Falling

iCloud storage, you get some for free and then you pay for the rest, what a pain on your iPhone or iPad. But there are ways to manage what it being put in that cloud, maybe you don’t need to use as much. Apart from photos and music, quite a few apps will store or backup data to iCloud. Check Settings, iCloud, Storage and Backup, Manage Storage. Under Backups, tap your device, then look under Backup Options to Show All Apps. An example of an app that does not need to backup to iCloud would be Evernote, its data is already stored on the web. If you see an old device in the listing, delete its backup.

White hats to the rescue. If you have heard of CryptoLocker, now you can cheer for the researchers who have reverse engineered that ransomeware. People can now get their decryption key for unlocking their data without paying the “ransom”. I have not found anyone locally affected by CryptoLocker, but it is great to know that there are smart people working on the good side. CryptoLocker is different from some of those scary “FBI” screens that would hide your data, but those did not actually encrypt your files.

Slowing web browsers. Just as computers get cluttered with software, so do browsers end up accumulating extensions that can slow them down. All three common browsers have different ways to look at extensions, to either see how much memory or loading time each takes. Extensions are those extra bits of software that may help a browser do more, one example being the Adobe PDF Helper that lets you see PDF or Adobe Reader files directly in your browser. And some of those extensions “helpfully” provide ads for you. In Chrome, click the menu button, the three bars towards the upper right part of Chrome and then scroll to and hover over Tools, then click on Task Manager. In the list that opens, look for ones labeled Extension and decide if you really need that extension. You can disable extension for testing purposes with the Tools, then Extensions menu.

One Time Secret? Do you find times when you want to share something over the internet but don’t think it should be in plain sight? OneTimeSecret.com could be your solution. This would let you email a secret encrypted link to a unique page only available for a limited time, where you can display a password or some other text you would not want in an email.

Expand your IT training. If you want to up your Microsoft skills, you should look through MicrosoftVirtialAcademy.com. I will say most of the courses are geared towards people seeking IT level knowledge, not really for beginners.