PCT: Silent Ringtone

Pointless Computer Tricks: Silent Ringtone

      I have a cellphone, as I suspect many of you do. I receive calls from various undesirables (collectively referred to as ‘telemarketers’), again as I suspect many of you do. I decided to do something to minimize that.

      My particular phone number has been in use for approximately 40 years (it used to be a land line number). So a moderately large number of companies (and people) know about it. Many of those companies are making (semi) legitimate calls to people that used to be found at this number. Plus all the other junk that ignores the ‘Do Not Call’ list. Continue reading PCT: Silent Ringtone

Prediction: Forced updates for Windows 7/8

Predictions:

      Within a year from now (2017-09), Windows 7 and 8 will have lost the ability to turn off updates.

      Sometime before Windows 7 End of Support (2020-01-20), ‘updates’ to Windows 7 and 8 will have made those systems noticeable less ‘useful’ then they are today (2016-09-26). Continue reading Prediction: Forced updates for Windows 7/8

Firefox Cookies

     Cookies are both a blessing and curse on the internet. They are essential for anything you sign in to. So shopping, webmail, social networking, etc. All useful things, all need cookies*. Unfortunately, they can also be used for tracking by other sources, that may not have your best interests at heart. Advertising companies, governmental agencies, hacking organizations, etc.

     The rest of this post will speak to how to manage cookies in Firefox (version 48 in particular). Continue reading Firefox Cookies

Maintenance Checklist

      Intended Use: Steps to take when someone asks me to check their computer out. Not fixing any particular problem/issue, but give it a general overview and fix anything that crops up. If you’re doing this on your own, use a schedule that works for you. Shouldn’t gain anything by doing it more then once a month. Worth doing if it’s been more then six months. Anywhere between that is personal preference. Continue reading Maintenance Checklist