Author: Bill Scobie
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Resist, Reroute, Renew, Restrict
Devious Tactics As you are cleaning up email, trying to cut down the amount of spam you get, you may decide to unsubscribe from mailing lists. Unless you really trust that company, the unsubscribe link at the bottom of junk email may do nothing more than confirm you actually read email, thus raising the value…
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Disable, Reveal, Summarize… and Turn it Off!
By now, you might have an extra computer or laptop lying around the house. Put it to use as your guests’ or grandkids’ computer so you don’t have to worry about changes made to your computer behind your back. It will lessen your stress, as will turning on the guest network feature in your Wi-Fi…
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Travel privacy, Sleeping better, Used or stolen cell phones
Protecting data while travelling can be done in a variety of ways. First, learn how to use your phone as a hotspot, rather than relying on public hotspots. Don’t use those public computers in places you don’t know. Find out what countries will search or demand from your devices and consider not bringing sensitive data…
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ISP data selling, Steaming your laptop (don’t), iOS workflow, Securing your mic
With all the recent concern about ISPs being allowed to sell their customer’s data, it is good to see what you can do and understand what ISPs are currently saying. Some major ISPs, such as Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast, have already come out saying they will not sell their own customer’s data (I suspect it…
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Safety when walking away from your computer, Offline video playback, Browser privacy
Safety when leaving your desk includes locking your computer with a password. Soon you will be able to tether your phone to your Windows 10 so that when you walk away (taking your phone with you) your computer will lock. When you come back you unlock it with a password. However, there are many ways…
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Facebook privacy again, Krita, different search, email closings and organizing
Facebook may be finally making it just a bit easier to see all of their settings that control privacy by putting together a Privacy Basics at https://www.facebook.com/about/basics that will lead you into stepping through their Privacy Checkup to see some of your basic settings. Another alternative to Photoshop, that runs on Mac or PC and…
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Free Mac video editors, clickity-clickity, Office alt, Windows 10 privacy settings tweaks
There are some good free video editors on the Mac, you don’t have to pay for high-end software if your needs are mostly to trim clips, assemble clips into a storyline, lay over music or other audio, correct colors, or insert transitions between clips. Various ones to look at include: Davinci Resolve 12.5 at https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve…
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Talk to your Mac, shaming non-SSL sites, WOT and IoT trust
If you already talk to your iPhone, why not do the same to your Mac? The Mac has built-in dictation that can be used to type with just your voice. Set it up by going to System Preferences, then Keyboard, to then click on the Dictation tab where you can turn it on. Then learn…
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Tech support scams, iOS magnifier, improve lithium-ion battery life
There is a quick way to “kill” some of those scary tech support scams that pop up on your computer. These are those windows that open up, nearly always from the web, trying to get you to call Microsoft for help. If you can, with the mouse, right-click on the task bar at the bottom…
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Password advice, Lynda training, router setup pointers
Some new rules for passwords come from the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST.) As you make new passwords or change existing ones, don’t just go for the minimum you feel is forced on you, go with such improvements as: use more than eight characters in the password as more is harder to…
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Info on ransom ware, don’t overheat electronics, check mac and ios requirements for upgrades
Ransomware, that malicious infection on your computer that encrypts and holds hostage your data, as affect quite a few businesses. Luckily there is a site that pulls together many of the tools and advice to help if you fall prey to this nasty attack. Check out <nomoreransom.org> and do it before you need to. I…
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What to believe, checking reliability monitor, check Google activity and what they know
How you can trust fast-breaking news on the Internet so that you don’t repeat wrong information? From OnTheMedia.org and their handbooks series, they advise: in the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong; don’t trust anonymous sources; don’t trust stories that cite another news outlet as the source of the information; there’s almost never…