How to stop Google+ users from emailing you

It was kind of creepy when Google announced that other Google+ users can email you even if they do not know your gmail email address.  Don't want strangers on Google+ to start inundating your Gmail inbox? No problem. You can control or completely turn off this option.

On Thursday, the search giant announced a new feature that would let anyone on Google+ e-mail fellow users without having to find out their actual Gmail address. Respond to such an e-mail, and your address is then revealed to the other person.

Anticipating that many people might not want to receive e-mail from total strangers, Google lets you fine-tune this setting. Here's how:

1. Open your Gmail account. Click on the gear icon in the top right and select Settings from the menu.
2. In the General tab on the Settings page, look for the section that says: Email via Google+.
3. Click on the dropdown menu next to "Who can email you via your Google+ profile?" You can pick one of four choices: Anyone on Google+, Extended Circles, Circles, or No One. Make your selection and then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Google has also posted a Help page to explain how to tweak this setting. The new feature will roll out to all Gmail and Google+ users over the next couple of days, according to Google. When that happens, you'll receive an e-mail with more information and a link to the setting. But with the steps above, you can control the new feature before it even reaches you.

Copy your hard drive, while it is still clean

I've had a rough week, a landslide of people calling me with malware.  In particular, crappy programs that claim to "speed up" your computer.  I will not mention them by name, but if it is on your system, you know it, because there is a pop up window up already or one coming telling you that this wonderful program has detected thousands of errors........ You get the picture.  A different way to handle the problem would be what if you had a perfect copy of your drive before all this hell broke out.  It is possible.  Try DriveImageXML, free for home use.  It can make an exact copy of your system, save it and allows you to restore your system to that point, whether you are in Windows or not.   Of course, if your computer is already compromised, this is moot, but if not, give it a try.

LogMeIn shutting down free service..with only a week's notice

LogMeIn shocked customers yesterday with a notice announcing the end of LogMeIn Free.  

According to the notice posted to the LogMeIn blog, users will have seven days to upgrade to a premium access account. The grace period begins the next time a user logs in to their account. Users who do not subscribe to a premium account service within the seven-day window will lose access to the LogMeIn service.

LogMeIn lets you remotely access and use a PC from your mobile device.

LogMeIn has posted an FAQ to answer common questions related to the change in service, such as when the change takes effect, what steps users need to take to continue using the service, and what happens for certain customers like those who use LogMeIn Central or those who have paid for the LogMeIn Ignition app for iOS or Android.

Existing LogMeIn customers should be receiving email notices directly explaining the changes and options available. The LogMeIn FAQ explains that users who purchased the Ignition app will receive special pricing discounts to upgrade to a premium account, but it doesn’t provide any details about how much the discount is or what the conditions are.

LogMeIn directs customers to log in to their accounts in order to view the specific options and pricing available. Of course, as soon as you do that,  the clock starts ticking and you’ll be forced to make up your mind one way or the other in the next week.

As awesome as smartphones and tablets are for being productive on the go, there are some things that simply require a “real PC.” A service like LogMeIn enables users to work with their PCs remotely from an iOS or Android (including Amazon Kindle Fire) mobile device to get more done without having to carry around a laptop PC.

The free service has been a valuable entry-level solution, but you need a LogMeIn Pro account to take full advantage of the capabilities anyway. LogMeIn Pro not only lets you remotely access and use your PC, it also enables you to transfer files from one remote PC to another, or print files from a remote PC to a local printer through the mobile app.

The decision to end LogMeIn Free is abrupt and a bit confusing. It seems like it’s been relatively successful at luring customers to sign up and generating revenue for LogMeIn from the premium account subscriptions. LogMeIn explains simply, “We believe this offering to be the best premium desktop, cloud and mobile access experience available in the market today.”

If you use LogMeIn Free, it’s time to decide whether you get enough value from it to justify a $100 per year price tag for LogMeIn Pro.

HP is bringing back Windows 7...by "Popular Demand"

HP really wants people to buy a Windows 7 PC instead of a Windows 8 machine. The PC maker has been emailing customers over the weekend noting that "Windows 7 is back." A new promotion, designed to entice people to select Windows 7 over Windows 8 with $150 of "savings," has launched on HP’s website with a "back by popular demand" slogan. The move is clearly designed to position Windows 7 over Microsoft’s touch-centric Windows 8 operating system.

PC buyers steered away from picking Windows 8

In fact, if you browse to HP’s home section and navigate to desktop PCs then you’ll only be presented with Windows 7 machines by default as no Windows 8 PCs are listed until you start customizing the section using optional filters. The laptop section does include Windows 8 machines, but it also prominently advertises a Windows 7 laptop. Even HP’s all-in-one section promotes the company’s 21-inch Android-powered PC over Windows 8 alternatives.

HP’s "back by popular demand" wording is a clear knock towards Windows 8 which has struggled with perception issues thanks to what some see as a confusing mix of desktop and tablet-style computing. Microsoft has tweaked some parts of the OS with Windows 8.1, but it looks like Windows 9 will bring more significant changes and a move away from the Windows 8 branding. In the mean time, HP is the first PC maker to take advantage of Windows 7 as a selling point over Windows 8, and it follows similar moves from OEMs who chose to promote Windows XP over Windows Vista years ago.

Verizon's Early Upgrage plan tweaked, but still stinks

Verizon has made a tweak to its Edge phone upgrade plan, which the carrier rolled out in the summer as a response to T-Mobile's own no-contract, early upgrade policies. The plan originally let Edge customers get a phone for no money upfront — instead, they would pay a portion of the phone's cost every month. Then, customers could upgrade to a new phone after six months, provided they also had paid off 50 percent of that phone's full retail cost. (As always, it's worth noting that this is a horrible deal for Verizon customers, who end up essentially paying a phone subsidy to Verizon twice on this plan).

As noticed by CNET and confirmed on Verizon's site, the carrier has made a tweak to Edge that does let customers using it upgrade even more frequently if they're so inclined — now, instead of waiting for six months to trade your phone in and get a new one, you can do so after just 30 days. Of course, you're still responsible for paying off half the retail cost on the phone, which means you won't save much money with this new plan. The earlier you upgrade, the less time you're paying Verizon two phone subsidies (the monthly Edge payment as well as the phone payment already built in to your contract) — but it's still not a good deal, just a less bad one.

If you're a customer using Edge and have a bad case of buyer's remorse after a month or two, you can now fix that a bit easier than before. However, Verizon subscribers who wants to upgrade their phones whenever they want are probably better off just buying phones at their full retail cost — you control exactly when you buy a new phone, and you get to keep or sell them afterwards rather than give them back in to Verizon.

Google Using Technology for something truly useful!

Smart contact lens measures glucose levels

Chances are high you know someone with diabetes. My dad is diagnosed with it and gives himself an insulin shot each day. I have a young nephew who suffers from it as well. People with diabetes have the daily challenge of keeping their blood sugar levels in check, which means monitoring what they eat, when they eat, and how much they eat, among other things. It's a bum rap, but to make things easier, Google has begun testing a smart contact lens that measures glucose levels using a miniaturized sensor embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material.

There are tears in the contact lens as well as a wireless chip to transmit data. It's still early in the game, but already Google says it's completed multiple clinical research studies that are helping to refine its prototype.

"We’re testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second. We’re also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we’re exploring integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds," Google stated in a blog post."

Google's hope is that this will become a tool for people with diabetes to manage their disease. For now, the search giant is in discussions with the FDA, though "there's still a lot more work to do" before this becomes a usable technology.