The perfect Google search - how to save hours and get better results

Google (and numerous other search engines) grant us access to the knowledge of the world - if you know how to use them. Read on to learn what you can do with Google Search, how you can instantly get useful results on the first page (instead of page 6) and

Google (and numerous other search engines) grant us access to the knowledge of the world - if you know how to use them. Sure, you can get results with just a few keywords, finding a nearby drugstore is not a problem. But *Google Search can do so much more*! If you intend to make an informed purchase, look for specific document types or need to apply a strong filter to your search results you will need to dig a little deeper into the technical details. Read on to learn what you can do with Google Search, how you can instantly get useful results on the first page (instead of page 6) and how you can remedy memory gaps.

Google (and numerous other search engines) grant us access to the knowledge of the world - if you know how to use them. Sure, you can get results with just a few keywords, finding a nearby drugstore is not a problem. But Google Search can do so much more! If you intend to make an informed purchase, look for specific document types or need to apply a strong filter to your search results you will need to dig a little deeper into the technical details. Read on to learn what you can do with Google Search, how you can instantly get useful results on the first page (instead of page 6) and how you can remedy memory gaps.


Too old to learn new things? Never!

You used to sit on a bench or take the dog for a walk once you turned 70. Today, many senior citizens play various sports or develop new types of hobbies. But why is fear of anything computer-related still so prevalent in the elderly?

Recently an older friend told me he'd like to know if his old friends were on Facebook. He had moved many times in his long life and eventually lost touch with his old contacts, you know how it is. Since I knew he owned a PC plus Internet I was about to ask him why he wouldn't simply take a look online. After all, he was perfectly capable of inputting names like **Krzysztof Szyszkowitz** himself! I got his answer before I could ask and it drove me mad inside. *Facebook was new to him, certainly very complicated and generally, at his age…* Frankly, that's a shame. He didn't lack the motivation or doubt their controversial privacy policies, he simply thought himself incapable. But why? Any moderately sane person familiar with mouse and keyboard can do so much more with their computer! "If I can show you ten guys with the IQ of a fire hydrant that made it onto Facebook, will you promise me that you'll give it a try?"

Recently an older friend told me he'd like to know if his old friends were on Facebook. He had moved many times in his long life and eventually lost touch with his old contacts, you know how it is. Since I knew he owned a PC plus Internet I was about to ask him why he wouldn't simply take a look online. After all, he was perfectly capable of inputting names like Krzysztof Szyszkowitz himself! I got his answer before I could ask and it drove me mad inside. Facebook was new to him, certainly very complicated and generally, at his age… Frankly, that's a shame. He didn't lack the motivation or doubt their controversial privacy policies, he simply thought himself incapable. But why? Any moderately sane person familiar with mouse and keyboard can do so much more with their computer! &quot;If I can show you ten guys with the IQ of a fire hydrant that made it onto Facebook, will you promise me that you'll give it a try?&quot;


The devil is in the details - How to identify phishing mails

If you receive an unpleasant email, there's one thing you should never do - exactly what is demanded of you in the mail. Read on to learn how to identify and react to phishing mails.

Mails with serious content in an official tone, final notices or seemingly technical issues are enough to unsettle most readers. Often, this is an attempt at cheating you out of your money [as I described last week](https://blog.ashampoo.com/en/2016-02-23/save-the-nigerian-astronaut-facts-about-phishing-part-1). How can you catch on to the scammers, where do they give themselves away? **The first step is to realize that your personal information is already in the wrong hands**.

Mails with serious content in an official tone, final notices or seemingly technical issues are enough to unsettle most readers. Often, this is an attempt at cheating you out of your money as I described last week. How can you catch on to the scammers, where do they give themselves away? The first step is to realize that your personal information is already in the wrong hands.


Save the Nigerian astronaut (Facts about Phishing Part 1)

Mails with serious content in an official tone, final notices or seemingly technical issues are enough to unsettle most readers. Often, this is an attempt at cheating you out of your money. Read on to learn what phishing is all about!

Have you heard of Major Abacha Tunde? This brave Nigerian man has been spending his life on a Russian secret space station since 1990 and can only see his beloved home from orbit. Unfortunately, he cannot come home because his country doesn't have the foreign exchange to bring him back. Tragic isn't it? But you can help him and make it rich in the process! This good man naturally cannot spend his luxurious salary (no duty free shops in space) and Amazon only delivers *world*-wide. For only a few thousand Euros you can help Major Abacha Tunde get back to earth - and collect a giant yield. **Don't believe me? Good for you!** This is just one bizarre example of a phishing mail meant to cheat you out of your money. Read on to learn what phishing is all about!

Have you heard of Major Abacha Tunde? This brave Nigerian man has been spending his life on a Russian secret space station since 1990 and can only see his beloved home from orbit. Unfortunately, he cannot come home because his country doesn't have the foreign exchange to bring him back. Tragic isn't it? But you can help him and make it rich in the process! This good man naturally cannot spend his luxurious salary (no duty free shops in space) and Amazon only delivers world-wide. For only a few thousand Euros you can help Major Abacha Tunde get back to earth - and collect a giant yield. Don't believe me? Good for you! This is just one bizarre example of a phishing mail meant to cheat you out of your money. Read on to learn what phishing is all about!


Why I'll switch off my cellphone momentarily

We now have the means to work anywhere, any time and stay in touch with anyone. But when are we taking things too far?

There I was standing in the flat countryside looking at my cellphone when - dare I write it - the unthinkable happened, **I was offline**. No business mails, no friends to chat with on Whatsapp and the blog was suddenly far far away. With mixed feelings, I looked around, saw cows, wind turbines, the gray sky and not a soul. No vibrations would announce the arrival of a new message, no delicate **ping** would direct my attention to important company news. Alone, offline with only the wind in my face and some unexpected peace and quiet.

There I was standing in the flat countryside looking at my cellphone when - dare I write it - the unthinkable happened, I was offline. No business mails, no friends to chat with on Whatsapp and the blog was suddenly far far away. With mixed feelings, I looked around, saw cows, wind turbines, the gray sky and not a soul. No vibrations would announce the arrival of a new message, no delicate ping would direct my attention to important company news. Alone, offline with only the wind in my face and some unexpected peace and quiet.


A high end cellphone for $150? A Chinese adventure

What to do when you need a fast cellphone but don't want to spend a small fortune?
Chinese cellphone imports offer a lot - including a few surprises.

My beloved Samsung S4 mini hasn't aged well over the years. Buttons are loose, the Android version feels ancient and the battery is on its last legs. What to do? Certainly not spend $600 on a high-end cellphone, my contract didn't warrant any subsidized replacement so I ventured into the legendary realm of China cellphones! The risk: *These phones are not made for Western markets* and there are no official distribution channels. Read on to learn about the entailing disadvantages and why I've begun to feel slightly paranoid.

My beloved Samsung S4 mini hasn't aged well over the years. Buttons are loose, the Android version feels ancient and the battery is on its last legs. What to do? Certainly not spend $600 on a high-end cellphone, my contract didn't warrant any subsidized replacement so I ventured into the legendary realm of China cellphones! The risk: These phones are not made for Western markets and there are no official distribution channels. Read on to learn about the entailing disadvantages and why I've begun to feel slightly paranoid.


Inside Ashampoo: The everyman test

When complete strangers are wandering through our offices there must be something special going on. Read on to learn why programmers now need to muster all their courage and how this will affect our applications!

Lately, almost whimsical things have been happening at the desk next to mine. Complete strangers are coming into our office, get placed in front of a PC and are then drilled with questions while using an Ashampoo application. Sometimes, things are more relaxed and you can almost detect a sense of timidity in their clicking but other times it's a clicking frenzy like rapid gun fire. Once that person left, there's always the same questions: "Who was that?" or "What was he doing here?" that are met with responses like "My neighbor.", "A friend." or "A long-time customer from around here.". *But what are all these people doing here?*

Lately, almost whimsical things have been happening at the desk next to mine. Complete strangers are coming into our office, get placed in front of a PC and are then drilled with questions while using an Ashampoo application. Sometimes, things are more relaxed and you can almost detect a sense of timidity in their clicking but other times it's a clicking frenzy like rapid gun fire. Once that person left, there's always the same questions: &quot;Who was that?&quot; or &quot;What was he doing here?&quot; that are met with responses like &quot;My neighbor.&quot;, &quot;A friend.&quot; or &quot;A long-time customer from around here.&quot;. But what are all these people doing here?


"Antivirus XY has detected a suspicious program ..." "Shut up!"

Bad vibes are few and far between at Ashampoo. But when anger shows its ugly face, it's quite often related to overzealous antivirus programs.

There's one piece of news that has our staff gnarl like a pack of raging dogs. It's usually something along the lines of "Antivirus XY has detected a virus in our program YZ". If bad vibes could be turned into energy, we'd be able to power all of Germany! We know the story all too well. At the risk of ruining the punchline: I can assure you that these are always false alerts, *we don't distribute malicious code*. That doesn't stop antivirus software developers, malware scanners, operating systems or even browsers (!) from happily raising hell whenever one of our applications or applications from other developers are about to be run. To make it brief, there's a race going on, a race for trust - and millions of Dollars.

There's one piece of news that has our staff gnarl like a pack of raging dogs. It's usually something along the lines of &quot;Antivirus XY has detected a virus in our program YZ&quot;. If bad vibes could be turned into energy, we'd be able to power all of Germany! We know the story all too well. At the risk of ruining the punchline: I can assure you that these are always false alerts, we don't distribute malicious code. That doesn't stop antivirus software developers, malware scanners, operating systems or even browsers (!) from happily raising hell whenever one of our applications or applications from other developers are about to be run. To make it brief, there's a race going on, a race for trust - and millions of Dollars.


Windows 10 Upgrade – Free is too expensive?

Windows 10 was supposed to run on more than one billion computers soon, that was the goal. At the beginning of 2016, roughly 200 million have installed it. Why do so many users hesitate and what are the risks?

It's a bizarre situation: Microsoft offers a free upgrade to the latest operating system to its users - and they just say no! Or more precisely: They do upgrade but not in droves as Microsoft had planned. Windows 10 was supposed to run on more than one billion computers soon, that was the goal. At the beginning of 2016, roughly 200 million have installed it. And then Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's current CEO who used to be a reliable ally, made the situation worse by openly criticizing the many issues especially users of older machines were facing with Windows 10. But Windows 10 still has a lot to offer and runs, to sum up the many tests, quite smoothly. Read on to learn about what you can expect from Windows 10, who really needs the new operating system and what risks are involved!

The anti-social networks

The Internet was supposed to turn our world into a global village. Read on to find out why often the contrary is the case.

I'm not a very nostalgic person and I consider "Everything was better in the good old days." utter nonsense. For one thing, everything couldn't have been better *because we were offline*. But lately, I find myself pondering over how the Internet is changing us if it is changing us at all. 


Admittedly, **cussing online** has been with us since the beginning of the Internet, preferably overblown and vulgar. Online, anything's up for a heated debate and, surprisingly, I've encountered the most heated discussions when the topic was either *the keeping of animals or nutrition*. How the most amicable of characters can turn into animals and start a holy war when discussing the keeping of cats or the benefits of a vegan lifestyle will most likely be comprehensible to like-minded spirits only. This has the potential to turn into fanaticism and rot people's souls.

I'm not a very nostalgic person and I consider &quot;Everything was better in the good old days.&quot; utter nonsense. For one thing, everything couldn't have been better because we were offline. But lately, I find myself pondering over how the Internet is changing us if it is changing us at all.
Admittedly, cussing online has been with us since the beginning of the Internet, preferably overblown and vulgar. Online, anything's up for a heated debate and, surprisingly, I've encountered the most heated discussions when the topic was either the keeping of animals or nutrition. How the most amicable of characters can turn into animals and start a holy war when discussing the keeping of cats or the benefits of a vegan lifestyle will most likely be comprehensible to like-minded spirits only. This has the potential to turn into fanaticism and rot people's souls.


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