LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME 2018

Well, i always clear the cookies on my computer after a nights session, mark certain sites down as Spam so their e-mails get automatically binned, and go through 3 security programs before shutting the Steam Machine down, so I very rarely get Spam.
I can't control the phone though and my deterrent is not to pick up the phone when it rings but to listen to the answer phone and, if I recognise the voice, then I answer it...........if not, then the scam messages just get ignored. There is one, however, that has appeared over the last month and that is the one where the message is "This is the Inland Revenue Office and we are informing you that we will be taking you to Court and suing you, please press one to respond"

I am not.............considering all the tax I have paid, and am still paying, over my working life I should be suing them!! It really annoys me that there are people out there who steal a lollipop from a Baby given the chance...........Oh, hang on, that's our Politicians

 

Are there any rent review periods?

Don't exaggerate! It's 105 years.

What have they replaced it with? The ground is still owned by someone else

Yes, technically they can't pay it in but banks never check dates, or signatures, on small value cheques. They claim it's not cost effective. Most banks consider anything under 10k a small value cheque

 

That reminds me of the great show, Candid Camera, headed by Jonathan Routh. One of them had a sketch where a pretty young woman was out in the street looking around on the pavement. She was asked by passers-by what she was looking for and, in a French accent, said she was looking for her scruples as she had been told that she had lost them. The look on some of the people's faces was brilliant as they didn't know how to react.

The classic one was when we saw him drive into a petrol station, in a big Jag, fill up with petrol, go in and pay and then have trouble starting his car. He lifted up his bonnet and the engine was missing! So he went back in and told them that someone had stolen his engine whilst he was paying and what were they going to do about it . The petrol station was at the bottom of a hill and he had rolled downhill into the station

 

We run three email accounts (not like @Scrungee who, I think, has about 200 ) and we get no spam at all downloaded to our computer. Our ISP filters all the spam and puts it into a spam box for each account. Every so often I go into our accounts at the server to check the filters as the ISP sometimes, but rarely, puts genuine emails in there.

I used to get about 20 per day on my account but that has now reduced to about 2 per week. Mrs Shiney used to get about 50 per day but now gets about 5 per day. So their filter is working much better. As the spam is all together in the filter it only takes a few seconds to just scan down the list.

We no longer get any spam telephone calls . We bought new phones (old ones were giving us a bit of trouble) and they filter the calls for us. The phones cost £40 for a base phone with an answerphone in it and a cordless extension phone and base. It monitors all incoming calls and filters them. You're able to set the parameters for the filters but we find the factory settings are sufficient.

All calls are intercepted by the chip in the base unit, unless you have put that number in the directory (just like you would put it in a mobile). Ones in the directory come straight through.

All others are intercepted without us even hearing the phone ring. The caller is then asked to say their name and press the # key. If they don't do that they are cut off! If they do follow the simple instruction they are told to wait a minute whilst they are put through and then our phone rings, the 'lady' in our base unit then lets the phone ring, we pick up and she plays back the name of the caller. She says 'If you wish to accept the call, then press 1', 'If you wish to always accept the call then press 2', 'if you wish to send it to answerphone then press 3' and a few more options including barring the number. The only change we made to the options is to always let it go to answerphone if we don't pick up. This can only happen if they say their name and then press #.

Since we've had the phones we have never had a spam call. The spammers know that people who have the system are unlikely to be taken in by spammers. The automatic call systems that a lot of spammers use now can't get through as they can't respond to the initial question. Unknown numbers (spammer computers can generate false numbers) are banned immediately. There are a lot more options.

There are two downsides to it. The directory can only store 200 names and numbers, and you can't back-up the numbers. Both are fairly minor for most people. We have two separate lines (his and hers ) and both our directories are full so we have to go through them occasionally to remove some rarely used numbers (those people then just have to go through the filter instructions). We also keep a list of the names and numbers on our computer and, every so often, make a print out of it - just like the old fashioned address and phone number books we used to keep

So, no email or phone spam at all. I miss winding up the phone spammers