The Computer Tutor

These days just about everyone takes videos with their cell phone. It’s actually pretty handy to have that ability, whenever you see something happening that is worth recording, to be able to immediately make a video of it. But sometimes, you might record the video with the wrong orientation – so it plays on your computer at a 90 degree angle, or even upside down. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix this!

With a regular picture (a still image), rotating it to the proper orientation is easy. You just find the image on your computer, do a right click, and in the menu that pops up, just choose “rotate clockwise” or “rotate counterclockwise”:

But with a video file, you don’t get that option as a standard feature in Windows, so we need to use a different process.

Fortunately, some enterprising person out there on the internet has created a website service that mostly automates the whole process. And of course, it’s free (but he welcomes donations for the service).

The website I use for this is called – appropriately – Rotate My Video. You can see it at RotateMyVideo.net.

Using that website, here’s how you rotate a video:

1. First, you go to the website and click the button that says “Pick video”:

2. That opens up a window, and you need to navigate to where your video file is located on your computer. Most commonly this would be in the Videos folder, but the computer will let you store it in any of your folders. You just need to know where it is. Just click the video file once to highlight it, then click “Open”:

3. Now your video gets uploaded to the website, so they can prepare the editor for you. This shouldn’t take very long, but it can take a while if your video is a long one, or if you have a slow internet connection.

4. When the video is uploaded, you’ll see your editor screen. You’ll also see an image of your video on the right side of the screen. You just click the “Rotation” button arrows until the video on the right is displayed properly. Then you click the “Rotate video” button at the bottom to implement your change.

5. Now you just wait while the website processes your video rotation. Again, this might take a while if the video is large. When it’s all done, you’ll see the message “Your video is ready!”. You then need to click the “Download” link immediately under that “ready” message:

IMPORTANT NOTE: The website is ad-supported, and some of the ads on the screen will have a big “Download” button – they’re hoping you mistake that for the actual Download link. Be sure to ONLY click on the one shown in the image above. Clicking on an ad might take you to an infected website, or download malware to your computer.

6. Click to download the properly-rotated video file, and save it to your computer. If you save it in the same folder as the original video (the one that is not properly oriented), your computer will probably give you a little warning like “There’s already a file by that name in this folder. Do you want to replace it?” and since the new one is the one that’s been fixed, you say YES, you do want to replace it.

And that’s it! Now you can click on the new video and play it, to verify that it’s showing the way it’s supposed to.

The website has even created a quick 2-minute video to show you the whole process. Even though the steps above might seem a little complicated when you’re reading them, it’s pretty easy. Here’s the tutorial they created for it:

Sometimes I like to take a break from my “regular” computer tips and just show you some of the interesting websites I’ve run across recently. These are a few sites that are either helpful or informative in some way, or just plain entertaining.

Account Killer

You probably have a lot of online accounts at various social media sites. Let’s face it, they all make it very easy to sign up, and then you’re suddenly sucked in and overwhelmed by everything that comes with it. In some cases, you might decide, “Ok, I’ve had enough of this – I’m just gonna cancel that account.” Ah, but that process is not so easy or obvious, is it? You can spend hours searching the site for a “Cancel my account” link (which is very well hidden), or you can just go to the Account Killer website and get the exact instructions for how to do it. They have step-by-step processes for deleting accounts at all the most popular websites, including these and literally hundreds more:

Down for everyone or just me?

If you’ve ever gone to a website and gotten the dreaded “This page cannot be displayed” message, you have to wonder if the website itself is actually down, or if your computer just has a problem and can’t connect to it at the moment. This website provides the quickest and easiest way to see if a website really is down.

Just go to the site and you’ll see there is just one thing to do there – you type in the address of the website you are trying to access. It will come back within a couple of seconds, and either tell you that the website is actually down, or that it’s just you.

ManualsLib

This site is for those times when you have said to yourself, “What did I do with that manual?” Or maybe you purchased something used, and just needed the documentation on how to use it properly. It could even be something that you’ve had for a while, and maybe forgotten how to take advantage of all the features. Whatever the case, this website has what you’re looking for.

The site’s subtitle is “The Ultimate Manuals Library” and it has over 1.7 MILLION manuals in PDF that you can download and even print if you want. These manuals cover over 1.3 million different products. You just go to the site and enter the model number of whatever appliance, TV remote, tool, car, truck or other item for which you need a manual. Pretty likely you’ll find it there. And all of the manuals are available to you at no charge.

Coffitivity

Some people are able to be more productive when they’re in a “coffee shop” environment”. I guess that’s why you always see so many people working away at their laptops in Starbucks. Or maybe they’re just on Facebook. I do see a lot of pictures of Starbucks drinks on Facebook. For me, I find coffee shops a little too distracting to do work that requires any degree of focus or concentration. But if you like the “background noise” of a coffee shop, you can now create that environment in your own home! The Coffitivity website is an audio website that “recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better” (that’s the description on the website).

At the site, you can choose which “ambient sounds” you like:

There’s even an app you can get for your phone, so you can enjoy the coffeehouse background noise no matter where you are.

Unsplash

If you’re thinking about creating a website, and you need some images for that site, it’s very tempting to just hop on Google Images, find the perfect picture, and grab it for use on your site. Not so fast! Many of those images are owned by major photography and advertising companies, such as Getty Images. If you post one of their images on your website without purchasing the rights to use it, it’s very likely that you’ll get an invoice from them for several hundred or even thousands of dollars – and you will have a heck of a time getting out of paying that bill. Don’t fall into that trap!

There are lots of websites that offer high-quality images for commercial or public use, but most of them require payment. Not Unsplash. This site has lots of really high-quality, high-resolution images and they are all free for you to use. You can even sign up for their email list and they’ll send you a few new ones each week. Even if you don’t want to use them on a website, they are really beautiful pictures just to look at.

All About Birds

If you like to watch birds, this site is a gold mine. It’s created and managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and they have webcams mounted in a variety of locations, all in view of some type of bird’s nest. These include Owls, Hawks, Ospreys, Albatross and probably others. They aren’t all live all the time, because nest activity is dependent on the season of the year. But even if your favorite bird isn’t currently live, you can also watch videos from previous webcam captures. This is one way that technology is really bringing nature – LIVE – to the world.

11 foot 8

Saved the best for last. I predict that you’ll spend more time on this site than you will the previous ones I mentioned.

There’s a railroad trestle (overpass) in Durham, North Carolina. One-way traffic passed under it, and the height limitation to clear the trestle is – you guessed it – 11 feet, 8 inches. There are signs stating the clearance, but that doesn’t stop a lot of trucks from just barreling right through. In fact, the railroad has installed a crash bar in front of the tracks so that it takes brunt of the crash each time it happens – and they’ve already had to replace that crash bar.

The guy that created this website has an office near the intersection, and he saw this happening so often that he set up a webcam pointing that direction, figuring he would eventually capture one of them on video. That was in 2008. Since then, he has caught 95 of them on video and you can watch all of them right there on the website if you want. A lot of the crashes are rental trucks, which makes sense since the drivers are probably inexperienced with driving a truck. Some of them scrape the top of the truck but make it through, and some of them rip off the whole top edge. I don’t know why, but it’s pretty entertaining.

You’ve probably heard in the news lately that Adobe Flash continues to have security problems. There are constantly new vulnerability issues being discovered. Then they patch up those holes, and more are found. It’s a constant race to find a problem and patch it up before the hackers can exploit it and do substantial damage. Some people say you should just uninstall Flash from your computer completely. Some say you should just disable it in your web browser. Today I’ll show you what I think is the easiest solution.

What is Flash?

If we’re going to talk about it, we should first describe briefly what it is.

Flash is computer software that some websites use to display their content. Usually that content is some type of multi-media stuff, like audio or video. Some sites use it to enable some type of interactivity between the website and the visitor. If you see some type of movement on a website, it might be through the use of Flash.

There are still a lot of sites that use Flash, but it is declining in popularity. For example, YouTube videos used to be all displayed using Flash. YouTube no longer uses Flash. Like many sites, it’s using a different type of website content display called HTML5. I won’t go into all the differences between the two, but the most important one is that HTML5 is much safer.

Flash is constantly being compromised, so it’s an endless routine of updating and patching to be able to use it safely. It’s a pain for everyone involved.

To make sure your computer is safe from any Flash problems, there are 3 ways to handle it:

For the examples below, in order to see what the Flash content is supposed to look like, I’ll be using a simple website called Ultrasounds. You can see it at Ultrasounds.com. Their home page is sort of a “test page” to verify that Flash is installed and running, because the entire rest of their website is created using Flash (not a good idea if you’re a website developer). If you go to www.Ultrasounds.com and you have Flash installed and enabled in your web browser, there’s an image at the top of the page that looks like this:

Except that on the website, it will have some movement. The blue section in the middle will be constantly moving up and down. If that’s happening, you have Flash running in your web browser.

So let’s look at these and see what the pros and cons are for each option.

1. Uninstall Flash from your computer

With this option, you will probably get a message on the screen that says you need to download and install the Flash player in order to view the content. That may be true – but be very careful about this. Malicious websites will often use a message like that just to trick you into clicking through and you end up downloading viruses and malware to your computer.

2. Disable Flash in your web browsers

This is what the “Flash is disabled” message looks like in Chrome:

3. Use a browser plugin

In this scenario, you have Flash installed on your computer, and you have it enabled in your browser. But FlashBlock automatically recognizes when you are on a website that uses Flash, and wherever the Flash content is on the site, you would just see a space that is clickable. There will also be the Flashcontrol logo to remind you that this is Flash content. On our sample page, it looks like this in Chrome:

If you decide you want to see the Flash content, you just click in that area and it plays. It’s very simple, and it gives you the option every single time to see the Flash content or leave it blank. And it means you don’t have to mess with going into your browser’s settings to enable and disable it constantly. Much easier!

Here’s how to install Flashcontrol in Chrome:

1. Open Chrome, and go here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flashcontrol/mfidmkgnfgnkihnjeklbekckimkipmoe?hl=en

2. Click on “Add to Chrome”:

3. For the confirmation window, click “Add”:

Here’s how to install Flash Control in Firefox:

1. Open Firefox, and go here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flash-control/

2. Click on “Add to Firefox”:

3. Click “Install Now”:

The plugin is slightly different in Firefox. When you see a page with Flash content, this is what will be in that space:

You just click on the “F” and the Flash content will play.

For Internet Explorer, the process is different. No plugin is available (that I know of) but you can still block Flash content by default and then play it on a case-by-case basis. I should say here – I don’t recommend using Internet Explorer anyway. I only use it when I am forced to. But you might have to use it at work, so you should still know how to handle Flash content safely.

Here’s how you block Flash in Internet Explorer:

1. Open Internet Explorer, and click Tools – Manage Add-ons:

2. In the next window, under the “Show” dropdown menu, choose “All add-ons”:

3. In the same window, find “Shockwave Flash Object” in the list, and do a RIGHT click on it, and choose “Disable”:

4. Close the Manage Add-ons window.

Now, whenever you use Internet Explorer and come to a website that has Flash content, you’ll get this message at the bottom of the screen:

So you can choose to allow the Flash content to play, or just ignore it and it won’t play.

It’s interesting how things develop on the internet. The Flash-blocking plugins for Chrome and Firefox weren’t created initially because of all the security issues with Flash. They were created and made available because people just got sick of seeing all the stupid website ads that use Flash – those are the ones that have words and pictures flashing on and off, jumping up and down, vibrating, moving all around – it’s really annoying, and so people just wanted a way to shut off that nonsense. That’s why I’ve been using Flash-blocking plugins for a long time. And now, there’s another reason to use them – to keep your computer safe.

I love exposing online scams. Really the biggest benefit is that you, the reader of this blog, is more likely to be suspicious of something if you’ve already read about similar things here. But in addition to that, I just like the idea that I’m ruining some scammer’s chance to steal money from people that actually worked to earn that money.

I try to stay up to date on the latest scams and what the bad guys are thinking up to try to trick people out of their money. But you know what? Sometimes there is a “new” type of scam or maybe a new angle to try and catch people off guard, but in reality, we just keep seeing the same things over and over again. That’s because they keep working, and a lot of people are still not aware of the basics of how these scams work. And there is still a big misconception about how our US banking system works – specifically, about depositing a check.

Let’s take a very common example of a scammer target: someone selling something on Craigslist.

If someone posts an ad on Craigslist, what does the scammer automatically know about that person?

1. They may or may not be “computer savvy” – Craigslist makes it very easy to post an ad, even for someone not very well versed in using a computer or the internet.

2. They want money – obviously, since they are wanting to sell something that they currently own. And it’s probably safe to say that even though they might be expecting to haggle a little bit, they would really love to just get the full price that they listed.

3. They are expecting inquiries from strangers about the item they are selling.

So the scammer, posing as a potential buyer, contacts the seller with some story about being out of the country and wanting to send a cashier’s check for the price of the item PLUS more, in order to cover shipping to their “associate” in some other state.

At that point, even though the newbie seller might be a little suspicious about the whole process, he might also be thinking, “I’m going to be protected, because after all, it’s a cashier’s check!”

Wrong!

Think about the extreme skill it takes to create counterfeit currency. There’s a LOT that goes into that. Well guess what – it’s a whole lot easier to create counterfeit cashier’s checks. You won’t detect that the check is fake. Your bank won’t detect that the check is fake. In fact, the bank won’t even try. They just take it as a deposit just like any other check.

And in a day or two, you can check your balance and you’ll see that the bank has fully released the entire amount of the check to you in clear funds. So you could go to the bank, withdraw the full amount of that check in cash, and they would be fine with it. For a little while.

Rest assured, that check will come back to your bank. And when it does, they will come back to you and want that money back. If you have enough in your account, they’ll take it right from there to cover the loss. If you don’t have enough to cover it, expect a phone call. And this matter is really more than just dealing with a bank overdraft – you deposited a counterfeit check. That’s going to require a pretty good and detailed explanation, and don’t be surprised if the local police get involved. Suddenly your story – “I got it from some guy on the internet” – doesn’t sound so plausible, even though it’s the truth.

There’s a really good reason why Craigslist posts so many warnings about who you decide to do business with, whether you are buying or selling. This is the warning they give to all users:

Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.

Those guidelines are good to follow not just for Craigslist, but for any dealings you have online.

Have you ever needed to tell someone exactly where you are standing, or where you’re parked, or even where you are at the moment if you’re driving or walking or biking? If you’re not near a street sign, or at a place where you know the actual address, telling someone your location can be sort of difficult. Recently I’ve found 3 ways that make this easier.

Here’s why I am interested in this type of thing at the moment.

Later this summer, there will be a race here in the Tampa Bay area called the Pinellas Trail Challenge. It’s a 46-mile ultramarathon that takes place the Saturday of Labor Day weekend (September 5). I’m not running in it because it would be way too hot. However, I am going to work as “mobile crew” for one of the runners. I will be on my bike, and I’ll be pulling a small trailer with a cooler filled with ice and other supplies. I’ve already been incorporating the biking in with my regular training, and have about 25 pounds of weight in the cooler. This is what it looks like:

The Pinellas Trail is a paved walking/running/biking path that starts in downtown St. Pete (by the St. Pete Pier) and goes all the way up into northern Pinellas county. So this race just follows the entire 46-mile path of that trail.

The thing about this race is that it’s unsupported. This means that it’s not like a 10k or a marathon where you have aid stations set up every few miles. Your “aid stations” are public drinking fountains and the convenience stores that are located near the trail (or volunteers, such as what I’m doing). So you have to really be prepared to carry what you can, and buy whatever else you need along the way.

Inevitably, there will be people who will drop out before getting to the finish line. The Florida heat, in late summer, in the daytime, on a trail with very little shade, is no small factor. Everyone has to carry a cell phone just in case a call needs to be made for a friend or family member to come and pick up the runner.

But if the runner is just on some random stretch of pavement, how does he tell the friend where to pick him up? If you’re waiting at a business, you can use the address of the business. But otherwise, if you aren’t standing a an intersection of streets, you might not be able to verbally tell someone where you are.

So I found these 3 apps that will work on your smartphone, and each one will enable you to tell someone exactly where you are waiting to be picked up.

1. What3Words (what3words.com)

Free

I actually wrote a full blog post on this one several weeks ago (here). This app divides the entire world into a grid of 3 meter square cells. Each of these cells has a unique name, which consists of 3 common words. So no matter where you are in the world, the spot where you’re standing has a 3-word address.

You just pull out your phone, open the What3Words app, and get the 3-word location for where you are. When you tell someone else that location, they can plug it in on the same app on their phone, then just instruct their GPS to guide them to where you are.

Here’s a quick video explaining how it works:

https://youtu.be/czR4-7gP7f0

2. Glympse (Glympse.com)

Free

This is an app I’ve heard a lot of people talking about but I had not used it previously. I like it.

Basically, it just gives someone the ability to see where you are on a map. So if you “send” someone a Glympse (by choosing them from your contacts list on your phone), they can see where you are so they’ll know when you will arrive. Or, you can “request” a Glympse from someone you’re waiting on, so you can have an idea of when they’ll show up.

My daughter lives about 10 minutes away and one day last week I knew she would be coming over so I requested a Glympse from her. She accepted the request, and when I looked at the Glympse app on my phone, there was the green arrow, right at her condo. Then it started moving and I could “see” her traveling down the road. I could even tell when she was at a red light because the arrow would stop for a minute or two at an intersection.

This might sound a little creepy. But one thing to remember is that your location is only viewable by the person (or group of people) that you send it to. And, you can authorize it for a set period of time. When my daughter used it, she just set it to track her location for 15 minutes. That would probably be the most common one, if you’re just using it for when you’re meeting someone.

Here’s a video from when Glympse was featured on the Today show last year:

https://youtu.be/LlZs5uesDmw

3. Map My Ride (mapmyride.com)

$5.99/month for Pro version

Map My Ride is the program I use to keep track of my bike workouts (if you use it too, friend me and we can see each other’s progress). They do have a free version (and the free version would probably be sufficient for most people). The Pro version is $6/month (or you can pay annually and save some money). With Pro, you get some additional features – and one of those is called Live Tracking. It is shut off by default, but you can turn it on for when you will be out on your bike.

Map My Ride is sort of a social network for cyclists. You can “friend” people just like you do on Facebook or other social websites. So when you turn on Live Tracking, anyone that you’re friends with can see where you are on a map. I think the main reason people would use this is for safety reasons. If my wife were going to go biking in the dark (late at night or early morning), I would want to be able to see where she is, just in case anything happened and I needed to get to her quickly.

In a bike race, it could be handy as well because anyone watching your progress would have an idea of when you’ll be crossing the finish line, so they can be there to greet you.

I’m not sure I’ll use this feature in the September race though – mainly because the GPS would probably drain the battery on my phone when it’s tracking me for a such an extended period of time (probably 11 or 12 hours). I’ll have to experiment with that to see how quickly it uses up my battery.

MapMyRide is just one of several fitness tracking apps put out by the same company – they also have MapMyRun, MapMyFitness, MapMyWalk and MapMyHike. I couldn’t find a video that explained the MapMyRide Live Tracking feature specifically, but here is a review that talks about this app along with 4 other cycling apps:

https://youtu.be/_Wk4xDC826k

So there are 3 apps that can always be available to you on your phone, to allow you to quickly show someone else where you are at any given time. I know there are others but these are among the most popular. Do you use a different one? In what type of situation(s) would you find something like this handy? Leave a comment.

As the owner of a computer repair business, I spend my days solving computer problems for my clients. That often means removing viruses, but it also includes fixing things that no longer seem to be working properly, getting software set up correctly, getting a printer to work, those kinds of things. But there are a few questions I get from clients that just don’t have an answer.

Maybe a better way to say it is that I cannot answer without some more clarification. A lot of what I do is interpreting what the client is telling me is happening, and trying to determine what is actually happening. So I drill down and ask questions, and eventually we come up with a solution. These are things I hear all the time.

Question #1: My computer won’t do anything

I know, that’s not actually a question. But when someone says that, they are in fact presenting it as if to ask “What’s wrong with my computer, since it won’t do anything?”

To clarify, my response is: “So when you push the power button, you don’t see anything at all happen on the screen, and you don’t hear any fans or other noises, and you don’t see any lights come on?”

And in most cases, the customer replies, “Oh, well, it does turn on, but then I can’t get it to do anything after that.” So we’ve determined the computer actually is “doing something”, just maybe not what it “should” be doing.

The funny thing is, in a lot of cases we determine that the computer does in fact turn on, it goes through the initial BIOS function, it loads Windows, it connects to the wifi signal, and it loads the other software such as the antivirus, etc. But when the client clicks to open a website, the web browser shows “page cannot be found”. That I can deal with – but it’s a huge difference from “my computer won’t do anything”.

Question #2: My AOL doesn’t work

Yes, another one that’s really not a question. For this one, I have to really bite my tongue to avoid coming back with a snarky response such as, “Yes, that’s because it’s AOL” or something similar. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’m not a fan of AOL. In fact, I despise it on many different levels. But I usually avoid getting into that debate, because most people that use AOL are going to keep using AOL in spite of my attempts to convert them to something better.

The sad thing is, if the AOL software is screwing up, there really isn’t a lot you can do other than uninstalling it and reinstalling it. In some cases, it’s an issue with Windows or some other software that’s conflicting with AOL so it might be able to be resolved that way. But AOL is a free service (even though they make millions from the unknowing people that continue to pay for it monthly), so they don’t really offer a legitimate “tech support” service to help you figure out why their program isn’t working properly.

And if you go online looking for help with your AOL software, there’s a good chance you’ll end up talking to a scammer who will point out all kinds of “problems” with your computer, then ask you for your credit card # in order to fix those “problems” (which don’t really exist).

Question #3: What’s the best free antivirus?

This is a tough one. I am well aware that the customer is really saying, “I don’t want to pay for it, but I know I need to have some kind of protection installed.” And since most people don’t expect to get infected anyway, they might not place a very high priority on how good the software is that’s protecting their computer.

There are a couple of issues with this question.

First, many of the “free” antiviruses available now are actually purveyors of malware. It’s ironic, but the program you install to keep crap off your computer… puts crap on your computer. Because they make money from it.

Second, if I named a particular program that may be better than the others, it might come across that I am somehow “endorsing” it. Even if I include all kinds of disclaimers with it, the bottom line is that if they use that freebie antivirus and then they get infected with a virus (or several), the thing they’ll remember is, “Well, you’re the one that recommended it.” So I in fact do NOT recommend any free antivirus because none of them are sufficient to protect your computer against the wide array of threats in circulation now. If you want to keep your computer safe, you will need to purchase something.

Question #4: I keep getting an error message

This one actually might be the most frustrating, for both me and for my client.

For the client, it’s maddening because this stupid error message keeps popping up on their screen and they don’t know what it is, what it means, or what they should do with it. The easiest thing is to just close it and if nothing blows up they can just continue with what they were doing. But then it comes back – maybe 5 days later, maybe 5 minutes later, or maybe just every time they turn on their computer.

For me, the frustration is when I ask the client, “What does the error message say?” and they can’t tell me. They just see it and click it away each time, so the actual message being displayed is an unknown until it comes up again and they can write it down or take a screenshot. Without knowing what the message is, diagnosis and repair are impossible.

And the only thing worse than that is when the customer says, “Yes, it’s frustrating because it’s been popping up on my screen now for several weeks (or sometimes months)”. If something just started happening, there are some resolutions available that can be fairly simple (such as system restore). If an error message continues to show up for an extended period of time, those easy resolutions are no longer an option and the repair becomes more involved (and usually more expensive).

So when you see an error message, write down the text (or take a screenshot) and let me know as soon as possible.

This past week I was talking to my friend Sue. She uses Facebook sometimes, and she was asking about videos that show up on her Facebook news feed. As you scroll down looking at all the things that get posted, you might notice that if someone has posted a video, it just starts automatically playing when you see it. You can turn off Facebook video auto-play if you want.

There are a couple of reasons why you might want to turn off video auto-play (there are probably others, but these two come to mind pretty quickly):

1. Data usage factor. Obviously, a high percentage of people use Facebook on their phone. If you do that, and you’re not connected to a wifi signal, you’re probably using up your monthly allotment of data on your cell phone plan. That can get expensive. In Sue’s case, she and her husband are only in this area temporarily. So rather than sign up for a full internet connection, they use a mobile hotspot just so they can get online and check email. But when they go on Facebook and start seeing all those videos start playing on their own, that means data is being downloaded and counts toward their monthly limit. Sue doesn’t care about seeing those videos, but if the videos start playing on their own, she’s paying for them.

2. Annoyance factor. Sometimes when I’m on Facebook and I’m trying to read something, there’s another post on the screen that has one of those videos. There’s no sound of course (unless I deliberately hit “Play” to watch it) but the movement can be pretty distracting. I’m trying to read a friend’s legitimate status update but an inch away from that text is a kitten chasing a laser pointer dot, even though I didn’t ask for it to start playing.

The good news is, you can turn that off. If you disable autoplay, you’ll just see a still frame of the video. If you want to watch it, just mouse over it and click play.

Here’s how to disable Facebook video autoplay on your computer:

1. In Facebook, look up in the top right corner. Click on the dropdown menu at the right:

2. In the new menu that is displayed, click on Settings:

3. In the next window, click on “Videos” over on the left side:

4. In the “Video Settings” window, click the dropdown menu next to “Auto-Play videos” and choose “Off”:

Here’s how to disable Facebook video autoplay on your Android phone:

1. Open the Facebook app, click on the phone’s “Menu” button, and then click on “Settings”:

2. In the Settings screen, click on “Videos play automatically” and choose “Off”:

Here’s how to disable Facebook video autoplay on your iPad (iPhone is similar I think):

1. Go to the “Settings” page and scroll down, then click on Facebook

2. On the right side, click the word “Settings”, then click “Auto-play”

3. In the Auto-play settings window, choose “Off”

(can’t verify this for sure on the iPhone, since I don’t own one to test it – maybe an iPhone user could verify in the comments below)

I’ve written blog posts about LastPass, the online secure password manager. I have been using it for quite some time, and I have set it up for several of my clients. You may have heard recently that LastPass may have been compromised. I wanted to clear up what (may have) happened, and what you need to do if you use LastPass (and yes, I continue to highly recommend that you use it).

I’m not going to go into all the details of how LastPass works and why I recommend it – that is all covered in great detail in my blog post where I wrote about it (here). My purpose here today is for you to understand that it’s still fine to use, and what you need to do if you already have a LastPass account.

LastPass dominated the “tech news” headlines recently. The details can get pretty technical. The underlying important facts here are these:

1. LastPass is a high-value target. Think about it – they store all of the important passwords for probably hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. If someone with malicious intent got access to all of that information, it would be hard to place a value on what it would be worth on the black market. So it’s very important that LastPass gets their security right.

2. LastPass does it right. LastPass does everything possible to make sure that data remains confidential. In fact, even LastPass themselves cannot access it because it’s all encrypted. In fact, they take precaution to a whole new level. That’s why, if there is any entity on the internet that you can trust, it’s LastPass (in my opinion, based on what I know and have heard about them). Not only because of their integrity and business philosophy, but also because of the security measures and procedures they have in place.

You may have heard or read news stories that include phrases such as “LastPass got hacked” or “LastPass has had a data breach” or something similar. For the most part, that is media sensationalism.

What actually happened, based on a report that was in the LastPass blog announcing the incident, was this: “…our team discovered and blocked suspicious activity on our network.”

Furthermore (again, directly from LastPass): “…we have found no evidence that encrypted user vault data was taken, nor that LastPass user accounts were accessed.”

The two things that might pertain to LastPass users that could be of concern, which may have been compromised:

If a hacker has your email address, that does not give him access to your LastPass account. He also needs your password. Would your password hint give too much information about what your password is? Personally, I don’t like using password hints at all because it gives the bad guy something to work with. But frankly – for a good, strong password there is no hint anyway. I mean, if your password is “mPi4h7c$jrb&%” how do you come up with a hint for that? There is no hint that would work. But if your password is Florida, and your password hint is “the sunshine state” you might be in trouble.

This just emphasizes the importance of using a password that is both unique (not used for any other account) and strong (random numbers, characters and upper and lower case letters).

What action should you take?

To make sure you’re LastPass account is completely safe, I recommend doing at least 2 things (and I’ll suggest a third action if you like to be REALLY cautious):

First, change your master password. Make it a good one, as I mentioned above. But then that brings up the question, how do you remember it? You could write it on a little piece of paper and stick it in a drawer or in your wallet. Of course, don’t label it “LastPass master password”. Just write it down somewhere so that you know where to get it but if someone else finds it they won’t know what it is.

In fact, even if you write it down and store it somewhere, you could include some fake characters at the beginning or end of the password, and only you would know that they don’t belong there. For example, if your actual password is yT5k9&3nMdCC you could add a random 4-digit number to the end so that what is written down is yT5k9&3nMdCC8346. Then you might at some point in the future try to use that full password and when it doesn’t work, it will remind you that you added the 4 numbers at the end to make it safer.

To change your password, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Change Master Password”. Enter your old password, then your new password twice and click “Save Master Password”:

Second, enable country-restricted login. Let’s be honest here. I have nothing against the nice folks of Russia and China, but if someone is going to try to hack into your LastPass account, there’s a good chance the hacker is based in one of those two countries. You can set up your account so that LastPass only allows login from the country where you live. For me, that’s the United States. That will immediately eliminate any attempted logins from any other country, even if the foreign hackers were to figure out your password (which they won’t because it’s a good one, right?).

To restrict logins by country, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Show advanced settings”. Check the box “Only allow login from selected countries” and click Update (I also selected Ecuador since we travel there sometimes):

The third thing you can do – if you really feel like you need to go above and beyond in terms of security – is to enable two-factor authentication. I won’t go into all the details on that because it could be a whole blog post in itself. But basically, this means that if the hacker were in your same country, AND he came up with your email address and password, he still couldn’t log into your account unless he had your smartphone. Just another layer of protection if you have data in your LastPass account that is critical.

Bottom line is: LastPass is safe, and continues to be the best password manager (in my opinion). It’s also free, unless you want to use it on your smartphone too (and even then it’s only $12 annually). If you have trouble coming up with those long random passwords, it will come up with them for you. There really is no excuse for using weak passwords any more.

Last week I wrote about what to do with the little “Get Windows 10” icon that showed up, and after that I got a number of questions about Windows 10 in general. Lots of people are wondering how it will work, what it will be like, and other details. So here are the answers to some of the questions you might have about the soon-to-be-released Windows 10.

What actually happens when I click to reserve my upgrade?

It might appear that nothing happens. But in the background, the Windows 10 upgrade is downloading in bits and pieces over time. That way, by the time the actual release date gets here, you already have the full download and on that day the only thing left is to actually install it. And even the installation will happen automatically, just like other Windows Update installations. If your computer is on at 3 am, that’s when it usually happens. Otherwise it would be the next time you boot it up.

I clicked it for the reservation but changed my mind. How do I cancel it?

Click the icon again.

In the new window, click the “menu” icon in the top left:

In the new menu that slides out on the left, side, click on “View confirmation”:

In the next window, click on “Cancel reservation”:

On the next screen, confirm that you do want to cancel. Now it’s cancelled. You can get it back again in the future, and you will still be able to upgrade even though you cancelled this early reservation.

What if I didn’t get the upgrade icon?

There are a few reasons why you may not have gotten the upgrade icon. You might not have the updated Service Pack for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You also might not have Windows Updates set to install automatically. Or maybe Microsoft just doesn’t like you (not true – they love everyone equally). You could go to Control Panel – Windows Update and run it manually if you want, and see if that brings in the upgrade icon. But the bottom line is, you don’t need that icon right now anyway because it’s best to not click it yet for the “automated” upgrade. You will always be able to get it later. The best thing to do right now is to wait.

How long will Windows 10 be free?

If you’re upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1, you can do that anytime from the day it’s released (currently scheduled for July 29, 2015) and for one year after that, and you will not have to pay anything.

If I upgrade in the first year for free, how much will I have to pay in the second year and following?

Nothing. If you upgrade in the first year, you will have the Windows 10 license and it is good for life. There is no subscription in place at this point. There have been some speculations that Microsoft might make Windows into a subscription-based product (like they have done for Office) but there is nothing to substantiate that at this point.

How much will it cost if I upgrade after the free period?

Microsoft has not yet published the pricing for upgrades after the free year. If you’re running a version of Windows that is older than Windows 7, you’ll need to purchase the full version of Windows 10 (rather than getting the free upgrade). That full version will be $119 for Windows 10 Home, and $199 for Windows 10 Professional. The pricing for upgrades would be less than these of course.

How will Windows 10 be different from Windows 7 or 8?

There will be several differences, and at some point after the release date I will probably do a full blog post on this. But here are some of the basic things that are different:

Start menu – this is probably the one that most people are excited about. The Start button and Start menu are not only back, but greatly improved and expanded.

No charms bar – if you are one of the millions of people that hated that stupid charms bar, you’ll be happy.

New web browser – this replaces Internet Explorer. Earlier, this new browser was called Spartan. Now Microsoft has renamed it the Edge browser. Internet Explorer was really crappy for a long time, which is why so many people switched to Chrome or Firefox. You’ll still be able to use those other browsers, but it will be interesting to see what Edge is like.

Do I have to backup my computer before getting the upgrade?

Technically, no. You are not required to. But the smart users will do a full system image backup before getting any Windows 10 upgrade. You want to be included among the “smart users” group, don’t you? Seriously, I cannot over-emphasize how complex a computer’s operating system is. With this upgrade, you’ll be changing out the current operating system to a whole new one – can you see where there is a potential for things to go wrong? If you have a system image backup, you can just go back to your current version with no hassle and nothing lost. For me, I do a new system image backup on my primary computer every night. So doing one before upgrading the operating system is a no-brainer.

Will I need to have a Microsoft account?

Again, this one is a “technical” no. But I think you should get one and you will probably want one anyway. Just makes everything easier, and it will also give you access to the Windows Store, where you can get all kinds of great apps for your computer. And when you have an account and sign in to it on your various devices, all of your settings and preferences are synced so you don’t have to set up each one of them individually. Just do it – go to Microsoft.com and create a new account (it’s free). Make sure you use a strong password (meaning it’s not a password you have used at any other site, and it has no pronounceable words – it should just be a random series of numbers and upper and lower case letter). Keep track of that account login information so you can use it when you need to. If you want to see the other benefits about having a Microsoft account, here’s where Microsoft talks about this.

On June 1, 2015 – about a week ago – you might have noticed something new on your computer. You would have seen this if you are using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. It’s the Windows 10 notification, encouraging you to “reserve” your free upgrade to Windows 10.

That morning, I started getting questions from lots of my clients who noticed it and wondered what to do about it, if anything. So I sent out a “special edition” email newsletter to advise this: You can ignore it for now. In fact, if you want to, you can remove it from your screen (I’ll show you how to do that later in this post).

The full release of Windows 10 is not out yet. The current planned release date is July 29, or roughly 2 months from now. So why is Microsoft sending out this notification already? They’re planning ahead, since on July 29 their servers will be slammed with people trying to get the upgrade on that day. It’s about a 3 gb download, which is significant even on a high-speed connection.

With this notification that popped up on your screen, you can choose to “reserve” your upgrade. That means that the installation file will download in the background AHEAD of the July 29 release date, and then once that date has passed you can choose to install it whenever you wish to.

My current recommendation: wait.

If you’re currently running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free for an entire year – from July 29, 2015 to July 28, 2016. You can upgrade anytime during that year at no cost. It’s not yet known what the cost will be to upgrade after the free year.

It’s common knowledge that a new piece of software – particularly one as complicated as an operating system is – will have some bugs.

When Microsoft releases a new OS, let other people be the pioneers. Let their computers get the bugs, the crashes, the freeze-ups, and the subsequent updates to fix those problems. Then, after the dust has settled, maybe 6 months later, go ahead and get the Windows 10 upgrade if you want. Anyone that reads this blog, listens to my podcast, or gets my Monday email newsletter will know when I have begun to officially recommend getting the upgrade to Windows 10.

I’ve been checking out a “preview” version of Windows 10, and the early indications is that it will be very good. So most likely, at some point, I will be recommending the upgrade during that first year. But right now, we know Windows 7 works fine and is fast and stable. Even if you’re using the cumbersome and unpopular Windows 8 or 8.1, I really can’t recommend doing the upgrade right away. Let Microsoft get the kinks out of the system first.

In the meantime, what can you do with that little Windows 10 icon at the bottom of your screen?

Ignore it: Really, that icon sitting there doesn’t hurt anything. So you can leave it there if you just don’t want to mess with it right now.

Explore it: If you do one left-click on the icon, it brings up a new window. In that window you can click to reserve your upgrade (not recommended yet) or you can click on the “advance slide” link on the right to scroll through Microsoft’s little sales pitch on how great Windows 10 is going to be:

When you close that window, you will still see the icon sitting down there at the bottom of your screen. So you can click it anytime to reserve your upgrade, if you want to.

Remove it: if you just don’t want to have it there for whatever reason, you can just get rid of it. This doesn’t actually remove it from your computer; it just keeps it from showing up down there in the Notifications area. To do this:

– Right click in a blank area on the taskbar (the bar across the bottom of your screen, and in the new menu, choose “Properties”:

– In the new window, click the button that says “Customize”:

– Now look for “GWX” (it’s probably the first one in the list), and in the drop down menu choose “Hide icon and notifications”, then click OK

No doubt over the next couple of months, we will hear many times from Microsoft about all the cool new features in Windows 10 and why everyone should upgrade. And in time, you probably will upgrade. But there’s no real advantage to being first in line. Be a settler, not a pioneer.