Affordable Computer Tech

06/20/2025

If you haven't heard of this yet, you should read it. Change your passwords now. Make each one for every site unique.

Use Google Authenticator or other two factor options on every site you can. (Text messages to log in etc)

Use strong passwords, and to make it easier, use a secure strong password organizer like Lastpass.

Read more:

Latest updates on one of the largest data breaches

04/29/2024

Affordable Computer Tech is now Vernon Websites Please see our website for the services I provide going forward....

All Inclusive Website Development and HostingDon’t worry or stress about getting your new website online and running. We take care of everything for you! Learn More Computer Tech SupportWe also provide remote control computer support! Don’t worry about packing everything up and taking it anywher...

03/15/2023

How are your backups doing? You don't do backups? Probably a good idea to start if you have data you don't want to lose. 🙏 If you are set up with backups, it's a good idea to double check them on occasion as well.

04/23/2020

It's always a good idea to have a small notebook or something to write down all your passwords.... And make sure all the passwords you use on the internet are different! Don't use the same password for everything.... MAKE A NOTE OF THEM! I see a LOT of computers and email accounts that people don't write down their password, and then they lose all access completely because they didnt set up a recovery process either. Stay safe out there people!

03/25/2020

Affordable Computer Tech is open and ready to help (remotely) with your computer issues. At this time, there are no in person or hands on services, but our remote support is still going strong. I can often fix your machine in less than 20 minutes! If you are having any computer issues, just give me a call and we can talk. Consultations/questions/advice are always free on the phone. We only get into remote support/$$ when I help you get something fixed :) I hope you are all doing ok and staying home.... We'll all get through this crazy time together!

04/05/2019

As a computer tech in town here, I sometimes see things that I feel the general public should know about to be better protected...

Recently a client was sent an email about copyright infringement (downloading a movie).

In the VERY threatening letter that was forwarded by Telus, the (alleged) lawyers representing the copyright holder stated that the alleged downloader could go to a URL and pay a settlement to make the problem go away.... THIS TYPE OF EMAIL IS IN DIRECT CONTRAVENTION OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT!! You can see more info about this on this page: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/oca-bc.nsf/eng/ca02920.html

On this page it very clearly states:

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What kind of information should not be included in a notice to consumers?
The Copyright Act also lists the specific information that must not be included in a notice for it to comply with the Notice and Notice regime.

Notices must not contain:

an offer to settle the claimed infringement
a request or demand, made in relation to the claimed infringement, for payment or for personal information
a reference, including by way of hyperlink, to such an offer, request or demand
any other information that may be prescribed by regulation
A notice that includes such information does not comply with the regime. Such notices are deemed to be invalid under the regime. There is no obligation on ISPs to forward such notices on to their subscribers or to keep records that would allow those subscribers to be identified pursuant to a court order.

Your ISP must forward you any notice that complies with the regime. Your ISP may also be a source of helpful information in terms of understanding the reasons why you were forwarded a notice.
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So these emails that Telus is sending with these letters attached are against the Copyright Act. Telus (or ANY other ISP) should NOT be sending any emails that include offers to settle, or that scare people into going to other pages to pay a settlement.

By doing this, Telus (and other ISPs) are possibly scaring people to basically admit guilt by paying a settlement which isn't even allowed by the law. I assume is the reason the government has ruled against this behavior.

If you get one of these letters (specifically one that has an offer/threat to settle) , you should push back your ISP and tell them it is not legal, and they should not be emailing those types of letters out.

Also, most people on regular internet connections are on whats called "DHCP" which means you do not have a IP address that stays the same all the time. Your IP may change without notice without you ever even noticing. (Although one could say the ISP probably has records of the IP at the time.)

Also, the infractions could come from an un-secure wi-fi connection or a hacked computer without your knowledge either.

Notice and Notice Regime

01/30/2019

Don't go through the hassle of packing up all your stuff to take to a shop, call us for a free consult and maybe our free advice can help fix your problem.... and if not, then we have super cheap remote support!! :)

10/23/2018

After MANY years of being left out of the Best Of The Okanagan voting, we are FINALLY listed as one of the companies you can vote for! Please take a few minutes to cast your vote today! We'd really appreciate your votes! Please share!! https://okanaganlife.survey.fm/best-of-okanagan-2018

07/13/2018

I've been seeing some phishing/scam emails coming around that are a bit concerning as I think they may have the ability to trick or extort a lot of people out there... The emails state that they know your password, and in fact, they tell you the password. It is probably a password you actually may have used at some point. They probably got this from one or another hack to a popular website out there. Some more notable websites out there have been hacked in the past and old passwords are out there for scammers to see. (A very good reason to change your passwords often, or use a password program like LASTPASS) They use this information to send out emails to scare people. If you see an email asking you to pay bitcoin in order to avoid them releasing any info about you etc, just trash it. Do not pay anyone any bitcoin or money because of threats in your emails. Just delete them!!!

04/25/2018

Yup, Macs get malware too.

A new variant of the Crossrider adware has been spotted that is infecting Macs in a unique way, using a configuration profile to keep its effects resident in the system.

03/22/2018

Regarding the current news about the Cambridge Analytica Facebook user data breach, FB Purity was warning its users about the problem with Facebook applications stealing their data back in 2010! (see: https://www.facebook.com/notes/fluff-busting-fb-purity/important-facebook-privacy-issue-your-friends-applications-and-their-developers-/10150156651570171/ )

If you value your privacy and still want or need to use Facebook. Here's a list of some of the things you can do to protect it:

1) Ditch the Facebook (and Messenger and any other Facebook owned apps, Instagram, Whatsappp etc) mobile phone apps, they basically have complete access to anything you do on your phone, and tracks everything you do, suck up all your contact info, tracks you with GPS etc etc. Its safer to use the mobile website versions of those sites sucha as http://m.facebook.com in your mobile's web browser.

2) When browsing Facebook on a desktop web browser make sure you have a tracker blocking browser extension such as Disconnect , Privacy Badger or Ghostery installed, as this will stop Facebook tracking all the websites you visit in your web browser. The way Facebook tracks which sites you visit is via the ubiquitous "like" button widgets that website owners include in their web pages. Facebook even tracks non Facebook users in this way and creates what are known as "shadow" profiles.

3) Never use the "Facebook" sign-in method to login to other websites. Those websites get access to some of your Facebook data when you do this.

4) To make sure Facebook applications by third parties cannot access any of your or your friends data, turn off the "Facebook Platform" in Facebook's settings on the following page: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=applications§ion=all
To do this, go to the section titled
"Apps, Websites and Plugins" , click Edit and then change the setting to disable "Facebook Platform"

5) If you don't want to completely turn off the "Facebook Platform" as you still want to use certain Facebook applications or Facebook sign-in, you should go through the "App settings" at https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=applications§ion=all and remove any Facebook apps that you no longer use, and also go to the section titled "Apps others use" and untick all the boxes there (This will stop apps your friends use from getting your data even if you yourself are not using the apps)

6) Review and edit your Facebook privacy settings at https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy§ion=applications&field=instant_personalization&hc_location=ufi

7) Review the advertising profile Facebook has built for you at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen ( the F.B. Purity browser add-on lets you easily delete the list of Interests and Advertisers Facebook has generated for you) Its also worth reviewing the other settings on that page, such as the "ads based on your usage of websites and apps" setting, which basically means you will be shown ads related to websites you have visited, also important is the "ads with your social actions" setting, that basically means if any page you have "liked" creates a Sponsored ad on Facebook they can use your name at the top of their ad to endorse their Advert.

8) This is an extreme one and against Facebook's terms and conditions but its better not to include any of your real information on Facebook, better to put fake information in there, including your name and address, birth date etc.

Of course if you really value your privacy the best thing is to stop using Facebook altogether, delete all the data on your Facebook account and then delete your account, though I don't think it will stop Facebook from keeping a "shadow" profile on you, and who knows if they really ever delete your data, there was certainly some news articles in the past on just that topic where Facebook was holding on to data it shouldn't have been.

What do you think of this list? Got any other Facebook privacy tips you would like to share, add them in the comments!