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App Store Permissions, Internet Self-Care, New Storage Space
By Bob DeLaurentis SENIOR NEWS
Q. I was tempted by an app on the Microsoft App
Store but stopped when I saw the permission list:
"Access all your files, peripheral devices, apps, pro- dem and router. The modem connects the router to
grams, and registry." Do I have to let them breach
my security?
Any sort of restriction on applica-tions is a new
development. Since the early days of personal com-
puting, every app had access to everything on the
device. Computing devices now record more sensi-
tive personal infor-mation than ever before. This
new reality imposes fresh challenges for device
manufacturers and app devel-opers alike.
To cope with these changes, devel-opers have to
justify why each _app needs specific capabilities,
and these justifications have to be presented to
consumers. Only you can decide if an app's fea-
tures are worth its intrusions into your personal life.
The system we have now needs to get a lot better.
App permissions often read like a word-salad of
tech speak. Users are asked to approve activities
with little context about the real-world implications
of each request.
Unfortunately, apps need access to private infor-
mation in order to function. Drawing the line be-
tween what is acceptable and what is not will take
years.
About the only reasonable option for most people is
choose apps from companies with reputations for
hon-esty.
I am hopeful that in the long-term permission lists
will help users better protect their privacy.
Q. When the Internet connection in our house stops
working, is there any-thing we can do before calling
tech support?
Despite the wide variety of serv-ice providers,
there are some universal steps that will clear up the
majority of outages.
When the Internet stops working, check to see if the
problem is a single device or all the devices on your
home network. Make sure the devices you check
are using the house Wi-Fi. Some devices will fall
back on a cellular con-nection if the Wi-Fi is una-
vailable.
If a single device is acting up, restart it. That fixes
the problem in a lot of sit-uations.
Let's assume. the problem is not lim-ited to a single
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device. That means the problem is the network.
Typical residential internet connec-tions use a mo-
the out-side Internet. The router shares the Internet
across all the devices in your house. (Sometimes
the modem and router are in the same box.)
As soon as you read this, go find those boxes, Look
at the lights on the front. Take a picture or a short
video for future reference. Awareness of what they
look like when everything is working teaches you
how to spot prob-lems. For example, my Eero router
has a green status light that turns orange if the mo-
dem connection is offline.
the Internet is not working, restart the modem
and router. you cannot find a switch, pull the pow-
er plug for a few seconds. These devices are de-
signed to reset when the power cycles, and they
take about a minute to restart.
restarting the devices does not work, it is time to
contact your service provider. Slap Post-It note
on the router with the contact number for tech sup-
port today, because locating that number once the
Google is inaccessi-ble can be difficult.
Q. The storage on my laptop is nearly full. Is there
reliable external device I could use to expand my
available space?
A. I’m a huge fan of the Samsung T5 SSD. These
range in size from 25GB up to 2TB. The best value
right now is the 1TB size, which Is usually available
for less than $100.
I have been using several of these drives for nearly
two years now, and they have performed flawlessly.
The USB 3.1 Gen2 port is very fast. The T5 is com-
patible with Windows and Mac. It does not require a
separate power cord which is especially convenient.
About the only concern I have it that the T5’s small
size makes it somewhat easy to misplace. The de-
vice is not much larger than a couple of SB jump
drives.
I suggest you move a category of less-used file onto
the T5. That way you do not need to keep the exter-
nal drive connected at all times.