Category: Tg Topic

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How safe are iPads and other tablets without additional software protection?

A good question! I certainly can state that mobile banking is safer from a mobile device than from an internet browser because the latter can be compromised because it’s more open to the internet and issues that you install anti-malware software to protect you.

I would judge that the fact that as all software downloaded onto these devices go through a “shop” maintained and supported by the hardware vendor that they have done checks on the software and the supplier before releasing it through the shop. That’s a very powerful first step and is why I’m a strong supporter of these “shops” and would be distressed if some alternative means of downloading software onto a mobile device was allowed.

However, nothing protects you against yourself and that’s where the hints and tips in the third part of my “Protect yourself online” talk come into play.

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Mario’s laptop and Vista

On the Computer Group Zoom call today, Mario advised that his Sony Vaio machine was running slow when connected to the Internet and using Firefox.

The immediate suggestion was to clear the browser cache (Internet History and Cookies) but then it became apparent it was running Windows Vista as well.

Should Mario upgrade his laptop to Windows 10? That depends on the spec. of the machine – let us know Mario and perhaps we can give some advice.

Should the machine be upgraded to Linux rather than Windows 10. It might as well be because there’s no similarity between Vista and Windows 10, so there’s a learning curve anyway and Linux will run much quicker on an older machine AND the default browser on Ubuntu Linux is Firefox anyway.

So here’s a topic which anyone can comment upon and give advice and experience. For me, I think the Linux route is worth exploring. I’ve just “upgraded” an old Dell Inspiron laptop running Vista to Linux and it runs much faster than it did using Vista and it would never have taken Windows 10!

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Can my phone track my movements? Should I not allow this to happen?

A matter of personal choice.

If you’re using maps or navigation on your phone, it is pretty important to allow your phone to know where you are!!

If you don’t want adverts from a coffee chain, perhaps it’s a good idea to disable location services before you go into a cafe!

Or, if you don’t want anyone to know where you are (???) again perhaps a good idea to disable location services.

You can do this in quite a granular fashion, so you can switch off for the device, for the application on the device, or only when using the application on the device. That’s why it’s quite important to close down an application when you don’t need it, or aren’t using it, because it will continue tracking you after you think you’ve stopped using it!

Of course with the Covid-19 tracing capability Google and Apple have jointly worked upon, this relies on an element of location services to be working, but that’s to determine proximity of individuals and as I understand it, location is not stored on any central server.

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Is Libre Office compatible with Microsoft Office?

Yes, to a very high sense it is totally compatible. Only at the most advanced usage with advanced use of macros might there be a problem.

The same is true of OpenOffice but Libre Office has one advantage over OpenOffice in that it can both read and write .docx files – the default format for Microsoft Office. Open Office can only read .docx, but writes out in a slightly different format.

As I recall, LibreOffice can also read .PDF files. We covered this in a Computer Group meeting and without checking I can’t remember that for a fact off the top of my head.

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Do you need to use anti-virus software on a Mac?

Probably not.

I’ve just loaded Malwarebytes on our iMac and MacBook Pro computers – provided by our bank – and only found one piece of tracker code, on one machine, which was very old and most probably not active. I deleted it.

Macs have a very good history of not being hacked, and when they are they close the problem down very quickly. This is a benefit of Apple owning both the hardware and software and being able to control which of the latter is installed on MacOS.

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Using Paypal instead of Credit Cards

This was a question that was raised during the General Meeting discussions. PayPal has a Buyer Protection and Fraud Protection policy which for small transactions (ie <£100), and for transactions with companies/individuals you regularly do business with, is probably sufficient protection.

For large value items (ie >£100) and up to £30,000 you might prefer to choose using your credit card because of the Section 75 protection you get.