Refresh Computers Tech Talk
Help and advice are given on a range of technical issues from computers to everything internet-related.
Refresh Computers Tech Talk
04-04-2026 Space > Toilets Break Too And So Does Outlook
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Your phone picks the worst possible moment to fail: right when you’re in a crowd trying to upload a photo, pay a vendor, or find your friends. We’re live from Spring Fiesta at Lake Eola to explain what’s really happening to your cell service and Wi-Fi at big events, why “full bars” can still mean no usable internet, and how 5G’s more localized coverage changes the experience as you move through a packed venue.
Then we go way beyond the park and into space. NASA’s Artemis mission ran into a Microsoft Outlook problem that sounds almost too normal for a moon-bound crew, plus a “lunar loo” malfunction caused by a jammed fan. We break down what triggered the Outlook glitch, how mission control fixed it with practical troubleshooting, and why these stories are a great reminder that configuration issues and electronics failures happen everywhere, even on the most advanced systems on Earth.
We also get serious about everyday security. QR code payments, digital menus, and contactless checkout are convenient, but QR code scams are exploding, especially sticker-over fraud on parking meters and unattended signs. We share quick habits that reduce your risk fast: preview the URL before you tap, look for sticker outlines, avoid unexpected links in texts, enable credit card alerts, and choose tap-to-pay instead of inserting your card where skimmers can hide. Plus, breaking news for small businesses and schools: Microsoft Publisher support ends after October 1, and we explain how to find .PUB files and convert them before it becomes a scramble.
If this helped, subscribe, share the show with a friend who’s always scanning QR codes, and leave a review so more people can find these tech tips and security updates.
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Live From Lake Eola
SPEAKER_02Special edition of Tech Talk here on WDVO. My name is Greg Rhodes, sitting here with David Levin, the president and founder of the Refresh Computer Superstore. We're sitting here at the corner of Robinson and Iola, live from Spring Fiesta in the park. And of course, as always, you can contact that Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, go ahead and leave an open mic inside the WDBO app. You can also check out their website over at RefreshComputers.net or stop at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, that means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now the man himself, David Levin. And Dave, I don't think we could have picked a better day to be out here at Lake Iola.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you stole the first words that were going to come right out of my mouth. Craig. Yeah, it's a beautiful day out here, and it's nice and warm, too. So, you know, wear your shorts. Oh, yeah. And uh and a few clouds, but not not even close to worrying about rain.
SPEAKER_02Right. Nicely overcast to keep that glare out of your eyes, right? A beautiful day out here at Lake Yule. Over 200 vendors out here for spring fiesta in the park. And uh this is what now our fourth fiesta in the park that we've done together. We've done a couple spring and a couple fall now.
SPEAKER_00I think the two of us, but I've been doing these for gosh, going back 16 years now, I think. You know, way back when WDBO, before you even thought of it, WDBO, I think, Greg.
SPEAKER_02You're probably right.
SPEAKER_00You're probably right. But yeah, so it's always a fun event coming out here. And if you're in the area, if you're listening, stop on by, say hello. We're on the corner of Robinson and Iola. That's right.
SPEAKER_02I've got Iola closed off behind us, so there's a whole run of vendors you get a chance to check out right next to the fireside tacos tent. I know exactly where I'm going after our show is done today, Dave.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, I had a late breakfast on purpose. On purpose that way you were ready. That's right. So after the show, we'll stroll around together and grab a couple of bites, Dave.
SPEAKER_00I'll eat a late lunch while
Why Crowds Kill Your Signal
SPEAKER_00I'm here. But we're gonna have a really cool show for you folks today, you know, kind of tying it into events like we're experiencing right now at Lake Iola, uh with you know, live broadcast event like we're doing, where you've got to notice when you're in an area where there's a lot of people, concerts, ball games, right? And they're the service kind of degrades a little bit.
SPEAKER_02The time. I try and take that like perfect selfie, and then it just doesn't upload, right?
SPEAKER_00Until almost the end of the game, it seems like or trying to do a FaceTime live. Yeah. Kind of forget that sometimes. We'll get we'll get into a little bit of why that happens. Uh, we're also going to talk a little bit a little later about some real, you know, out of the out of this world tech problems. Almost to the moon tech problems. Almost to the moon. A few tech issues they've been experiencing on the Artemis, which will be fun to talk about. Fortunately, they're not serious tech issues, but some things that you know we kind of can relate with here over at uh Refresh Computers. Uh, we'll talk about some other things that may occur when you're at a live event, like things like Tap to Pay, this, which is very popular now, and some things to watch out for. A lot of these events, you know, people have QR codes that you can scan to pay with those, and why you probably should not use the QR code to scan to pay for things. And you know, even at a even at one of these booths, I hate to say it, but that's it's just true. So you gotta kind of watch out for that. And so, anyway, let's get into some things uh going on right now. I mean, it's an event like this, Greg. So everybody's got their cell phones out.
SPEAKER_02We're talking this weekend, they're expecting over a hundred thousand people to come by Lake Iola just for this event. So there's a lot of people out here, and of course, if you're on your smartphone, probably everybody else is too, right? That's right.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, that we were talking about just before the show started, there's uh for some reason today seems like a lot more people that were out here for the fall fiesta. So it seems a lot a lot more crowded out here. So so what happens when you get all these people congregating in one place and everybody's trying to use their smartphone at the same time? Well, of course, you know, that creates a network congestion. I think we've all experienced that. And with network congestion comes slow data speeds, and also, you know, of course, overloaded cell phone towers. And especially now with the 5G that's out there, there's there's there there are more towers with 5G than there were with 3G. I don't know if you know that, but there are lots, lots, a lot more towers with 5G because it's it's more localized and it's more uh they're they're actually less less powerful as far as transmission-wise is concerned than 3G towers. So they need to be closer together and more of them.
SPEAKER_02Kind of think like your Wi-Fi. The further away you are from your Wi-Fi hotspot, the slower the speed gets, right? So they needed those super high powered, as close as you can get to them for the 5G, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_00So and that gets into the next point I was going to make is sometimes when you just get far enough away from your Wi-Fi and you where you have like one little bar so showing on the Wi-Fi, and you wonder why isn't it working when I still see Wi-Fi and I have a bar. A bar. A bar. A bar. Or sometimes I have two bars and it's not working, it just doesn't work. That's because these systems, you know, they're doing a lot of things at the same time. So the first priority is to make sure you have a signal. And unfortunately, that's the not what's not the first priority is making sure that you'll be able to use that signal once you have it. Right. So the first priority is making sure that you have a signal so the so the Wi-Fi system will make sure it can connect to your device. But just because it can connect to your device doesn't mean it can do the next priority, which actually means transmitting data between you and the Wi-Fi system. So that's why you experience sometimes with one or two bars. You would think in today's environment and technology today, if you just had like a half a bar or something, that you'd still be able to transmit data.
SPEAKER_02Even just a little bit of connectivity, you'd think that you'd still be able to get that across. Because I remember when we were waiting for web pages to load up bar by bar on the screen, but you had full connectivity, right? That's right, of course. Now it's uh it's almost instantaneous, but like you mentioned, it's the that distance away from those 5G towers that can really make that big difference.
SPEAKER_00It it is, and then and then you know, the towers, but then also on your Wi-Fi. So, like if you're at home, for example, and you're on your home Wi-Fi and you get out to your vehicle in your driveway, and you start driving away, and you notice you're down to one bar, uh, but the Wi-Fi's not working anymore. Maybe a neighbor stopped you, so you stopped. You still have one bar, but you can't use your phone for Wi-Fi because it's still connected to your Wi-Fi system, but it's not a strong enough signal to do anything with that connection, and that's what the problem is. So we have to check out that. So, and watch out for that kind of thing. So, uh and of course, like we said before, you're sharing this with when you're at a live event like we are today, you're sharing that signal with all these people at this live event. Of course, we all have there's different carriers, right? Cell phone carriers for your cell service, but each one of them is you know, they're they're all going to be congested, like at today's.
SPEAKER_02And even when you think that you're a part of maybe one of those smaller groups, like you think of the big guys, you think of like ATT and Verizon, but they share their their signals with what you consider the smaller places. So like if you have like Cricket or somebody like that, they actually utilize towers from those bigger companies.
SPEAKER_00They do, and that's a good point, because if you have you know somebody that's a cell phone service that's not T-Mobile, ATT, uh Verizon, chances are you're connecting to through them anyway. Right. And so, you know, so that that point doesn't matter because you're still gonna be not gonna be able to get a good signal sometimes because there's just too many people sharing the same network.
SPEAKER_02And we're happy that all those people are out here because it is again a beautiful day out here at Lake Iola for spring fiesta in the park. Again, over 200 vendors, foods, crafts, anything that you can think of, all a lot of them here as local vendors as well. So if you're looking to support some small local small business, this is a great opportunity to do it here this weekend heading into this beautiful Easter weekend. They'll be out here today until 5 p.m. And then again tomorrow they'll be out here 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. as well. So if after that Easter service or after your Easter lunch, you're looking for something to do, maybe walk off the little extra ham that you ate there for uh Easter lunch. This is a great opportunity to come out and get some great entertainment as well.
SPEAKER_00And I heard on the on the weather report just before the show started that tomorrow afternoon might be some rain coming. So you might want to get out here early tomorrow if you can't.
SPEAKER_02You might want to get out here a little bit earlier.
SPEAKER_00Or come out today.
SPEAKER_02Or come out today and stop by and say hi. Again, we're here at the corner of Iola and Robinson. You'll see the big old WDBO flags here for us. And we've even got the truck out here, so you can take a picture in front of the WDBO van uh out here at Lake Iola as well if you're interested.
SPEAKER_00And dude, I'm I'm not sure how much time we have for the break because we're not in the studio. I can't see a clock.
Artemis Glitches Beyond Earth
SPEAKER_00But let's talk a little bit about some the out-of-this world space uh tech glitches that's going on right now with the Artemis. You know, I watched that from home. I was actually watching the liptop on my TV, and I was just, you know, I just a sense of pride that I felt.
SPEAKER_02We were out there at Jetty Park for our broadcast, and if you listened on WDBO, you heard us broadcasting out there all day. And again, it was people from all over the country came to that little park to watch history being made. The first time we've sent man to the moon in 54 years. And like you mentioned, that pride that you felt individually there, we felt that throughout that entire park. It was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I wasn't expecting to feel it. It just happened. I just, I just, wow, this is just so awesome. It feels so good that we're back in that game again. It was something different, right? And and then and the anticipation that you felt, you know, hoping everything goes off right and then everything was just picture perfect.
SPEAKER_02It was a beautiful launch. It was a beautiful day for it. There while we were stuck out there, we actually had a couple of those onshore showers coming through because you know it's the Space Coast. That's what happens here in Florida. Those happened around between like 2 and about 4 p.m. is when those wrapped up. There was never any concern that they were going to affect the launch. They knew that they were just the quick Florida showers. NASA knows that. NASA's been here long enough. They know how those go. Yeah. And again, it just turned into a beautiful, beautiful day for a launch.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. So, you know, we had so we had two issues we wanted to talk about on the Artemis, right? We had the problem with Outlook. They couldn't get their Outlook, Microsoft Outlook, which is, if you don't know, an email client, right? Is what a lot of people use for their for their emails, and obviously they use that at NASA.
SPEAKER_02Not just them having an issue with that, right?
SPEAKER_00And they also had a problem with uh with uh toilet malfunction.
SPEAKER_02The lunar loo as they refer to.
SPEAKER_00Fortunately, they were able to fix fairly quickly.
SPEAKER_02Luckily, the it was the I can't remember her name, unfortunately, but the female astronaut that's up there with them. She I joked about it when they talked about it on the news on Friday, that she's able to add Master Plumber to her list of highly, highly qualified qualifications that she has as she's up there on that space shuttle. And we'll or on that space, the Orion capsule, rather. And we'll continue talking about some of those effects that, again, the Outlook effect, and also some of those lunar loo issues that they had up there on the Thorayan craft on their way to the moon. You're listening to a special edition of Tech Talk. We're coming to you live from Lakeyola Park for spring fiesta in the park. Keep on listening. We'll be back here after the break. Tech Talk here on WDO.1073 FM and AM five eighty Orlando's news
Fixing Outlook And The Lunar Loo
SPEAKER_02and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes sitting here with David Levitt, president and founder of the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, we'd love to hear them use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And Dave, we are live here from Lake Iola Park for spring fiesta in the park. And it's again an absolutely gorgeous day. If you're not down here, you ought to make your way down here. It's going to be here throughout the weekend, here today and tomorrow until 5 p.m. And it's uh again, like you mentioned, a little bit of rain in the forecast tomorrow for your Easter Sunday. Yep, so afternoon. So as we mentioned, either maybe just after that first Easter service in the morning or just after your lunch, maybe come on by and uh check out some local vendors.
SPEAKER_00So many vendors, huh? How many? 200, I think. Over 200. 200 vendors. So many vendors. And it's pretty crowded today, but I'm pretty sure you'll still be able to find some parking if you want to come on out. Absolutely. So, you know, before we uh went to the break, we were talking about a couple issues that were they were having on the Artemis out in space, one of them being the toilet issue, which we've all, I'm sure, heard of. But maybe we don't know why. Right. Okay, I have that update for you. And also the two Microsoft Outlook instances not working, so they couldn't get their email to work. And I'll tell you what happened there too, because we actually see that kind of thing happening right there at Refresh Computers. And you guys are do you guys pretty much do the same thing that they did to fix that for people, right? Absolutely. So let's start with the toilet issue. Absolutely. This show's going right to the toilet. Start on the job. Yeah. So what was the issue with the toilet malfunction? It was actually this being a tech show, so that's why I brought it up. It was an electronic issue, right? Malfunctioning electronics that caused the fan to jam, one of the fans to jam. We don't want that on the space shuttle toilet. Absolutely not. No, no. And what it was preventing, well, the good news was that you know, solid waste that still worked. Right. The bad news was it was preventing the urine from being collected. So I don't know where it was going. Right. They're out in space. I don't want to even imagine that, but I think I just did. Sorry, folks.
SPEAKER_02And just before that launch, you know, they were sitting there playing cards for quite a few hours. Right. So they uh they probably did have to eventually go once they got up there.
SPEAKER_00So, anyhow, but it only took a couple hours for mission control to fix the issue. So the toilets, I'm happy to report, is working fine and has been working fine ever since they fixed it. So now the Meteor issue for me is the two different Outlook instances. So what happened was on one of the users' laptops, the Commander Weissman, the they were using the personal account and also the NASA account. Uh-huh. But they and they have both instances going at the same time on their computer, and that caused a glitch in Outlook. And I I can see Casper, like my store manager, who works on Outlook issues every day for people in the store, just shaking his head, yeah, because that's that's always an issue. You know, people accidentally have their two different outlooks going at the same time on the same computer. And while it's supposed to work seamlessly, sometimes there's a big glitch. Well, no, that works sometimes. Which is what happened. So, how did it get fixed? They fixed it the same way we would have fixed it, Greg, typically.
SPEAKER_02Did they call the hotline? Did they call did they call your number?
SPEAKER_00The 407-478-8200 or they they could have called the free tech support hotline because we would have given that service to NASA for free for sure at 407-478-8200. But in this case, Greg, they opted just to call mission control. That's fair in Houston. So they they had a tech there who did, like I said, did what we would have done. They they remote it in to the desktop now or to the laptop. Now, what's very interesting to me is and what's really cool, I should say, is you know, compare this era to the last time we were going towards the moon. And of course, last time we were going towards the moon, and they didn't have laptops. They're still using slide rules to get there, right? Yeah. They didn't have smart devices. They so even if they did, the in order to access it, would have taken hours just to get to it. Right. Because of how they would have had to have gotten to it. Remember the uh well, Greg, you probably don't remember, but I remember when they were having communication issues on some of the Apollo flights, and they would have to wait for the conversation to go back and forth.
SPEAKER_02I think it's full loop around. So it's it's amazing just how far we've come with some of those things. And we'll continue this conversation a little bit too as we continue our our dive into some of the Artemis tech that's just gone up. You're listening to a special edition of Tech Talk here live from Lake Iola, as we are here at the first spring fiesta in the park. We'll have more tech talk coming up right here on WDVO. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of the Refresh Computer Superstore for a special edition of the show here live from Lake Iola for Spring Fiesta in the park. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, go ahead and leave them using that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. Don't forget to check out the website over at RefreshComputers.net or stop at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, I mean do you still have time to stop by? They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now back to Dave as we again have a beautiful day out here at Lake Iola. I've got my family out here. They're having a great time. My son's eating an icy right now, so he's turning blue and green and all different kinds of colors that they put on there. If you want your kids to be able to have a delicious Kona icy and uh turn all kinds of different colors, go ahead and head on down to Lake Iola today. They've got a great, they've got a great offering. Over 200 vendors out here at Lake Iola today.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, Greg, I don't want to limit it to kids. If you yourself want to come out here and do that, there's nothing wrong with it.
SPEAKER_02An adult can enjoy a beautiful icy as well. They also have a few adult icy and beverages at the locations as well. So keep that in
QR Code Payment Scams
SPEAKER_02mind.
SPEAKER_00Speaking of events like this, we were wanted to get into some techie things going on at events like this. And one of them is the fact that, you know, today everything is becoming contactless as much as possible, right? So QR codes, tap-to-pay, mobile tickets, you got digital menus, all super convenient, right? They've made it so easy to give everybody your information, right? Although I I would always prefer the printed menu, to tell you the truth. Don't give me a QR code to scan for a menu. Right. But anyway, I mean it, but it's convenient for the restaurant. And for most people, I guess they probably do like the QR code for the menu. I don't know. That's why they have so many of them. But one of the things that you know you need to be concerned about are the places that, and maybe not so much here, that's what's going on with these vendors here in Lake Iola. I would hope that they're all very, you know, legitimate. And and and although they will have QR codes. Some of them have QR codes that you would scan to pay or to go to a website to get more information, go to their Facebook page. You know, they use QR codes for everything. But there's um I am going to caution you on doing that just willy-nilly pointing your camera at it and clicking okay.
SPEAKER_02Um anytime you see a QR code, you just decide to scan it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The first thing that you can do when you look at a QR code with your phone is you can see most a lot of People don't even realize this, Greg. But the URL, the website that it's going to go to is displayed. That's right. It's very small in a lot of cases, but it's displayed right on the phone. So just take a look at that. Make sure it looks legit. If something looks kind of funny, just don't click, don't click on it. Because you some of these QR codes that the scammers are using, I'm going to get into a few examples of where they're really prevalent. You know, as soon as you click on it, it's it's too late. Or sometimes when you click on it, it's not too late, but but you think you're paying for, say, a parking spot.
SPEAKER_02Right. That's a great example, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And you're not. And so, you know, so that's probably one of the most prevalent places where they have scammy QR codes, is you know, somebody will just go up and you know, they'll they'll they they print these by the thousands, right? They're on stickers, so they just peel off the QR code from their sticker sheet and stick it over the legitimate QR code on a parking meter or a parking sign where you would have to scan to park. And you know, there's people that they they've lost thousands and thousands of dollars, Greg, by just this scam alone on parking meters. So when you're parking somewhere using a QR code to pay, just make sure that you know put your phone, put your phone up there, you know, let the camera look at it, and you can see the QR code, you can see the URL, you can see the website address right there before you click. And if it looks kind of funny, if it doesn't match like the name of the parking system that that they're wanting you to go to, it's gonna be fake, and you're gonna be paying for something else. So you're gonna have two problems now. One is you paid somebody else for your parking because and they're gonna charge you more than what you you think you're paying.
SPEAKER_02And you still might get towed because then you didn't actually pay the parking. You get towed.
SPEAKER_00That was the second problem. You get towed because you know, because you, you know, you didn't pay for your parking, so you gotta kind of watch out for that. So, and I mentioned menus while I prefer you know paper menus over QR code menus, but that's also a place where people will do that. So, what'll happen is somebody will use these stickers still, and you know, a lot of restaurants and will have it on their tables. I have a little QR code on their table. So somebody will go with it, you know, they'll just stick their little sticker over that QR code, make it try to look legitimate, and when you click on something, next thing you know, in this kind of QR code scam might be downloading something on your phone as soon as you click okay, because you're telling your phone it's okay to go there.
SPEAKER_02Immediately give you permission, yep.
SPEAKER_00So you just kind of gotta watch out for that.
SPEAKER_02And a lot of that so often happens that, like you're mentioning, these unattended kind of QR codes or locations, whether it be just a standalone sign that's out in front of a business that maybe they don't come out and check all the time. You can you can trust that the WDBO QR code that we have set up over here is working just fine. We are the ones that set it up and we've been monitoring it throughout your day. But like I said, if it's somebody somewhere that's unattended, you're talking about parking areas, gas stations, and gas. Gas stations also, things like that. So always be aware and double check. I like to if I see a QR code that I think I need or want to scan, I make sure that it's the original printout, right? I'm right. I'm making sure it's not something that has a a spot where a sticker could possibly go or anything like that, too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because you can probably see the outline of the sticker if you look close enough. If you're checking, right? Right. If you look really close, you can see the outline of that sticker. And if you see a sticker, don't don't use that QR code. And so another place would be like an unexpected package, like a gift. And so people have been using this with a QR code so you can identify the sender. So sometimes it's a mailing, sometimes it's it's something along those lines where you know you again, as soon as you click on that QR code, there you go. You you you you've exposed your your phone, right?
SPEAKER_02And all your data. And even if it's not as as instant as you're mentioning, a lot of these things require you, like you mentioned, we'll go back to the parking example. You have to enter in information, whether that be your pre-saved credit card on your phone or anything like that. And they're gonna build that website to look legitimate as they possibly can, right? And with all the AI information that we have out there, you know that it is much easier to build clone websites these days than what it was so easy. So you're looking, you're you're you're you might get duped and you haven't even realized it after you've already you've submitted all your credit card information and you said, Yep, go ahead and pay for it. It's gone.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And of course, the the another place is very prevalent is in your emails or links in your text. You'll get a, you know, in maybe not a QR code in your text, but a link, of course. I think most people know today, I hope you know, that if you see a link in a text, you don't recognize it, or if you're not expecting it, uh delete it, report it a spam, get it off your phone, don't click on it because you're gonna be asking for trouble.
SPEAKER_02They will not send you your toll bill over a text message. They won't be always aware of those, right?
SPEAKER_00And the other thing is that is going on a lot, and I need to do some more investigation into this, Greg, is the fact that you know, every day now I'm getting probably four, five, six or more texts from congratulations, we've approved your loan. You know, when I'm I haven't been shopping for a loan, I don't need a loan, I never have. It's you know, the question is that I have for myself, and I have to look at this, is why am I getting all these texts? And they can't be all legitimate. I mean, literally, for months now, I get I get them all the time. And I haven't applied for, like I said, I haven't applied for a loan. I don't give my phone number out on websites. I even pay a subscription to a company that that helps me, you know, make sure that my phone number and my email addresses are not on websites out there. And if they are, they they have them help me uh get them removed. But so this is something else that you gotta watch out for too. I suspect that these are mostly scams.
SPEAKER_02Those data leaks come from every which way, it seems like, anymore, whether it be the you you hear a lot of them from ATT, and the most that they do is they apologize and they say they'll put you on a they'll give you a free year of uh data scrubbing and data protection. But unfortunately, that's definitely not the the answer to all of this. You we definitely need big tech to step up and kind of make sure that they're monitoring their data at an appropriate level. Again, with all these scams out there, it's really it's it's becoming harder and harder to figure out which ones are legit and which ones actually the scam.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And again, I guess the simplest thing to remember is just just don't use the QR code for anything unless you know it, it's a known, trusted source. And then even in those cases, look for the sticker. Yep. Make sure it's the original QR code on there, not an overlay, a sticker overlaying the uh the other QR code, the legitimate QR code.
SPEAKER_02And that you're being aware of your accounts afterwards, too. So even though you might have used it at a legitimate location. Again, we've got two over 200 vendors here at Lake Eola, and a lot of them are using QR codes for you to access payment information, things like that. But even after utilizing that, make sure you're going back and double checking your bank account, making sure that things are going through correctly and that you're not seeing any of these additional recurring charges, things like that as well.
SPEAKER_00And another thing that you can do if you haven't done so already is to, you know, every single credit card company out there, the all the big ones, I should say, anyway, have a service so you can get text every single time your card is used. Go through that inconvenience and do that, and so you know immediately whenever your card is being used, and this will help prevent this. Has helped me in the past, Greg. I've I've actually had a gotten a text before with a charge on Amazon, and it wasn't I didn't order anything on Amazon. My wife didn't order anything on Amazon, and it was like two thousand dollars. And so I was able to you know report that. Of course, I had to cancel my card because obviously somebody got a hold of the information somehow. But there are so many sneaky ways for people to get your information. Remember, we remember the day when and and these are still prevalent too, when you have to insert your credit card in the into the machine at a gas station pump. The scammers that used to have the skimmers, they called them, that they would install in those things were barely noticeable. They are noticeable, by the way. If you look, look real close, you can see that there's something else in there when you put your card in. So you can might want to do that. But uh, in those cases, you know, uh at the pump, always use tap the pay if it's working. Always don't use the don't insert your card if you can help it, or if you know what to look for, make sure you're looking to make sure there's nothing else in that slot where you're inserting your credit card because you can see it. I've seen them. I've seen them. I've actually saw one once and reported it. Oh wow. So it was at a 7-Eleven gas station in my neighborhood. And hey, you got a skimmer in your credit card. Really? So I had to get somebody out there to show them what it looked like.
SPEAKER_02And that's so much of a you see a lot of these companies, they'll put little stickers. Yes, this is inspected every day and all that kind of stuff. You've got to actually put the effort in to actually check a lot of those things, unfortunately. And sometimes, sometimes things do fall through the cracks. But again, like we mentioned, all of the 200 vendors here at the at the spring fiesta here in the park, they have been verified. All of these all of these great vendors. I'm sure they're fine. These great these great vendors, they're not trying to scam you on anything. They'd love for your business to come by. If you're interested in coming out to the park today or tomorrow, they're going to be here 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Again, today and tomorrow. Over 200 vendors, some great local crafts, some great local food, some great local drink, and you have a wonderful time with some people just for a lovely Easter weekend here in downtown Orlando. Again, you've been listening to a special edition of Tech Talk live from Spring Fiesta here in the park at Lake Iola. We'll come back with a wrap-up of some of these great tech topics that we've had for you today. And you've been listening to Tech Talk right here on W TVO. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. You can also check out their website over at RefreshComputers.net. And Dave, we are live here from Lake Eola for spring fiesta in the park. A beautiful day, getting a little overcast here, so it's cooling off a little bit. Yeah. Nice little reprieve from some of the heat that we've been having here today, but it is still absolutely beautiful day out here at Lake Eola. Over 200 vendors around the lake here this afternoon. They'll be here today and again tomorrow for Easter Sunday. So if after that Easter service you wanted to walk around and uh join in fellowship with some people around here in downtown Orlando, make your way down here to Lake Eola for some great vendors, some great food vendors, some great craft vendors, and just a beautiful, beautiful time here at Lake Iola. But Dave, we did have we had another topic on deck, but we actually do have some breaking news that we're bringing to you here on a Saturday, right?
SPEAKER_00That's right.
Microsoft Publisher Support Ends
SPEAKER_00Oh, poor publisher. If you're still one of the few people still using Microsoft Publisher, they are going to stop supporting it after October 1st this year.
SPEAKER_02So that's a rat that's a pretty quick timeline for them to just announce that, right?
SPEAKER_00That that is a quick turn timeline. And so what do you do if you still use publisher files? And and Greg, I think the last time I used publisher was probably 20-some years ago.
SPEAKER_02And for those unfamiliar, publisher usually you use for like brochures, pamphlets, to make posters, things like that for more like advertising purposes sometimes. Correct. But also, you know, for work and school published.
SPEAKER_00I still use them for like a trifold. Yeah. A trifold pamphlet. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02And they they work and it works very well for that. It does. But the problem is there's a bunch of other stuff that does that now, right? Even in Microsoft's little network.
SPEAKER_00Well, so does PowerPoint. So, you know, and so does Microsoft Word. So what Microsoft is recommending if you're still using Publisher is to before October 1st, you need to convert all your publisher files, and you can identify those if you don't remember what it they end with. The extension is dot pub.pub. So you can search your computer for those files that end with dot PUB and then convert all of them to Microsoft Word, is what they're suggesting.
SPEAKER_02So that dot docx format, right, is what they're looking for.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, and this all kind of falls in line with Microsoft's and a tie-in to last week's show with everything going, you know, subscription based. And so Microsoft Office is pretty much subscription-based now. I don't think they've officially announced they're not going to sell the DVD version anymore. Pretty sure they're not. But one thing that I did find out, I I looked it up, and is that if you happen to have the DVD version still from 2019-2021 of Office, that has Publisher on it, and you'll still be able to use that for your publisher files if you want to keep using Publisher. That's a committed publisher user right there.
SPEAKER_02If you uh those those uh the price of those DVDs is gonna skyrocket by pennies and pennies.
SPEAKER_00And if you know, if you have any kind of issue with converting those to Word, if you're not quite sure what to do, you know, we're there for you. You can give us a call at the free tech support hotline, 407-478-8200, or just come by to the store. We're three and a half miles east of I-4 on State Road 434, right there in Longwood. The address is 820 East State Road 434. We'd be more than happy to help you get your publisher files transferred over and probably wouldn't even have to charge you a dime for it. So we just come on in. We do a lot of free services like that, Greg, at the store if it's just something quick and easy. But you know, people just need to know. So that's all we have time for for today, folks. It was really nice being out here at Lake Iola, and I'm hoping that you enjoyed today's show. Don't forget to go to the podcast. You can listen to the show in its entirety by going to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link at the top of the page.
SPEAKER_02You've been listening to a special edition of Tech Talk right here on WDBO from Lake Iola for spring fiesta in the park.
