What really is behind the "like and share" posts on facebook

By liking and sharing you might be helping scammers.

Have you ever noticed facebook posts that claim to be giving away stuff (like iPhones) and the only think you need to do is like and share, and maybe comment?.

like and share scams

I see them all the time and always wonder why some of my friends will fall for something obviously too good to be true. It's like those emails that you needed to resent to so many more in order to get a gift card or laptop or whatever.

And you might thing "oh well what does it hurt?" . Actually, you might be helping a scammer to do what is called "likes farming". They do that because after collecting so many likes and activity on facebook page, then, they can sell it on the black market to another scammers or for marketing dubious products.

You see, when you like a page, they you will start getting updates from that page (free marketing) and also your friends will see what you have liked and they might fall in the scam too.

So, my tip for today:

In facebook as is all things if life, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is a scam. Let's all stop scammers.

see you soon with more tips. 

P.S.   go ahead and like and share this post :-) 

A list of passwords to avoid.

The list of the most common passwords and thus the easier to hack.

Last night I was watching the news while cooking dinner and there was this news that capture my attention.

worst passwords of 2014

It was a list of the worst passwords for the year 2014 and the number one was "123456" and second in the list was "password". The worst part was when Ryan Williams said that those where the perennials in the list. The list is published by Splahsdata and company dedicated to security applications and services.

They came out with such a list by compiling from more than 3.3 million leaked passwords during the year 2014. The compiled info came mostly from North America and Western Europe.

My tip for today:

Although  the name password suggest "word" it is better if we think about a pass phrase. That means 2 or 3 words and numbers to make a most secured password. For example 2hot2handle or AuntLucy0hi0. Use phrases that mean something to you so you can remember them and include numbers or symbols to add difficulty.

see you soon with more tips.

My google drive is different!!! can't find my shared with me folder

Incoming is the new shared with me folder.

With online applications the users aren't normally aware of an upcoming change. Since they are online, the application can change overnight without any user input.

The good news about the google drive is that as for now you can go back to the "old drive". Go to settings and click on leave new drive.

My tip for today:

I like the new drive. They have made some improvements to it that we just need to get used to.
Just don't panic, the shared with me folder now its named incoming and all your stuff is still there!

See you soon with more tips.

Where did i Put that Email? ...Skip the Email, just share it on your google drive.

Advantages of using Google drive or other shared spaces.

I would like to list some reasons to start using cloud storage and stop using email as your only collaborating tool.

Where did i put that email??

• Space limitations. Must emails have a quota of how much data can be sent through an email. So if you have a large file or picture, it is not possible to send via email.

• Different versions of the same document. Sometimes while collaborating the document that is being work on has several revisions or versions and it would be hard to keep up with which is the latest version when you have several email with attachments and worse if several people is modifying the same document. On a shared document it is only one document that is online, and of course that would be the latest version.

• Save one log in. This might not apply to everybody, but in our district, students that use chromebooks, have to log in on wifi, then to their google account and since the only email they can access is the one provided by the district (microsoft) then, there it goes another log in if the document is sent by email. However if it is shared, they would be able to see it on their google drive without having to log in.

• Privacy settings. The user that shared the file can decide who can view or who can edit the 

• Better organised. It is a bad practice but users tend to use their email as a cloud storage and then have a hard time trying to keep up with it.

I am sure that there are other advantages that i didn't cover but those are all I could come up with really fast.

So my tip for today:

Stop using your  email as a cloud storage.  Start using your google drive or one drive, after all they work better for collaborating and they are free :).

See you soon with more tools.

Can we go back to the old phone system???

The user resistance to change. 

We just updated our old telephone system to a new voice over IP telephone system and it has been a nightmare. Not only dealing with the telephone company but with resistant to change users.

I know its different, its going to take some time to learn it but at the same time the old system was literally  falling apart and we needed a new one.

Telephone systems cost a lot of money and it wouldn't be wise to replace an old system with another already obsolete system. It would be like buying a new PC and installing Windows ME on it.


So my tip for today:


Give yourself time to learn the new system and allow yourself to make some mistakes. You will learn to love the advantages of this new technology sooner than you think.


see you soon with new tips.

The infamous ticketing system .. a necessary evil

What happens when the telephone system goes down.

So today, i had to send a email to all our employees to inform then that our telephone system is down. We are in the process of changing the old telephone system to a new Voice over IP system ( which means telephones that use our data network), and the telephone company is still working to fix a few unforeseen issues.

the infamous ticketing system a necessary evil

And now we have users knocking at our door asking for help!

I understand it is much easier to pick up the phone and call than filling a service request. However, when using a ticketing system allow us to serve the users better as it gives us a way to track our work, we get some important information we need beforehand, gives the supervisor an opportunity to assign jobs to the right help desk person and the ticket just need to be submitted once instead of calling and getting a busy tone and having to call back.

My tip for today:

Use the ticketing system, once you do it one or two times, you will realize it is not that hard and it is fair for everybody.

See you all soon with more tips.

It's like magic....isn't it?

When users see the computers just as a black box.

It's like magic

For some users computers are like a black box that works like :

input -> blackbox -> output.

They don't really know how it works or what make things work the way the do. I remember meeting a young lady that said to me "computers are like magic to me". I guess it gave me a lot of insight of what some users perception of computers is.

It does seem like magic now with the new operating systems, but there is a lot of engineering inside those black boxes and a lot of processes going on before and after every click the user makes.

What to learn more about what goes on inside the black box?  then keep reading my blog.  :)

See you soon.