password

Almost . . .

/ Tony / 3 Comments

For some time now, I have wanted to have another go at using Google Blogger as an alternative to WordPress. I intended when I signed up to Blogger, to use the site to cross-post writing that I had posted here. I considered this for a while but then read that ‘cross-posting’ was frowned upon in the blogging community. I also thought that it could be a good place to upload some of the creative writing I was working on.

This morning, I was reading a posting on Reddit from someone asking for help on deciding which site was the best to use. I, of course defended WordPress to the hilt, but was intrigued by some the comments regarding Blogger. It appears that since my last attempt, Blogger has improved and is now a credible arena for posting one’s thoughts.

I bit the bullet and logged on to Blogger. Well that was my intention. It seems that the password I used initially had expired due to lack of use, and I needed to reinstate my site by creating a new set of credentials (something I had not heard of before.)

After a good deal of “messing about” I finally got the site up and running again. My first thought was to create a paragraph to explain about the site. That done, the next job was to add an image or two. This is not as easy as the Blogger help forum states. I previewed the post at the end of the experience and decided it was not for me. Without being too critical, the theme(s) were not very attractive, the font display was too small, the images didn’t format correctly and the whole thing looked messy.

I have said goodbye to Blogger for the second (and hopefully the last) time. I’m going to stick with something I know a little about where I can get the help I need when I need it.

Twice in as many days …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

It’s beginning to get a little annoying now. This morning I got the second spoof email purporting to come from PayPal. Yesterdays was quite convincing if it had not been for the two spelling mistakes. SpooferA casual reader may not have spotted ‘bellow’ instead of ‘below’ and ‘passwurd’ instead of password. Inviting me to click on the  link ‘bellow’ to cancel the payment and change my ‘passwurd as a precaution. They had managed to get my email right, but did not include the usual checks that PayPal have in place. Todays was just an obvious spoof. Easily spotted by the way it was addressed “Dear (insert username here)‘” at the beginning of the email text

Now after working in an IT scenario for a number of years, I’ve become quite adept at spotting when an email looks wrong, but many people would have believed the first one. I have heard of people clicking these types of links and getting their personal payment details stolen.

Of course I report these kind of phishing emails, but I’m not sure anything gets done. I usually get an email back, a day or so later thanking me for reporting them and advising me to check my account an change my password. I add the address to my blocked list but the next time it will come from a different address. K*** gets many emails that look like they have come from AT&T that are fake. Usually start with “ATTCustomerCare@”, but then the next part of the address is so obviously false. Again, I have reported these to AT&T, but they don’t even respond. All a little annoying.

Update – I have just had a reply about the second spoof email. Even though there was over 100 intended recipients and even though the email was addressed badly, PayPal have deemed it not the be fraudulent. I have asked them to take another look.

First successful Blogger post …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

     I have been trying for some time to get Open Live Writer (OLW) to work properly with Google Blogger. I could actually connect and post, but one of the best features of OLW is the facility to download the blog theme. This enables you preview your post in draft mode, before you finally upload to Blogger. I use this with my WordPress Blog (unashamed plug there) and it worked without any issue. However I simply could not get OLW to download the relevant files. I tried raising the issue with the OLW forum, but that did not help. The answer came in an unorthodox way!

     I had a problem with my Google account password. Somehow it needed to be reset. I managed to reset to a new password, but then found a problem with Outlook 365. I was now unable to connect Outlook to my Gmail. Every time I tried to enter the new password, it failed. No passwords, old or new were being accepted. I tried removing my Gmail account and re-adding it, without success. I securebegan the process of adding Gmail to my Outlook.com. It took a Google search to find out the issue. It seems, that back in 2014 Google started to block, what it considered to be unsecure logins. This was the problem and I needed to amend a security setting. I needed to “Allow less secure apps” to be ‘ON’. Problem with Gmail/Outlook sorted. The relief was massive. I really did not want to have to use Outlook.com as my main email client for many reasons.
     It then struck me! “Hmmm,” I thought. “I wonder if that is the problem with downloading the theme for Blogger?” It seems that it was. So there we are. All sorted.

A busy day

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   As I expected, it turned out to be quite a busy day. I got most of the work done, but there are still a few bits left over. I cannot seem to get any enthusiasm for the renewals. I’ve done about 75% of the work, but ………

   I started the new book. It’s a biog of Eleanor Of Aquitaine. I may have mentioned this book before. The only thing I don’t like about biographies, are endnotes. I can put up with footnotes (except when they point to an endnote) and time lines. However I get annoyed when I have to wade through 9 or 10 pages at the back of a book, only to find that the endnote refers you to an obscure book that is only available in some library somewhere. fortunately, this book does not seem to have either type of note. Mind you I have only read the preface and prologue, but the outlook is good.

   Talking of Outlook, I’m beginning to get my head round it a little. I got the tutorial that I wanted, but I’ve not really had time to read through it yet. I also got a couple for Outlook 2003, for when we change over at work. That is all supposed to start next month. It would appear, that it is going to happen, building by building. Ah …… fun will be had by all !!! I did manage to get G*** on the ‘Super User’ list, so the City team (who had been forgotten !) will have some support.

   The youngest has been worse than usual today. He was fine when he went to sleep last night, but from what Mrs H says, he’s not been good most of the day. It did not help, when we had a power outage, and his computer and TV went off. Then it took a good 10 minutes before my PC was up and running, and to cap it all, no-one knew my password. Mrs H had to call me at work, and of course I was not at my desk, so that did not help. Still she knows it now. He seem to have calmed down now (thank God for Calpol). I tried using some lavender oil on a pad. Just stroked his forehead and the soles of his feet with it. Don’t know if it helped. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Kids, banks, computers and other annoying things…..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

So here’s the thing. He says he is going into town to get his tattoo finished. How long we ask. I don’t know he replies and off he goes. One and a half hours later, he’s ringing up. Can Dad pick me up. What time we ask. Don’t know he says. You must have some idea we say. Well we are starting again at 10:30 (pm that is). Well how long will it take (bearing in mind that his last bus is 10:50) I don’t know he says. I’ll crash at R**’s. Nooooo way. So now I’ll ring him at 11:00 and take it from there. Kids.

Then there’s the bank. You enter your login, unique customer number, password and then the bl***y thing falls over when you enter the answer to your security question. ‘There is a problem…………please ring 08456*****’. So I ring and am told that ‘someone has attempted to log into my account’……’yes … me!!!!’ I’m all for security, but it can go over the top sometimes. All you need is a gadget that creates a unique number. The council has then, why can’t the banks.

Then what …… Internet goes down. Well not actually stops, but get so slow as to be practically useless. Worse than ‘dial-up’.  All working now though.

Rant over.