In case many of you do not know, sometimes what you post here or on other sites will show up on the web. Depends on the words you use - if you mention a brand name that someone might google, for instance, it will be there for all to see. I googled the name I use here and found some of my posts on-line. So....just be careful what you post - and never post too personal info.
bluedaze, Yea......thats the bad part of it, but I feel it's worth it. If you check your cookies. you will find most are avtive for several years. DickS
1. Click On Start 2. Click Network & Internet Connections 3. Click Internet Options 4. Click Internet Properties 5. Click Browsing History 6. Click Delete 7. Click Temporary Files, Cookies & History if those are the ones you want to delete. Do Not Click on Passwords 8. Click Ok
DickS, I delete my cookies each time I sign off the web. Doesn't seem to necessarily solve the problem. I could still google me and it brought up various posts from this site - and other forums also.
Vickie, Are your sure you don't mean you are deleting your temporary internet files when you sign off the web? I have my security set to do that, but I think you have to manually delete the cookies as described above. The only cookies that will remain will be those you have as "Favorites" . DickS
I manually delete the cookies before I turn my computer off at night. I also have my security set to do it - but I go in an manually delete them. I suppose a post could reach the web if whatever you referred to gets googled before you delete the cookie???
Guys, deleting cookies doesn't delete your posts. Absolutely posts DO reach the web, and it doesn't matter whether or not you delete the cookies. They're HERE, on Joan's site. The cookies are on your own machine. Deleting cookies is a good idea to do from time to time; they take up space, but they are not the problem if you're using a home machine. They're only a problem if you use a communal machine (like at the library) and don't log off of your own mail or whatever.
It IS a good idea to not post identifiable private information here - note I use a psuedonym and never refer to my husband by name. Anyone can google briegull and find me, though, by name, and I don't mind. I'm not sure what difference it makes if I mention levoxyl or Penney's, or whatever... so what?
My general rule for people and their passwords is to have one password for simple sites like this, that you use all the time, can never forget, and another one or two for ones that have financial data, that are very strong and not used otherwise. Although I've had my credit card compromised a time or two, it's never been through my internet passwords.
Also, there are programs you can buy - usually around $29-30 - over the internet, which let you store your passwords and logins on your own computer, and your browser may let you do that as well. I never store my financial pwords but I do let Firefox store the rest, and I use 1passwd (on the mac) to store my passwords and logins. Roboform on the PC does the same thing. Neither of these are unsafe. Gator may be but I'm not sure it's still around.
Here is a second for Roboform on the PC. I've used it for years and they are very good people to do business with.
I've been online forever. Before the Internet I was on GEnie and local BBS boards. If you knew my name you could google it and I'd show up. If you knew my first email address that also probably is still showing up because my stuff was on a stitching FAQ from the earliest Internet days.
It is what it is. In addition I've got a photo on my profile here, because that photo is already attached to the Starling name due to my being on digital scrapbooking sites. So my handle and my photo are already attached.
Still, I'm careful about some things. I've never used my real name or my husband's real name. I don't have an email address on my profile, not even a throw away one at this point in time. Use reasonable care, and let the rest of it go.
If you don't mind someone being able to google your name and/or your husband's name, it doesn't matter.
Frankly, I've been on digital scrapbooking sites. I've posted layouts with pictures of myself at multiple ages, my husband, my daughter and her husband and my grandson, with names. My maiden name is out there on layouts. I've never had any problems as a result.
For this to be a real problem someone would need to want to do something malicious. And most people just aren't malicious. But the Internet isn't the small world it was when I first came on board and watched the old hands go nuts over the influx of AOL folk. I hadn't been there that long myself, but we BBS people were a tiny minority and no one noticed us. The AOL group was huge and it was changing things without realizing that they were doing it.
I've also used Starling on a lot of forums. Not every Starling out there is me, but in a lot of cases it is. But Starling as a word doesn't google easily.
Thank you Starling. I totally agree with you. Our computer club feels no one is really interested in the individual user and to not get your undies in a knot about security. I do check my bank accounts daily. To the folks that don't like to bank on line-you can check daily and spot errors instantly. I write so few checks I forget how.
I second doing banking online. At this point I'm not paying bills online. When I first started using the online services they charged big time for using online bill paying. That is no longer true, but I haven't made the change. What I do is check the accounts weekly. I reconcile the checking account and check on the Visa card and take a quick look at whatever else is going on as well.
Because my math is so bad, reconciling the checking account before each bout of check writing works out very well for me. No big surprises. And I want to know what is happening with that credit card, not only to catch errors (never have, by the way) but also because I pay it off every month. Sometimes I need to stop spending. <grin>
I HATE to hand-write. I can, if I have to, if my arm is well supported on a table, but I have familial tremor which manifests itself particularly when I am writing, or eating, say, soup. Or for that matter using a mouse while standing up and leaning over someone at the keyboard - which was very embarrassing when I was teaching people to USE mice.
I have written almost NO checks in the last year. I have put charities on credit cards (I pay off almost completely most months), and all routine bills on the bank site, which I check constantly. I've been able to catch a couple of credit card problems (which had to do with paypal, but that were weird) and I've had them resolved. I'm now starting - as of the first of this year - to use the free Quicken online software. It's a lot less complicated that the PC quicken, but I really don't need much complicated now. And it does all the checking for charges and loading in, so reconciling is automatic. The test of it will come when I go to do my taxes NEXT year!
Suntrust charges nothing for anything. BillPay is free. They even do my faxes and notary when needed. They all know me and my situation. Never questioned my POA and even lend a sympathetic ear. Even their on line user support is friendly-well-sorta
I think all the banks went to free bill pay in the end. I was a very early adapter for online banking, which is probably why they were still charging when I wanted to try it.
I haven't yet started to pay bills on line. I want to get started on that before we take our trip in Mid-March. We'll return Mid-April. I think I'll be able to do it without problems. I just have to sit down and figure it out.
I check the bank 2-3 times a week to make sure everything is ok. I also check my visa card frequently and pay it off every month. I think the bank may not like that too much. Actually, those of us who do that are using their money for free. Oh, well. :)
Mawzy I agree with you about the visa card. I pay my balance every month and get bonus points on everything I charge. I don't understand why people use debit cards when you have a month to pay your credit card balance.
I have everything drafted out from the bank so I don't use checks very often or online banking. Even the credit card which is through the same bank is paid from the checking account. I originally started it for utility bills and then to pay whatever incase we were away and I didn't want late fees showing up.
Bluedaze, I have often wondered the same thing....why use your money with the debit card when you can use the credit card company's money for a month. I am one of those that pays off my balance every month and get a money back thing with Discover...it is a nice little savings account...I let it build up and then use it for a vacation or furniture, or some other extravagance.
Being able to track things on the computer is a wonderful thing....
That's on my to-do list. I've got to figure out how to get my billsl paid on line. Everyone says it's really easy. That's what I need. :) Easy is going to be my new mantra.
I agree on debit vs credit cards. I will NOT use a debit card. For one thing, I would lose track of how much money was in the checking account, so would probably overdraw. For the same reason I also do not have any payments deducted automatically from the checking account. If I have to write the check I can keep better track of where the money is and how much. One thing I might like to learn is how to get my Quicken program to write my checks, as my handwriting is getting worse (and you know how bad doctors' handwritting is!!!!).
Marsh, I don't understand your reluctance to have routine payments drafted automatically out of your bank account to spare you the hassle of writing lots of checks. I probably write fewer than twenty checks in a year -- annual property taxes, IRS, annual home owners insurance, ditto auto insurance, Christmas and birthday monetary gifts, and a handful of charities. All the routine monthly stuff like utilities, newspaper, medigap and prescription drug insurance premiums, etc. are paid automatically from our savings account, as is an automatic payment once a month to pay off our full Visa balance. And we pay for everything with our credit card -- gasoline, groceries, pharmacy, dentist, store purchases, etc. I haven't messed with trying to balance a checkbook in at least ten years -- the bank does that for me, and I'm able to go online anytime I wish to check account balances and transaction histories for any period I'm interested in, and occasionally to make online transfers from savings to checking or Visa if I can forsee a need to do that. It's probably a lot simpler since we have all of our accounts -- savings, checking, CDs, and Visa -- at the same bank (credit union, actually). We do still get a paper statement once a month from the bank, but I mostly just use that as a reminder to scan account transactions for anything that might not belong there. Our checkbook does produce carbon copies of such checks as we do write, which are useful when it comes time for preparing income tax returns, but really just about all of our annual financial history needed for IRS computations is accessible via the online banking.
I love online bill-pay. I especially like that I can sit down at the computer when a bill comes in and set it up for payment at a future date. I rarely miss a deadline any more. My handwriting also has deteriorated, mainly from lack of use, as I do everything I can on the computer.
Charities are only too happy to have you pay them through credit cards. It's easy to arrange almost every recurring payment, including insurance, to be drafted against your account. I do keep a cushion of about $1000 in the account from which the automatic deductions come. I do NOT have my electric or cable/phone bills automatically paid, I want to read them and see if I approve before I push the button to pay them.
It took me a bit of time to realize it, but there's a documents folder on the mac (there's one on Windows too) in which a folder marked web receipts exists (put there by the system in the case of the mac, but obviously anyone can put one anywhere). I get my bills electronically and go over them electronically, then go to the bank site and pay them, all in the same day so I don't forget. The bill's stored in that folder so I can go back and look at it. Frankly bank statements (which I now get electronically) are almost non-essential, as is keeping track of what I wrote a check for (if I DO write a check, when it's cashed I can look at it on-line on the bank site and see what it was for!) At this point I am almost totally electronic, and it is SO much quicker, not to mention the lack of paper to recycle or to get gathered up by DH!
It depends on the version of the operating system you have (and I'm pretty hazy between System 7 and X) but if you double click on Macintosh (the image of the hard disk, maybe it's named something else for you) you'll see a folder called documents. Inside that documents folder there is one called Web Receipts. Now how you get your electronic files into it automatically can be something of a problem, since different browsers and indeed different sites tend to save things in different places. But what I do is, as it's downloading, choose Open so I can see the bill, then save it with a name that makes sense - SAVE AS electric bill March09 - into the proper folder. Or save it on the desktop then drag it into the right one.
I love debit cards. It was one of the ways I got out of debt when we still had credit card debt. I don't have problems with keeping my checking account OK. I keep all the receipts and every couple of days make sure they go into the checking account register. At one time, before dementia made it too difficult, I actually wrote every debit card charge into the register at the time I made the purchase.
I do use credit cards as well. I will not use a debit card online. Credit cards are much safer for online purchases.
I'm with you, Starling. I use my debit card all the time. I did take my DH's away though! Of course, he couldn't remember his pin anyway. I will use a credit card if traveling, or purchasing a big-ticket appliance or on-line. Pay all my bills through my bank on-line. Makes it so much easier to keep track of. I do worry though if something should happen to me - the bills probably won't get paid!
Vickie, I'm with you. I'm considering having a talk with my daughter. It is possible to have the utility companies contact someone outside the household if the bills aren't being paid. I am thinking that might be the way to go, and if I also give her access to my online banking account numbers and passwords, she could just take over if she needed to do that if I got sick.
Starling, that would work well for you. Unfortunately, I have no family near me and my only sister (in FL) will not use on-line banking - doesn't want to even learn! I'm in KY. My son, also in FL is awaiting a pancreas and kidney transplant, so I can't put this on him. I guess I need to find a friend here who would do it - but most of my friends don't know how and don't want to learn! Maybe my attorney - that might work.
Vickie - I am in the same boat. I have always done the bill paying and most are done online. My husband has no idea how to access anything online or even on the computer since I keep all our financials in QuickBooks. Neither of my kids can handle money, therefore I would never trust them with mine. I guess if anything happened to me, creditors would have to just take it - we all know they would not feel bad about leaving a sick person with nothing!
My lawyer and financial adviser are in the same building. I could do without the lawyer but I really do trust my broker. I have taken two of my three adult children to meet them so if something happens to me what's left of our nest egg will be intact. I need to be sure that my husband will be taken care of and I don't want my kids to go nuts trying to figure out what to do. I even had one daughter go with me to make final funeral arrangements.
Have made all funeral arrangements for both of us and paid for. FYI make sure if you arrange for a prepaid funeral that it is "medicaid friendly", in case you should need medicaid. Your funeral director will know what that means (so medicaid can't touch it).