I was looking into solar panels.

After four presentations what I have surmised is the following:

1. Avoid micro-inverters. There is a theoretical advantage but you
introduce 15-25 potential points of failure instead of 1. They do fail
and you don't want people up on your roof, breaking tiles, as they
replace the failed micro-inverters. A failed central inverter just means
a couple of days with no power generation.

2. Optimizers are okay, but not really essential unless you have shading
issues.

3. Avoid polycrystalline panels. Use only monocrystalline panels.

4. Buy direct, from a panel manufacturer that is likely to remain in
business, not from an installer that buys panels from that manufacturer.
Check the financial health of the panel manufacturer since some are
barely hanging on and are likely to fail when the federal tax credit
starts going away in 2016.

5. Minimize the number of panels buy using the more efficient panels
even if the initial cost is slightly higher.

6. Buy, don't lease, and no "prepaid power agreements."

7. Make sure that the electrical panel upgrade cost, if necessary is
included.

8. If you're going to go solar, do it in 2015, the last year of the 30%
federal tax credit.

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to see if
there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got from one
panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works there and they
have a friends and family program).

10. Check that it makes sense at all based on your KWH rate. In my city
we're paying about 33¢/KWH and it will take about 9 years to break even.
The next city over, with a municipally owned power company charges about
11¢/KWH and solar makes no sense there.

11. Consider whether or not a time-of-use rate plan will work for you or
not. For my utility, they credit you a lot more for generated power if
you are on a time-of-use rate plan, so even if you have to use some peak
time power, i.e. for a pool pump or air conditioner, it may be
beneficial to be on the time-of use plan and pay a higher top rate than
on a non-time-of-use rate plan.

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

sms wrote:

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

0. (hey, I'm a programmer) Find out if the project is even feasible given
the insolation for your area:

http://www.solmetric.com/annualinsolation-us.html


Have you considered the batteries, both the initial cost and the replacement
costs? Do the research but in my experience if you're already connected to
the grid, solar is very expensive per kwh. I run a solar setup in Arizona,
but there's plenty of sun and no available electricity.

sms wrote:
....
Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

yes, do many other things first to increase your
efficiency, i.e. good appliances, LED lights, solar
hot water heating, better insulation and sealing up
the house if you use heat or AC, using better roofing
to reflect light if you are in the south and to absorb
it or be neutral farther north, wind blocking trees,
shading trees... most of these things are worth the
money spent and will decrease the amount of electricity
you need to generate and store.

if you can avoid large battery banks it is well worth
it. instead just have enough storage to cover the usual
outage cases (here that is a few minutes to a few hours)
and still plan for having a worse case outage once in a
great while (major storms). a lot of people think that
they have to sell electricity back to the power company,
but if they don't give you a very good price and you are
paying a lot of fees it can be more of a pain than it is
worth.


songbird

On 1/28/2015 5:29 PM, sms wrote:
I was looking into solar panels.

After four presentations what I have surmised is the following:

1. Avoid micro-inverters. There is a theoretical advantage but you
introduce 15-25 potential points of failure instead of 1. They do fail
and you don't want people up on your roof, breaking tiles, as they
replace the failed micro-inverters. A failed central inverter just means
a couple of days with no power generation.

2. Optimizers are okay, but not really essential unless you have shading
issues.

3. Avoid polycrystalline panels. Use only monocrystalline panels.

4. Buy direct, from a panel manufacturer that is likely to remain in
business, not from an installer that buys panels from that manufacturer.
Check the financial health of the panel manufacturer since some are
barely hanging on and are likely to fail when the federal tax credit
starts going away in 2016.

5. Minimize the number of panels buy using the more efficient panels
even if the initial cost is slightly higher.

6. Buy, don't lease, and no "prepaid power agreements."

7. Make sure that the electrical panel upgrade cost, if necessary is
included.

8. If you're going to go solar, do it in 2015, the last year of the 30%
federal tax credit.

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to see if
there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got from one
panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works there and they
have a friends and family program).

10. Check that it makes sense at all based on your KWH rate. In my city
we're paying about 33¢/KWH and it will take about 9 years to break even.
The next city over, with a municipally owned power company charges about
11¢/KWH and solar makes no sense there.

11. Consider whether or not a time-of-use rate plan will work for you or
not. For my utility, they credit you a lot more for generated power if
you are on a time-of-use rate plan, so even if you have to use some peak
time power, i.e. for a pool pump or air conditioner, it may be
beneficial to be on the time-of use plan and pay a higher top rate than
on a non-time-of-use rate plan.

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?
Make sure your local fire department will get up on your roof and solar
panels and put out your house fire.

Paul

On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to see if
there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got from one
panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works there and they
have a friends and family program).

NO NO NO NO NO NO.....

Do not use LinkedIn for ANYTHING.
They are one of the top spam sites online, and they have been sued
several times because of it. (Google will "LinkedIn lawsuits")

Just sending one email to a LinkedIn user will guarantee you to be
placed on their spam list, in which you will receive multiple "invites"
to join their crap site, which will go on forever.

I found this out personally, simply because I sent someone an email from
a weblink. I was just asking this person a question about an animal
related illness they had to deal with. THey replued to me in a nice and
friendly way. Almost immediately I began getting LinkedIn spam, which
claimed was sent by the person I had emailed. I asked them to please
stop asking me to join LinkedIn. They said they did NOT send those
emails. This went on every few weeks for over a year. Things got ugly
between myself and that person, who insisted they were not sending these
spams. I told them that if they can not control their LinkedIn use,
they should stop using it. They claim they DID close their LinkedIn
account, yet the spam continued.

That's when I read about these lawsuits, and after sending several
"REMOVE ME" emails to them, I phoned them and threatened another
lawsuit. They DID block my email address from their spam afterwards,
but only after a lot of aggravation.

What they do, is steal everyone's email address book info. Then they
send out their spam, claiming it was sent by the person who they stole
the list from. They are a very corrupt company. DO NOT USE LINKEDIN IN
ANY MANNER!

Besides, why do you need LinkedIn to determine if any of your friends
use Solar power. Just ask your friends!!!! DUH!!!!!

On 1/28/2015 8:15 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to see if
there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got from one
panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works there and they
have a friends and family program).

NO NO NO NO NO NO.....

Do not use LinkedIn for ANYTHING.
They are one of the top spam sites online, and they have been sued
several times because of it. (Google will "LinkedIn lawsuits")

Wow, talk about clueless.

On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

4. Buy direct, from a panel manufacturer that is likely to remain in
business, not from an installer that buys panels from that manufacturer.
Check the financial health of the panel manufacturer since some are
barely hanging on and are likely to fail when the federal tax credit
starts going away in 2016.

The key phrase is "a panel manufacturer that is likely to remain in
business." Give our ditherer-in -chief a call and see what company he
would recommend.

The following list is but a few companies that our beloved leader has
squandered our tax dollars on to return the favor of their campaign
contributions. These are "stellar, rising star, extemporary, forward
looking" and many other adjectives but unfortunately they have one
thing in common -- they are bankrupt.

Solar Trust of America - Oakland, CA
The Amonix Solar – North Las Vegas, NV
Solar Trust of America - Oakland, CA
Bright Source - Oakland, CA
Solyndra - Fremont, CA
Energy Conversion Devices – Rochester Hills, MI
Abound Solar - Longmont, CO
Beacon Power – Tyngsborough, MA
Ecotality - San Francisco, CA
A123 Solar - Waltham, MA
UniSolar - Auburn Hills, MI
Evergreen Solar - Marlborough, MA

On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote in

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

Run away screaming. Taking into account maintenance and depreciation,
it will never pay for itself. It is also unlikely that the
manufacturer will be around in ten years.
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

On Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 10:12:01 PM UTC-5, songbird wrote:
sms wrote:
...
Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

yes, do many other things first to increase your
efficiency, i.e. good appliances, LED lights, solar
hot water heating, better insulation and sealing up
the house if you use heat or AC, using better roofing
to reflect light if you are in the south and to absorb
it or be neutral farther north, wind blocking trees,
shading trees... most of these things are worth the
money spent and will decrease the amount of electricity
you need to generate and store.

if you can avoid large battery banks it is well worth
it. instead just have enough storage to cover the usual
outage cases (here that is a few minutes to a few hours)
and still plan for having a worse case outage once in a
great while (major storms). a lot of people think that
they have to sell electricity back to the power company,
but if they don't give you a very good price and you are
paying a lot of fees it can be more of a pain than it is
worth.


songbird

IDK where all the battery talk came from. Only a small,
insignificant installs here in the USA have storage batteries,
for obvious reasons. Bet SMS isn't looking at batteries.

On 1/29/2015 6:11 AM, CRNG wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote in

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

Run away screaming. Taking into account maintenance and depreciation,
it will never pay for itself. It is also unlikely that the
manufacturer will be around in ten years.


At my age, I'm unlikely to be around in 10 years.
And, as a 40 year home owner, I've replaced two well pumps, 2 pressure
tanks, maybe 6 water heaters, house air conditioner, two furnaces, a
dishwasher, all the windows, garage door and opener, two electric ranges
and a roof - maybe more.
Think solar stuff would last this long - think again.

SMS wrote:
On 1/28/2015 8:15 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to
see if there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got
from one panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works
there and they have a friends and family program).

NO NO NO NO NO NO.....

Do not use LinkedIn for ANYTHING.
They are one of the top spam sites online, and they have been sued
several times because of it. (Google will "LinkedIn lawsuits")

Wow, talk about clueless.

Yes , you certainly are . I went thru the same bull**** with LinkedIn ,
endless attempts to join and endless spam . The only way I got it stopped
was to block them , they ignored repeated requests to stop sending me emails
..

--
Snag

On 1/29/2015 8:37 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
SMS wrote:
On 1/28/2015 8:15 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to
see if there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got
from one panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works
there and they have a friends and family program).

NO NO NO NO NO NO.....

Do not use LinkedIn for ANYTHING.
They are one of the top spam sites online, and they have been sued
several times because of it. (Google will "LinkedIn lawsuits")

Wow, talk about clueless.

Yes , you certainly are . I went thru the same bull**** with LinkedIn ,
endless attempts to join and endless spam . The only way I got it stopped
was to block them , they ignored repeated requests to stop sending me emails
.

It has/had to do with the LinkedIn user settings. LinkedIn like
Facebook will change things from time to time, and if you don't keep
up on the changes, you are in for some surprises. Users who didn't
turn off a change LinkedIn had made ended up having LinkedIn scan
their Gmail/webmail contact lists when they were logged into both
accounts at the same time. And then LinkedIn began sending those
contacts invitations to join.

I had to school my unemployed sister on this, who refused to admit it
was a problem until I pointed out every potential employer she'd
emailed was getting auto-spammed with LinkedIn invites from her, which
would ruin her chances. Even then, I had to email her instructions as
to how to find and change the setting to stop it.

On 1/29/2015 6:54 AM, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 1/29/2015 8:37 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
SMS wrote:
On 1/28/2015 8:15 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:29:30 -0800, sms
wrote:

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to
see if there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got
from one panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works
there and they have a friends and family program).

NO NO NO NO NO NO.....

Do not use LinkedIn for ANYTHING.
They are one of the top spam sites online, and they have been sued
several times because of it. (Google will "LinkedIn lawsuits")

Wow, talk about clueless.

Yes , you certainly are . I went thru the same bull**** with
LinkedIn ,
endless attempts to join and endless spam . The only way I got it stopped
was to block them , they ignored repeated requests to stop sending me
emails
.

It has/had to do with the LinkedIn user settings. LinkedIn like Facebook
will change things from time to time, and if you don't keep up on the
changes, you are in for some surprises. Users who didn't turn off a
change LinkedIn had made ended up having LinkedIn scan their
Gmail/webmail contact lists when they were logged into both accounts at
the same time. And then LinkedIn began sending those contacts
invitations to join.

I had to school my unemployed sister on this, who refused to admit it
was a problem until I pointed out every potential employer she'd emailed
was getting auto-spammed with LinkedIn invites from her, which would
ruin her chances. Even then, I had to email her instructions as to how
to find and change the setting to stop it.

Yes, it's important to know how to set your privacy settings. Especially
important is to turn off data sharing with third party applications.
Many people don't know how to properly configure LinkedIn and just
accept the default settings then run into trouble. Several years ago I
was giving classes in LinkedIn but they change things so often that you
have to keep up.

I never get any spam related to my LinkedIn account since third party
sharing is turned off. Occasional requests to connect from people I
don't know but these are easy to filter and put into a separate folder
or simply delete automatically.

A lot of spam on both computers and mobile devices also relates to how
savvy the user is in terms of browser add-ons. For example, when I go to
linkedin.com I see five trackers are automatically blocked by Ghostery:
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Ads, NetRatings SiteCensus, QuantCast, and
Scorecard Research Beacon. Disconnect is blocking Nielsen and comscore.
Yet most people don't do anything to block trackers.

On phones it can be more difficult because the most vital apps needed to
prevent ads and tracking have been kicked out of the Google Play store
for obvious reasons. So you have to install the apks for these apps
manually.

Here is a list of some useful apps and browser add-ons:

Prevent Trackers
----------------
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher.

Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ (Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari,
Opera (not Internet Explorer))

Ghostery Mobile: iOS, Android (Firefox only, search for Ghostery in
Firefox in Android for add-on)

Block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web
bugs, and hijackers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts File: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (Windows, OS-X, Linux)

Ad Blocker
----------
Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/ (Chrome, Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Safari, Android, not iOS)). Banned from Google Play store
because Google hates it, but available directly from publisher.

Anti_Malware, Anti-Virus
------------------------
Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...tials-download

Avast: http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

Clean Up Facebook, add back Deleted Functions
---------------------------------------------
F.B. Purity: http://www.fbpurity.com/install.htm (Firefox, Google
Chrome, Safari, Opera (not Internet Explorer)). Can't install from
Facebook because Facebook hates it, so it is installed as a browser add-on.

On 1/29/2015 6:19 AM, trader_4 wrote:

snip

If we sell the house, the $18K is basically lost. There may be a slight
increase in value of the house but probably not.

I don't see why that would be. I'd certainly pay more for a house
with solar power.

I don't live in a normal city. In the sub-division I live in, most of
the houses were built in 1963. These are not luxury homes, they are very
plain tract houses, less than 2000 square feet, that sold for about $25K
when they were new. They presently sell for around $2 million. An $18K
solar system would be lost in the noise. Buyers are bidding up the
prices and paying cash. I could not buy a house in my city anymore, just
the property tax would be $2000 per month.

As to maintenance, my neighbor has had solar electricity for about eight
years. The only maintenance he has to do is to clean the dirt off the
panels once a year. Anything else is taken care of by the warranty.
You're really paying for the warranty on the inverter. Good panels
without the added complexity of micro-inverters or optimizers rarely
fail though they do produce slightly less power over time. it's the
inverter that has a limited life span.

"SMS" wrote in message
...
On 1/29/2015 6:19 AM, trader_4 wrote:

snip

If we sell the house, the $18K is basically lost. There may be a slight
increase in value of the house but probably not.

I don't see why that would be. I'd certainly pay more for a house
with solar power.

I don't live in a normal city. In the sub-division I live in, most of the
houses were built in 1963. These are not luxury homes, they are very plain
tract houses, less than 2000 square feet, that sold for about $25K when
they were new. They presently sell for around $2 million. An $18K solar
system would be lost in the noise. Buyers are bidding up the prices and
paying cash. I could not buy a house in my city anymore, just the property
tax would be $2000 per month.

The $18k would add to your basis, reducing your capital gains taxes. A
small comfort.

Per Moe DeLoughan:
It has/had to do with the LinkedIn user settings. LinkedIn like
Facebook will change things from time to time, and if you don't keep
up on the changes, you are in for some surprises. Users who didn't
turn off a change LinkedIn had made ended up having LinkedIn scan
their Gmail/webmail contact lists when they were logged into both
accounts at the same time. And then LinkedIn began sending those
contacts invitations to join.

Is that to say that my "Contacts" on my Android phone is exposed to such
practices? Or is that separate from gMail?
--
Pete Cresswell

On 01/29/2015 02:49 PM, Frank wrote:

Many of the solar companies these days are essentially finance and
warranty companies and will likely go under once the federal tax credit
begins to disappear because they will be unable to continue to acquire
more customers. However Sunpower will likely survive since their main
business is installing and managing huge commercial installations.

If we sell the house, the $18K is basically lost. There may be a slight
increase in value of the house but probably not.

I don't see why that would be. I'd certainly pay more for a house
with solar power.


Crony capitalism has blossomed under Democrat rule.
Someone said the Democrat party is the party of the rich and the poor -
not the middle class.

Congress, a (n almost) totally owned division of US (and other) Big
Business, Inc.

Perce

On 1/29/2015 11:57 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Moe DeLoughan:
It has/had to do with the LinkedIn user settings. LinkedIn like
Facebook will change things from time to time, and if you don't keep
up on the changes, you are in for some surprises. Users who didn't
turn off a change LinkedIn had made ended up having LinkedIn scan
their Gmail/webmail contact lists when they were logged into both
accounts at the same time. And then LinkedIn began sending those
contacts invitations to join.

Is that to say that my "Contacts" on my Android phone is exposed to such
practices? Or is that separate from gMail?

You have to be very careful when installing Android apps (or iOS apps
for that matter) as opposed to just using the web based version on your
browser. A lot of Android apps want permission to look at your contacts.
I won't install such apps since it's obvious why they want to look at
your contacts.

Also be sure to install the following Android programs, not allowed on
the Google Play sto

Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher. See
http://www.cnet.com/news/disconnect-...m-google-play/ for
an article about Google kicking it out of the Play store--twice.

Ghostery Mobile: iOS, Android (Firefox only, search for Ghostery in
Firefox in Android for add-on)

Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/ (Chrome, Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Safari, Android, not iOS)). Banned from Google Play store for
obvious reasons, but available directly from publisher.

On 1/29/2015 12:02 PM, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 01/29/2015 02:49 PM, Frank wrote:

Many of the solar companies these days are essentially finance and
warranty companies and will likely go under once the federal tax credit
begins to disappear because they will be unable to continue to acquire
more customers. However Sunpower will likely survive since their main
business is installing and managing huge commercial installations.

If we sell the house, the $18K is basically lost. There may be a slight
increase in value of the house but probably not.

I don't see why that would be. I'd certainly pay more for a house
with solar power.


Crony capitalism has blossomed under Democrat rule.
Someone said the Democrat party is the party of the rich and the poor -
not the middle class.

Congress, a (n almost) totally owned division of US (and other) Big
Business, Inc.

And of course there is no "Democrat" party. That's Fox-News speak. You
know, Fox News, where 60 percent of the claims made on Fox News have
been categorized as mostly false or worse, and where half of all claims
were either demonstrably false or outright lies.

On 1/28/2015 8:29 PM, sms wrote:
I was looking into solar panels.

After four presentations what I have surmised is the following:

1. Avoid micro-inverters. There is a theoretical advantage but you
introduce 15-25 potential points of failure instead of 1. They do fail
and you don't want people up on your roof, breaking tiles, as they
replace the failed micro-inverters. A failed central inverter just means
a couple of days with no power generation.

2. Optimizers are okay, but not really essential unless you have shading
issues.

3. Avoid polycrystalline panels. Use only monocrystalline panels.

4. Buy direct, from a panel manufacturer that is likely to remain in
business, not from an installer that buys panels from that manufacturer.
Check the financial health of the panel manufacturer since some are
barely hanging on and are likely to fail when the federal tax credit
starts going away in 2016.

5. Minimize the number of panels buy using the more efficient panels
even if the initial cost is slightly higher.

6. Buy, don't lease, and no "prepaid power agreements."

7. Make sure that the electrical panel upgrade cost, if necessary is
included.

8. If you're going to go solar, do it in 2015, the last year of the 30%
federal tax credit.

9. Check LinkedIn for friends that may work at a solar company to see if
there is any "friend's and family" discount (the quote I got from one
panel maker came down by $3000 because a friend works there and they
have a friends and family program).

10. Check that it makes sense at all based on your KWH rate. In my city
we're paying about 33¢/KWH and it will take about 9 years to break even.
The next city over, with a municipally owned power company charges about
11¢/KWH and solar makes no sense there.

11. Consider whether or not a time-of-use rate plan will work for you or
not. For my utility, they credit you a lot more for generated power if
you are on a time-of-use rate plan, so even if you have to use some peak
time power, i.e. for a pool pump or air conditioner, it may be
beneficial to be on the time-of use plan and pay a higher top rate than
on a non-time-of-use rate plan.

Any other things I've missed? Advice? Should I run away screaming?

This fellow: http://www.green-trust.org/wordpress/
Knows his stuff when it comes to solar and
electric. I'd have a look around his web site,
and contact him. He works days, might not reply
till he gets home from work.


-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

Per SMS:
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher. See
http://www.cnet.com/news/disconnect-...m-google-play/ for
an article about Google kicking it out of the Play store--twice.

On the disconnect.me link I see a "Disconnect Malvertising", but no
"Disconnect-Mobile".

Maybe another story there?
--
Pete Cresswell

On 1/29/2015 1:40 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per SMS:
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher. See
http://www.cnet.com/news/disconnect-...m-google-play/ for
an article about Google kicking it out of the Play store--twice.

On the disconnect.me link I see a "Disconnect Malvertising", but no
"Disconnect-Mobile".

Maybe another story there?


https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconn...ising/sideload

They changed the description of it for some reason. If you save the apk
to your desktop you'll see it saves as "DisconnectMobile-1.0.6.apk" then
you can copy it to your Android device. Or you can download it directly.
I think you may also need ES File Explorer in order to navigate to it on
the phone and install it (and of course go into settings and allow
unknown sources).

On my desktop I find that Ghostery works well.

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 09:13:24 -0800, SMS
wrote:


Yes, it's important to know how to set your privacy settings. Especially
important is to turn off data sharing with third party applications.
Many people don't know how to properly configure LinkedIn and just
accept the default settings then run into trouble. Several years ago I
was giving classes in LinkedIn but they change things so often that you
have to keep up.

I never get any spam related to my LinkedIn account since third party
sharing is turned off. Occasional requests to connect from people I
don't know but these are easy to filter and put into a separate folder
or simply delete automatically.

A lot of spam on both computers and mobile devices also relates to how
savvy the user is in terms of browser add-ons. For example, when I go to
linkedin.com I see five trackers are automatically blocked by Ghostery:
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Ads, NetRatings SiteCensus, QuantCast, and
Scorecard Research Beacon. Disconnect is blocking Nielsen and comscore.
Yet most people don't do anything to block trackers.

On phones it can be more difficult because the most vital apps needed to
prevent ads and tracking have been kicked out of the Google Play store
for obvious reasons. So you have to install the apks for these apps
manually.

Here is a list of some useful apps and browser add-ons:

Prevent Trackers
----------------
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher.

Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ (Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari,
Opera (not Internet Explorer))

Ghostery Mobile: iOS, Android (Firefox only, search for Ghostery in
Firefox in Android for add-on)

Block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web
bugs, and hijackers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts File: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (Windows, OS-X, Linux)

Ad Blocker
----------
Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/ (Chrome, Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Safari, Android, not iOS)). Banned from Google Play store
because Google hates it, but available directly from publisher.

Anti_Malware, Anti-Virus
------------------------
Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...tials-download

Avast: http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

Clean Up Facebook, add back Deleted Functions
---------------------------------------------
F.B. Purity: http://www.fbpurity.com/install.htm (Firefox, Google
Chrome, Safari, Opera (not Internet Explorer)). Can't install from
Facebook because Facebook hates it, so it is installed as a browser add-on.



If I have to go thru all of this trouble, just to avoid LinkedIn (or any
other site), from spying on me, and spamming me, and then have to
continually have to keep tweaking this stuff because they change their
software, I WANT NO PART OF THAT COMPANY RIGTH FROM THE START. This is
exactly why I dont use any social networking sites. Not to mention that
Facebook (which is the only social netw site I have ever tried), and I
found it to be nothing but a pile of rubbish burying what I might have
interest in, as well as a big time waster. I played with it for around
a month, then closed the account. I have no intent to ever use FB or
any other similar site. If I want to chat with friends, I use private
email, or phone them, and that way I dont have a bunch of stangers
making rude comments about something which is none of their business
anyhow.

Per :
If I was a suspicious guy I would say they hacked my AOL address book.
I suddenly got a message from linkedin asking me if I knew just about
everyone on it right after I logged in the first time.

I have not been back but I am still getting updates about everyone I
know and everyone they know, everyone I have ever done business with
and a whole lot of total strangers..

There are other perpetrators that harvest address books from web-based
mail services on a regular basis. I don't know the ins-and-outs, but I
get spam on a regular basis that is tailored to look like it came from
people I know, but which has return addresses that differ from theirs.

My #1 daughter recently had her Juno mail account hacked. They started
spamming everybody in her addressbook and also deleted her addressbook
from Juno's server. It was especially problematic for her because she
has a couple of businesses and her customers and associates were getting
spammed..... bad publicity and all that...

My take is that it is a bad idea to use webmail because of the real
chance of having the addressbook harvested. I use an email client so
my email addressbook is local to my PC.

Problem for me is that I also have a few Android devices and have been
using their contact managers to hold email addresses as well as phone
numbers and synching same via Google... so I suspect I am exposed
too.... and maybe it's time for me to work out some other solution....
but the convenience of Google's synching facilities is soooo tempting.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 1/29/2015 5:30 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 09:13:24 -0800, SMS
wrote:


Yes, it's important to know how to set your privacy settings. Especially
important is to turn off data sharing with third party applications.
Many people don't know how to properly configure LinkedIn and just
accept the default settings then run into trouble. Several years ago I
was giving classes in LinkedIn but they change things so often that you
have to keep up.

I never get any spam related to my LinkedIn account since third party
sharing is turned off. Occasional requests to connect from people I
don't know but these are easy to filter and put into a separate folder
or simply delete automatically.

A lot of spam on both computers and mobile devices also relates to how
savvy the user is in terms of browser add-ons. For example, when I go to
linkedin.com I see five trackers are automatically blocked by Ghostery:
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Ads, NetRatings SiteCensus, QuantCast, and
Scorecard Research Beacon. Disconnect is blocking Nielsen and comscore.
Yet most people don't do anything to block trackers.

On phones it can be more difficult because the most vital apps needed to
prevent ads and tracking have been kicked out of the Google Play store
for obvious reasons. So you have to install the apks for these apps
manually.

Here is a list of some useful apps and browser add-ons:

Prevent Trackers
----------------
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher.

Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ (Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari,
Opera (not Internet Explorer))

Ghostery Mobile: iOS, Android (Firefox only, search for Ghostery in
Firefox in Android for add-on)

Block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web
bugs, and hijackers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts File: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (Windows, OS-X, Linux)

Ad Blocker
----------
Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/ (Chrome, Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Safari, Android, not iOS)). Banned from Google Play store
because Google hates it, but available directly from publisher.

Anti_Malware, Anti-Virus
------------------------
Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...tials-download

Avast: http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

Clean Up Facebook, add back Deleted Functions
---------------------------------------------
F.B. Purity: http://www.fbpurity.com/install.htm (Firefox, Google
Chrome, Safari, Opera (not Internet Explorer)). Can't install from
Facebook because Facebook hates it, so it is installed as a browser add-on.



If I have to go thru all of this trouble, just to avoid LinkedIn (or any
other site), from spying on me, and spamming me, and then have to
continually have to keep tweaking this stuff because they change their
software, I WANT NO PART OF THAT COMPANY RIGTH FROM THE START.

You don't have to do anything once the stuff is installed, updates are
automatic.

Remember, it's not just LinkedIn that is an issue it's almost every web
site you visit that is mining for data and trying to do tracking. It's
amazing to watch the list of trackers that are being blocked. Some sites
can have twenty trackers going. LinkedIn is actually relatively tame at
only four trackers. Yahoo is four. Google is zero. Amazon is two. eBay
is three. CNN is fifteen. Fox News is four. MSNBC is seven.
Dictionary.com is eleven.

If you use Facebook, then FBPurity and Adblock Plus are essential.