Leave it to Google to make set up your digital life....after you die

When it comes right down to it the modern Internet is really quite young. The term Web 2.0 was coined back in 1999 to help describe websites that had evolved beyond simple static webpages, but most of the web services we have come to know and love are actually less than 10 years old. As we start to pour more of ourselves into the cloud, it’s worth asking the question, what happens to our data when we die? I recently had a computer that I had to service that was inherited by a customer who had a brother pass away.  It was strange, but what happens to all that social media information?  Well there is a potential answer and Google to its credit is once again leading the way.

Google’s new Inactive Account Manager allows users to specify what will happen to their data after a set period of time, and it is really quite clever. The system has built in safeguards that will send out text messages to verify you are actually no longer among the living, at which point the system will either notify your loved ones with instructions on how to access your account, or delete your data once and for all.

The cynical among us could make the case that Google is simply looking for ways to shave on long term storage costs, but that just sounds awful. We prefer to think Google is just trying to prepare us mentally for our digital afterlife, and giving us a chance to choose how we want our personal data handled after we shuffle off this mortal coil.

Quick Lesson on booting from something other than your hard drive

When you boot your PC, it generally loads an operating system (such as Windows) from a hard drive or SSD. But you can bypass this process by booting from a specially-prepared CD, DVD, or flash drive.

Why would you do this? Perhaps Windows is so messed up that it fails to boot on its own. Or you want to scan for malware in a clean environment. Or perhaps you just want to play with another operating system without bothering to install it.

Before you can successfully boot from a disc or flash drive, you may need to go to your computer's Setup screen and change the boot order. How you do this varies with different computers. Look for an onscreen message, soon after you boot your PC, that says something like "Press key for setup."

The following terms and definitions will help you understand booting from media that doesn't stay inside your PC.

Boot disc: Any bootable CD or DVD. Although not technically accurate, the term is also used for bootable flash drives.

.iso file: A CD or DVD image file that you can download and burn to a disc. To burn one in Windows 7, simply double-click the file and follow the prompts. In Windows 8, right-click the file and select Burn disc image. For earlier versions of Windows, you'll need to install a third-party program such as the free ISO Recorder.

Universal USB Installer: A free program from Pendrivelinux.com that can prepare a bootable flash drive from an .iso file. This doesn't work with every .iso file in existence, but it supports an amazingly large selection of them.

Windows System Repair Disc: This Microsoft boot disc provides several tools for repairing a bad Windows installation. To create this disc in Windows 7, click Start, type system repair disc, and press ENTER. Windows 8 provides different options for a CD or a flash drive. For a CD, press WINKEY+R, type recdisc, and press ENTER. For a flash drive, press WINKEY+R, type control panel and press ENTER. Type the word recovery in the Search Control Panel field in the upper-right corner. Click Create a recovery drive.

Live Linux: This generic term refers to several versions of Linux that can be booted from a disc or flash drive. The most popular of these, and probably the most powerful, is Ubuntu.

Hope it helps you learn a bit more about your computer!

Say it isn't so Microsoft, A bad windows update?

Microsoft has pulled a Windows 7 security update released as part of this month's Patch Tuesday after discovering it caused some machines to become unbootable.

Update 2823324, which was included in the MS13-036 bulletin, fixed a "moderate-level vulnerability" that requires an attacker to have physical computer access to be able to exploit a targeted computer, Dustin Childs, a group manager in the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing group, wrote in a blog post published Thursday evening. The company has now pulled it from the bulletin and is advising at least some Windows users who have installed it to uninstall the update following the guidance here. MS130-26 was one of nine bulletins released on Monday to fix 13 separate vulnerabilities.

"We’ve determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors," Childs wrote. "As a precaution, we stopped pushing 2823324 as an update when we began investigating the error reports, and have since removed it from the download center."

Childs didn't say what third-party software was involved, but the removal instructions his post linked to said update 2823324 may cause Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows Workstations and Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows Servers versions 6.0.4.1424 and 6.0.4.1611 to display an error message. Antivirus provider Sophos said Brazilian users are being hit particularly hard, and some Twitter messages reported that banking software in that country may be the reason.

Microsoft's advisories don't make it clear if Windows 7 users should uninstall the faulty update even if they've rebooted after installing it and aren't experiencing any problems. This lack of clarity is surprising considering the tremendous resources at Microsoft's disposal and the huge number of customers who depend on unambiguous instructions to keep their systems running reliably. Ars contacted the company's outside PR firm for clarification but the statement we received didn't answer our question.

Seems like nobody wants a computer anymore, thanks Windows 8

The bad news keeps on coming for most of the major PC makers, who were already dealing with poor holiday sales. Market research firm IDC reports that first quarter worldwide PC shipments are down 13.9 percent from the same quarter last year, the worst year-over-year decline since IDC began tracking shipments in 1994.

"Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending," said IDC's report. "PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8."

In short, netbooks are gone, Ultrabooks aren't selling as well as they could be, and things with touchscreens are succeeding at the expense of more "traditional" computers. IDC's report spends much more time blaming Windows 8 for the decline, going on to say that it "appears to have slowed the market" rather than supplying the sales bump that new Windows versions have provided in the past. But Windows 8 is certainly not the only culprit.

For more, click here.

Where people are not likely to call for IT help....

A nationwide survey conducted online in March 2013 by Harris Interactive on behalf of Crucial found that the majority of office workers who use a computer are reluctant to call the IT department for tech support. Instead, 53 percent of the 2,144 U.S. adults said they attempt to fix their computer problems on their own or solicit help from a co-worker/someone else. What makes this finding even more interesting is that computer problems ranked as the top reason for decreased productivity.

Around 29 percent of respondents indicated computer problems (lost files, slowness, crashes, and so forth) as the primary reason productivity suffers in the workplace. The category outranked co-workers (25 percent), workload (22 percent), management (22 percent), and customers/clients/vendors (15 percent) as factors that negatively affect the work flow.

"It is interesting that while computers play such a pivotal role in the flow of an office's workload, many employees are choosing to remedy their computer issues without the assistance of a trained IT professional," says Roddy McLean, marketing director, Crucial.com. "As the modern office worker is more reliant on the performance of their computer, they have also become more adept at finding a do-it-yourself solution when a computer crisis strikes."

There's a bit of a divide between the propensity of male and female workers to call IT for help. The survey found that male computer users (46 percent) are much more likely than female workers (25 percent) to fix their own PC problems. Young men between th ages of 18-34 are especially prone to go the do-it-yourself (DIY) route at 61 percent.

Crucial commissioned the survey to draw attention to the launch of a national contest to recognize everyday office workers who come to the aid of co-workers mired in computer chaos. Those nominated for the title of Official Unofficial Office Computer Go-To Superstar have a chance to win $5,000 in cash and a $5,000 Best Buy gift certificate.

How to disable In-App purchases on IOS

Recent horror stories of kids charging thousands of dollars to their parent's iTunes accounts through in-app purchases are enough to scare any parent into banning their kids from further iPhone use. A five year-old from England managed to rack up $2,550 in in-app purchases in just 15 minutes. The incident occurred days after Apple settled a lawsuit involving in-app purchasing by kids. Although Apple has refunded the charges, the whole debacle put freemium apps in the spotlight and pointed out the dangers of free game apps targeted at children.

Don't let in-app bill shock happen to you.

Freemium apps, also known as bait apps, are free to download, but require the user to purchase items in the game to continue playing or pass levels easily. The prices for some of these items are ridiculously high. For example, in Zombies vs Ninja , 333 bombs cost $99.99. So imagine your child wanting a thousand bombs—that's more than $300 down the tubes.

Luckily, there is a way to disable in-app purchasing on iPhones, which completely blocks any attempt to purchase from any app. Here are the steps.

1. In the Settings, tap General.

2.Scroll down and tap Restrictions.

3. If it's not already enabled, you will see that most of the Restrictions page is grayed out. Click on Enable Restrictions at the top to turn it on.

4. Once you enable Restrictions, you will be prompted to create a four digit passcode and re-enter it a second time. Be sure this passcode differs from your locked screen passcode for safety's sake.

5. After you create a passcode, scroll down to In-App Purchases and you'll see that it's turned on.

6. Click on the toggle to disable In-App Purchases.