Mobile Phone Notes: Android, ATT, Verizon

A couple privacy apps to consider are PasswdSafe (password manager) and textSecure (encrypted SMS texting).
textSecure will achieve wider adoption when it has a message indicator flag on the icon, like the standard messaging apps.  textSecure is open source and hosted on github.



When using textSecure on ATT, the MMS settings page should work without further configurations.
When using textSecure on Verizon, the MMS settings page will need the following configuration:

• MMSC http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms
• MMS Port 80
• MCC 310
• MNC 012

When prioritizing ATT's 3G Microcell network traffic, prioritize the following ports for both inbound and outbound:

• 123/UDP: NTP timing (NTP traffic)
• 443/TCP: Https over TLS/SSL for provisioning and management traffic
• 4500/UDP: IPSec NAT Traversal (for all signaling, data, voice traffic). 
  After NAT detection, 4500/UDP is used
• 500/UDP: IPSec Phase 1 prior to NAT detection (after NAT detection, 4500/UDP is used)

Set "Date Taken" As Default Sort Order

Running MS Windows 8.1 Pro, I prefer to have folders containing camera pictures to sort by "Date taken".  When I created new folders for my pictures, I had to manually add the column and sort option.  While this was easy, it cried out for automation.

How to set "Date taken" as default sort order for new picture folders in MS Windows 8:

1. Open File Explorer
2. On the left side, look for Desktop and Libraries.  Go to the Libraries folder.
3. Go the the Pictures folder.  File explorer title bar should now show: Libraries\Pictures
4. Right click and set your column and sorting preferences.




5. Other folders inside this folder will inherit the same preferences. 

Note: If you change the folder settings, those new settings will dynamically be applied to child folders.

Microsoft Windows Disk Encryption

As a backup and scratch space, I purchased a 3 terabyte external USB drive.  To try encryption, I considered using the Microsoft Windows 8 BitLocker drive encryption.  With Microsoft giving user information to the NSA, I am weary of placing trust in Microsoft.  Looking for alternatives, I tried TrueCrypt disk encryption.

Installing TrueCrypt on a Microsoft Windows 8 disk:

While not explicitly supported, download and install the package.
Read the beginner tutorial and run the program.