Upgrading from Win 7 to Win 8.1

On 3/14/2014, Gene E. Bloch posted:
our menu times have changed

our menu *items* have changed

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Gene E. Bloch écrivait news:lfvkd5$bme$1
@news.albasani.net:

snip

OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had one
for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was typing
this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have changed.
You have been selected for a free (plonk)".

Will switching to W8 prevent that? I'd switch in a minute :-)


I would be the first surprised if it prevented that.

It never happened to me though, yet...

On 3/14/2014, Dominique posted:
Gene E. Bloch écrivait
news:lfvkd5$bme$1 @news.albasani.net:

snip

OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had
one for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was
typing this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have
changed. You have been selected for a free (plonk)".

Will switching to W8 prevent that? I'd switch in a minute :-)


I would be the first surprised if it prevented that.

No, I'd be the first one surprised...

It never happened to me though, yet...

Are you in France? Maybe telecom works better there. I'm in the USA,
and such annoying stuff is usual, rather than rare here :-(

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Gene E. Bloch écrivait news:lfvs1b$r62$1
@news.albasani.net:

On 3/14/2014, Dominique posted:
Gene E. Bloch écrivait
news:lfvkd5$bme$1 @news.albasani.net:

snip

OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had
one for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was
typing this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have
changed. You have been selected for a free (plonk)".

Will switching to W8 prevent that? I'd switch in a minute :-)


I would be the first surprised if it prevented that.

No, I'd be the first one surprised...

It never happened to me though, yet...

Are you in France? Maybe telecom works better there. I'm in the USA,
and such annoying stuff is usual, rather than rare here :-(


I am in Canada and my sister in Montreal has been caught by that scam.

On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:13:43 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had one
for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was typing
this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have changed.
You have been selected for a free (plonk)".


These calls are illegal (in the US). I understand that enforcement
can't be 100%, but you'd think these long-running scams like the
"Systems Center" or "we're calling to lower your interest rate" would
have been shut down a long time ago.

You'd also think that phone companies would have developed technology
to prevent Caller ID spoofing. About half my spam calls are
"UNAVAILABLE" and the other half are some impossible pattern of
digits like XXX-XXX-XXXXX or XX XXX XXXX.

My outgoing message begins with the sit.wav sound. That has at least
reduced the frequency of repeated calls from robots, I think.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

In message , Stan Brown
writes:
On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:13:43 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had one
for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was typing
this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have changed.
You have been selected for a free (plonk)".


These calls are illegal (in the US). I understand that enforcement
can't be 100%, but you'd think these long-running scams like the
"Systems Center" or "we're calling to lower your interest rate" would
have been shut down a long time ago.

You'd also think that phone companies would have developed technology
to prevent Caller ID spoofing. About half my spam calls are
"UNAVAILABLE" and the other half are some impossible pattern of
digits like XXX-XXX-XXXXX or XX XXX XXXX.

Try pointing out that by not blocking calls with faked CLIs, the 'phone
companies are participating in the crime (either the calls themselves,
or for other such calls which are not illegal just irritating, the crime
of misuse/abuse of telecommunications and/or computer equipment - I
presume you have a crime whose description is similar to that in the
USA), and are thus jointly guilty.

(Trouble is, I'm not sure to _whom_ you'd point this out. Certainly not
the 'phone companies - they'll just ignore you. Your local lawman,
and/or elected representative at some level, I guess.)

My outgoing message begins with the sit.wav sound. That has at least
reduced the frequency of repeated calls from robots, I think.

(Is that "line busy"? Or "number unobtainable"?)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Personally, I don't like the Senate idea, I don't like the idea of having to
elect another bunch of overpaid incompetents. I don't like the idea of having
wholesale appointments by the PM of the day for domination of the second
chamber. I like anachronism. I like the idea of a bunch of unelected congenital
idiots getting in the way of a bunch of conmen. - Charles F. Hankel, 1998-3-19.

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On 3/14/2014, Dominique posted:
Char Jackson écrivait
:

On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:46:02 +0000 (UTC), Dominique
wrote:

Drew écrivait news:lfo8ev$j04$1
@speranza.aioe.org:

On 3/11/2014 4:55 PM, W. eWatson wrote:
I have a PC Win 7 desktop. I'm about to upgrade to 8.1. I understand
I can make it look like 7. Will I really miss having the 7 interface
instead?

Why would you want too?? Is there something about win 8 you want or
need? Just curious.


Stability?

The OP already has Win 7, so stability isn't an issue.


My own experience, i3 system, random freeze, after upgrading to 8, no
more freeze.

Although that is consistent with the idea that the cause is W7 it doesn't
prove it; other changes may well have happened during the update process.

Certainly, within my house I agree with Char that stability isn't an issue
with W7.

However, it is definitely a good thing that your system is now stable :-)

OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems Center"
or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had one for several
months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was typing this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you for
calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have changed. You have
been selected for a free (plonk)".

Will switching to W8 prevent that? I'd switch in a minute :-)


My favorite is the credit card one with "this is your second and final
notice." Really? I'll bet big money that I've had 50 "second and final"
notices :-(

I did have one from the Microsoft Security Center a while back. I played
along with him for a while, pretending to have problems with the commands he
wanted me to do, telling him that error messages kept popping up. After
about 4 or 5 minutes of this, he finally asked me what the message said. I
replied, "It says you are so full of **** your eyes are brown.", and hung
up. What fun :+)
--
SC Tom

On 15/03/2014 10:20, Stan Brown wrote:
On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:13:43 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
OT: there was a recent thread here about calls form the "Systems
Center" or others who want to get into your computer; I hadn't had one
for several months, but I was just interrupted by one as I was typing
this reply :-(

And before I finished, I got yet another call; it started "Thank you
for calling. Please listen carefully, as our menu times have changed.
You have been selected for a free (plonk)".


These calls are illegal (in the US). I understand that enforcement
can't be 100%, but you'd think these long-running scams like the
"Systems Center" or "we're calling to lower your interest rate" would
have been shut down a long time ago.

You'd also think that phone companies would have developed technology
to prevent Caller ID spoofing. About half my spam calls are
"UNAVAILABLE" and the other half are some impossible pattern of
digits like XXX-XXX-XXXXX or XX XXX XXXX.

My outgoing message begins with the sit.wav sound. That has at least
reduced the frequency of repeated calls from robots, I think.


I've recently installed a TrueCall call blocker on my line, here in the
UK, and that has stopped virtually all such calls stone dead. I don't
know whether there's a version available in the USA.

It can be configured to deal in different ways with different types of
call - Star list of people you want to hear from, Zap list of people you
don't, CLI withheld, CLI unavailable, International, CLI available but
not in its Star or Zap lists, etc.

If a call arrives from someone on my Star list, it goes straight through
and my phone rings. If a call arrives from someone on my Zap list, it
politely tells them to be fruitful and multiply but my phone doesn't
ring. If a call arrives from an available but not recognised number, it
asks them who they are and rings my phone and asks me whether I want to
speak to them. If a call arrives from a withheld, unavailable or
international number, it asks them to press a specified key (to get rid
of automatic diallers and recorded messages) and *then* asks them who
they are.

It's very rare for an undesirable caller to get through the screening
process and cause my phone to ring - the vast majority hang up when
confronted by screening.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 03/15/2014 11:32 AM, Roger Mills wrote:


I've recently installed a TrueCall call blocker on my line, here in the
UK, and that has stopped virtually all such calls stone dead. I don't
know whether there's a version available in the USA.

It can be configured to deal in different ways with different types of
call - Star list of people you want to hear from, Zap list of people you
don't, CLI withheld, CLI unavailable, International, CLI available but
not in its Star or Zap lists, etc.

If a call arrives from someone on my Star list, it goes straight through
and my phone rings. If a call arrives from someone on my Zap list, it
politely tells them to be fruitful and multiply but my phone doesn't
ring. If a call arrives from an available but not recognised number, it
asks them who they are and rings my phone and asks me whether I want to
speak to them. If a call arrives from a withheld, unavailable or
international number, it asks them to press a specified key (to get rid
of automatic diallers and recorded messages) and *then* asks them who
they are.

It's very rare for an undesirable caller to get through the screening
process and cause my phone to ring - the vast majority hang up when
confronted by screening.


I'm in the US and recently signed on to this free service


http://www.nomorobo.com/



I've gone from at least three unwanted calls a day
down to about two a week.

On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 10:36:07 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

In message , Stan Brown
writes:

You'd also think that phone companies would have developed technology
to prevent Caller ID spoofing. About half my spam calls are
"UNAVAILABLE" and the other half are some impossible pattern of
digits like XXX-XXX-XXXXX or XX XXX XXXX.

Try pointing out that by not blocking calls with faked CLIs, the 'phone
companies are participating in the crime (either the calls themselves,
...

One of my pet peeves with Verizon is that they allow you to set up
your account to block a handful of phone numbers automatically, but
there is no option to block "unavailable" calls. And obviously
blocking individual numbers is worthless because when phone-spammers
put out fake numbers.

It's not well known that there are actually two forms of caller ID.
The one we all think of is fakeable; the other one is used in billing
and I believe is not fakeable.

My outgoing message begins with the sit.wav sound. That has at least
reduced the frequency of repeated calls from robots, I think.

(Is that "line busy"? Or "number unobtainable"?)

"Number not in service", I believe. Something of the sort, for
certain. It's the sound I get if I accidentally dial a non-working
number.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On 3/15/2014, Stan Brown posted:
My outgoing message begins with the sit.wav sound. That has at
least
reduced the frequency of repeated calls from robots, I think.

(Is that "line busy"? Or "number unobtainable"?)

"Number not in service", I believe. Something of the sort, for
certain. It's the sound I get if I accidentally dial a non-working
number.

Then you'd never get a message from me - I'd be fooled into hanging up.

Wait a minute, that might not be seen as a disadvantage...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 2014-03-15, Stan Brown wrote:
On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 10:36:07 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

In message , Stan Brown
writes:

You'd also think that phone companies would have developed technology
to prevent Caller ID spoofing. About half my spam calls are
"UNAVAILABLE" and the other half are some impossible pattern of
digits like XXX-XXX-XXXXX or XX XXX XXXX.

Try pointing out that by not blocking calls with faked CLIs, the 'phone
companies are participating in the crime (either the calls themselves,
...

One of my pet peeves with Verizon is that they allow you to set up
your account to block a handful of phone numbers automatically, but
there is no option to block "unavailable" calls. And obviously
blocking individual numbers is worthless because when phone-spammers
put out fake numbers.

Caller ID is useless.
One pays to view the number, another pays to block your viewing of the number.
It's about money.
Strange, businesses engineering money into their operation, but it sometimes
happens.
They aren't your best friend.


It's not well known that there are actually two forms of caller ID.
The one we all think of is fakeable; the other one is used in billing
and I believe is not fakeable.

Yeah, the billing is pretty accurate.
The customers experience ranks kind of low, unless they are taking a survey
for the next media campaign.

Strange, businesses seem to focus on making money.
The rest is collectively called bull****, in other ways usually.

--
"You got carried away.
The game was too elaborate.
You were enjoying yourself too much"

Per Roger Mills:
If a call arrives from someone on my Star list, it goes straight through
and my phone rings. If a call arrives from someone on my Zap list, it
politely tells them to be fruitful and multiply but my phone doesn't
ring. If a call arrives from an available but not recognised number, it
asks them who they are and rings my phone and asks me whether I want to
speak to them. If a call arrives from a withheld, unavailable or
international number, it asks them to press a specified key (to get rid
of automatic diallers and recorded messages) and *then* asks them who
they are.

The challenge-response thing is what I've been ranting about for a few
years now.

I'm glad to hear it works.

Have not found it for USA yet, but Amazon.com lists a few - most of
which just store a black list... but at least one, "TeleBouncer", issues
a challenge... but the challenge is not user-configurable.

You have what I think is the real solution:

- A whitelist

- Configurable challenge

I don't put a lot of stock in the recognition of missing caller ID
because my expectation is that spoofing will be come the norm.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:32:38 +0000, Roger Mills wrote:
I've recently installed a TrueCall call blocker on my line, here in the
UK, and that has stopped virtually all such calls stone dead. I don't
know whether there's a version available in the USA.

I googled, and the links I clicked on all seemed to be in the UK.

It's not even available in the UK now, according to Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-
Blocker/dp/B002GP7HQM

But it wouldn't help me anyway: I have only a cell phone (metric
spelling: mobile), and no landline. That's increasingly common in
the US, as cell service is often cheaper than landline service and
includes more.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:40:26 -0500, philo* wrote:

I'm in the US and recently signed on to this free service

http://www.nomorobo.com/

I've gone from at least three unwanted calls a day
down to about two a week.

Interesting. I would be a little nervous about letting them collect
the phone numbers of all the people who call me, though. Presumably
this "free" service is not funded by a billionaire philanthropist,
but rather by selling the data they collect.

In any case, the site says it doesn't work with Verizon Wireless.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...