Category: Uncategorized

So, you’re surfing the web, minding your own business, and suddenly a scary warning (like those to the left) takes over your entire screen. WTF? You start asking questions like:

• “How did this happen?”
•  “Is this legitimate?”
•  “Do I have a virus?”
•  “How do I get rid of this?”
•  “Should I call the number on the screen?”
• Etc.

The worst part – there doesn’t seem to be any way to force this thing to go away, all while it’s blurting its hideous warning.

OK, let’s start with the important part – what is it?

Simply put: Scam. It’s a web page you stumbled onto by accident. Perhaps you clicked on a link that looked legitimate or could’ve been caused by misspelling a word when typing it into the browser. (Could be Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or whatever web browser you were using.) So, it’s simply a webpage. The point is to get you to call the number displayed – and the end game is either to sell you services you don’t need (bad) or get your credit card or other financial information (worse).

So, what do you do when this happens?

Start by muting the volume of the computer (hit the F10 key in the top row on your keyboard). It’s hard to think clearly when your computer is making all sorts of noises, and that’s what the scammer wants – to frighten you and quickly resolve the issue. Don’t worry – it’s not a virus! And NEVER call the number!

You’ll notice that you can’t always easily quit the application, as it has gone into “full screen” mode and the Command-Q key (to quit the application) doesn’t always work in this situation.

Then it’s time to “force quit” the application that is causing the grief. Quickest way: Press the COMMAND key and then the TAB key. (You can do that with your left hand.) Doing that will let you scroll between all the applications that are open on your Mac. Land on the FINDER (the blue smiling face), and once you’re there, pull down on the apple (upper left corner of the screen) and select FORCE QUIT.

You’re almost home! Find your web browser in the list (most likely Google Chrome, Safari, or Firefox), highlight it, and smash the FORCE QUIT button in the lower right corner of the window. Whew!

I don’t know exactly what it is (perhaps somebody out there can tell me!), but last month (February 2025) seemed to be a high-water mark of scammers calling, texting, or emailing clients. (And me as well!) Now are these grifters proliferating because they need the business, or because they’ve found a formula that works? Again, the great unknown. 

Although the fine points of each hoax varies, there IS one thing they all have in common; they play upon your emotions with scare tactics. You’re going to lose your data! You’ll be locked out of your bank! You just paid for a laptop that’s being shipped somewhere far away! On and on it goes. 

Now how do these scams meet your eyeballs?

Email: The most common method. You’ll get an email alerting you to some impending doom.

Webpage: Once in a while, you’ll stumble onto a webpage that will set off alarm bells (literally) and claim your data will be destroyed if you leave said webpage. 

Text: A text (from a sender NOT in your contacts list) will have you click a link or (less often), contain a PDF for you to open. 

Phone call: A caller from some “official” organization (Apple, Microsoft, Social Security, IRS, etc.) will claim there’s a problem with your account. This approach is diminishing, as either laws, phone company involvement, public awareness, or just plain oversaturation has killed this way of “doing business.”

So, let’s take a close look at these scams and see what common DNA they share. 

They come out of the blue: You’re sitting around, minding your own business, when suddenly someone (usually an important someone) alerts you to a problem you didn’t even know you had. 

There’s money involved: A large percentage of these involve some payment you’ve supposedly made, but in reality, you didn’t.

There is a sense of urgency: If you don’t respond in a timely manner, something terrible will happen – a vital service will be terminated, your credit card will be charged, your data will be lost, etc. 

You’re hectored multiple times in the same email to act (again, playing on your emotions): You’re warned of a dire outcome [CLICK HERE], life as you know it will never be the same [CLICK HERE], etc.

There are several tells in these scam emails:

Look for non-U.S. English use of numbers: For example, “+1” before a phone number (that’s an overseas thing), non-dollar currency symbols (￡699.33), or just plain sloppiness in the way things are presented (such as writing “PayPal” as “Paypal”) or using the currency symbol incorrectly (280.75$).

Also check the wording: See the MacOS Security Center example – Apple would NEVER call one of its computers a “PC!” Plus, note the space after the “t” in “Alert” and the “!”

Click on the sender’s email: Most of the time, it is NOT from the domain it claims it is. See PayPal example – a legitimate email from PayPal would NOT have a @gmail.com domain from the sender. (Though this can be spoofed, so don’t use this as your only litmus test!)

One good thing about Google: Even if you disagree with some (or all) of its policies, it IS good at keeping junk mail out of your inbox as well as keeping legitimate mail out of the junk mailbox. (See inbox example below.) One quick note; some of the emails reference popular providers (McAfee and Netflix, to name two) that I personally do not subscribe to. And I’ve never gambled at a casino. Not even one thin dime…

Good rule: If you ever need to log into ANY account, log in using your preferred web browser, NEVER from an email or text link!

As any Apple user can attest to, our friends in Cupertino certainly aren’t shy when it comes into hectoring us into using its cloud service, iCloud. A lot of users try to avoid it, but that’s about effective as emptying a swimming pool with a teacup. Even if you don’t use its features, most people, even the most tech-suspicious ones, eventually pull out the white flag and surrender to Tim Cook & Co.

It’s important to remember that iCloud is a SERVICE – a service that has a free option and a paid tier. In short, it allows you to sync data between your Apple (and even non-Apple) devices. That data includes photos, contacts, calendars, notes, email (if you use an @icloud account), and your data and files, along with a few other items. 

OK, now that we’ve established that iCloud is a SERVICE – what do we use it for? (Understand that all these are optional, not required!) For one thing, it backs up your data – so if you lose or replace your Apple device, you can log into iCloud and Bang! All your data that you elected to save comes right back into place*.  This includes:

Photos: iCloud allows you to back up your photos on the cloud, sync your photos between your devices, as well as share albums and view shared albums. 

Your data and files: The files in your Documents folder and on your desktop are backed up to the cloud and synced between your devices. 

Contacts, Calendar, and Notes: These items are backed up to the cloud and synced and shared between your devices, so you’re always up to date with the data. 

Email and Messages: Email (only if you’re using an @icloud account) and messages are also synced between devices.

iOS devices: By enabling a backup, you can easily restore your data on a new iPhone or iPad a device if you must replace it, whether for upgrade purposes, or for setting up a device to replace a lost or damaged one.

And there are more: Passwords, Safari bookmarks, Reminders, Stocks, Wallet, among others.

* Understand that these services must be enabled (by YOU) in advance in order to sync your data to the cloud.

Also understand there are some space limitations. Apple gives you a measly 5 GB of storage space for free (which is analogous to receiving a $25 gift card to Nordstrom. It’s nice, but you’re probably going to have to spend more). In the big picture, that’s not a lot – it’s. (Just for context, Google gives you three times the storage for free than Apple does.) 

Prices (as of January 2025) for upgrading your iCloud storage:

50 GB – 99¢/month

200 GB – $2.99/month

2 TB – $9.99/month

6 TB – $9.99/month

12 TB – $59.99/month

Welcome to 2025! With the new year comes a fresh start, time to say goodbye to yesterday. And because your computer’s hard drive has a finite amount of space available, the first of the year is a good time to clean things up when it comes to the data on your computer. And this goes for your email as well. 

First thing you’re going to need is an external hard drive, preferably a solid state (SSD) model, although if you have an old school type lurking about, that will do the trick. Once you copy your data to the external drive, plan on putting in a secure place, such as a safe or lockbox.

OK, so the best way to back up data is to copy your entire “home” folder onto a backup drive. Not only will that copy all the files on your Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folders, it will back up your Library folder, which contains your browser settings, your email (whether you use Apple’s Mail program or Outlook), and other miscellaneous items, such as Quicken files, among others. Your “home” folder (which usually named after you) is found inside the Users folder, which is found in the top level of your hard drive, which is named “Macintosh HD” by default. 

*Important note: If you have multiple user accounts on the computer, you will want to back up ALL the different “home” folders found within the Users folder. 

To back up your “home” folder, plug in the external hard drive and allow it to mount. Depending on how you have your finder settings enable it may appear on the desktop. If it does, double click it and drag your home folder onto it. If it doesn’t appear on the desktop, open a new finder window (Command-N) and look for it in the sidebar of the window. Best practice dictates that you first create a new folder on the external drive with the date of the transfer. 

*More important notes: If you’re using the external drive for a Time Machine backup, you won’t be able to use it for any additional files, unless you have an older Mac OS. AND if you have any files that you want to copy that are OUTSIDE of your home folder (on the top level of the hard drive, for example), you’ll have to copy those to the external drive after you copy the home folder. Yes, things get more complex as time rolls by…