Knock Out Phone Spam

A Great Use For An Old PC

I have a headless system set-up comprised of a Foxconn nettop mini pc running Windows 7 with PhoneTray Pro installed. The mini pc is an excellent choice for the purpose as it is low power and smallenough to mount to a wall in any place that is otherwise wasted. Mine happens to be behind a closet door.

Connected to my phone line and the internet, this has proven to be a very nice setup for reducing the number of useless telemarketing and robo-calls that are growing so rapidly in numbers much to the dismay of those who thought that the National Do-Not-Call registry would actually make a difference, these criminals continue to make unsolicited calls with total disregard for the registry.

Accessing the headless system for purposes of maintenance, updates and archives that PhoneTray produces is a snap from my other pc's by using the Remote Desktop capabilities.

PhoneTray software, after the first ring if it determines that the call is spam will deliver either a message to the caller that you can select or can give a feedback tone that will indicate a disconnected line to the caller. One other benefit that I have also thought of is that if you have an actual case that you are able to press charges against a company for abusing your right to have them stop calling you, this logs all the calls coming in on your line with number, date, name if available, and time. All the records you need are there ready to be sent to the printer. It has significantly reduced the number of trash calls that I receive on a daily basis, the effort I have put into the project has paid off, and the one time cost of about $30 (you can at times get it on a special like I did around Christmas time I think it was $10 off) for the PhoneTray Pro software has been money well spent. 

The beauty of the whole system is that you can make use of an old computer that you may have laying around that is too slow for any other use or purchase a low end, entry level pc to use. If you have a pc that is a considerable workhorse and is good at multi-tasking it is a simple installation and running a phone line to a modem to get the ball rolling.

Avoiding Internet Surveillance: The Complete Guide

From The Team At

This article is a very good read, well worth the time to go on over and take a look.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/avoiding-internet-surveillance-complete-guide/

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways! (This Invention Will Change The World, Just Watch)

Two Quotes That Are Pertinent

To The Issues Being Faced At FS

Back Up and Running

Equipment Failure At Verizon

Some time last Friday late afternoon left a great number of people in the Lisbon area high and dry without land-line phone service ...

... or DSL service either for three days. 

Of course it had to happen over the weekend so none of my usual posting or ordering could get done. Now its a race to get caught up over the next two days.  

Weather Widget for Ubuntu/Linux

GIS-WEATHER

Although the widget is available through the Software Center, I opted for the most current incarnation and downloaded the .deb from NOOBSLAB . I visited this widget several years back and was not too impressed with its operation, needless to say its developers have been hard at work and the work has paid off.

Setup for your particular locale is fairly straight forward and it has a good range of "skins" or looks available out of the box. I prefer the clear unobtrusive look myself, and I think it fits in with my theme quite well.

It can be customized through the preferences menu quite easily, though some alterations can make it look a bit strange and take a little while to figure out how to make it "look" right. Text colors, can be changed to match your theme and for visibility.

Who Spies On You When You Are On Line?

It's no joke!

It seems that on-line security is becoming more important every day, not necessarily from the standpoint of personal information, but perhaps more so from others simply spying on you gathering information as to the websites you visit, and the types of media you might be downloading. Even those that dislike what Edward Snowden did have to admit that in many ways he was absolutely correct. At first I was one that would have labeled him a traitor, but after looking long and hard at what it was that he was actually trying to bring to light, I now applaud him to a certain degree.

To think that it is ok for anyone to snoop around in your own private business is ridiculous. Unless you are a convicted felon or have a long history of criminal activity, there should be absolutely no reason for anyone to “eavesdrop” on your day to day roaming, the internet no exception.

One way to thwart your Internet Service Provider (or ISP) from aiding those that would pry, is by making use of a service called VPN, or Virtual Private Network. There are many providers of this service available that offer free as well as paid services. The paid services such as Private Internet Access  often provide a service 

that is better, long term and farther reaching with a yearly subscription at a reasonable price, but for short term use many of the free services such as VPNbook  will function well enough.

Although services like these will keep your ISP from prying into your surfing, they do not shield you from sites of public domain, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc, where despite your personal arguments, everything you post is up for grabs regardless of your privacy settings. Some may argue that these service allow you to circumnavigate safety protocols that the ISP has in place. While that may be true, you as the end user should hold that right … AND I might add THAT RESPONSIBILITY! In other words if you are going to use the service for less-than-legal purposes, well you, and you alone are the guilty party.