Always something new
Ray Saitz offers a roundup of interesting online discoveries
The internet and technology are ever-changing entities and rarely does a week go by in which I don’t find out about some new development or discover something I didn’t know before. In no particular order here are a few things new to me that might be of interest to you.
Back in 1999 I wrote a column about a company called All Advantage that would pay people to visit websites and click on ads. In 2001 I wrote another column about how the company was going out of business after paying small fortunes to people, many of whom deviously used software that would click on ads all day.
Microsoft has revised the basic idea with a program called Microsoft Rewards. Microsoft will give you points for purchasing items online at the Microsoft Store and using its Bing search engine to look for information and websites. Points can be redeemed for popular games, movies, apps, gift cards, and members-only offers and events.
The selection of freebies is still pretty slim but one of them is a Skype calling card which will let you make international phone calls from your computer. You’ll probably have to do a lot of searching and purchasing to get a significant number of points and Microsoft will be able to compile a large amount of information about your internet activities, but if you’re interested register at the Rewards site (http://tinyurl.com/ y9ztt8zo).
I’m often asked about the Tinyurl addresses I use, such as the one above. Many internet addresses are long and complicated and Tinyurl (www.tinyurl.com) shortens the links to a manageable size for my column. Unfortunately, a common issue is that some readers type the link into Google but Google can’t find a site with a Tinyurl address. You have to enter the whole address into the location bar at the top of the browser, or click on the link if you’re reading the column online.
That can be a bit tedious but to help you out I maintain a website which includes clickable links for all sites mentioned in my columns for the year, although the actual column in not viewable. Bookmark my Online website at www.rayser. ca/online and to visit a website I mention you can click rather than doing a lot of typing.
This week I discovered the necessity of reading carefully when using the internet. I opened my Firefox browser and a popup window appeared offering special deals and info at a website I had visited a few days before. Unwanted popups are often a sign of spyware and it was only after a fruitless scan with Malwarebytes that I discovered the cause of the popup, and several others as well.
When visiting a website I often get a small popup notice that the site would like to use my location and I usually click OK without much thought. Unfortunately, I should have read carefully because several of those little windows where I clicked OK were actually asking me to give the website permission to send me notifications.
Luckily the solution was readily available. In Firefox, click the three little horizontal bars in the top right of the browser, then Options, and under Privacy and Security you’ll see Permissions where you can block any pop up notifications. The Gadgets360 site (http://tinyurl.com/ybbonhtk) has instructions for stopping desktop notifications in Google Chrome, but watch out for the little popup at the website asking you to let Gadgets360 send you notifications.
As I age my vision is getting worse and sometimes websites and text on the screen are too small to read comfortably. This is easy to fix on a tablet by expanding the space between two fingers placed on the screen. However, what can you do on a computer or laptop? The solution is remarkably simple. Hold down the Ctrl key and roll the scroll wheel in the middle of your mouse and everything on the screen will get larger or smaller. I wish all computer problems could be fixed so easily.