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Blog posts : "Computers"

My arsenal for fighting scams: A survivor's guide

My arsenal for fighting scams got a little bigger this past December. Ordinarily, no one would have done what was about to be done now. It bothered me that there were bad people all over the globe, and not just in the United States. How To Avoid Fake Technical Support Scams was a great article, but what did one do once their name got placed on the scam list?

My best advice, remain diligent when reporting rogue incidents, whether they be phone or internet scams. Don't just settle for what someone tells a person. Developing an arsenal of websites was one's best bet to silence scammers for good.

My going to the phone company only produced two options:


  • Block the number which only offered 15 slots

  • Have the number changed, which meant telling my family of my new number

  • Amazon has an external number blocking system, but the $50 price tag was too much at the time.


    • Time was something a lot of my family didn't have with jobs outside of the home. Just ignoring the phone  or only turning off the ringer only worked when someone knew who called by checking caller ID. Thanks to the rogue call answered by me on August 4, 2014, my name, address and phone number existed everywhere on the scammers blacklist not just for computer tech support trolls who weren't supposed to call offer assistance.

    The only thing mastered by me was the fake tech support situation. The ironic thing was that one of the numbers that was not answered by me last month looked familiar.  Checking my phone app on my cell confirmed my suspicions. If there was  complaint list even on here, it was best to report it. Here  was the arsenal spoken of before:


  • 800Notes.com- largest database of known scams on the internet

  • RU A Scammer- Another database  of rogue numbers

  • Where to report Phone Crime--Report more scams than just on the telephone

  • Grant Fraud--This was easy due to that Call App function that allowed numbers to be searched.

  • 10 Ways to Avoid Fraud This was a great article on fraud prevention


    • Granted, the more information given to these places, the better chance they can stop the problem. Most of the computer tech trolls had a link inside the United States. The number was usually unreachable if the caller tried to call back and sometimes couldn't be blocked either except for my cell phone. Now, because there was a refund given last month from another software provider, they want wanted a piece of that too.

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     Posted in Computers

    Apple took too many 'low blows' to recoup losses

    Why were people scared about Apple stocks falling again? Well, this was the time of year that the greatest gain was achieved. According to the latest report, stocks fell to their lowest in two months. Retailers were concerned as well because of poor sales from their smart phones. It looked like even the diehard purchasers were staying away in droves thanks to the actions of Morgan Stanley and the other 'low blows' in the market.

    Apple just lost $123 billion in value. [VIDEO]


    Adding to the slow sales of smart phones, Morgan Stanley reduced its projections for smart phone sales. This was a reverse of what watchers were expecting. Big returns from Christmas sales made a jump in revenue, boosting last quarter percentages. It seemed to me that black Friday sales were better than those in the middle of December. Were sales and Apple stock going to rebound with ten shopping days left? These watchers were expecting shipments of their brand to fall an additional 6%.

    My biggest problem was trying to use the iPod Nano my mother bought me for my birthday one year. The problem was downloading the music from my dying desktop She replaced it with an mp3 player that was used so often, that it died. It became so old that the battery wouldn't hold a charge. My smartphone was great until the use of third-party apps drained my battery while listening to my music.

    The only time this blogger actually used Apple products  if they were around. The last time they were used was when one of the local Boys' & Girls' Clubs needed my services as a volunteer tutor. My brother threatened bodily harm if either of my desktop or laptop computers had that logo on them.He was well versed in \Microsoft programing, not Apple. When purchasing this current laptop, there was nothing to unlearn or refamiliarize myself with. Even with Windows 10, the language was easier to follow than that of an Apple computer.

    One thing Apple had in its favor though. My boss told me the brand had less computer hang ups and computer glitches than its Microsoft competitor. They were less apt to have computer malware, adware, trojans or other types of viruses. It didn't stop my sister's friends from swapping their iPhone to a smart phone as she did.

    It didn't look like all the losses mentioned were going to be regained. The brand took too many knocks below the belt.

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     Posted in Computers

    Two must-have trials in gaming this holiday

    A lot of exciting things were going on in the development of electronic gaming. That's why they were so popular as gifts around the holiday season My grand nephews always had to have the latest games on their consoles. Last year, they got the latest upgrade, which was good, but the bad news was that they weren't allowed to play with them because they were restricted because they got in trouble. Hopefully, they weren't restricted this year. Their great aunt would hate for them to miss these gaming perks.


    XBOX One Free Play Weekend Offer. Here was another great reason why games were so popular. Once in a while, a free play weekend came up. This offer ran from December 10-14. 2015, starting on Thursday at 3 am and lasting till Monday the same time. In order to participate, players had to register here to take advantage and be sure to have an active ESO account, because there was more. Each active ESO account was entered in the $1million prize drawing $50,000 over 20 years. Persons who purchased the game during this free play got their level carried over.

    The Neo Geo Sample via a Bundle Purchase While users of this company's games didn't get the Xbox One offer, depending on what bundles they purchased, they got their choice of 19 demos to play and preview on their PC. This included King of Fighters 2000 and Fatal Fury Special. Here was the sugar, they could be played on any level and length of time they wanted during their trial. Keep in mind that this demo required the purchase of a bundle first.

    Final Fantasy VII Releases The beauty of this game was in the upgrades. It was projected to be released in stages and very popular, according to this statement:

    It means instead of concluding in one entry, multiple entries are being considered in development. Each entry will have its own unique story. As a gaming experience, each entry will have the volume of content equal to a full-sized game.

    This could also mean that the production in this series was far from finished. The gaming franchise was so big that it couldn't be released as a part of the game but continuously. That meant that each release had its own single experience. On PS4, gamers were able to use their consoles to add to their personal experiences. These enhancements did two things: 1) It sped up game time and 2) Eliminated surprises by allowing the player to turn them off at will.

    Street Fighter V Web series For those who couldn't get enough of Street Fighter, it was slated to become a web series in March 2016. Fans could've attributed this to its immense popularity as a video game. Watching this web series was made easier for those who had Smart Tvs, laptops, desktops, smart phones, or tablets. Unfortunately, those with an Xbox or Wii wouldn't get to enjoy the streaming services because it was a product of PlayStation 4 and the property of Sony. The beauty was that this was always to be a PS4 game in spite of its future re-release to the public

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     Posted in Computers

    Double-check those rogue numbers

    With all the talk about different ways people get scammed the older ones were still out there. Last week, it was The Grandma Scam. My problem began when it was discovered that someone tried to use a well-known computer company, like Microsoft through PCSpeedy.com They said that they were a representative and that something was wrong with my older laptop that they needed to fix. This was months after Windows XP had gone out of service and before my fight to regain the funds from the other two companies vying for the same thing. These rogue calls could be stopped.

    This was far worse than what happened with the hackers at Dell and Vtech, The toy company, based in China, did not fully encrypt the personal information of its customers. As a result, they may be headed to court. At least Dell offered a solution to the buyers of its laptops with the malicious security software on it with email and on site support.

    There were two rogue numbers that called within five minutes of one another. Both had the Microsoft Billing scandal in their complaint list on 800notes. In my case, it was a 'supposed' refund for past purchase. The thing that bothers me was that reported rogue numbers only get the link to the web shut off. Why not shut down this black market database?

    After the some cleared, with two of those other companies, the last one never fixed my problem, so they never got paid. Here were the red flags:


  • Most of these real companies would never wait until the dinner hour or some other ungodly time to call on a weekend. With this rogue caller, from India, it puts the legitimacy of the company in question because their reach was global too.

  • They didn't call on holidays either. Microsoft never called its customers at any time, not even for issuing refunds on their products. When a consumer accepts their offer of service from these 'independent companies', $99 went to the technician off the top. Even though the terms were outlined, they can also push for additional services, like one of the other companies did. The more you call the less your refund.

  • This last company, never was able to get into my old computer and 'fix' my connection problem. They still charged $199 for this service. After five hours of trying, they gave me another tech company to call and untangle myself. My refund came through October 21, 2014 because they didn't respond to my dispute. Their harassment started January 2015 and lasted four months until my reporting them to the FCC and the FTC Do Not Call link in late May this year.


    • While the harassing calls stopped, a lot of other calls from similar companies were calling me for the same thing. By this time, the sucker list previously written about was cut back after finding some weapons added to my arsenal to shut them down. Registered complaints were like a criminal rap sheet. The number from Cape Coral, Florida on Mr. Number, had a 99% spam score and 490 reports. On Call Contol, they were the same. A previous owner that was a prank caller got reported to the FTC ten times between May and July of last year. The number from Lynchburg, VA., was the Microsoft Billing/refund complaint like the one in Florida. This last number, recognized from six months ago, was found to be a telemarketing Dental Insurance scam. The more information found on these rogue callers, the more likely they were shut down.

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     Posted in Computers

    Opportunity found in Online Netorking

    If my website didn't exist, there wouldn't be a third post on this site. There was something to the testimonial about to be told. It paid to advertise. The man who invited me to the Google Groups WowApp, was on over 200 sites, so they were unsure of how my name came up.  One of them used by us both was AdlandPro. It paid to find opportunity via online networking.

    Not only was there a lot of networking taking place with my making some new friends, another opportunity came up too. The founder of the group referred me to Shoemoney, after finding out of my blogging experience. The lessons were easy to follow and one could pause the video to work at their own pace. When this program was over, money could be made via my online opportunity.

    One of the nicest things other than the friends one made when they did this was getting paid for every referral My Wow coins went up from .03 to .13. One of my friends asked me if Shoemoney worked. Since my starting the program, not much was made yet. They did wish me luck though, and to tell them if it actually worked. Hopefully, the links sent out by me should get some bites.

    There were problems, but those were  remembering my log in information or passwords for CloudFare and GetResponse. The first program was free and the second offered a 30-day free trial. Going month to month on this whole thing saved me almost $89. They were able to honor the original monthly charge with the yearly plan. It was easier than cancelling my membership altogether. WPTouch had to be reconfigured through  WP Super Cache to get the error off my laptop screen. It was my hope that there was a way to retype the url to the correct spelling so it was recognized on my cell phone.  Hey, at least this last error was mine.

    When all was completed, there was still one problem. Since my Google Adsense account had to be switched over,  only one account was allowed, what was to become of the blog from that site? Unless there was a way to fix the slowdown and stall, it would have to be removed. Additional pages could be added to the primary blog.

    Until this program was finished, my judgement was withheld.

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     Posted in Computers
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