Topic: Pet Peeves!

[David]

Dude my mom is the WORST when it comes to that. She won't do anything that requires thinking and problem solving. Just finds some guy to do it. A lot of women are like that. Call me up and expect me to come over just to set up a router or go in and change settings. She couldn't even grasp the concept over the phone that you can access your router's settings by simply typing numbers (192.168.o.1) into the address bar. I know exactly what you mean.

You have a life too and you have your own predicaments to worry about. It would kill people to read a tutorial or (God forbid) even tinker with it themselves.

This woman I know, Lori, is taking a photography class and obviously what comes with that is some basic requirements for knowledge/skills in Adobe Photoshop. She was seriously struggling with it and I made the mistake of offering to help her. Next thing I knew, she came over to my house on a Saturday Morning like 5 minutes after I had woken up after working literally all day the day prior. She was banging on the door, had her desktop incuding her giant LCD screen, all in a box that she transported over to my house so I had to set all that up in my house JUST in order to access her files and show her what all she needed to do in Photoshop on her computer, for her assignments. It goes without saying, I ended up just doing almost all of her assigned work for her. She started hypervenitlating, going into a panic attack and popped a Xanax right in front of me when I told her she was going to have to do the rest of the work herself or else she wasn't going to learn!  I said you think Photoshop is frustrating? This program is a CAKE WALK compared to having to do Web Design or some of the booklet layouts I've had to do in InDesign! I don't know much about programming but I know how TRULY frustrating it is to have to go through a bunch of source code just in Dreamweaver to look for anything out of the ordinary when you work on a project forever and for some reason it's not working when everything on the surface looks to be in order.

Some people just don't even know what real frustration is!
 
I think it's safe to say that 90% of the freelance work I get is just a result of people or companies outsourcing their stress onto me. I never complain if I'm being compensated though 

[rockandroller]

Jumping in here, because I am not tech-retarded but neither am I a specialist, and I am DYING for someone who is a tech friend who can sort out the bewilderment that I feel. Seriously, I am not an idiot but I am just overwhelmed and do not know what to do now and am paralyzed about taking the next step. Sometimes being "somewhat" informed is worse than being completely stupid, otherwise I'd just plunge in and make all sorts of costly mistakes.

What's causing my conundrum? A distant relative visited yesterday and gifted my 3 year old son with an iPad. (so really, it's my gift. I mean, I will let him play some games on it and stuff but there's not much he will be able to get out of it).

It is a wifi only iPad. We do not have wifi. We do not have any other Apple products either. Well, I have an ipod, but you know, no mac products. F8ck, we only bought a laptop like 2 months ago, and there is no wifi where I live. I mean, you can apparently buy some router for it for a monthly charge from our cable company, but I've spent the last 48 hours doing an insane amount of research and now am too scared to even turn the stupid thing on again because of how insecure public wifi networks are, I can't use it away from home because it's insecure and someone will steal my sh!t, you have to turn on 800 different customized settings to keep the thing secure, etc etc etc. I am completely overwhemled and wish he never would have gotten us the damned thing.

[David]

What does a 3 year old do with an ipad except set out on a mission to try to flush it down the toilet?

[natininja]

Buy a router. Just about any wireless router will do! Forget that subscription BS!

[natininja]

Also... Where do I find distant relatives who will drop $500 on a toy for me?

[rockandroller]

David, no lie. But apparently they are all the rage now for a) teaching tool and b) keeping child entertained when in public place such as waiting in line somewhere, waiting at restaurants, etc.

Buying a router wouldn't do much good if there is nowhere to connect it to, no? I mean, isn't that sort of like buying an ipod but not having a computer with an internet connection? You have to be able to connect somehow via SOMEONE's secure network, right?

[rockandroller]

Also... Where do I find distant relatives who will drop $500 on a toy for me?

I believe it was refurbished and an older gen model, as that's what he told me he was getting back when I told him no, we didn't need one, so it's more like $200, but yeah, if you want one of those, jsut have your mom give the kid up for adoption as a baby and then find him once he is a well-off adult, apparently.

[David]

I've never owned a tablet and I know they have a ways to go before all the kinks are worked out but I wonder if there's a way you can encrypt sensitive files on them when you store them. Basically your hard drive creates a partition with that information/file/folder that you can't access without a password. I had to do that when I was transcribing interviews with sensitive information that I'd be sued over if it got out.

Or are you talking about typing insecure financial infortmation/typing credit card information in, when using your browser and stuff like that?

You said it's Wifi-only? You can't use the 4G service?

Can you turn your cell phone into a 4G Mobile Hotspot and use that? You have an Android with that capability right, R&R? I thought you said you have a pretty nice phone... If you don't know, ask your carrier about it. It might cost extra for that service but it would probably be cheaper than the other options, I'd assume.

[taestell]

Jumping in here, because I am not tech-retarded but neither am I a specialist, and I am DYING for someone who is a tech friend who can sort out the bewilderment that I feel. Seriously, I am not an idiot but I am just overwhelmed and do not know what to do now and am paralyzed about taking the next step. Sometimes being "somewhat" informed is worse than being completely stupid, otherwise I'd just plunge in and make all sorts of costly mistakes.

What's causing my conundrum? A distant relative visited yesterday and gifted my 3 year old son with an iPad. (so really, it's my gift. I mean, I will let him play some games on it and stuff but there's not much he will be able to get out of it).

It is a wifi only iPad. We do not have wifi. We do not have any other Apple products either. Well, I have an ipod, but you know, no mac products. F8ck, we only bought a laptop like 2 months ago, and there is no wifi where I live. I mean, you can apparently buy some router for it for a monthly charge from our cable company, but I've spent the last 48 hours doing an insane amount of research and now am too scared to even turn the stupid thing on again because of how insecure public wifi networks are, I can't use it away from home because it's insecure and someone will steal my sh!t, you have to turn on 800 different customized settings to keep the thing secure, etc etc etc. I am completely overwhemled and wish he never would have gotten us the damned thing.

Do not have your cable company set up a wi-fi network for you and charge you a monthly fee. Your cable company really has nothing to do with the wi-fi signal itself.

Either go to the Apple store and get an AirPort router, or go to your local Best Buy/Target/etc. type of place and get a cheap Linksys router. As long as you put a password on the network -- and I think most of them now come with a password turned on by default -- you won't have neighbors hacking in or downloading illegal movies via your Internet connection.

[rockandroller]

There are ones that are wifi only. As in, there is NO other way to connect unless you have a VPN, and I am not buying one of those, that's like 800 dollars. You can connect hotspot wise to an iphone but not a droid. Yes, I've done some research.

I am talking about security for browsing (getting mail, etc) and downloading (apps, songs, whatever), not for files on the computer. 

[taestell]

You said it's Wifi-only? You can't use the 4G service?

Can you turn your cell phone into a 4G Mobile Hotspot and use that? You have an Android with that capability right, R&R? I thought you said you have a pretty nice phone... If you don't know, ask your carrier about it. It might cost extra for that service but it would probably be cheaper than the other options, I'd assume.

You could probably broadcast a wi-fi signal from your Android phone and connect the iPad to that, but I'd recommend against it. You'll be using your metered cell phone data plan and it'll be slower. You're much better off setting up a wifi network from your home Internet connection.

[rockandroller]

Jumping in here, because I am not tech-retarded but neither am I a specialist, and I am DYING for someone who is a tech friend who can sort out the bewilderment that I feel. Seriously, I am not an idiot but I am just overwhelmed and do not know what to do now and am paralyzed about taking the next step. Sometimes being "somewhat" informed is worse than being completely stupid, otherwise I'd just plunge in and make all sorts of costly mistakes.

What's causing my conundrum? A distant relative visited yesterday and gifted my 3 year old son with an iPad. (so really, it's my gift. I mean, I will let him play some games on it and stuff but there's not much he will be able to get out of it).

It is a wifi only iPad. We do not have wifi. We do not have any other Apple products either. Well, I have an ipod, but you know, no mac products. F8ck, we only bought a laptop like 2 months ago, and there is no wifi where I live. I mean, you can apparently buy some router for it for a monthly charge from our cable company, but I've spent the last 48 hours doing an insane amount of research and now am too scared to even turn the stupid thing on again because of how insecure public wifi networks are, I can't use it away from home because it's insecure and someone will steal my sh!t, you have to turn on 800 different customized settings to keep the thing secure, etc etc etc. I am completely overwhemled and wish he never would have gotten us the damned thing.

Do not have your cable company set up a wi-fi network for you and charge you a monthly fee. Your cable company really has nothing to do with the wi-fi signal itself.

Either go to the Apple store and get an AirPort router, or go to your local Best Buy/Target/etc. type of place and get a cheap Linksys router. As long as you put a password on the network -- and I think most of them now come with a password turned on by default -- you won't have neighbors hacking in or downloading illegal movies via your Internet connection.

tastetell, this is exactly the type of advice I've been looking for, though I really don't understand. Is an airport a router? How does it work? I just don't want to buy something and then not know how to use it. I've also been thinking maybe this is the opportunity for us to be able to use the wifi things avaialble with our Tivo, which we have never been able to take advantage of because we don't have wifi.

[rockandroller]

You said it's Wifi-only? You can't use the 4G service?

Can you turn your cell phone into a 4G Mobile Hotspot and use that? You have an Android with that capability right, R&R? I thought you said you have a pretty nice phone... If you don't know, ask your carrier about it. It might cost extra for that service but it would probably be cheaper than the other options, I'd assume.

You could probably broadcast a wi-fi signal from your Android phone and connect the iPad to that, but I'd recommend against it. You'll be using your metered cell phone data plan and it'll be slower. You're much better off setting up a wifi network from your home Internet connection.

Yeah, plus that would mean I would have to be home every time the ipad was used, which is not ideal.

[tedders55]

You said it's Wifi-only? You can't use the 4G service?

Can you turn your cell phone into a 4G Mobile Hotspot and use that? You have an Android with that capability right, R&R? I thought you said you have a pretty nice phone... If you don't know, ask your carrier about it. It might cost extra for that service but it would probably be cheaper than the other options, I'd assume.

You could probably broadcast a wi-fi signal from your Android phone and connect the iPad to that, but I'd recommend against it. You'll be using your metered cell phone data plan and it'll be slower. You're much better off setting up a wifi network from your home Internet connection.

Yeah, plus that would mean I would have to be home every time the ipad was used, which is not ideal.

Not true, my wife last year bought an ipad as an anniversary present for us (really that meant for her).  You can download books onto the ipad and access them while offline.  There doesn't need to be a wifi connection all the time for all the apps. 

Also, as long as you have a high speed internet connection (should be a modem supplied by the cable company etc) you can plug a simple router from best buy into the ethernet port.  If you do not have an internet connection at your home, then you are kinda SOL. 

[taestell]

tastetell, this is exactly the type of advice I've been looking for, though I really don't understand. Is an airport a router? How does it work? I just don't want to buy something and then not know how to use it. I've also been thinking maybe this is the opportunity for us to be able to use the wifi things avaialble with our Tivo, which we have never been able to take advantage of because we don't have wifi.

Yes, any router will do. Right now you probably have a cable coming in from the wall connected to a modem. Then there's an ethernet cable connecting the cable modem to a computer.  In your new setup, you will connect the modem to the router. The router will provide the wi-fi signal, and also offer multiple ethernet ports where you can connect your computer(s).



In that diagram, keep in mind that the connections from the router to the computers could be wired or wireless. Obviously for the iPad it will be wireless.

[David]

You said it's Wifi-only? You can't use the 4G service?

Can you turn your cell phone into a 4G Mobile Hotspot and use that? You have an Android with that capability right, R&R? I thought you said you have a pretty nice phone... If you don't know, ask your carrier about it. It might cost extra for that service but it would probably be cheaper than the other options, I'd assume.

You could probably broadcast a wi-fi signal from your Android phone and connect the iPad to that, but I'd recommend against it. You'll be using your metered cell phone data plan and it'll be slower. You're much better off setting up a wifi network from your home Internet connection.

I think it depends on your carrier. With Sprint, you pay a little more but you get 'true' unlimited data. After so many gigabits used, it doesn't allocate less bandwidth to you (or at least thats what they told me and I haven't had a problem with it slowing down.) 4G is pretty fast.

R&R, are you serious? Why on earth would it matter if your phone is an Android if, for the sake of the iPad, you're just using it to broadcast an internet connection to it? I never had a problem on my MacBook Pro, connecting to a router that was on a Windows-based computer. If that's true, that's bs that your ipad isn't able to pick up a signal from it and use it.

I'm confused. Exactly what is the problem? You do have a Wireless Network Card in your iPad, right? In other words, it IS picking up a signal from nearby routers when you go to connect to the internet? What exactly is the problem? You just don't have a router? Buy a router... follow the instructions that come with it, on how to set it up.

Every time you ask for advice and I give you whatever advice I can, there seems to always be some excuse as to why it doesn't work, like you won't accept a solution because it's just too much effort, so I'll just stop and leave it up to the rest of the urbanohio family to help. First, open public networks aren't good enough, you need a private network in which only you have the password. You can set up a router at home, easily, but then you complain that you can't use it anywhere except at home because it would be unsecure. If you could use your phone as a WIFI Mobile Hotspot, then you would be able to use a secure internet connection anywhere near your phone (which, on the go, the two would likely be next to each other all the time anyway.)

Other than those options, I don't know what the hell to tell you. Life is full of dilemmas...

[natininja]

Buying a router wouldn't do much good if there is nowhere to connect it to, no? I mean, isn't that sort of like buying an ipod but not having a computer with an internet connection? You have to be able to connect somehow via SOMEONE's secure network, right?

You connect the router via a wired connection to the internet (i.e. modem), the same way you are connecting your computer now. Then you connect your computer to the router, also via a wire, as you connect directly to the modem now. The router sends a wireless signal to the iPad.

[David]

Edit: Just found out Android Mifi/tethering isn't considered secure enough for iPads to connect to. Just get a router and connect it to your modem (the box your Internet Service Provider gave you.)

[GCrites80s]

Prior to retirement, I worked in PC and network tech support for IBM on a client site. I learned not to disclose that when social acquaintances asked me what I did for a living, because too often they followed up with something like, "My brother in law gave me this computer several years ago and I never could figure out how to use it. Can you help me set it up so I can get on the internet with it? I think the name on it is something like "Sinclair."

You know, I bet there's people out there that know how to get on the internet today using a Sinclair. Probably in England.

[rockandroller]

Thanks everyone. I'm sorry David if it sounded like I was rejecting all solutions, I'm just trying to find out how things work and what the options are so I can do the right thing. I had no idea until I entered this thread today that one could buy a router for less than, like $500 or something (I assume they aren't that much?) If they're in the multiple hundreds of dollars and I can get one for $5 a month from the cable company and they will hook everything up for me, that just sounded like a good deal initially, but now it sounds like there are some other options. Like I said, it's a little overwhelming and I have to do a lot more research, but I'm not trying to reject advice, just understand how things work and what would be best for me. I did specifically read that you cannot use anything but an iPhone or other Mac device to use as a hotspot but I can't tell you why, just what it said in the manual. Which, at 198 pages, I am only in the beginning of.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Sorry it's irritating for those of us who don't know what they're doing. I know the things I know, and I know them backwards and forwards. Maybe I can offer you some advice on one of those things one day.

[David]

No one is accusing you of being stupid or anything like that and I wasn't lumping you into the group of people I was refering to in my rant. At least you're willing to do some research yourself. Routers are really cheap these days though; I'm surprised you didn't know that. Hell, I bought one, one time for like $30 brand new. It wasn't top of the line or anything but it definitely served its purpose as a basic home router. I found the cheapest ones also tend to be easier to use and set up since they're more basic.

[rockandroller]

Husband is asking if we just buy a router, how is it secure?

[David]

You secure it yourself by setting up a password for it. When you hook up the router, it comes with a disk and instructions. There's a default username and password that comes with it. Username is usually something like ADMIN and Default Password is usually something like 1234. You go into your router settings after it's physically hooked up/wired, by typing in the IP Address for the router (usually 192.68.something depending on the brand of the router.) Once you're in the settings you can choose your network name and password, along with setting up the level of security/type of encyption (WPA, WPA2, etc) and many other things.

[David]

FYI, if you're really that concerned about hackers getting ahold of your information:

As far as security settings go when you set up your router:

WPA2 is probably the least likely to be hacked. It's the newest encyption I'm pretty sure. I would go with this. Use a password like 10 characters long and including numbers and letters. Would take years for someone to hack if they were so inclined.

WEP has been around forever and is probably the least secure. Don't choose this one.

Also, disable the broadcast of your SSID. Your SSID is simply the name of the router which appears on a computer when folks are searching for nearby networks and that list pops up.

You could also set the router to block any attemps to use it except from the few devices you have in your home. You need what's called a MAC address from your devices. You enter those Mac addresses in the router's settings and click on "enable" them.

If say, you have 3 devices that use the router in your home (include wireless printers), then in your router's settings you can also choose to only let 3 devices on the DHCP Server of your wireless router.

Do all that and you should be almost 99.9% secure from any sort of hacking if you're that concerned.

I know Acronyms like "WEP" "DHCP" etc., all sound confusing but it makes sense once you're in the router settings. You'll see it all there.

[natininja]

TBH it sounds like someone has scared you into being more fearful of hackers than you should be.

[David]

Yeah, I have to agree. Identity theft is rampant but the security your bank gives you from credit/debit card fraud is the best security you could have. I'd feel more comfortable sending my credit card info out for an online transaction using an open network compared to to giving it to someone at Dominos Pizza over the phone... Most people don't think like that, though. Maybe that's just me.

[rockandroller]

Thanks again. I did read up about the WPA2 but did not know I could disable the signal from "broadcasting" so I will look up how to do that. I'm concerned about credit card info, of course, but more about secure browsing. I really don't want my email to be hacked or for someone to be able to get into the files on my home computer.

I was feeling a little better about this whole thing until last night, when our brand f*cking new Dell Inspiron laptop died. Will not boot up at all. No lights, no whirring. It's not even 3 months old. I googled around on my phone and found that this is what you IT people would call a "known issue." I wish I had "known" before I bought it. Doesn't seem to be any one, uniform fix and all the fixes are way over my head, so we are going to have to pay someone to fix it now. I am super pissed. I tried a couple of tricks described online and could get a flicker of the dell logo for a second but then it would die again. Great.

[jam40jeff]

R&R, just buy a wireless router.  They'll be about $50.  If you can wait until Black Friday, you can probably get one for $10, haha.  Anyway, they're pretty easy to set up and put a password on.  WAP2 is the most secure, but even if you use WEP, you'll be fine.  99.999999999% of people trying to hack/mooch someone's WiFi will move right along to something else as soon as they see any type of password is needed to connect to the network.

Also, credit card security has nothing to do with whether your WiFi network is protected.  Any site you enter your credit card number on will be using SSL security these days, which means that even if someone is sniffing the traffic at any point between your computer and the seller's computer, there's no way for them to decipher what is being sent since it's all encrypted.

Seriously, though, get a router.  Especially if you have a laptop.  They've become mainstream enough that most of them have wizards to make them very easy to set up.  And don't go to the Apple store.  They'll charge you at least double the price for a router that does nothing differently than your average router at Best Buy.

[rockandroller]

Thanks! Is it dumb to ask if the "brand" of router matters in terms of "agreement" between all my devices? I mean, our laptop (if it lives) is a Dell, then there's the iPad, and then we want to connect the Tivo, and my husband has his own cheap laptop which I think is a Lenovo ThinkPad. I would have thought the mac AirPort would be best for use with the ipad, but if it doesn't matter which one, we'll just go to best buy.

Really appreciate the discussion, guys. Once we get the damned Dell working again, I will get a router.

[trav]

Brand doesn't really matter, that's why there is the 802.11 standard.  http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wireless80211/a/aa80211standard.htm  As long as your devices are one of the three 802.11b/802.11g/802.11n, then they will talk to the router.  If the router is 802.11n and the device is 802.11n, then you'll get the fastest connection.  The others will connect too, but only go as fast as there standard allows. 

[rockandroller]

thx again.

If anyone ever wants to know anything about event planning, restaurants here or elsewhere in the country, rock music or the entertainment industry, let me know

[AJ93]

Rnr, the one thing I'll add is to check w/ your internet provider, as the modem may have a wireless router built in already ( that's how mine is set up)

[natininja]

I was feeling a little better about this whole thing until last night, when our brand f*cking new Dell Inspiron laptop died. Will not boot up at all. No lights, no whirring. It's not even 3 months old. I googled around on my phone and found that this is what you IT people would call a "known issue." I wish I had "known" before I bought it. Doesn't seem to be any one, uniform fix and all the fixes are way over my head, so we are going to have to pay someone to fix it now. I am super pissed. I tried a couple of tricks described online and could get a flicker of the dell logo for a second but then it would die again. Great.

Sounds like it's gotta be under warranty. 3 months old? Call Dell.

I just had the same thing happen a couple months ago with a brand new Lenovo. It was 2 months old. Then it took over another month for the part to come off backorder (bad motherboard...also a "known issue"). Needless to say, I was flaming pi$$ed. Still am, really, but at least the computer works.

[rockandroller]

Ah, I should have updated on this. DH bought this through his work program, so I made him call. His update from this morning: dell is doing what i want so far. that machine is under warranty until next feb (hardware-wise, probably a year) and they are going to replace the motherboard, the power supply and the plug for the power supply... free. and they are going to come to our house to do it. i have to wait up to 2 business days to get a call to schedule this, so it'll probably be next week.

[David]

Okay, this is the absolute worst.

I hate it when I tell a story to someone, like about someone being rude to me or getting over on me or something and they go: "If that was ME, I would have KICKED HIS @SS!." (Or they talk about how they somehow would have reacted in a much more hostile/bad@ss/heroic or even just in some IGNORANT way.


Here's a prime example. I hate talking about this happening: about 9 months ago I got robbed while walking over a bridge. They got my Android phone, my wallet including plastic, identification and $90 cash. I put up a fight until I got STABBED with a knife and backed down at that point.

People were asking me questions, like, "Why do you have a new number?" or "What happened to you?" etc.  I had to explain and of course I got all these responses, like, "Man, if that was ME, I would have kicked their ass!" They would have had to have KILLED me!


Hell no. DUDE, YOU WOULD HAVE DONE NO SUCH FUC-ING THING!!  Shut. The. Hell. Up.

People I've known for years, who I've NEVER known to be controntational, let alone have actually been in a fight, say stuff like that.