Speaking at NDC Sydney 2017

Well this happened!

Yes, my talk “Life is like a Box of Chocolate(y)” was accepted for NDC Sydney!

I’ll be speaking about using Chocolatey and BoxStarter as a way of scripting out the configuration of your developer workstation. You might think of these as more “IT” tools, but I want to show developers how easy they are to use.

Combined with Windows 10’s Reset, this means you can rebuild your Windows environment in a matter of minutes, allowing you to apply the “cattle, not pets” approach to your own PC.

Last year I attended NDC as a volunteer crew member and afterwards said that “this is THE developer event in Australia”.

So go have a look at the speakers and sessions. I reckon it’s a pretty compelling line-up, and if you register before Sunday 14th May, you can take advantage of early bird prices.

I hope to see you there!

Someone has created a Facebook profile using your name and photo

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

First off, don’t panic! Unless you have a really poor password, it’s unlikely that you have been hacked. Instead an annoying person has just created a new Facebook account, copied your profile picture and name, and is presumably now going through your friend list asking to become friends, and confusing all your friends who thought you were already their friend.

What can you do?

Use the Facebook “Report” function to ask Facebook to delete the fake account.

1. Open the fake profile page (Just click on the name)
2. Click on the ‘…’ button (to the right of the Message button), then click Report.
3. Select Report this profile and click Continue
4. Select They’re pretending to be me or someone I know and click Continue
5. Select Me and click Continue
6. Select Submit to Facebook for Review
7. Usually within a matter of hours, someone at Facebook will review the details and shut down the offending account.

How can you reduce the risk of this happening?

Review your Facebook privacy and sharing settings to stop non-friends from seeing your friends list and your profile photo.

Enable Two Factor Authentication to reduce the risk of your actual Facebook account being really compromised.

Setting your Facebook privacy and sharing

One in a series of posts on Facebook Security and Privacy

If you use Facebook, you should take the time to review your privacy settings and be deliberate about what details you share with the public (as distinct from just your friends). Setting this appropriately can help prevent annoying people from creating fake Facebook accounts that have the same profile photo and name as you, and that then try to trick all your Facebook contacts into become friends with them.

There’s no one answer to setting privacy settings. Some people might be quite happy to share everything with everyone whereas others will prefer to keep things strictly between friends. The important thing is that you understand and are comfortable with what you’re sharing to whom.

To review your general privacy settings

1. Click on the drop-down menu on the top right in Facebook in your web browser
2. Click Settings
3. On the left, click Privacy
4. Review the settings and change to your preference if necessary.

To restrict who can see your profile picture

1. Go to your Facebook profile (click on your name in the top menu bar in Facebook in your web browser)
2. Click on your profile photo
3. To the right of the photo, click on the icon next to the date
4. Review the current setting and change to your preference if necessary. Choosing a non-public option will reduce the risk of someone copying your profile photo. On the other hand it will make it harder for potential friends to find you.

To restrict who can see your friends

1. Go to your Facebook profile
2. Click on Friends
3. Click on the ‘Pencil’ icon (Manage)
4. Click Edit Privacy
5. Review the current settings. Choosing a non-public option will reduce the risk of someone pretending to be you trying to contact all your friends.

Don’t just accept the defaults, be deliberate and intentional about exactly how much and to who you are sharing your Facebook information with.