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This category intends to explore any knowledge item that is tied to current or future technology.

iMac Problem Of Not Getting Internet.

iMac Problem Of Not Getting Internet.

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NOTE: This computer problem ONLY came about because our house has the option to connect both WiFi and Ethernet connections to our computers.  I suspect that Apple changed their recent operating system to allow for this conflict.  Both  Wi-Fi and Ethernet to be turned on at the same time into your computer.

CAUTION:  The following descriptions and solutions can be rather difficult to understand.  If my explanations are not clear to you, do NOT attempt any of these changes.  If you attempt to make any changes to any computer settings, please write each change down so you can back out if things do not work better.

I have been using iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) for years and began having problems after the Big Sur software was provided (11.5.2).  Over time, I noticed that my iMac was acting very slow (probably unrelated to this main issue).  Then, all of a sudden my iMac failed to connect to the Internet.  It seemed that my problem was with our Internet cable provider.  I was wrong.  A technician came to our house and spent two hours evaluating our system and thinks that the Internet signal coming into the house was just a bit too weak.  He installed an amplifier to boost the signal coming into our house.  He got my iMac to work also by switching out a 1 by 3 with a 1 by 2 cable splitter.  He also was suspicious of our Macintosh Airport Time Capsule unit not performing properly.   But, the next day my iMac failed to show an Internet signal.  What is going on?  I did some research using my cell phone while having lunch with my wife at a restaurant.   The best advice I found, that helped me pinpoint this problem, was to disconnect every device from the iMac and reboot the computer.  Then see if all those disconnected devices made the computer work.  Well, the computer did work perfectly with all those cables removed.  I then reconnected each cable, one at a time, and restarted the computer to view the result.  I found that this pinpointed the problem exactly. I found out that when I connected my Ethernet cable to my iMac, the Internet failed.   I think this was because I always use WiFi to get Internet into my iMac.  So TWO Internet signals were flowing into my iMac.  This is rather odd.  You would think that Apple would have automated this not to happen.  My wife has an iMac and has BOTH WiFi going into her computer at the same time.  But she was told by her employer IT department NOT to upgrade her system until they checked it out for bugs.  So, she is using Catalina 10.15.7.   I went to her computer and discovered that I could NOT activate WiFi and Ethernet at the same time.  The Macintosh programmers with her system had avoided this conflict problem.  So, it seems that the newer update is possibly flawed on my computer.  If this is true, then over two hours of my cable system provider was wasted as well as hours of my time.

Troubleshooting method:

I used two applications to show me if there was a problem or not on my computer screen.  These two computer programs would definitely show me failure because both show very nice large windows on my computer screen:

  1.  Airport Utility was important for showing me if we were getting the Internet cable provider signal or not.  At the top of the this display screen is a round globe, probably representing the Earth.  Just below this globe shows whether I am connected to the Internet or not.  The color dot before the word Internet is what you need to check.  Green is good WiFi connection.

 

2.  Ring Doorbell computer application was also pretty nice in that it was a go or no go revealing I had a problem or not.   This application would fail to show my Ring cameras and doorbell if my home WiFi input system failed.  I used both these empirical indicators as my test meters.  I had both these applications opened on my computer screen during all my tests.

Solutions:

  1. Unplug the Ethernet Cale going into your computer.  This is the most simple solution.  This assumes that your WiFi is working and turned ON at your computer.  It also assumes that you favor Wi-Fi over Ethernet.  If you do not get a signal into your computer, then go into the System Preferences > Network and turn that port on (explained next).
  2. The next solution is way more complicated and requires more steps to complete.  But, this system gives you more specific control, if you understand this process.  Go into your System Preferences by mouse clicking the apple logo in the top left corner of your screen.  Select System Preferences from the rather long drop down menu.  This will then show you a really large list of system operation options for you to modify.  Mouse click on the Network menu option.

Once Network is chosen, you should see all the individual signals going in and out of your computer.  In the image below, you can see that my computer had BOTH Ethernet and Wi-Fi turned on!  The solution was to turn OFF Ethernet and turn ON Wi-Fi.  It is my opinion that Apple programmers made a mistake by allowing both Ethernet and Wi-Fi to be active.  On my wife’s iMac, the programmers had solved this problem.

 

The above configuration was my problem because, as you can see BOTH Ethernet and Wi-Fi are connected!  I went into the menu and turned off Ethernet as seen in the image below.

The way you turn on and off any signal connection using this system preference is to look just below the list of connections where you will see this very small control panel at the bottom.  I enlarged this panel image below for you to identify it better.

 

The + is used to add a new signal.  (Do not use this right now)

The – is used to delete a signal source shown in the list above.  (Do not use this right now)  

The above menu item shown above is what you need to look at.

Mouse click on any signal input and this small menu item gives you the option to turn that signal OFF if it is currently ON.  It also allows you to turn that signal ON if it is currently OFF.  If Ethernet shows on the list, you can then turn it off.  I recommend that you do not remove it as you may want to turn it on some time in the future.  Make sure that WiFi is turn on if that is your favorite method for getting Internet.

OPTION: 
You can also reverse the above instructions and turn OFF WiFi and turn ON Ethernet.  It is your choice.  But, if you have my problem that the computer fails with both on, then make sure you choose one or the other.  

OPTION:
My house has both Ethernet and WiFi.  If your home system is the same BUT you have a failure with one of those systems, then go to your computer and make sure the signal system in your home that IS working is now turned on at your computer so your computer can continue to receive Internet signals.

 

 

Posted August 30, 2021

Alleged Any Desk Application Scam

Alleged Any Desk Application Scam

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Alleged Any Desk Application Scam

 

July 2, 2021 I get a call from 667-203-6635 (11:35 am Pacific Time). and the man at the other end of the call claims to be working for Amazon security. He asked me if I just purchased an iPhone for $729?  I replied no. That person then said that one of my electronic devices was compromised to make this purchase.  He warned me not to use my cell phone in any location where I need to use public WiFi.  He then told me that Amazon needs to gain access to my computer using a special software so they could rid my computer of the bad software being used to make these purchases.  (My wording is not exact.  I only try to convey the proper movement of the conversation.)  I am then instructed to use Safari and go to the web site “https://anydesk.com/en” and click on “download now”.  I follow the instructions which get to be a bit complicated because I have to open the Apple System Preferences and then Security & Privacy to allow their software to gain control of my computer.   A second person, a supervisor, needs to take over the phone instructions because the first person can not get “anydesk” to load properly.  I am a bit suspicious because the two men that I have conversations with have deep foreign accents.  I find the time to walk over to my wife who is at her desk and ask her to check on Amazon using the software “anydesk.com” on her computer.   She did a search and found that this software is used to scam.  She can not find that Amazon uses this method to solve issues.  I hang up and delete the anydesk software.  I then go into my bank account to see if there was any recent payment to Amazon for $729 for the alleged cell phone.  There was no Amazon payments which also proved that this was a scam.  I then filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission Fraud web page.

I keep getting return phone calls.  This is my list of phone numbers:

  • #2:  855-658-6637. Date:  7/2/2021. Time:  12:31 pm Pacific Time
  • #3:  279-657-6632. Date:  7/2/2021. Time:  1:04 pm Pacific Time
  • #4:  805-637-7243. Date:  7/3/2021. Time:  7:51 am Pacific Time

I then ran a virus scan on my computers and then a malware scan.

NOTE:  Any Desk is a very good legitimate software that is allegedly being used for illegal use by bad people.  Please do NOT diminish the value of this software just because it may be used for incorrect purpose.  App Store gives this a 4.7/5 score which is pretty good.

 

 

Posted July 2, 2021
Revised H1 July 11, 2022

Facebook Should Not Be In A Safe Harbor

Facebook Should Not Be In A Safe Harbor

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Opinion

Facebook is currently protected by a legal provision called “safe harbor”. The legal definition is that it gives legal protection from liability under specified conditions.

Safe harbor is necessary for such industries that provide the pipes through which data flows because their only purpose is to link two opposing points with information. They do not create the content, they provide the connections between the send and receive points. They should not be responsible for the content they move through their pipes, thus the safe harbor legal provision. The key point in this is these companies must not create any data content.

The phone company links homes and businesses with voice and computer signal data so does internet service providers. The phone company does not create the content; it just move it from place to place.

Visually think in you mind that this company as a pipe company. Pipe companies should not, normally, be sued for what passes through their pipes.

Facebook creates content and moves content. It does two things at the same time. It is similar to the phone company and also a news paper company. Yet, Facebook uses safe harbor as an excuse not to receive any legal claims against it for the content it creates from its “reporters”.  Facebook’s safe harbor arguments are utterly false and legally stupid at any simple level of common reason. Facebook does move content that they do not create thus hugging the safe harbor protection. But, they do create the content when it is put up to their web site platform. Their web site platform now can be thought of as a newspaper creating content. Private text messages between Facebook members would be a pipe movement but once a member puts up any display of a still image, movie, or pronouncement, then those individuals are Facebook “reporters”. Facebook becomes like a newspaper and the person putting up that type of information is acting like a reporter for a newspaper. In once sense, Facebook is a type of electronic newspaper because it is a vehicle of display, not a pipe.  In fact, Facebook “is a fully fledged news organization on a scale we have never seen”.

https://hbr.org/2011/03/facebook-is-the-largest-news-o

With that type of content, Facebook must act to supervise within a reasonable time to remove such content that offends, creates or transmits disinformation, is inflammatory, libelous, or could suffer legal actions against it. In other words, Facebook must not be protected with the provisions of safe harbor.

The United States currently has offered safe harbor protection for Facebook, allegedly for political reasons.   Some of the Facebook staff are Donald Trump supporters such as Peter Thiel a Facebook Inc. board member.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-01/peter-thiel-praises-trump-pledges-to-support-his-2020-campaign

 

Posted May 31, 2019

Cruise To Alaska and Canada Technology Problems

Cruise To Alaska and Canada Technology Problems

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Cruise Line: Princess Cruises
Cruise Ship: Island Princess
Cruise: 7 Day Alaska – Inside Passage
Cell Phone Service Provider: T-Mobile
Phone: LG-V30
Date: May 1 to May 8, 2019

I do recommend Princess Cruise 7 Day Alaska – Inside Passage.  This blog post only criticizes some external factors that were a surprise to me.

Our cruse ship does offer Internet service for a fee that I think is quite high.  We decided not to pay for that service.

I am a bit of a news and weather interested person.  At home, I check both news and weather frequently.  The trip to Alaska was wonderful in many ways except for receiving news back in the main states and weather around me and for my next destination.  Weather in Alaska can change quickly and it would be nice to plan how to dress for the day before leaving my cabin.

None of my cell phone weather applications would show up to date weather during our stay in Alaska and Canada.  No weather applications worked while in Vancouver Princess Cruises dock, over 4 hours duration at dock.

None of my cell phone news applications would update and store more current news for most of the trip.  Even when arriving at Vancouver and docked better part of a day my news applications failed.

The Weather Underground application would fail to open and update way more frequently than Yahoo Weather even when back home where there is rock solid Internet.

For most of the trip, lousy e-mail into my cell phone. T-Mobile’s coverage map for Alaska and Canada is way less than the main part of the United States but it does show some coverage in places we traveled. Why then this failure?

For some reason, text messages did work at times.  At the end of the trip I traded texts with friends on board ship while in Vancouver.

Odd:  Starbucks cell phone application did work in Vancouver while weather applications failed.

In Vancouver, about a 15 minutes bus drive from boat dock to airport, I got weather application to work but frequent signal dropouts.

At Vancouver Airport Terminal. Weather applications did function.  But, not NEWS!

Our cruse ship TV failed to provide any weather channel. The only option we could find was to watch the BBC because they show the world weather as part of their news but it is a large over view lacking any detail. There was a channel dedicated to the ship’s course on a map including the current outdoor temperature only at the ship’s current location.

The AP News application updated very slowly.  I must keep the application open for AP to receive updates, it seems.  When in the air and no Internet, the full story text is missing.  This application sucks for later reading almost as bad as all the other news applications.  The New York Times would still not updating, a near total waste.

Weather Underground application started showing temperatures for locations but no expanded weather information.

The New York Times cell phone application fails to show last stories but shows white screen.  Once it updated with few days old stories and then removed them for much older stories.  Really weird and stupid.

At the end of our trip and at the Portland Oregon Airport, I was finally able to sync my Fitbit Ionic to my cell phone Fitbit application and then the Ionic now showed the correct time!!!  So for most of the trip, my Fitbit Ionic showed the incorrect time by one hour because we moved into another time zone. Why the Ionic fails to synchronize to the cell phone application time by Bluetooth is really stupid.

Portland Oregon Airport provided good cell phone connectivity.

Note:  The cruse ships are made of thick steel and as such are really shielded from cell tower signals.  The further inside you go into the ship the chance of receiving any cell phone signal is minute.   It is my guess that one may need to go outside those shield confines to increase your chance to get good phone service.  We did, at times, walk on outside decks but it was very, very, cold to do so.

Solution:  Because the weather in Alaska can change and my cell phone weather applications failed me and day trips are away from getting to needed change of clothing, I decided to take along a comfortable, rather small, back pack made by Eagle Creek (no longer made).  It has enough space for a rain jacket or pack able jacket and two side pouches for umbrellas and water bottles and a back pouch for snacks and first aid kit.

Summary: Once home I realized that not much had taken place in the United States for the week we were out of touch with the news. The ship did provide free TV in our rooms with a good selection of news channels. Problem is, I spend so little time in my cabin. I rather read the news in the dinning rooms. As for weather, absolutely no provided information from the ship and my cell phone.  My cell phone, T-Moblie service provider, really was quite awful in Alaska and even in larger cities of Canada, such as Vancouver. It was not until I got into Washington and Oregon that it provided good service.

 

Posted May 11, 2019
Choosing Which Multiple Home Wi-Fi Access Point To Use May Be Important.

Choosing Which Multiple Home Wi-Fi Access Point To Use May Be Important.

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I have two wireless access points in my home.  The main access, Apple Time Capsule, shows 12 Wi-Fi devices connected.  That Time Capsule gets our cable signal directly.  The second access point, Apple Airport Express, only had one Wi-Fi device connected and gets it’s signal from an Ethernet feed from our router.  Both my wife in the kitchen and I in the dinning room were watching the 2018 FIFA World Soccer match using Spectrum Live TV application.  That application is excellent!  Her computer was connected to the primary access by Wi-Fi.  I could hear both computers at the same time when I entered the kitchen door, which is half way between the two computers.  They were not in sync.  The delay factor was huge, way over 10 seconds.  My computer was way behind my wife’s in delay of audio and video.  I then looked to see which access point my computer was using.  It was the same as my wife.  We have a second access point, an Apple Airport Express being fed Ethernet from our router.  That device had only one device connected to it.  I changed to this second access point and now my audio and video was way ahead of the computer in the kitchen.  The lesson for me is that the choice of Wi-Fi access point is important.  I also hope that the buffer errors, picture and audio stopping, will diminish.

Still unknown are the factors that make up the sync errors.  Is it that one device has to service twelve devices while the other only services one device?  Is the Apple Time Capsule electronically slower due to it’s more extensive electronics?

Posted July 15, 2018