Wonderful Scammers

        I know I’ve been posting a lot about the Microsoft scammers, but today I decided to explain in more detail why they’re scams, and the tricks scammers do to make people think they have a virus on their system. The reason they’re scams is because Microsoft or any computer company never tracks viruses on a single system. They honestly don’t care if you do. The only time Microsoft will step in if there’s a virus that’s spreading across networks like crazy, such as the new ransomware spreading around (For more information, click here). Even then, they don’t have you call a number and/or call you. If every computer company tracked viruses, we would still be running 98 because Microsoft resources would have been tied up fixing every single infected PC.
       Now, below is an image of a typical scam site:

       The main reason this is a scam is the fact no major web browser (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Edge, and Firefox) can detect if you got a virus by default. Also, I can load them on my smartphone, which has nothing to do with Windows. If it was a legit threat, your antivirus would throw up a warning way before a browser will. Also, the only way a browser could in theory detect an issue if say you enabled the toolbar or extension your antivirus installs. The closest a browser get to blocking possible issues is warning you if a site is been reported as unsafe, and will stop you from seeing that site unless you ignore the warnings. In fact, the way I triggered that scam site to load by mistyping facebook as facebo0k. A simple typo of a website n the old days would only load a screen saying “Server Not Found”, but today, it might launch the scam.
       The other way they can generate is by clicking on the wrong links. The three major sites that generate these pop-ups are Facebook, Google, and email. In email, the best advise is if you don’t trust the sender or the email itself, don’t click on anything and delete it. On Facebook, they are created by the ads on the side, the ones that say something like “17 Reasons” or “Check This Out!”. On Google, they’re mostly caused by searching for computer help, and clicking on a bad link.
       There’s also the scam calls where someone calls out of the blue, and tries to tell you that you got a virus or a major computer issue. First, no legit computer company will call you out of nowhere. The way all of them work is you have to make the first contact before they’ll even call. The best way to avoid these is if you don’t know the number, do not answer them. If they’re a legit company, they’ll leave a voice mail. If you do answer by mistake, hang up if they make any type of claim they’re tech support that you didn’t even call. The scammers will do everything to keep you on the line, and it’s all a script. They don’t know anything about your system to the point they’ll call a household that only has Apple products, and will try to say their Windows systems are infected.
       The scammers main goal overall is try everything to access your system through legit software, and lock it to the point it can render the machine unless you pay them more than what most systems are worth, or a price that is so high, you can buy 8+ systems. No matter what, NEVER let strangers into your system no matter what nonsense they’re spouting. They’re not hackers because without you installing the software, they know nothing about your machine. If it was truly a legit hacker, they wouldn’t even have you on the phone to install software. They could be in your system, and you wouldn’t know it.
       Now, this is more to explain what they’ll do if gained access, which again I’ll stress only allow companies and/or people you trust access your system. Everything I’m showing is built into all Windows since at least 98, and only two can in theory show you if you’re infected. These four things I’m going to show are used to troubleshoot Windows issues and fix performance issues, so most people don’t know they exist. The only way to access two of them is by launching them through a command or know what folder they’re stored in. In order, they are Command Prompt, Services, System Configuration, and Event Viewer.
       The first one, Command Prompt, is very simply DOS. Below is what it looks like:

   
       This is the only one you can find within the Windows Start Menu, but has nothing to do with malware or virus checking. Far as I can recall, it could been used back before Windows XP to check for malware, but now, it’s mostly used to check for internet issues. The way scammers use it is type in legit commands, type in wrong commands which triggers an error message, or paste something into it.
       The second is called Services. Below is what it looks like:

       This is one of two that are buried within Windows that you have to know either where it’s at, or how to load it. The lies you would here is how everything that shows Running is a virus. Services are background applications that are built into every version of Windows. They manage networks, printers, etc. If they weren’t running, Windows wouldn’t load properly. I’m not going to show where it’s located, or how to access it because you only mess with services if told by a company you trust, or know what you’re doing because disabling the wrong thing can crash Windows.
       The second one buried deep within Windows is called System Configuration, as shown below:

        This is one of the four that can tell you if there’s a virus or malware on the system. This application handles how Windows boots, and what loads when the system fully loads. Like Services, just because it’s running it doesn’t make it a virus. The major use for System Configuration is to disable unwanted programs from running at startup. Some malware will show up here, and a computer repair person can disabling it from running when you boot the PC. Again, not doing into too many details because the wrong thing here can disable critical parts of Windows causing instability.
       The final one is Event Viewer:

 Event Viewer records anything hat has happened to Windows has had since you first turned on the PC. This one isn’t quite as buried as Services and System Configuration, but it’s buried enough that most users don’t even know it exists. The main reason this is even loaded is to figure out what or why a PC keeps crashing. Again, only computer guys look at this to troubleshoot PC issues. All systems will show errors and warnings if you loaded Event Viewer. Even on my system, which is barely a week old, I have errors and warnings that show up.
       The final part of Windows I’m going to mention is what I’m going to call the startup password. This application again is so buried within Windows, you have to really know what you’re doing to even think of messing with it. When enabled, it requires a password to be entered to load Windows. This is what scammers use to basically lock you out of the system unless you pay their outrage fees. I’m not going to show you what it looks like or the actual name because if it’s enabled, and you forget the exact password, you will have to wipe out Windows and all your personal files to remove it. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t mess with it unless required. In other words, you, and even your computer person, should never mess with this startup password.
       Overall, I hope this knowledge as enlighten some to how the scams work, and why you should never allow anyone access to your system unless you have their complete trust. Also, the other thing I can stress from this is always keep your security software up to date, as well as run Windows updates whenever they’re available. The updates aren’t sent out to cause your system to take forever to reboot. They’re sent out to fix things that can allow a program to gain unwilling control of your system. Also, if the link looks funny, when in doubt, don’t click on it. The last tip is never Google phone numbers. If the company hasn’t posted on on their official website, they don’t provide one so never one you find on a web search (Perfect two examples: Facebook and Google). One final thing:


NEVER ALLOW ANYONE ACCESS TO YOUR SYSTEM UNLESS YOU TRUST THEM AND / OR THE COMPANY THEY WORK FOR!

"I'm Offended!"

       There are two topics I try to avoid writing about and/or discussing even with family: religion and politics. I do this because there’s never a clear winner, and it can lead to some heated debates. However, after reading an article tonight, I’m bringing out the soap box, and discussing a political view that irks me. It seems in today’s technology driven, connected society everything is now deemed “offensive”. This bothers me because as a writer, I try to avoid most taboo subjects, but it seems no matter how hard I try, something in my stories can be labeled objectable. As they say, it’s impossible to please everyone, but pissing people off is a piece of cake.

      Why does this bother me? As a writer, some of us will push sometimes the envelope, and add our personal views about some forbidden subject into our works. In every story written, there’s some political, religious, society view in the pages, rather it’s the main plot point or subconsciously weaved into the story. We can’t help it because we are e putting our heart and souls into every letter on the page. Does this mean we should worry about every sentence typed might upset someone? I say no because if we did that, we would never write a single word.

      This also makes you wonder about genres that are out there for the shear purpose to shock and awe, such as erotica and horror. Other genres, such as sci-fi and fantasy can contain political and religious views within their chapters. Should all of them be banned? I say no. What might sicken one person will be enjoyed by millions. If you don’t like the genre and/or the subjects in a single book, don’t read it. Let’s quit raining on everyone’s parade because you don’t agree with the story the author has penned.

     I honestly feel like that if I wrote a best selling novel where every character was a gray blob with names of kitchen appliances, someone on the web would deem it repulsive because gray denotes skin tones. Yes, I feel in my heart we’re getting to that point. A novel full of non-descriptive locations and characters will be insulting to someone. There’s no mention of race, religion, creed, etc, but because there’s one mention of color, it’s protested because of the color gray. I could even change the characters all to atoms, and protested because it promotes science.

      If this madness doesn’t end, I envision a future all forms of communication will die off. The human race will be afraid to say anything fearing someone will attack them because of one single word that made them feel insulted. We’ll would be communicating through emojis so nothing can be taking the wrong way. Far as books, every character would an it named The, and there’s no dialogue at all between them. No worldly views, no taboo subjects, only pages full of Wingdings.

    My final thought is this: I do censor myself, but I refuse to censor myself to the point of worrying about who, if any, I will offend. I will write the story as I see fit, and it contains a subject that might shocking to many people, I will post a warning or something. After that, it’s wide open writing till the story is crafted the way I intended it to be. After that, I won’t remove a single word worrying about how it might be seen once released. That’s the beauty of writing. It’s an art that makes one think about how a fictional world mirrors the real world, the good and the bad. Until next time, stick to your guns and write the story you want to tell.

Four Steps To Strong Passwords

        Over the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of people who had an online account password cracked. I begin to wonder how strong their old passwords were, and how secure the new one is. In this day and age, passwords being stolen is a bigger security risk instead of actually hacking into a home PC. With almost everything being done online, a secure password is the best defense you can have to keep your accounts safe.

  

       Now, password creating can be broken down into four main categories. The first is avoid common passwords that any password cracking tool can do within minutes. The second is try not using the same password for everything. The third is to make them strong enough that unless they really want in, most people would give up. The final categories is writing them down.

       The first one sadly is still being practiced. A common password is passwords that is so generic, people can type them into any site to access an account with seconds. The most infamous example is the word password. This one is so overused that some sites will reject any password that even resembles the word (Example: P@ssw0rd). Another bad example is typing across a row of the keyboard such as qwertyuiop . I will not deny for accounts that I use for purely junk emails, I’ve used some of the passwords on the list linked below. However, if someone really wants my junk email that bad, they can have it. The accounts were mostly created because a site I was one really wanted an email , so losing them is not the end of the world.

Common Passwords

      Secondly, using the same password for everything can be just as bad as using a common password. Even if it’s not on the list, and is a very unique password, I try to make different passwords for anything I want to keep absolutely secure. However, even I’m guilty of using the same passwords for some things that I’m either too lazy to create a password for, or I keep forgetting the password that I got tired of resetting it the few times a year I have to log in
.

      Now, here’s where the fun begins. There are so many methods out there about creating a strong password that a Google search pulls over a million results. Overall, they all have the same guidelines which I’m now presenting below:

1) Minimum of ten characters. Some sites will go lower to say eight, but the more characters a password has, the longer it takes to crack.

2) Use a combination of capital letters, lower case letters, symbols, and numbers. Again, some sites say one of each, but the more you use, the tougher the password comes. The longest I will go is 15 total.

3) Avoid using common knowledge things, such as names, places, etc. None of my passwords for the things I absolutely want to keep locked have even my pets’ names.

4) Be random. Even a random phrase can make all the difference.

Here’s a few examples of what is considered a strong password:

Mar0oNEl#ph@nt5^

G$56ghty&()&)*fTgh

Ir3allyloveb@gels2

Un!c0rnsF@rtSR0cK

      If you want to get a rough idea how strong your passwords are, check out this link below:

Password Checker

       The final advise is write them down on paper, and store them somewhere safe. I know it’s easier to have the PC remember them, but the only downside is software and/or hardware will fail without warning. Then you’ll have to spend all day trying to either remember them, or go through the whole reset process. With having them offline on paper, you can get back into accounts within minutes instead of wasting a whole day trying to get back in. I have mine printed out because to be honest, I can’t remember them since mine can be that complex. In conclusion, if the password is so unique that you can’t memorize it, the less chances of it being cracked.

"Alas Babylon"

This came in my head as I was trying to sleep. Now, with it out of my feverish head, I may get some rest tonight.

"Alas Babylon"

Alas Babylon! The rockets fly.
Across the bright blue sky.
Alas Babylon! The rockets soar.
The Earth will be an empty core.
A thousand silent screams
As death flashes on screens.
Hope becoming intangible.
Hatred is now unmanageable.
Chaos loaded into a cylinder.
Bang! Another slain villager.
Fires of anger burn bright
As peace fades into the night.
No more paradise in the city.
Empty wallets asking for pity
Served hand pins and anthrax
Filling up all the empty caskets.
Censorship broadcast over waves
Media thinks we’ll bow like slaves.
Bombs destroying places of worship
As missiles are armed on warships.
A change in the political system
May lead to a radioactive ecosystem.
Rants are shared across the internet.
As the world mocks our government.
Alas Babylon! Sky will glow red.
In a bright flash, we will be dead.
Alas Babylon! The sky will burn.
Who will take the first turn?

"This New Year"

This year is about to end.
Been a wild ride, my friend.
A change coming on The Hill.
Celebrity deaths leave us ill.
Out of the ashes, we'll rise,
And find a way to survive.
An ending so deranged,
We're ready for a change.
Won't go quietly in the night,
But we'll give a good fight.
In chaos, there's beauty.
That we all need to see.
We can't predict the future;
But refuse to stay bitter.
Forget the fears and tears
As we start another year.
Improvement starts within.
Every small step is a win.
My hope is this new year
Gives us a reason to cheer

“Carnivores of War”

More bullets being released.

Feeding the political beasts.

Blood staining the ground.

Hopes of peace falling down.

Itchy fingers covering triggers

Our society is becoming bitter.

Not looking at internal good;

Judging souls beneath hoods. 

Streets once filled with laughter.

Now where death is splattered.

Everyone trying to remain quiet;

As a few voices call for the riot. 

Fires of anger burning in chests.

The donning of bulletproof vests.

A nation slowly begins to divide.

The only guide is stubborn pride.

What will end this damn insanity;

And will it restore our humanity?

Darwin is now the law of the land

As we keep killing our fellow man.

Slowly devolving into carnivores.

Longing for the call of a civil war.

When will this total madness end?

Wish I knew that answer, my friend.

"The Rose"

A representation of love.

An ambassador of peace.

A symbol of an empire.

An icon of  champions.

To this day it still amazes me

How a rose can be all these thing,

Yet it still gets tossed to the side.

To wilt away forgotten in the gutter.

I pluck this once mighty rose out

From its watery, roadside grave.

I examine it and begin to smile

For one petal has refused to fade.

This rose is too stubborn to go quietly

Clinging on to the last remaining petal.

I gently put the rose in my coat pocket,

And make my way over to the hospital.

I make my way to one particular room

The room where my lovely Rose lays.

I gently wake her by kissing her cheek

She opens her eyes and smiles at me.

I say nothing and hand her the flower.

She looks at me; I motion her to be quiet.

“Like you, this rose refuses to let go

Still showing the world what it was

And how much it still has to offer

For that, I will always love you

Alas, my dearest Rose, like this rose

There is a time you must let go

Today is that day, my loving wife

I have returned to take you away

So once again we can be together

And live in a much better place

A place where our love will never end”

With tears in her eyes, she replies,

“As long as I'm with you once more

I don't care where we will end up

As long as I'm in your loving arms

I waited for this day with all my heart

That I will get to be with my husband”

 With that, the petal falls off the rose,

And my loving wife stops breathing.

I cry as I watch her succumb to death.

I stop when I feel her hand on me.

I turn around and hug her deeply.

My arms have longed to hold her again.

Once again, my Rose as at my side.

Heaven is now for me truly a heaven

For we will be together for all eternity.