Alan Kleymeyer

I have a Gmail account that I use to login to Google properties such as Google Docs.  Gmail  is not  my primary email  account.  I’ve started using it more;  for LBJ class reunion stuff for example.   I’ve used it quite a bit as a “throwaway” email when sites ask for an email address but I don’t want to give them my personal email.  I highly recommend it to anyone as either a primary or secondary address.  There are  two main things I like about  Gmail that I think everyone should take advantage of.

1.  Have Google forward all mail to your primary address.  That way you don’t ever have to login to Gmail and for all  practical purposes, you can use your primary mail to receive and reply to people using your Gmail account.  Of course if you  don’t want people knowing your primary account, they you would login to Gmail  and respond from there.  Setup forwarding by clicking Settings in the upper right corner…select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP  tab…Select forward a copy of incoming mail  to…enter your primary email address…choose what to do with the mail that arrives in your Gmail  account.

2. Take advantage of a little known feature that allows you to create NEW email addresses on the fly!  My email address is alankley@gmail.com.  I can give out alankley+facebook@gmail.com, alankley+anything@gmail.com and those email addresses will be delivered to my Gmail mailbox.  I’ve created quite a few like that when I’m asked for an email address. That way I can turn them off if I start receiving spam or I can setup filters to file them away or forward them.  Not all websites accept an email  with a ‘+’ in it but many do.  Here is the Google Help page on the subject:  Using an Address Alias

If you are concerned about the safety of your information using Google Gmail and Docs, I wrote this post on what I think of that.

Update: 10/11/2019

To help cleanup your GMail account here are some search options you can use to list older emails you can delete, or locate emails with attachments:

before: 2019/01/01
larger: 1m
has:attachment larger:5MB

Find the full list here.

Locate unread emails from primary inbox: “category:primary is:unread”

I’ve been using Google  Docs for sometime now.  Both at work and at home. Google didn’t initially make it easy to download or backup your docs but now they have.  Here’s what you do:

From the main screen,  select all…More Actions…Export.   See some screenshots here.

Skype has no option to turn off auto starting on startup on the Mac.

There are two ways to remove auto-start options on the Mac:

System Preferences:
System Preferences -> System -> Accounts -> select your account -> select Login Items -> select Skype -> click the “-” box below to remove it from the list.

A quicker method:
Hold down the mouse button on the Skype icon in the dock. (Or right click on it).
Uncheck “Open at Login” from the menu that pops up.

Kristen’s iPod Touch started acting up when attempting to go to the iPod store.  The following message would appear:

“Cannot connect to itunes store” “Invalid argument”

Suggested actions from the Internet included rebooting the router or simply Renewing Lease in the iPod Wi-Fi settings (Settings…Wi-Fi…NetworkName…[Right Arrow button]…scroll down and select Renew Lease)

The IP address should begin with 192.168 but if it begins with 169.254 this indicates it doesn’t have a good IP address.

Finally, I did a cold boot (held down the power button for several seconds) . This seemed to help in reassigning a good IP address.  I’m guessing Renew Lease would normally work.

At work  we have a high-end workstation that came with a very nice 22in monitor.  The monitor had VGA, DVI AND composite video input jacks!  I’ve borrowed it before for XBOX night.  This Christmas, at the top of my wish list is a new LCD monitor for me to use when I work at home sitting on the couch with my Dell notebook and MacBook Pro.   I’m currently using a 15in LCD  with the VGA jack for the laptop or the  DVI jack for the MacBook.   I’ve really wanted a bigger monitor and have kept my eyes open for  one under $200.  Stores don’t carry LCD monitors with a composite video jack so today I decided to call Dell and they were able to hook me up. They recommended  the E2210 22-inch Widescdreen for $199.  They are able to customize it and add a composite connection!  I let the sales guy upsale me a speaker bar for $35.   I told him it was $40 on the Dell site for small business.  Small business always gets you better prices then Home.  Doesn’t seem right.  Anyway monitor plus speakers plus tax came to $220.83 with free shipping.  I’m excited!
Update: In general I’ve had good experiences shopping at Dell.  Turns out this wasn’t one of them.  The monitor arrived today and it did NOT have the composite connection.  It also does not have a stand I can rotate into portrait mode, but then I don’t remember if I specified that.  It took almost 2.5 hours online holding and speaking with multiple people but I’m sending this monitor back and I’ve ordered the S2409W 24-inch Widescreen monitor with VGI, DVI, and HDMI.  It was on sale for $189.  The sound bar should fit on it.  The person I spoke with today said the monitor I ordered could not be altered to add a composite connection.  Arggggh!  We’ll see if round two works out.

The Microsoft antivirus software I installed yesterday detected some malware in some MP3 files that I had on my computer.  They came from a friend and were of spanish music.

Here is the warning I received:

Here are the details of the TrojanDownloader:ASX/Wimad.BD malware that was found.  In Summary:

TrojanDownloader:ASX/Wimad.BD is a detection for malicious Windows media files that are used in order to encourage users to download and execute arbitrary files on an affected machine. When opened with Windows Media Player, these malicious files open a particular URL in a web browser.  The sites contacted, and files downloaded by TrojanDownloader:ASX/Wimad are variable, and may change over time and from instance to instance of this trojan downloader.

It seems your computer can not be compromised unless you ignore warning messages that clearly state something is not right.

I use to use LimeWire but no longer do.  You  have to be very careful when you download MP3 files or anything else from untrusted sources.

I received an email recently from a Bank Manager regarding a visit I made to him. His email signature included the following:

I kinda laughed because his email was informing me he had faxed a form that needed to be filled out and faxed back.  Not particularly environmentally friendly.

Ideally, forms should be in PDF that can be filled in electronically!  They can be emailed back and forth and only the final filled-out version should be printed (if at all).

Even if they aren’t interactive, forms should be in PDF (please, no more Word .doc files) so they can be printed at home and filled out,  scanned (not faxed) and emailed back.

Fax quality is inferior to scanning and emaling  anyway.