Question, Believe, and Find (this is a microblog/’tweet’)

#Question, and question, until you understand better. #Believe that you will find a good answer. Cynicism leads to lack of inquiry and lack of discovery. Believing that you can seek and find leads to truth.
–from #anonymous so to speak.

P.S. #questions can lead to #truth and #light, and then #hope. I do #believe.

p.p.s. side-note: twitter did not actually invent #microblogging. it’s only the most famous example of microblogging (which is really just a digital way of #microjournaling) Many people microblog via facebook or instagram.

How to Take a picture of what’s on your screen?!

Trying to show someone what’s on your screen?!  Frustrated because you don’t know how.  Well here you go:

  • Windows — use “Snipping Tool”;
    you can find it on your Start Menu, OR by pressing the ‘windows’ button towards the bottom left of your keyboard.
  • Mac laptop/desktop (MacOS) — use __ or the keyboard combos for it — Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4;
    or search for it via Spotlight (little magnifying glass at top right) – search for “Screenshot.”1
  • Android — press the buttons for ‘down volume’ and ‘power’ at the same time.  Then let go.
  • iPhone/iPad’s (iOS) — press the ‘side button’ and ‘volume up’ buttons at the same time.  Then let go.
  • Linux/BSD/GNU — search for and/or install the “Screenshot” app.

There you go, now you can Save it and then Share it with yourself or friends!

#1 – Couldn’t remember the name of the Mac app but I found it at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

3 levels of backups! (iPhone / iPad)

Many of us know to make backup copies of our files (photos, videos, and other documents) but don’t do it regularly.

Well here are 3 easy ways to do that!
And yes, you want 3 copies just in case things go really bad! 🙂

  1. Use a ‘cloud’ service like iCloud to make copies of all your important files. (Android users, see Google Drive or Dropbox, etc.)
    Go to your “Settings” to see if you have it turned on:
    *
  2. Periodically plug in your device to your laptop/desktop, and then with iTunes manually back it up by clicking “Back Up Now”! Lastly, setup a Reminder* or Notification on your iPhone to remind yourself to do this weekly or monthly!*
  3. And then copy those files to an external hard drive that you store inside of a fire safe OR a memory stick that you keep in your pocket or purse on your keyring!

Images and idea for Reminder from appletoolbox.com/extra-level-backup-ipad-iphone
Note: i also put a star next to “Notification” above because I’m thinking of a different app — Google Calendar — really doesn’t matter whether you use iOS’s Reminders or notifications from another app to get the job done. Tis just personal preference.

Sign up for Apple’s security announcements!

Use an iPhone or iPad or another Apple product like one of their excellent laptops or maybe the Apple Watch?

Then you really need to get security notifications of when they have problems.

To do so, go to lists.apple.com > “Lists hosted on this site” > “Security-announce” and subscribe. Put in your email address.

It’s usually a few emails every couple of months but today there were a LOT:

Yes, your device will let you know when there is an update but these emails serve as a 2nd reminder to not procrastinate updating!
AND they contain links to more info if you have questions on the Update process.

I highly recommend signing up!

P.S. The direct link for the sign-up page is https://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/security-announce
Just put in an email address and click Subscribe:

(the name and password boxes are Optional. Just skip them.)

That’s it! Do it! 🙂 You’ll thank yourself later!

Need a screenshot? Am loving Firefox’s built-in tool.

Just wanted to do a micro-blog post here about the Screenshotting tool in Firefox.  I love it!  Screenshots from websites are what I mostly do so having it right in the browser instead of having to do a keyboard combo on Mac or open Snipping Tool on Windows makes it really convenient.  It has a page block or element feature that is better than any screen shot tool/app that I’ve seen so far.  Thank you,  Mozilla Foundation!

Subscribe to security/release announcements!

Most people could avoid getting their computers/devices hacked or their website(s) getting hacked if they would just stay informed about new releases for their programs/apps!

For example, a whole lot of sites run WordPress.

And the WordPress programmers have an announcements list letting you know periodically about security updates — subscribe to it @ http://wordpress.org/list

Do the same for ANY software you use — that includes apps on your phone — if the app/software doesn’t have an announcements list to let you know about updates then you might want to think twice about installing the app/program/software!!

All the good developers who care about security provide such a service — either in the form of an email list that you can subscribe to or a RSS feed that you can load in your email reader.

Stay on top of security; just do it!  🙂