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Should I Always Sign Out of My Online Account?It is safe to stay signed in to your online account as long as you're protected from a few specific scenarios.2025-02-05 |
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Are Free Email Services Worth It?Free email services and accounts are convenient and ubiquitous. They can be used safely if and only if you take responsibility for that safety.2025-02-03 |
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Change for the Sake of Change?People often complain that the latest update to their favorite software is just "change for the sake of change". I don't think so.2025-02-01 |
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Are Backup Images More Fragile Than Just Copying Individual Files?I'm often asked if backup images are more susceptible to failure than storing the contents as individual files. My take: not really.2025-01-31 |
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Do Not Search for Support Phone NumbersYou want a phone number to call. Scammers known this and try to insert themselves in the process.2025-01-30 |
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Should I Update to Windows 11? (January 2025 update)The end of support date for Windows 10 is getting closer. What does that mean to you, and do you need to upgrade to Windows 11?2025-01-29 |
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What’s a Screenshot, and How Do I Take One?A screenshot -- an image of your computer screen saved as a picture -- can eliminate a lot of frustration.2025-01-27 |
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How to Block the Windows 11 Upgrade and Stay on Windows 10If you want to stick with Windows 10, here's a way to block any automated upgrades.2025-01-25 |
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Convert an ISO to a Bootable USB Using RufusRufus allows you to easily create a bootable USB thumb drive from an ISO image.2025-01-24 |
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My Gmail Is Full, and Google’s Threatening to Stop My Email. How Do I Make Space?You can make more Gmail space without losing data.2025-01-23 |
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What Does It Mean to Quarantine Malware? And Is It Safe?A quarantine keeps you safe from malware.2025-01-22 |
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How the Internet Is Breaking JournalismAs we use the internet, we need to be more vigilant than ever to separate truth from falsehood and recognize what's important over what's popular.2025-01-20 |
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Think Before You Share: Protecting Yourself From Email HarassmentIt's so common to give away personal information, we don't think twice about it. Let's start thinking twice.2025-01-18 |
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How to Recover When You Lose Everything TravelingImagine you're traveling overseas and all your digital "stuff" is lost. What do you do? How do you reconnect?2025-01-17 |
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Why Am I Seeing These Odd Crypto-Currency “Help Me” Comments?Just ignore seed-phrase scams.2025-01-16 |
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Does Turning a Computer Off at Night Keep It Safer From Hackers?There are reasons to turn your computer off at night or leave it running. Getting hacked isn't one of them.2025-01-15 |
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Would You Give Your Wallet to a Stranger?Many people seem more than willing to give a complete stranger access their computer. It's safer to give them your wallet.2025-01-13 |
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Yet Another Way to Install Windows 11 Without a TPMWindows 11 requires a TPM and a CPU with particular specifications. This approach should let you install Windows 11 on a machine not meeting those requirements.2025-01-11 |
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What Are Windows “Libraries” and How Do They Work?Windows Libraries allow multiple folders to be viewed as if they are one. They can be confusing unless you understand how they work.2025-01-10 |
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How to Back Up Before a Windows UpdateAlways back up before a Windows upgrade, update, or reinstall. Create a full system image backup of up your entire computer.2025-01-09 |
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How Do I Make Sure Malware is Gone?Of course we want to be certain malware has been removed. Unfortunately, certainty is difficult to come by.2025-01-08 |
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Should I Back Up If My Machine Is Infected?If you believe your machine is infected, first protect and preserve your data.2025-01-06 |
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Are Humans Getting More Stupid Because of Computers?Computers make many things easier. I allow technology to help with many things that I used to have to remember or learn, freeing my time for other things.2025-01-04 |
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Using OneDrive Without Using OneDriveYou can benefit from OneDrive without ever installing it on your PC.2025-01-03 |
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How Do I Transfer My Programs and Data to a New Machine?Moving applications and data to a new machine isn't hard; it's just a fair amount of work.2025-01-02 |
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How Do I Get a Text Message Without a Cell Phone?SMS/text is an important security measure, but not everyone has it. I'll review options.2025-01-01 |
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Tip of the Day: PDF Was Never Intended to Be EditableNo matter how hard you try.2024-12-31 |
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Why Do Search Results Not Have Dates?Google's search tools can help you find websites that have been tagged with particular dates. But be cautious; dates may not mean what you think. 2024-12-30 |
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Is Cloning a Disk a Viable Backup Strategy?Any backup system puts you ahead of the game. But a few "gotchas" could sneak up on you when cloning a disk manually.2024-12-28 |
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Why Does My Wireless Mouse Stop Working Randomly?Let's be sure it's the mouse freezing and not the whole computer. Once that's decided, we'll look for solutions.2024-12-27 |
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What’s This Program Running on My Machine?There are many programs running on your machine. It's not always obvious exactly what they are or why they're running, so we'll look for some clues.2024-12-26 |
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Setting Up Cryptomator with Google DriveCryptomator is a great tool for keeping your cloud data secure. I'll show you how to set it up with Google Drive.2024-12-25 |
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How Does Blocking Pictures in an Email Protect My Privacy?Email programs commonly block remote images. I'll look at why, and how spammers and others use remote images for good and evil.2024-12-23 |
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9 Reasons Email Is WonderfulSome say that email is dead. My take is completely opposite: email is one of our most effective communication methods.2024-12-21 |
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More Tips to Protect Yourself from AI ScamsAI has entered the chat. And the email. And the voice call. And the video. And it's making scams even harder to detect.2024-12-20 |
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Someone Has My IP Address. Should I Be Scared?If someone threatens you because they know your IP address, it's an empty threat.2024-12-20 |
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Online and Phone Scams: What to Watch For and How to Stay SafeKnow the characteristics of online and phone scams, and don't be afraid to take steps to protect yourself.2024-12-19 |
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Setting Up Google Drive DesktopGoogle Drive is similar to Microsoft OneDrive, but without many of the drawbacks. Lets set it up.2024-12-18 |
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Why Do Services Like Google and Microsoft Ask for a Phone Number?Many online services request your phone number. I'll look at how that's typically used and why it's a good thing.2024-12-16 |
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How Do I Tell Someone They’ve Entered the Wrong Email Address?Many websites ask you type your email address in twice because it's so easy to make a typo and bring communication to a screeching halt.2024-12-14 |
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Where Do Deleted Files Go?Let's use an oversimplified analogy to understand the concepts behind deletion.2024-12-13 |
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What Are Desktop.ini Files, and How Do I Get Rid of Them?Invisible or not, they'll be there.2024-12-12 |
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How Do My Mobile Data Connection, Internet Connection, and Wi-Fi Connection Relate?Understanding how your devices connect to the internet is useful, especially when the power goes out.2024-12-11 |
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The Most Important AttitudeThere is one approach to life -- one setting in your psyche -- that affects your experience with technology much more than any lack of skill or knowledge.2024-12-09 |
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Say Goodbye to Windows 11’s Mail ProgramThe mail program included in Windows 11 is going away. The "new" Outlook its heir apparent. I'll review what that means.2024-12-07 |
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Should You Sign Up for Extended Security Updates for Windows 10?Microsoft is planning to offer extended security protection for Windows 10 Home and Pro users beyond its official end-of-support date.2024-12-06 |
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Secure Your Most Important AccountsExperts always recommend securing your "most important accounts". Great. Which accounts would those be?2024-12-05 |
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First, Do No Harm: Another Tale of Data LossYou'd like to be able to trust your local computer repair folks to do the right thing. You'd like to. But that trust isn't always warranted.2024-12-04 |
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Why Doesn’t Blocking Email Senders Work?Most email programs can block email from a specific address. Unfortunately, that's completely ineffective when it comes to spam.2024-12-02 |
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Why Your Computer Has Probably Not Been HackedI regularly hear from people who believe their computer has been hacked and is under someone else's control. It's very rarely the case.2024-11-30 |
