Author: Ask Ursula

Finding things on the web

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Although there is a lot of ‘junk’ out there on the internet, there is also limitless information on just about everything—it is just a matter of finding the needle in the haystack. But search engines like Google, Bing, etc., can actually be really helpful, if you know how to coax the information out of them without being presented with lots of irrelevant paid content (this is usually marked as Ad or Promoted).

First rule: be specific. If you are looking for information on purple-spotted doodads, don’t just put in ‘doodads’; put in ‘purple-spotted doodads.’

And then, depending on the results, add or remove words in your search. Perhaps you get more info on spotted than on purple; then remove the spotted from your search and try again. Or add the location or other pertinent details.

There are also a couple of useful tricks:

1. Put the most important word(s) in apostrophes; that means the result must have this word in it.

2. Add a – (minus) to eliminate results, e.g., ‘purple-spotted doodads -dingbats,’ will not show results that contain dingbats.

You can also narrow down your search by region (Australia, the world, the UK…), by time (last year, last month…), and more. Have a look at the top of the search page for these. You can also specifically search for images, videos, news, forums, and more. Again, check the top of the search page.

If you are looking for very specific information, you can even use a different, specialised search engine like Wolfram Alpha for scientific searches or Core for scholarly research, and there are many more.

Appliance not working as it should? Type the appliance and the symptoms into the search field, and chances are you will find the answer or even a how-to video.

I often get asked: ‘How do I do this thing on my phone?’ Unless I happen to know, my first step is to type the question into a search engine, and nine times out of ten, the answer is right there on the second or third site. Among the 5 billion people using the internet, there should be at least one who asked the same question and found a knowledgeable soul posting the answer.

Emergency+ app

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Generally I do not recommend any apps, but there is one app that I believe should be on every phone in Australia: the Emergency+ app.

“It is a free application developed by Australia’s emergency services and industry partners. It works across Australia, using GPS functionality built into smartphones to help a Triple Zero (000) caller provide critical location details required to mobilise emergency services.

​​Important – if there is no mobile coverage on any network, you will not be able to reach the Emergency Call Service via a mobile telephone​​.”

The app makes it easy to call ‘000’, the SES (132 500) or the Police(131 444), with large buttons prominently displayed. It also shows your location by address, by latitude and longitude, by map and by what3words – all on the one page (and you can increase the character size in the app settings).

On an second page there are other useful numbers like Crime Stoppers (1800 333 000), Health Direct (1800 022 222), Poisons Information Centre (131 126) and more. There are also videos showing how to administer CPR on adults, children and infants. And it includes a link to the various states’ fire alert websites.

The Emergency+ app is available for free download via the Apple AppStore (for iPhones) and the Google PlayStore (for Android phones like Samsung, Motorola, Nokia etc)

If you don’t have this on your phone already, go download it now – you never know when you might need it.

Once the app is installed on your phone, open it and allow location access. This permission is required for the app to display your location in an emergency. Explore the features and understand how to use the app in an emergency situation.

I hope you will never need it, but is is good to have when you do.

​



Celebrating 5 years with a brand new website

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Welcome to my brand new website!

From very humble beginnings with weekly sessions at the local RSL club, to a Facebook page and articles in our local newspaper, I have now created my own website to collect all the information I have published over the years and give my students and helpers a place to ask questions, share information and generally keep in touch.

You can ask questions here (comments will be public, or contact my via email to keep it private) – and there is no connection with Facebook or any other snooping company nor is there age verification required. All I ask is that you enter your email address (not public) on your post/comment so I can get back to you with a personalised answer.

You can also subscribe to my newsletter (no more than 2 a month) to be kept up-to-date with my articles and other things happening at ‘Ask Ursula’.

Have a look around and bookmark this page so you can refer back to it whenever you have a question about your devices.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

What is two-factor-authentication??

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More and more websites and apps are now using 2FA or two-factor-authentication,but what
is it?

One of my favourite Tech-Explainers (AskLeo.com) puts it like this:

“Two-factor authentication adds something you have — like a mobile device — or something you are — like your fingerprint — to something you know — your password — to confirm you are authorised to access an account. There are contingencies for losing your second factor, as well as ways to make two-factor less intrusive in day-to-day use. Even if they know your password, hackers can’t get in with two-factor enabled. This is how two-factor authentication keeps you secure.”


Generally you sign in as usual (that’s the first factor of authentication) and then you will get a code sent to your phone via email or SMS that you will have to enter into the login screen as well. That is the second factor of authentication.
That second factor can also be from an authentication app (e.g. Google Authenticator, Aegis, etc) that will create these random codes for you once it has been set up with the website.
Or, if you have fingerprints or face unlock on you can use that.

A website generally only requires the second factor when logging in on an new device or if you haven’t signed in for a long time. And there are still ways to recover your account if you have lost a device that you used for authentication.

With all important accounts (email, payments, etc) it is essential that you provide at least one recovery email address or phone number in case you have no longer access to a particular device or you have forgotten your password. These handy ‘Forgotten Password’ links only work if you can proof in another way that you are who you say you are, with a second email address, a phone number or other identifying items. If you do not have a recovery option and forget your password, there is usually nothing you can do to recover the account and you will lose access to it permanently. This also applies to your Facebook account, but that is a subject for another article soon.

Fake Virus Pop-ups

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They do come up with new ways to fool you all the time. The latest are fake virus pop-ups.

You are happily browsing the internet on your computer or checking something on your phone and suddenly you get this (usually full page) pop-up telling you in technicolor that you have a virus and you have to download this ‘thing’ straight away. Now, it could say it’s from your anti-virus program (that you might not have installed) or more generic, but it always seems very urgent and concerned for you. And to top it all off, it is usually very difficult to click past it or get out of it any other way than to click on their link.
Whatever you do DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK or call the phone number they might provide:
it is a scam!
If you can’t get out of it the normal way, you can try these:

  • on a Windows computer: click the Task View icon on the taskbar or press Windows
    key and Tab
  • on a Mac computer: press the F3 key or press Ctrl and up arrow
  • on an Android phone: press the ‘all apps’ button on the bottom of your screen (either
    a square or 3 lines) or swipe up from the bottom of your phone towards the middle
    (depending on your navigation settings)
  • on an iPhone: Swipe up from the bottom of your phone or swipe up from the bottom-
    left corner (depending on your phone)
    All these will show you your open apps and you can close the offending one by clicking the
    X or swiping it up or on a computer by right-clicking and selecting End.

Sometimes these pop-ups will come back and will require more cleaning. You can also try to
disable pop-ups in your browser, but that might break some websites. If you know how, you
could try scanning your computer with your own security software and uninstall any
suspicious apps. Otherwise come and see me or a computer shop to help you out.

Basic icons

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Today, I would like to explain some of the more common icons or symbols that you might
find in many apps and websites.

The ‘Hamburger’ icon can have various different looks, but it is always a group of three


In most apps and on some websites, you will find 3 dots or 3 lines somewhere, usually in a
top corner. They stand for MENU, in other words, a place where you can select things. If you
click on it, a list will be displayed with more things to do, like Print, Share, Save and more,
depending on the app. So if you are looking for an option in an app, and you can’t find it on
the main screen, look for the 3 dots/lines.


The Share icon

or on an Apple device


A second very common icon is the share icon, this means you can share, or send the current
page or picture to someone else via email or messaging. Again the way it works depends on
the app or device, but it will generally give you options to email or message using Facebook
Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS or more. Once you choose the service, it allows you to enter the
name or number of the person you want to send it to.


Don’t confuse the share icon with the Back icon, which can be an arrow or triangle
pointing to the left and will always take you back one screen or step.


I hope this will help you a bit, and don’t be afraid to experiment with these.

A phone for ‘not so young’ eyes

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Mobile phones are very handy devices, but sometimes the small size has its drawbacks, especially
if your eye sight is no longer what it used to be. But there are ways to make life easier and most of
them are built right into the phone.

On an Android phone, go into Settings (usually a gear icon), type Magnification into the search bar
on top. Click on the entry and under options you will find three ways of turning on a shortcut:
Accessibility button, Hold Volume keys and Triple tap screen. Choose one of these, there is an
explanation how to use it. For example if you choose triple tap, you can triple tap your screen in
any app and it will magnify what is on the screen, use 2 fingers to drag what is displayed to see all.
Another triple tap sets the display back to normal.

On an iPhone it is even simpler: just triple click the side button on your phone to open the
magnifier and swipe from the bottom of your screen to close it.
Another way, that works on both types of phones is the 2 finger zoom: put two fingers together on
your screen and then move your fingers apart – the screen will be magnified; or put two fingers
apart on the screen and move them together – things will go back to normal.

If you would like to know more about options to make phone use easier, have a look around the
Accessibility options in Settings on Android or iPhone, there are many ways to help you with vision,
hearing and even motor skills; have a look around.
Next time we will have a look at how to use the ‘talk to’ features to avoid typing on the rather small
keyboard.

Talking to your phone

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Last time we looked at various ways to increase the size of the text or pictures on your phone,
today I want you to meet your very own secretary.
I’m sure you have heard of Siri or Alexa or the Assistant – they are clever programs that use
artificial intelligence to allow you to ask questions or command your device to do something, like
turn on the light, make a call and more.
If this sound a bit too science-fiction to you, there is an easy and useful way to ease yourself into
this new age.

Whenever you want to type text on your phone, a little keyboard pops up; have you ever looked at
the various keys and icons apart from the letters and numbers? There should be a microphone
icon


If you click this you can dictate to your device instead of typing; as you speak your words will
appear on the screen. A little word of warning, though: make sure you proof-read the text before
hitting ‘send’, sometimes your assistant has her own ideas of what you might have said. If that
happens, you can just tap the error and correct it manually.


This should be available on any phone, whether Android (Google) or iPhone (Apple), if the icon
does not appear, you might have to activate it in your phone settings.
A similar option is also available on your Windows or Apple computer, but it requires the
appropriate setting to be activated.

Moving your photos around

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Photos – we seem to have more now than ever with every phone also being a camera and we are
happily photographing all and sundry, but how do we get them onto our computer?


As always there are many ways to accomplish this, but here is one way to get your photos from
your phone to your windows computer (on Apple devices, iPhone and Mac computers it happens
automatically over iCloud) :

Use your charge cable for the phone and plug it into your phone and into your Windows computer
and make sure your phone is unlocked. If your Photo app has been set up to import from the
phone, it will open automatically once connected. If nothing happens, go into your Photos app,
and find the Import tab on the top right of the app, then click import from a connected device. It
should now find your phone and will scan it for photos.

At this stage they have NOT been copied to your computer, you can now select ALL, NEW ONLY or
NONE to choose which photos to copy. Make sure you click ‘Import’ at the bottom to get things
going.

If you have an iPhone, the procedure is the same, but the Computer might identify your phone as
a USB Device, that’s OK.

If Windows cannot find your phone, your cable might only be a charge cable not a file transfer
cable, try another cable if you have one. Or, the USB settings on your phone are not set up for file
transfer. In either case you might need some more help.

Other ways to copy your photos could be using Google Photos, which will upload your photos to
the cloud, similar to the iPhone and you can then access and download them again on your
computer from your Google account. Or you could get real fancy and use Bluetooth or Nearby
Sharing, but that is easier explained in person.

Scams are everywhere

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With so many messages, emails and other pop-us on our phones and computers it is sometimes
hard to work out what is ‘real’ and what is a scam (something that might cost you money or other
hardship) or just simply spam (just another word for advertising).
You can teach your email system and your messages (SMS) to recognise some unwanted items
and move them immediately into your junk folder, but there will always be others that slip through
the net. Also, it is getting harder and harder to recognise false messages, and there is only one
general rule of thumb: do not click on any links in emails/messages and other communications.
Instead go to the site directly by asking Google and work from there. Links are usually shown in
blue and/or underlined and when you hover your cursor (arrow) over it it might change into a
hand.
There are other ways that can give you a clue that the message is not genuine, like spelling
mistakes, spaces within words and more, but some scammers are getting very good and make
fewer mistakes.
There is a good podcast (which is a bit like a radio program) on this website about this subject
https://beconnected.esafety.gov.au/podcast/what-online-scammers-dont-want-you-to-know
and also some tutorials here:
https://beconnected.esafety.gov.au/topic-library/articles-and-tips/8-ways-to-protect-your-privacy-online
The Beconnected website can help you with a lot of other questions, too and is well worth
exploring.
Not directly linked to this, but just as important in keeping you safe online: always keep your
devices and apps updated. These updates (at least once a month sometimes more frequently) plug
little security holes that have been discovered, sometimes before bad actors can exploit them. But
again, go into your settings to do this if you are at all unsure whether the link or message you are
supposed to click is genuine.