Category: Information Technology

I have an Associate in Technical Arts in Web Application Development degree, as well as certificates in:

  • Business Systems Analysis
  • Requirements Analysis
  • Database Theory and Design
  • Cisco Networking
  • And I’m one class away from a Desktop Support Certificate

I have a deep knowledge of technical systems and have solved a variety of problems.

Android Malware In The Google Play Store

Carl Setzer

This morning I read about a newer mobile malware variant. It’s a traditional Trojan concept.

Beware! New Android Malware Infected 2 Million Google Play Store Users

From the article in Hackernews, I’ve pulled their advice to protect yourself from such things. I’ve highlighted a biggie, one that’s terrifying to me that people do: grant an app administrative rights.

We need to be thinking more about mobile security than we do. Clearly, this is the new frontier in cybercrime.

Anyway, be safe out there.

 

 

How to Protect yourself against such Malware

There are standard protection measures you need to follow to remain unaffected:

  • Always download apps which are from trusted and verified developers and stick to trusted sources, like Google play Store and the Apple App Store.
  • Always verify app permissions before installing apps. If any app is asking more than what it is meant for, just do not install it.
  • Keep a good antivirus app on your device that can detect and block such malware before it can infect your device. Always keep the app up-to-date.
  • Do not download apps from third party source. Although in this case, the app is being distributed through the official Play Store, most often such malware are distributed via untrusted third-party app stores.
  • Avoid unknown and unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots and Keep your Wi-Fi turned OFF when not in use.
  • Be careful which apps you give administrative rights to. (bolding is Admin rights are powerful and can give an app full control of your device.
  • Never click on links in SMS or MMS sent to your mobile phone. Even if the email looks legit, go directly to the website of origin and verify any possible updates.
 

The future of video content

Carl Setzer

Just spent a moment exploring what’s available on YouTube, content-wise. Now, I love YouTubers like Casey Niestat and the like, but I was thinking about professional content. Things like Star Wars Rebels, movies, and other stuff. I was pleased by what I saw. 

A nice thing about purchasing content through YouTube: it can be watched on any device. Apple tv, Android devices, and, I expect, even my kindle. I hate having my videos and music held hostage by platform idiosyncrasies. And I hate Apple’s unwillingness to play well with others. 

Anyway, I’m thinking that YouTube might be the way I go to buy Rebels season 4. It’d be cool if I could burn the movies and such to DVDs. But I won’t hold my breath. 

I think I might have seen a glimmer of the future. If so, is pretty bright for YouTube. For now, at least. 

PDF Editors And Business Operations

Carl Setzer

At this point, I can’t imagine how anyone operates a 21st century business without a pdf editor.

Not being able to fill out forms, edit docs, transform them to Word or Excel…all rather critical for business today.

Adobe Acrobat is not the only option. Which is good since it’s ridiculously expensive.

I’ve been using FoxIt’s PDF Editor/Creator for some time. A reasonable price ($109).

Here’s a list of low cost options, including 1 or 2 free ones. One of the ones they list, Nitro, is another one I’ve used. It’s pretty good as well. I don’t know they other ones, but it’s PC World, so it should be a good source.

Anyway, there’s no good reason to not have SOMETHING. So, make it work.

 

AutoCAD | zero to 60 in 1 over infinity seconds

Carl Setzer

One of the great things about a new job: learnings. This one is no different. I love learning new software. Well, AutoCAD really isn’t “new”. But the last time I did any real work in the product was, well, a version for DOS. Yeah, it was on a computer running Windows 95, but still….

Anyway, with another staff change, my need to KNOW AutoCAD shot up immensely. Got to love added stress!

It’s fun, but crazy. No panic…not yet, at least. And I have a strategy, so there.

Wish me luck.

Visio & Office Versions – Troubleshooting Fun

Carl Setzer

For some time I’ve been using Visio 2007. It’s worked fine, but it won’t let me import .dwg files (CAD files, if you didn’t know) that have been made recently. So, finally, we buckled down the budget and upgraded to Visio 2016. And, well, things got screwy.

I ended up with this error as I tried to install Vision:

I’ve never dealt with Error Code 30029-39 before. Turns out it was something simple, overlooking a basic issue.

Our version of Office was 2013. Now, I’ve been using Visio 2007 with Office 2013 just fine, no problems. But Office 2016 doesn’t play well with other versions of Office. I should’ve checked Office version compatibility.

So, now I was left with a choice:

  1. Upgrade the rest of Office to 2016 – or –
  2. Find some other way

In the spirit of cheapness, I spent time looking at ways to force Windows 10 to let me have 2 versions of Office. And, well, nope. I did find some ways to use a VM client, like Windows built in Hyper-V, but it started to get to a high butt-pain threshold and I went with option 1).

There are times that being able to get back to work is worth quite a bit.

Ah, Wingdings and Useful Fonts

Carl Setzer

I regularly use Wingding elements such as check-marks. And I regularly forget the letters assigned to those characters.

I’ve used this chart in the past, yet need to Google it every time. The last time I needed it, I spent several minutes digging through the Google to find it. Scared me. So, here we go. Now I’ll never lose it again.

A Random WiFi Issue I Fixed Yesterday

Carl Setzer

A Windows 10 laptop in my office had a fascinating connection issue. It connected to our network just fine,  but showed an error: “WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration”.  Now, the other machines in my office were connecting fine. So, I knew it was this specific PC.

With that, I then noticed it had the same issue with the other local WiFi networks. Forgetting the network and reentering the password didn’t do diddly. Finally,  I looked up this article at Microsoft, and started working through it. About two minutes in,  I noticed a Web page load. Internet connectivity had been restored. Oddly,I can’t tell you what I did that accomplished it. I guess some random background process finished up and released a file. Basic guess, though.

Have you seen anything like this before?

Reflecting on Om Malik’s article “Silicon Valley Has An Empthy Problem”

Carl Setzer

​”Silicon Valley Has An Empthy Problem”

It’s very hard to break free of our focus bubble, seeing the impacts of our technological creations. Whether Uber, Amazon, Bitcoin , or any of a huge number of disruptive changes. People’s lives, and livelihoods are hugely impacted. We lose sight of that at our peril. 

i agree quite heartily with Om here. Tech needs to add empathy into its DNA. A simple elementary possibility: add empathically oriented checks in the project mapping. Ask “who’s hurt by this product”?

It’s a start. An important one. Or, perhaps, a critical one. 

Please give this a “like”, share and subscribe.

Rebooting a Samsung S7

Carl Setzer

My phone froze earlier today (black screen, no activity), and several of my default fixes didn’t do diddly-squat.

I googled it and found several options. Most of them didn’t do anything. Don’t know if that was due to some model differences (Verizon vs ATT, for instance), or something else.

Anyway, what finally worked was this simple combination:

  • Press and hold the Power button at the same time as the Volume Down button. You’ll hold them for around 10/12 seconds, so don’t give up too early.

That’s all it took. It booted fine and seems to be happy now.

Solved Mailchimp Issue 

Carl Setzer

While trying to send out an email this morning I got stuck with this error message. 

“Your list has an email type option, so the text part is required”

Mailchimp has settings for each list and the issue is buried in there. 

  1. Go to “Lists” 
  2. Select the list in question 
  3. Then “settings”
  4. Then “List Name and Defaults”
  5. Uncheck “let users pick plain text or html”

That fixed the problem for me and let me send the email.