Word look alike?

"Carlos E.R." wrote:

In this case, on her old laptop Word would not do the conversion to
PDF, and being confined I could not have a look. So she mailed me the
.docx, and I did the conversion to PDF using LO in Linux. Nobody
noticed.

No need to have Word, or any other app, incorporate PDF conversion to
output a PDF file. Use any PDF printer emulator you want. ANY app that
has a Print function can output to a .pdf file.

I currently use Bullzip PDF Printer, but I've used PDFCreator in the
past. There are lots of PDF printer emulators aka virtual printer
software. Some are listed at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...are#Creators_3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...inter_software

"Carlos E.R." wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

Chris wrote:

Many employers don't allow employees to choose where to store files.

Did her school provide her with VPN access to their network?

No. They provide a web page with a login and tools, and they provide
Gmail for groups.

So, her files could be stored ANYWHERE when she uses that web page to
download and upload the files.

"Carlos E.R." wrote:

On 18/09/2020 23.39, Chris wrote:
Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 18/09/2020 18.27, VanguardLH wrote:
Chris wrote:

Many employers don't allow employees to choose where to store files.

Did her school provide her with VPN access to their network?

No. They provide a web page with a login and tools, and they provide
Gmail for groups.

Then they could well be breaking GDPR rules. No "personal information"
should be stored on, nor sent via, unsecured mechanisms - personal info
includes students' details. Email is not a secure mechanism by any stretch
of the imagination.

Well, "Gmail for groups" claims privacy, it is not the same as "personal
Gmail". Problem is, the students themselves don't seem to have an
account there, so email to them would be "on the wild".

irony mode on.

However, politicians wrote a law that orders email to be private and
that nobody can read it. Who cares if email is not really so? As far as
they care, they ordered it to be secure, under penalty of imprisonment.
If anyone reads the wrong email, he can go to prison. Problem solved.

:-P

Even more stupid are gov't agencies that demand use of faxing to
transfer sensitive documents. They don't trust e-mail despite e-mail
certificates provide security; however, rare few users install an e-mail
certificate for use with their local e-mail program. Encrypted e-mail
is by invite: the one (recipient) wanting to get encrypted emails has to
digitally sign an invite e-mail (by adding their digital signature to an
outbound e-mail), the other party has to store that public half of the
sender's certificate (in the digital signature), the other party then
uses that public cert to encrypt their e-mails back to the first party,
and the first party (that did the invite with their public half of their
cert) is the only one that has the private half of their cert to decrypt
the encrypted message. With the diminishing sources to get free e-mail
certificates, having do to the setup, remembering to digitally sign
their e-mails to those they are inviting to send encrypted e-mails back
is too much setup for most e-mailers to bother with; however, it is very
possible to setup encrypted e-mails between any sender (that gets the
public half of the cert) and a recipient (the only one with the private
half of the cert). How many users do you know that have configured
their e-mail program to do encrypted messaging? Gov't boobs figure
e-mail is insecure because that's the default mode of transmission:
unencrypted.

Faxing is even less secure than e-mail: (1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it; and, (2) the fax sits around in the fax
machine's output hopper at work where anyone walking by can read it
instead of the specified recipient (fax machines are shared at work, not
a unique one on every worker's desk). Yes, there are encrypted fax
machines, but they must be used at both endpoints in the transmission,
and that rarely happens except between businesses or gov't agencies that
have established secure faxing between themselves. That is, encrypted
faxing is an interdepartmental thing, not something users bother with,
especially since they aren't going to pay for a fax machine that
encrypts.

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:

Faxing is even less secure than e-mail:

more secure because it's point to point.

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

however, unlike fax, a *lot* of people can potentially see email.

email accounts can also be hacked, or worse, the email provider itself
is compromised, such as yahoo.

fax is point to point and doesn't traverse multiple servers nor does
anything remain anywhere in the cloud. unless you dial the wrong
number, only the recipient can see it.

and, (2) the fax sits around in the fax
machine's output hopper at work where anyone walking by can read it
instead of the specified recipient

they might see the cover page, and then they'll route it appropriately.

more commonly, faxes go to a fax server and a designated person is
notified and routes it. no paper is used. think of it as email without
using the internet.

corporate email accounts aren't as private as you might think either.

(fax machines are shared at work, not
a unique one on every worker's desk).

not always. it depends how big the company and individual departments.

On 19/09/2020 03.34, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote:

In this case, on her old laptop Word would not do the conversion to
PDF, and being confined I could not have a look. So she mailed me the
.docx, and I did the conversion to PDF using LO in Linux. Nobody
noticed.

No need to have Word, or any other app, incorporate PDF conversion to
output a PDF file. Use any PDF printer emulator you want. ANY app that
has a Print function can output to a .pdf file.

I know that, but as we were all confined to our homes I could not go
there not she here, for me to add whatever was necessary or to explain
the procedure.


I currently use Bullzip PDF Printer, but I've used PDFCreator in the
past. There are lots of PDF printer emulators aka virtual printer
software. Some are listed at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...are#Creators_3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...inter_software

Good to know.

The new laptop came with a print to PDF printer already defined.

I did not try to see what happens to an URL in such a conversion: is it
clickable in the PDF?



--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 19/09/2020 03.51, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote:
On 18/09/2020 23.39, Chris wrote:
Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 18/09/2020 18.27, VanguardLH wrote:
Chris wrote:

Many employers don't allow employees to choose where to store files.

Did her school provide her with VPN access to their network?

No. They provide a web page with a login and tools, and they provide
Gmail for groups.

Then they could well be breaking GDPR rules. No "personal information"
should be stored on, nor sent via, unsecured mechanisms - personal info
includes students' details. Email is not a secure mechanism by any stretch
of the imagination.

Well, "Gmail for groups" claims privacy, it is not the same as "personal
Gmail". Problem is, the students themselves don't seem to have an
account there, so email to them would be "on the wild".

irony mode on.

However, politicians wrote a law that orders email to be private and
that nobody can read it. Who cares if email is not really so? As far as
they care, they ordered it to be secure, under penalty of imprisonment.
If anyone reads the wrong email, he can go to prison. Problem solved.

:-P

Even more stupid are gov't agencies that demand use of faxing to
transfer sensitive documents.

The "even more stupid" could be endless :-p

They don't trust e-mail despite e-mail
certificates provide security; however, rare few users install an e-mail
certificate for use with their local e-mail program.

Ufff (I don't know if that translates to English Ok)

Yes, I once tried to send/receive encrypted email with a lawyer. Was a
no go. He did not manage to set it up.


Encrypted e-mail
is by invite: the one (recipient) wanting to get encrypted emails has to
digitally sign an invite e-mail (by adding their digital signature to an
outbound e-mail), the other party has to store that public half of the
sender's certificate (in the digital signature), the other party then
uses that public cert to encrypt their e-mails back to the first party,
and the first party (that did the invite with their public half of their
cert) is the only one that has the private half of their cert to decrypt
the encrypted message. With the diminishing sources to get free e-mail
certificates,

Hum. In Spain almost anyone that does internet things with the
government, such as filling the tax form, has a certificate issued by
the "Royal Mint" that is legally binding. Fewer people know that if you
copy the certificate from Firefox to Thunderbird (for instance) we can
sign and encrypt emails.

Also, our National Identity Card (a plastic card that fully identifies a
citizen) has a chip that can be used for electronic certification of ID,
and perhaps to send encrypted email. However, there was a security
problem and the batches for several years of cards had to be voided for
electronic use.


having do to the setup, remembering to digitally sign
their e-mails to those they are inviting to send encrypted e-mails back
is too much setup for most e-mailers to bother with; however, it is very
possible to setup encrypted e-mails between any sender (that gets the
public half of the cert) and a recipient (the only one with the private
half of the cert). How many users do you know that have configured
their e-mail program to do encrypted messaging? Gov't boobs figure
e-mail is insecure because that's the default mode of transmission:
unencrypted.

Right.

I suspect, though, that email sent and received within the same "Gmail
for Groups" platform is somewhat secure. For some meaning of the word.
Probably the sender can be verified, depending on what method the group
administrator uses to give addresses. If the email goes outside of the
group to another group, or to Internet, things change.



Faxing is even less secure than e-mail: (1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

Quite so, although illegal. ;-)

and, (2) the fax sits around in the fax
machine's output hopper at work where anyone walking by can read it
instead of the specified recipient (fax machines are shared at work, not
a unique one on every worker's desk). Yes, there are encrypted fax
machines, but they must be used at both endpoints in the transmission,
and that rarely happens except between businesses or gov't agencies that
have established secure faxing between themselves. That is, encrypted
faxing is an interdepartmental thing, not something users bother with,
especially since they aren't going to pay for a fax machine that
encrypts.

I've never seen encrypted fax. :-o


--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 19/09/2020 04.32, nospam wrote:
In article , VanguardLH
wrote:

Faxing is even less secure than e-mail:

more secure because it's point to point.

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

We were comparing to encrypted email.


however, unlike fax, a *lot* of people can potentially see email.

email accounts can also be hacked, or worse, the email provider itself
is compromised, such as yahoo.

fax is point to point and doesn't traverse multiple servers nor does
anything remain anywhere in the cloud. unless you dial the wrong
number, only the recipient can see it.

The phone line can be connected to at any point in the route, and the
Telco exchanges can do a virtual connection (which is what government
agencies or the police do). The digital stream can then be stored as a file.



--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 19/09/2020 03.36, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

Chris wrote:

Many employers don't allow employees to choose where to store files.

Did her school provide her with VPN access to their network?

No. They provide a web page with a login and tools, and they provide
Gmail for groups.

So, her files could be stored ANYWHERE when she uses that web page to
download and upload the files.

Not anywhere, but at the facilities provided by the employer IT services
that provide that page. And being https, the transmission is encrypted.

Of course, people can also store the files anywhere, if they can be
downloaded to local file.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

We were comparing to encrypted email.

very few people use encrypted email.

attachments are sometimes passworded, however.

nospam wrote:
In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

We were comparing to encrypted email.

very few people use encrypted email.

attachments are sometimes passworded, however.


passworded?

In article , Bill
wrote:

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

We were comparing to encrypted email.

very few people use encrypted email.

attachments are sometimes passworded, however.


passworded?

pdf and zip files can require a password to open them.

On 9/19/2020 12:20 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 19/09/2020 03.34, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote:

In this case, on her old laptop Word would not do the conversion to
PDF, and being confined I could not have a look. So she mailed me the
.docx, and I did the conversion to PDF using LO in Linux. Nobody
noticed.

No need to have Word, or any other app, incorporate PDF conversion to
output a PDF file. Use any PDF printer emulator you want. ANY app that
has a Print function can output to a .pdf file.

I know that, but as we were all confined to our homes I could not go
there not she here, for me to add whatever was necessary or to explain
the procedure.


Have her download and install TeamViewer. It's very easy to download,
install and use, so you can explain how to do it to her over the phone.

Do the same on your computer. Once it's installed on both, you use
TeamViewer to show her how to do it while you're explaining it over the
telephone.


--
Ken

On 19/09/2020 14.16, nospam wrote:
In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:

(1) the transmission is NOT
encrypted, but sent in the clear, so anyone intercepting the
transmission can read it;

same for email.

We were comparing to encrypted email.

very few people use encrypted email.

attachments are sometimes passworded, however.

Yes, my bank does that with automated emails (machine generated).
However, the staff don't know how to do it when I email with them.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 19/09/2020 16.51, Ken Blake wrote:
On 9/19/2020 12:20 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 19/09/2020 03.34, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." wrote:

In this case, on her old laptop Word would not do the conversion to
PDF, and being confined I could not have a look. So she mailed me the
.docx, and I did the conversion to PDF using LO in Linux. Nobody
noticed.

No need to have Word, or any other app, incorporate PDF conversion to
output a PDF file.Â* Use any PDF printer emulator you want.Â* ANY app that
has a Print function can output to a .pdf file.

I know that, but as we were all confined to our homes I could not go
there not she here, for me to add whatever was necessary or to explain
the procedure.


Have her download and install TeamViewer. It's very easy to download,
install and use, so you can explain how to do it to her over the phone.

I tried.

Impossible. Too difficult. (not kidding).


On the new computer I installed it myself, then demonstrated it.


By the way: it displays some kind of permanent banner on the bottom
left. If I click to close the banner, the session dies. Is it possible
to remove it?

Then it always seem to ask (on windows) to buy it. On Linux it doesn't
ask that much.

And it remains running as a applet, which has to be closed manually.



--
Cheers, Carlos.

In article , Carlos E.R.
wrote:


attachments are sometimes passworded, however.

Yes, my bank does that with automated emails (machine generated).

how does your bank communicate the password to you if it's a machine
generated email?

i hope the password is not sent via email, although it would not
surprise me at all.

However, the staff don't know how to do it when I email with them.

find a new bank, one which takes security seriously.