Category Archives: Computers

Don’t Do What You’re Told

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I was listening to the news this morning as they talked about a new practice called “smishing.” It’s related to what’s been called phishing, where you get an e-mail telling you that your bank account will be closed unless you take action or that the FBI wants to contact you or the IRS has money for you or some such thing. Their goal is to get you to go to their site and enter your personal information.

Smishing is similar, except it uses SMS, otherwise known as text messages. People get a text with a link to follow or a number to call, along with instructions that they need to take action about their credit card/bank account/refund or whatever.

The basic problem is that too many people do as they’re told. When it comes to computers, be careful who you’re listening to. Don’t just do as you’re told.

  • Take control. If Wells Fargo bank says you have a problem with your account, go to the Wells Fargo bank web site (which you find via Google if you don’t already know the address. Never follow a link sent to you in an e-mail or text from a stranger!)
  • If an error message box pops up saying that you have a virus, don’t use the anti-virus protection they offer. Choose your anti-virus software ahead of time, and run it if there seems to be a problem.
  • Ignore computer warnings that come in an e-mail that a friend got from a friend who got it from a co-worker who received it in a mass mailing. If “Microsoft said this is the worst virus ever,” the info will be on the Microsoft site.
  • Please don’t repost things on Facebook just because someone says “Repost this to everyone you know.” If it’s good advice on how to fix a Facebook setting, it should tell you where to read that advice on a reputable site. (And if it’s just some guilt trip about “if you really care, you’ll do this,” then please spare the rest of us)

Basically, don’t do what you’re told. Except in this case. Do what I’m telling you.

‘Cause I’m right. As always. :-)

About Steve Jobs

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photo by Matthew Yohe

I was jokingly asked yesterday if I was in mourning. Mourning over Steve Jobs. Actually, I’m surprised to find that I’m not particularly sad.

I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m a Mac fan. I’ve used Macintosh computers since 1988 and have never really had much interest in using any other kind. I’ve also had an iPod Touch, and now I have an iPhone.

I respected Job’s genius. He was very good at what he did… and he did a lot of things. I also know, from all accounts that I’ve read, that he wasn’t a particularly nice person. And I know that he had moved away from his Christian faith; hopefully he embraced it again before leaving this world.

I don’t know much about his family. He was a private man. I don’t know who was directly touched by his passing. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel the pain.

My dad died in May. Good friends like Beverly Rama and Joey Tamez have passed away recently. When you’ve recently grieved over people that you knew and loved, it’s hard to get worked up over a public figure.

I hate death. I consider it an enemy, one that will eventually be conquered completely. I hate what it does to those left behind. I feel for those that are hurting over the death of Steve Jobs. It’s too late to pray for Steve, but I’ll offer a prayer on their behalf.

This sounds a bit cold and callous. I certainly don’t mean it that way. I’ve felt sorry for Steve Jobs for a long time, as I do for many famous people. They’ve gotten so much of what the world is after, and I know for a fact it’s not enough. Steve was rich, powerful and successful. And I wouldn’t trade my life for what his was.

Let’s comfort the mourning. And minister to the living. That’s what I intend to do.

Computers and Me

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My dad was a math professor. One day he brought home a programmable calculator. Among other things, you could type in a series of instructions and get it to play a basic Battleship game. I thought that was pretty cool.

I worked as a graduate assistant in the Communication Department at ACU, teaching freshman speech. One of the other GAs had an Apple ][ computer. Wow! Then, the next semester, one of my friends got one of those new computers: a Macintosh. Wow!!

Following that semester, I went to Argentina as a missionary apprentice. One job that I stepped into was preparing a bulletin for the congregation we worked with. I used an IBM Selectric typewriter (the one where you could change “fonts” by switching the type ball) and did real cut and paste, with scissors and glue. I also learned to use Letraset, which allowed me to do special effects with headlines.

While I was in Argentina, my dad bought a computer. He mainly used it for WordStar, a powerful word processor. It was far from user friendly, but it got the job done.

When I returned to the States, I also returned to ACU to complete my Master’s in Communication. One of my fellow GAs, J.D. Wallace, had an electronic typewriter. It allowed you to type in different sizes, to do bold and italics, and even stored a page in memory so that you could go back and do corrections.

J.D. and I did a project together. I spent time putting together the cover, carefully using Letraset to produce a professional looking document. I had seen the jagged graphics put out by computers and was smug in knowing that my painstaking handiwork had created something so much nicer. I remarked to J.D., “Let’s see a computer do that.” To which he replied, “They can do that.” And my world officially changed.

It was one of those moments in life where I thought I had some money. Several thousands dollars can seem like a lot to a college student. So I decided to go computer shopping. One of my friends, Doug Brown, had let me use his Mac some. As he extolled the virtues of the Mac over the PC, I was sold. I wanted a Mac.

At that time, there was one store in Abilene that sold Macs. I’m not sure how, because their prices and service were terrible. At least the salesman had no interest in wasting time on a college student. I finally made the drive to Dallas to buy my Mac. The salesman I spoke with had been raised as a missionary kid in Africa. He understood the issues of taking a computer overseas. (I was already committed to go to Argentina; I was soon to be committed to marry as well, but that’s another story) I bought my Mac and made the happy trek home.

In those days, Macs came without much software. For a while I had a computer that couldn’t do much of anything. And it took me a while to get a printer, spending $200 on a dot matrix that took 6 minutes to print one page. (!) Eventually I’d buy a 20MB hard drive ($400) and add a second megabyte of memory (another $400).

I’ve bought a number of computers since then. But that was my beginning in the computer world. The other day on Twitter, I commented to someone that I had bought my first Mac in 1988. They replied, “I was born in 1988.”

Sigh…