April 2019
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This is a bi-monthly compilation of some of the questions that our clients have asked us recently!
I'm getting tired of running back and forth to the bank and mailing payments for bills. I'd like to do more financial transactions online but I'm concerned about the safety, given all the news stories about identity theft and such. How safe is online banking and bill paying? It's certainly a reasonable question in these days of hackers, data breaches and all. I can tell you that I do a lot of financial work online these days for the very reasons you say are making you consider doing so. I've never had a problem with funds getting misdirected or stolen over the past 15 years or so, but I try to take as many precautions as I can in conducting those transactions. Let me apologize in advance for its length as I share a few pointers. First, do your homework by making sure your computer is secure to begin with by keeping your antivirus and anti-malware software current (they look for different things) and schedule/run regular sweeps of your hardware. This way you can be pretty certain that your computer hasn't been compromised and isn't vulnerable to sharing information you don't want share. Running the latest version of your operating system, Mac OS X Mojave or Microsoft Windows 10, and having it update itself automatically is a good idea as well. As most online financial dealings will be via a web browser on your computer, make sure your browser of choice (and it is possible, sometimes even advisable, to have more than one) is the latest version available. Browsers bundled with the operating system, Safari on Mac OS X and MS Edge on Windows, are automatically updated with the operating system. Most browsers that aren't part of the computer operating system, such as Chrome or Firefox, usually update themselves automatically but it doesn't hurt to trigger a manual update every now and then to be sure. When setting up your online accounts access initially, make sure you go to the correct website. Look for the URL address on a paper bill rather than relying on an online search engine. The first time you connect to the site, make sure the URL in the browser address bar starts with https:// and not just http://, indicating that a secure connection has been made. When establishing the online access, it's always a good practice to use a different username and password for each account. That means you will have to keep up with a locally managed list of firms, usernames and passwords and you should guard that list as you would any other important financial information in your personal possession. Finally, if the financial vendor offers an additional layer of security (usually called "two-factor authentication" or "two-step verification"), you should implement it. This sets up a system by which the vendor challenges more than a username/password combination for online access by sending a unique one-time code to your cell phone the first time you try to log in. Some vendors will challenge you this way on every transaction, and some will give you the option the have their system "remember" your specific computer and browser for future transactions. If you log in later from an unknown computer or browser (or worse, some bad guy tries to do so pretending to be you), neither one will gain admission until a new one-time code is sent your cell phone and correctly entered into the challenge box. Clearly, getting set up to do your finances online isn't something everyone might want to do without some hands-on guidance. Terri and I are always available to assist you with the process. Here's a quick tip, courtesy of the April 2019 Readers Digest, which addresses a frequent question about care and feeding of rechargeable batteries.: Preserve your laptop and smartphone battery. Unplugging your laptop and smartphone can save your battery. Sound crazy? Here’s how it works. The capacity of the lithium ion batteries most laptops and smartphones use diminishes slightly with each charging cycle, so keeping them plugged in when you don’t need to degrades their capacity more quickly. Keep the charge between 50 and 80 percent by plugging your devices in first thing in the morning and once they are charged, unplug them for the rest of the day. What do you want to know more about? There are still many other topics we could talk about here or in a personal consultation. We welcome your comments and questions for future issues of the OCW Insider. You also can give one of us a call or shoot an e-mail and we'll set up an appointment to meet with you! |
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phone: 864.710.7009 email: dave@oneclickwonders.com |
phone: 864.633.6707 email: terri@oneclickwonders.com |