Tuesday, September 12, 2017

EQUIFAX - FUBAR.

I'll let you look up "FUBAR" yourself if you don't know it and are curious.  But please do not lose sleep over this.

EQUIFAX has reported a massive leak and now the tool that they provide to allow you to check to see if your information has been compromised may have been hacked, as well.

The article from c|net (here) essentially states that EQUIFAX's solution, to use the ID protection tool (free for a year if you were affected) may have been hacked, as well, so Caveat Emptor or, in English, Buyer Beware.

What to do? Again, don't lose sleep. Don't hit your cat. Or your kids, or anyone else.  You can yell at the dog or anything else that wakes you unexpectedly in the middle of the night. 

Whatever you have been doing, do that. If you check your credit reports (not scores) from EQUIFAX, TransUnion, and Experian on a yearly basis, keep doing so.  If you don't, then consider starting now thru the US FTC website's link.  Or not.

I actually do not recommend signing up for the free credit protection for a year promotion.  From what I have seen, you need to provide this 3rd party your name and account numbers on all of your financial accounts. That just doesn't sound like a good idea (i.e., common sense) to me.

BUT... if you are concerned about any of your accounts, change your passwords.  Make them strong passwords (Google offers some advice on this). Consider using 2-factor authentication if it is available.  Make your backup & recovery options more secure, too.  Please note that the EQUIFAX breach did not release password information.

And please, no tin hats.  

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Is there an easy way to alphabetize the desktop icons in Windows?

Yes and no.


Yes.

  1. The icons can be moved freely and arranged in any order you like
  2. The icons can be sorted alphabetically. Point the cursor to an empty spot on the Desktop and right-click, then left-click on Sort by [Name, Date, Size, or Item Type].

No.

  • There is no way to set or fix the order of the icons.  Now, they will not change order if you don't move them.  
  • However, going into Safe Mode or reducing the screen resolution setting may cause the icons to be reordered so none of them are missing from view.

Also

  • Auto Arrange will "permanently" sort them by your chosen Sort by choice
  • The icon size can be changed as well.



I wish I had a fix for this one.  Like many, I'll group some icons together.