APPS
Sites for mental health
Mental health issues are being discussed after the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. A few smartphone applications are available. Apps are no substitute for professional help, but they could inform and provide a community for those in need.
Toxic Thinking is a free app from Boultons MultiMedia for Android and Apple. The app is meant to help users recognize habitual negative thought — the bad “self-talk” in themselves, or that they may spot in someone close.
The Toxic Thinking app explains the importance of good nutrition, getting enough sleep and maintaining personal boundaries. The menu screen offers a simple guide to dealing with “toxic thinking triggers,” symptoms and “appropriate action.”
Tabs on each page link to screens within the app or to websites of resource material, such as sites on eating disorders, depression, anxiety and suicide.
The Mental Health News Reader for iPhone, 99 cents from Splaysoft LLC, aggregates feeds from other sites that concentrate on mental health reporting, such as MedScape, MentalHelp.net, and CounselingResources.com.
On the free MHF (Mental Health Forum) app for Android and Apple from Neil Morris, you have to set up an account. Then you get access to an active community that discusses all manner of issues.
— Reid Kanaley, Philadelphia Inquirer
COMPUTERS
When printer misbehaves
Q: I returned my printer, an HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus, because it sometimes printed in a foreign language. Now a second unit periodically does the same thing. I’ve spent hours talking to HP help desk people about reloading the printer software and trying other fixes. I’m convinced they can’t correct it. The strange thing is that, on the second try, the print comes out in English. Could this be caused by malicious software? I’ve emailed a printing sample so you can see what I mean.
A: Your printer isn’t printing in a foreign language; it’s printing gibberish.
Assuming it’s a technical problem, HP offers several potential ways to fix it. But the real problem may be that you’ve downloaded some malicious software that is causing your printer to act that way.
HP’s troubleshooting guide, found online at http://www.tinyurl.com/cf67rbl, shows you how to diagnose potential causes. It’s possible, for example, that the correct printer hasn’t been selected, that the file you’re printing is flawed or that the printer’s USB connection to the PC is loose or malfunctioning.
But articles on the tech websites ZDNet (http://www.tinyurl.com/cp5zkew) and CNet (http://www.tinyurl.com/6sma2ce) suggest you might have inadvertently downloaded a malicious program called “Trojan.Milicenso” that’s been around for two years.
While the purpose of the malware is to misdirect your computer online, a side effect is to create a file on your computer that Windows then tries to print. Because the file consists of computer code, the printout is gibberish.
Before trying the HP fixes, download and run the free version of security program Malwarebytes. Go to http://www.tinyurl.com/cwbd73f and click “free download.”
Q: I’d like to increase the speed of my eight-year-old HP PC. Some TV commercials promise their software can boost speeds. Are these ads credible? Or is there another way to juice my PC at least a little bit?
A: Skip the TV software. Microsoft offers tips online, at http://www.tinyurl.com/ct9umtx, on how you can make your PC run a little faster by getting rid of junk software that might be slowing things down, using a flash drive as extra PC memory, or cleaning up a cluttered hard disk drive. But those things are unlikely to make an eight-year-old PC run much faster. Today’s software — Web browser, photo viewer, music player or word processor — demands more computing power than your PC was designed for. It may be time for a new PC.
— Steve Alexander, Minneapolis Star Tribune