Author: Dave Farquhar

Getting fewer tech support scam calls lately?

Dave Farquhar scams, Windows

Last week, the FTC shut down a major operator of tech support scam cold-callers. I’m heartbroken.

So I imagine you’re getting fewer of those calls lately. I know I am, but they seem to come in waves anyway. I don’t expect them to completely stop, at least not for a while, though. Read more

Set up your retirement account. Just do it. Then forget it.

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , ,

My new mortgage company wants to see the balance of my 401(K) account. That turned out to be a bit of a problem, but for the right reasons.

You see, I might or might not get 401(K) statements. I don’t look at them. Sometimes I save them. Usually I don’t. So I hadn’t looked at my 401(K) balance in years, and I really only had a vague idea what was in it. I knew there ought to be enough to make the lender happy.

What I found when I finally got my hands on a statement shows why part of my strategy is to never look at the account. Read more

The power company’s aid in saving energy

Dave Farquhar Saving money ,

My local electric company is going to start including a power usage comparison on the monthly bill.

For the last several years, they’ve been sending one annually, but it’s not all that hard to miss it. This is why I generally know I use less electricity year over year, but I don’t know how many people actually see the report. Read more

This one hurts.

Dave Farquhar Baseball , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I tried to write the day it happened. I couldn’t write anything that made any sense. Mostly I sat and stared. I told myself when the Royals made the Wild Card, I’d be happy with whatever happened, because it was postseason baseball for the first time in 29 years.

But as they kept hanging on and steamrolling opponents, I got greedy. And it’s hard to feel guilty for getting greedy. Because I don’t know when this will happen again. Read more

FTDI needs to be charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Dave Farquhar security , , , ,

FTDI is a company that makes computer chips for USB peripherals. Their chips are frequently cloned, which is an issue they have a right to deal with. But they have to be careful.

Breaking suspected cloned chips that consumers bought in good faith is the wrong answer. If I did that, it would be called hacking, and I would be sitting in jail right now, and probably would be facing a quarter-century in prison. Read more

How to rebuild a PC in a hurry

Dave Farquhar security, Windows , , ,

Sometimes rebuilding a PC is faster than trying to fix it, and if you’re dealing with a virus infection, it’s better to rebuild than try to clean. It’s impossible to know if the system is 100% clean after infection–unless you rebuild.

If you’re the family CIO, here’s how you can go about rebuilding a Windows PC in a hurry.

Read more

An approach for helping demanding people

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

I found myself in a conversation this past weekend about demanding people–specifically, people who every time you hear from them have a litany of 10 complaints.

At that point the conversation took a U-turn. “Yeah, how do you deal with people like that?”

About three years ago I met someone who was really good at that, and fortunately I was in a good position to watch him work and he didn’t mind. I’m still not as good at it as he is, but few people are, and we would all do well to try to be better at it.

Read more

Don’t buy a “desktop replacement” laptop

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Saving money , , , , , , ,

I found this oldie but goodie Lifehacker article: When two computers are cheaper than one. It advocates buying a cheap laptop and building a desktop PC to meet your computing needs.

I think it makes a lot of sense. A few weeks ago, a coworker asked me what the most I would be willing to pay for a laptop. I hesitated, thought for a while, and said you might be able to convince me to spend $600. “Wow,” he said. “I’m considering a $3,500 laptop.”

I wouldn’t. Read more

Resources for securing WordPress

Dave Farquhar security

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform, and as one who’s tried virtually all of them you’ve heard of and a bunch you haven’t, I’ll also argue it’s the best.

From a security point of view, it has issues. That goes with being popular. But there are resources that can help, as well as general principles to keep in mind. Read more

Why we can’t have nice things: The reaction to IBM’s big black and blue quarter

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

IBM announced yesterday that it had a terrible quarter. They missed earnings, the stock plunged, and Warren Buffett lost a billion dollars.

Everyone assumes Warren Buffett is worried, or livid, and selling off the stock like it’s on fire. Read more