March already! I was on vacation from February 22nd until today, and I timed it perfectly - I was having fun in the sun during our first real snow of the year! While on the road I hope I returned every call, or replied to every email, but if I missed you, I apologize, and please get in touch.

February's SOTM stems from the calls I got while I was away, from people faced with the seemingly ubiquitous pop-up ad scams. The fix is simply to force quit your browser. Next, how to take control of your inbox with email filters. And lastly, if you are still running Windows 7 or 8, you need to make a decision about your next step right now!

Regards,

Julie Marto

508-359-8176
508-333-8176 (cell)

P.S. Time for a spring cleaning? Call me to schedule an annual visit!
SOTM: Stopping the Pop-Up Scammers
I see so many scam and hack attempts that I have added a feature to my newsletter called Scam of the Month. In these articles, I hope to explain common scams, how to avoid them, and what to do if you fall for one.

Last week, while on vacation, I took at least 5 emergency phone calls from existing clients who were in the middle of a pop-up ad scam attack and needed help. Fortunately, nobody called the scammers, so for each of those clients, the only fix that needed to be done was to force quit their browser.
Pop-up ad scam attacks are incredibly common and very effective. I have written in detail about them many times, most recently in my February 2022 newsletter. When you are in the middle of one, it seems as if your computer is locked up, and you can't do anything with it unless you call the number on your screen. Sometimes there is a loud alarm or a computerized voice giving you urgent instructions and telling you not to shut down your computer.

The important thing to know is that YOU are not infected - the WEBSITE you are on is infected. The bad guys out there managed to connect a full screen advertisement onto the website that makes it seem as though Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, or some other legitimate organization is alerting you to a virus, and you need to call them IMMEDIATELY to get it fixed. DO NOT CALL AND DO NOT LET THEM ON YOUR COMPUTER. All you need to do to make this advertisement go away is force quit your browser.

I've written up these instructions before, but this time I've created a cheat sheet for future reference. I want you to print out this email, cut out the steps that apply to your computer, and put it somewhere you can easily find if you need it. Of course, if you find yourself with a malicious popup ad and are unable to follow the steps, or continue to have issues after force quitting. your browser, feel free to give me a call!
Windows
If you need more help call:
Julie Marto
ComputerMom
508-333-8176
  • Hit the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys at the same time
  • In the box that pops up, choose "Task Manager"
  • In the box that pops up, choose your browser (usually Chrome, Edge, or Firefox)
  • Choose "End Task", then click on "okay"
  • When you restart your browser, make sure you don't choose any option to restore the previous session

Mac
If you need more help call:
Julie Marto
ComputerMom
508-333-8176
  • Click on the Finder icon (the little two headed guy) in your toolbar
  • Click on the "Apple" menu in the top left hand corner
  • Choose "Force Quit"
  • Choose the name of your browser (usually Safari, Chome, or Firefox) and click on "Force Quit"
  • Click on "Force Quit" again
  • When you restart your browser, make sure you don't choose any option to restore the previous session

Filtering Your Email
Whether you keep every email that comes to you, or you like to keep a clean inbox, it's always best to keep things organized. And almost every email system comes with a way to automate the organization, generally called filtering the email.
Email filters are used to automatically sort incoming emails and file them where you want them to go. When emails go into your spam folder, they are being filtered at the server. However, you can set up your own filters to automate email organization according to your own criteria and what works best for you.

I use email filters to keep the shopping offers that I actually might want out of my main inbox - the venders where I shop frequently are allowed to send me marketing emails, but those emails automatically go into a folder I call shopping. I also use filters to keep social media notifications out of my main inbox - those go immediately to their own folder as well.

Every email system has the ability to create filters, and this is an area where you can really take control of your inbox. The fundamental steps are similar for all platforms:

  1. Create and name a folder for your filtered email to be automatically moved to
  2. Find emails that you wish to be filtered in your inbox, and use the information in them to create a rule
  3. Apply the rule to your inbox

Here are the specific steps for several common email systems:

Outlook:
  • Start in the inbox of the email account you want to create a filter in
  • Choose the "Folder" tab on the ribbon, and click on "New Folder". Choose a name for your new folder and click on "OK"
  • Right click on an email you want to have filtered, choose "rules", and then click on "always move messages from (email address)"
  • Choose your new folder from the box that pops up, and click on "ok"

MacMail:
  • Folders here are called "mailboxes". Starting in the inbox of the account you want to create a filter in, choose "Mailbox" and then "Create new mailbox" from the menu bar. Name your new mailbox and click "OK"
  • Open an email you want to have filtered
  • Choose "Mail", then "Settings" from the menu bar. In the box that pops up, click on the "Rules" tab
  • Click on "Add Rule" In the box that pops up, name your rule (I usually name it the same name as the mailbox) and check to make sure it has pulled the correct "from" address from your open email. Under "perform the following actions" choose your new mailbox
  • Click on "OK" and then "Apply" in the box that pops up

Gmail:
  • Folders here are called "labels". Click on the + sign next to labels to create and name a new label - you can choose to nest it under another category if that makes most sense to you
  • Open an email you want filtered, and click on the three dots. Choose "Filter messages like these"
  • In the box that opens, you will see it has filled in the "from" field. if you want to choose other ways to identify the emails you want filtered, you can do that in this box. otherwise, click on "create filter"
  • in the next box, choose "apply label" and select the label you have just created. You can also choose other options. If you'd like you can choose "also apply filter to matching messages". When you have selected the options you want, click on "create filter"

AOL:
  • Click on "+ New Folder" and type in a name for your folder, then hit the enter key
  • Open an email you want filtered, and click on the three dots. Choose "Filter messages like these"
  • Choose the new folder you just created, then click on "save"

I find filtering emails to be an easy and effective way to keep my inbox under control. If you would like some help setting up email filters for your own inbox, feel free to give me a call!
Stop Using Windows 7 or 8
Windows 7 was one of Microsoft's most popular operating systems, and, when it was replaced by Windows 8 in 2012, quite a few people didn't want to move on. Windows 8 was one of Microsoft's least popular operating systems, and very few people actually used it. Regardless, if you are still using either of these operating systems, it is long past time to upgrade your system.
When Microsoft ends mainstream support for a product, they sometimes add a period of "extended support", where they continue to provide paid security updates for commercial clients. Individual end users often get access to the most critical of those updates as well - it doesn't do Microsoft any good to have unpatched systems out there. However, even that period of "extended support" comes to a close, and extended support ended for Windows 7 in January of 2023. Windows 8, not being a particularly popular operating system, will not have the same type of extended support that Windows 7 users enjoyed. Microsoft support for Windows 8 ended on January 10, 2023.

So, what to do? If your system came with either of those operating systems originally, I can still upgrade you to Windows 10. However, Windows 10 general support will end in October of 2025, and there is little chance your system can be upgraded to Windows 11. So, you really have two options - a stopgap measure of a Windows 10 upgrade, or purchasing a new Windows 11 system.

If you are in this situation, you really need to take action now. I'm happy to help you decide - just give me a call and we can figure out your best path forward.