july 2017 volume 28, issue 7 $2.00 next event: tuesday, july 11 · 2017. 6. 28. · membership...

July 2017 Volume 28, Issue 7 $2.00

Next Event: Tuesday, July 11

Usingthe iPad witha person livingwith Dementia

2 • July 2017 http://www.dacs.org

DACS, its officers and directors as-sume no liability for damages arisingout of the publication or non-publica-tion of any article, advertisement, orother item in this newsletter. The editors welcome submissionsfrom DACS members. Contact RichardTeasdale ([email protected]). Ad-vertisers, contact Charles Bovaird at(203) 792-7881 ([email protected])

Nonprofit groups may request permission

to reprint articles from dacs.doc orhttp://www.dacs.org by sending e-mail to [email protected]. Re-printed articles shall credit thecopyright holder and a copy of thefinal publication shall be mailed to:

Danbury Area Computer Society, Inc.65 Legion Rd,New Milford, CT 06776

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dacs.doc, ISSN 1084-6573, is publishedmonthly by the Danbury Area ComputerSociety, 65 Legion Rd, New Milford, CT06776. Annual subscription rates: $60to regular members, $40 electronic ac-cess (included in dues).

PPPPPostmasterostmasterostmasterostmasterostmasterSend address changes to Danbury AreaComputer Society, Inc., 4 Gregory Street,Danbury, CT 06810-4430.

Editorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeEditorial CommitteeManaging Editor: Richard TeasdaleProduction Editor: Allan Ostergren

Dick Gingras APCUG [email protected]

CopyrightCopyrightCopyrightCopyrightCopyright

ContributorsContributorsContributorsContributorsContributorsCharles Bovaird Richard CorzoDrew Kwashnak Lisa LeifelsDave Mawdsley Bruce PrestonJim Scheef Annette van Ommeren Andy Woodruff

IN THIS ISSUEIN THIS ISSUE

Directors’ Notes

Danbury Area ComputerSociety (DACS)

Board Meeting MinutesWednesday, June 7, 2017

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pmby the DACS President, Dave Green.

In attendance were Board members Ri-chard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Dave Green(President), and Andy Woodruff. Bert Goffwas not present. The minutes were takenby Richard Teasdale.

(Names in italics denote responsibili-ties for actions.)

• The Minutes of the 5/3/2017 BoardMeeting were accepted.

Reports• The Treasurer's report for May was

discussed. Bert reported by e-mail thatyear-to-date, receipts were still exactlythe same as for the corresponding pe-riod last year. However, 15 membersare in arrears. Liquid assets currentlyexceed prepaid dues by about $1,400.

• The Membership report was receivedfrom Jim Scheef by e-mail.

o 93 paid-up members (including 6new), and 9 in-grace, for a total of102.o 27 people attended the June 6

General Meeting.o The usefulness and value of the

DACS membership of Meetup werediscussed.

o No information was availableabout how visitors heard of the meet-ing, e.g. via Meetup. Andy reiteratedthat this information should becollected, and will contact Jim about it.

• Press Coverage:o Dave reported that the press

release for the June General Meetingwas sent out to the usual recipientson about May 22. Copies of the pressrelease were also sent to two localcamera clubs.

• Website:o Richard reported on the recent

outage of the website. The main siteand the CiviCRM site were down forabout 2 days and new malware fileswere discovered. Several restores ofthe site plus a reinstallation ofWordpress were needed to get it work-ing again. The method by which thesites were attacked remains unknown.Various possibilities were discussed.

o A Wordpress plug-in has been in-stalled to automatically send to Twit-ter any new posts to the website.

Old Business• Programs:

o The talk given by Mark Weiss andAndy at the June general meeting wasdiscussed and reviewed.

o Ed Fitzgerald will speak at the Julygeneral meeting, on the subject ofUsing an iPad with someone who hasdementia.

• Preview: Richard Teasdale.• Review: Dave Green will

identify someone to write the review.o Richard will contact Tom Osbeck,

a former President of the WestchesterPC Users Group, to determine whetherthe person who addressed that groupabout artificial intelligence couldspeak at the August (or another)general meeting.

o Andy has arranged for ShannonCalvert, of the Westport Astronomi-cal Society, to speak about astropho-tography at the September generalmeeting.

o Andy is in communication withJohn Patrick, who may speak abouthome automation at the Novembergeneral meeting.

o The board discussed the pros andcons of more coordination with othercomputer clubs in finding programspeakers.

• Members Directory:o Richard reported on the discussion

at the May meeting of theMembership committee. Optionsdiscussed included the use of a plug-inor custom coding on the CiviCRMwebsite, to permit members to con-tact each other and share informationabout their interests, without havingto disclose e-mail or phone details.

DIRECTORS’ NOTES 2

HELPLINE 3

DACS COMMUNITY FORUM 4

PREVIEW: IPAD FOR PERSON WITH DEMENTIA 4

WINDOWS EXPLORER - DELETING MULTIPLE FILES 5

Workshop News & Notes 6

JULY CALENDAR 7

RATIONAL BACKUP STRATEGY 8

Rooting and Custom ROM Installation of Kindle Fire HD 2nd Edition 10

Future Events 12

http://www.dacs.org July 2017 • 3

DACS GENERAL NUMBER: (203) 744-9198PRESIDENT: David Green [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT PROGRAMS: [email protected]: Bert Goff • TREASURER: Bert Goff

Officers

HelpLineHelpLineHelpLineHelpLineHelpLine

[email protected]

Richard Corzo (203) 797-1518 [email protected]

Richard Gingras (203) 426-1780 [email protected]

Bert Goff (860) 355-8895 [email protected]

David Green (203) 797-8682 [email protected]

Andy Woodruff (203) 744-9588 [email protected]

CommitteesNEWSLETTER: Richard Teasdale: [email protected],

PROGRAM: [email protected]

WEB MASTERS: Richard Corzo ([email protected]), (203) 797-1518

Annette van Ommeren ([email protected]), (914) 232-0149

PRESS RELEASES: Dave Green ([email protected])

APCUG LIAISON: Dick Gingras ([email protected])

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR: Jim Scheef ([email protected])

RESOURCE CENTER: (203) 748-4330 • WEB SITE: http://www.dacs.org

Our former telephone HelpLine has been replaced by our web-based DACS Com-munity Forum at http://forum.dacs.org. We have topic-specific forums where DACSmembers can post questions. Questions may be answered by Workshop leaders orother DACS members. If none of the categories fit your question, just post it to theAsk DACS forum.

Topic Forum

Linux Linux Workshop

Desktop publishing and website design Web Site Design Workshop

Mac and iPhone/iPad/iPod touch Apple Workshop

Online/small business Online Business

Single board computers Single Board Computers

Smartphones & Tablets Mobile Devices Workshop

Social media Social Media

Video capture/processing Video

Windows Windows Workshop

Another possibility, with similar func-tionality, was Meetup. Pros and consof each solution were discussed. Thequestion was raised whether APCUGhas anything to offer, whereupon theboard agreed to defer any decisionuntil after speaking with Sam Wexler(see below).

• Renovation of the Resource Center(RC):

o No donation of used carpetinghas been received from MeadowRidge Senior Living Community inRedding.

o Dick will contact Bruce Tuomalaabout other possible sources of usedcarpet.

o Andy has found a source ofseveral used chairs and two usedtables for the RC at no cost. The boardauthorized him to rent a U-Haul truckto bring them to the RC.

New Business• The July board meeting was resched-

uled to Wednesday, June 28th, toavoid scheduling conflicts in themonth of July.

• The board decided to invite Sam Wexler,from the Board of Advisors of APCUG,to an upcoming board meeting, to hearsuggestions from him for improvingmembership.

• Snacks for General Meetings:o Richard (snacks) and Richard

Teasdale (drinks) will make the ar-rangements in July.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:04 pm.

—Richard Teasdale

Become a member and supportDACS. Each member has ac-cess to the Community Forum,where they can post questions,the online newsletter in PDFform, group related news viaemail, SIG meetings, online fo-rums, and any group-only relatedevents, promotions, or activities.There is also an option to receivea mailed newsletter. For infor-mation on how to join DACS,http://dacs.org/joining-dacs/.

Membership hasits Privileges!


July Meeting Preview

Using the iPad with a personliving with Dementia

Preview by Richard Teasdale

AT THE DACS July General Meeting,Ed Fitzgerald, digital marketing andtechnology consultant to small busi-

nesses, and a former DACS member, willspeak on the subject of using the iPad witha person living with Dementia.

Ed willdescribe theapproach hedeveloped tousing theiPad after hiswife, Diane,was diag-nosed withFrontotem-

poral degeneration, a dementia that pro-duces “gradual, progressive decline in be-havior and/or language.” His goals weresimple: Find a way to engage her in activi-ties so they could enjoy their time together,stimulate her mind, elicit a response fromher, get her to smile, laugh, bring her out ofher shell and create moments of joy.

Dementia is a very big and growingproblem, not only in the United States butworldwide. While Alzheimer’s Disease isthe most well-known and the most preva-lent form of dementia, there are variousother kinds recognized by the medical pro-fession - frontotemporal degeneration is aleading one. The scale of the dementia prob-lem is staggering - according to Alzheimer’sAssociation statistics, Medicare and Med-icaid spend in excess of $150 billion yearly

Date: Tuesday, July 11, 7:30 p.m.Location: Danbury Hospital AuditoriumPresenter: Ed Fitzgerald

for health care, long-term care, and hos-pice care of patients with dementia. Butthe majority of dementia care is deliveredat home by family members, so the total,real cost is incalculable.

According to research conducted bythe RAND Corporation, the total cost ofdementia care in the U.S. will double by2040.

Ed’s presentation will focus on howhome-based care givers can use technol-ogy to better communicate with lovedones who are suffering from dementia.

Ed will talk about how he started withhis desktop, then laptop and his realiza-tion that the mouse and keyboard ap-proach would not work. His research dis-covered that some assisted living facili-ties had begun to use the iPad. Startingwith a set of five apps, Ed created a homescreen of activities combining apps, links,games, videos, pictures and more.

They include an app to create anddecorate pottery, a drawing app whereEd draws stick figures of the grandkidsand adds messages from Grandma andthen emails then to the kids, a garden appwhere they grow flowers, cut them into abouquet and email them to family mem-bers with a note attached, entertainmentapps that go back in time, like YouTubevideos of Carol Burnett shows, Diane’sfavorite music, podcasts of a favorite NPRshow, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, andbooks she can listen to fromAudible.com. They use FaceTime to talkwith other family members.

Ed uses the iPad as well, during visitsat the assisted living facility where hiswife resides, to keep himself occupied,giving them something to do together andextending the visits.

The presentation will also suggestways that an iPad can be used by recre-ational therapists and other staff mem-bers of assisted living facilities.

DACS General Meetings are free andopen to the public. Members and priorattendees are encouraged to extend invi-tations to anyone interested in this topic.

DACS holds its general meetings atDanbury Hospital, most often in theCreasy Auditorium, but occasionally inthe Robilotti Conference Center acrossthe hall from the auditorium. There is

plenty of free parking in the Rizzo guest park-ing garage adjacent to the auditorium. (Go tohttps://dacs.org to find directions and park-ing information).

Special note: General Meetings are nor-mally held on the first Tuesday of eachmonth. In July, the meeting will take place onthe second Tuesday: July 11th.

Shop atAmazon Smile

and Amazon willmake a donation tothe Danbury Area

Computer Society, Inc.

President – DACS needs new lead-ership. Most current board membershave been president. Do you haveideas on how to make DACS bet-ter? Build your resume while helpingto keep our club going. This is a bigjob, but it’s not a solitary job.

Vice President – New position tohelp the president and eventually be-come the next president.

Social Media–Are you a Facebookor Twitter fan? Help DACS post inter-esting technical content.

Painters – Help complete the reno-vation of the DACS Resource Center.

Workshop Leaders – Is there atechnical topic that really interestsyou? Help grow our range of work-shops. Guru-level expertise is notneeded, just a deep interest in a tech-nical topic and a desire to learn.

For more information, contact anyboard member (above, page 3), oremail [email protected].

Uncle DACSWants YOU!


THIS IS THE FOURTH, and last, of aseries of articles on the basic use ofWindows Explorer (known as File

Explorer in Windows 10). In the previousarticles, we looked at the basic window lay-out when you open this app or programand we also talked about the two "panes"in this app window - the "Folder List" inthe left pane, and the contents of a folder

displayed in the right pane. Clicking onany folder on the left will show the con-tents of that folder on the right. In thesecond article we looked at the differentVIEWS you can use in Windows/File Ex-plorer and why I recommended the "Largethumbnail" view for pictures and the "De-tails" or "Detailed List" view for all otherfiles. In the third article we looked at se-lecting files for some action, such as tomove them, copy them, or delete them. Inthis article we will learn how to work withMULTIPLE files at one time.

Open the Windows File Explorer app orprogram and find "Documents" (or "Mydocuments") in the left pane and click on itonce with your mouse to open the con-tents of the Documents folder in the rightpane. You should be saving all your docu-ments and most files here. To SELECT afile for some action, left-click on it once inthe right pane and the file name should behighlighted. (NOTE: If you double-clickon the file name your computer will try toOPEN that file using your computer's de-fault program or app for that file type).When people say "click" using the mouse,they always mean a LEFT-click. A "right-

Back to Basics

Using Windows (File) Explorer -- DeletingMultiple Files at One Time

By Jim Cerny

click" of the mouse is specifically stated asa RIGHT-click.

Selecting for ActionOne of the computer skills that is so very

helpful in many different apps is the way toSELECT something for some ACTION. Thisis a two-step process that allows you to workwith files, photographs, emails, menus, andso much more. To select a single file in Win-dows File Explorer, you simply click (that's aleft-click) once on the file name to highlightit. But how do you select MULTIPLE files atone time? Well, there are TWO easy waysand both ways are helpful.

Using the SHIFT key on your keyboard- After you click on the first file, move yourmouse to another file in the list and, whileholding down the SHIFT key, click on an-other file name. Presto, ALL the files be-tween have been highlighted! Now if youclick on "delete" ALL the highlighted fileswill be deleted. Did you make a mistakeand select too few or too many files? Noproblem, just click anywhere and the high-light will disappear and you can try again.This is a great way to select multiple con-tiguous files.

Using the CTRL key on your keyboard- After you click on the first file, hold downthe CTRL (control) key and click on anyother file names. Every file you click onwill be selected or highlighted. This is agreat way to select many files that are NOTlisted together. Do not let up on the CTRLkey until you have completed your selec-tions. If you make a mistake, clicking on afile that was already selected will "un-se-lect" the file. And again, if you have madeany mistakes, just remove your finger fromthe CTRL key and click your mouse on anyfile name, your highlighted list will go awayand you can start over.

Practice these keystrokes a couple oftimes to get used to it. Naturally if you donot click on "delete", no files will be deleted.

Here are somemore useful tips:

• Do not delete too many files at onetime, start with just a few until you get usedto it, then go for more.

• The scrollbars should still work, so ifyou need to select multiple files above orbelow your first file, you can use the

scrollbars to get elsewhere in your list.Clicking on a scrollbar will not change yourselections.

• Select all your files from ONE folderat a time. There may be a way to select filesfrom different folders at one time, but Istrongly advise against that if it is pos-sible. You will get too confused.

• Don't forget you can select a FOLDERas you would a single file. If you move ordelete a folder, ALL files and folders IN thatfolder will be moved to the new (destina-tion) location (folder) or deleted.

• Yes, you CAN select multiple FOLD-ERS the same way as you select multipleFILES. You can even select files and fold-ers in the same selection. This is reallysuper-helpful. The computer assumes youknow what you are doing, so be careful.This is a great way to copy your stuff toanother memory device as a backup.

• Remember, files deleted from your "C"drive will go to your Recycle Bin folder,but files you delete from other drives (suchas a plug-in drive or memory card) will NOTappear in your recycle bin, they will be re-ally deleted.

• Read the box notices that appear tomake SURE you are moving or deleting thecorrect number of files and, if moving them,that they are going into the proper folder.

Finally, this method of multiple se-lection comes in very handy in manyother computer applications, such asemail. You may have to "select" an itemby clicking in a box or circle, but therewill be a way to do it. If in doubt, ASKGOOGLE - "How do I delete multipleemails in gmail?" is a good example.Google always loves questions!

JIM CERNY is Chairman, Forums Committee,Sarasota Technology UG, Florida(www.thestug.org; jimcerny123 (at)gmail.com).

This article appeared in the October 2016issue, Sarasota Technology Monitor, and isreprinted by permission for APCUG membergroups.

[Note: Please read this article with yourcomputer! DO the steps and you will findit all much easier to understand. Otherwiseyou will forget. Trust me on this.]

Hear Ye – Hear Ye!Due to the July 4thholiday, the DACSmonthly meeting willbe held on July 11.Reviews of the Juneand July meetingswill be published inthe August andSeptember issues.


Workshops

WWWWWorororororkshop Notes:kshop Notes:kshop Notes:kshop Notes:kshop Notes: July 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017Apple. Focuses on all aspects of the Mac and iPhone

operating systems.

Contact: Richard Corzo ([email protected]). Meets 2nd Tuesday, 7 p.m. at DACS Resource Center. Next Meeting: Aug 8

Jobs. Networking and jobs search

Contact: Charles Bovaird, 203-792-7881 ([email protected]). Go to DACS Community Forum (http://forum.dacs.org) for job listings.

Linux. Helps in installing and maintaining the Linuxoperating system. Also of interest to Apple ownersusing OS X.Contact: Dave Mawdsley, [email protected]

Meets 3rd Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. at the DACSResource Center.Next Meeting: July 19

PC Maintenance. Review of PC hardware and OpSysmaintenance and use.Contact: Charles Bovaird, 203-792-7881 ([email protected]).Go to DACS Community Forum (http://forum.dacs.org).

Online Business Workshop. Informal member gatheringsharing ideas on creating an online source of income.Contact: Steve Harkness ([email protected])Meets second Monday in Brookfield, or by Webinar.Next Meeting: Check dacs.org.

Single Board Computers Workshop. Explores small cheapcomputers like Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Netduino,Beaglebone, and more. Meets at 7:00 p.m on the 3rd

Thursday at the DACS Resource Center.Contact: Jim Scheef (860-355-0034)Next Meeting: July 20

Video Production. The Video Workshop explores allaspects of video capture and production, including bothinexpensive and professional choices for cameras andediting software.

Meets on the 3rd Thursday of certain months, typically at7:00 pm at the Resource Center. Check the Calendar fordetails.Contact: Andy Woodruff ([email protected])Next meeting: Check dacs.org

Web Development/Design Web Development/Design Thisworkshop is looking for a new moderator. Being a work-shop leader is a great way to share information, learn newtechniques, promote your business, and interact with like-minded people. Extensive web knowledge is not required,but a willingness to open a topic for discussion and enjoythe contributions and feedback from the attendees. Meetsevery 3rd Tuesday of the month, but repeating date can bechanged if needed.

Contact [email protected], or [email protected] details.Next meeting: TBA–Look for updates

Let’s join heads!Do you have a special technologyinterest you would like to shareor learn more about? Joina DACS workshop orstart one. You don’thave to be a nerd ora guru—just havea curiosity forwhat’s out thereand an interest insharing or discov-

ering with others like you. Just sendan e-mail to dacsprez@

dacs.org, or talk to oneof our officers at the

next meeting, andsay something like“I want to start aworkshop!” or“Wouldn’t it be niceif we had a work-shop on . . .?”


July 2017Danbury Area Computer Society

Single BoardComputers Workshop

7:00 PM

Jim Scheef860-355-0034

Board ofDirectors7:00 PM

Linux7:30 PM

Dave [email protected]

MembershipCommittee

7:00 PMJim Scheef

860-355-0034

General Meeting7:30 PM

Web Developmentand Design

Annettevan Ommeren7:00 - 9:00 PM

[email protected]

DACS.DOCDeadlineApple

Cancelled

Looking for LeaderNo Meeting

Cancelled


Rational Backup Strategy

Disaster Avoidance

Dick Maybach

IN DEVELOPING A PLAN to defendthe loss of data and softwarefrom operator, hardware and software

failures and malicious acts, it's importantto take a systematic approach rather thanresponding to the latest sensational articleor alarming ad. Your first step should be toidentify the threats. Otherwise, you couldend up with a Maginot Line—an expensivedefense against an attack that didn't occurand was ineffective against the one that did.

Common threats to PCs and the infor-mation they hold include the following:

• Operator errors are common. You mis-takenly delete a file, a directory, or an en-tire partition. If this involves your software,it may disable the PC.

• Software sometimes contains cod-ing errors that create problems, which ifserious enough can crash the operatingsystem. Simply repairing the resultingdamage doesn't cure the root cause.However, often symptoms appear onlyunder rare conditions, which means youcan only repair the damage and hopethese don't recur.

• Hardware malfunction often imme-diately disables the PC, and the solutionis to repair the failure and then restoreany damaged data. Some problems, suchas intermittent RAM failure can be diffi-cult to identify and may require a visit tothe shop. Disk failure is common andthis requires replacement of the disk andthen restoration of the software and datait held.

• Malware is software that is designedto cause damage. Individual programs ac-quire colorful names, such as virus,

ransomware, rootkit, and Trojan horse.Each newly discovered name results in anew commotion, but the remedy is thesame for all - remove the malware and thenrepair the damage. A worry here is that themalware may reside for some time beforedamage appears, so that you back up theproblem as well as your software and whenyou restore from a backup, you also re-store the malware.

• PC loss can occur when traveling witha laptop or when one fails to the extent thatrepair isn't economically practical. You mustreplace not only the hardware, but anyoriginal equipment manufacturer (OEM)software that is licensed only for the lostmachine. You can restore only your datafrom backup.

• Environmental catastrophe most com-monly results from burglary, fire, storm, orflood. Here you lose not only the PC, butperhaps all the material associated with it,including documentation and backup media.At some level, perhaps nuclear holocaust orasteroid strike, you probably decide youdon't care as the loss associated with yourPC is trivial compared to other damage.

You will surely find that no single ap-proach will protect against all of these, andyou may decide to ignore some threats.

You have two software and data repairapproaches: reinstall from the originalsources or recover from a snapshot of yourdisk taken previously. Only the latter is pos-sible with data; the receipts needed to recre-ate your 2012 tax return are long gone, as arethe vacation photos on your camera's SDcard. However, with software, you havechoices:

1. Use the original distribution mediato create a fresh installation, configureit, and apply any updates for the OS andall the applications. This is tedious, butthe result is a clean system, free of what-ever problem (assuming it's not with yourhardware) that corrupted your system.Most PCs are delivered with the operat-ing system already on the disk and with-out its installation media; they have in-structions on how to create a repair disk,although you may have to dig to findthem. Most also have a recovery parti-tion on the disk that you can use to rec-reate the initial configuration. In my ex-perience, the hard disk is the PC compo-nent most likely to fail, which of coursemakes the recovery partition unavail-able. The software supplied with a PC isalmost certainly sold as OEM products,which means it is licensed only for thathardware, and it often includes featureto prevent it from being used elsewhere.As a result, you need a separate set ofrecovery media for each PC, and youneed to be able to identify to which hard-ware each set belongs.

2. Recovering the software from abackup is far simpler, because it restoresall the software in one step, which hasalready been configured and updated.However, if the failure was the result ofa developing software problem, you alsoinstall its root cause. For this reason,many keep backups made at differenttimes, hoping that if they go back farenough, they'll find a clean one. Ofcourse, when you restore an old backup,you most likely also restore your olddata, destroying any acquired since.Your recovery plan must include a rem-edy for this.

There are several choices of backup media:1. a backup directory on your system disk,2. a backup partition on your system disk,3. a separate internal backup hard disk,4. an external backup disk, and5. a cloud service.

Only hard disks and cloud serviceshave the capacity to back up modern disks.Optical media capacities have not kept upwith those of hard disks, and far too muchof it has poor reliability. Cloud service addssecurity concerns, both because your datatravels over the Internet and because youhave entrusted it to an outside entity.

As with the backup medium, you havechoices about what to back up. Theseinclude:

1. a complete disk image,2. all the data files in the home

directory, and3. only those data files in the home


directory that have changed since thelast backup.

Some strategies include backingthose OS and application files that havechanged, but this can be risky, as theseoften depend on each other. If you re-place a file but not something with whichit interacts, the result can be an inoper-able system. With software, it's safer toreplace everything.

Some backup program developersrecommend that your PC have con-stant access to the backup medium.While this insures that all your data isbacked up as soon as its created, italso insures that malware also alwayshas access to the backup. This is agood scheme for protecting againstoperator error, but less so for protect-ing against malware and software er-rors. For the latter, you want yourbackup medium to be accessible foronly very short periods of time. Youmay decide to use two methods, onethat backs up continually to protectagainst operator error, which are com-mon, and a second that backs up onlyperiodically to protect against suchthreats as malware.

Backup software is a poor area inwhich to experiment. Obtain it fromwell-known vendors with good repu-tations. Consider only products withfavorable reviews from responsibleexperts. Microsoft includes a suite ofrecovery software with its operatingsystems, and you should have a goodreason for using something different.I discussed their Windows 7 versionof this in the February 2012 issue ofBCUG Bytes and the Windows 10 ver-sion in the May 2016 issued, availableat www.bcug.com. =

After obtaining your choice, test itas best you are able. For a thoroughtest, you would have to erase yourdisk and restore a backup, but don'tdo this. Instead, make a copy of justone file or directory; then backup, de-lete, and restore it. Compare the origi-nal and restored versions. If the re-covery software includes a bootabledisk, test it on the PC where you willuse it to be sure it does boot. This willprobably require that you make somechanges in your BIOS. Record thesebefore you change them back, as fre-quently, the BIOS settings must be dif-ferent for internal disks and externalmedia. You may also wish to obtainand test a reliable repair utility disk. Ifyou suspect a virus infection, you canboot with it and the virus won't be ac-tive. This will allow you to copy your

data files to an external drive without itsinterference. I discussed some of thesetools in articles in the April, June, July, andAugust 2012 issues of Bytes.

My strategy is that every week I have ascheduled backup of all the data files thathave changed since the previous backup.This is to an internal hard drive, separate frommy system and data drives. As a result, I limitmy loss from most causes to the data I gener-ate in one week. Once a month, or when Ithink of it, I back up to an external hard disk,all the data files that have changed since mylast external backup. My operating system isLinux, and I have its installation USB memorystick. Almost all my applications are avail-able from the distribution's repositories. As aresult, it's convenient to restore all my soft-ware as a fresh install, and I do this every twoyears, even if I have no problems, just to cleanout the accumulated cruft. Reviewing thisplan against my list of threats, we see thefollowing:

• An operator error can destroy at most aweek's work.

• Similarly, most software errors and hard-ware failure can delete up to weeks of work.Although if one affects both the service andthe on-line backup disk, I could lose up to amonth's worth, but this is very rare.

• Malware could cost me up to a month, ifit affects all the disks. But malware in Linux isuncommon and, so far, I not had this prob-lem.

• Although I do have a laptop, I transferany data to my desktop as soon as I get home.As a result, losing it would lose only the dataacquired on that trip.

• The weak point in my plan is environ-mental catastrophe, as all my PC gear residesin one room, and I could lose all of it in oneincident. I could improve by adding a backupfile server to our home network and locating itin the basement or better by storing a backupdrive at a neighbor's or in my bank deposit boxor using a cloud storage service.

• You should make a similar assessmentof your backup plan against your own list ofthreats to see if it needs adjustment.

Your recovery approach of course de-pends on what is damaged. Your data residesin what is often called the home directory,and this can be restored only from a databackup. However, Windows may store someof your data (such as Internet favorites ande-mail data) in the system area, and recover-ing them requires a system restore. The oper-ating system and applications reside inwhat's known as the system area. They canbe recovered by restoring a system backupor by making a fresh install from the originaldistribution media.

If you use Microsoft's backup software,system backups are in the form of full disk

images. If your system won't boot, it maybe because the boot loader, or in new PCsthe UEFI partition, has been damaged.These can be repaired in Windows systemusing the Windows recovery disk. See theMS Website for instructions. If the BIOSROM is corrupted, a competent shop maybe able to help, but you may have to returnthe machine its manufacturer.

How you recover depends of courseon how you backed up:

1. The fastest is to restore frombackup as the result will be software thatis updated the last version of your data.If this includes restoring the OS, youmust be able to boot from live media,which means you have to properly setup your BIOS. Later PCs use UEFI, whichadds complexity.

2. If you decide to re-install the OS youcan try to restore from the PC vendor's re-covery partition, which places your com-puter to its state when you first purchasedit. You will have to reinstall all your appli-cations from their distribution disks andyour data from a recent backup.

3. If the recovery partition isn't avail-able, you'll have to use the OS distributiondisk if you purchased it separately or itsrecovery disks if the OS was installed bythe PC vendor. (This of course assumesyou created these.)

4. As a last resort, if the former isn'tpossible or if you doubt your abilitiesyou can take your PC back to the vendorwho sold it to you or to an independentshop to have the OS re-installed. Youthen must restore any applications andyour data yourself. It should be clearthat record-keeping is a very importantcomponent of your plan. In particular,be sure to label your external backupmedia and any notes. You don't want torestore from the wrong computer.

Creating and following a goodbackup discipline require more thantrivial knowledge, thought, and time.Many computer owners choose to takea "Do nothing and hope for the best"approach or they follow the advice inthe latest article or ad they've read, andneither approach is sound. As a last re-sort, there are commercial firms that willattempt to recover data from damaged orcorrupted storage media, but the resultsaren't certain and the costs are high (upto multiple thousands of dollars).

Dick Maybach is a member, BrookdaleComputer Users' Group, NJ (www.bcug.com;n2nd (at) att.net).

This article is reprinted by permission fromthe January 2017 issue, BUG Bytes


Back to Basics

Rooting and Custom ROM Installationof Kindle Fire HD 2nd Edition

By Bob Woods

WE LIKE TO HAVE A RADIOtuned to a talk radio station ormusic station during the day.

Our location is in a town in a valley sur-rounded by mountains, so our radio recep-tion is poor. As a solution, we have beenusing a couple of older Kindle Fire HD 2ndgeneration tablets streaming our favorite sta-tions via iHeart radio. Recently, one of theKindles started having connectivity issuesand was replaced with one of the newer $50Kindle Fire HD tablets. Since the problem-atic unit was not being used for anything Idecided I would try replacing the Amazontweaked version of Android with a standardversion. I wasn't worried about ending upwith a brick - as the unit is four years old, sonot in warranty, and was no longer in useanyway.

The files listed and the following stepsare intended for the Kindle Fire HD 2nd edi-tion. They will not work on other manufac-turers devices or even different models fromthe same manufacturer. The steps will bepretty much the same, but you will have toconduct an internet search with your mod-els OS version to get the correct files andany step differences for your device. Thereare no guarantees that you will not experi-ence any issues. That being said, lets jumpinto the thick of it.

First, I set the Kindle back to factory de-faults. Since I will be replacing the AmazonOS with a standard version of Android I notregister the unit. I also logged onto my Ama-zon account and de-registered the device.Next, onto the internet with multiple Googlesessions looking up what was needed.

The first thing I found was the unitneeded to be Rooted. This is to allow root

access rights to the operating system. Onunits with proprietary operating systems,like the Kindle or phones tied to a particu-lar service provider, root access is blockedby their version of the operating system.Rooting the unit is done via a root kit, whichis an app that has been created specificallyto give root access to a specific version ofthe installed operating system. This re-quired using the Kindles settings setup toobtain its version of the operating system.Then do a Google search to look for theroot kit. In my case the search term was"Root Kindle Fire HD OS 7.5.1". What Ifound was a YouTube video from Tekifywith step by step instructions and links tothe required software. It also had a link towritten instructions.

There are two methods for installation.One with a PC to download, save and runfiles to do the actual root to the Kindle viaUSB. And one without a PC where youuse the Kindle's browser to download, saveand run the files directly. Since I was hav-ing Wi-Fi connectivity issues with theKindle I opted for the method with the PC.

Following the video instructions:• On your device go into settings (Swipe

down from the top and press more) thenscroll to "Security". Set enable ADB to onand press 'Ok' on the warning. Go home onyour device, make sure your kindle is NOTconnected to the computer yet.

• Download the Tekify - Root KindleFire HD .zip file on to your computer andextract it.

• In the extracted folder, you will findanother folder and a file named"KindleDrivers", double click this file and

press install, when another window popsup press next and wait for the install tocomplete, once it is done you can click fin-ish and close out the remaining window.Your computer is now ready to use ADBand Fastboot.

• Once again in the extractedfolder open the folder named"Root_with_Restore_by_Bin4ry_v33". in-side is a number of items. Double click"RunMe" (not the .sh file) and a commandprompt will open.

• Plug your Kindle into the computerwith a USB cable and press 3 on your key-board followed by enter.

• After a bit of script has run a messageasking you to restore your data will appearon your Kindle, click "Restore my data",don't worry this will do nothing.

• 10 Seconds later your device willreboot. Once it has booted up thelockscreen will be black and your devicewill be slow, this is normal.

• Once your computer recognizes thedevice again some more script will run andthe window will close. Your device will alsoreboot one last time.

• When your device is booted up youwill have Root as well as an app calledSuperUser installed.

At this point the Kindle is Rooted. How-ever, the Amazon OS is still on the Kindle.To replace it would require two things:

1. A backup and recovery applicationthat sets outside of the OS and can be calledup at bootup. Think of this as the equiva-lent of using the function key to get to aBoot Menu on a PC to boot from a USB orDVD drive. This is the only way to be ableto replace the OS as Android devices al-ways boot directly to the OS.

2. A custom ROM to replace the Ama-zon Kindle OS. In the Android world a ROMis not a physical device, Read OnlyMemory. It is a software package of a ver-sion of Android custom configured to becompatible with your hardware. It will beclose to stock Android, but usually hassome additional features. I found there aredifferent custom ROM builds, each withslightly different extra features over plainvanilla Android. The choice is up to you.

For the backup/recovery program I in-stalled an open source program calledTWRP (Team Win Recovery Program). Forthe ROM I settled on Omni 5.1 which isAndroid Lollipop 5.1.1. I could have gonewith Android Marshmallow 6.1 from Cyano-gen, but the Kindle ROM version was anunofficial beta version (CyanogenMod 13).

The instructions for installation ofTWRP are at Tekify at http://www.tekify.co.uk/kindle-fire-hd/recovery/.Not wanting to use the Kindle WiFi I again


downloaded the three files listed below fromthe URL links in the instructions and trans-ferred them to the Kindle download foldervia USB. These would then be run directlyon the kindle. The below instructions areshown in the YouTube video, but since itis easy to brick the Kindle during this pro-cess, I wanted to follow the written instruc-tions (also listed) after watching the video.

• On the Kindle, enable Installation ofApplications from Unknown Sources. (Set-tings > Device > Allow Installation of Ap-plications).

• Download the three files onto yourdevice: FireFlash.apk, KFHD7 FreedomBoot.img and either KFHD7 TWRP2.7.0.0.img or KFHD7 TWRP 2.8.3.0.img(It doesn't matter which one however2.8.3.0 is obviously the latest version).As before, I downloaded the three filesonto my PC and transferred them to theKindle via USB.

• The rest of the steps for TWRP arethen done on the Kindle.

• Install FireFlash.apk and open it up.• Grant the app Root Access, if necessary.

o Under the 'Bootloader' headingtick the 'Flash kfhd7-u-boot-prod-7.2.3.bin'.This is required or your device will bebricked.

o Under 'Boot Partition' click 'NotFlashed' and find where you downloadedthe files.

o Select 'kfhd7-freedom-boot-7.4.6.img' (This is the correct one eventhough we are on a later version).

o Still under the 'Boot Partition'heading tick 'Apply Stack Override'.

o Under the heading 'RecoveryPartition' once again click 'Not Flashed'.

o This time select the other file('kfhd7-twrp-2.7.0.0-recovery.img' the num-ber will be different depending which ver-sion of TWRP you downloaded).

o Make sure to tick 'Disable Recov-ery Auto Update' .

o Now at the bottom under theheading 'Execute' press 'Flash, InstallScript'

o Once this has finished (DO NOTCANCEL IT) tap 'Reboot Into Recovery'and wait for your device to boot into TWRP.

• I would strongly recommend makinga backup once in TWRP.

• Finally, you can boot into TWRP anytime from a powered off state by pressingthe 'Powr Button' as normal and then hold-ing just the volume up button until youenter recovery.

Now for the ROM.Omni 5.1 is a ROM is based on CM12

(Cyanogen Mod 12) however is modifiedto suit the Kindle Fire HD. Make sure youhave at least 70% battery. As a quick warn-

ing do not try to overclock the CPU on thisROM as it will cause your device to totallyfreeze up after a couple of minutes of use.Once again, the instructions are on Tekifyat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c5hHSCO_o8 .

• Download the Omni 5.1 ROM, Gappsfor 5.0 and Update SuperSU onto your de-vice. once again, I downloaded to my PC

• The rest of the instructions are doneon the Kindle.

• Reboot into the TWRP Backup/Recov-ery app.

o This is done by first, completelyshutting down the Kindle (push and holdthe power until you get the shutdown but-ton and touch it).

o Then push the power button toboot up. When the Kindle Fire logo shows,push and hold the left volume button (vol-ume up) until the word Fire turns blue andlet go of the volume up button after a sec-ond or two.

o The Kindle will open in the TWRPapplication. The TRWP home screen lookslike the following image. The video showsthe other screens in TWRP you will be deal-ing with.

• Make a backup using the default set-tings just in case something goes wrongand you need to restore to a previous state.

• After the backup, click 'Wipe' andswipe to factory reset. This MUST be doneor you will have problems later. This doesnot wipe your Internal Storage don't worry.

• Then press 'Install' and navigate tothe folder where you downloaded the Omni5.1 ROM and tap it.

• Swipe to confirm flash, this will take awhile DO NOT cancel.

• After it is done DON'T press rebootsystem or you will have no Google Appsand you will experience errors.

• Click 'Home' and then once again 'In•Select the 'gapps 5.0? file and once againwait. Once again go 'Home' otherwise youwill not have root access.

• Click 'Home' and then 'Install' for thefinal time.

• Select Update SuperSU.zip and pressreboot system once it is done flashing.

• First boot up may take a while. How-ever, if it takes more than 10 minutes holdthe power button till your device goesoff and try turning it on again. From thevideo we learned that after a ROM re-placement you can get into a boot loop,but it should resolve after one or tworeboots.

• If it still won't boot go back to TWRPrecovery and restore your backup. This willrestore your Kindle OS which was savedduring the backup. Then check Tekify forhints on how to proceed.

I did not have any issues with any ofthe steps and all worked after the processwas finished. So, what were the results?So far, the Wi-Fi connectivity issue I washaving has not surfaced again, being solid.Could have been caused by a system glitchin the Kindle OS or botched update fromAmazon. I can now install applications thatpreviously required the device to berooted. My efforts will not be over writtenby any updates Amazon is pushing out asthe Kindle is no longer a registered de-vice. If I wish I can try other ROM updatesby just loading them through TWRP.

Rooting a device and installing a cus-tom ROM is not for everyone. If some-thing goes wrong during the Root or ROMprocess you stand the chance of turningyour device into a brick, though there arerecovery step instructions out on theinternet. Rooting will void yourmanufacturer's warranty. Installing a cus-tom ROM is not so much a necessity thesedays as Launchers are available to replacethe stock home page launcher that camewith your device, often with advantagesover the built-in launcher. However, alauncher is just an app that runs on thestock OS that came with your device withall of the lockdown the manufacturer putinto the OS. if you are looking for an up-dated Android version or to completelyunlock your device look into Rooting andinstalling a custom ROM.

Bob Woods is Webmaster, Under theComputer Hood UG, CA (www.uchug.org;webmaster (at) uchug.org)

This article is reprinted by permission fromthe February 2017 issue, Drive Light.

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