Month: February 2014

The Chromebook experience and the White Screen of Death!

Paul

White Screen of Death!

From: [ Version 32.0.1700.95 (Platform version: 4920.71.0)]

The latest update : [ Version 32.0.1700.103 (Platform version: 4920.82.0)]

Had a really strange effect on my system.   Whenever I started booting up the system right after the update, I would just go into a cycle of white screens or I would see the default background for a few minutes and then it would just turn all white!  It got so annoying, I started calling Acer Laptops about it and requesting a Chrome OS Ninja for help on this issue.   They said  I would have to send in my laptop and wait 7 to 10 business days for it to be resolved.   I didn’t have that time or luxury to not be without a laptop so I went back on my resolve to figure this little issue out.   The only thing I could come up with is to go download a new version of Chrome OS for my Acer Laptop by using Windows Recovery Option.   Strange Google should have a way for me to download an ISO of the latest version without having to having to do these steps.

Recovery Options

By Pressing Esc+Refresh then hold down the Power button.  I was able to bring up the “Chrome OS is missing or damaged” message and then after I made a new usb card for my device it booted without a problem.   I do not know what actually happened but it was quite frustrating and Google needs to start providing more ways to recover the system without having to go through so many hoops.   

Has anyone else had this type of problem?  I’d like to know!

Encrypt your Email with VPN4ALL the Chrome Extension! (Chrome OS Also)

Paul

 

VPN4All does It again!

Since VPN4ALL is a Sponsor, any links in this article supports my efforts in blogging!  They told me about this new product they developed.   At first it was on their website and I liked it but I am glad they made it to where you can use it with any Chrome web browser or even the Chrome Net books!  I installed it on my Chrome OS laptop and it works just as easily on it as on my Windows 7 system.

It was easy and very easy to encrypt your emails to prevent people who don’t know the password.   I had no problems with it encrypting or decrypting emails.   I tested this with two different email addresses and each one sent and receive the email.   I just had to right click and either encrypt it or decrypt it.   

A Simple Test!

I have thought hard and long and here is the easiest way to tell if your extension is working right.  Send an email to a friend or family and see what they see or say.   It seemed to work really well for my purposes.  I used Google mail web site with my this extension and it worked like a charm.   Just highlight what you want to encrypt and it and past the encrypted text in place of the text your are wanting to encrypt.

The Meta Data!

This however will not stop people from getting the meta data as some would say.   This is simply the normal stuff like:

  • Name and Email address
  • IP of where it was sent from and to
  • the Route the email went (Headers show all this stuff)
  • Anything else outside of the encryption such as signatures!

As you can tell VPN4ALL has proven time and time again that they want to protect your privacy.   They even allow you to have your own password to prevent NSA or any others from getting the emails and decrypting them.   The only ones who can decrypt the email is those who have the password and you have to tell those who you are intending to send email to with this encryption the password and a way for them to decrypt it.

Last thought is that you need to remember to have the password pretty strong and a way to commnicate that password through another channel other than email to prevent someone from grabbing that email very easily.