fiendishlyclever

This came up on the Smashing Security podcast today. Seems appropriate... [emoji23] https://isitdns.com/

One of the things I did was to get a number that goes straight to voicemail - and emails the message. Great for giving to anyone who might want to sell you things. My solution to the voip was Sipgate basic as we dropped the landline years ago (easier on Virgin) We do have a BT number but can't use it as I don't use their router on our FTTP line (and the charges are extortionate)

I thought I'd be fine with the internal screen and a 4k monitor (home use) but I miss two proper external screens. I've got an M1 air.. The hardware is gorgeous but I think I prefer Windows to use, I just can't remember all the keyboard shortcuts (to get the same functionality as Windows)[emoji23]

Tracking all the devices may be a challenge. My brother-in-law was under the floorboards a few years ago laying a cable and found an old bakelite transformer, wired into the ring main. We have no idea what it was for and nothing stopped working when it was disconnected. I dread to think what we haven't found yet[emoji23] Having a smart meter didn't make much difference to us, probably because I'd already swapped to LED bulbs and disconnected everything I could get away with[emoji23]

Another plug for SIPgate. We've not had a landline for years. We didn't port our number in but chose a new one (in fact you can choose which area code you want too, so I have a Derby and a Nottingham number) We pay as you use for calls at just over 1p a minute and voicemail goes to email which is very handy When I moved from Virgin to BT FTTP we didn't use their router which also meant not being able to use the supplied phone number and handset, but at 30p+ a minute we aren't missing it.

That's what makes me hesitant about switching. My email address is about 15 years old and has attracted some spam from data leaks and contacts being harvested etc. I don't want to see spam on a daily basis That isn't as bad as my ordinary Gmail account which is my name with middle initial (separated by dots). It gets hundreds of spam emails a week from people guessing my name (the way you can add or remove dots makes it worse as I also get lots of email for Roberta as well as Robert[emoji33]) The Google spam filters are first rate and catch well over 99% of it but it's still annoying when they slip through. The email is the easiest bit, but I use the calendar lots and the iCloud one isn't feature rich enough for me. Hopeful that Google will introduce a compromise but perhaps I'm getting over optimistic[emoji23]

I've got a 100 seat free account for my own domain, and I've set family members with their own hosted emails so we're waiting to see what happens. I've not received any official notification from Google and there is no message in my admin account... As a matter of principle I'm happy to lose access to the Google account rather than paying for it (their classic bait and switch tactic) but will migrate out the email and calendar. I've spent the downtime during Zoom/teams meetings clearing out emails that I don't really need to keep so I have less than 2000 left so far (not bad for 15 years) Lots of threads/discussion about alternatives on Reddit but it depends what you are using (for example I have two domains on my account) iCloud+ and Outlook (M365 subscribers) seem to be the most popular destinations.

Notify her in writing and copy her line manager in. Then you have a clear papertrail if it does get damaged...

I've recently joined Google Stadia. You can easily grab 4 months free (1 month free trial plus a 3 month free code from Lenovo gaming or similar) for the free games I've completed a few games on there, currently playing Doom which is good fun (I bought my first PC to play the original version of Doom, it used to scare the living daylights out of me[emoji23]) I paid £3.75 for Doom - you don't need to subscribe to play games you've paid for (although you only get 4k graphics etc if you pay and access to better deals) Helps that I have FTTP though... (I also enjoyed Star Wars fallen order, also good fun)

PC Pro has a store too for retail users - is £40 a good price? https://store.pcpro.co.uk/p36876-windows_10_professional

I've got a load of Hue bulbs and stand alone lamps and even the LED strips. Bought most of them when Phillips phased out the old hub and everyone sold off the kits cheap (I've since managed to give away several hubs) I've yet to see a single one fail. I pick a colour I like but don't change them in response to a trigger. I've also got several smart plugs, most of which are connected to lamps. I've got a Xiaomi led bulb in the bedroom and it's a lovely piece of kit for the money. The downside of the cheaper kit is most uses WiFi and I've got dozens of devices in total connected to my router... Have a look at ifttt.com if you want to make your devices respond to external triggers (eg a tweet etc) It works for smart plugs too. [emoji106]

We used to reset it for each other - all of our DPs could do this (although I've not used it for 18 months so functionality may have changed) I preferred authy to their app - why all these organisations try to get you to install their apps which all use the same standard...[emoji33]

And some members of staff will still have to use names on external emails. Imagine telling a social worker about JD in 7A. If they aren't in the office (d they often aren't) they might not have time to look up a DOB etc. Perhaps we could include codenames for discussion with parents so you don't have to use the student's name 'Petal has worked very hard this week blah blah' We should collate a top ten of the daftest GDPR interpretations (although this probably wouldn't make the top ten...)[emoji3] (It does highlight how email has been left behind with things like encryption as technology has moved on)

I've used Sipgate residential for about three years with no issues. I've not got a landline but having a regional number means people who won't call a mobile can still call us. Top tip: Get a second number that you only direct to voicemail and give it to everyone you don't want to speak to. If a call is important they will leave a message (which gets emailed to you) and if not you don't get bothered.

I seem to recall most PAYG plans don't support call forwarding, I needed it for Hullomail took work (which forwards calls to an answering service). I think Giffgaff did but it's a while since I left PAYG behind...

I'd be more concerned about the electricity bill - you need a bank of solar panels and a wind turbine to keep some of these setups running cheaply. [emoji3] [emoji383][emoji383][emoji383]

We used the PDSA sponsored cover. Claimed once and took about three or four weeks including Christmas. We wanted a large amount of cover (£8k per year) but we pay 10% with the excess. This cover cost us under £300, half the cost of Pet Plan who I moved from (and the annual increases were huge). Pet insurance doesn't come cheap but we paid £4500 in vet fees in the last few months of my last dog's life.

Coming soon we were told...

Use IFTTT.com [emoji3]

Of course all the companies know that once you have uploaded a terabyte of data you aren't going to keep uploading it for special offers... I got a free TB for 2 yrs from Google and I've used 30Gb... Microsoft have one of the best packages on offer. I just wish Onedrive was more like Dropbox/Gdrive with full versioning etc (especially in these days of ransomware etc)

Sometimes it's handy to have something disposable for when a relative needs a laptop or there is a trade-in deal likes the one Microsoft ran for Windows 8 (I traded in a slow rubbishy netbook for £100)

I use Nine on Android. You can choose if remote wipe will reset the phone or the app. Stock Android no longer has an exchange client, you are expected to use the Gmail app as a client. Lots of manufacturers include an exchange client with their skin so it varies phone to phone.

My personal site gets hit with hundreds of automated login requests a day - there are plugins that bar an ip address after so many failed login attempts. I use Jetpack to add functionality to my site but I'm not sure if schools can use it for free. I had a free plugin automatically update and bring my site down so take care with plugins and make sure you know how to use ftp to delete them. Backups are extremely useful too. A gallery plugin is an idea if you plan to add a news feed as the one built in doesn't do slide shows. We had our school site designed by a professional company - it's wordpress based but interesting how they've used different plugins to the ones I've used to get a totally different effect. Wordpress is extremely powerful but also can look awful with a bad theme. Having said that very few of our parents interact with the site directly and only follow links there from our Facebook page. I know of schools that do the statutory stuff on a website and everything else on Facebook.

Turn on the annoying beep on sims and send a message from the missing registers notification panel (it's on the drop down menu in the corner of the notification box). This will need combining with heavy application of the SLT stick - use words like safeguarding to get some action.

They told me I could keep my 10Tb for another year - I don't even use my free 43Gb let alone my 365 space. I struggle to go past 100Gb including my entire photo library and music collection. I don't actively use Onedrive as I prefer its competitors. Mine is O365 uni - I've never used my free Skype minutes either!