Shortcuts

Sorry if these are repeats.

15 simple Word shortcuts

 

When it comes to using Microsoft Word, the more you know about the software the more you’ll get out of it. Your keyboard is the key to helping you make the most of Word. So, whether you’re a PC or a Mac user, these 15 simple shortcuts willsave you time and make you more proficient.

Note: If you use a Mac, use the command key instead of Ctrl

Ctrl+A to highlight or select all text on a page.

Ctrl+C to copy all the highlighted text

Ctrl+V to paste all highlighted text and insert into a new document or a different part of your current document.

Ctrl+B to make text bold.

Ctrl+I to italicise text.

Ctrl+U to underline text.

Ctrl+S saves all the additions and changes that you’ve made to the document.

Ctrl+Z allows you to undo any additions or changes. You can go back as far as you want.

Ctrl+Y to redo in case you undo too much.

Ctrl+L to set the text to the left of the page.

Ctrl+E to centre the text in the middle of the page.

Ctrl+R to set the text to the right of the page.

Ctrl+F will allow you to search for and locate a word or part of text in your document. 

Ctrl+P to print your document. This is faster than using the‘File > Print’ option.

Shift+F3(Shift+fn+F3 on a Mac) will change the case of any highlighted text. Hold Shift and hit F3(located at the top of your keyboard) to cycle through the options. This is useful if you’ve LEFT YOUR CAPSLOCK ON or want to Add In Capital Letters.

 

Smartphone Scam

Scam puts smartphone users at risk

 

Amelia Theodorakis

Security research company Zimperium zLabs has discovered what it believes to be the “worst Android vulnerability in the mobile operating system’s history.” About 95 per cent of Android smartphones and tablets worldwide are susceptible to the attack.

The bug, nicknamed Stagefright, allows scammers to hack into smartphones and tablets running Android version 2.2 or later. It works by stealing and monitoring users’ personal information through their applications. All scammers need to gain access is the user’s phone number.

What makes this scam particularly frightening is that unlike spear-phishing attacks, Stagefright doesn’t rely on users to take any action before it attacks. Spear-phishing attacks are relatively easier to guard against, since they usually require users to click on a link or open an email attachment. Stagefright can gain access to the user’s phone without users even realising.  

Once the device’s security has been breached, hackers can spy on the user by invading their applications, including the audio and camera. This means scammers can listen in on the user’s conversation and take note of the device’s surroundings.

Google is working hard to resolve the issue, but there is currently no way to prevent an attack. 

 

New App

FunOnTheGo App

YOURLifeChoices has a new App for your iPhones and iPads! Available now from iTunes, it is simple to download, has a lot of great features and best of all it’s free.

From our recent survey, which 5400 members answered, we know you love new technology. We also found out that 30 per cent of you already own a smartphone and 11 per cent have an iPad and that you are banking, shopping, playing games and social networking online. Taking this information on board, we have pulled together the best aspects of theYOURLifeChoices website and created FunOnTheGo.

Downloading the FunOnTheGo App is like carrying a friend in your pocket. It keeps you up-to-date with the latest news in health, wealth, travel and work. It helps you decide what to have for dinner (and tells you how to make it), it entertains you with a daily trivia quiz and it knows the location of every public toilet in Australia, which means you do too.

 

Get FunOnTheGo 

To download and install FunOnTheGo to your iPhone or iPad, click your device below.

 

 

 

If you had FunOnTheGo in your pocket right now, this is what you would already know:

·         What YOURLifeChoices members are saying about the US election, and whether kindness still exists with this week’s News

·         Which country King Hussein ruled until his death in 1999 with the trivia quiz

·         What you are having for dinner tonight by browsing through the recipes

·         What’s around you – find your nearest park, library or Centrelink office

·         The nearest public toilet, no matter where you are

 

 Here's a preview of what you will find in the FunOnTheGo app

 

Make your battery last longer

Hi, I thought this video explaining how to make your smart device battery last longer may be of interest: http://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/video/make-your-battery-last-longer  

How to back up your iPhone and iPad

Hi, I thought this video containing how to back up your contacts, photos and app information in under five minutes might be of interest: http://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/video/backing-up-your-iphone-and-ipad  

Four iPhone and iPad tips and tricks

Hi, I thought this video containing four iPhone and iPad tips and tricks might be of interest: http://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/video/four-iphone-and-ipad-tips-and-tricks  

Creating iPhone and iPad folders

Hi, I thought this video explaining how to create folders on your iPhone or iPad might be of interest: http://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/video/creating-folders-on-iphone-and-ipad  

Phone Travel Tips

Preparing your phone for travel

SJ Fallick

With a bit of planning your phone can be a very helpful travel companion. Avoid post-trip bill shock – use your phone as your friend not foe with these tips on how to get the most out of your device while you’re travelling.

Download relevant apps

With so many apps available these days, there’s sure to be one that will make your life easier while you’re away. Whether it’s skyscanner for cheap flights, skype for international calls, a game for entertainment or a city guide to save you lugging around a guide book, downloading these before you go can make sure your trip is as stress-free as possible.

Choose apps that cache

Many apps cache your travel information allowing you to still access information when you are offline. When choosing apps, opt for the ones with offline access so you aren’t relying on internet connection to make the most of them.

Back it up

Make sure you set aside enough time before you leave to sync your phone with your computer and back up all your files. If the worst does happen, at least you won’t have lost all your contacts, photos and other important data.

Take photos

Use your camera to take photos of travel cards or other documents so you have an electronic record should you lose them. Taking photos and screenshots of maps can also ensure you still know where to go even if you don’t have internet access when you arrive.

Carry it with you

Keep your headphones, charger and any adapter you may require in your hand luggage. Your phone will be useless to you if it runs out of battery. No one wants to be left high and dry in an unfamiliar location or airport lounge.

For international travel:

Turn it off

Make sure you turn off data roaming to avoid an unpleasant surprise with your bill when you return. Turning off ‘Fetch New Data’ will also prevent any applications from automatically checking for updates.

Use wifi

Wifi is very widespread nowadays. For free internet access on your phone, wait to connect until you are at a café or other venue which offers wifi to connect.

Consider another phone

Depending on where you’re off to, your phone may not be the best one to take. If you’re worried about losing it or damaging it, consider purchasing a cheap, prepaid option as an alternative.

Invest in a data pack

Many providers now offer packages for international roaming which allow you to access a set amount of data for significantly less than regular rates. Before you leave, check with your provider to see if this is worth your while.

What’s your tip for travelling with your phone? Have you ever received a nasty surprise with your phone bill after an overseas trip?

 

 

Phone Charger

Smartest travel phone charger

SJ Fallick

The only thing more annoying than when your phone dies, is when it dies whilst you’re travelling. Thankfully there’s a new charger that’s got you covered, power point or not.

Not only frustrating, for some it can be a downright dangerous situation in which to find yourself. While carrying around a spare cord or portable battery charger is one way to avoid this issue, it doesn’t solve the problem that the power outlet is most likely not the same fitting as your plug.

Thankfully there’s now an option that addresses both these challenges to ensure you’re never left in the lurch again.

The Window Cling Solar Charger is a genius device that, as the name suggests, is 100 per cent solar powered. Simply stick it on a window – whether that be on a train, in a car, your room or even a restaurant, plug it into you phone and within no time your device will be back to its useful self.

A (battery) life saver, the Window Cling Solar Charger is not only handy but environmentally friendly as well. A win win we say.

RRP: Prices from USD$17 plus shipping from Amazon

ebooks

How to download ebooks for free

Ryan Boutland

Learn how to download tens of thousands of classic books for free, and read them on any or all of your devices with these top tips.

Project Gutenberg
Books are protected by copyright, but once this copyright lapses, they belong to the public domain. Project Gutenberg is a not-for-profit organisation that digitises books that belong to the public domain. So rather than paying for classics, you can download them for free.

There are over 100,000 books available from Gutenberg and its partners, but as copyright laws change from country to country, you may want to check to see what is legal to download. In Australia, books generally enter the public domain if the author died before 1955, which means there are some great classics available from the Australian Gutenberg site that you can’t find elsewhere. 

Why not get started with some classics from James Joyce, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf orD H Lawrence? 

Try visiting this page if you’re not sure how to get your ebooks onto your ereader or smart device, or scroll down for some simple ways to get started on your smartphone or tablet.

Calibre
A great program for reading ebooks on PC and Mac, Calibre has plenty of additional features, including library management tools and ebook conversion tools. 

Library management will help you keep track of all your ebooks, so if you buy or download ebooks from different sellers,want to buy a new ereader or read on a different device, Calibre will have you covered. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to buy an ebook twice. 

You may not know it, but ebooksare created in dozens of different formats. And this can cause problems, as some devices may not be able to read every format. Using Calibre, you can convert ebooks to different formats and even increase the font size.

Download for free on PC, Mac, Linux.

Smartphones

Managing ebooks on your smartphone can get tricky, because each app wants you to purchase ebooks from its store and nowhere else. If you want access to thousands of free classics without any hassle, these free apps can help you out.

iPhone and iPad

‘Free Books - 23,469 Classics To Go - The Ultimate Ebooks And Audiobooks Library In Your Pocket’ is an app that might not have the catchiest name but it has some great features, such as, you guessed it, 23,469 free books to download. Also included is a great night reading mode and a convenient dictionary tool for looking up words instantly. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay to download audiobooks with this app, with a $4.99 fee granting access to 4727 audiobooks.

Android 
Oodles is a free app that has a selection of over 50,000 free ebooks to download. With some other great features that make reading on a screen more pleasant, such as resizable text and adjustable brightness, it’s the best choice for Android.

Do you read ebooks? Let us know your favourite classics in the comments below, or get chatting in The Book Club.

 

Siri

How to make Siri work for you

 

Ryan Boutland

Voice-recognition technology has come a long way in the last decade, these tips can show you how to get the most out of (or just have some fun with) your iPhone’s or iPad’s personal assistant, Siri.

While these tips are for Apple’s voice-recognition software, the pronunciation tips below may also work for other smartphone voice-recognition software too.

How to access Siri

Simply hold in the Home button, located underneath your iPhone’s or iPad’s screen, to activate Siri. Now talk into the phone. Siri will detect when you’ve stopped talking, or you can press the Home button to tell her.

Help Siri understand you

1. Try to talk quickly and without pauses

Although the natural instinct is to speak slowly, speaking quickly and without any long pauses is the best way to talk to Siri. Try holding off on talking to Siri until you know exactly what you’re going to say; otherwise pauses might confuse her.

2. Learn the commands

Knowing the best way to phrase something will help Siri understand you. More on this below.

3. Correct her

Siri is not perfect, but she is pretty smart and can learn from mistakes (sometimes). To correct a mistake, tap her speech and your keyboard will pop up and allow you to edit her response, and she will hopefully learn from this. If she mispronounces somebody’s name, tell Siri “That’s not how you say that.” You will be asked to repeat the name and be given three different choices of pronunciation from which to choose. Siri will remember how to pronounce the name in the future.

What Siri can do for you

Siri can do plenty of things for you. For example:

·         she can search the internet for anything. To do this simply say “Google [say what you want to search here]”.

·         saying “Wake me up at 8:30” will set an alarm for tomorrow morning.

·         you can call people by saying “Call [contact name here]”, or send an SMS by saying “Message [contact name here]”.

·         if you tell Siri that “John Doe is my husband” or “Jane Doe is my daughter”, Siri will remember that this person from your contact list is your wife or son, so you can just say “Call my husband/daughter” in the future.

·         Siri can also remember a nickname for you, for example if you want to be called ‘The King’, open Siri and say “From now on call me The King”. Siri will then oblige your demands, your highness.

The best way to find out what Siri can do is to just ask and find out, or click here to see a comprehensive list of commands that Siri understands.

Have some fun

There are plenty of joke questions that are built into Siri. Some of my favourites are asking her to “Open the pod bay doors”, “Divide zero by zero” or asking, “What is the meaning of life?”.

Click here to see more fun things you can ask Siri.

Read more on Lifehacker.

Scam

Second scam, with my son’s explanation.

 

From: jdconnor@farmerstel.net [mailto:jdconnor@farmerstel.net]
Sent: Thursday, 9 July 2015 7:26 AM
To: joymay@tpg.com.au
Subject: Fwd: International Payment #: A968TS6X. Total Amount: 4582.12 Australian Dollars

 

New status message for joymay@tpg.com.au

International Payment: A968TS6X
Total Amount: 4582.12 Australian Dollars
Status: Completed

Please review the file given here to see more info about this issue.

 

Yes that's another scam, with nasty things hidden in the attached document. I did a scan on it which didn't pick anything up, so then I tried to open it and got this message,



So I opened it anyway, and because macros are disabled this is what I got,



Soooo, apparently all it wants me to do is enable macros so it can run "something" ? It's not a real document at all! Definitely a virus or trojan, hacking tool, etc.

You can have macros in PDF documents too, like the one you downloaded that you thought was from Australia Post. Don't know if it's actually a result of the A.P. scam email, but I would say it is definitely related, like some sort of door has been opened or the hackers have got hold of your email address and decided to test it (you) out. Don't be surprised if there's more to come and be careful of them.

 

 

Scams

I have recently received 2 scams I’d like to pass on for your information.

 

The first was from Australia Post, & certainly looked authentic.  I did click on Save Information Label, entered the number that was displayed & downloaded the PDF.  But Windows Defender warned me of the dangers, so didn’t open it. 

 

The explanation below this email is from my son &, I feel, well worth reading.  It may help you to check out any suspicious emails in the future. 

 

I have since done a Windows Defender full scan, & relieved no threats were detected. 

 

I’ll post the second email separately. 

 

JOYCE WALL An agent did not redeem the item to your address for the reason: you were away Print out shipping label and then go to mail office to collect the packet. Save information label Just in case the parcel isn't received within 30 serving days Our Company will have the reason to assert reimbursement from you for it's helping to keep in the total 2.41 AUD through each day of storing.

This is an automatically generated message. Unsubscribe Australia Post @ 2015

 

 

Yes it most certainly IS a scam.

If you hover your mouse over those links "supposedly" from Australia post,
"Save information label"
and
"Unsubscribe Australia Post @ 2015"
you will see down the bottom of your email the actual links which are
"http:// max.bcustom.ru/ system/logs/izsS6CYG.php?id= joymay@tpg.com.au"
and
"http:// max.bcustom.ru/ system/logs/izsS6CYG.php?id= joymay@tpg.com.au&action=unsubscribe"

The important part in these links is the first bit "http://max.bcustom.ru" with the "max.bcustom" being the actual address of the link (not Australia Post) and the ".ru" being the country the website/address was registered in. In this case .ru is short for Russia, where most of the scammers live/work from.

From the look of it if you clicked on any of these links, (..Save Information Label, then entered the numbers shown to download a PDF..) you very possibly have gotten a virus or trojan or worse. It obviously took you to its dodgey website, which is enough for them to get you alone, but to download anything at all, let alone a "so-called" PDF document, which are notorious for carrying/hiding trojans and viruses, is very bad.

I would seriously recommend a full system scan (might take hours?) with your anti-virus, and don't do anything private, like banking, logging on to anywhere, etc., until after it's done.

If ever you get emails from anyone you're not sure about, or don't usually get emails from, like Australia Post, your bank, the A.T.O. or any "official" company or government department, ignore the links in the emails and check with the company or department directly by phone or a legit website/email you've found searching Google or from somewhere you know is legit. Like you did ringing the P.O. and your friend Col checking for you personally.

Unfortunately the crooks are getting smarter and smarter all the time and looking more realistic and legit especially if you don't double check everything. If you're lucky, Windows (Defender?) may have stopped them and protected you, but Windows can't always protect you from yourself, clicking on web links and downloading suspicious files/programs.

Apple

Apple Music free trial

Apple’s music streaming service is now available, heating up the competition in the music-streaming arena. But what does this mean for you? It means that for three months you can stream 30 million songs for free.

Apple Music has some tough competition, most notably Spotify, which already has a large share of the music-streaming market. To try and convert users, Apple is offering a free three-month trial. All you have to do is sign up for the service to receive three months for free.

How to get it

iPhone and iPad

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, you’ll need iOS 8.4 to use Apple Music. If you haven’t already updated your operating system, open up your device and go into ‘Settings’, tap ‘General’ and then tap ‘Software Update’. Tapping ‘Download and Install’ will begin the update process. Be sure to do this over wifi only, as it will use a lot of data otherwise. Once you are running iOS 8.4, tap the white ‘Music’ icon on your device.

PC and Mac

To use Apple Music on a desktop computer, you need to have iTunes installed and updated to the latest version (12.2). If you don’t have iTunes, click here to download it.

If your iTunes isn’t up to date, you can update it on your PC by opening iTunes and clicking on the dropdown menu in the top left hand corner of the screen, and then clicking ‘Show Menu Bar’. Now click ‘Help’ on the menu bar and select ‘Check for Updates’.

To update on a Mac, open iTunes and click the ‘iTunes’ dropdown menu located in the top left corner of the screen and then click on ‘Check for Updates’.

Android users have been promised to receive the streaming service later this year in September, but they will unfortunately not receive a free three-month trial.

Activate your trial

To sign up for a free trial, you will need a valid credit card. Activating your trial will sign you up for automatic payments until you choose to cancel them (read below for cancellation instructions).

To activate on an iPhone or iPad, simply open up the Music app and you will be given an option to activate a trial. Follow the prompts and you’re ready to start streaming. Remember that using this service will use internet data every time you listen to a song. So if possible, try to use it on wifi rather than mobile data.

To activate on Mac or PC open up iTunes and click on the ‘For You’ tab then follow the prompts.

Turn off automatic payments

Doing this will ensure that your free trial remains a free trial, unless you want to continue using and paying for the service. To do this on iPhone or iPad, open the Music app then tap the ‘Profile’ icon (the red silhouette in the top left corner), then tap ‘View Apple ID’. Now enter your password and tap ‘Payment Information’ then scroll down and tap ‘Manage’. Select Apple Music and toggle the ‘Automatic Renewal’ option to ‘Off’.

On Mac or PC, click on the ‘Profile’ icon (the silhouette of a person located in the top left corner), then click ‘Account Info’. Now navigate to ‘Settings’ and look for ‘Subscriptions’. Once you’ve found it, click the adjacent ‘Manage’ button. Select ‘Apple Music’ and toggle the ‘Automatic Renewal’ option to ‘Off’.