1. Cloudeight Direct Computer Repair - Single Key
2. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care Season Ticket - Unlimited Computer Care for one full year ... a great deal!
3. Thunderbird Email Installation and Setup
4. Emsisoft Anti-Malware installation, setup and one-year Emsisoft license.

REMINDER: Cloudeight Backup and 2018 CleanSweep Special Pricing Available Through February!

Sally can't delete some of her temporary Internet files (Windows 10)
When I try to clean the temporary Internet files they do not get deleted all and it adds with the time. First as we upgraded to WIN 10 all was fine. But one day I detected that an Icon is on the temporary Internet files. A log. When I click on "Show the files" it leads to i.e. Container but that is empty. When I clean the PC from unnecessary files it cleans basket and temporary files but the log on the temporary Internet files prevents from cleaning those files complete. I deleted already the temporary Internet files in IE and my other browser called Maxthon, but I have still those over 150 MB in the temporary Internet files even the i.e. Container shows empty. I hope you can understand what I am trying to explain because I'm not exactly computer savvy - but no computer dummy either.  Do you have a solution or can you at least explain what is happening? Sally

Our answer
Hi Sally. We know exactly what your talking about and we can tell you what you're experiencing is completely normal and that's how it's suppose to be on Windows 10. All Microsoft browsers ( Internet Explorer, Edge, and browsers like Maxthon which are built using the Internet Explorer code and engine, all keep a record of pages visited etc. in a file called WebCacheV01.dat . It's stored in the following location:

C:\ Users\ <your username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache.

To see it you have to enable "View Hidden Files and Folders" in File Explorer / View / Options. If you try to right-click and delete this file, you'll get a message that you can't delete it because it's being used by another process (a Windows host process which cannot be terminated).  So, what you're experiencing is not a problem, it just the way Microsoft browsers (and browsers built using them) work.

If you don't want data stored in a file you cannot delete, you have options - plenty of them. You can use Firefox, Chrome, or any of the many browsers which are built upon them, for instance Pale Moon (Firefox) or Vivaldi or Chromium (Chrome). You can also use a fairly popular browser called Opera. However Chrome and Firefox are the more "main stream" options.

So, now you know there's nothing wrong with your computer and nothing unusual going on, We hope that helps you rest easy, Sally.

1. Cloudeight Direct Computer Repair - Single Key
2. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care Season Ticket - Unlimited Computer Care for one full year ... a great deal!
3. Thunderbird Email Installation and Setup
4. Emsisoft Anti-Malware installation, setup and one-year Emsisoft license.

REMINDER: Cloudeight Backup and 2018 CleanSweep Special Pricing Available Through February!

• QuickFill form filler - Lets you open the page and sign in in one step.
• Fully customizable toolbar - Add or remove additional toolbar buttons which give you quick access to various features
• Flexible, powerful ad blocker - Allows you to block most ads from all sites - or allow ads from some sites while blocking all others. And an ad-blocking override feature that lets you override adbocking if the ad blocker makes a mistake.
• One-click Facebook integration - Share your online activities on Facebook with a single click
• Download online streaming videos
• Easily download online streaming videos to local hard disk with option to extract the mp3 audio file.
• Frame and enhance photos right before they are uploaded.
• Flexible web page translation - Translate a full page or selected text between any two specified languages.
• Weather condition and forecast - Gives current weather condition right on the toolbar. 7-day forecast information is one-click away.
• Easily share the current page on various web services such as Twitter, Google Plus, Blogger, WordPress, Gmail, Hotmail, StumbleUpon.
• Upload clipboard image - Easily upload clipboard image with a single click. No need to save it to a file first and then upload the file.
• Quickly switch search engines: [Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo and others)
• Quickly switch between different search engines.
• Save webpage screenshot
• Save screenshot of the entire page as an image file...

Above: Slimjet comes with multi-featured ad-blocker.


Above: Note that Slimjet is available as a portable version. That means it does not install. Just unzip it and run it.

If you'd like to read more about Slimjet and its features please visit this page:

When you download Slimjet please be sure to use this page, because it has the download link for the portable version of Slimjet. We recommend that you download the portable version.

One more thing. Slimjet is not associated with the scammy "Slimware utilities"


IRS Scams & Tech Support Scams
Tips for everyone

It’s tax season here in the USA and that means not only do you have to be careful about tech-support / your-computer-is-infected telephone scams, this time of year you have to worry about tax scams and folks impersonating IRS officials.

An IRS agent is not going to call you out of the blue and tell you you’re going to jail or face stiff fines if you don’t pay up right way. Believe it or not people were bilked out of tens of millions of dollars last tax season by miscreants posing as IRS employees. No IRS employee is going to call and threaten you. No IRS employee is going to call you and ask for your social security number to “verify” your identity. The IRS already knows your Social Security number, your full name, your address, the number of children you have, and how much you make.

Here’s some information from the REAL IRS:

Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams. Scammers use the regular mail, telephone, or email to set up individuals, businesses, payroll and tax professionals.

The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. Recognize the telltale signs of a scam. See also: How to know it’s really the IRS calling or knocking on your door…

IRS-Impersonation Telephone Scams

A sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country. Callers claim to be IRS employees, using fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a gift card or wire transfer. Victims may be threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. Victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information. If the phone isn’t answered, the scammers often leave an “urgent” callback request..."

If you live in the USA, we hope you’ll take minute to read the entire IRS article – it will be well worth the few minutes it will take you to read it.

And... as long as we on the subject of telephone scams:

Even after writing about phone scams a half-dozen times, it never fails that we get two or three emails a week from people who were scammed by telephone calls that supposedly came from Microsoft or some other big company telling the target (the victim) that they are:

1. Spreading malware.
2. Infected with malware.
3. Have been hacked.
4. Have been comprised by viruses and/or Trojans.
5. Have been attacked by ransomware
6. Have had their identity stolen.

Folks…friends… people… listen to us. NO ONE and NO legitimate company is going to call you out-of-the-blue to tell you your computer is infected. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER. It's a scare tactic specifically designed to make you afraid, panic and open your wallet.

If anyone calls you and tells you that your computer is infected — HANG UP. If you want to go through the hassle of reporting it to the police — that’s up to you. But our job is to protect you. Do not talk to these people. NEVER. Especially do not let them “connect to your computer” to fix your computer or remove the malware they claim you have. They’ll either install a backdoor on your computer or pretend to clean up non-existent malware and try to charge you $129 or more to “repair” the infection you never had to begin with. Plus they’ll ask you to pay by credit card — which opens a whole other set of worries.

There is never a week that goes by that we don’t receive emails from good folks who were bilked by bad people. Some of them fell for the scams and actually allowed someone they didn’t know to access their computers remotely to do Heaven knows what to their computers. We are not making this up. We’ve worked on computers which have been compromised this way. And we have helped dozens of people get their money back too.

Be careful. Remember: NO LEGITIMATE company is going to call out-of-the-blue to warn you that your computer is infected or that you’re spreading malware. No legitimate company is going to call you and tell you that your computer is spreading spam, not even if your computer is infected – not even if it is spreading spam. Not even if it is spreading malware or viruses. No legitimate company or person is going to call you out of the blue and offer to fix your computer.

Please be careful. If anyone calls you to tell you that you have a problem with your PC…Hang up. Do not talk to them, and above all do not allow anyone who calls you unsolicited to connect to your PC remotely. NEVER.

And if you live in the USA and anyone calls you, or emails you, or texts you pretending to be the IRS, and threatening you with jail, fines or heavy penalties, don’t fall for it. Read this to learn how to tell a real IRS contact from a fake one.

Here are some other Web sites that can help you steer clear of scams:

Internet Scams

Phishing (Email) Scams 

Online Security and Safety

And remember, we're here for you. If you think you may be a victim of fraud or a scam, contact us and we'll try to help. We're always fighting for you. 

A Keyboard Shortcut to All Gmail Shortcuts [and more]
Everyone who uses Gmail

Gmail has a lot of nifty and useful shortcuts that you can use in Gmail. And you don’t need to memorize them because they’re just a shortcut away. You can bring up a list of all Gmail shortcuts instantly by pressing just two keys.

Open your Gmail account in your browser. Now press Shift + ? (Hold down your Shift key and tap the question mark key) and you’ll see this:

If you scroll down, you'll find more shortcuts that are not enabled by default - but you can enable them just by clicking a link. See?

All those Gmail shortcuts right at your fingertips, and all you have to remember is the keyboard shortcut Shift + ? (Shift key plus the question mark key).

Pretty cool, eh? Now you’re a Gmail power user!

Oh, just one more thing. If you want to see a list of Gmail tips & tricks, just click this link .

Be Careful What You Search For… and Think Before You Click
Windows 7, Windows 8x and Windows 10

There are enough scams on the web without bringing them to your own PC with a poorly worded search. In this short tip, we’re going to give you a few tips on what you can do to avoid causing yourself big problems by poorly worded searches – and a heads up on how to read a URL.

First let’s dissect a URL – or a Web address. There are a lot of ways scammers can disguise URLs. the oldest and easiest way is just by making the text say one thing, but link to another. Here’s a SAFE example:

https://www.microsoft.com/support/

If you click that, you will not go to Microsoft’s web site, you will go to one of our pages. This is the easiest deception to do and the easiest to detect. In most browsers and email programs, you should be able to hover over that link and tell right away where you’ll end up if you click it. Your can also right-click it and copy the actual URL and paste it into Notepad or an email and see where it leads.

A more devious way, and the method that many scammers use is to simply create sub-domains that have the same name as the site they want you to think you’ll go to if you click the link. Like this:

https://microsoft.support.marvypc.com

If you’re not paying attention, or if you’re tired, or distracted or otherwise not concentrating, you may see the Microsoft support and click a link like that. But it would not take you to Microsoft, it would take you to Marvy PC where you may find yourself in an true tech support scam imbroglio. Luckily we defanged the link for you so, if you're just going to test us and click it, you won't go to some weird scammy site. We're here to keep you safe.

OK. Here's a test. Look at the 3 links below and guess which one will take you to Microsoft and which ones will take you someplace else in the wild blue wander:

https://microsoft.support.fixurpc.com/

https://support.microsoft.com/

https://support.mircosoft.com/

If you clicked them, not so good. But if you did or didn’t #2 is the only correct link to Microsoft’s support site. The other two will lead you into never-never land – but luckily for you, we have your back. We fixed the bad links to they go to a safe page.

When you search you need not only be wary of the links you’ll see, you’ll need to be careful that the search result(s) you’re clicking are not ads or scams or worse. Many people have been taken down he primrose path by the words “Microsoft Certified Partner”. It means nothing. It doesn’t mean what you think it means – it does not mean Microsoft approved a site or service.



Above we searched for Display Drivers. Bad search! If you’re searching for display drivers visit the web site of your manufacturer of your display drivers (AMD Radeon, Intel, NVidia, etc.)

You can see that the above search result uses a common trick. It uses the brand name Windows in the URL, and in “Windows 10 Ready” thus making it appear that this place has all the right drivers for your Windows 10 computer.

We have 3 things to say about that:

1.  You don’t need drivers for your Windows 10 PC
2.  You don’t need to update your drivers if everything is working right.
3.  If you do need drivers you need them for hardware devices not for Windows 10.

Above: A truly terrible search  – guaranteed to get you in big trouble. At least all of these search results are labeled “Ad”. In search results like these, think “Ad=Bad”. Note how often the words Microsoft and Windows and Windows versions are used to mislead you. Don’t fall for this kind of trickery. Be smart. Think!

Below: We type in another popular but BAD search term “Windows Help”. Not one of these has anything do with Microsoft support or help from Microsoft.



And notice (below) how far down you have to scroll before you find real the real Microsoft and the real Microsoft support site.



And worse, if you keep scrolling you’ll see other help/support sites using the word Microsoft and Windows that are not labeled “Ad”.

Of course, this does not just apply to searches for Microsoft support, Windows help, or driver searches, it applies to almost anything where there’s money to be made by tricking you -  either by getting you to call a number, download something or scaring you into buying something or paying for a useless service.

Be careful what you search for, take your time when you weed through the search results, and as we always tell you:

Think before you click! 

Windows 10 Recycle Bin Options
Windows 10 (all versions)

In Windows 10, by default when you delete a file you don’t get a warning that asks if your sure you want to send the file to the Recycle Bin. You just right-click the file and click Delete and it’s gone. Unless you’ve otherwise configured Recycle Bin the file does go to the Recycle Bin and can be immediately returned to its original location by pressing CTRL + Z immediately after deleting it.

But if you want to be warned before you delete a file, like you use to be warned in Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows, that can be easily done. And here’s how you do it.

1. Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and click on Properties.

2. Choose your C:\ drive.

3. Tick the box next to “Display delete confirmation dialog”

4. Click Apply/OK.



Now we don’t recommend this because the Recycle Bin is like a safety net when you delete files. But if you're brave and don’t even want the files to be moved to the Recycle Bin, you can tick the circle next to “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted. Keep in mind if you do this there will be no easy way to recover the deleted files.

Oh and Colombo (EB) reminded me to say — “just one more thing”: If you’re going to be using a cleanup utility to clean up your PC, most of them will empty your Recycle Bin automatically, so be sure to check to make sure you don’t have anything you need in the Recycle Bin before doing a system cleanup.

And did you know that the shortcut CTRL+Y in most Windows applications functions as Redo, reversing a previous Undo, Now you do. Right?


Want more computer tips & tricks?

How to Print Thumbnails of All Pictures in a Folder

Use Active Hours to Prevent Windows From Automatically Restarting Your Computer
 
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Fakespot

Product Reviews: Fake or Real? Here’s One Way to Tell

If you do much online shopping and if you’re like us, you rely somewhat on customer reviews. Many times we read the reviews and wonder if we can rely on them. Are they actual customer reviews or fakes? There are so many fakes reviews posted by paid trolls and by robots, it’s hard to know sometimes what to believe.

We found a site that may help you tell the real reviews from the fake reviews. Keep in mind that nothing is perfect, but this site does a good job weeding out the fakes.

The site is called Fakespot and here’s what they have to say:

"Fakespot is a data analytics company committed to changing the way people shop online. We believe in the importance of user reviews. With so many online shopping options, a strong or weak product review can have a huge impact on whether or not a purchase is made. The credibility of these reviews is undermined by businesses who leave fake reviews for themselves or for their competitors – or by individuals with an undisclosed bias.

Shoppers in need of a second opinion use Fakespot when considering their next online purchase. Our patented algorithm looks for patterns to filter out reviews we think are unreliable.

But don’t take our word for it – you be the judge… Fakespot can help you with Amazon, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Apple App store reviews..."

Introduction

Many of you have pets, and if you have a pet you know what a stressful time it can be when your pet is sick - especially when the sickness can't be cured. Every day you have to prepare yourself for the worst - and you have to face that you may have to make that really difficult decision to end the pet's suffering. It's a hard time full of difficult days and nights. My pet cat is sick - she has inoperable cancer. But she's my buddy - she still curls up with me and we "watch" TV. She is not in any pain, but you can tell she's not herself. She is hanging on. Now there's a sadness that pervades everything around here as we wait for the inevitable... but hope it doesn't come soon. I'm sure if you ever lost a pet to long and serious illness you know how difficult it can be

Her sickness reminded me of another little friend of mine who died almost twelve years ago, on September 22, 2006. I wrote this essay the day after that - the day after my little friend died.

So for both my little furry friends, and for every one of you who has a pet or pets they love, we are republishing this 2006 essay entitled "Farewell to a Friend".

We hope you enjoy reading it.

 


What are phishing, vishing and smishing?

We're glad you asked! Other than words that make spell checkers insane, these words all define different kinds of maliciousness. And while the government may not be good for many things, it's good for one thing - paying good writers big bucks to write technical stuff that even non-geeks can understand. We write technical stuff that even non-geeks can understand, but we don't make big bucks and many question if we're good writers. Good writers or not, we're going to let these highly-paid U.S. Government (good) writers tell you all about phishing, vishing and smishing. Ready? Set! Go!

Phishing

Phishing is when a scammer uses fake email, text messages, or copycat websites to try to steal your identity or personal information, such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, debit card PINs, and account passwords. The scammer may state that your account has been compromised or that one of your accounts was charged incorrectly.

A scammer will instruct you to click on a link in the email or reply with your bank account number to confirm your identity or verify your account. They will sometimes threaten to disable your account if you don't reply, but don't believe it. Legitimate companies never ask for your password or account number by email.

Vishing and Smishing

Similar to phishing, vishing (voice and phishing) and smishing (SMS texting and phishing) scammers also seek to steal your personal information. However, these scams target your mobile or landline phone instead of your computer. You may be directed to call a phone number to verify an account or to reactivate a debit or credit card.

And now you know what phishing, vishing and smishing are. And if you have an inquiring mind -- even if you don't -- be sure to read all the info on this page.

Gimme a smish, EB!

 
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Cloudeight Direct Computer Care: Single Keys or Season Tickets - always a great deal. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care is like having PC insurance. Get more information here.

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Reg Organizer 8.5: Reg Organizer is the Swiss Army Knife of Windows tools. It's far more than just a registry optimizer and cleaner... it's Windows all-in-one toolkit. Helps you keep your computer in tip-top shape and also helps you solve annoying Windows problems. Reg Organizer works great with Windows 10 too! Get more information about Reg Organizer (and get our special discount prices) here.



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• Emsisoft Anti-Malware: The best anti-malware you'll find anywhere. Great protection -- both proactive and reactive. Learn more here.
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• Thunderbird Email Setup: Let us set up Thunderbird for you. Thunderbird works great with Windows 7, Windows 8 and with all versions of Windows 10. Get more details here.
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We hope you have enjoyed this issue of InfoAve Premium. Thanks so much for your support and for being a Premium subscriber.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
Darcy & TC
Cloudeight InfoAve Premium - Issue #749
Volume 15 Number 18
February 16, 2018

 
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