10 Privacy Settings for Facebook You Should Know

I know I've posted information about privacy settings on Facebook before, but they can't be emphasized enough.  While it's best to approach facebook from the standpoint that EVERYTHING is public, you do some control over what information is shared.

I stumbled across an article today titled, "10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know".  There are some excellent tips in this article and it's well worth your time to read.

For more information about Facebook Privacy, check out the links below. Of course, keep in mind that if you're a business owner on Facebook, you may not want to implement some of these privacy changes since they would reduce your visibility.

Facebook Places & Your Privacy

Changing Your Privacy Settings in Facebook

How to Stop Facebook From Sharing Info on Google

How to Hide Game Posts and People on Facebook

Once you start accumulating friends on Facebook, it's easy to get overwhelmed by some constant flood of posts (especially game posts).  The good news is that you can chose to hide posts (and people) that you really don't want to see on Facebook.

While hiding game posts is easy, hiding people can be a sensitive issue.  You might wonder why even have a person as friend if you don't want to see them or have any communication with them.  That's a good a question!  The answer is simple.  Some of us have relatives or friends that we find offensive (or at least find their posts offensive) and while we don't want to see them, we don't want to delete them from our friends list because we don't want to hurt their feelings. This happens a lot.  And whether you decide to delete somebody from your friend's list or chose to hide them instead, is totally up to you.

Game posts (and other posts, like horoscopes, questions, etc.) are another matter.  Some of the games (especially Zynga games like Mafia Wars and Farmville) require folks to post a lot a messages in order to solicit friends help in the games.  If you don't like to play games, seeing all these posts on your Facebook page can get annoying fast.  Here's how to hide them ...

Find one of the game post (example below).

If you move your cursor to the top right side of this post, you'll see an "X" appear in the top right corner of that post.  You won't see this "X" unless your cursor is hovering over the correct spot. .

Click that "X" and you'll see a group of buttons appear.

While you have 4 buttons (or choices on how to handle this post), I've only circled the two on the left.  The first button gives you the choice to hide this person, while the second button lets you hide all game posts from this game. 

The difference is this.  Hiding the person means that you will never see another post from this person again (not even status posts) .  Hiding the game post means that you will not see any posts relating to this game (Mafia Wars, in this example), but you will still see other posts this person makes.

When hiding game posts, you'll have to repeat the steps above to remove each game you're not interested in.  So for example, you'll have to repeat the process to hide all game posts for Mafia Wars, Farmville, Farm Town, Cafe World, etc.

For more information on deleting facebook posts, click here. 

No Longer Getting Cableone Email?

As many of you are aware ... Cableone has made some changes to their email servers which affects the way Cableone subscribers receive their email.  Those changes take effect this month and if you've haven't migrated your email account over to the new system, you will stop receiving email.

Here's what's happening ...

In the past, Cableone hosted their own in-house email servers.  Instead of continuing to do this, they have now partnered with Google to use the Gmail servers instead.  So what does this mean to you?

Not a whole lot, but you do need to follow some steps to migrate your email over to the new system.  First, here's what you need to know:

1. You do NOT need to sign up for Gmail 
2. Your email address will stay the same
3. You will be asked to create a new password that is at least 8 characters long (and contains a capital letter and number).  If you're password already met this requirement, then you won't need to create a new password.

Now that you  know all of that, you just need to follow the steps to migrate your email over to the new system.  To do so, you can click here to start the Cableone migration process.

The actual process consists of a couple of steps.

1. Log into your existing cableone account on the web and follow the prompts (creating a new password)
2. Click the link (when asked) to activate your new account
3. Reconfigure your email settings (if you use web mail, you don't need to do this step).

Many people struggle with reconfiguring their email settings.  If you're not comfortable doing this, you can call Cableone tech support to have them walk you through the steps (or schedule an appointment with me to help you).  Below is a summary of the new POP3, SMTP, and server settings you'll need:

• POP3:   pop3.gmail.com    (Port 995 with SSL)
• SMTP:  smtp.gmail.com    (Port 465 with SSL)

If you are comfortable reconfiguring your email settings, here are a few links to help you. 

If you use Outlook Express for email, click here for step by step instructions on reconfiguring your email.

If you use Windows Mail for email, click here for step by step instructions on reconfiguring your email.

For help reconfiguring other email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, iPhone, etc.), click here.

If you'd like to speak with a Cableone tech, call 1-877-692-2253.

Photo Works Free Shipping Offer

If you're already thinking about ordering personalized photo gifts (Christmas cards, mugs, calendars, etc.), you might want to check out photoworks.com.  They are offering free shipping for a limited time.

Free Shipping Offer:
Use Promotional Code: GIFTSFSS
Offer Expires: 10/13/10

Photoworks.com will also help you turn your photos into a memorable photobook (one of my favorite gift ideas).  And for a limited time photoworks.com is offering a 20% OFF on all Photo Books!

Photo Book Discount Offer:
Use Coupon Code: PHOTOBOOKS20
Offer expires 12/31/10

Misrosoft Outlook Won't Stay Open After iTunes Update

A couple of days ago I updated iTunes because the software told me there was an update.   While iTunes updated nicely, as soon as the update was finished, I noticed that Microsoft Outlook had closed.  Each time I tried to reopen it, Outlook immediately closed again. 

In this instance, it was pretty clear the problem was caused by the recent iTunes update.  Uninstalling iTunes and Quicktime from the computer did NOT correct the problem.  And of course, my computer would not let me do a System Restore either.

After much research, I was able to find the simple fix on a forum.  I had to uninstall "Apple Mobile Support" from the Control Panel.  Once that program was history, I was able to open Microsoft Outlook again. 

After fixing the problem, I remembered that this had happened once before.  I don't know what it is about Mobile Support that conflicts with Microsoft Outlook, but there is a connection.

To uninstall Apple Mobile Support, follow the instructions below:

1. Open your CONTROL PANEL 
2. Double-left click the icon that reads "ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS" (WinXP) or "PROGRAM FEATURES" (Vista, Win7)
3. Find Apple Mobile Support in the list, then REMOVE it. 

Once this program has been removed, you should be able to open Microsoft Outlook again.