Most Recent Entries

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What Happens When You Close an Email Account?

Thinking about closing your email account? You might want to think again. From lost data to unexpected lockouts, and even someone else ending up with your old email address, I’ll walk you through what happens, and why keeping the account might be the smarter move.
2025-07-18 - #182315

How to Limit File History Disk Usage

File History doesn’t let you limit how much space it uses, but there’s a workaround. I’ll show you how to partition your drive so File History stays in its lane, protecting both your backups and your disk space.
2025-07-17 - #182266

How to Block the Windows 11 Upgrade and Stay on Windows 10

Want to stick with Windows 10 and avoid the surprise of waking up to Windows 11? You have options. I’ll show you a simple, free tool that puts you back in control of system updates, keeping Windows 11 at bay until you decide otherwise.
2025-07-16 - #177495

What Should I Do About the Latest Breach?

Yet. Another. Breach. Don’t panic, I'll walk you through what you really need to do next. From checking if you’ve been exposed to strengthening your account security, it’s all here in simple terms.
2025-07-14 - #70298

Searching for a Technical Support Support Phone Number? Avoid This Huge Trap

I'll explain why searching for a tech-support phone number is one of the most dangerous steps you can take when you're looking for help.
2025-07-12 - #22072

How Do I Convert a GPT Disk to MBR?

Current partition style won't work? I'll walk you through what that means and two ways to convert between GPT and MBR partition styles.
2025-07-11 - #182116

Could Someone Reopen My Closed Email Account?

Closing or abandoning an email account can have unexpected and perhaps unwanted side effects. I'll explain what those are and what options you have.
2025-07-11 - #2991

How to Share Two-Factor With Another Person

Two factor authentication is one of the most important things you can set up to protect your accounts. Even so, it's possible to share certain 2FA types with multiple authorized people. I'll show you how I do it.
2025-07-10 - #182150

Should You Sign Up for Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10?

I'll review the security protection for Windows 10 beyond its official end-of-support date: what it means, pros and cons, and what we know about how to get it -- perhaps even for free.
2025-07-09 - #175852

How to Run a Full Scan Using Windows Security

Here's my step-by-step guide on how to run a complete malware scan using Windows 10 and 11's built-in Windows Security.
2025-07-05 - #124848

Don’t Rely on the Padlock: What the Lock Icon in Your Browser Really Means

Https is important, but now that it's ubiquitous it's not really protecting you as much as you might think. I'll explain what I mean and why that is.
2025-07-04 - #181818

Does Getting Bounces to Email I Didn’t Send Mean I’ve Been Hacked?

Email bounces from messages you didn't send can be disconcerting. I'll explain what's happening, why you probably don't need to worry, and what steps you might take anyway.
2025-07-03 - #181786

Two-Factor Authentication: It’s Not as Complicated as You Think

There are some persistent myths about two-factor authentication that stop people from adopting it. I'll clear them up so you can use this simple yet powerful security feature with confidence.
2025-07-02 - #181875

How to Get Data Off a Hard Drive in a Dead Computer

Extracting data from a hard drive in a dead computer shouldn't be too difficult (unless it's the drive itself that caused the problem). I'll walk you through some of the options and steps you can take.
2025-06-30 - #4684

Core vs. Logical Processors: What Really Powers Your CPU?

Your computer's CPU is a complex piece of circuitry trying to maximize how much it can do and how quickly it can do it. I'll outline one of the techniques that makes a single CPU core look like two.
2025-06-28 - #181771

What Happens If You Click a Bad Link?

Accidentally clicking a malicious link might be benign if you catch it soon enough. I'll review what makes the difference, and what steps you need to take next.
2025-06-27 - #132182

How to Extract Text with Text Extractor

Copying text from error messages or images can be difficult. OCR tools like Text Extractor make it easy. I'll show you how.
2025-06-26 - #181690

Where Are My OneDrive Files?

What OneDrive does with your files can be both frustrating and confusing. I'll walk through two important issues: what's really on your computer (or not) and the impact of using OneDrive's horrid backup "feature".
2025-06-25 - #181727

I Run Security Software. Why Do I Still Sometimes Get Infected?

Any security software can miss something, no matter how good. It's important to understand why this is and what you can need to about it.
2025-06-23 - #2175

What Is the Clipboard? Where Is the Clipboard?

The Windows clipboard is a fundamental and exceptionally useful feature that many take for granted. I'll review what it is and what it's good for.
2025-06-21 - #5030

All the “Ishings” Trying to Scam You

The concept of phishing has spawned a variety of "ishing" terms. They represent different ways scammers try to achieve a common goal: to scam you. I'll review what they all mean.
2025-06-20 - #181492

Why Do You Have Two Different Backup Program Recommendations?

I want to explain why I have more than one recommendation for a backup program. Talking about one doesn't mean I've stopped recommending the other(s).
2025-06-19 - #181467

My OneDrive-free Experiment

I wanted to see if I could live without OneDrive and avoid the risk that OneDrive would make changes I didn't request. Turns out, it's not that hard. I'll walk you through what I did and how I did it.
2025-06-18 - #181477

How Do I Remove a BIOS or UEFI Password?

A BIOS password provides a surprising amount of security on a computer -- so much that if the password is lost, chances for recovery are slim.
2025-06-14 - #4777

Fix Printer Problems with an Uninstall and Reinstall

Printer problems can be frustrating. I'll show you a quick, safe, easy technique to try first.
2025-06-13 - #126249

How Big a Backup Disk Do I Need?

I share my rule of thumb for choosing the size of an external backup drive.
2025-06-12 - #181334

Why I Don’t Expect a Windows 10 Apocalypse

There's a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about the supposed risk of using Windows 10 past its end of support. Here's what I think.
2025-06-11 - #181353

Size Matters! (When It Comes to Passwords)

The results are in for last year's most common passwords. The implications are depressing.
2025-06-09 - #68646

How to Copy Text From Images

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes you just want the words! I'll show you how to use Windows built-in Snipping Tool to extract the text from an image using its built-in OCR.
2025-06-07 - #181247

Windows 12?

Windows 12 isn't even a glimmer in anyone's eye yet. Anyone that says different is misguided and/or misleading. I'll review what we do and don't know, and who you should and shouldn't pay attention to.
2025-06-06 - #181111

Passkeys and Hardware Keys

Passkeys and hardware authentication keys are completely different but partially related. You can use some, but not all, hardware keys as passkeys. I'll clear up the confusion, and tell you what to look for.
2025-06-06 - #181120

What Is a Passkey?

Passkeys are a new form of signing in that promise to be easier and more secure. I'll walk you through some of the high level concepts and how they work, and how they keep you safer than passwords.
2025-06-04 - #157308

How Can I Securely Delete Everything Except the Operating System?

Before giving away a machine or returning a loaner, it's important to remove your personal information from it. That may be both harder and easier than you think. I'll show you where traditional suggestions fail, and what you need to do instead.
2025-06-02 - #4716

Is Internet Provided by My Landlord Safe?

Connectivity is becoming an added perk in some housing situations. Make sure you know the risks and alternatives when someone else provides your internet connection.
2025-05-31 - #3326

How to Hover Over a Link to Check It’s Not a Scam

When it comes to links on webpages and HTML email, what you see is not always where you go. Hovering over a link is an important technique to look before you leap.
2025-05-30 - #3241

The Big One Is Coming. Are You Tech-Ready?

Disaster planning includes thinking about your technology and online access.
2025-05-29 - #180966

How End-to-End Encryption Protects Your Messages and Where It Fails

You would think that for such an important concept as end-to-end encryption there's be some agreement on exactly what it means. Sadly, not so. There's the correct definition, and then there's the marketing definition. One protects you, the other not so much.
2025-05-28 - #180943