HOW TO CHECK PASSWORD STRENGTH

Let me start out by telling you that the website listed on today's post is as secure as the site owners can make it and please trust it.

They have never ever been breached and their database is the largest we have ever seen. We don't want you to be afraid to use it. 

The site owners don't know who you are when you are using it because they don't collect IP information. They don't have permission to do that and their site isn't set up to gather that overload of data. The only data they are equipped to gather is what is entered by users to test their passwords so that they can give back correct data in the results.

Bookmark "Pwned" website so you can check future passwords

DIRECTIONS:
Use the site to check your existing passwords to see if they have ever been stolen as part of a whole website hack, or due to a bank or credit card breach. If your results show that your password has appeared five or more times, you should change your password.

But, hold on a minute, don't change it yet.

Enter your proposed new password on the site and see if it has been used before so you aren't wasting time changing to a bad password.

If your password has been seen (used) multiple times before, change it.

The best advice for making a new strong password is to make it 12 or more characters in length - the longer the better - and don't use actual words that can be guessed. Mix it up using upper and lower case letters. Add in a few numbers, symbols and underscores. When done, write it down.

Try it out on the box on their site titled Pwned? If it gives no results - then go change your password to that one because it's a good one.

• Don't use the same password twice. 
• Don't use the one you have for your bank or credit cards on other sites like Facebook, Paypal, Yahoo, or Google. Make the one for your money accounts as UNIQUE as possible so it can't be guessed. Add symbols in the middle or end so that if you happen to use a common password, the symbols will make it harder to guess.

Automated password guessers are always thrown off by symbols that are mixed in the middle or put at the end of a password.

LAST ADVICE:
Bookmark the "Pwned" website so you can remember to check passwords that you want to use before you change them on your actual accounts AND so you can check on your existing passwords periodically to see if they have been stolen as part of a breach.

Here is the link:
.

https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

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https://2geekgirls1nerdyguy.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-to-check-password-strength.html

HOW TO CREATE A SPECIALIZED FRIENDS LIST

Some players like to keep lists so they know which games their Facebook friends play.  

Facebook organized their list section so you can make as many lists as you want to, name them, and add friends to each one. You can add them to multiple lists as well.

Facebook lists auto-update. That means when you unfriend someone, their name automatically deletes from any customized lists you made. This eliminates having to remember to remove them from the list when you unfriend them. 

However, if your friend stops playing a game and is still on your Friends List, their name stays on any list until you unfriend them.   

While it is a good system to keep you organized, it is not useful to alert you when someone has quit playing a game.

Today's post will show you two of the easiest ways I know for how to make a gamers list.  

Once you make your first list, you'll find yourself making lists for each of your games, high school friends, real life vs Facebook friends and so on. The possibilities are endless. 



There are two different ways you can make lists on Facebook.

FIRST WAY

1 - Tap HOME at the top of your Facebook.

1a - At the far left, under EXPLORE, tap FRIEND LISTS.

1A

1b - After you tap FRIEND LISTS, a new screen opens that looks like this picture

1B

1c - Tap CREATE LIST at top right. You will get a popup that looks like this picture so you can name your list.

1C

1d - At LIST NAME, name your list for whatever game you want to make your list and type at least TWO names of players of that game. Then tap CREATE.

1e - You now have a list to work with so you can add the names of your friends.  

1f - If you know the names of a good number of the players of your game, you can type in their names at the far right.   Note: The ADD FRIENDS TO LIST button in the center never works for me, so I don't use it. But if it works for you, you'll know because it will give you a popup showing profile pictures of your friends.  From there, you can tap each face of who you want to put on that list. But like I said, it never works for me.  

1F

1h - You can add as many names as you want by typing their name in the ADD COWORKERS TO THIS LIST block.

But after typing in 200 names, you are going to get tired. 

SECOND WAY 

2 - I think this way is far easier. Choose for yourself.

2a - Starting fresh, go to any name on your friends list, tap FRIENDS button.  You will get a drop-down menu that looks like this picture.  

2A

2b - If you already made your list with the directions in part 1, select ADD TO ANOTHER LIST (as seen in figure 2A).

A new menu comes up with the names of each list. Choose the list you want that person to be added to.

2c - BUT if you did not already create a list with directions in part 1, you can create a new list from this spot.  Tap ADD TO ANOTHER LIST and on the new menu, tap NEW LIST (see figure 2C).   

2C

2d- You will be given a box to name your new list. After you do this, you will be at the same spot as you would have been in part 1 above at figure 1C.  

2D

After you add this particular friend to your newly named list, you are done with that friend. Now, go to another name on your FRIENDS LIST. Tap FRIENDS button, tap ADD TO ANOTHER LIST, then select the name of the list you want to add them to. 

Continue in this manner until you have all your friends added to your specialized lists.   


I am not going to sugar-coat this. Making lists and putting friends on each one takes time.  

If you have over 1000 friends, do 100 or so each day. 

If you have friends who play several of your games, you can add them to multiple lists at one time so you don't have to process each one separately. 

Once you get through about 10 friends, you will see that you can go faster adding them to lists.


TIP: If you do not know who plays each of your games, you will need to go to the game gift section of each game, write down, copy/paste or screenshoot the names of the players and use it as a guide.  


If you are up for handwriting the names, go for it. But I don't do manual work when I can make screenshots or use copy paste.

The reason why some of my lists say EMPTY AND ARCHIVED is because these are games I no longer play - I have no names on those lists.  

They are SMART LISTS which means they can't be deleted.  Every time I clicked on one to see who was on it, I got annoyed because it was a defunct list.  So the easiest way for me to stop clicking on them was to name them so I wouldn't mistake them for active lists.  

When you ARCHIVE a list, it doesn't remove from this section. It stays there. But it does remove from the list choices when you are adding friends.

TIP:  When you send a friend request for a game, so that you don't forget what game you friended them for, select ADD TO A LIST under the ADD FRIENDS button, and put them on a list. If they don't accept you, they won't stay on the list. If they do accept you, you won't have to add them later on. 


If you have any questions, please leave a comment.  

By Cally Russell

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED

 We have other tutorials on our site with step-by-step directions on how to remove a hacker from your account, how to regain your account if you lost it, and how to guard against being hacked.  

This tutorial addresses what you can do if you think someone else has been on your account (or still is).  

Before starting this tutorial, go to SETTINGS>>>WHERE YOU ARE LOGGED IN to make sure you are the only one on your Facebook account right now.  

If you see ANY location that is not you, click END SESSION or LOG OUT on all of them except the one you are using now.  

Then change your password.  If you get logged out, log in again with the new password. Then continue this tutorial.  



You need to have access to your Facebook account in order to perform Facebook's self-guided tutorial at this link. It is very easy to follow the directions.

https://www.facebook.com/hacked 

On the first screen, select the choice that is closest to your situation. 

Facebook offers help steps

Caution:  If you choose "I don't see the right option on this list" - Facebook will assume you have been hacked. You will immediately be redirected to this screen to secure your account. 

If you select any other choice on the above list, Facebook will hold your hand and walk you through the steps.  

If you think you ended up in the wrong place or if you change your mind and want to quit, click on your name on the blue Facebook bar at the top of your screen. This will stop the process and send you back to your regular Facebook desktop.  

It will not save any of your progress. 

If you want to try again, you will need to start from the beginning.


If you get logged out, log back in again.

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HOW TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE GAME FRIENDS ON YOUR CAESARS GAME

For years, Caesars has been trying to figure out a way to limit the number of free gifts each player gets because they think if the player is coin-poor that they will buy coins from them. So far, it isn't working in their favor.  People are quitting instead of buying.


One of the ideas they came up with in the last year is to only allow players to have a certain number of in-game friends (2000) and a certain number of Facebook friends (500). When those friend spaces are used up, the player is MAXED OUT and no one else can be added. 



Here are some questions we have received over the past two weeks about the Caesars app.



Question 1   
How can Caesars players add me as a friend on the game, but I can't add them?  Why aren't my Facebook friends on my game list of friends?


Answer: If You are maxed out (that's when the game says you are at the Maximum Friends), then You can't add any more Caesars players.  It doesn't matter if they are Facebook friends or not.  Caesars counts heads only 'inside' the game.



BUT -- there are players who may be able to add You. When a player sends you a friend request inside the game, it means the player still has room for new friends on their game or else they wouldn't have been able to send you a game request in the first place. 



ALSO -- When they add you, their name will NOT be on your gift list, but your name will be on their gift list.  



It means They have to send You a gift first so You can send a gift back to them.   This is why the GIFT BACK button is so important.  There are many people waiting for game gifts so they can play the game and most players don't follow through and click the GIFT BACK button after they COLLECT.

  ******************* 

QUESTION 2  
I sent gifts to 1500 names on the Gift Tab, but some of my friends say they didn't get my daily gift.  How do I know if I sent all my gifts for the day?


Answer:
If the screen says 1500 SENT, you may think you sent to all the names on your list.  Naturally, if you don't have any names showing, you can't send a gift.  But you have to check the Gift Tab a few times a day because most players get two screens of names per day to send gifts. If you only sent once, you may have more names waiting later.  This first picture shows my first send.

First send was 1765 gifts

Five hours later, this was my second send.

Second send was 204 gifts

 ******************* 

Question 3  
How do I make room for more Caesars Players on my game?  


Answer: 
The only way is the tried and true method - and that is, remove people who stopped playing, people who have died, and people who don't gift over the course of 7 days.  To accomplish this, for 7 days you will need to keep a list of names you are sending gifts TO and the names you are receiving gifts FROM.   You can stop this task after 3 days if you aren't seeing returned gifts.  But remember that some people only play and gift on weekends, so maybe it is best to 'time your task' to start on a Thursday morning and stop on Monday evening to make it fair.  

******************* 

TIP
It is important to pay attention to posts in your groups and on your news feed of people who announce that they have quit playing the game so you can unfriend them.  

But you have to unfriend both on Facebook and in the game console for their name to come off your in-game gift list. It takes 24 to 48 hours for unfriended names to disappear from your list.

******************* 

So if you think you have blocked the Caesars app because you quit the game, know that it is not enough to block on Facebook because if that's all you do when you quit, then you will still receive emails and Facebook notifications for the game (if you had them turned on) and your name will stay on the in-game gift list so they will think you are still playing. 

******************* 

How to remove the Caesars app from Facebook games


First, go to your LIKES and UNLIKE the game. 

Second, go to your GROUPS and leave all the Caesars groups where you are a member or else you will keep getting friend requests. By remaining a group member, you are telling everyone there that you are still an active player. When you tap LEAVE GROUP, wait a second for a popup that says "Check the box that prevents others from adding you back to the group."


Third, follow Figures 1 to 6 below.

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1 - On your Facebook, from the drop menu at top right of your browser, select SETTINGS.  Then go to BLOCKING.

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2 -Go down to BLOCK APPS and type in Caesars Casino. You will see it on a popup list. Select it. 



Don't stop here. Caesars still has your permission to use your name on their websites, advertising, friend suggestions, Pages and add your name (as a filler or dead account) on the friends list of any player who needs more game friends.




How to remove Caesars from your device and Facebook account. 

After you complete Figures 1 and 2 above, you may still get game gifts - but you won't know unless you unblock to go into the game or accidentally login to the game. 



You may feel secure that you had the game blocked but Caesars doesn't know you blocked, because Facebook doesn't communicate with them anymore since they have severed their ties with the Facebook portal.  



The gifts sent to your game account by those who still have your name will sit piled up inside your game until you login to the game again. At that time, you will see 3 days of gifts waiting for you.  


Also, blocking Caesars on Facebook doesn't stop Caesars email notifications (if you have them turned on) and it doesn't stop friend requests inside and outside the game because you haven't informed Caesars to stop using your information.  So this next section addresses that, which is even more important than Figures 1 and 2.



FIGURE 3 - On your Facebook, go to SETTINGS from the drop down menu found at top right of your Facebook screen.  Select APPS and WEBSITES as seen here.

FIGURE 3

When you get to APPS and WEBSITES, tap the ACTIVE Tab and see if Caesars is there. If it is not there, click the other two tabs because it should there if you successfully deleted the app.  

FIGURE 4 - No matter if it is Removed, Expired or still on ACTIVE tab, you still have to take back your permissions.  You will have two Caesars --  one that says Caesars Slots and one that says Caesars Games.  If you are Also a mobile player, you will have 3. Do one at a time.   

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5 - Where it says FRIENDS LIST and EMAIL  ADDRESS, turn it off.  Change APP VISIBILITY to "Only Me."  Then click REMOVE APP and click SAVE.  Do the same thing for the other Caesars on your list. If you also play on mobile, you may have 3 Caesars showing.  Do the same for each.  On your Mobile device, uninstall the app.

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 6 - If they were still on ACTIVE before, now go to REMOVED tab and make sure Caesars has moved over to that tab.  If it did, then you are done. 

FIGURE 6

These extra steps in Figures 3 to 6 will take your name off the gift lists of all your friends and it will take your name off all suggestions for friend requests so they stop coming in too.

But more importantly, it also revokes all permissions given to Playtika.  

It tells Playtika they can't add your name as a friend on any more player accounts - no matter if they are using your name as a filler to max out someone's 2000 in-game friends.

****************

We hope you have found some useful information and we welcome your questions. Send message to Maggie, Cally or John and we will post them here, keeping your name confidential.

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WHEN YOUR DEVICE ACTS UP

Something rather unusual happened yesterday morning.  An elderly neighbor who lives ten doors down the street knocked on my door shortly after 9am.  It is only unusual in that she has never done it before, has only spoken to me once in the year that I have lived here, and rarely waves back when my husband and I walk by her house when we take our daily walk.



I was cordial and invited her in, immediately noticing that she had her cellphone in hand and its flashlight app was beaming the brightest light on my kitchen floor.



About 30 seconds after coming in, her cellphone rang and she told the person she would call them back. She told me she was told by a neighbor that I might be able to help her. She couldn't figure out how to turn off the flashlight because when she got the phone, it had no manual or directions. It was a recycled flip phone that her senior center gave out for free and she got it to replace her Walmart Tracfone that she bought herself for Christmas.

After two days of fooling around with the flip phone, she still had no idea how to use or edit the few gadgets that came with it, but she thought it looked simpler than her old Tracfone.



It wasn't. 


The flashlight had been stuck in the "On" position for two days now and she wanted me to show her how to turn it off because the phone was hot.   



I opened the flip phone and went to the settings, figuring this was an easy fix by simply going to the flashlight app and turning it off.



But there was no flashlight app in the phone's settings. In fact, the only app was the Weather Channel.


Next, I went to the factory installed list and again, no flashlight app.



While I was there, I double-checked to make sure the ringtone was the one she wanted and asked if she wanted to change anything in her address book.  I showed her how and after she added her son's work phone number in the address book and changed the home phone number of another entry, she said she had the hang of it.



But that damn flashlight was not shutting off because I couldn't find a setting for it.  I was looking pretty dumb for a geeky lady.



It was a former AT & T flip phone so I went to their website and it said they had discontinued support for it about six years ago. There were no online user manuals available.  


There were three factory pre-sets that had "edit" capability so a user could change how long the keypad light stays on, change the ringer, and make a new PIN for voicemail.


But no flashlight setting.  I asked her if the flashlight came on right away when she turned it on today?  She said she keeps the phone on 24/7 because it is her only phone line; she doesn't have a landline in the house. She said she charges her cellphone while it is 'On' and that it hasn't been turned off since she got the phone from the senior center.


I told her my best advice whenever any device isn't doing what I want it to do is to turn it off for about 90 seconds, then turn it back on.


Success!  The flashlight turned off.  


She thanked me and as she was going out the door, the phone rang again.  When she answered it, the flashlight came back on.


Then I immediately knew what was wrong.   When she was pushing the 'answer' button to answer a call, she was hitting the button next to the answer button - the night mode/emergency button which turns on the flashlight.   All I had to do was change the default to disable the flashlight.  




When I tested it by calling her from my house phone and the flashlight didn't go on when she answered her phone.


Now, we had Success!



So my best advice whenever a device acts up is to turn it off and wait 90 seconds, then turn it back on.  





Always charge any device while it is in the OFF position. You can spare 30 to 60 minutes before any separation anxiety kicks in and your device gets a chance to cool down. 




In addition to turning off to charge a device, always turn off the device you use for your internet and phone at least once every 24 hours for at least 30 minutes.  They aren't meant to be running 24/7 without taking a nap or they will get sluggish and very hot to the touch.

________________


On Tuesday of this week WINDOWS 10 did an update.  It is a forced update which users are required to install if they want to keep WINDOWS 10 running at its best.


I waited until yesterday to install it because I was running out to doctor appointments this week.  While it is installing, Microsoft says users can keep using their device until it needs to reboot. I usually do keep working and then I immediately forget there is an update installing which usually causes me a severe amount of lag.


Any other time, when a device lags badly, it is usually indicative that the device picked up some malware, crapware, adware, bloatware or a virus. 


Unless you remember that you allowed the updates to install in the background while you are working. Something that after a few hours, I tend to forget.

 


During our dinner time, my PC rebooted to accept the update change.  So after dinner, when I went back to work on my PC, I noticed that I was having some issues on Facebook that defied reasoning as to why they were happening.  




I lost the status box in three Facebook groups where I am a member, and on my own timeline so that I couldn't post or comment on reply of posts on Facebook.  I polled 3 Facebook friends who all said they had no issues.  Then I wrote to the admins of the Facebook groups I am in, asking if I was the only one disabled from posting in their groups and they said I wasn't disabled, in fact no one was disabled.  Since my friends had no problems and since I wasn't being restricted by group admins, now I wondered about the WINDOWS 10 update. How could it mess up only Facebook and no other websites?



Well, if I remember to take my own advice, it would save a lot of frustration and high blood pressure moments, but I sometimes get bogged down in the details by looking for a solution within the device itself so that I forget that a simple reboot would solve the problem.






When all else fails, undo the last action to go back to when the device was acting properly.


I also uninstalled the last WINDOWS 10  update and the problem was still not fixed.



So that usually means that something was going on with  Facebook but only for some users. 



I checked Facebook's website to see if they were reporting any issues with the platform at


https://developers.facebook.com/status/dashboard


But there wasn't anything reported since December 8, 2018.




Next I went to the site where users can report any issues they are having. I should go here first, but I don't, because they would know of problems long before Facebook ever owned up to an issue.

https://downdetector.com/status/facebook



And sure enough, there were some users with the same issue as me.  



My problem resolved itself within an hour but it was a long hour of being pissed off. lol


For regular problems with a device, reboot. 


If you still have the same problem after reboot, then it is probably a 'settings' issue.  Undo the last update or delete the last thing you downloaded, reboot and see if you still have the problem.




If it is a bigger issue - like if the device changes colors, blinks, flashes, shuts itself off without help from you, then it is probably a 'malware' or 'virus' issue. 

Your virus protector can't always pick up 'malware' so you need to download a special app to scan for malware  -  like the one week trial version of MalwareBytes to scan for malware. 


If you want to pay $49 to $99 to buy it, go ahead, but the trial version is good for a checkup, then you can uninstall their app before the trial period is up.    Even if the malware scan comes out clean, run your virus scan to make sure it doesn't find a virus. 

There are several free virus protectors online and there is no reason why your device should not have one.  If you have an Apple device, you may think you are exempt from picking up 'malware' or a virus, but you aren't.  No device is infallible.  


Although not common, Apple products can get viruses and malware and you can read about it here.





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