Fax Machine...what is that?

Over the past month or so we have been installing a new phone system at my workplace. It had been several years since we updated and this experience really brought home some significant changes in how we communicate, not only in the business world, but at home as well.

As we were designing the new installation we had to inventory all the devices that needed to be connected to a new system. The old system had five fax machines connected. An investigation of the use of these machines showed that one would be more than enough to handle the fax traffic. Faxes have been almost entirely replaced in the business world by other much greener and efficient technology. Instead of faxing paper documents, scanning and creating PDF copies of documents that can be attached to emails have saved thousands of trees and in our case at least 4 telephone lines.

Long distance telephone costs have gone from a significant business expense to one that is hardly worth tracking. Calls that once cost dollars now cost pennies. But it is not only the cost of the calls that has diminished; the number of calls placed on a daily basis is a fraction of what it was only 10 years ago. Email and the web have changed the way be communicate, order supplies and even negotiate contracts.

Rather than picking up the phone and calling some supplier, we now just find the web site, look through the catalog, make a selection, arrange for payment and choose the method of shipping. All of this is done free on the Internet and all requires neither a phone call nor fax. Also we don’t have to wait for a west coast office to open 3 hours after we come to work to place an order.

Perhaps the biggest shift is in use of regular mail. Rather than getting a large sack of mail delivered each day, the carrier usually has a small batch to drop off and most of that is junk mail. It is no wonder that the US Post Office is falling on hard times.

I find it both telling and funny that the US Post Office is running a series of ads on TV touting the benefits of “real” mail. The spot shows smiling faces of carriers and customers in a “Norman Rockwellian” small town gushing over receiving a letter or more likely a chance to win a million dollars from Publishers Clearinghouse. If you want to contact the post office don’t send a letter. The spot ends with a tag line giving a web address for more information.

The digital age affords almost instantaneous communication with less cost that ever before. The way we communicate isn’t changing, it has changed.

Fax Machine...what is that?

Over the past month or so we have been installing a new phone system at my workplace. It had been several years since we updated and this experience really brought home some significant changes in how we communicate, not only in the business world, but at home as well.

As we were designing the new installation we had to inventory all the devices that needed to be connected to a new system. The old system had five fax machines connected. An investigation of the use of these machines showed that one would be more than enough to handle the fax traffic. Faxes have been almost entirely replaced in the business world by other much greener and efficient technology. Instead of faxing paper documents, scanning and creating PDF copies of documents that can be attached to emails have saved thousands of trees and in our case at least 4 telephone lines.

Long distance telephone costs have gone from a significant business expense to one that is hardly worth tracking. Calls that once cost dollars now cost pennies. But it is not only the cost of the calls that has diminished; the number of calls placed on a daily basis is a fraction of what it was only 10 years ago. Email and the web have changed the way be communicate, order supplies and even negotiate contracts.

Rather than picking up the phone and calling some supplier, we now just find the web site, look through the catalog, make a selection, arrange for payment and choose the method of shipping. All of this is done free on the Internet and all requires neither a phone call nor fax. Also we don’t have to wait for a west coast office to open 3 hours after we come to work to place an order.

Perhaps the biggest shift is in use of regular mail. Rather than getting a large sack of mail delivered each day, the carrier usually has a small batch to drop off and most of that is junk mail. It is no wonder that the US Post Office is falling on hard times.

I find it both telling and funny that the US Post Office is running a series of ads on TV touting the benefits of “real” mail. The spot shows smiling faces of carriers and customers in a “Norman Rockwellian” small town gushing over receiving a letter or more likely a chance to win a million dollars from Publishers Clearinghouse. If you want to contact the post office don’t send a letter. The spot ends with a tag line giving a web address for more information.

The digital age affords almost instantaneous communication with less cost that ever before. The way we communicate isn’t changing, it has changed.

Dealing with Hikacked Email Accounts

A colleague at work recently related an all too frequent tale of having an email account hijacked. One morning she began to get emails and telephone calls from friends concerned about her and asking if she was OK. It seems that several of her friends received the same email message. The email sent on her email account indicated that she was stranded in London and her purse, baggage and passport had been stolen leaving her without money to get back to the US. The email gave information for transferring money to her as soon as possible with a promise of prompt repayment when she returned to Cincinnati.

This scenario is not a new one but the details of the false dilemma do change. Sometimes the victim is a teenager asking for money from kindly grandparents asking that they don’t inform parents about the kid’s predicament. The one constant is that this is a scam. It is one of several scams that are a result of having an email account hijacked.

There are other less obvious symptoms of hijacked email accounts. If you begin to see several notifications in your email “in box” of undeliverable messages and these messages were never sent by you, your account may have been hacked.

So what do you do? There is really no one answer. For sure, the first thing you should do is change the password of the email account that has been compromised. In many cases this will keep any future emails from being posted from your account. If you are unable to make this change, you should not give up and just quit using that account. While this might be the easiest thing to do, it does not stop the hijacker from using your identity. You may need to contact your email provider to assist you in modifying this account.

If you are able to get into your account to change your password, you should look into the account settings to make sure that the hacker has not set up some forwarding or notification prompts that will keep them connected to the account.

Once you are sure that you have regained control over your email account or have established a new account, you obviously should use a new password. I have discussed password security often but it is worth repeating that a password should be chosen carefully. Using your middle name, your first born’s middle name or birth date, your home address or other name or set of numbers relating to some aspect of your life makes your account easy pickings.

It is always a good idea to maintain two email accounts. Since many, like Google, Hot Mail and Yahoo offer free accounts, having two is not an issue. That way if your main account is compromised you can contact your friends and colleagues using the other account informing them of the fact that the first account has been compromised and any strange emails allegedly from you should be ignored.

I can help you with this problem in person. Just send me your credit card info, your social security number and you new passwords. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Dealing with Hikacked Email Accounts

A colleague at work recently related an all too frequent tale of having an email account hijacked. One morning she began to get emails and telephone calls from friends concerned about her and asking if she was OK. It seems that several of her friends received the same email message. The email sent on her email account indicated that she was stranded in London and her purse, baggage and passport had been stolen leaving her without money to get back to the US. The email gave information for transferring money to her as soon as possible with a promise of prompt repayment when she returned to Cincinnati.

This scenario is not a new one but the details of the false dilemma do change. Sometimes the victim is a teenager asking for money from kindly grandparents asking that they don’t inform parents about the kid’s predicament. The one constant is that this is a scam. It is one of several scams that are a result of having an email account hijacked.

There are other less obvious symptoms of hijacked email accounts. If you begin to see several notifications in your email “in box” of undeliverable messages and these messages were never sent by you, your account may have been hacked.

So what do you do? There is really no one answer. For sure, the first thing you should do is change the password of the email account that has been compromised. In many cases this will keep any future emails from being posted from your account. If you are unable to make this change, you should not give up and just quit using that account. While this might be the easiest thing to do, it does not stop the hijacker from using your identity. You may need to contact your email provider to assist you in modifying this account.

If you are able to get into your account to change your password, you should look into the account settings to make sure that the hacker has not set up some forwarding or notification prompts that will keep them connected to the account.

Once you are sure that you have regained control over your email account or have established a new account, you obviously should use a new password. I have discussed password security often but it is worth repeating that a password should be chosen carefully. Using your middle name, your first born’s middle name or birth date, your home address or other name or set of numbers relating to some aspect of your life makes your account easy pickings.

It is always a good idea to maintain two email accounts. Since many, like Google, Hot Mail and Yahoo offer free accounts, having two is not an issue. That way if your main account is compromised you can contact your friends and colleagues using the other account informing them of the fact that the first account has been compromised and any strange emails allegedly from you should be ignored.

I can help you with this problem in person. Just send me your credit card info, your social security number and you new passwords. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Just Don't Use It!

I don’t often use this column to express my personal gripes. After all, what do you care what I like or don’t like? The purpose of these weekly missives has and will continue to be to provide straight forward information about technology. Once in a while a personal gripe and some helpful technology hints come together. This is one of those times.

The proliferation of communication technologies over the past decade has been nothing short of extraordinary. Cell phones are everywhere. Some would say they surface in too many places. Email is now as much a part of the daily routine for the occupant of the college dorm room as it is at the retirement community.

For many people these tools are used wisely and effectively. However, there is a small group of people who drive me nuts, not because they use the technology too much but because they don’t use it.

For sure, I think everyone has the right to refuse to use email or a cell phone. Hey, this is the USA isn’t it. I respect these people, whatever their reasons might be. In fact, I applaud those who think a hand written note or a personal visit is better than a … “How r u? I b hm @ 5. lov j” email or instant message.

My gripe is that some people will tell you that they have email or a cell phone and give you the address or number. The presumption is that if they give you this information, they actually use it. WRONG!

A minority for sure, there are people who check their email once a month at the most. Others still haven’t figured out how to retrieve voice mail from their cell phone account. Again this is their prerogative. The problem is that the person who left the email or voice mail doesn’t know this. So that invite to dinner or the movies goes unanswered. The sender is in a quandary as to whether they are being ignored or forgotten.

My suggestion is that there is no reason to feel compelled to use these technologies. No one will feel that you are less intelligent or un-American. When someone asks if you have email or a cell, just say no!

Just Don't Use It!

I don’t often use this column to express my personal gripes. After all, what do you care what I like or don’t like? The purpose of these weekly missives has and will continue to be to provide straight forward information about technology. Once in a while a personal gripe and some helpful technology hints come together. This is one of those times.

The proliferation of communication technologies over the past decade has been nothing short of extraordinary. Cell phones are everywhere. Some would say they surface in too many places. Email is now as much a part of the daily routine for the occupant of the college dorm room as it is at the retirement community.

For many people these tools are used wisely and effectively. However, there is a small group of people who drive me nuts, not because they use the technology too much but because they don’t use it.

For sure, I think everyone has the right to refuse to use email or a cell phone. Hey, this is the USA isn’t it. I respect these people, whatever their reasons might be. In fact, I applaud those who think a hand written note or a personal visit is better than a … “How r u? I b hm @ 5. lov j” email or instant message.

My gripe is that some people will tell you that they have email or a cell phone and give you the address or number. The presumption is that if they give you this information, they actually use it. WRONG!

A minority for sure, there are people who check their email once a month at the most. Others still haven’t figured out how to retrieve voice mail from their cell phone account. Again this is their prerogative. The problem is that the person who left the email or voice mail doesn’t know this. So that invite to dinner or the movies goes unanswered. The sender is in a quandary as to whether they are being ignored or forgotten.

My suggestion is that there is no reason to feel compelled to use these technologies. No one will feel that you are less intelligent or un-American. When someone asks if you have email or a cell, just say no!