Toledo PC Users’ Group
A Forum for Personal-Computer Users — September, 2007
September Program: Wireless Network, presented by Kenton Miller.
Monday, August 27, 2007 at 7:30 PM, UAW-Local-14 Hall, Jackman & Northover (between Laskey & Alexis Rd), Toledo, Ohio.
In
This Issue ...
TPCUG Data
From the Prez
Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Computer-Investing-Group Meeting
Wikipedia does not know PC-user-groups
TOLTBBS Information
TPCUG’s
Website:
http://www.toledopcug.net
Coming Meeting: Monday,
October 1, November 5, December 3.
The Toledo PC Users’ Group
P.O. Box 13085
Toledo, OH 43613
Officers
President: Floyd Miller
Vice-President: Rick Snyder
Treasurer: Steve Tryc
Secretary: Sándor Halász
Standing Committees
Computer Shows: Steve
Tryc
Librarian: Open
Membership: Roy Ballogg
Programs:
Lester Miller
Public Relations: Lavern & Eugene
Curtis
Complaint Dept.: Helen Waite
SIG Leaders
Internet SIG: Jim Bell ............ 419-877-1109
Statement of Intent: The Toledo PC Users’ Group is a not-for-profit corporation, formed to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information regarding the use and enjoyment of personal computers.
Affiliations: TPCUG is a member of APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups), which provided the APCUG logo.
Meetings:
Meetings are generally held the first Monday of each month, at
UAW-Local-14-Hall, 5411 Jackman Rd., Toledo, OH. In the event of
emergency, members may be reached during meetings at a pay phone in
the hall, 419-473-9571.
Visitors are always welcome at monthly
meetings!
Executive-Board meetings are generally held
after the regular monthly meetings.
Membership: Dues are $25. per year. To obtain an application, call any officer or member.
Moving? Notify the Membership Chair to redirect your newsletters.
Copyright 2007: The Toledo PC Users’ Group, the publisher of this newsletter, is a not-for-profit organization. Although it asserts a copyright for the newsletter, permission is granted to reprint this publication in whole or in part for any noncommercial use, with credits acknowledged.
Newsletter Deadline is the 15th of each month. All members are encouraged to contribute articles and reviews for this newsletter. Submissions may be made by email to the editor.
Advertizing: Business cards (2”×3½”) will be run in three issues for $5. Commercial ads: $10 for ¼ page; $20 for ½ page; $30 for ¾ page; $40 for full page. Larger ads are run in two issues from a graphics format, JPEG or GIF or … Members may place free ads for the sale of computer-related personal items on a space-available basis. Contact editor for details.
Production Notes: This newsletter was compiled with Microsoft Word 6 for Windows, Open Office 1.1.5, Brief, and Notepad.
TPCUG Mailing List: If you have e-mail, keep in touch with club doings by subscribing to the TPCUG mailing list.
President's Message:
While rummaging from link to link (which often happens after reading an e-mail with several links) I came across the following which contains a great deal of practical information that has broad application. We are indebted to Community Newsletter: Q&A forum.
My laptop was stolen, what concerns should I have?
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) Moderator—8/23/07 4:58 PM
Question:
My wife and I had two laptops stolen from our room in an upscale hotel in Norfolk, Virginia last Saturday night. My question is somewhat open-ended. Is a concern justified for identity theft from the info available on the machine? Having owned the laptops for 1 to 2 years and using them as the primary home/travel computer, it is safe to say that everything was on the hard drive. Not only the 20GB of pictures, nor the finance stuff, or the research database, or all the cookies, etc.; even the money for the cost of the computers is poof—gone. What is the concern that the community would have for such a loss: identity theft, system hijacking, sleepless nights, having to buy new ones, and so on. In the future, in case of another loss, what are some solid security measures I can use to prevent someone from obtaining what I have on my laptops?
Also, is the hotel responsible for replacement? We knowingly closed the door behind us when we went out, only to come back to a door ajar with the laptops/bags gone. We do want the hotel to review the letter that we will be sending to the local newspaper and all the travel magazines, in the event that they deny payment. Any suggestions?
—Submitted by Dave of Onancock, Virginia
Answer voted most helpful by our members.
Reporting & Damage Control, Recovery, Preventative MeasuresHey Dave, You should be concerned. If I were you, here's what I'd do in three stages. The first two stages should be happening now and pretty close to simultaneously until complete. Part I is Reporting and Damage Control, Part II is Recovery, and Part III is Future Preventative Measures to avoid a similar situation.
Part I: Reporting and Damage Control - Obtain a copy of the police report associated with the theft.
- Contact the major credit bureaus. For you AND your wife, have them place a fraud alert on your credit reports for your SSAN and hers (initial fraud alert is good for 90 days and extendable up to 7 years), tell them you want a copy of your credit report (and ask them to ensure only the last four digits of your SSAN are shown on these reports), and get and additional information or advice they can give you: Equifax 1-800-525-6285, Trans Union 1-800-680-7289, or Experian 1-888-397-3742.
- Contact you credit card companies and tell them what happened; they should refer you to their anti-fraud department or some department with a similar name. They should offer to transfer your balance to a new card number and send you new cards. If fraudulent purchases have already been made, ask them how you go about disputing the fraudulent charges.
- If new, fraudulent accounts have been opened, report it to the local police where the account was opened and to the FTC (see step 9 below). Obtain an ID Theft Report from the local police and/or the FTC. While waiting for the latter report, contact the company with whom the account was opened. Tell them it is a fraudulent account and a case of ID Theft and a formal report will be forthcoming, and ask the company to explain to you how to go about disputing any charges.
- Contact your bank and other financial/investment institutions. They should offer to change your accounts, also.
- Do the same for any and all accounts you have that could be compromised: eBay, PayPal, BidPay, whatever.
- Do the same for mortgages or car loans or personal loans you have.
- Contact the police where you live and let them know what has happened, especially if you feel your safety is in question (most likely it is not, but still do it).
- Report what happened to the FTC's ID Theft Hotline, 1-877-438-4338, and ask them for any help they can provide
- Notify the Social Security Adminsitration, 1-800-772-1213. Let them know what happened. Get it on the record. In some instances, if fradulent use of you number occurs, you can get a new number.
- Now either take the money you have out of savings or borrow money in order to pay off all outstanding credit that you can; then close the accounts. Close the accounts means when you pay the balance off, tell the creditor you want the account closed.
Part II: Recovery - Report the theft to your household goods/homeowner insurance carrier. Many policies cover personal items stolen while traveling and some even offer coverage so you can have your locks changed at home, the cost of new drivers license if that number is compromised and must be changed, and more.
- If your insurance company says you're not covered, or if you do not have coverage, get a lawyer to look at your policy and to explain the laws in Virginia regarding hotel liability in a situation such as this.
- Open new accounts as required, since you closed all the old ones. Whenever possible, open the accounts such as MasterCard, Visa, whatever, with entirely new companies; that is, different companies from your previous accounts.
Part III: Future Preventative Measures - Subscribe to a credit monitoring service that monitors your credit and immediately reports significant changes in same; i.e., large purchases, unauthorized purchases, etc.
- Do not store any personal information on your travel computer's hard drive. If you need personal information when you travel, keep it on a flash drive. After you use your computer on line when traveling, run a sweeper and washer to clean all traces of your surfing off the laptop.
- Back up your laptop's hard drive at home on an external hard drive so you don't loose what's on your hard drive should this ever happen again.
—Submitted by Eradikator
Additional Information:
Google ftc identity theft
for a government website on what to do in detail.
The best thing you can do is get yourself covered with a protection
plan. Go to www.getcoveredrightnow.com and get the ID Theft Shield.
The adage Don't lock the barn door after the horse has been stolen
and a stitch in time saves nine
applies to the above described situation.
How many of us PCUSERS has given enough attention to this situation? I know
I haven't. This might be an item of discussion in a portion of a regular
meeting.
In case you have not become aware of it, the next meeting has been moved up to August 27th, since the first Monday in Sept is the Labor-Day Holiday. We hope to see you all there with a guest or two.
As always—Visitors are welcome—Members are expected.
Your Pres. FLOYD L. MILLER
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 19:32 by F. Miller, president.
The minutes were accepted.
S. Tryc said that there are $1169.14 in the account; there yet is the post-office–box and hall rent to pay. The treasurer s report was accepted, subject to audit.
Roy Ballogg was not present, but 9 members and one visitor, Paul Giltz, were.
L. Miller said that for the coming meeting he has nothing, but for October genealogy at the Holland branch library at 7pm, on McCord Rd north of the railroad.
Old bizness:
R. Snyder talked about the TPCUG e-mail list, and handed out a request summary and a list of e-mail addresses, from Jim Bell of TBBS.NET, on it. It was decided to purge the list of some; that fell to S. Halász to carry out.
New bizness:
E. Curtis said they had zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumber for the rest who will to take.
The meeting was adjourned at 20:02.
L. Miller showed a teaching video, of Windows Explorer and My Computer.
Respectfully submitted by Sándor Halász, secretary.
Treasurer’s Report
Balance Ending 7/15/07
Balance Ending 8/8/07
Steve Tryc, treasurer
Unknown to Wikipedia
It is noted in APCUG Reports volume 16 #2 that PC-user-groups are almost unknown to Wikipedia.