Data Doctors Tech Tips

There's no question about the impact of social media in many aspects of our lives.and#160;and#8232;and#8232; It can influence buying decisions, our politics and it's been used many times in global conflicts to communicate to the masses.and#160;and#8232;and#8232; This popularity has also encouraged the usage of technology known as 'social bots' which are simply software programs that do their best to act like are real humans.and#160; and#8232;and#8232;It's not uncommon for companies to use automated posts but spam artists also employ them to send junk ads disguised as posts. It some cases, governments will use them as propaganda channels.and#160;and#8232;and#8232;The worst part is that bots are also used to infect accounts and resend malicious links, so it's always best to avoid these undesirable accounts. Twitter in particular is prone to lots of accounts that are using social bots, which is what led to a research project run by Indiana University.and#160;and#8232;and#8232; They developed the 'Truthy Project Bot or Not' tool which attempts to analyze Twitter accounts for signs that they're a social bot.and#160;and#8232;and#8232; It's far from a definite tool, it's a handy tool to avoid getting scammed by a profile that is trying to represent a real human.and#160;and#8232;and#8232;https://truthy.indiana.edu/botornot

I'm sure you've heard lots of experts talking about the dangers of using public wifi, but there may be something else you're exposed to but didn't realize.and#160; Your beloved laptop might be sharing files with others connected to the same public Wi-Fi without you knowing what's going on.and#160; The default or public shares on your laptop may be allowing others to access or even save items onto your laptop.and#160; This alone won't impact your other critical files in other areas, but technically your laptop is accessible by any random user of the same public wifi.and#160; To play it safe, especially if you never need to use the public share folder, turn off this feature.and#160; I have actually seen situations where files that could be considered sensitive have been stored in the accessible folders because the laptop owner didn't realize anyone could access those folders.and#160; Both Mac and Windows users have this potential issue, so here are the instructions on how to turn them off Disable public shares in OS X:and#160;http://osxdaily.com/2014/02/11/disable-public-folder-sharing-mac-os-xand#160; Disable public folders in Windows:and#160; http://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-remove-or-disable-shared-documents-from-my-computerand#160; For Windows 10 users: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/50179-turn-off-public-folder-sharing-windows-10-a.html

There's something that has become obvious from most of the major breaches that you've heard over the past couple of years.and#160; Just about every one of the breaches began through a phishing message targeting someone in the organization.and#160; Well-crafted fake e-mail messages, A.K.A 'spear phishing', are often used on many victims of ransomware.and#160; A clever way to trick anyone is by creating what appears to be an important message from someone else in the same organization.and#160; That means you need to start paying very close attention to every message that pops up from your co-workers, your boss or any of the administrators in your company.and#160; If your organization would like to run a targeted phishing test on up to 100 employees, look into the tools atand#160;https://KnowBe4.com Their phishing security test, which is free, can help you see how likely people in your organization are likely to fall for spear phishing messages that claim to be from your IT department.and#160; The phishing test tool is located at: https://www.knowbe4.com/phishing-security-test-offer

Perusing information via the Internet is a lot like drinking from a firehose; you need to find tools to help you filter out the stuff you don't really want and organize the stuff you do want.and#160; One of my favorite tool for this task is called Flipboard, because it specifically works with your social accounts and your general interests. Flipboard will grab your feeds from your Facebook and Twitter accounts along with your specific interests like sports, business or tech and then displays them in magazine form. But did you know that you can also use Flipboard from your computer? That's right, you can make use of your big, beautiful computer display to see your custom magazine that you've already setup on your smartphone or tablet.and#160; For those that have never used Flipboard, you should start by installing the mobile app on your mobile device first, which makes it easy to add your social accounts onto your Flipboard account.and#160; Once you've done that, visit https://flipboard.com and login to see your feeds in all their glory!

It's that time of year when you can count on the very best deals for just about any type of electronic gadget you have on your wish list. But heed this warning: the lowest priced device is rarely the best idea.and#160; Shopping for technology based on the price will play right into the plans of retailers that are simply interested in moving slow moving products.and#160; In order to be the cheapest technology, the company generally cuts corners because the margins in the gadget market are razor thin.and#160; The result can be batteries that don't stay charged as long, software compatibility issues or apps and in some cases, dangerous security holes.and#160; It's best to look for name brand products from resellers that you've heard of and offer a liberal return policy.and#160; The cheaper the gadget is, the more time you should spend researching before making the purchase.and#160; Look for user feedback on the device by searching Google for the exact device followed by the word 'review'. If you can't find any reviews, that's your sign to take a pass!

Our social media accounts are an excellent way to document our daily lives, which is more apparent when you take a few minutes to look up previous posts.and#160; But this requirement is kind of like having a bunch of photo albums on your shelf that you haven't looked at in years.and#160; Well the TimeHop app that I've featured in the past makes revisiting your past posts automatic.and#160; It used to only work with Facebook, but now you can use it with Twitter, Instagram and even the camera roll off your phone.and#160; Once you set up the app, you'll get a daily reminder in the morning of the things you posted in the past on that day. It's like looking at a page of those old photo albums every day; it's a great way to see those meaningful memories from the past.and#160; It's like your very own private #TBT every day!and#160; https://TimeHop.com

Lots of us love the being in the ocean so much that we're willing to go through the process of getting scuba certified so we can go underwater and explore Mother Nature underwater up close and personal.and#160; For others, the thought of being underwater near large sea animals is too freaky, so they never get to have the amazing underwater experience themselves, until now!and#160; Google Street Views has gone underwater so anyone can go exploring underwater at some of the world's greatest destinations without ever getting wet.and#160; Google is using its HD Street View camera technology to map the sea floor.and#160; Imagine going underwater in Australia's Great Barrier Reef or lots of the best dive sites around the world with nothing more needed than clicking and dragging your mouse.and#160; Zoom in on coral reefs with your mouse wheel and tap onto areas in the distance to really get a slight sense of what it's like to be an underwater explorer.and#160; When you're done, go stroll the beaches surrounding these amazing underwater sites! https://www.google.com/streetview/#oceans

Anyone that's about to tackle any kind of renovation knows that you should start with a sense of what you want it to look like.and#160; Most of us are far from accomplished architects that have tons of expensive 3-D rendering programs on our computers for this, so we bring you an awesome and free online tool located at https://HomeSTyler.com The tool was built by programmers that are known for their professional design programs, so despite being free, it's still very powerful.and#160; You start by drawing out your floor plan, place furniture and fixtures where you want them and before you know it, you will have the beginnings of a 3-D version of what you had in mind. Need to start over and knock some walls down to make a bigger space? No problem. HomeStyler is a virtual playground for you to get a feel for your ideas before you start spending money.and#160; They also have mobile apps that take pictures of your room and allow you to start playing around with your ideas on your smartphone.

You know the old saying: 'Hope for the best; prepare for the worst'. Anyone that owns or operates a business, should know this mantra very well.and#160; With this in mind, we suggest that every business reviews their 'Disaster Recovery Plan' at least one time a year.and#160; For some businesses, this may be a "create" your disaster recovery plan excercise.and#160; So how's it work? Simply begin with asking yourself what would you do if one of the the following disasters hit your business:and#160; Flood, Fire, Virus infection, Theft, human error, sabotage, hardware failure or the all-too-common data breach.and#160; What you'd do to recover from each of these disasters is different and will require completely different recovery processes in some cases.and#160; Most of you do an excellent job of building a backup process, but you don't seem to put any effort into the steps that will be required to recover from a disaster. Imagine having fire drills in a school then hoping all the students knows what to do when alarm is sounded. The worst possible time to create your disaster recovery plan is during an actual crisis, so this is a wake up call to git er done today!and#160;

We've collectively taken an evolutionary step backwards, thanks to our computers. Our posture when we're using our computers at home or at the office sucks! We use our computers so much, that 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome' has become one of the most common physical problems many are suffering.and#160;and#160; The treatment from the medical community is generally surgery, even when you have a moderate case of CTS and it's generally caused when you forget to sit up straight.and#160; How can you avoid this common problem? Start by positioning your desk, your chair and yourself up for success.and#160; Keep the chair at a height to make your knees bend at a 90 degree angle; keep your feet flat and make sure your wrists stay as close to parallel to the floor as possible. Laptop keyboards are decent but if possible, get a wireless keyboard and raise your laptop screen up. Looking down at laptop screens is another painful problem.and#160; Checkout the IMAK computer gloves if you want help with your wrist posture: https://www.imakproducts.com