Thieves have also got tech savvy now

GPS
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES
I never thought of this.......
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... Etc...was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.
Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....
And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.


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How to Speed Up Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010

Is Word behaving sluggishly, slowing you down? There are a various reasons why Word may be slowing down, but you can easily change some settings to speed it up.

Turn off Background Repagination

The background repagination option allows Word to repaginate the document when the program is idle. This allows the page numbers displayed on the status bar to be updated and stay current. However, this can slow down other operations in Word. If Word seems to be slowing down, you can turn off background repagination.
To do so, you must first be sure Word is not in Print Layout view. Click the View tab and click Draft in the Document Views section.

To access Word Options in Word 2010, click the File tab and click Options in the list on the left. If you are using Word 2007, click the Office button and click the Word Options button at the bottom of the menu.
On the Word Options dialog box, click Advanced in the list on the left. To turn off background repagination, scroll down to the General section and select the Enable background repagination check box so there is NO check mark in the box. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog box.

 

Turn off Word Add-ins

Microsoft Word is packed with features, including add-ins that come with the program. Unfortunately, a lot of these add-ins are ones you probably don’t use, but are turned on by default. These add-ins can slow down Word and make it harder to use.
Open the Word Options dialog box as mentioned earlier. Click Add-Ins in the list on the left. A list of Add-ins displays in several groups. There are Active and Inactive Application Add-ins. There may also be Document Related Add-ins and Disabled Application Add-ins. Note the type of the add-in that you want to disable in the Type column. Select the type you noted for the add-in you want to disable from the Manage drop-down list at the bottom of the dialog box and click Go. To turn off the desired add-in, select the check box for the add-in so there is NO check mark in the box. Click OK.

You may have noticed a Document Inspector type in the Type column, but no Document Inspector type in the Manage drop-down list. The Document Inspector add-ins are managed in a different location. These add-ins allow you to inspect the document for hidden metadata and personal information and are automatically enabled.

In Word 2010, click the File tab and then click Info on the left. Click the Check for Issues drop-down button and select Inspect Document from the drop-down menu. If you are using Word 2007, click the Office button, click Prepare, and then select Inspect Document from the submenu.  The Document Inspector dialog box displays. Select the items you want to inspect and click Inspect.

NOTE: The Invisible Content option is only available in Word 2010.

Click Remove All to the right of the inspection results for the type of content you want to remove from your document.

NOTE: Be sure you want to remove the content when you click Remove All. As noted on the dialog box, some of the content cannot be retrieved once you delete it.

Turn off Various Word Options

Turning off any one of the following options may not improve Word’s performance noticeably, but turning off a combination of them might help. To turn off these options, open the Word Options dialog box as discussed earlier in this article.
The Show text animation feature allows you to format text in your document using the animation effects available in Word. If you have used this feature and your Word is not responding well, you might want to turn off this feature, at least temporarily. To do this, click Advanced in the list on the left and scroll to the Show document content section. Select the Show text animation check box so there is NO check mark in the box.

Also, on the Advanced screen, is an option in the General section called Provide feedback with animation. This option allows you to send feedback to the developers of Word in the form of animation and sound. If you are not going to send feedback in this form or at all, you might as well turn off this option.

If you use AutoShapes, you might have noticed that when you insert one, you also get a drawing canvas surrounding the shape that is used to insert and arrange the objects in your drawing. If you only insert simple AutoShapes, one at a time, you may not need the drawing canvas. On the Advanced screen, in the Editing options section is an option called Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes. Select the check box so there is NO check mark in the box to turn off this option.

Another option on the Advanced screen (in the Print section) is the Print in Background option. This allows you continue to work while your document is printed. With today’s fast computers and printers, this option is generally not needed and can be turned off.

On the Proofing screen, there are options for checking spelling and grammar as you type. This can take up some resources as Word checks what you have typed in real time. If you feel you are a good speller and have good grammar, you can turn these options off. These options are located in the When correcting spelling and grammar in Word section. You can always manually check the spelling and grammar for your entire document when you are finished with it.

Word has the ability to automatically format your text in different ways as you type. Besides taking up some resources, although not much, to do this in real time, it also can be annoying. To turn off the AutoFormat options, click the AutoCorrect Options button on the Proofing screen. On the AutoCorrect dialog box, click the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Turn off the options for items you don’t want automatically formatted and click OK.

 Word should respond more quickly to your commands now. Of course, if you discover you need to use any of the options you turned off, it’s easy to turn them back on.

Internet Explorer 10 Metro will not support Flash, Silverlight

With the unveiling of Windows 8 earlier this week at the Build conference, Microsoft officially introduced the Metro-style interface. As well as being a new way to navigate Windows, it’s also Microsoft’s way on to tablet devices by providing a solution to touch-friendly input sitting on top of the underlying Windows OS implementation.

That Metro-style interface is arguably the biggest change Microsoft has ever implemented for a new version of Windows. It does not rely on any legacy libraries Windows has used before, instead being built with a new API called Windows Runtime (WinRT).

What does that mean for Windows users? Well, the existing Windows 7-style interface is still available in Windows 8, but Microsoft hasn’t made it easily accessible. But in the final version of the OS, use of applications will be split between the old and new interfaces. It looks likely that Microsoft is going to prefer the Metro-style interface for all consumer-oriented software, even if mouse and keyboard are the input methods. The only exceptions to this rule will be developer and business software such as Visual Studio, Photoshop, Maya etc. This will cause issues for some users who prefer the old style of Start Menu interface, and even Microsoft is having to split applications in two to cope with this change. With that in mind, Internet Explorer 10 will have two modes.

Internet Explorer 10 will still exist as your typical Windows application, just like IE9, but hopefully with improved standards support, as well as retaining access to plug-ins and extensions. But there is also a second version or mode of IE10 specifically for use with the Metro-style interface. IE10 Metro as I call it will not support any plug-ins and is a HTML5-only experience.
 
Remember how Apple decided to not support Flash on the iPad and iPhone? Well, this looks to be Microsoft’s equivalent play. If you use the standard version of IE10 then you retain access to such functionality, but as IE10 Metro is going to be used across mobile and touchscreen devices, Microsoft has gone for a much cleaner, less resource intensive version of its browser. That means no Flash, no Silverlight, no plug-ins at all. It’s HTML5 all the way.

For consumers and owners of Windows 8 tablets, this should come as good news. You won’t be subjected to regular plug-in updates and the need to install battery-crippling software like Flash. But for developers it causes an extra headache. They will now either have to switch to HTML5-only app development, or support two versions for IE10 Metro and non-Metro versions. As HTML5 will work on both versions of IE10, to me this looks like just another push to leave Flash and Silverlight behind. Why support two versions when you can create a single HTML5 version that works everywhere? Of course, that assumes HTML5 has the functionality in place to recreate that Flash or Silverlight app a developer maintains.

Singapore man jailed for registering a .xxx domain

The .xxx domain has taken a long and winding road to approval. It has been trying to become official since 2005, and finally achieved official approval by ICANN in March this year. However, in Singapore, where Internet usage is tightly monitored and restricted, official approval seems to mean very little. Jiaming Sim, who tried to defend his own trademark by buying a .xxx domain during the Sunrise Period, was swiftly arrested (four hours after performing the registration) by Singapore police for doing so.

The Sunrise Period refers to a period of time after the launch of a new top-level domain when owners of trademarks can register a domain name to protect their mark from abuse and domain sitters. Sim, who’s famous all over Singapore for producing a papaya and tomato pulp, tried to buy the .xxx domain to protect his company’s interests. According to his lawyer, Pnob Chang, Sim bought the domain so no competitors would post vulgar content under his name.

Chang said that the Internet Crime Police in Singapore are very strict and monitor traffic to adult websites. Sim was arrested by a “sizable police force” that entered his apartment, confiscated his computer equipment, and broke a couple of teeth and four ribs as well. Clearly, someone has a big issue with the .xxx domain, or the potential it offers for a glut of new adult content in Singapore.

Sim is currently being kept in a maximum security prison in Bukit Panjan, and Chang said they’ll file a motion to release Sim in the coming weeks.

Countries like China and India block or restrict access to the .xxx domains, and many religious groups here in the U.S. had lobbied against the creation of a domain for adult content. Still, ICM Registry, the company behind .xxx still was able to get the domain to be approved.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Now Available for Download

Can’t wait to try out Windows 8 for yourself after Microsoft’s big unveiling of the new OS at yesterday’s Build Conference? Well, you needn’t wait any longer, as the developer preview version of the OS is now available for download.

You can install it on a 32-bit or a 64-bit x86 machine. Activation is not required, but it’s far from a finalized version of the OS, so if you do install it, expect bugs and glitches. In any case, you should definitely check out Microsoft’s Windows 8 guide to get an idea of what you can expect from the next version of Windows.

Without further ado, the download is available here. If you choose to install it, please share your experiences in the comments!

ShouldIChangeMyPassword Tells If Your Password Has Been Compromised

The last year has seen a number of high profile security breaches. ShouldIChangeMyPassword tells you if your login was among the compromised.

The biggest problem with the compromises (such as the high profile ones at Sony, Gawker, MySpace, and more) is that many people use the same password for multiple services. Once hackers know your login at one service they can then try it out at multiple services and potentially gain access to other services.

ShouldIChangeMyPassword calls on the released databases (many of the hacking groups released the compromised account databases as evidence of their successful breach) and tells you if your email as among the breached systems. We plugged in an email address we knew had been involved in at least one breach last year. Here were the results of the search:

So what do you do if your email address shows up as a breached account email address? You need to start changing your passwords. If you’re in the habit of using the same or similar passwords for most of the services you use, you should change them anyway. ShouldIChangeMyPassword only pulls from the databases that groups have released after high profile breaches; it doesn’t give you an absolute answer on whether or not all your passwords are secure.


Visit the site : www.ShouldIChangeMyPassword.com