Passwords vs Passkeys

 For years we've been using passwords which sites have been making us make more complicated:

• password
• password at least eight characters plus a special character
• password at least eight characters, cone capital Letter, one number, one special character.

I had a site recently require a 16 character password that contain no actual words plus special characters.

More recently we've been seeing passkeys being suggested or required. 

What the hell are they???

A passkey consists of two parts: a public key and a private key. The public key is stored on the site. The private key is stored on your computer. But actually, it's a bit more complex than that. Here is one pattern:

• You go to the site and enter your email address
• The site looks up your public key based on the email address
• It then requests your private key
• If the private key matches what should be entered based on the public key you have access.

This is said to be more secure because if the site is hacked only the public key can be stolen.

I'm not convinced it's more secure. If the site is hacked does the hacker have the public key AND the email address? If so then I submit its not more secure.

Locked Computer... Grrr!

Have you received a message on your computer screen asking your for money with a promise that your computer will be unlocked only after paying a ransom?

You've un afoul of someone who thru one of various means has infected your computer... maybe.

First do these steps:

• turn off your computer. (Do not do a shut down!!! just force a shutdown. On a desktop pc simply unplug it. On a laptop, ususally there is a key combination that will for it to turn off.
  
  
• Now disconnect yourself run the internet. This may mean turning off your modem.X
  
  
• Now boot up your computer. Do you still see the message? If yes, give me a call at 631.979.3100 and describe your situation. We'll give you a call back. If there is no message open windows defender and do a full scan. This may take hours to run.
  
  
• Now reconnect the internet (perhaps that means turn on your modem).
  
  
• If your problem is sollved, great. If not give me a call at 631.979.3100

Remote Help

 If you have a situation where you need PC help and you don't have someone to ask, go over toDrew's PC Help

I want to turn this

to this

Computer Shortcuts via The Keyboard

Here is an alphabetic list of common shortcuts

Ctrl + A - Select All

Ctrl + B - Bold text

Ctrl + C - Copy selected

Ctrl + F - Find (access Search)

Ctrl + I - Italicize selected text

Ctrl + S - Save

Ctrl + U - Underline

Ctrl + V - Paste

Ctrl + Y - Do it again

Ctrl + Z - Undo

The most common for word processing are these:

Ctrl + B - Bold text

Ctrl + I - Italicize selected text

Ctrl + U - Underline

Using the mouse with the left-button pressed you can highlight text and then:

Ctrl + C - Copy selected

Ctrl + V - Paste

Ctrl + Z - Undo what you just did

Water... water

Water, water everywhere but do you want to drink it? I'm a bit nervous about the water I'm able to grab for my RV van on the road. I've traveled all around the 48 and have no desire to drink water that might make me sick. So I have a Berkey water filter for the van.

 

I've been pretty happy with it. I've Gorilla glued it to my counter top in the van so that it can't shift or fall while I'm driving.

Is it the best out there. Don't know. On the other hand it seems to work well for me.

Internet On The Road for RVers

On the road to have good internet service possibly you've seen ads for Starlink and for Nomad Internet.

Currently I've turned off my Starlink service and am using Nomad internet. I've chosen the Nomad Air modem and I've been extremely happy here in the northeast. Next winter it will be interesting to see how well it does out in Quartzite Arizona.

UPDATE

I personally no longer use Nomad. I've had issues with them and am not happy. Perhaps in the future I will post about what I now use.

Online Shopping - Amazon & Timu

 I travel for work and pleasure. My vehicle is a custom van. typically I travel with two or three computers, printer, and scanner. Plus a sundry of other devices. My typical source is both Amazon and Timu.

From Amazzon I've bought such non-obvious things such as a travel dog bed, micro sd cards, micro sd card readerice maker, and a walll file holder. From Timu my latest purchase was a usb-based bug zapper.

Good stuff!