Obamacare site improving

Well at least some good news with the Obamacare [a.k.a. healthcare.gov] website. There are now over 1.1 million who have signed up with an estimated 975,000 in December [until Christmas eve].

So the site is starting to roll.

And yet there was some issues with the “backend” of the site where insurance companies got applications twice, some never got them, others had forms electronically sent to insurance providers outside of the applicant’s state.

But even with things looking up, it doesn’t take much for the Republicans to shoot down the program in any way they can.

A Californian Republican, for example, said that he figurers there will be an extra 2 million Americans who will now be getting benefits that didn’t before – and he doesn’t like it. Huh?

The benefits are helping Americans who I am assuming need the help. It isn’t like they are making $500,000 a year.

I guess it’s fine for him with his salary and perks like staff, chauffeur, etc.

Have a Happy New Year if you’re reading this. 🙂

[Update 2014/01/14:] The main contractor, CGI Federal, didn’t get their contract renewed for another year or so. They were one of 55 contractors. They took the blame yet there was little time to test the site before it went live. Instead, the site administrators in charge are switching to Accenture.  If you don’t know them, they are the former Arthur Anderson [technically it is now just a holding company] and they were involved in the Enron audit fiasco. So the question is – is Accenture better? Hmmmm.

Some Skype security and nuisance tips

I’ve seen many people install Skype without looking to see what Skype is giving away – in terms of your information. In addition there are many annoying things or nuisances that can be turned off or adjusted.

I have gone through the Options section of Skype, and compiled a PDF and you can grab it here. The PDF contains suggestions or comments regarding various options in Skype. For example, I tell people to include the option to show you as away if you step away from your computer for longer than 10 minutes [this is on the first page of the PDF].

Feel free to pass it on if you wish [but give me credit]. It has nice pictures as well. 🙂

As I always tell people, it is better to give out less information than more. This applies to any site. If your birth date isn’t required, don’t give it. [And if it is and it isn’t for something “official” like a bank, government, etc then do what I do – add or subtract one from the day, month number and year of your birthday.] Only fill in field that are required.

Using Windows 8.1 in Kiosk Mode

Although there were ways of creating a kiosk account in previous editions of Windows, Windows 8.1 makes things a bit easier.

If you recall, a kiosk is generally a self service account such as giving Internet access but no access to install an application, print, etc. The account can access one or more applications [of the administrator’s choosing], but nothing else.

The only issue in Windows 8.1 is that the application must be a “modern” application since the kiosk user will only have access to the tile menu.

1. First we need to create an account by going to Charms. Select Settings, then Change PC Settings and then Accounts. Select Other Accounts > Add an account.
2. When adding an account select Sign In without a Microsoft account.
3. In the Add a user screen, select Local account.
4. Note:  You will need Microsoft ID account  to access the online store to load the required application unless the application is already install for all users.
5. Create the local user account with a good password and click on the Next button. Once the account has been created, click on the Finish button.
6. Return to the Manage other account screen, log out of your account and log back in using the kiosk user account that you just created.
7. Install any required applications for the kiosk user account. Once the task has completed, sign out of the kiosk user account and log back in as your administrator account.
8. Return back to Charms. Select Settings, then Change PC Settings and then Accounts. Then select Other accounts and select Set up an account for assigned access.
9. Select Choose an account.  One the kiosk user account is chosen, select Choose an app. Once the application is chosen, you can then log back out of the current account and log back in under the kiosk user account to test.

Computer tip: Removing the WINDOWS.OLD folder from a server

When you upgrade your Windows system, your old operating system is left in the WINDOWS.OLD folder

With Windows clients, you can use the Disk Cleanup application that is available. But on a server operating system, this isn’t available in some server versions unless you install the Desktop Experience feature.

You can, however, remove the WINDOWS.OLD folder manual. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Take ownership of the WINDOWS.OLD folder and sub-folders with the command:

takeown /F c:\Windows.old\* /R /A /D /Y

2. Give Administrators full control over the WINDOWS.OLD folder and sub-folders with the command:

cacls c:\Windows.old\*.* /T /grant administrators:F

3. Remove the WINDOWS.OLD folder and sub-folders with the command:

rmdir /S /Q c:\Windows.old

A reminder that once the folder is gone, you can’t go back.

Computer tip: Removing Server Manager from starting at logon

Here is a short tip if you are using Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

Are you tired of having the Server Manager’s dashboard pop up every time you log into the server?

[I know I am.]

OK. Click on the Manage button.

Then click on Server Manager Properties.

Finally click on the second box [Do not start Server Manager automatically at Logon].

Click on OK to exit.

 

Computer tip: Resetting Internet Explorer

Either by malware or some crappy toolbar, something will take over your home page and/or search engine in Internet Explorer. Sometimes you feel that things aren’t quite normal but you don’t suspect malware or anything.

The following procedure will reset Internet explorer by removing certain settings. It will disable just about every add-on and toolbar. So you will need to enable the ones that are required such as Adobe Flash Player [listed as Shockwave Flash Object], maybe Java, etc.

Note: Once the reset begins, you can’t go back!

Note: Try the procedure below. If it doesn’t work, then try what is mentioned in the last paragraph. The reason I say this is that the last paragraph will do a more serious job and may be unnecessary in some cases.

1. Click on the Tools menu in Internet Explorer.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of that menu and click on Internet Options.
3. Select the Advanced tab [last in the window].
4. Click in the Reset… button at the bottom of the window.
5. Click on Reset. Don’t check the box next to Delete personal settings in the window.
6. When done, exit Internet Explorer and then open it up. You will have to change your home page and other settings. When asked, choose the express settings.

If this doesn’t work, follow the same procedure above except at #5, check the box next to Delete personal settings in the window. This does a more complete reset as if you used IE for the first time.

The death of Canada Post

If you are a Canadian you got some hefty news this past week.

First, Canada Post announced that they will do away with door to door delivery to millions of Canadian households in urban areas.

Then they launched another bombshell. At the end of March 2014, the price of a domestic stamp will go from 63 cents to 85 cents if you buy a booklet of stamps or $1 if you buy a single stamp [all plus taxes]. Of course other rates within Canada, to the US and elsewhere will also jump exponentially.

Those who are in a house, a duplex and a small building will sometime in the next few years have to walk to a “community” mailbox to pick up their mail. Those in larger building probably already have a building mailbox.

[Interesting to note that there was talk of reducing the number of delivery days from 5 days to 4.]

Already there are complaints by [for example] seniors who will have to walk outside a couple of blocks or so to get their mail. [Some do say if you can’t walk a couple of blocks, why are you in a house.]

Charities will hurt as their postage cost will jump 30% or so. [Others are commenting that charities don’t know what they are doing anyways. You request a single mailing a year and they ignore it. Meanwhile dead people are still getting charity letters.]

The crown corporation has been losing money for years. Domestic mail volume has dropped 25% over the past number of years – I guess with more people having access to the Internet.

They claim they could lose $1 billion a year [you read right] by 2020. The claim could be a bit exaggerated as they lost just $130 in the first 9 months this year.

Local franchised post offices [i.e. small post offices within a pharmacy or a small store] already number over 6400 – more than McDonald’s and Tim Hortons combined in Canada] and Canada Post expect at least another 1000 post offices to handle not the sale of postage but the increasing number of packages that will need to be picked up because they can’t be delivered personally.

While mail volume has dropped, package volume has increased over the years as more Canadians shop online. As well, Canada Post is handling more and more unaddressed mail such as flyers and coupons.

Another problem is that not only do they have their own package service but they also own another one. So they are competing against themselves.

During the summer a package not even worth $15 was sent to my nephew in Alberta where he was at a summer a job. The package took 12 days to get there and cost over $20 – and this was the cheapest.

I don’t know how many stamps I have received that were never canceled. So they can be reused.

The odd thing was that a few years ago, of all things, Canada Post helped the Afghanistan government in modernizing their mail service.

Meanwhile, Canada Post has told the franchised post offices they can’t sell any booklets of “P” stamps. The “P” stamps are stamps for a single domestic envelope [within the regular mail dimensions] but a valid for no matter how many postage increases or the number of years. Post offices are now sitting on stock they can’t sell until the end of March. One owner complained he just bought 10,000 stamps [worth $6,300 currently]. He can’t sell them.

With the increase in postage rate, I’m expecting a further drop in mail usage. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

What Canada Post should have done was to kill the door to door service. This would probably kill 8000 jobs but is probably necessary. Add to that the annual 2 or 3 cent increase – but not the reduced service and a huge increase at the same time.

The Harper government generally has to approve any major changes as the government owns Canada Post. This probably won’t sit well with most Canadians and the opposition parties will pounce on the government.

Already the government has been hit with multiple controversies and scandals. They didn’t need another one.

Windows 8.x for free? Don’t count on it

According to analyst firm IHS, Microsoft should make its latest Windows 8.1 operating system free to all Windows users. The analyst claims that Apple is doing it, why can’t Microsoft.

Yes. The OS X 10.9 is free. But where can you install it on? Oh. Just Apple’s hardware. If OS X was installable [legally] on any hardware, this would be different.

Additionally Windows 8.1 improves things and the update [Windows 8.2?] that updates Windows 8.1 is said to bring back the full Start Menu back where it belongs.

I can’t see too many Windows 7 users upgrading. They are happy. Windows Vista users could upgrade but that is a small group.

Windows XP could upgrade but only if they had a decent system. A system built 8+ years ago probably won’t cut it [at least not without a memory upgrade].

As well, Microsoft is a software company while Apple is primarily a hardware company.

Apple has stopped supporting any version older than 10.9.0 [this has opened a huge security hole]. Microsoft has always supported its Windows products [and majority of the rest] for at least 10 years.

[As a minor disclosure (if you haven’t read any of my rants), I really dislike these analysts. Half of the time they make no sense and the other half they are making too many assumptions like if a product’s sales increased 5% in 2012 and 10% in 2013, they assume 15% in 2014, 20% in 2015, etc. Just plain dumb.]

The (possible) return of the full Start Menu in Windows 8

According to some reports, the Threshold update for Windows 8.x platform [I mentioned this here], which is scheduled to be released sometime next year, may please many current Windows XP/Vista/7 owners:

The full Start Menu may be back.

Terry Myerson, who’s running the Windows platform at Microsoft, is planning to unify Windows Phone and Windows RT into a single platform. He’s planning a follow-up to Windows 8.1, that will ship sometime next year [I’m guessing in October] and make the Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox One user experiences more similar.

Microsoft will be making it possible to run Modern mobile apps—which are typically run full-screen like other mobile apps—in floating windows on the desktop, allowing them to work more seamlessly with desktop applications.

More Windows updates coming

According to some reports, when Microsoft releases Windows 8.1 for the Windows Phone platform, they also may release what they call Updates 1 to Windows 8.1. [What? No more service packs?] This will be probably in the March to May timeframe next year.

This may lead to a further update sometime maybe in 2015 of some type. Some are suggesting a “merging” of the OSs for Windows desktops and laptops with Windows Phone and XBox. It is already codenamed Threshold.

There is also talk of a Surface Mini – anywhere from 7 to 8 inches coming out in the spring. Unsure why they wasted the biggest shopping period [right now] and release it then. But that’s Microsoft.

I may have mentioned it before. They should drop the RT from the Surface tablets. Cheaper but lacking the applications that you have on the desktop. Meanwhile the Pro is too expensive.