The New Computer

I'm sort of losing my mind here.  Everything seems to have migrated to the new computer fine, except for the email.  And I decided it was time to get a real security suite and a password manager.

ARGGHHH!!!

If I wasn't a DIY type, I would go nuts.  And I've generally been offline because I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.  Or one of those dreams with no monsters (I don't have "monster" problems) but nothing works at all.  I call those "frustration dreams", and those are my usual kinds.  Lately, those have been all too real.

EMAIL:

Several years ago, Verizon sold their email service to AOL.  AOL has plagued me ever since.  Rgey want me to use their system directly, and it SUCKS!  I have been redirecting my AOL emails to Apple Mail where I have 3 separate accounts.  One is "cavebear" for myself.  A second is "marksmews" for the cats.  A third is "yardenman" for home and yard stuff.

When I migrated everything to the new Mac Mini, the email wouldn't.  When I finally got most emails to import, the passwords for my Apple Mail accounts didn't.  Apple says it is an AOL problem; AOL says it "talk to Apple".  

I got an AOL tech on the phone after complaining enough.  She was very friendly and helpful.  After 30 minutes, I had a new password for the cavebear account.  Only it turned out all that was just a change in my AOL account password.  My Apple accounts still wanted passwords.  I had them all written down in a binder of course, but they no longer worked.  And then we got disconnected.

I called AOL techs again.  This time, I was told the 3 Apple accounts each needed a separate monthly tech help fee of $5 per month for them to help.  $180 per year just to have them do what Verizon promised I would get for free.

So, I can read my mail direct in AOL, all jumbled together.  I'm exploring other email apps, but it would require all new addresses.  I shudder at the idea of how to contact everyone I know about new email addresses!

An option is to leave the old Mac Mini online just for the email.  It works fine there.  The problem is that the working passwords there are hidden (all ***********).  I need to get a 2nd router cable to do that.  That's easy to solve, but awkward to keep 2 computers operating.

SECURITY SUITE:  

I've been coasting along on free Avira (which is well-regarded), but I decided to upgrade.  There are things Avira doesn't do.  Like protect from ransomeware, spyware, financial transaction, and keystroke protection.  I searched everywhere for "best apps".  No one agrees.  I finally settled on Kaspersky.  According to some sites, its weakest point was the password manager (see below) and it has a Russian origin but was otherwise the "best of the bunch".  

I downloaded it and am learning how to use it.  A "quick scan" showed no malware on the new computer.  I was concerned because I had copied old files and apps to this new one and I wanted "the best" to check on those before I started using it.  I'll do a complete scan after I leave here later and let it run overnight.

PASSWORD MANAGER:  

I started keeping passwords in Excel years go and keeping the printed pages in a binder, after which I deleted the Excel spreadsheet.  But who knows what remains behind even after a delete?  I got nervous. And that was after only saving the Excel to a thumbdrive and removing it.  But, you know how passwords go.  You repeat them many times and even if they re slightly different, there are patterns.  So I decided I needed a password manger app.  

One really bizarre and meaningless long (VERY STRONG) string and ll the esier ones re hidden (I think).  I went with the "1password" app.  It will take a whole day to enter all the other passwords into the app.  Maybe 2 days.  But I have so many, maybe I can eliminate half of them.  There are sites I haven't visited in years and have no interest in.  But just deleting bookmarks doesn't eliminate all records of them.  I'll need to dig further into the files to find them.

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I'm getting through this one small step at a time.  And it will take more time.  I'm at the point where I COULD be back on line, but there is only so much computer time I can take.  I need to figure out the Kaspersky anti-malware and the password manager.  I need to figure out the damn email password problem.  I need to go through 5,000 emails and decide which to save (I'm a hoarder).   I probably have a few 100 pictures in the camera and they need to be viewed, deleted, saved, processed, etc.

I let it all sit ignored for 2 days while I puttered around the house and yard catching up on chores.  That was actually a pleasure.  But that's a subject for a new post...