All posts by Computers Made Simple

Google Image Search – quicker results using Chrome

March 4, 2013 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

We’ve written about Google Image Search before. Here is that post: Google Image Search While that method is pretty quick, we’ve discovered an even quicker way to look for the source of a photo.

1. First, you have to be using Google Chrome. You should be using it anyway since Chrome is the fastest and safest browser out there.

2. Here’s the photo from Facebook that we’re going to search for:

Photo of Image Search 1 — **Swimming pools on balconies? Where is this? Let’s find out.**

In Chrome, click on Options then click on Download. The photo will be saved to your computer.

3. The cool thing about Chrome is that the photo you just downloaded, or anything you recently downloaded, is shown on the bottom of the browser window.

Photo of Image Search 2 — **The most recent download is on the left, in this case the photo of the apartment building.**

4. Next, head over to google.com, When you get there, you’ll be on the normal web search page. Since you can’t search images from there, click on the word Images on the top left. Like this:

Photo of Image Search 3 — **Make sure your search window is set to Images.**

5. All set now, right? Image search is up. Your screen should look like this:

Photo of Image Search 4 — **Google Images is what you want to see.**

6. Down on the lower left of your Chrome window is the photo you just downloaded. Grab it with your cursor (mouse) and drop it into the search bar. The search bar will change and read: Drop image here.

Photo of Image Search 5 — ***All you’re doing is taking the file from the bottom of your screen, unopened, and dragging it up to the search line.***

7. Once you drag and drop the image file onto the search bar, Google uploads it and compares the image to others in its data base. Don’t ask us how it does this but it works.

Photo of Image Search 6 — **Depending on the size of the file and your Internet connection speed, the upload time will vary.**

8. In a matter of seconds, Google finds similar or matching photos of the one you just uploaded. In an instant, we find our photo is showing a luxury condo/apartment tower in Mumbai.

Photo of Image Search 7 — **Problem solved. Thanks Google!**

Our original post works well for images that are already on your computer but this method is much faster for images that you come across while surfing. One of the radio stations we like posts LP album covers on their Facebook account, without the names showing, and asks their fans to name the album. With Google Image Search, it’s just all too easy!

Thanks for reading!

Facebook, Graph Search

Graph Search on Facebook

February 26, 2013 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

Depending on where you are, Facebook might have enabled its new Graph Search feature. On our Canadian profiles Graph Search is not enabled but we discovered that it is available on a profile that is supposedly in England. Here are some screenshots and explanations from the tour that we took:

1. As soon as Graph Search is enabled for you, you’ll get this pop out menu:

The search bar is gone. You have to type your search parameters just to the right of the Facebook icon. For now, click the Take a Tour button.

2. During the tour, Facebook will suggest some search ideas for you by filling in the search bar. Follow the tour through and you’ll get the general idea of Graph Search.

Photo of Graph Search 2 — **Search terms are pre-filled during the tour.**

3. Once you click the search button, you’re presented with the main subject, if that subject has a Facebook page, plus any relation that the main subject has with your friends, strangers, etc. There is even a general search result at the bottom which includes results that are outside of Facebook.

Photo of Graph 3 — **Maybe Facebook is threatening Google’s search monopoly.**

4. Next, pick a topic and see if your friends ‘like’ that topic. You can narrow down your friend’s location by city, country, etc.

Photo of Graph 4 — **We’re not sure why Facebook specifies ‘simple phrases’. Any ideas?**

5. Here is a search result, personalized … just for you’!

Photo of Graph 5 — **This result is fine tuned, supposedly but we’re not sure how you’d use it.**

Is this supposed to give you more insight into your friend’s likes or tastes? If your likes are hidden, will they be discovered through Graph Search? We’ll let you know about this later on once we get used to it ourselves.

6. At the end of the tour, you’ll get this menu. You can either replay the tour or start using Graph Search on your own.

Photo of Graph 6 — **It all looks so interesting, right? Or not, depending on how much Graph Search reveals about you.**

7. Even more suggestions for you from Facebook:

Photo of Graph 7 — **Maybe instead of Graph Search, Timeline Search would be more appropriate. After all, this is historical information, isn’t it?**

8. When Graph Search is enabled, your Facebook pages will look slightly different. The search bar is now prominent, the white section is missing and the word Facebook is missing. To get to your normal Facebook page, as opposed to your own Timeline, click on the word Home, third from the right. The pale blue letters to the right of the Facebook icon are where you click to search. Click on your profile photo to get to your Timeline.

It’s all different once Graph Search is enabled for you.

We’re not sure that Graph Search will be a success, in fact we tend to think it will be a dud. There are fears that this search will enable stalking but, as we’ve proved before, there are many ways to stalk people on Facebook. Let us know what you think by commenting below. If you have questions, let us know.

Thanks for reading!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook

How to Beat Facebook at Its Own Game

February 12, 2013 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

Facebook loves the fact that people share everything on their platform. In fact, the more you share, the more money Facebook makes on your information and preferences. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit concerned about privacy and how Facebook plays fast and loose with it. Here’s how to tune your profile so you can trick Facebook into thinking you’re someone other than who you really are.

1. While Facebook pretends that you have to use your real name on your profile, there is no real reason to do this. On Facebook, and on the Internet in general, you can be whoever you want to be. If you’re worried about whether your friends will recognize you, keep your real last name or, if you’re a female, use your maiden name. There are many ways around the ‘real name’ restriction but just remember that you don’t have to play by the rules here. Why is this important? Well, once Facebook has your real name, they can sell your information to third party advertisers, complete with your home city or state. This leads us to the next available spoof.

2. Don’t use your real city/town/country. Even if your IP address says that you are coming from Timbuktu, you can always tell Facebook that you live in Cincinnati, and vice versa. As long as your friends know who you are and where you really live, if they are real friends of course, you can tell Facebook that you live somewhere else.

3. Why does Facebook have to know how old you are? Simply because they can tune their ads to your age demographic. Why let them? You don’t have to give your real age when signing up and, if you do, you don’t have to show the year you were born. Adjust your privacy settings to show only the date, not the year. We all know that young teens or pre-teens pretend to be older when they sign up for Facebook. You can do the same thing …in reverse.

4. When you’re posting a photo of your house/dog/cat/kids, tag the photo with some random location. Facebook doesn’t have to know where you go or what you do. Your friends will know that it’s your house/dog/cat or kid, Facebook doesn’t have to.

5. There is no reason to share your sex, your marriage status, your date of birth, your political views, etc. Your friends already know you or they can ask if they want more information. Facebook pretends that this information is vital to your success on the site but, come on, why would anyone share this stuff in public?

Here are some photos of different settings that are available. Many of our friends do not use their real name while others change their name later on. You’re allowed to do one change on the same profile so change to a nickname or just make up a new one. It’s simple to message someone and say, ” Hey, this is me. I changed my name.”

Photo of Facebook photo. — **This photo was taken in Toronto. You can tell Facebook that it was taken just about anywhere.**

Photo of Facebook photo 2. — **Use this page to hide your personal information from Facebook and strangers.**

Remember to hide what you can, change everything else and pretty much tell Facebook to stuff it. There is no need to share any personal information with them. Good luck and let us know if you have questions about any of this. We’re here to help.

Thanks for reading!

Free Software, Keep Safe Online, Malware, Security

Xilisoft, Freecorder and Malware – Beware!

February 11, 2013 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

We’ve run into a bad situation lately regarding malware and free software. Last week we installed a ‘free’ program from Xilisoft, hoping to create a BluRay DVD using multiple avi videos. First, the program wasn’t free. The download was free, not the software. Watch out for anything that says ‘Free Download’. It’s almost always a lie. Anyway, that software installed a really bad bit of malware that spread across one of our computers. It took us a whole day to eliminate it.

Next, we re-installed Freecorder. We’ve used Freecorder in the past, hell, we’ve even recommended it. Forget what we said before, don’t install Freecorder now. Yes, we’ll change our previous post but, for now, stay away from it.

How do we know when malware is installed? Basically, things change. Search engines look different, even if you are left with your original search source. Freecorder installed its own ad feeder so, even though we could still use Google, there were ads at the top of the search window. Initially we thought that Google had changed their system but then we realized that Freecorder had installed their own bit of malware.

With the Xilisoft malware, our home pages changed, to the point where we can’t find a way to change them back. We’ll figure it out and describe it here. Search engines changed, too. All in all, there was much gnashing of teeth around the office.

TIP: When you’re installing free software, or even pay software sometimes, don’t accept the default settings. Go through each screen and read the words carefully. You don’t have to accept everything. Either uncheck anything you don’t agree with or ‘decline’ when asked if you also want to install such and such. This decline or accept part is new. You’d think that you can’t use the software if you decline but you can. What you are declining is the additional software that is bundled with the ‘free’ material.

Software such as Burnaware and Irfanview are completely safe, free of ad or malware and work perfectly. For downloading videos from Youtube or Daily Motion, we would recommend using Firefox and installing the Flashgot plugin. We’ve had luck with the Real Downloader too but it seems to have stopped working. Flashgot works for videos and whole pages of photos, too.

We used to use Freecorder for downloading music but now we wholeheartedly recommend the OffLiberty site: http://offliberty.com/ We wrote about how to use it here: Using OffLiberty to download MP3s.

Thanks for reading! Let us know if you’ve had problems with malware in the past. Tell us how you got it and, hopefully, how you got rid of it.

Facebook, Facebook Games, Facebook Tricks, Sneaky Apps

A Dangerous Facebook App

February 7, 2013 Computers Made Simple 2 Comments

There are thousands of Facebook games and apps, most of them are fun, entertaining and relatively safe. Some aren’t. Here is an anatomy of one Facebook app that we feel is dangerous and sneaky. Use the details in this post to judge other Facebook apps. Hopefully, you’ll be a smarter Facebook user after this.

Here’s the scenario. You get a request from one of your friends:

Photo of App Request — **Seems like a simple request, one of many you probably get each week.**

This request looks innocuous enough, right? Just wait till you accept. Let’s see what happens then.

Photo of App Invitation 2 — **Oh great! You’ll never forget another birthday. Hmmmm.**

The nastiness begins as soon as you click ‘Go to App’. The screen will flash then, all of a sudden, you’re not in Kansas (Facebook) anymore.

Photo of App Invitation 3 — **Are you still on Facebook? What’s with all the ads?**

You were on Facebook, right? Suddenly, you’re not. Every other app leaves the Facebook name up at the top. This tricky app doesn’t. Lots of ads but no way to get back to Facebook. When you see this, you should stop immediately. An app that takes you away from the relative security of Facebook is trying to trick you. Watch out for this.

Read the page carefully. This app will add your friend’s birthdays, see the check mark beside number 1? It will also send you birthday reminders, see check number 2. Lastly, it will kindly accept requests on your behalf, check number 3. Conveniently, they’re already checked for you. (That was sarcasm, in case you missed it) What do you do now? Run!

If you click the word Continue, here’s what you get:

Photo of App Invitation 4 — **We’ve blacked out the names for privacy.**

Depending on the number of friends you have, you will get a page like this for every 49 names on your list. If you choose to Cancel this prompt, another 49 names pop up. But wait! What is that check mark down at the bottom? This one:

If you don’t uncheck the box, this app will send out requests any time it wants to.

Do you see how devious all of this is? Do you see how rapidly you’d become very unpopular on Facebook?

We think that you’ve got the general idea here. This is a pretty sick app, not in a good way. When you come across something like this, warn your friends and immediately delete it from your app list. We’ll show you how to do that next time.

Thanks for reading!

a little bit of hi-tech, a little bit of common sense and a lot of fun