NOTRECOMMENDED: Presidio Digital Vault aka AARP Digital Vault

Thursday, March 19, 2026

2026-03Mar-12

NOTRECOMMENDED: Prisidio Digiital Vault aka AARP Digital Vault

It all started when I was at ‘McD’s and started an upload to the Digital Vault.

NG!

No VPN. 

Sigh! Argh!

Then I started to investigate what exactly was securing my documents.  I was expecting that my User Id / Password combination was being used at a key.

WRONG!

When I dug into it deeper I referred to ₿itcoin; “Not your keys, not your coins” is a popular cryptocurrency mantra meaning that if you do not hold the private keys (or seed phrase) to your wallet, you do not truly own or control your digital assets.

It turns out, I assume, that Presidio has only one set of keys.

Hence, when it gets hacked, all my data is at risk.

Note I said “WHEN” because I can’t imagine more of a motherlode of data.  They suggest putting everything in “your vault”.   When I hears images of credit cards, that’s when I went FULL STOP.

*** begin quote ***

Hello Ferdinand,

I hope you’re doing well!

One of our support reps asked that I review a support case he has open with you. I wanted to personally address your concerns about VPN access and encryption.

On the VPN question: I totally understand why blocking VPNs seems counterintuitive from a security standpoint. While VPNs are great for legitimate, personal privacy, they’re also heavily used by attackers to hide their tracks and mask where attacks are coming from. It’s unfortunately become one of the most common ways bad actors try to access accounts. So yes, it’s a trade-off – we’re blocking VPNs to protect against credential stuffing and other attacks that exploit that anonymity. Unfortunately for those of us that use personal VPNs, we’re out of luck.

Regarding your encryption concerns: While I cannot disclose the specific technical details of our encryption implementation for security reasons, I can assure you that:

  1. Your data is encrypted both in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption protocols
  2. We follow security best practices designed to protect against the exact scenario you’re concerned about – ensuring that a breach doesn’t result in compromising customer data
  3. Our security architecture is built with multiple layers of protection

That said, we recognize that different customers have different security requirements and risk tolerances. If our current security model doesn’t align with what you feel comfortable with – we completely understand.

I will definitely share your thoughts and concerns with our security team. Feedback like this is important – it helps us understand what matters most to our users and where we might need to evolve our security model.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or feedback and I will address them to the best of my abilities. I’ll ask our support rep to close your support case as you are welcome to reach out to me directly should you have any other concerns to share.

Thanks Ferdinand – have a great day!

 

 

Mark Wilkins
Director Support Services, Prisidio

*** end quote ***

MY CANCELLATION FOLLOWED

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary!)

I don’t understand why all the TECH BLOGS are not “jumping” all over this?

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Memowrite 

Friday, December 26, 2025

Memowrite’s PostMemowrite · Memories fade, but your story can last forever.With Memowrite, sharing your journey is easier than ever.Thoughtful prompts spark reflectionFree your creativityA beautifully designed memoir, delivered to your door Sale ends soon! Save up to 64% today.

# – # – # – # – #

There’s a hidden 14 “return policy” and their logon process doesn’t work reliably. When you complain their tech support stalls until your “14 days” expires. Argh!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Any KINDLE or ebook “purchased” from AMAZON

Monday, October 6, 2025

https://www.androidauthority.com/amazon-kindle-e-books-drm-harder-to-backup-3601341/

Your Kindle e-books just got locked down even tighter
With stricter DRM in place, your Kindle library is now even harder to back up.
By Matt Horne aka @SalvaCash
September 25, 2025

*** begin quote ***

For Kindle owners, this continues a pattern of losing personal control over purchased books. Earlier this year, Amazon removed the ability to download titles for local transfer via USB. Old versions of the Kindle Android app also no longer support downloads, which cut off another method people used for saving e-books. With this latest move, the company has tightened its grip on Kindle e-books even further.

*** end quote ***

As much as I linked my old Kindle, which I have misplaced, I can’t understand why AMAZON has locked it down even more.

Until the Gooferment cracks down on AMAZON for its FRAUDULENT practice of “SELLING” books when it’s really just delivering a “LICENSE” to you, we’re stuck with a BIG BROTHER “librarian”.

I’m tired of what I call “CONTENT FRAUD”.  I don’t know how many times in the past I’ve had to rebuy content.  Paper books, books on cassette tapes, books on CDs, and “audio” books are all the same content that we’re stuck buying and rebuying,

Never mind that Disney and Amazon do a big business in “SELLING” streaming content that you don’t have control over.

Maybe I’m just an old curmudgeon, but I’m now at the point where I’m not BUYING content where I don’t control the MEDIA that I’ve purchased.

I want my CONTENT without DRM so I can put it in CALIBRE and enjoy it anywhere anytime.  I want to burn that into a MEDIA that is virtually eternal and that I control.

Sorry, but I’m not LICENSING anything anymore.

# – # – # – # – #

P.S.: While on the topic of really free “BOOKS” I use:

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Don’t buy “gift cards” throught zillionsgift offers on gift card racks in Walgreens

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Don’t buy “gift cards” throught zillionsgift offers on gift card racks in Walgreens.

They are counting on you to become frustrated trying to transform them into a useable gift card for so site you like.

My experience:

  • The fine print says the card can only be redeemed at their website
  • Took several tries to get to the website “zillionsgift.com”; the fine print isn’t easy to read; mistakes take you to cyber squatters waiting for you to fall into their trap
  • Getting the card info in and verifying your humanity took three tries
  • After getting thru that hurdle, you need to select values for your favorite destination site that work (i.e., 40$ gift card must be taken as two 20$ Amazon gift cards)
  • Then it says “tilt” and an obscure error message
  • Try that twice, then give up at call their 1-833 (?) number
  • After a brief hold, you get a call center fellow (Philippines?) who makes your repeat all your info and then tells you to try a mobile or another browser (Hey, I’m an IT pro. Already did that!  Argh!)
  • Then he graciously agrees to send you a paper check to your home address in 3 or 4 weeks
  • Argh!  I’m saving all the papers and card in an envelope with 8/15/25 on it

Feel free to check back for my update.  Argh!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Liberty Mutual Insurance — tech support

Monday, June 30, 2025

Couldn’t logon for several days.

First call into them; they changed UserIds to emails. Argh!

Second call into them; send us a screen shot.

Sent it in and then they said: “three to five business days”.

Argh!

I fail to understand how they are going to diagnose and fix this. And, five days, someone must be INSANE!

Nevermind that no one is interested in WHY I need to get on their website.

Argh! Argh!

Maybe I need to change?

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: LASTPASS no longer recommended; Use BITWARDEN instead

Sunday, April 6, 2025

LASTPASS has dropped support for Mac OSX application.  

No appologies; just dropped.

Sigh!

I’m testing BITWARDEN and Apple’s PASSWORD app.

Not that I’m an “influencer”, but I have RECOMMENDED LASTPASS for a long time.  Removing it’s availability from a key computer platform is short sighted at best and dumb at worst.

IMHO

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Apple AirPods2Pro for the hearing test

Saturday, December 28, 2024

After a very frustrating day of “escalations”, broken return calls promised, and countless connect / disconnect / in case / out of case / reconnect, I gave up.

This product is not ready for prime time,  I felt like an alpha tester.

Argh! ** 3

They hyped the “hearing test” so much I really wanted it to work. 

Frustrated to the full extent.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Eliminate DOEd, FEMA, and the FBI

Monday, November 25, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/11/d_o_g_e_is_a_wonderful_concept_and_here_are_some_ideas_to_get_it_started.html

D.O.G.E. Is A Wonderful Concept, And Here Are Some Ideas To Get It Started
By Gregory McCants

*** begin quote ***

With Donald Trump’s election win now a few days behind us and the GOP all but confirmed to have swept both houses of congress as well it would appear that at least for two years we should have a truly unique and remarkable opportunity to make meaningful change in a variety of areas. Of highest priorities would be the economy and border security, both of which were clearly the major issues the American people looked to when deciding their next government.

Within that discussion of economic improvements, Trump has now tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head an informal operation to be known as the Department Of Governmental Efficiency (with the excellent acronym of D.O.G.E.)

*** and ***

FEMA probably just wrote its own obituary with the revelation that a FEMA official in Florida told workers to “avoid houses with Trump signs” in the wake of Hurricane Milton, leading to loud calls for defunding the agency. The truth is that emergency disaster relief should not be handled by yet another agency with large layers of bureaucracy.

Instead, states should be able to request emergency disaster relief funds directly from Congress, with the appropriations then used to purchase necessary resources and materials, ideally from private vendors who can compete for the contracts. This would lead to increased efficiency and better prices for the taxpayer. This would also allow the government to engage in strict accounting to ensure federal funds go where they are supposed to go.

*** and ***

The DOE is on Donald Trump’s list of agencies that should be removed, and it’s been on Republican lists back to the Rick Perry days. The Department of Education (“DOE”) has long been a target of many who feel the government’s meddling in education, and its one-size-fits-all approach is ultimately detrimental. To quote Reason, “Take, for example, federal grants to state education departments. Federal aid incentivizes schools to shift their priorities to meet federal grant requirements rather than local educational needs.”

*** and ***

The FBI, originally created as an “emergency agency” in response to organized crime during the Prohibition era, has become a bloated, redundant, and ultimately useless organization that essentially serves as the outdated grandfather of other agencies conducting operations on the ground, such as the U.S. Marshalls or the Drug Enforcement Agency. One of my personal favorite YouTube commentators did an excellent video on the topic. 

*** end quote ***

As always, the Gooferment “Swamp” is a “target rich environment”.

But I hope that DOGE doesn’t get confused and jump from target to target.

Best focus on these three and drive to completion.

Don’t just trim around the edges; axe them.

If, for example, the FBI’s labs are “valuable”, then transfer them to some “technical organization” like NIST,

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED, Political | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: Putting a child on an andriod phone

Monday, November 18, 2024

Tried to put him on two different android phones.

Apparently, “FAMILY LINK” doesn’t work.

I wind up with a device that constantly reboots.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — attributed to Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Rita Mae Brown

I now have two devices that just reboot over and over again.

Maybe I’ll just buy him an obsolete iPhone.

Argh!

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

NOTRECOMMENDED: LULU open source firewall

Thursday, October 24, 2024

While I like the idea of having a firewall to protect me from the likes of ISPs and Applications, I tried LULU and could get through the install.  Maybe I’ll try again when I have time to waste.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries