‘Hello’ to a Better Camera Angle

The next big update for Windows 10, coming to your computer next month or in May, will feature the ability to switch between two webcams. For many that will be toggling a built-in laptop camera and a second camera mounted on a separate monitor. It will help you make better eye contact during meetings. But remember, not all devices are created equal.

The “most equal” device for Windows Hello is the Microsoft Surface, which I use regularly along with another computer and multiple monitors. Its built-in camera is high resolution, but like with all built-in cameras, you get locked into a single direction and camera angle. If I’m video conferencing with a client through my Surface and need to look at data on another monitor, we lose eye contact. We all know eye contact is critical for effective personal communication. It’s why we are more aware of it now that the pandemic has forced us to work from remote locations.

By placing a second camera on the monitor I use for the extra data I need, I’m able to make better eye contact with the others on the video conference.  With Windows Hello, the biometrics make it possible to use facial recognition to essentially “toggle” the camera I’m looking into directly. It can all be configured in the settings for my Surface and a Hello-compatible external camera. It’s all done through the Device Manager settings in Windows.

The key is to make sure your external camera is compatible with Hello. It gives you a plug-n-play setup, and once it’s configured, you can use its facial recognition to sign onto other devices connected through Hello. It’s faster and avoids the need to enter multiple passwords. The benefit of that, too, is that you can use a single, secure routine for logging in on everything. (Remember, one of the benefits of new technology we always push is eliminating the need for passwords.)

If you don’t have a computer or device that works with Windows Hello, you can still use multiple cameras or an external camera with Zoom, Microsoft Teams or other platforms. Most external webcams can be mounted on a monitor – or even a large flatscreen TV – and connected to your computer. A USB connection is most common, and we recommend using the fastest USB connection available. If you have Bluetooth capability in the device you’re using for your video conference, that will give you more flexibility in placing your camera. Either way, you also have the option to mount your webcam on a tripod, with Bluetooth most likely extending your range.

External webcams with Hello and Bluetooth compatibility are readily available for anywhere from $30 to $70. You should look for 1080p resolution because it will work much better for anyone who’s watching on a large TV. Just think of what you like to view when you’re watching a show or streaming content on a large TV. You can even go to 4K resolution, but for most of us, 1080p does very well.

If you don’t have Windows Hello, you can still connect an external camera – even with Bluetooth if your computer or device supports it. You’ll need to go into your Zoom settings and select the camera you want to use. Most people use the built-in camera as their default device. (It’s the same with their microphone and speakers.) However, you have several options with both an external camera and your built-in camera. These include setting the video ratio and – if your camera supports more adjustments – the ability to set a closer (zoom) or wider viewing angle.

Again, not all devices are created equal, so you’ll need to live with the technology you have or upgrade.

We can help you determine what hardware will provide the videoconferencing capabilities you want and help you configure your hardware to maximize its capabilities. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your needs, your current technology and your budget. They’re all factors in making your system as “equal” as you want it to be.

Why Ford’s Manufacturing Problem is Yours, Too

Ford Motor Company has made a big fuss about the semiconductor shortage. They simply can’t get enough semiconductors to make enough vehicles to meet the demand. Well, they’re not the only ones who can’t meet demand. Here’s how you’re being toppled as the dominoes fall.

This is related to the chip shortages we’ve been experiencing for the better part of the last two years. That caused a scarcity of computers at a time when companies were upgrading hardware to run Windows 10 and then when families scrambled to get computers for online schooling.

Now we have a shortage of semiconductors, which are used in all motor vehicles of all sizes as well as home appliances ranging from microwave ovens to refrigerators to washing machines. We’re also facing shortages of building materials because of all the remodeling and home renovations we’re doing during the pandemic. What that means for anyone doing a major project and upgrading technology is that you’re going to wait a long time to complete your projects, and they’re going to cost a lot more.

What’s happening is that we’re being caught by the law of supply and demand – the first rules you learned about in economics and probably haven’t given much thought to in a long time. Just like with Ford Motor Company, you’re now having to wait a longer time for things you need, and you’re paying more money for them. If you need technology for work or business, your productivity is suffering. If you felt like you were caught between a rock and a hard place before, they’ve tightened their grip

A client who relies on laptop computers for field service techs is caught in one of those untenable situations. The software that makes it all work is tied to Windows 7 – which is still usable but far from ideal. We can’t backload the software onto newer computers because we can’t backload Windows 7 onto them. They really need older, rugged Windows 10-compatible computers, but they’re not readily available – and there’s one more law: the law of diminishing returns.

At some point, it costs more to run old equipment than it does to buy new stuff. The biggest factors are that it becomes harder if not impossible to find parts or tweak the operating system or application software. At the same time, the units’ performance decreases to the point that it affects a company’s bottom line. Supply chain and manufacturing issues have turned these problems into much larger ones.

Another client, who has a Mac, got a PC back from an employee who left the company. The PC is newer, but because everything was stored just on the Mac, we needed to load everything into the cloud and then bring it back to the PC.

That incident reminded me of how our systems have evolved in my time as an IT professional. I used to carry big notebooks and CDs to install drivers and other types of system software as needed by clients. Then, we didn’t need the cases of CDs because we had thumb drives that plugged into a USB port. Today, it’s hard to find a computer that has a CD drive. The cloud is making them extinct.

The cloud is also more efficient. By being able to upload all manner of data and application software to a server, where it can be stored until it’s needed and then downloaded, we’ve dramatically cut the time it takes to do our work. No matter how much somebody might have saved by keeping old equipment and workflows in place, the time has come where the lack of productivity is costlier than the equipment. Shortages of equipment or higher prices make the problems costlier.

Everyone needs to take stock of their technology now, no matter how old or new it is. If you haven’t reached the point of diminishing returns, it may be closer than you think. Even if your technology is fairly new, you need to have a plan to phase in replacements in the most cost-effective manner. That means you need to shop continuously to budget for the most advantageous time to make your moves.

We can help. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up a technology assessment and replacement program. You’ll maximize your cost-efficiency and avoid the catastrophic effects of the law of supply and demand.

Satellite Internet Connectivity May Help Those on the Move

Starlink, the satellite-based internet service provider from Elon Musk is generating a lot of buzz. If you hate your current ISP, it’s a promising alternative. If you live in a rural area, it’s an even more promising alternative. And if the pandemic pushed you into a more mobile lifestyle, Starlink could up the ante.

Satellite internet and phone service has been around for a long time, but it’s expensive and not nearly as fast as what you can get from your current ISP in an urban area. Viasat, one current provider, offers the fastest satellite internet speeds – up to 100 Mbps – and the most generous data allowances – up to 300 GB/mo. That runs up to $150/month. If you exceed your cap, the speeds drop. They have an unlimited plan that is $200 per month after an introductory period. HughesNet, the other big player has plans from $60 to $150 per month for 10 to 50 GB/mo. but with speeds up to 25 Mbps.

This is where Starlink enters. They’re hoping to take advantage of your hatred for your ISP (they claim 51 percent of Americans would sign up for their beta program once it’s available), and at first glance, it has an attraction. According to their figures, the average internet connection speed is 57.2 Mbps for $65/mo., an average of $1.13/Mbps. They claim you’ll be able to connect to Starlink at 103.1 Mbps for $99/mo., an average of $0.96/Mbps.

For terrestrial use, Starlink’s target is cities from 45 degrees north latitude (Lake Champlain, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salem, OR to name a few) to 53 degrees (Calgary and Winnipeg in Canada). That’s way north of where most of you are likely to be. At 40 degrees, you might get some coverage in Newark and New York City. Starlink has already launched 1,000 satellites, but with a plan to have 42,000 in orbit, they have a long way to go. The FCC has approved 12,000 satellites.

But Starlink is not alone. Amazon has plans for Project Kuiper. While it hasn’t gotten off the ground yet, it is pitting Musk against Jeff Bezos. As two of the world’s richest individuals, they’ll be playing us as they square off, but at some point, we might win. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Amazon has approval for 3,200 satellites so far and hopes to have half of them launched by 2026.

In the meantime, Starlink is not cheap, either even though it may prove to be a bargain. You’ll need to pay $499 for a dish to use it. For most of us who are landlocked in urban America, we can generally do better with our current ISPs given all the demands we make on our bandwidth with working at home, schoolwork for our children and all those streaming devices we use.

But with the right equipment, Starlink will work in cars – and RVs. That jumps it to the head of the line for us. Before travel was restricted, we drove up and down the East Coast quite often. And anyone who’s run the length of I-95 knows that cell service decreases dramatically once you hit the South Carolina state line. It doesn’t get any better until you hit Florence.

If you have an RV and travel off the beaten path, getting internet service is always a concern. After all, we’re not willing to give up all the streaming capability we have at home, especially if we might still do work from the road. You’ll need to keep your Starlink dish in the car or RV with you.

You can go to Starlink’s website now to order your dish and download the iPhone or Android app for installation. Wherever you hope to use it, you will need a clear line of sight from the dish to the satellite(s).

We can help you decide if Starlink is for you and help you configure your system when it’s available. Just call us -973-433-6676 – or email us for an appointment.

COVID Vax Posts Help ID Thieves

You lock your doors. Security cameras ring your house. And then you post pictures of your vaccination cards on Facebook after you get your injection. We regard our vaccinations as an achievement and an encouragement for others to get their shots. Identity thieves are not gonna miss their shot at mining your data.

Let’s be real. The information on most vaccination cards is minimal: your name and your date of birth. Both pieces of information are likely known to many people and organizations who interact with you, and it’s all readily available on public information websites. We won’t get into how many of you don’t make your year of birth available on Facebook for “privacy” reasons. But you do appreciate birthday greetings.

That said, let’s get back to the vaccination cards. I fall into two groups: 1c for my age and 1b for health reasons. If an ID thief is looking for some way to carry out medical fraud, my info is right there. Looking at my age and 1b status, the thief has the makings of a target. The name and date of birth on an official document validates who you are.

The thief can find my home address. Again, it’s public information, but when it’s added to my “dossier,” it’s another piece of a puzzle. I know I have added more clues about me when I shared some of my hospital visits. By and of themselves, each piece is small, but a thief may have enough to start looking at things just to let me know that they know me.

Then comes the phishing email disguised as an offer about some kind of insurance. If I bite by clicking on a link or opening an attachment, the thief can plant some malware to get a lot more information by mining my data. They might even get into my medical records and have enough info to file a false claim for treatment I never had. They might also lock me out of my records by changing all my login credentials and using HIPPA regulations. In short, I can wind up on the hook to pay for treatment I never had, and I can’t get info about the bill.

It’s one scenario about how big data can be mined – legally and illegally – from one small piece.

You can be vulnerable in other ways.

Let’s say you take a car trip somewhere, and you post a picture that includes your car and shows its license plate number. If your car is desirable, a thief can use your license plate number to trace your address – or maybe start observing you. When you leave the car somewhere, such as in a supermarket parking lot, it’s easy enough to get the VIN number through the windshield and then take steps to retitle your car before stealing it and selling it “legitimately.”

Big data makes these examples possible. There’s a lot more out there all the time, and hackers are more sophisticated. Better software tools allow more thieves to gather and analyze data to pinpoint a target and let them commit a larger number of small crimes that add up to decent money.

Our advice is simple: Don’t put any more of your data out there than is absolutely necessary. Be careful about what you photograph and post. Be careful about how you handle email and about the info you provide – even to legitimate businesses and organizations – by email or telephone. Even with those you know, question why they need certain information, such as your Social Security Number. Use common sense.

You can augment your common sense by keeping all your operating system and application software up to date; updates usually include security patches and bug fixes. Install, properly configure and update anti-virus and malware protection software. We can help you install and maintain software. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment.

Oh, and one more thing: Get your COVID vaccination as soon as you can!

Unlocking Phones of Masked Users

Apple’s upcoming upgrade to iOS 14.5 will make it possible to use an Apple Watch to use facial recognition to unlock your iPhone while wearing your mask. iPhone users without the watch and Android users will still have to jump through hoops to unlock their phones while masked. A year into the pandemic, we have to ask: Why has this taken so long?

Biometrics have long played a role in being able to unlock a cell phone. The first systems used a fingerprint for touch ID, and it has been a bellwether. Many cell phone users still rely on it. Face ID came along next, and many cell phone users rely on it to unlock phones quickly and easily. It’s as good as unencumbered gets.

But with COVID-19 and mask wearing, Face ID doesn’t work. If you want to use the technology while complying with public health needs, Face ID is about as cumbersome as it gets. The less-than-ideal workaround is something like this:

  1. Go to the Face ID option in the settings.
  2. Register for an alternate appearance by going to Set Up Alternate Appearance (or the Reset Face ID).
  3. Take a mask and fold it in half. Assuming the nose as the center point, put it in front of your face. It is recommended that you cover only the tip of the nose with the mask.
  4. Start registering your face like you normally do with the Face ID.  When the system prompts with a message “Face Obstructed,” start removing the mask very slowly until the system says move your head slowly to complete the circle.
  5. Once the process is done successfully, you will get a message that the Face ID is set up.

If this doesn’t work the first time, you’ll need to retry it. You may need to try another trick, such as selecting an alternate appearance option if it’s available.

Apple contends you should use a numeric code to unlock your phone while wearing a mask. They also note that manipulating the Face ID software could compromise your phone’s security. Most likely, they’d prefer you get an Apple Watch if you don’t already have.  

Once your iPhone is running iOS 14.5 and your Apple Watch has WatchOS 7.4 installed, you can turn on Unlock with Apple Watch with a few taps. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and then select Face ID & Passcode. Next, scroll down until you find the section titled Unlock with Apple Watch. The name of your Apple Watch should be listed there. Next to it is a toggle to turn the feature on or off. Slide that switch to the On position and then back out of the Settings app. 

Whenever you’re wearing a mask, all you’ll need to do is hold your phone up as normal to unlock it with Face ID. You’ll feel a haptic tap on your wrist, letting you know your watch was used to unlock your phone. The alert on your watch will also include a button to lock your phone in case it was unlocked by someone else. It’s a security feature to ensure someone else doesn’t pick up your phone and unlock it while wearing a mask.

You can expect to see iOS 14.5 in April. As the release date gets closer, we’ll pass along whatever we find out about other security features. Once it’s available, we’ll be on hand to help you configure your watch, phone and iPad if need be. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to find out what you’ll need to upgrade your iOS security.

Data Cap Management Poses Challenges

We called it a long time ago, and now it’s a reality. Internet service providers (ISPs) are capping data, and it couldn’t happen at a worse time. As we continue to work and learn at home, use cloud-based services for application programs and data storage retrieval – and stream more entertainment, we’re set up to use more data. You’re going to need to look at data bytes like you look at calories on a menu.

We all know that calorie counts on a restaurant menu don’t tell the full story. The calorie count for a salad may be low, but dressing may raise the total through the roof. Knowing how much data you’ll use to watch a standard-definition movie on a device of any kind won’t really help you a whole lot in planning your data usage for a month. In reality, you’ll want that visual salad dressing – HD or 4K resolution – to enjoy the quality of the experience. A movie that requires 600 to 700 mbps to watch can easily balloon to 4 Gigs.

What’s really ugly about it is that most households or small businesses have multiple users on their internet plans. We’re still not going back to the office in droves in anytime soon, and the same is true for kids going back to school – although that will likely happen faster. If you have a business and have employees logging into your network from home, they’re using your data while logged into your system. They’re also using their own data to log in.

In addition to logging in to work from home, kids are logging in for classes, collaborating with classmates and doing research. That uses data.

Everyone, no matter where they are, is using cloud-based software to run applications and work with files. We’re all using data, too, for email, web browsing, social media and entertainment. That last item is a major source of data use for families that have cut the cable TV cord. The more people you have streaming different content, the faster your data usage can run up – and up.

We have no problem with that; it’s a reality. But we do have a problem with the ISPs’ lack of transparency in sharing our data usage. You can’t easily find how much data you’ve used during a billing cycle so that you can manage it. The ISPs make it easier for their big-business customers to know how much data they use. They don’t do it for small businesses or residential users.

If you don’t know how close you are to your limit or if you’ve exceeded it, you can be in for a surprise. Either your service will drop down to a slower speed, which is not cool during a business meeting or class, or you’ll wind up with an extra charge on your bill.

As the cable companies lose traditional cable TV subscribers, they need to make up for lost revenue by fine-tuning how they price their data plans. That’s fine. We knew they’d come to data caps. We just want them to be more transparent about telling us what the caps are, letting us know when we’re close and giving us realistic options for managing our caps.

Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us if you have any questions about how to better manage your data use and monitoring at home or at the office.

Facebook and Apple Fight is About Monetizing You

If you’ve downloaded and installed Apple’s iOS 14.3 update for iPhones and iPads, you’ve put yourself in the sights of Facebook and Apple. Called “App Tracking Transparency” feature, it labels apps in the App Store, telling users what data those apps collect and whether it’s used to track them for advertising. Facebook, which makes its money from advertising, says the feature will harm small businesses that rely on targeted online advertising.

In many cases, you’re worth pennies on the dollar, but there are hundreds of billions of pennies at stake. And while both sides try to cloak their stands in privacy and free enterprise, it’s really about “fee enterprise.”

The gist of Apple’s policy is that when you download an app from the App Store, your activity on the device can’t be tracked unless you give permission. Until now, you had to opt-out to avoid being stalked electronically online. Most people usually ignore the opt-out/opt-in option, and Facebook and other web-based operations have made a lot of money by tracking you and selling the data to companies who want to sell something you want – or have indicated you may want.

According to a recent article in Forbes, Facebook itself estimates a 60-percent swing in advertising effectiveness between targeting and non-targeted advertisements. Facebook’s ad charges the article notes, will presumably match its ad-placement effectiveness. With the company controlling about 25 percent of a $40 billion online U.S. advertising market, up to $6 billion in annual revenue is at stake in the US alone. Google and Amazon also profit immensely from tracking you and selling your data.

The bottom line is that anyone who opts out is 60% less valuable than a regular customer, and that’s part of legal proceedings before the Federal Trade Commission and in 48 states. Apple, of course, has been taken to task for its practices in handling App Store operations, including who gets to put apps there, and other technical issues. They’re not saints, but that’s a separate issue from the Facebook issue.

The Forbes article likens Facebook’s operations to Ladies Night at a nightclub. On Ladies Night, clubs let women in for free expecting that they will attract men who will pay a cover, as well as spend money on the women and themselves. In a similar way, Facebook provides users with free services in the hope that advertisers will spend money on them. Facebook is like the owner-bartender who, for $10, will tell you everything he knows about a particular woman, including her relationship status and favorite drink.

I can’t speak for how a woman might feel after reading this, but anyone can feel some outrage about being put on display and sold. Yet at the same time, we’re looking for new and interesting products or services when we go online, and we may be open to new ideas when they’re presented to us. To me, that’s Facebook’s argument. You might view Apple as the guy who senses harassment and comes over to “protect” you.

To expand the transparency/privacy conversation, you have choices. You are able to use search engines and plug-ins that block unwanted ads while you browse the web and visit sites. Websites are fighting back by not allowing you access unless you unblock the ads on their site. You may not like the choices. You may not like sacrificing privacy for convenience or vice versa. But this is all part of the opt-in/opt-out battleground over who gets to profit from you.

If you have any questions about how to configure apps to meet your privacy or convenience needs, we can help. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for an appointment to walk you through the process.

Understanding MFA and Other Security Measures

We recently added a new home-user client through the Nextdoor website, and during our initial conversations, we covered a lot of security issues. The new client, an elderly gentleman, had a really good handle on his online security. There’s a lot for us to unpack as individuals and as those who have elderly parents – though some of this can apply to everyone.

First, let’s look at passwords. While this discussion is inspired by our new client, our conversation can apply to anyone because we never know when someone will not be able to access vital personal information either stored on a computer or device or in the cloud.

When we take on a new elderly client, we spend a lot of time talking about online security, including passwords, password managers and MFA. We were heartened to learn our new client knew all about using his passwords properly. He seemed to understand the system better than many of our younger clients.

When he asked about using a password manager, a subject he brought up, we advised against it. While password managers can greatly enhance online security and can be extremely convenient (think about accessing a website from your mobile phone when you’re in an urgent situation), everyone needs to know the law of unintended consequences. Every password manager has an encryption key, and if you don’t have the master password with that encryption key, you won’t get in. That includes you as the account owner and anyone who might need to get into a website.

We told him it would be preferable to write all his passwords in a book. It doesn’t need to be locked in a safe, but it should be kept in a secure place – and at least one other trusted person should know where it is. This is critically important for the elderly or anyone else who may need someone to manage their affairs because of some impairment or death.

Second, let’s look at forms of security generally known as two-factor authorization (2FA) or multi-factor authorization (MFA).

We discussed using MFA for his online banking and financial activity, and he said: “That is so easy, everyone should be doing it.”

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s not that complicated to use it once you set it up. In most cases, you can link the authorization to a specific device or devices, such as a computer, tablet or phone. When you do that, you can sign into a website account from the authorized device(s) without going through the authorization every time – or you can set it up to require authorization every time. It becomes difficult if somebody is trying to sign into your account from another device, but of course, this is what the process is designed to do.

The way most MFA processes work is that when you sign in from a device, a code is sent by text message to a phone or to an email address. Once you receive the code, you enter it on a designated page associated with the website. The complication will come if someone is truly signing in on your behalf from an “unknown” device. That person will need access to the authorization message.

Another security measure that works for iOS devices is Apple’s iCloud Keychain. Functioning like a password manager to some extent, it allows you to use your device access code to activate a complex password to enter a secure website.

We can help you understand all the benefits and pitfalls of using MFA. The big problems, obviously, are to make sure you don’t lock yourself out of your account and know what do to if your phone is not working. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to get comprehensive information about MFA and password managers and to configure your systems to work best for your needs.

The Ill Winds of Solar Winds

Look for a continuing fallout from the breach of Solar Winds, the giant technology management company that was responsible for the high-level federal government systems that were hacked last year. The hack is top of mind because some of our most sensitive systems were hacked, but businesses were affected, too. It’s time to look at the world of big data management.

The lesson we all need to learn from the hack of Solar Winds is that nothing is truly, truly safe. We don’t know where government agencies and private industry systems were breached – and how badly they were breached – and when it comes to the government systems, we’ll probably never know. But I don’t think we’re going out on a limb by saying that 1.) Solar Winds will need to work extra hard to regain the confidence of customers (and their customers, too) and that if 2.) they don’t succeed in repairing their systems and reputation, they’ll join a lot of other companies on technology’s garbage heap. From our various industry contacts, we had heard customers wanted to leave Solar Winds for reasons other than security.

The big data management companies should be subject to much more scrutiny by government oversight and by their customers. Strict government oversight similar to what we do to monitor CIA activity is necessary because of the extremely critical and sensitive nature of government work. Industry regulation is required to set standards for performance and accountability.

How much oversight and regulation are needed is a political question. What is not political is the need to keep our systems secure and, where possible, insist on transparency in letting us know when things go wrong. Dependency is critical because every system is so intertwined. It’s easy to see it if you look at it like a wheel. In the case of Soar Winds, look at them as the hub, and then look at every organization in their customer list as spokes connecting the hub to the rim. The rim is everyone who does business with any one of the spokes.

Solar Winds and its customers are not the first victims of sophisticated hacking, and unfortunately, they won’t be the last. Google has experienced problems, including an email issue last month, and Microsoft has had its share of issues. Look at what our nation went through with security for our elections.

As individuals we can demand that big data management companies take greater care, but we also need to own our security and asset protection. A lot of it is technology-based. We’ve implored everyone over the years to keep all operating systems, networks and application software up to date – to make sure you download and install updates, security patches and bug fixes. We’ve implored everyone to have all data securely backed up and to have a plan to get your assets – like money in your bank account – when you need them.

Beyond that, be critical of information requested when you fill out forms. Why does somebody need your social security number? Even for a job application, does your prospective employer need that information before they’re ready to do a background check or pay you? Don’t be afraid to question a request or demand a satisfactory answer. For companies where you have critical relationships, like your bank, maintain personal contacts. Know that you can pick up a phone and actually talk to a real human being when you’re concerned about your asset. We can help you with the technology part of security. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for a security audit or to discuss applications and processes that can keep your computers as safe as possible when a big data manager is breached.

Shopping and Shipping 2020 Style

If you ask us to pick one word to define the 2020 holiday shopping season, we’d say “paradoxical.” With the pressure on to buy early and ship early, there’s no doubt you need to move fast. But at the same time, you should take a step back and carefully consider everything you do.

First, why the rush? Why do you need to shop early? Two reasons come to mind: 1.) You want to make sure you can get the gifts you want, and 2.) you want to make sure it can be delivered on time.

Let’s look at that second point first. It’s no secret that our major delivery services are already overtaxed. Many retailers contract with major shippers, such as UPS and FedEx, to deliver a specific number of packages during the season. They have already told the retailers they may not be able to pick up everything that’s on the loading dock every day, so it’s likely not all packages from the retailers will be delivered on schedule. We’ve seen major delays all year long because of the pandemic, and now we’re entering a time of traditionally high shipping volume. We need to take this into account if we’re ordering products that will be sent directly to the recipient.

In a sense, the retailers are competing with anyone who sends a package for that increasingly precious space on the trucks. There will be many people who will want to buy a number of items and put them in a single box to send to a family member or friend. If you’re planning on doing that this year, it’s even more reason to shop early – just so you can ship early. UPS and FedEx, which normally boast a 97 percent on-time delivery success rate, and the Postal Service, which normally boasts a 95 percent success rate, have all moved up their deadlines for the holidays.

And in the chaotic rush to send packages on time and ensure they’re received, here’s a scam tactic to look out for -fake shipping notices. We referred to it in our email, and it’s worth repeating. Scammers can send notices with fake links for tracking information. If you receive a notice, look carefully at the email address it comes from. Scammers are really good at making them look real, and it’s easy to copy and paste a logo. The better idea – if you want someone to know you sent something – is to send them the tracking info directly without any links to a website. The recipient can go to the website from a browser and add the tracking info.

Now for the products.

Don’t be so bargain-obsessed that you get sucked into a trap. There are too many to describe out there. If you see a price that’s too good to be true, be wary. This is the time of year that fake stores pop up online, including those that claim to be Amazon stores. When you do your comparison shopping, look at more than just the price. Look into the retailer. Sellers get ratings and comments just like products, and you should go to independent rating sites for retailers just like you do for products.

Make sure that phone numbers and addresses on store sites are genuine, so you can contact the seller in case of problems. Also take a second look at URLs and app names. Misplaced or transposed letters are a scam giveaway but easy to miss. Finally, carefully read delivery, exchange, refund and privacy policies. If they are vague or nonexistent, take your business elsewhere.

If you see a really good price, make sure it’s for a current model of a product – or understand you’re getting a clearance price on an older, lesser or discontinued model. That can be especially true with electronics.

Once you’re satisfied, you’re buying a legit product from a legit seller, use a credit card to pay for it – and make sure the site has the proper security. That can be tough because it’s easy for a scammer to use a fake https:// in the URL and just as easy to throw up any kind of graphic. You can always pick up the phone to complete an order. Don’t pay by wire transfer, money order or gift card. You won’t have any way to effectively dispute any charges if you’re dissatisfied with the purchase or have been duped. Sellers that demand these types of payments are generally scammers.

If you’re giving a gift to someone in your household or nearby, ordering online and picking it up at the store may solve a number of potential problems. You’ll be able to verify you got what you ordered, and you won’t need to worry about shipping delays. We’ve been using curbside pickup more and more and highly recommend it if it’s a feasible option.

We’re here to help in many ways during this holiday season. If you think you may have accidentally compromised your online security in any way, call us – 973-433-6676 – immediately. If you need help with setting up electronic gifts, email us.