything that can’t be deleted and search online for a solution. Restart your computer to make sure the changes take effect.

If your computer is covered by a warranty that offers free tech support, contact the manufacturer. First, be sure you know the model and serial number of your computer, any software you’ve installed, and a description of the problem. Notes you have taken will help you explain the problem to the technician. If the problem persists professional help is recommended but experienced help is better because it’s free if you just improve your internet search skills.

If you want professional help and your computer isn’t covered by a warranty, or if you want help with security software that isn’t doing the job properly, you will need to pay for technical support. Many companies offer tech support over the phone, online, at their store, or in your home. Telephone or online help generally are the least expensive ways to access support services but you may have to do some of the work yourself. Taking your computer in for service is usually less expensive than having a technician or repair person to come to your home.

Once your computer problem is corrected, you should think about how malware or virus could have infected your computer, and how you could avoid it in the future.
Also, explain safe computing to anyone else who uses your computer. Tell them that some online activity can put a computer at risk, and share what you’ve learned about safer computing.

Hacking or a Computer Virus

Alert the appropriate authorities by contacting:

Report it to your ISP and the hacker’s ISP. An ISP’s email address SHOULD be on its website.

The FBI at http://www.ic3.gov. To fight computer criminals, they need to hear from you.

Internet Fraud

If you get scammed on an Internet auction, online shopping, or any other way, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, at ftc.gov. http://ftc.gov/

Deceptive Spam

You should forward deceptive spam, including email phishing, to spam@uce.gov. <mailto:spam@uce.gov> Be sure to include the full header of the email, including all routing information. You should also report phishing email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. <mailto:reportphishing@antiphishing.org>

Divulged Personal Information

If you believe you have mistakenly given your personal information to a fraudster, file a complaint at ftc.gov, and then visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Identity Theft website at ftc.gov/idtheft to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from a potential theft of your identity.

Parents

Parents sometimes can feel outpaced by their technologically savvy kids. Technology aside, there are lessons that parents can teach to help kids stay safer as they socialize online. Most ISPs provide parental controls, or you can buy separate software. But no software can substitute for parental supervision. Talk to your kids about safe computing practices, as well as the things they’re seeing and doing online.

Social Networking Sites

Many adults, teens, and tweens use social networking sites to exchange information about themselves, share pictures and videos, and use blogs and private messaging to communicate with friends, others who share interests, and sometimes even the world-at-large. Here are some tips for parents who want their kids to use these sites safely:

Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child’s website. Some social networking sites have strong privacy settings. Show your child how to use these settings to limit who can view their online profile, and explain to them why this is important.

Here are some of the ways you can avoid being a victim of phishing scams:

Email, text, or pop-up message that ask for personal or financial information is likely an attempt at phishing. Don’t click on links in email messages. If you want to go to a bank or business’s website, type the web addresses yourself.

Don’t respond to messages by email, text, pop-up or phone that ask you to call their phone number to update your account or personal information to access a prize or refund. If you need to reach an organization, call the number on your billing statement, or use the telephone directory.

Identity thieves can steal identities from large numbers of people by hacking into huge businesses or government agencies. While the some businesses on the Internet may require you to share some personal information, you can share only with organizations you know and trust. If you give out personal information, first find out how it’s going to be used and protected.

When shopping online, don’t provide personal or financial information through a website until you have checked that the site is secure like a website URL that begins "https://" (the "s" represents a "secure" web-page). Unfortunately, some scammers have faked security web-pages. Also, some sites that took appropriate security precautions still get hacked.

Be sure to always read privacy policies. They SHOULD explain what information is collected, how it is used, and with what other companies it is shared. Try to find out what security measures are taken to protect your information. If you don’t see a privacy policy, can’t understand it, or have any doubts consider doing business with someone else.

The book and included software were version 9, which didn’t work on our school computers so I taught version 11. I love it. With a software program called Wine that runs my large Legacy Windows Software collection, Bill Gates is now watching from the sidelines. I was reluctant to completely give up Windows because I had purchased so many programs for Windows.

The software availability of the programs I wanted was why I gave up my Mac. I still feel like Steve and Bill are old friends. I just don’t need them anymore. I still use them because I need to keep up to date but Linux is by far, more beautiful and versatile. Fedora and Ubuntu users develop wonderful applications but you have to use one or the other with the apps that have been ported to that system. What I love about OpenSUSE is that its users port more of the applications into it.

Microsoft has even rewritten the apps to port them into Windows. Then they charge you for this free stuff which is illegal. Yeah, they’ve been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. If Microsoft was smart they would compete with Linux by porting these apps into windows and giving them away for free.

Windows could at least hold its value by porting these wonderful open source toys for free because at the moment, if I didn’t have to use MS for career reasons I wouldn’t use it so I wouldn’t need to pay for it. If the price is higher than the value Linux is more beautiful anyway.

Plus, with Linux, if you pay for it, the support is what you are paying for while Microsoft support is expensive whether it is useful or not. One of my clients called for support, because my support is guaranteed, and they had just paid about $200 and didn’t get a solution or a guarantee.

Microsoft has many programs that have dominance in the market and their files are abundant in the business world and on the internet. There are free programs available for Linux that will open, change, save, and create the Microsoft files so anyone who chooses the Linux option can still share with friends or coworkers that still use the pricey MS option.

Linux is easy to install and you have two options: Replace your operating system with Linux and its open source programs. Partition your hard drive and use MS and Linux. Keep in mind that if you don’t switch to Linux. Many MS upgrades will continue to have additional price tags. Check back for details on how to do it. You’re the expert.

Fun With Avatars

Your online presence doesn’t need to allow people to track your private information. Instead of being an online presence, create an avatar. The point is that what everyone sees is a fun creation a disposable avatar can do your bidding for you. Change everything regularly. You can change emails, profiles, stories, fantasies, name, and anything else you can have fun with. Data collected is fictitious, and then it disappears. Your friends are the only people who need to know the real you from real life.

I decided to change when I discovered how much information online databases knew about me and it was associated with my real name. The internet knows more about the real me than I do. Now, that person disappeared.

Online Privacy

You can beat the spyware and have an adventure doing it. So many legitimate (LOL) companies spy on us every time we log onto our computer. Maybe some of us don’t consider Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and so many others legitimate just because they do spy on us. We are entitled to that opinion whether they feel bad about it or not. But what if we took the profit out of it?

There are some fun things we can do that will do just that. It will be like going on vacation every time you log onto your computer. The thing that makes vacations more fun than anything else is that nobody knows us. We can let our hair down and do things we don’t do at home. We go out dining more often or let go of our inhibitions in others ways. People frequently fall in love on vacation only to find the person they fell in love with acts completely different when they are not on vacation having fun.

That’s what we do on vacation. We have fun not being ourselves. That is how we beat "Big Brother", in reality, MySpace, Facebook, and other corporate data miners are the true big brothers of our time. We create a new person to operate our computer. We create a disposable person we can throw out when it suits us. We can be anyone we want for as long as we want. I am not inventing something new. Criminals do it all the time to avoid being caught. But we can do the same thing to keep our privacy and take the profit out of online spying

Before we go into how it’s done let’s look at the other side of the coin. Most of the internet is free because there is profit in giving away free stuff. Companies can sell more online because search engines track user interests to help you find what you’re seeking for free and then deliver ads to the right buyer (you). You get ads for things you are interested in because your behavior is stored in databases all over the internet. Companies give away free stuff so they can get information about you and offer you other things you might like to buy. They all pay for the free portion of the internet.

Those databases are holding more than your internet address. The social networking sites like MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are putting all of your personal information into databases that you can’t delete. You can search the internet to find birthdays, ages, and residences for the last fifteen years, employment history for the last twenty five years, and much more. These are actual examples of real searches. If that scares you it’s time for us to have some fun.

Your internet computer should not contain any real information about you. If your computer is for games, email, and surfing the internet this is not a problem. Later, there will be a list of suggestions for using computers for serious stuff. To start, sit down with a piece of paper and make up a person you would like to be. Was it your dream to become a musician or a world traveler? Do you wish you were a doctor or lived at the North Pole? Your imagination is your only limit to the amount of fun you can have.

 Make up a name, address (somewhere you don’t live), an occupation or career, hobbies, friends, past vacations, and even a fantastic life history. Then when you get on your computer become that person. Spyware on your computer will peek into all your programs and look for information about you so when you install software be that person. When you install Microsoft Word and it asks for your name it doesn’t care if it’s your real name, just that you paid for it. When you create a login name, use your fantasy name. Everything on your computer and the internet should be about this make believe person.

To start with, get a secure email online like hushmail.com using your pretend name. Use that email to join social networking sites. If they want you to use their email, verify it through your secure email with your new identity. When you get involved in social networking use your avatar, your make believe persona. Tell only your friends who you really are in a separate email and refer them to this article to explain what you are doing.

Other Options You Can Use

If you use your computer for important things like personal records, professional records, online cash transactions, or banking it is best to use a separate computer for that. If you cannot use that alternative there are several other options. You can use a free program like TrueCrypt to create a secure folder on your computer. When True Crypt is not running the folder is completely unreadable. You can put files, passwords, and even install programs in that folder. That is the easiest way to hide your real information.

If you are more technically inclined there is a third option. You can create a partition on your computer’s hard drive and install a copy of your operating system or another free operating system like OpenSolaris, FreeBSD, or Linux. There are plenty of easy to understand directions on the internet. What you have then is two computers in one; one for secure important functions, and one for carefree fun. Be sure to use the professional system only for business and personal needs to keep out the spies.

Our presence on the internet is not just your name. Your browser is so unique it can be used like a fingerprint if enough information can be requested. It can reveal what fonts are on your computer, what plug-ins are installed on our browser, your email address, our ip address, and other things that make our online connection different from everyone else.

There are tools that can confuse or restrict these impressions as well. Privacy settings, multiple browsers and email clients. My default email  client is never used because it is set to get bogus email from foolu@gotcha.com. That’s the email address that is given away by all my browsers so spam goes to Timbuktu or somewhere closer to the beach if anyone at Gotcha surf wear is using that email. We become the ghosts of the internet. We become make believe people who exist for a short time then get tossed out like old email addresses. We fill data miners to the brim with useless information.

Step by Step For Creating Your Avatar

Step one: Create your Avatar, Your Private Online Character

You can be as elaborate as you please. Give your avatar as much data as you can imagine, like an character in a book or a D and D character. How tall are you? What color are your eyes? What planet do you live on? What timeline do you live in? Really!! Mess with the online data collectors.

Step Two: Get Your Avatar an Email, Try an Email Anonymizer

This is the only link to your old self so if you are really concerned with privacy, use an anonymizer.

Step Three: Create an Online Presence, for Your Avatar

Let your avatar join MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or any of the others you like. Stop using your old social network. You can close it but it will never be deleted. Your Avatar is your real online name. The companies that track you online are rich or powerful and you are devaluing their data so this might eventually be as illegal as using an alias for fraud in real life.

Step Four: Advertise, Let Your Friends Know

Introduce your friends to your avatar. You can send them a link to this article to explain why. Use your new email for everything online. Refer people to your new social network that you created for your avatar. Do not reply to ads, promotions, or spam sent to your old email. That person has vanished into the ethernet (or internet).

The internet kills and ruins lives. There are police task forces dedicated to preventing such crimes but you should know how it can happen before you turn your children loose to explore it for themselves. You should wonder how this could happen to your children while you are monitoring everything they do. The internet thrusts us parents into some new responsibilities.

A child’s misconceptions make him or her vulnerable. You may have forgotten the youthful misconception that adults have total freedom and can do whatever they please. Of course, you still felt you had the right to always know what your parents were doing. It was very scary not knowing. Children want to be grownup so they can have that freedom and privacy. It is understandable to want to practice too soon. Society doesn’t help by telling them they have a right to privacy, that translates into a right to get into trouble without anyone knowing.

Adults don’t even have a right to privacy. We find that out quickly when we do things for which society disapproves. We are privileged to feel a level of privacy in our own home but it is not guaranteed. Children should understand that privacy is not even a right for adults and not resent being monitored. We may feel our children have earned our trust but there will always be hazards they are not prepared to understand.

If you think you understand the hazards you have not been made aware of criminals always coming up with new ideas for executing their craft. We are all vulnerable but children lack the experience and need the benefit of yours. If you allow them to persuade you to leave them alone you could be the one left alone. I am not being dramatic. All children are targets but the victims can be any child with the ability to make themselves unattended, even while you sleep. You can’t watch them 24/7 but there are things you can do.

Children’s needs make them vulnerable. Everyone needs approval, especially the young. You love them more than anyone ever will, even their future spouse. You may not know it but when it comes down to the wire you may even surprise yourself. They will always crave more approval than you can give them because it is your responsibility to guide them through life, correct them when they make mistakes, and sometimes punish them to reinforce the rules.

Predators know this. They know they can be the kind of friend or parent your child feels they need. All a predator needs is an ever so slight amount of time to convince your child of this. After that, children create the time. Emotions cloud judgment as someone finally responds to their need for acceptance. Predators are predators because they have a silver tongue and can even make friends with parents of their young victims.

They can size up people in a minute and adjust their words to suit the occasion. This is always true because without that ability they would be a lonely person with evil fantasies. They can tell your child the things your child wants to hear . Any child is eager to believe what they want to hear. The predator can devote eight or more hours a day to being their whenever your child is upset, happy or just lonely and fill their heads with impossibilities that no good person would promise.

The parenting skills for real life apply even more on the internet. If you would not and should not allow a teacher to keep a single student alone after school in order to avoid the opportunity for inappropriate behavior it is even more true that you would not allow your child to be alone with the internet in their room. With pocket internet by iPhone and Droid that should be even more important. Time on a crowded school bus could be spent alone with a predator. You can protect your children though, even if you can’t compete with the predators’ time, lies, and lack of responsibility.

A child’s online activities are not private. Anyone can capture their data once it goes over the internet. People all over the world can download free software to do just that. Social sites collect the information in databases that can be searched. If an account is deleted the information is still there. If your child is suspected of breaking laws the police can get a warrant to look at their computer and yours to see if the evidence is there. The legal responsibility for what is on their computer is yours.  You could be the only person not viewing your child’s information if you believe they have a right to privacy.

This is how you can protect your child. Use parental controls software designed to protect children. It is part of Windows Vista or if you have Windows XP you can download the FREE We-Blocker Safe Families Software fro safefamilies.org. You can restrict their browsing with software but you should know they can get around them. If you have FREE keyloggers or monitoring software, like K9 Web Protection (FREE), or monitor from anywhere with PC Pandora ($70-110), you will know everything they do and will be able to talk to them about it. If you aren’t monitoring and don’t know what they are doing, you can’t be sure they are safe.

Internet Safety for Kids and Families covers a wide-range of issues, such as cyberbullying, risky social networking, age-inappropriate content, and identity theft. Internet behavior involves the knowlege of what should and shouldn’t be revealed and knowing what is actually a crime that can effect the child and parent. Peers can convince children that some things are acceptable while the law will prosecute. You must be sure that you children understand that. Monitor them and let them know it but not necessarily how.

You still need to keep up to date on new threats and new responsibilities. Here are some outstanding organizations:
Related Page: References
or:
Related Pages: Motivating Teen Safety

From the very beginning Google has always had a loyal following because they have always been the best at filling a need. Their achievements have to be admired because they achieved what we needed. That’s why; as they deviated from their idealistic beginning they continued to retain their public. In the beginning they didn’t even want to use advertising to support their search engine. In reality, they needed to make a living but they went from not using ads to direct marketing as the biggest “Big Brother” you could possibly imagine.

They try to justify spying on you using every method they can establish by claiming they don’t keep anything to identify you. Everyone understands they are being identified online and some people try to boycott or find ways to be anonymous but Google not only has the best of what we need but continues to develop ideas we can’t live without and offers them for free (plus the cost of surrendering your privacy). They fulfill our needs so we continue to forgive their many sins.

Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said: “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it’s important, for example that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities.” His comments may be a way for him to forgive himself for finding ways around their slogan “Don’t be evil” but it’s still just a clever smokescreen to obscure the facts as they continue to collect your private information and read your private email.

Although many privacy organizations around the world voiced objections about Google reading (electronically scanning) private email Google managed to convince them and us that we can trust them to keep our private information confidential. We are loyal. We can trust them, except; when China demands they report specific searches, or the U.S. Government with its ever-so-reputable Patriot Act overreaches it’s too zealous authority.

The shoe is suddenly on the other foot. Someone has invaded Google’s privacy. Someone has hacked into Google’s database and taken intellectual property. Someone is collecting their private information without offering Google a free service. How rude. Some people might think it’s funny that Google doesn’t like it. The indiscretion seems to have originated in China with no proof that it was the government but Google is renegotiating its privacy policy with the Chinese government. They are taking a stronger stance on the individual right to privacy and freedom from censorship and may even close their offices in China. Maybe a better corporate attitude will come out of this.

According to history, not my personal memory, life was originally nomadic. People went where the food was plentiful. The biggest, worst, and meanest ruled. They took what they wanted so there was no trust. Reputations were gained and lost in battle, sometimes with each other. There was no right to privacy since there were no rights.

Then people settled in small towns where they knew each other from birth. Secrets spread through gossip mills like twitter storms. The only way to completely repair a damaged reputation was to leave everything behind. Then, as a stranger, you might rebuild trust by being a fast talker or spending years living properly. Some small communities, even today, never accept strangers.

Then the metropolis developed. It was no longer necessary to escape a reputation. People didn’t even know their neighbors. You could build a reputation by going around telling everyone what you wanted them to believe. They would tell others and the word would spread, but not very far. That may sound hard to believe or over simplified but that would be a whole new topic. The point is, it was easy to manipulate public opinion. People could keep their secrets and even crimes could go unpunished.

In the world today and probably more so each passing month, there are no secrets. A few years ago, for a moderate fee someone could pay an agency to discover almost everything about you. Today it only takes a quick search on the internet to find once private information about anyone. The other day I was online and discovered a list of the places I have lived over the last fifteen years. You should expect in today’s times that everyone could always know where you are.

With companies like Google making their fortunes discovering our secrets and selling them to the highest bidder or even giving them away for free we can expect that privacy is a thing of the past. We could try to boycott companies like Google, AOL, and Microsoft that do not respect our privacy but they lure us back with free toys and gadgets we can’t live without.

Maybe we should live our lives as if we were the center of the universe and everyone is watching us. Even secrets we think we keep today may be exposed in a couple years by some new technology we weren’t expecting. Maybe we should publish everything there is to know about solicitors and spammers. Make it easier to annoy the people who annoy us. We could put up the good fight and us the information from websites like this to protect our personal info as long as possible but the internet culture is winning.

Hal