Nerd/Boffin Technical corner. Page 101

Found this on the Virgin Media forums:

"A paired V6 remote operates in both RF and IR modes. RF Mode is for controlling the V6 and can operate from anywhere in your home. IR mode allows control of your TV and, of course, does require to be pointed at your TV. Some TVs do allow the V6 remote to access Source control"

So when the V6 remote is paired and in RF mode it works without pointing at the device. I'm guessing RF is Radio Frequency and IR is Infra Red modes. If you can pair the old remote and set it to RF mode it should work the same as the new remote.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5587072

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xH8luJoXw4

(don't know if any of the above is relevant but it sounds like it is)

What Tarby said. RF (radio waves) will travel through/around objects, while IR (infrared) will be blocked by objects that are opaque to light.

Excellent info, Tarby!

I've just conducted a few tests and indeed the TiVo remote will work only when pointed in the general direction of the V6 box.

The V6 remote will work when pointed in any direction in the room. It will also work from outside the room with the door closed.

As if that were not good enough, it will also work from several yards outside the house!

The two remotes are of almost identical appearance (the V6 remote being slightly smaller) but they are obviously quite different technologically.

What a wonderful world (as Louis Armstrong once sang)!

PS. I have just seen Da Butt's post in which he confirms the reasons for the differences in performance. Cheers, Da Butt.

And thanks again Tarby for your speedy and accurate response.

I recently received an email that appeared to come from a friend of mine but which in fact had been sent by some sort of scammer using my friend's username and real name in order to make me trust the email.

It arrived within 24 hours of my having received a genuine email from that friend at an email address that I hardly ever use.

I'll change the friend's name and email address to protect the innocent.

So let's say my friend is called Dave and his email address is typewriter2019@outlook.com

The scam email came up in my inbox as "Dave" and "no subject".

The message read:

"Roodeye

https://u.to/FuMYFg

Dave"

It was a link to a totally fake news report extolling the virtues of a bitcoin trading system.

Suspicious, I looked more closely and saw that the email had in fact come from typewriter2019@amsa.co.za

My email account presumably recognised the name "typewriter2019" and so told me it was from "Dave" even though the domain it had come from was not the one normally associated with that username.

It looks to me as though the scammer must somehow have had access to Dave's email from the previous day and then quickly opened a new email account with the same username but at a different domain.

But how could the scammer have accessed the original email?

Or were Dave's username and actual name obtained by some other nefarious method?

There are many such one-link scam emails, I get about one per fortnight.

I would advise anyone NOT TO CLICK THE LINK as it might well take you to an infected website which might have one of the kinds of malware that can infect your computer without your intervention.

You're probably using the wrong email service. If you use something like Yahoo Mail or Google Mail most spam email are labelled as such and you only see them if you seek them out. Outlook should definitely be avoided.

The email was in my spam folder but I checked to see what it was because sometimes a genuine email finds its way into there.

What's puzzling me is how the scammer knows I have an email contact called Dave with the username typewriter2019.

Email isn't secure so it can be intercepted but more likely Dave's machine or email account has been hacked and mails are being sent out based on his contacts list or sent items folder using automated software to spoof the sending address. The golden rule is to never click on a link or open an attachment in an email unless you're expecting it. Like Billwill says you risk a nasty infection and it might not present itself straight away. It could lie dormant waiting to be triggered so I would run a full virus scan just to be safe and tell Dave to do the same and change his passwords.

At work they did a test and sent an email that looked like it had come from the head of security to all users and instructed everyone to change their logon password due to a security alert. It looked like a legitimate email and a lot of people fell for it by changing their password but if they had checked the email headers they would have seen it was spoofed and was designed to capture their new password.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 16th September 2019, 9:41 PM

The email was in my spam folder but I checked to see what it was because sometimes a genuine email finds its way into there.

What's puzzling me is how the scammer knows I have an email contact called Dave with the username typewriter2019.

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His computer or email server has probably been hacked and the scammer found your details in his contacts list.

Thanks very much for the info and advice, folks!

I've done a full virus scan and, luckily, there are no infections.

Interesting observations folks, personally I discovered the best terminal mac. Let me know your thoughts

Quote: nihiknen @ 22nd June 2023, 12:11 PM

Interesting observations folks, personally I discovered the best terminal mac. Let me know your thoughts

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When does the spam start?

Quote: DaButt @ 22nd June 2023, 1:26 PM

When does the spam start?

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They usually give it 24 hours.