Sadly, it’s still January. (Who likes January?) Let’s get proactive about old scams and new opportunities.
What’s worse than Big Tech?
Some days it feels like the only thing less consumer-friendly than Big Tech is the health insurance industry. So the news thatcelebrity billionaire Mark Cuban is launching a cost-plus internet pharmacy, more or less as a public service, was intriguing. If he can pull this off–-essentially using the internet to democratize pharmaceutical distribution–-there’s potential for significant savings. And, having a big name attached means media scrutiny, so we’re more likely to hear of any issues.
PLEASE NOTE: this is NOT a recommendation, I have zero medical/insurance expertise/investment in the site. I’m giving it a try because a) I’m curious and b) it should save me a little money, even though they don’t accept insurance, and c) many of our clients seem to buy drugs from Canada. Will share how it goes. You can see what’s on offer here. Be sure to do the math for yourself!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .
We get a constant stream of questions about scams like:
“Your payment of $479.09 has been processed” for McAfee, Norton, Apple, etc.
“Here’s a free gift from” ATT/Bank of America/etc.
“Your bank account/credit card has been locked because of suspicious activity.”
“Your computer/phone has been infected with a dangerous virus”
Sooner or later, everyone gets these. You can minimize the risk by being smart about how you get to websites, and by knowing how to recognize and block spam texts/calls. Here are our latest tutorials on YouTube; remember that you can change the video speed, pause/rewind, even turn on closed captions, if it helps.
Top 8 Tips to Find Websites QUICKLY and SAFELY (Part 1: Tips 1-4) [2022]
Top 8 Tips to Find Websites QUICKLY and SAFELY (Part 2: Tips 5-8) [2022]
Block Unwanted Texts on iPhone or Mac (2022)
Six EASY Ways to Spot Email Fraud (and Text and Phone Fraud) (2021)
Goodbye, Google Backup and Sync
Google has a long history of launching and then dropping products, which can be a pain for the end user. (I’m still mad aboutPicasa). It appears that many of you who use Google Backup and Sync missed the notifications, but it’s been merged into Google Drive. Here aredetailed instructions about how to make the transition.
If you use Dropbox on a Mac
Hold off on installing the upcoming MacOS update (12.3) until Dropbox gets the bugs worked out. Might be smart to turn off Automatic Updates, too (here’s how).
Stay warm!