CrexTechs Blog

A friend was ready to abandon Facebook altogether this week with the latest rounds of changes taking place.  We just get used to what's new and feel confident we understand fully what Facebook is doing with the information we post, who can see what and how we want to use this powerful set of online applications, then bam!! They change it again and not just in a little way but in huge, almost conceptual ways.  How much time does one have to put into researching the changes before we are again confident that we know how we are being used and possibly abused by Facebook.

Privacy is the main issue. Who sees what and how is our information gathered and stored and used to sell to us or feed information to us that we may or may not want to know.

Some of these changes have to do with the two types of interfaces that Facebook offers.

1. The personal "Profile."
2. The "page."

Most users don't have "Pages," they have "profiles."

What is a Page and how is it different from a profile? (this is not new)

From the Facebook definition: "Pages are for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to broadcast great information in an official, public manner to people who choose to connect with them."

By definition, pages are public.  CrexTechs has a page.

A profile is a place on Facebook where an individual presents themselves in order to connect with family and friends, usually privately.

An individual can have a profile and a page and keep their profile private and post what they want to be public to their page.  But in most cases, pages are for businesses and organizations who want to be "Liked" so they can promote themselves.  Profiles are for people to connect with friends and family privately.  To connect you must request to be a "Friend" and be accepted provided your privacy setting is set to Friends or Custom not Public (see below).

So what is new?

In the past one had to "Like" a page to comment on a post.  It is no longer necessary to "Like" a page to comment on that page. All such comments on "Pages" will be public.  If you have friends who also "Like" the page and have made posts or comments, you can click on "Friend Activity" to see what they have posted or commented on in the past (you will also see your comments and posts) .  Non-friends will not see this compilation of posts and comments.  They will see their own posts and comments and their own friend's posts and comments.

From a page that you are perusing, for instance the Grantsburg, WI page, you can click through to a profile of someone who has posted or commented.  You will see their profile page but you will not be able to see anything they don't want you to see.  The same goes for anyone who clicks through one of your post to get to your profile.  They will not be able to see anything you don't want them to see.

Privacy settings

As in the past, you must set your own privacy setting but you don't need to do it again unless you have custom settings that you want to review.  If you have selected Public, all your posts are public.  If you selected Friends, then only your friends can see what is on your wall or news feed including posts and comments by others.  Be warned, if you have a friend whose profile is public and you post or comment to her wall, your post or comment will also be public (your profile, your wall and your news feed are still friend's only though). Her posts to your wall or news feed will not be public.

Subscribe is a new feature that is pretty interesting.  If you have an update on your news feed from a friend, right click on your friend's picture or link.  You will see Subscribe.  Click on that.  Now select the things you want to see from that person. You may not want to see everything they post such as status changes.   This looks pretty slick to me.

There are a lot more changes.  Take a look at these articles to see what else you need to know about these changes.

Facebook Changes: New Privacy Concerns Surround Facebook Changes

Facebook’s Latest Changes: A Hands-On Look [PICS]

I am using the new chat feature while writing this article.  I had a FB message from my brother while I was exploring some of the changes.  I responded and he was online so he was able to respond immediately to me.  What's not to like!!

I am quite incredulous when I get email from strangers with the subject line, "I need your help," or "You won't believe what I just heard," or any number of obvious come- ons. Can they really think we are dumb enough to fall for such transparent ploys? It must work though because the emails keep coming.

I have also grown leery of the No Subject subject line emails. These from people in my contacts whom I have not heard from in a long time. Very tempting to open these. Then when there is only a link, I know not to go there.

When I get email from banks and credit card companies, even my own, I discard them right away without opening them. Then I log into my account to check to see if there are any pertinent messages attached to my account or any suspicious activity. Invariably there aren't. Banks and credit card companies will send you a letter when they have something to tell you, unless you have opted for email alerts.

Email is one of the most common ways to get infected so caution is your first defense. Curiosity can kill your machine. Better to delete the email. You can always email your friend to see if they really did send you something.

This may sound counter intuitive but paying a higher price can actually save you money.  How's that?

When you shop closer to home you often pay a higher ticket price but, surprisingly, not always and not always  much more. When you consider that driving 40 to 160 miles round trip, with wear and tear on you and your vehicle, you are adding expense to what you buy. Doubling up on errands and making lists can help make those costly trips more efficient but buying closer to home when possible can save you big bucks.

Shopping at Crex Techs is a good example of how you can same money shopping closer to home. You can head to the cities and shop for your new laptop at Best Buy. There they have a great selection of machines with all the bells and whistles and can sell you a service agreement and all the peripherals you can dream of.  Or you can come in to CrexTechs where we always have machines on hand.  You may not get all the bells and whistles but then you'll probably find you don't need all the bells and whistles, won't use them, and will wonder why you paid for them.  We will sell you only the peripheral that you need.  And we won't sell you a service agreement unless you beg us for one!!  We will sell you just what you need.  That is going to save you money!!

When you do need service, you won't have a service agreement you paid big buck for, so you won't have to make that 160 mile round trip twice, once to drop off your machine and once to pick it up.  You can drop off your machine right here in Grantsburg, maybe even wait while we take care of your problem.   We can also service some issues remotely.

And we have monitors, printers, surge protectors, battery backups, thumb drives and other backup media, mouses, keyboards, etc, etc, etc.

So shop closer to home and save not only on gas and time but by getting only what you really need and want.

The latest issue of VipreSecurityNews offers a very useful link to an article on CNET News examining the relative safety of browsers.  While Internet Explorer appears to be the best at stopping "socially engineered malware," the whole story is a bit different.  Note, "socially engineered" in this context is defined as the art of manipulating users into performing actions online that may have deleterious consequences.  "Socially engineered malware" is malware that masquerades as a legitimate website to lure in unsuspecting traffic convincing users to download software that is actually spyware or other malicious software.  Your browser is at the front-line of your defense against such sites so it is important to know if your browser is really effective. But remember, you are the real front-line in your defense against this new breed of "confidence men" so vigilance is equally important.

Check out the article:

Can any browser be considered 'safe'?