On Computers

I just had a fascinating conversation with Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher. Instead of just texting him, I talked to him on the phone. It’s the latest feature from the free app, Character.ai. There have already been 80 million calls to characters from the past and present in dozens of languages. The average number of daily calls is 1.25 million. To start, open the app, tap a name and tap the phone icon. The app will say “Listening,” because it’s waiting for you to start speaking. I started by shooting the breeze with Aristotle, then asked about his differences with Plato. Plato, he said, believed we could achieve justice through wealth distribution. Aristotle believed we could attain it by cultivating […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, anti-virus, Apple, apps, games, troubleshooting, virus | Comments Off on TALKING TO CELEBRITIES THROUGH AI

“Before he died, my philosophy professor asked me to promote his upcoming book,” a man wrote. I was intrigued. “Surviving Technology, Lessons from Theater: The New Necessities For Living a Human Life,” by University of Texas professor Paul Woodruff, explains why theater is under attack by technology, and why that matters. Woodruff’s previous book was favorably reviewed in The New York Times, and his articles have been published widely. Tech matters a lot in entertainment. In 1876, Richard Wagner used different circuits of natural gas for stage and audience, alternately plunging the audience into total darkness, to force them to pay attention to the stage. Their inattention reminded me of an audience at a magic show I saw at a […]

Read more

Filed under: AI, anti-virus, books, Internuts, iPhone, Mac, security, Windows | Comments Off on SURVIVING TECHNOLOGY, LESSONS FROM THE THEATER

I lost my phone on a bike path the other day when it fell out of my bike basket. I emailed a friend and he knew right where it was. Thanks to Location Sharing in Google Maps, he told me it had been turned in at my condo’s front desk.   To test just how good Location Sharing is, I took long walks with my phone. Most of the time, it was two blocks off, because I kept moving. When I sat on a bench, I could be pinpointed most of the time. If I kept the Google Maps app open, it got even better. But it only became 100% accurate if I asked for directions somewhere, then tapped “start” to […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, gadgets, Google, Internet, security, video, virus, web, YouTube | Comments Off on LOCATION SHARING SAVES THE DAY

Calling for tech support is often the beginning of a descent into gloom and doom. Here’s an example from a recent reader letter. He says: “I have recently turned eighty, my hearing is not the best. My Norton antivirus coverage expired and I needed to renew it using a new email address.” The nightmare begins. The whole process took two hours. He was told to bring up a chat screen but the “send” button wasn’t showing so he couldn’t respond.  This happened over and over with different tech support people.   After calling Norton, he writes, “I couldn’t understand the heavy European accent of a woman with a little girl voice. Soft voice, low volume, my deficient hearing, etc. The whole […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, browsers, cameras, environment, phones, security, tech support, web | Comments Off on THE TECH SUPPORT DUNGEONS

Malwarebytes.org is a great way to protect your computer or phone and it’s free. The download used to be the premium version which only worked for 14 days. To continue your freebie, you had to go into the settings of your account and turn off the premium version. This wasn’t obvious, so many people continued paying for years. We did. The difference between Malwarebytes Free and Malwarebytes Premium is this: the free version cleans up problems after they’ve occurred. The premium version gives you protection in advance. For safety’s sake, we decided on a lifetime subscription to the premium version. This is no longer available. Now the premium version costs $40 per year. Even with the best protection though, it’s […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, business, Internuts, music, security, spyware, virus | Comments Off on PROTECTION

A reader writes: “I switched from Norton AntiVirus to Kaspersky. Now, I’ve received a notice that I’ve exceeded the secure connection limits. I don’t even know what this means. Did I make a mistake switching? I paid $20 for it. Norton was $50.” We found out that the $20 is like a trial subscription for Kaspersky’s anti-virus, because it’s almost impossible to keep within the introductory “connection limits,” which only allow 200 megabytes worth of data per day. An upgrade costs $30 a year and covers five devices, with unlimited data. That’s still cheaper than Norton. After an introductory period, Norton costs $80 a year for one computer. Kaspersky gets excellent reviews but is based in Russia. Because of that […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, Google, Internuts, numbers, phones, security, trends, virus | Comments Off on IS IT ENOUGH?

A reader writes: “My Norton anti-virus is coming up for renewal and  I’m thinking of trying to go for free with Avast anti-virus. Is that what you guys use and, if so, are you reasonably happy with it?” We’re not surprised that he thought we were using Avast,  because our last two mentions were positive. Avast won PC Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice” award in the freebie category. Techlicious recommends its cell phone app. But one of our readers said he got overcharged by Avast tech support. And our favorite tech guru said: “I have heard about this. Avast is outsourcing their tech support to scammers! Someone told me that they followed the support links from Avast only to get a scammer […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, apps, Internuts, security, spam, spreadsheet, virus, word processing | Comments Off on THE RIGHT ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

We bow to the mounting evidence and can no longer recommend the free anti-virus program: “Avast.” Too many complaints. And yet, cyber attacks as they’re called, are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated. Choosing an alternative is tricky. For years, PC World, PC Magazine and other reviewers gave their highest marks to the Russian-owned Kaspersky anti-virus. Then came the accusation that Russian hackers may be using it to conduct espionage against the U.S.; some readers dropped it like a hot potato. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security ordered federal agencies to remove it from their systems. Avast is based in the Czech Republic, and there’s been some strange behavior recently.  One of our readers said the people who answer the […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, gadgets, Google, Internuts, security, virus | Comments Off on ANTI-VIRUS REVISITED

Ever wonder if your email account has been broken into? We wondered about that too. A new app called “Edison Email,” checks these things. When we clicked on “security,” we were warned that our passwords had been leaked. The message read: “This email address and password match public database breach records.” They suggested a change of password.”Public breach records” means people’s accounts, mainly business records, have been broken into, collected, and lo and behold, your password was among the records stolen. This in itself is not a disaster, unless … you used that same business password for other accounts, which Joy did. One of those stolen passwords was the same as one for our credit card. Now, following the rule […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, business, email, Internuts, security, virus | Comments Off on WE’VE BEEN BREACHED

We downloaded Microsoft’s “Creator’s Update,” for the latest and greatest in Windows 10. It’s Microsoft’s way of giving you a look at the wonderful things that are coming up for Windows. Why do we do these things? It’s our duty. So the latest update of Creator Updates took an hour to install and trashed our Windows 10 computer. Programs like PowerPoint and Word wouldn’t start. Nor could they be reinstalled. Dead icons appeared everywhere. It wasn’t a virus, it was a look at future Windows updates. Thanks. In the Windows “Recovery” center, there’s a helpful hint saying we should revert to a previous version of Windows 10. We clicked that and reverted. It was like reverse digital evolution. We got […]

Read more

Filed under: anti-virus, health, video, Windows | 1 Comment »