reCaptcha

I have been using Firefox for many years now & a few years ago I discovered DuckDuckGo & since then have used this as my search engine.

A few times during the last week I've also come across these 'Captchas', (I can't remember now on what sites), but I agree they are a great nuisance, especially when you can't make out very well what they are! I had to repeat one twice because I obviously made a mistake.

Firefox has a great number of security measures built in/under the hood, & for that I like it very much. I also have 5 (FIVE) Adblockers of different kinds so I never see ads! When I open a page I may have to wait a few extra seconds but it is worth it.

Although I have a Hotmail account (it was the first I ever had & was set up for me by my children at least 25 years ago!) I don't use it as my main email programme - as for Outlook I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!

I got into Gmail shortly after it started out & have used it ever since. I have Yahoo accounts as well & used it for years but when Gmail came out I gradually found myself using it more & more as time went by & now I have so many contacts there it would be extremely difficult to change to another email provider.

 

@Retired The PIN number is something banks and such like have brought in over the past year to try and make sure you are you. Called two factor identification the theory is you will have your phone and a fraudster won't, happens when you log into your bank account, set up a new payee and transactions over a certain amount. It will become more common.
Accessing my account by the mobile app doesn't result in PIN as it uses finger print. Likewise if I log in with Firefox on my PC I get a PIN sent to the phone then I'm asked if I trust the PC and if I log in again without rebooting PC or clearing cookies then no PIN required.
Just another thcing to cope with unfortunately.

 

I use Thunderbird linked to my broadband/email provider for my emails. Outlook is for work emails and calendar.

 

Hi,

Many thanks NigelJ; Balc & shiney for your interesting replies which I very much appreciate.

A friend recommended OE Classic for emails so I downloaded it and eventually paid £25; I used it successfully until one day I was blocked and I just became fed up of trying to unblock it; I'm not a computer wiz kid and don't like playing around having to learn new things just to use what I've been using for ages.

I think the NordVPN I've been using has been causing problems because my address keeps changing hence the likes of my bank think I'm a hacker and if I forget I have NordVPN activated then this is when I often receive the request to enter a pin number which I can't complain about because after all I bought NordVPN for security. Yesterday I decided enough is enough so I've deleted the NordVPN thinking it too much hassle and often it refused to load and when it did it slowed everything down; the idea is good but not the hassle involved; my bank asks if I trust the computer I'm using to which I rely "Yes" but then if NordVPN us being used my computer isn't recognized.

I have Gmail which is never a problem but my main email is Virgin Media and I'm now asked each time I want to log on to play the reCaptcha computer game; it once took seven attempts to log onto a stringed instrument forum I'm a member of by which time I was losing the will to live.

I've browsed the web looking for ways of dumping reCaptcha and there are lots of suggestions but they don't seem permanent; I'd love to take a machine gun to reCaptcha and normally I'm very polite and peaceful but it sure winds the big key up in my back.

I fully agree with you NigelJ regarding entering the given pin number in order to log into your bank then being asked if you trust this computer; perhaps now I'm not using NordVPN I'll be able to log straight in.

Out of interest I've owned a computer for about 23 years and when online banking started our bank just requested one password which covered all our accounts which I thought very unsafe indeed. I wrote a letter to the bank and handed it into the local branch; the following morning bang on 9 o'clock I received a phone call from the bank headquarter it was an irate lady and I think I must have hurt her favourite doll; she was quite upset and told me in no uncertain terms the bank online security was robust enough without adding additional checks which customers wouldn't like; I politely replied would customers object to losing their life savings to an hacker; she wasn't nice at all but I let her rant on whilst I remained totally calm.

Amazingly the day after the phone call I received a signed letter from this lady confirming what had been discussed stating clearly the online security was robust enough.

Within a month a full screen appeared when I logged onto our account stating the online security was to be updated in stages explaining what was going to happen? The bank must spend £millions on secirity and it took a computer novice customer to point out the weakness; I never heard anything else not even a thank you so who was better for the bank online security the lady or me? I still have the letter as proof; silly woman putting it in writing; I'd have liked to listen in to her explaining what she'd told me to the bank CEO? Three stages of checks now before logging onto our accounts; excellent.

A while ago I was locked out of my Virgin emails and it drove me mad; I think it was reCaptcha not allowing me in because I often pop onto my emails so now reCaptcha was controlling the number of times I could access my mail? I spent many hours trying to resolve this even contacting Virgin Media; in the end the way around the problem was to change my password then it cleared.

I am keen regarding online security but reCaptach shouldn't be in such a position to control what I do.

I too am on POP3 shiney.

I downloaded a free adblocker years ago Balc and it does a good job but thanks for the reminder; it often pays to check what's newly available; I'm always wary of anything listed as "Free" because nothing these days is free although there are exceptions like Gimp photo editing I've been using for many years.

I think the best security regarding online banking is to check the account each day. I very quickly discovered the unauthorised withdrawals at "Pending" so there wasn't the slightest problem for us with the bank. I dislike trying to contact our bank by phone also Virgin Media too because it takes forever jumping through the security checks; it's all becoming so complicated these days.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

Sums it up brilliantly pete; thanks for posting it.

Kind regards, Colin.