What’s here
This page will contain a summary of the topics coming up and links to more information covered in the sessions to-date. Previous years’ topics are available on these pages:
Please email your topics to helensmith.u3anuna@gmail.com in advance.
Zoom link
The Zoom link to the session is NOT here. Please find this in your emails – then make sure you know how to find it in future. There is a NEW link for Term 2 and onwards – the same link for the remainder of the year.
Upcoming Topics
| Topic | Requested by | Expected date |
| AI tricks – see my PowerPoint | Robert | 09/11/2023 |
| How much Google data am I using? | ||
| More on Passkeys | ||
| Recovery codes – how to keep them secure | ||
| Undo send – how does it work? | ||
| Google and Privacy – remove your data from search results – does this work? | ||
| Where to look up what the Internet knows about you https://au.infotracer.com/ | ||
| Protecting your email account | ||
| All about email – hiding email addresses, how best to use email for security and privacy Disposable email addresses: https://restoreprivacy.com/email/temporary-disposable/ | ||
| Adding an email account on your iPhone https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201320 | Eileen | 06/04/2023 |
| ChatGPT and other AI systems | Joyce | |
| My computer is running slow – what can I do about it? (more) | Vanna | |
| Deleting a photo in What’sApp – has it been fully deleted? https://faq.whatsapp.com/1370476507114859/ | Theresa | – |
Special topics
Term 2 Week 1 (27 April 2023) “Manage your Identity” special session
Term 2 Week 2 (4 May 2023) “Manage your Passwords” special session
Topics by week
| Week | Date | Topics | |
| 1 | 09/02/2023 | Special session “Security Audit“ – Slides in colour – best viewed on screen – Slides in greyscale, 2 per page for printing if needed These will be available until 11/03/2023 | |
| 2 | 16/02/2023 | Optus won’t lock a SIM card – do other providers? – We’ll follow this up in future weeks. Providers (Telstra etc) are supposed to check identity documents. If you follow the security advice we discuss you are probably not going to have a problem. Telstra’s approach to SIM-swapping My computer is running slow – what can I do about it? We started with some theory on how a computer works with particular emphasis on storage. We noted that HDDs are significantly slower than SSDs. Slides from the session. | |
| 3 | 23/02/2023 | Cloud storage – Dropbox: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-storage.htm – colour slides | |
| 4 | 02/03/2023 | Should you accept a “free upgrade” from your Telco? Telstra’s “Standard” speed is 25Mbps download and 4Mbps upload. If you are offered a free upgrade to “Standard Plus” with 50Mbps download and 17Mbps upload, then that sounds like a good deal. Check that there isn’t a time limit on “free”. https://www.telstra.com.au/internet/nbn/nbn-speeds-explained Signing and sending PDF forms – the simplest way is to print the document, sign it and then scan it with your phone to send it. Apple Notes app includes a scanner – Add a new document then choose the camera and select Scan a document. Inserting photos in Word documents – once you insert the photo, select it and go to Picture format in the menu. Choose Wrap text and select your preferred option – “square” allows you to move the photo wherever you want and the text will wrap around it. C drive full and D drive empty – what should I do? – need to understand what is taking up the space on C drive, then try to move that to D drive – to be continued. Can’t upgrade to Windows 11 – when should I buy a new computer? Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025. Until then, there is no need to get a new computer, but we will discuss how to choose the best computer for you in the lead-up to this. | |
| 5 | 09/03/2023 | Sharing Dropbox files securely with a free account? Before throwing out old PCs, how should we clear out our personal data See: https://askleo.com/dban-dariks-boot-nuke/ SIM cards for use overseas See: https://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/Guides/guide-to-international-and-travel-sims clearing out unwanted wifi networks from your iPhone, iPad See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208941 static vs dynamic IP addresses See: https://www.avast.com/c-static-vs-dynamic-ip-addresses Foxtel See How your set-top box works | |
| 6 | 16/03/2023 | NO CLASS | |
| 7, 8 | 23/03/2023 & 30/03/2023 | Special Topic – Backup Your Computer Initial set of slides (includes how to download and install EaseUS Todo): – Colour slides (best for viewing on screen) – Greyscale handouts, 2 slides per page (best for printing) Slides and resources for session 2 – Colour slides (best for viewing on screen) – Greyscale handouts, 2 slides per page (best for printing) – EaseUS Todo Knowledgebase (unfortunately the text is not very clear, but the videos may be more helpful) – Restoring a file from an EaseUS Todo Image Backup (Leo Notenboom) | |
| 9 | 06/04/2023 | “Impersonation as a Service”, your digital fingerprint, the Genesis Market data https://www.troyhunt.com/seized-genesis-market-data-is-now-searchable-in-have-i-been-pwned-courtesy-of-the-fbi-and-operation-cookie-monster/ How do scammers make it look like they’re calling from your bank (or ISP or …) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-31/banking-impersonation-scam-spoofing-disguise-phone-number/102159638 Adding an email account on your iPhone https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201320 Gmail aliases: use a “+” sign and a unique identifies such as a company name before the @ in gmail and many other email providers. Can’t upgrade to Windows 10 See AskLeo on this Also “How to replace Windows 10” (pdf of my slides) Will MS Office 2011(?) and Adobe CS5 work on Windows 11? MS Office may work (probably not Outlook though). Adobe products apparently don’t. See https://alternativeto.net/ for alternatives | |
| END TERM 1 – Note there will be a new link for Term 2 | |||
| Term 2 Week 1 | 27/04/2023 | Manage your Identity special session | |
| Term 2 Week 2 | 04/05/2023 | Manage your Passwords special session | |
| Term 2 Week 3 | 11/05/2023 | “Password-less” logins are coming What to do if you’ve been “Pwned” My documents are synchronised to OneDrive – do I need this and how to stop it. See Microsoft Instructions Deleting photos, emails, iMessages – are they fully deleted? | |
| Term 2 Week 4 | 18/05/2023 | Microsoft accounts – how Microsoft accounts work and the impact on your password for your computer – download the slides How to change the password to login to the computer https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-or-reset-your-windows-password-8271d17c-9f9e-443f-835a-8318c8f68b9c More on buying a new computer – download the slides Disposable Gmail addresses using the format <email address>+<qualifier>@gmail.com | |
| Term 2 Week 5 | 25/05/2023 | ABC News has an interesting animation of data breaches https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-18/data-breaches-your-identity-interactive/102175688 I have been pwned – or have I? https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/luxottica-confirms-2021-data-breach-after-info-of-70m-leaks-online/ Privacy Awareness week was 1 – 7 May IDCare’s top 10 tips Alternatives to Word on iPads and Android tablets – LibreOffice itself is not available, but a “fork” of it is – Collabora Office | |
| Term 2 Week 6 | 01/06/2025 | How likely is it a web site can access your file system? Not very likely – really needs the assistance of software on your computer such as a browser extension or downloaded malware. Bank impersonation scams courtesy Macquarie bank An online marketplace scam courtesy Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned Why are the Optus and Medibank data breaches not in Have I Been Pwned? https://twitter.com/troyhunt/status/1574582128385224705 Still using LastPass? Here are the precautions AskLeo says you should take | |
| Term 2 Week 7 | 08/06/2023 | An example of identity theft https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/videos/latest/identity-theft-victims-details-used-to-buy-car/clia3gg0b00180js06du2hh3i Presenting PowerPoint material during a Zoom Webinar-conference & using a pointer – PowerPoint presentations on Zoom Google deleting inactive email accounts https://www.zdnet.com/article/log-in-or-lose-it-google-will-start-deleting-your-unused-personal-accounts/ and https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-google-delete-account-inactive/ Why is the Medibank data breach not in Have I Been Pwned? https://twitter.com/troyhunt/status/1590160871808208897 Why have a PayPal account? Also https://financialwellness.org/paypal-pros-cons-review/ | |
| Term 2 Week 8 | 13/06/2023 | Scams this week – ABC article quotes a scam victim: Lessons to learn from this article 1. Check the domain name is in the right place: Read web addresses this way: – Find the // -go to the first / to the right of that – working backwards (from right to left) first you will find the Top Level Domain (TLD) such as .com.au – to the left of that you will find the Domain name, ie the organisation whose website it is – anything to the left of that again is a “subdomain” 2. URL (website address) starting with HTTPS – HTTPS just means that the transmission is encrypted and so not visible to anyone who is intercepting the transmission. – HTTPS also indicates that a “certificate” has been issued to the organisation who owns the website, that is, the organisation is who it says it is (check the domain name as above). – it does NOT mean that the website owner can’t see the credit card details – they HAVE to be able to – in fact the website owner can see all the details you put in. This is why you check the domain name to make sure the organisation is who you think it is. Cookies and search engines – https://www.howtogeek.com/710128/what-is-duckduckgo-meet-the-google-alternative-for-privacy/ Powerpoint presentation on cookies | |
| Term 2 Week 9 | 22/06/2023 | SIM swapping – a bigger risk after those big data breaches. A recent ABC news article stated that SIM porting is ranked by Scamwatch as the third-most common scam this year. What can we do to avoid it? Powerpoint slides Telstra blocking scam SMS: See https://exchange.telstra.com.au/weve-blocked-over-225-million-scam-text-messages-since-april/ (dated 29 Dec, 2022) Commonwealth Bank fined a record $3.55m for breaching spam laws with millions of emails. The issue? More than 61m of the marketing emails unlawfully required customers to log in to unsubscribe Make sure you have an up-to-date antivirus (antimalware) on your devices (computers of any sort, Android devices). If you don’t you WILL get malware on your device sooner or later – and it’s a serious problem when you do! Choose any anti-malware that performs OK in tests at AV-TEST.ORG My Photo Stream will be shut down on 26 July. My Photo Stream is the old way of sharing photos between Apple devices. The recommended way is to use iCloud photos which you can turn on in Settings > Photos. If you need to remove photos from your phone first, make sure you have them backed up, then delete and finally delete from the Recently Deleted album. I’m considering buying a computer in the June sales. Here’s a review and another review. But what do I really need? | |
| Term 3 Week 1 | 20/07/2023 | iPhones and iPads are much less likely to get malware but it exists. A recent one uses iMessages to attack. Latest is iOS 16.5.1 (c) I’m considering buying a computer in the June sales. I did buy one – not at a discount … Is my Internet connection down? Use Downdetector.com.au DuckDuckGo browsing protection – is it a good idea? https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/privacy/web-tracking-protections/ | |
| Term 3 Week 2 | 27/07/2023 | Scams leave woman owing large debt for trademark infringement because of sale of counterfeit goods through her PayPal account (ABC News) Follow up on DuckDuckGo browsing protection – what effect did it have? https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/privacy/web-tracking-protections/ Using an iPad as a notebook (GoodNotes and Notability seem to work well, but it depends on your needs) A drawing pen is useful (Adonit Pro or Apple Pencil as examples) | |
| Term 3 Week 3 | 03/08/2023 | iOS16.6 and iPadOS16.6 are available – mainly security updates so you should install them. Does it matter if you don’t log out properly from your bank account? It depends which bank! Banks which automatically sign you out: ANZ – YES Bendigo – YES Commbank – YES NAB – possibly no Westpac – NO Westpac has changed the password rules for some users, but not others. HaveIBeenPwned’s Troy Hunt has this take on bank security Alfred’s experience with Westpac passwords: … would allow you to key in more than 6 characters and accept the password if the first 6 characters are within their criteria. However, the system would allow you to log in as long as you key in just the first 6 characters correctly. The remaining characters are ignored. Accessing the Internet in China – What works and what doesn’t, popular web browsers in China VPNs in China – ExpressVPN and NordVPN seem to be OK, many others are not. Why a VPN? Your Zoom menu bar – how to make it stay on screen (or hide it) Microsoft 365 and Dropbox – how Microsoft makes it harder to use storage other than OneDrive I have a new app for managing my activities – Kanbana Save emails and email attachments on an iPad (or iPhone) | |
| Term 3 Week 4 | 10/08/2023 | Yesterday’s news item on identity theft – what went wrong? | |
| Term 3 Week 5 | 17/08/2023 | Eastlink 2FA – see who offers 2FA Interesting issues from “Appy Hour” – losing the PIN to your computer, setting up Windows 11 E-Ink readers/note-taking devices – Remarkable 2, Onyx Boox Note Air 2, Kobo Elipsa 2E, Amazon Kindle Scribe PayID – what it is and how does it work? | |
| Term 3 Week 6 | 24/08/2023 | Broadband provider iiNet to stop offering email – to keep your email address for any length of time, transfer to The Messaging Company Wifi “security is weak” – what does this mean, what to do about it? Organise your passwords! If you don’t want or need password manager software, use a password book. How scammers steal your identity with SIM swap fraud (Telstra) How much data should there be on a rescue disk (USB stick) – not very much! | |
| Term 3 Week 7 | 31/08/2023 | Computer courses for 2024? Microsoft single-use codes – what are they, what should you do about them What information to provide when asking for help What’s the Point of “Mark as Spam”? Transferring your iiNet email to The Messaging Company Authy (2FA app) website has guides on how to set up 2FA for quite a few different accounts | |
| Term 3 Week 8 | 07/09/2023 | Impact of a data breach – LastPass data breach issues Backups for Authy and Google Authenticator (need to have old phone available for Google) Authy (2FA app) website has guides on how to set up 2FA for quite a few different accounts Moving folders in Apple Notes app | |
| Term 4 Week 1 | 05/10/2023 | No class | |
| Term 4 Week 2 | 12/10/2023 | Pop-ups warning – is this an issue and what to do about it (Turn off pop-ups in Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Pop-ups and redirects ) Synchronising to OneDrive – How to exclude items – put them in a folder OUTSIDE of OneDrive Google Translate – How much data is saved? Hard to know – particularly as your text can be varying lengths. See https://support.google.com/translate/answer/6142480 My equipment – I bought a new phone and passed my old one on. BUT I forgot to check all my authenticators and Macquarie Authenticator no longer works! Authy and Google Authenticator came over without problems. Make sure you backup all your authenticators – and check they work on the new phone before resetting it! My equipment 2 – my C drive backups hadn’t worked for ages. The problem turned out to be a corrupt area on C drive. I needed to use CHKDSK to fix it. Reminder – how to read web addresses (2 slides as used in class) | |
| Term 4 Week 3 | 19/10/2023 | Delivery scams – note the newsletter article “Update Browser” scams – eg Chrome, but all browsers may be affected If Word is not working properly it is probably not a virus. Use Belarc Advisor to get the installation key before uninstalling and reinstalling Word. Or use the free online version of Microsoft 365 (you need to login with your Microsoft account). Passwordless Accounts One-Time Passwords and Passkeys, | |
| Term 4 Week 4 | 26/10/2023 | No class | |
| Term 4 Week 5 | 02/11/2023 | What’s the safest way to do banking? See my PowerPoint presentation Removing pop-ups from your browser: – Turn off pop-ups in Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Pop-ups and redirects Removing pop-ups from your computer: – do an anti-malware scan! Changing the password on a gmail account – do you have to change everywhere? Managing cookies in iOS17 How to set up Gmail for BigPond see last page of the Telstra webmail user guide Setting up a PowerPoint presentation | |
| Term 4 Week 6 | 09/11/2023 | Clickless hacks on iPhones – are they real? How do you protect yourself? See my PowerPoint Webcams | |
| Term 4 Week 7 | 16/11/2023 |
