Category: Uncategorized

ChatGPT (Mar 2023)

Technology Tips – Published March 2023 in the Guide and Digest

By Don Trauger – Kennett

This article is not in the same category as the usual tech tip I write. Rather, it’s an introduction to a new concept of artificial intelligence (AI). AI has been around for awhile but ChatGPT takes it to a new level. Basically, you feed it a question and it comes up with the answer. The link to ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat. You’ll have to set up an account to use it but it’s free for now. It’s experimental at this point. Even copying the information it produces into Word was a problem. I ended up using WordPad then copied the clean text into Word. It won’t put Google out of business but ChatGPT allows one question and one answer at a time where Google’s results offer hundreds if not more answers to a question.

Also, the answer to the first question is much later in time whereas our website, hersheysmill.org, starts in 1789.

Note: The following ChatGPT answers were not written by me except for the questions.

What is the history of the Hershey’s Mill Community, West Chester, Pa. 19380?

Hershey’s Mill is a community located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The community is made up of a variety of homes, including townhouses, condominiums, and single-family homes, as well as amenities such as a golf course, swimming pools, and tennis courts. The development of Hershey’s Mill began in the 1970s, and it has been a popular place to live for retirees and older adults. It is known for its active adult lifestyle, with many clubs and organizations catering to the interests of residents. The community is surrounded by natural beauty, with plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking and biking. The area also has a rich history, with many historical sites and landmarks nearby.

What is the underlying danger of Yellowstone National Park?

The underlying danger of Yellowstone National Park is the potential for a volcanic eruption. The park sits on top of a supervolcano, which has the potential to produce a massive eruption that could have a significant impact on the surrounding areas and the global climate. However, it is important to note that while the potential for an eruption exists, it is not imminent and the chances of it occurring in the near future are low.

When is Covid expected to be of no concern?

The timeline for when the COVID-19 pandemic will no longer be a concern is uncertain. Factors such as the effectiveness of vaccines, the emergence of new variants of the virus, and compliance with public health measures will all play a role in determining when the pandemic will end. It’s important to continue to follow the guidance of public health officials and to get vaccinated when a vaccine becomes available to you.

 

 

Text & Email scams

There are some HM residents receiving Scam Text Messages and asking what to do. Know that this is a Nationwide problem and not limited to Hershey’s Mill.

December 14 & 28 2022, the Technology Committee gave a Zoom presentation on Email, Text and Phone Scams, How to recognize them, How to determine if the messages are real or scams and What to do about them. The following is a brief portion of the Zoom Presentation concerning Text Messages.

Why Am I Getting Spam Text & Email Messages?

It may be because of your online activity: websites where you’ve registered or bought something online.

Many companies sell your personal information. You may provide your email address and even a phone number for all kinds of things you want access to on the web. The next thing you know, you are getting spam texts & emails.

But it could be completely random. If you’ve got a cell phone, then you’re “eligible” for spam texts.

Is It Spam or a Scam?

If you don’t recognize the source of a text or email message, it’s safest just to go ahead and assume it’s a scam. Replying to suspicious texts or emails can lead to a number of bad outcomes including:

Phishing Scams
Identity Theft
Unintended Subscriptions and Opt-Ins

What To Do About Spam Text or Email Messages

If you get a text or email message you weren’t expecting and it asks you to give some personal or financial information, don’t click on any links. Legitimate companies won’t ask for information about your account or provide a link by text or email.

If you think the message might be real, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real. Not the information in the text message.

If you think the Text Message is a Scam or Spam message, the best course of action is to Delete the Message. Responding in any way tells the Scammers that this is an active number and they will keep messaging. Scammers often message different scams or the same scam from different phone numbers. Scammers will sell a list of ‘active’ numbers – so, delete, don’t respond.

Already responded? If you have already begun to engage in any way with a Scam Text, such as a Package Delivery Notice or any other type of Text, stop engaging immediately. Do not be tempted to respond any further.

Block the number and report the number as detailed below.

Typing in STOP

If the text is from a known entity, for example a political, solicitation or advertisement text, and you no longer wish to receive the texts from that known entity, simply text one word: STOP. No more, no less, just the Word STOP.

Typing in Stop is an automated feature required by the government for all Texts.

Blocking Text Scams From Your Phone

iPhone

From the Messages app, open the conversation, tap the contact at the top of the conversation. Tap the ‘info’ button, scroll down, then tap Block this Caller.

Android Phones

Open Your Phone App, Tap More, Go to Call History, Tap a call from the number you want to block.

Tap BLOCK/Report Spam

 

 

The contact won’t get a notification that the call or message was blocked.

When you block an email address from Mail, it goes to the trash folder.

Email blocking works across all your Apple devices.

For Mobile Phone assistance: If you are having any trouble Blocking on your phone, dial 611 from your mobile phone and ask for assistance.

How to Filter Unwanted Text Messages or Stop Them Before They Reach You:

Through Your Wireless Provider: Your wireless provider might have a tool or service that lets you block calls and text messages.

Check out ctia.org, a website from the wireless industry, to learn about options from different providers or Dial 611 from your Mobile Phone and ask your Mobile Carrier.

With a Call Blocking App: ctia.org

What do you do if you get spam or a message you didn’t consent to receive?

Forward it to 7726 (SPAM) so your carrier can put a stop to it.

See the website of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to learn about more ways that scammers target unsuspecting people via text.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-report-spam-text-messages

Final Thought

If you get a suspicious text but think it might be from a legitimate source, don’t reply to the text. Instead, contact the person or company using a phone number or website that you’ve confirmed is authentic. Never use the contact information in the text or email message.

 

Windows Update Issues (Feb 2023)

Technology Tips – Published February 2023 in the Guide and Digest

By Don Trauger – Kennett

 

As you probably know your Microsoft Windows PC goes through an automatic updating process starting on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. What you may not know is that Microsoft spends the next 2-3 weeks fixing issues that arise from the 2nd week updates. Most are low level issues and don’t affect normal PC operation – we hope.

Not all update issues are the result of Microsoft’s errors. Some are related to your PC and its ability to download and install an update properly. If an update stalls on its download or install, try rebooting your PC. Be patient as there are built in pauses during an update that can last for 10 minutes or more. You can get a better idea of seeing what goes on during a Windows Update by opening Settings, click on Windows Update and watch the process. In fact you can even start the update process by clicking on Check for updates. If rebooting your PC fails to correct a faulty update there is a troubleshooter that can help. While you are in Settings, for Windows 11, type trouble in the upper left corner where it says find a setting. In the drop-down menu click Troubleshoot Other problems. Locate Windows Update and click Run. This app can fix a balky Windows Update issue. Now, reboot the PC and retry Windows Update again.

For Windows 10 (or 11) you can also run this app by entering the Control Panel. Type control in the search field in the lower left corner of the Taskbar for Windows 10 then click Control Panel or by clicking the Start button for Windows 11 and typing control in the Type here to search field at the top of the window. Press the Enter key. Next, change the appearance of the Control Panel by clicking the down arrow next to View by:  in the upper right of the window. Click on Large icons. Next click on Troubleshooting. At the top left, click on View all. In the list of troubleshooting apps click on Windows Update to run the app. Notice the list of other apps that can be utilized to fix other Windows problems.

These apps aren’t perfect in their repair capability but they do offer a level of repair for you to try.

ART PRESENTATIONS by DOCENTS

Phoenix Docent Museum Presentations of
Art Around the World and Throughout Time
via
Zoom

ZOOM LINK Will Be Provided in a Community Email Early Wednesday Mornings – Watch for the Email
NOTE: Zoom links change each session.

Sponsored by Hershey’s Mill Technology Committee
ART PRESENTATIONS by DOCENTS
December 7 at 11 AM
The “Historia De Un Gran Amor” of two iconic 20th Century Latin American Artists will be presented!

“STORY OF A GREAT LOVE Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo: Frieda Rivera” presented by Phoenix Art Museum Docent Isabel Ballerna (back by popular demand)

The “Historia De Un Gran Amor” of two iconic 20th Century Latin American Artists will be presented! Each possessed boundless talent bolstered by an unbending will!  As partners, they possessed each other with a ferocious love, intense and complicated. But, beyond their mutual love was a more profound and intrinsic love – “A love for their country of birth: MEXICO.”
January 4 at 11 AM
Abstract Expressionism in America
Artist: Helen Frankenthaler (1928 – 2011 ), “Lush Spring”, 1975, Phoenix Art Museum
AMERICAN ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Women of Influence
A Presentation and Conversation with Phoenix Art Museum Docent Sue Robisch
Join this conversation about Abstract Expressionism in America, how it fits into the history of art, and the women who found their voice and influenced the world of art in the 20th century. Learn about their interaction with their male counterparts, their joys, their struggles, and what made each of them unique. See how their styles and techniques became expressions of their individual personalities. Their touch is broader than their works of art. Their strength continues to influence women living in the world today.
February 1, 2023, at 11 AM
HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW

What elements make a work of art “great”?
Artist: Jacob Lawrence (1917 – 2000), “Blind Beggars,” 1938, Metropolitan Museum of Art
HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW
A Presentation and Conversation with Phoenix Art Museum Master Docent Sherry Koopot (back by popular demand)
What elements make a work of art “great”?

During the 1930’s, there was a renaissance of sorts in the arts in America. African American painters and sculptors, as well as writers, musicians, and actors, many of them centered in Harlem, were popular and admired. Then, almost without noticing it, they seemed to disappear. Where did they go and WHY did they seem to vanish from the public conversation? As it turns out, they were still here, but they were “Hidden in Plain View.” Join us as we “rediscover” them and attempt to solve the mystery!
March 1, 2023, at 11 AM
THROUGH THE LENS OF EDWARD STEICHEN

Artist: Edward Steichen (1879 – 1973), “Gloria Swanson,” 1924
Metropolitan Museum of Art
THROUGH THE LENS OF EDWARD STEICHEN
A Presentation and Conversation with Phoenix Art Museum Docent Brooks Hozier
Join us as we explore the early stages of photography as an artform by looking through the lens of Edward Steichen, who was both an innovator and a master of photographic technology.  Steichen’s career spanned more than eight decades in the 20th century, and his portfolio was incredibly diverse, ranging from fashion and celebrity portraits to still life’s and recording the American soldier in World War II.
Docent Presentations

If you did not attend these presentations last year, they are a ‘Not to be Missed’ event for this Winter 2022-2023.  The presentations are live, interesting, stimulating and educational.

Docent Presentations are the first Wednesday of the Month, November through March and begin at 11:00 AM.

Why you should never mail a Check

From Hershey’s Mill HOA email December 6, 2022

CAUTION!
Why you should never mail a Check

Planning to mail checks as Gifts this season? Or still paying your bills by mailing a check?

If you’re still mailing checks to pay your bills, there is a scam that can cost you a lot of money and even lead to having your identity stolen.

The U.S. Postal Service has a warning on its website about mail theft, and how thieves are targeting mailboxes.

Thieves are looking for checks and they are targeting the mailboxes just outside the Post Office. They are then ‘washing the checks’, altering the dollar amounts and the Payee and cashing the checks.
Postal Inspection Service: https://www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-theft

This is happening all over the country. It is not limited to an isolated area or ‘bad’ neighborhoods.

Two Examples:

This past spring, an Illinois man mailed two checks using the box outside his local post office. The combined total of the checks was less than $50.00. Days later, his bank told him that the checks had been altered by more than $8,000 — each.
https://thesouthern.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/cook-county-man-mailed-2-checks-for-less-than-50-they-were-altered-and-cashed/article_8c88bb43-0b8c-519c-89bf-d0fcccd218b6.html

More recently, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that a Chicago resident wrote a $30 check and put it in a USPS mailbox. It was intercepted and cashed for $9,475.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/10/12/23343310/check-fraud-washing-mail-postal-service-usps-bank-fraud
In both of these cases, the crime involved “washing” checks.

What Is Check ‘Washing’ and How Does It Work?

According to the U. S. Postal Service:
“Washing” a check involves “changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them.” “Occasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check.”
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/check-washing

Sometimes, checks are printed at a check-printing service. Now, they have a box of your checks that they can write any time.

Check-Washing: How To Avoid This Check Mailing Scam

Don’t Put a Check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes

The Postal Service, in its own alert about this, says, don’t put a check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes. If you are mailing something with a check – a bill payment or a gift – don’t use the outside mailboxes. Go inside the post office and drop it in their secure box.

Pay Electronically if You Can
Use the bill-paying service of your bank, credit union or brokerage firm, which should all be free. Most banks, credit unions and brokerages don’t charge for bill pay anymore.

Final Thoughts
Don’t send checks or cash through the mail.

Deposit mail inside the Post Office close to pick up time.

When shipping packages this holiday season, or any time, consider using the ‘Hold for Pick Up’ option. This allows recipients to pick up the package at their local Post Office.

If it is important, consider using ‘Signature Confirmation’.

Check your account regularly to determine if any fraudulent transactions have occurred.

CAUTION on Checks

 From Hershey’s Mill HOA email December 6, 2022

CAUTION!
Why you should never mail a Check

Planning to mail checks as Gifts this season? Or still paying your bills by mailing a check?

If you’re still mailing checks to pay your bills, there is a scam that can cost you a lot of money and even lead to having your identity stolen.

The U.S. Postal Service has a warning on its website about mail theft, and how thieves are targeting mailboxes.

Thieves are looking for checks and they are targeting the mailboxes just outside the Post Office. They are then ‘washing the checks’, altering the dollar amounts and the Payee and cashing the checks.
Postal Inspection Service: https://www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-theft

This is happening all over the country. It is not limited to an isolated area or ‘bad’ neighborhoods.

Two Examples:

This past spring, an Illinois man mailed two checks using the box outside his local post office. The combined total of the checks was less than $50.00. Days later, his bank told him that the checks had been altered by more than $8,000 — each.
https://thesouthern.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/cook-county-man-mailed-2-checks-for-less-than-50-they-were-altered-and-cashed/article_8c88bb43-0b8c-519c-89bf-d0fcccd218b6.html

More recently, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that a Chicago resident wrote a $30 check and put it in a USPS mailbox. It was intercepted and cashed for $9,475.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/10/12/23343310/check-fraud-washing-mail-postal-service-usps-bank-fraud
In both of these cases, the crime involved “washing” checks.

What Is Check ‘Washing’ and How Does It Work?

According to the U. S. Postal Service:
“Washing” a check involves “changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them.” “Occasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check.”
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/check-washing

Sometimes, checks are printed at a check-printing service. Now, they have a box of your checks that they can write any time.

Check-Washing: How To Avoid This Check Mailing Scam

Don’t Put a Check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes

The Postal Service, in its own alert about this, says, don’t put a check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes. If you are mailing something with a check – a bill payment or a gift – don’t use the outside mailboxes. Go inside the post office and drop it in their secure box.

Pay Electronically if You Can
Use the bill-paying service of your bank, credit union or brokerage firm, which should all be free. Most banks, credit unions and brokerages don’t charge for bill pay anymore.

Final Thoughts
Don’t send checks or cash through the mail.

Deposit mail inside the Post Office close to pick up time.

When shipping packages this holiday season, or any time, consider using the ‘Hold for Pick Up’ option. This allows recipients to pick up the package at their local Post Office.

If it is important, consider using ‘Signature Confirmation’.

Check your account regularly to determine if any fraudulent transactions have occurred.

Computer Privacy (Dec 2022)

Technology Tips – Published December 2022 in the Guide and Digest

By Don Trauger – Kennett

Cookies, beacons, digital signatures, trackers, and other technologies you probably haven’t heard of let advertisers, businesses, governments, and even criminals build a profile about what you do, who you know, and who you are at very intimate levels of detail. Back in 2012, a story about how a major store could tell a teenager was pregnant before her parents knew was based on her online activities. It’s still that way today. Google and Facebook are the most notorious commercial internet spies, and among the most pervasive, but they are hardly alone.

Are you defenseless against these invasive probes for information? No, you are not. But you must take defensive action.

It’s important to understand what is typically tracked. Most websites and services don’t actually know it’s you at their site. All they know is that it is a browser associated with a lot of characteristics that can then be turned into a profile. Marketers and advertisers are looking for certain kinds of people, and they use profiles to do so. For that need, they don’t care who the person actually is. Neither do criminals and organizations seeking to commit fraud or manipulate an election.

Signing up at a web site is a very favorable way for web sites to build a profile about you. If they ask for personal information like your name, age, gender, address and phone number be suspicious of their intent. They will comb through everything they can in your computer to build their profile about your online activities. Depending on the web site your information can be for sale across the Internet. You can foresee that it will spread just like Covid.

Since your choice of browsers is extremely important regarding your privacy concerns, choose one that is highly rated such as Microsoft’s Edge. Mozilla’s Firefox is also very good. Chrome is not the browser to use if you are concerned about how your information may be used.

To help you set up high level privacy on your MS Edge browser, please read my earlier articles about privacy on our web site at: https://hersheysmill.org/resources/technology/computer-security-tips/microsoft-edge-and-security-feb-2022/ and https://hersheysmill.org/resources/technology/general-computer-printer-tips/pc-ad-blockers-updated-june-2022/ which discusses adding extensions to Edge for ad blocking as well as privacy.

When you are done, run an online test of your security by going to the following web site: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/. Scroll down and click TEST YOUR BROWSER. Wait until the test completes. Scroll down to view your results. You should see strong protection against Web tracking in your results.

Yes, there are even more things you can do, but to keep privacy at a reasonably high level this will go a long way

BoD Liaison

Board of Directors
of the
Hershey’s Mill Homeowners Association
1389 E. Boot Road West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380
LIAISON ASSIGNMENTS

Board of Directors Liaison assignments for Committees:

 


Liaison

Committee

Chairperson
John Myatt Marketing Committee Jack Keeley
John Myatt Insurance Committee Dave Callaghan
John Myatt Garden Committee Ed Sweeney
John Myatt Security Committee Don Thompson
Kim Morton Document Dennis O’Leary
Kim Morton Technology Bill & Sherry Kane
Kim Morton Dog Exercise Area Kim Morton
John McDonough Nature Christine McCormack
John McDonough Maintenance Bob Zink
George Earle Sullivan House Judy Molt
George Earle Woodshop Bob Milano
George Earle Special Projects Mike Trio
George Earle Sports Dave Nagurney
John Andrews Pool Mike Bianco
John Andrews Finance Jim DeFalco
John Andrews Treasurers Jim DeFalco
Tom Cassidy Landscape Tony Natale
Tom Cassidy Landscape Focus Tony Natale
Jack Nilon Bus Priscilla Burt
Jack Nilon Library Angela Linden
Jack Nilon Community Center Kathy Martinides