We all like saving money, right? It seems like everything costs more these days, be it milk at the grocery store, school supplies for the kids, or Internet and phone service for your home or business. While it is true that the cost of living continues to increase, there are ways to save money on nearly every aspect of it. Something that is often overlooked by customers both at home or at their business is their telecommunications bill. It will have your core services (telephone, Internet, fax) but then there are the mystery fees, some of which are legitimate but do you know what they are? For example, many carriers charge you an extra fee to leave your number unlisted. They may also charge you a fee to have your number listed, these are often labeled as “directory fees.” Did you know that carriers can (and do) charge a “carrier cost recovery fee?” Do you know what that even is? Recovery fees are basically tacked on to your regular service to help the carrier pay for things like “fees paid (by the carrier) to support government programs,” “other charges by the FCC,” and “additional indirect costs associated with administering and complying with government programs.”


My personal favorite (note the sarcasm here) is the Internet Cost Recovery Fee. What is it for? “This fee helps defray costs associated with building and maintaining our High-Speed Internet broadband network, as well as the costs of expanding network capacity to support the continued increase in customers' average broadband consumption.” So not only are you charged for your service (fair enough) but you also pay extra to build and maintain the carrier’s equipment. These are just several examples of “mystery fees” on your bill. Before you get too mad, know that all of these fees must be explained by law. You can call your carrier and sit on hold or you can do a quick web search for surcharges or a billing glossary on your carrier’s website to find definitions of all the terms used on your bill. If you find any that are optional (and that you can do without), consider canceling them.


OK, enough complaining, now for the good news. Many carriers offer discounts to new and current customers. These discounts typically expire after a certain period of time and the provider rarely notifies their customers that said discounts are expiring. In many cases, these discounts can be renewed but it is the customer’s responsibility to renew them. So do yourself a favor; take a close look at your next Internet or phone bill, research the charges listed and call your service provider if you have any questions. While you’re on the phone with them, be sure to ask if you can get either a lower rate or faster speed (at your same rate). In many cases you can! While results vary, in some cases customers have gotten nearly 50% lower rates or doubled their speed just by asking about current offers in their area! Again, this isn’t always the case but even if you save 10% on your next bill, isn’t it worth a few minutes of your time? Please note that some offers are only available if you “renew your contract.” Many DSL customers aren’t even aware that they’re on a contracted plan so be certain to understand the terms before making any changes. Remember the old Latin proverb, “caveat emptor,” or “Let the buyer beware.” Don’t just pay your bill, understand what you’re paying for.


If you are fortunate enough to live in an area with multiple service providers to choose from, take the time to look at what the competition is offering. Many times you will find that one provider is offering the same services for a lower cost or perhaps more services for the same price that you currently pay. Use this to your advantage by calling your current provider and tell them that XYZ company has such and such a deal and then ask them to beat it. This will take some time out of your day but can pay big dividends as you get the providers to compete for your business instead of simply taking whatever they offer you. Remember to get any special offers in writing (it’s best to have the agent email you) so that you have a record of the specifics in case you speak with a different agent later, or if you need to send it to a competitor for a price/service match.

Do you have a question or topic you’d like us to address? Email and let us know! ​

Quickly Become A Google Fu Master… Here’s How 

There’s one thing all teens can do better than adults – and it’s not Snapchat. They’ve become experts at quickly locating information on the internet. That’s Google Fu, the ability to use search engines to whip up answers and research faster than a contestant on a radio quiz.


Level 1 Mastery: Tell It What You Need

Google Search is smart and can understand “conversational searches”. Let’s say you came across a great recipe online, but the measurements were imperial. Google has you covered. Simply tell it what you want to convert, and what into.

[number] [unit] into [unit]
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Enter “6 ounces into cups”…and hit enter. Google presents the answer, already calculated – AND it includes a handy drop down to change those measurements for your next ingredient.

The ‘tell it what you need’ formula works for a multitude of questions – here are a few more formats to give you the idea.

•        Release dates: [movie/game] release date
•        Fast facts: [name of person] death
•        Stats: [city] population
•        Business hours: [name of business] hours

Level 2 Mastery: Limiting Result Type

With one additional click, you can tell Google that you only want images. Or videos. Or news, maps, shopping, books or apps. Your initial results are presented as a combination of all types – you can see the ALL tab highlighted up the top. Just click the tab to indicate which result type you’re looking for.


Level 3 Mastery:  Using drop downs

One of the most popular Google Fu moves is to limit results to sites from a particular country. This is great for locating bargains or local businesses. Click SEARCH TOOLS to drop down a second menu. You’ll see the option to limit Country and even Time.  2 extra clicks and my search is now limited to my home country and items from the past 7 days only.


Level 4 Mastery: Using operators

Your final level of mastery, often used as a last resort when you’re just beginning to doubt whether the internet has the answer you’re seeking. Adding a hyphen (-) directly in front of a word (no space) means display everything that contains my other search terms, but doesn’t contain this term. Finally, enclosing your search terms in “quotation marks” binds the term together so Google can’t break it up.
E.G. “Project Management” Your Google Fu will soon be very strong.
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People happily share their private information online, building robust libraries that can easily become a one-stop goldmine for fraudsters.

It’s not exactly the intention everyone has when they sign up, as the whole point of Facebook is to share your life with your friends. It hooks us into a global community and the experience does depend on us making certain privacy sacrifices.

So how do you balance being social with staying safe?

On Facebook alone, the average person shares 13 pieces of personal information ranging from a fairly innocent name/email combo, all the way to mothers maiden name and home address.

It doesn’t sound like a lot, but those 13 pieces have the power to unravel your life within minutes.

Even checking in at home or a favorite location has become the norm, helping to create a multi-dimensional online identity. The details are available to anyone who cares to look, whether they’re a friend keeping in the loop, or someone with a much darker agenda.

The problem is, you just don’t know who’s looking at your profile or why.

For example, someone could try accessing your email account by clicking the ‘Forgot password’ link. The email service follows its security rules and asks identifying questions like ‘which high school did you go to? What is your pet’s name?’ Unfortunately, the most common identifying checks and answers are probably available on Facebook.

Once your email address is compromised, hackers can use that to break into other services and go through, clicking ‘Reset Password’ on site after site, account after account – they have full access to your email, so there’s nothing stopping them from emptying your bank accounts – or worse.
 

7 Ways to Secure Your Facebook Without Missing Out on the Fun

• Begin by previewing your profile as others see it
• Review what should and should not be visible to strangers
• Consider only sharing partial details, like birth day and month, but not the year
• Only ever ‘Friend’ people you know and trust in the real world
• Be wary of duplicate or ‘odd’ friend activity – hackers will often clone or hack a friend’s profile and initiate an urgent and uncharacteristic request for money
• Update your past privacy settings too
• Set default future sharing to ‘friends only’

How To Protect Your Children While They’re Online These Holidays
 
Now that the school holidays have finally started, children have all the time in the world to spend with their best friend: Technology.

Waking early to sneak in a couple hours of Minecraft, Roblox, YouTube or Xbox…grabbing their ‘educational’ iPad and Facetiming a friend…sending emails and texts…it’s open season during school holidays!

Not just the younger children, but teenagers too.

To be honest, as an adult, we really have no idea what’s cool or what they’ve been introduced to at school. They’re digital natives and use it in ways we would never dream of.

All we know is that they’re going to be using their devices and we won’t be able to watch them every second of the day. Plus of course, no matter how many Cyber-Safety talks they’ve had, how many times they can parrot the rules back, they’re children and they don’t always stop to think.

• They don’t realize certain search terms might not be such a great idea
• They trust they are messaging other children
• And they would rather not limit themselves to 2 hours per day

 

Protect your Children with Parental Control Software
A Parental Control Software (PCS) package is essentially an internet filter for children. It takes all the icky, inappropriate things online and blocks your child from accessing them, seeing them or even knowing they exist.

Adults can override and disable the software easily, so their own experience is unchanged and unmonitored.

As an added bonus, Parental Control Software can also be used to put time limits on internet usage, or even log all online activity. While you may not feel the need to review the logs on a daily basis, they can be vital in identifying cyber bullying, sexting, or inappropriate relationships. Parents around the world credit these logs with saving their child’s mental health, and occasionally, their life.
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The best time to install Parental Control Software is now, before your children become comfortable with unrestricted access, and before they see things they shouldn’t.

 
Give us a call to set your computer up with Parental Control Software today.
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Last month we got the skinny on SSDs and how one little upgrade can speed up your computing life.

In this edition, I’m calling out tech scammers and the tricks they’re using to con millions out of computer owners each year.


How To Spot A Tech Scam Before You Get Stung

If your computer had a virus, you’d want to know about it ASAP, right? Before your important files become corrupted, you lose your photos and your digital life is essentially destroyed? Of course you would! Even thinking about it is terrifying.
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Tech scammers know we’d be lost without our computers, and that we don’t always know what’s going on behind the screen - which is why they’ve been able to swindle millions from every day people across the world.


The scam goes like this:

You receive a random phone call from someone with a heavy accent (usually Indian) saying they’re from Microsoft, or an alarming pop-up appears on the screen, saying it looks like your system has been infected with a virus.  To fix the problem, they need to you to download some support software, which they’ll give you a special link for. A technician then uses that software to gain access to your system and make it appear that your system is riddled with viruses. Flashing screens, mysterious diagnostics whizzing by, fabricated errors…they’ll do or say anything to make you panic. They’ll even go as far as claiming your system has been infected with illegal content and if not corrected, you’ll face criminal charges.

Demands for payment  information follow immediately after. Once paid, they simply stop fiddling with your system to make it seem the problem is fixed. To continue the scam, they’ll soon access your system to recreate the problem, this time offering a subscription for ongoing protection.


What To Do If You’re Targeted By A Tech Scam

1. Don’t taunt them. Just hang up. Right now, you’re only a phone number in their system and they’ll move onto the next – if you give them cause to target you personally, you may find yourself in a dangerous situation.

2. If a pop-up appears, immediately run an anti-virus scan. Don’t click the pop-up or call the number. If you’re not certain you have antivirus or don’t know how to use it, give us a call, we’ll be glad to help.


What To Do If You’ve Already Been Scammed

It’s okay. It feels horrible, but you’re not alone and the situation can be corrected. Start by calling your financial institution to have the charges reversed and your card reissued. It’s easier than you might think and helps the authorities locate the scammers.

Then give us a call and we’ll make sure they no longer have access to your computer.