Tech Tip Tuesday: Credit Card Hacked at the Pump?

This week I saw post saying don't get gas at any of the stations on this particular highway because their credit card had got hacked.  True, this could happen at any gas station but I wouldn't knock out all the ones on the same highway as this vulnerability can be done at any gas station or even at any place that takes debit and/or credit cards. 

The bad news is that the same technology is used when you swipe your credit card or make an order online is used.  Granted a gas station is an easier target since they are outside and can be easily tampered with or hacked from a distance.  This has made way for hackers.   

So how do you stay safe?  What should you do?

• Protect Your Credit/Debit Card

• Most Banks have protection that you can have put on your card that will detect suspicious activity
• Set up Alerts to where you are texted/and or email when your card is used
• Turn off your card if you suspect you have been hacked.

• Just use Cash

• This is the route most people take after one hack; personally I don't carry too much cash, but if you want a 100% guarantee use cash.

• Pay the Attendant with your card

• If you don't have cash, a safe way is to pay the attendant.  

Now if you still want to use your card at the pump there are a few things to look for at the pump:

• Look out for gas station credit card skimmers

• This is basically a device that is attached to the real credit card scanner that collects credit card information.  Look and see if the scanner looks different than the others; pull on it as most skimmers are easy to remove so that the thief can get away quickly.

• Look for tamper-evident stickers

• If the pump has this it may be torn or it may read void indicating that the pupm has been tampered with
• Check the edges to see any evidence of prying. 

• Look out for Hidden cameras 

• Cameras may be placed above the pump to see your credit card and the pin number you type in.  Look for anything out of the ordinary and cover your hand as you type in your number; or even fake press a few numbers...

• Electronic Pickpockets

• There are small devices that can hack a card if your card has an RFID chip implanted in it. Now this isn't to be confused with the chip read that is on most credit cards now.  RFID is radio frequency ID chip that allows you to tap your credit card to pay.
• This feature is being phased out as a hacker only need to to be a few inches away.  There were wallets and sleeves that came out to protect from these hacks, but I recommend getting a card with out it.

• Use the Pump closest to the cashier

• Just for the simple fact criminals are less likely to hacked these pumps.

All in all the choice is yours.  Just be careful and safe.  Now pray the evil known as sinuses leave Tech's body so he can breath and be free of pain again.

Credit to 7 ways to Protect Yourself From Credit Card Fraud at Gas stations

Tech Talk Thursday: Tech Reviews IT You'll float too...

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You'll Float Too... You'll Float Too... You'll Float Too... You'll Float Too... You'll Float TOO!!!

Stephen King's horror is back on the screen again, but this time as a theatrical movie.  Is it better than the T.V many series or the book?  Well, I havn't read the book, but did read the cliff notes on it, and I did watch the the T,V series when I was young so i can still say whats what, right?  Anyway on to the good, the bad and the Tech Worthy.

The Good

• The Cast

• Bill Skarsgård brings a new creepiness to Pennywise the trans-dimensional clown that feeds on scared children.
• The kids aka The Losers Club acted their butts off in this movie.  Unlike, the T.V series this movie only tells the story of them as kids and there is little focus on the adult characters. Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things is a standout as the foul mouth quipping Richie Tozier and Sophia Lillis shined as the only female member of the loser club, Beverly "Bev" Marsh.
• The Story
• The main plot pretty much stays the same in this new movie.  A band of kids bond and come together to take down an interdenominational shape-shifting clown who needs to feed on children who are scared of him.  This time the kids are growing up in the Eighties, instead of the Fifties like the book, or the sixties like the T.V series; meaning part two of this movie will probably take place in present day to finish the story.
• Being Rated
• Poor poor Georgie, If you have seen the T.V series you know how the opening plays out with Georgie chasing his little paper boat down in the rain until it goes down the drain.  Here we just get Georgie reaching and seeminly being yanked in, but if you read the book and in the new movie poor Georgie gets his arm bit off and here we see him desperately trying to crawl away before IT shows his clawed teeth and sucks poor Georgie in.  I said oh no, they showing kids get mutaled this is going to be a different from the T.V series.

The Bad

• Michael "Mike" Hanlon going from star to token

• Ok, Mike is the only African American in the Loosers Club.  In the book and even the T.V series he had a big role, a rich back story, and was an integral part of the group.  First off Mike is the partial narrator of the book and is the only on to stay behind in the town; thus keeps his memory of IT.  He is also the historian of the group; his father had a photo album that had important moments in the the towns history; including Pennywise, and how long he had been terrorizing the town.  Here in this movie, that role went more to Benjamine. who is the new kid at school who likes to spend his time in the library and has research on the town and the killings...
• So, Mike, the key to the original story is now just a background character or dare I say token.  In the movie, he has few lines and we only see hints of the racial hate and prejudice the bully Henry had for him and don't get the backstory of their parents.  It's sad because where the novel and T.V series avoided just making him the token black character; the movie stripped him of who he was.
• Now, the director has gone on to say that Mike will be the one to still stay behind become a librarian and will keep up with the history and will be the one to call everyone back in the sequel, but he will also be a junkie.... yea... had to put that in there huh.  Looks bad, but the director says this is incorporating the seen in the book where Mike and the loosers get high off the fumes of the smokehouse and see Pennywise "origin".  Suuuuure, guess we will see where this goes in the sequel.
• Check out this article for more on how Mike was stripped of his role

The Tech Worthy

• Stephen King's shared universe
• IF you are a Stephen King fan you probably know that all of his novels exist in a shared universe thanks in part to having portals that can go to different worlds and time as present in the Dark Tower.
• In fact IT himself is a creature from outside all of the other universes.  His adversary is the Turtle and for those that know the lore know that the turtle is said to have created the universes and IT believes himself to be his opposite who consumes life where the turtle creates it.

Final Thought

All in all IT was a good horror film that calls back to a classic.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Yahoo! I told yall....

I can't count the number of times that I have received an email from someone that says, "Hey, Check this out!"  And it be some ambiguous link.  Yea, I'm talking to you yahoo email users.  Time and time again I told those with yahoo emails to get rid of it, but no they still use it and I still get spammed.

Well today Yahoo reporter that ALL 3 billion of its accounts were hacked in a 2013 data theft.  Yes I said All making it the largest breach in history.  I guess Verizon  is having second thoughts since they lowered their offer to purchase Yahoo...

Ah, anyway my Yahoo users check your email, Yahoo said it would be sending an email to all accounts affected or just go with another email provider.  Outlook or Gmail are two of my goto's.

For more check out the MSN article here.

And check out the Rise and fall of Yahoo below

Tech Tip Tuesday: Fear of going to the Cloud? Never fear Microsoft is here!

Well, well, well, when you thought Microsoft Office 2016 would be the last perpetual Office update, well think again.  Microsoft teased Office 2019 as a part of its Ignite Conference.

Still focused on the cloud, Microsoft still realized that not everyone is ready to jump to the cloud with Office 365.  Yea, they realize some of you still want stand alone software.

So now you may be asking what exactly should you do. What are the benefits of having the cloud version of office with Office 365 or the stand alone version with Office 2019?  In the end it is up to you and what you prefer.  When it comes to 365, Microsoft wants to be a part of your utility bill, something you need and budget for annual.  So like a Tech movie review let's go with the good the bad and Tech Worthy of each.

Office 365: The Good

• You always have the latest update and newest features for everything in the office suite
• 1 TB included of One Drive Space
• The ability to install the software on multiple devices (up to 5); laptops, cell phones, tablets, etc
• Access your software and data from anywhere
• Free Technical Support

Office Stand Alone 2016, 2019 etc

• One time Cost, you buy it its yours forever
• Get only what you need like Excel, Word, Power Point or pay more for the whole suite

Office 365: The Bad

• Giving up about 100 bucks a year

Office Stand Alone: The Bad

• Only security Updates; No new features or software upgrades
• Can only install on one device

The Tech Worthy

• Uh guess I didn't think this through, the good  can also be considered a part of the Tech Worthy.

Final Thought

Again its up to you.  For me I have 365 because I have multiple devices and use more products in the suite like publisher.  If you just need word, excel, or power point just go with the basic stand alone edition.  Or if you don't want to pay Microsoft anything check out  Apache Open Office.  It's free!  

"Apache OpenOffice is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose."

Tech Tip Tuesday: Nooooo not CCleaner! Update Now!

How Things are going...

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Despite it all Tech is back after a long hiatus.  With moving and work, life has been giving me quite the beat down.  So, yea its been mostly work eat sleep and repeat with some Madden 17 and 18 thrown in there.  I thought 18 would be better but it cheats worst than 17 especially in competitive mode.  Madden and its evil ways are for another blog or even podcast.  Maybe I can get the fellows of what Chill B has dubbed the Mut squad to talk about it. J Cizzly, T.O, Teflon Viper?

Anyway this ain't Tech Talk, this is Tech Tip Tuesday.  I once told you about a nifty bit of software called Ccleaner.  Well, seems good ol CCleaner was hacked and was installing malware on users PC's.  Don't panic, if you use the program you should have seen a pop up to update.  If not either uninstall or update the software.  Its that simple. 

Check your version:

Affected versions: CCleaner v5.33.6162 or CCleaner Cloud v1.07.3191 for 32-bit Windows PCs. The Android version for phones doesn't seem to be affected.  To be safe you can just hit check for updates at the bottom right of the program.


For more information check out: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ccleaner-hack-affects-227-million-computers-heres-what-to-do/ar-AAs8Ukp?OCID=ansmsnnews11

                                                                                                                                     

Tech Tip Tuesday: Free Microsoft Ebooks!

The best things in life are freeeee!
Want to expand your Microsoft knowledge or learn about some of the software it has to offer?  Well Eric Ligman Microsoft Director of Sales Excellence is giving away millions of FREE Microsoft  eBooks again!

Largest FREE Microsoft eBook Giveaway! I’m Giving Away MILLIONS of FREE Microsoft eBooks again, including: Windows 10, Office 365, Office 2016, Power BI, Azure, Windows 8.1, Office 2013, SharePoint 2016, SharePoint 2013, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell, Exchange Server, System Center, Cloud, SQL Server and more!

Check it out at Here!

Tech Reviews: Spider-man Homecoming And a homecoming it was!

Tech Support Tech Support does whatever a Tech can do.  Fix a computer, any size. Cleans the viruses just in time. Look out! Here comes Tech Suppoooort... with another review!  Welcome home Spider-man!  Spider-man Homecoming is the best Spider-man film to date!  If you are sitting there thinking oh no not another Spider-man reboot, I'm done well hold on and come back because we finally get a good version of Spidey and he is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the MCU!











Before you read on, if you haven't already go see this movie!  Spoilers after the Spidey singing video.

Still here?  Ready for some spoilers?  Ok then, Going to start off with the good, the bad, and the Tech Worthy!

The Good

• The Cast

• Tom Holland was born to play Peter Parker/Spider-man!  We finally get to see Peter Parker struggle with high school life and trying to be the best Spidey he can be.  We see his genius, his heroism, charm, and charisma (No mopey or crying emo dancing Peter like we have seen before) Can't wait to see more from Him.
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• Michael Keaton also kills it with Adrian Tombs aka the Vulture which was pretty much expected.  The MCU is known for its lack luster villains, but the Vulture did not disappoint.  And loved the Vulture Suite.

• Marisa Tomei as the young and hot Aunt May.  Seems it most recent media writers have been making May either younger or more vibrant.  I like this version as the role she plays in Peter's life and also their relationship and dynamic.  From the end scene it will be interesting how this goes forward. What the...
• Robert Down Jr as Tony Stark aka Iron Man with John Favreau as Happy Hogan.  Both were welcome additions that help bridge the gap between this and Civil War.  And for those saying this is Iron Man 4 and that he would take over the movie can rest easy as if you have watched all the previews you have seen a piece of all his scenes.  Here he is a mentor, role model, and father figure to Peter. 
• Jacob Batalon as Ned Peter's best friend.  Yea, he seems to be based more off of Miles Morales best friend Ganky rather than the Ned from the 616 but he brings a joy and humor to the role as he knows Peter and his secret.
• Tony Revlori as Flash Thompson.  People complained when he was cast as he was not the big jock that terrorized Peter in high school who would later become his friend and then Agent Venom, but I like his take on the character in making Flash a more modern day bully and almost rival to Peter. He didn't use physical prowess, but he was smart, rich and popular. Peter was smarter, but not popular or rich.  
• Laura Harrie as Liz the love interest.  A senior and Peter's crush who was not just the pretty girl in school, but was intelligent and head of the decathlon team and admired Peter for his intelligence and even agreed to go to the homecoming dance.
• Just have to add i love the diversity of this cast and how Peter's school looked like a school would in Queens, NY.  
• Spider-man

• We finally get the care free, optimistic, quipping Spider-man and he is in the MCU.
• We see him in chemistry secretly making his web fluid
• Hiding his suit under the lockers where only he can lift and get to it. 
• Seeing Spider-man web through the neighborhood and not the big city was fun as we even see him run out of things to swing on instead of hitting something imaginary as he does in the video games and some old cartoons.

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• Being the kid in Iron man 2 now it makes sense why he would look up to Tony and want to be like him.

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• Captain America's PSA's

• These were funny as they were used through out the film from Peter's school.  The gym teacher even jokes that I am sure this guy is a War Criminal now...
• Stay till the end - credits to get another one that explains itself and you waiting to the last credit to roll...
• The Score
• Love the music and how it weaved the old Spider-man theme throughout... Yea i had it in my had for a while... Spider-man Spider-man, does whatever a spider can...
• The Twist

• Wow, this was truly a twist for me, because I did not expect it.  From the beginning with Adrian Tombs looking at the picture his daughter drew of the Avengers to then seeing through out the movie Michelle drawing everyone made me go ok, she is the Vulture's daughter that's easy to see, but when Peter went to pick up Liz for the Homecoming dance and Adrian Tombs opened the door me along with the whole theater gasped.  Yea not Michelle, but Liz is the Vulture's daughter.  This makes for some comedic scenes with Peter's expressions during the whole meet the parents thing until as they talk on the car ride you see Adrian start to realize that Peter is Spider-man (Thanks to Liz not shutting up about him not showing up when Spider-man around and his Peter's voice)

• So, then who is Michelle?  People were up in arms when it was rumored that Zendaya would be playing Mary Jane.  Then it came out from the novelization that she was Michelle Tombs, daughter of the Vulture, but as i said before this that was not the case.  So who is she?  Well we do get a Batman The Dark Knight Rises moment (My friends call me Robin) when Michelle says my friends call me MJ.  So, is she in fact Mary Jane or Michelle Jane or Mary Michelle Jane...   Seems that a lot of these scenes were cut, but there are plenty of pictures of Michelle looking at Peter with affection, we only get it once in the movie in this scene when Peter is called away by Happy, but even still its obvious that she likes him.
•   If you look at all the characters in this movie none of them are a carbon copy of the comic book counterpart as many are combinations or amalgams of them. Ned is not a reporter at the daily bugle who fought with Peter over Betty Brant's love who would later become the hobgoblin.  Speaking of Betty she is also in the movie as a classmate and school reporter.  Liz is not the girl friend of Flash who at first looks down on Peter. So, who is to say that Michelle is or is not Mary Jane...

The Bad

• Trying to be too different from the past 2 Spider-man Franchises.  
• No Spidey-Sense.  The Director, Jon Watts, said that he didnt want to focus on it, but said it was there and something that would be developed.  I'm fine with that as in Civil War Peter said he needed the goggles to focus his senses and maybe that is hindering him from tapping into his power, but with that said it should have been at least hinted at in the movie so these Nay sayers wouldn't be crying over it.
• No mention of Uncle Ben or With Great Power comes Great Responsibility
• Again I am cool with not showing the origin, but I think we could have gotten a picture and or mention of him.  We here that May went through a tough time, but not about what.  
• Its understandable they didn't want that weight to be Peter's drive to be a hero, but a short flash back or him looking at a picture with the words echoing would have been enough.
• I understand trying to distinguish it from the previous franchises, but as the saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it.
• Sony aka Hydra is still a part of this.
• Yea I said it!  Sony is Hydra.  All they care about is money and how the can use the rights to spidey to make it.  Making Spider-man three and the reboot made them realize that they couldn't do it so they finally struck a deal and we get a good movie.  Oh but no they are not done, they plan on still making their own universe without Spider man.  A Venom movie along with a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie are on the way... Why i ask why?  Venom without Spidey?  Can't they just let Marvel have it?  Why must they do this?  You know they even thought of a young spy Aunt May movie?  Then the head of Hydra Amy Pascal says their moves are part of Marvel's universe causing Kevin Feige to have the what now look to then retract it.
• Sony also put to much in their previews.  The got so excited that Marvel had made them a good Spider man movie they had to show clip after clip after clip....

The Tech Worthy

• Donald Glover as Aaron Davis


• We see him trying to buy future tech from both Shockers but he doesn't want the big loud guns he wants something more discreet because if you don't know Aaron Davis is also known as the cat burglar the Prowler.  He perks up when he hears them talking about "climbers".
• He helps Spider-man by giving him info on finding the bad guys hideout and even some advice on being a hero
• The kicker comes when he tells Spidey that he doesn't want those weapons on the street because he has a nephew that lives there. His nephew is non other than Miles Morales aka Ultimate Spider-man.  So officially Miles is in the MCU!  So we may get Prowler stealing that spider from Scorpio and bringing it to the Morales house... One can only hope.
• The Mid-Credit Scene
• I am glad the Vulture did not die like most villains seem to in Super Hero movies as we see him in jail and he is then approached by non other than Mac Gargan.  Mac was seen earlier in the film trying to by tech from the Vulture and if that name sounds familiar, Mac is none other than Spidey villain The Scorpion.  In Jail, he says he learned that Adrian might know who Spider-man is.  He does, but he does not divulge the info and goes on to see his family.  Nice set up for future villain and the start of the Sinister 6 perhaps?  I hope so, keep it out of Sony hands... 
• Jennifer Connelly as Karen Spider-man's suite AI
• Its cool because if you didn't know Jennifer is married to Paul Bethany who was Iron man's AI before eh became the Vision.
• She was also Betty in Ang Lee's Hulk movie, but we will forget about that...
• An almost upside down Kiss
• After Spider-man saves his classmates in the elevator, he is upside down in front of Liz and Karen his A.I says this is your chance to kiss her.  A nice call back to Sam Raimi's Spider-man.
• Stan Lee's Cameo 
• Stan is one of the people living in the apartment where Spider-man thinks he has stopped a guy from breaking into a car when it was his own car and the alarm goes off causing people to yell at Spidey.  Stan yells out 
• The Iron Spider Suite?
• At the end Tony is prepared to make Spidey an Avenger allowing him to live in the new Avengers facility.  He even presents a new suite that looks shiny and more armored, but Peter turns it down vowing to stay with being the friendly neighborhood Spider-man.
• Missed opportunity to use the actual Iron Spider suite here, would have been a nice Easter Egg.

Tech's Final Thoughts

This movie was awesome and a welcome joy to the MCU.  Kid friendly?  Yes, but it was a fun romp and what I think Spider-man should be.  Different from the other movies but still in the same universe. So yes this is a definite must see! We may see this Spider-man for years to come as rumor has it he is set to be the Iron man of phase 4.

Spider-man movies rated from best to least:
 
    Spider-man Homecoming
    Spider-man 2
    Spider-man
    The Amazing Spider-man 2
    The Amazing Spider-man
    Spider-man 3 (Dancing Toby, you are to blame)



And my thoughts and prayers are with Stan Lee as his wife of 70 years passed away at the age of 93.

                                                          Spider-man Homecoming gets 4 Techs out of 5