q+a I am getting spam email from my own ID. What can I do to block this and why is this happening?

Abhay Deo

When you start receiving email from your own address, it is naturally disconcerting. But you can rest easy because it is highly unlikely that your account has been hacked. You have become a victim of a "spoofing" attack. Spoofing means faking the return address on an outgoing mail to hide the true origin of the message. There are many tools on the Internet that allow spammers to change the 'From' field in an email address. They do this to bypass spam filters that are getting better everyday. If you do get such messages, set up a rule in your email program that sends all mail from yourself to the spam folder.

There are some basic precautions that you should take. Change the password of your email account frequently. Never unsubscribe from unsolicited email. It only helps spammers to get hold of your email address. Finally, do not click on any link on an email whose origin you are unsure of.
 

Age unknown

q+a I want to hide my age and birthday on Facebook so that some dating apps do not show my age. How do I do it?

Deepika Agarwal

That is actually pretty easy. In your Facebook profile, click on your name at the top. Then beneath your cover photo click on 'About'. In the left column, choose 'Contact and Basic Info'. Next to 'Birth Date' click the Edit icon. Then click the audience selector icons for both day and year and choose 'Only Me'. Save the changes.

On the dating app, navigate to its settings and delete the account. Next uninstall the app. On an Android phone go to Settings-App and uninstall it. On the iPhone all you need to do is press the app's icon till it wiggles and click on the 'x' in the corner of the icon. Now install the app once again and log in with your Facebook account. If you want to do this for Tinder, I would suggest you wait for a few days before you install the app once again so that your new profile is taken from Facebook afresh.
 

Video freeze

q+a I use Google Chrome as my default web browser. When I watch YouTube videos they always freeze at the halfway point. I have cleared my browsing history and the cache, but the problem remains.

Subham Basu Roy Chowdhury

First of all make sure you have the latest update of the browser. The newest version is 50.0.2661.94 m. You can check by opening Chrome's menu and clicking on Settings--About. Next download the Chrome Cleanup tool. This will search your computer and remove all suspicious utilities that interfere with the browser's functioning. These are usually unusual startup pages, toolbars, or unexpected ads you cannot get rid of. The Chrome Cleanup Tool is available from www.google.com/chrome/cleanup-tool.
 

Access restricted

q+a For the past week I have been receiving pesky notifications about restricted access on my Motorola X (2nd Gen) phone. The two notifications read 'data service is blocked' and 'voice service is blocked'. When these alerts come on, I cannot make calls or send messages. I use an Idea connection.

Georgina Umdor

This can be caused by a bug in one of the apps you have installed. Boot your phone in Safe Mode. To do this press the power key and tap and hold the power off option until it turns to 'Reboot to Safe Mode'. Say OK. When you boot your phone in Safe Mode this disables all third party apps. Keep your phone on Safe Mode for 24 hours to see if the problem remains. If you still get the restricted access notifications restart the phone in normal mode and head over to Settings-Apps. For each default app click on 'uninstall updates'. The notifications should go away. After that you can again update the apps by going to Google Play.
 

Android reading

q+a I have downloaded books into my desktop in the epub format. I want to read these books on my Android mobile. I tried transferring the files on to my mobile but was unsuccessful. Please suggest the correct method and procedure.

Tushar Kajarai

For transferring the books, you could connect your mobile to your computer and copy and paste the epub files into a folder on your phone. But a much better way would be to upload the books into Google Drive or Dropbox and open them in your mobile from there. In this way you can save on storage space on the phone. On your mobile you can use the Aldiko, Bluefire or Neosoar app to read these ebooks. They are available from Google Play for free.

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