trust

A bright red fire hose blasting a spray of tiny floating web pages, headlines, and chat bubbles. In the foreground, a Corgi holds a magnifying glass over one page, which appears sharp and clear while the rest blur.

How Much Can I Trust Information on the Internet?

There’s so much information at your fingertips online, but how much of it can you believe? I’ll show you how to spot trustworthy sources, why seeing something everywhere doesn’t make it true, and four steps to help you sort fact from fiction.

A Corgi standing in front of Four friendly cartoon robots sitting side by side at a long table, each holding up a speech bubble. Three bubbles hold the same green checkmark, while one holds a bright orange question mark.

How Do I Know Whether to Trust AI?

AI sounds sure of itself, but it can be wrong. How can you tell when you don’t know much about the subject? I’ll show you simple ways to check an AI’s work, why this problem is older than AI, and the sniff test I rely on.

A split screen: one one half is a Corgi tech support engineer wearing a headset. On the other half is a Corgi lookin at their Windows computer screen.

Is it Safe to Allow Remote Access?

Is it safe to allow a tech support company to control your computer from far away? It depends on who they are, how you found them, and whether they called you first. I’ll share the one rule you must never violate.

A concerned Corgi looking at a computer screen with the message "Malware Found!"

It Pays to Be Skeptical

A pop-up says malware was found. An email claims your package couldn’t be delivered. A caller insists they’re from Microsoft. Here’s one simple skill to keep you and your technology safe.

A Corgi holding the puppet strings to a puppet that looks a little like Leo.

How Do I Know You’re Not AI?

Can you tell if this article was written by AI? You can’t… but that might not be the right question. What really matters is whether you can trust the information.

7 Things Your Sysadmin Probably Won’t Tell You

If you run a website and have someone administering it for you — a system administrator or “sysadmin” — they may have much more power than you realize.

Protecting Your Privacy: Points of Vulnerability

Tracing the privacy and security of the path from your fingertips through the services you use to your information’s final destination.

A laptop tumbles playfully through the air above three or four colorful safety nets stacked one below the other, each labeled with a simple icon: a hard drive, a cloud, a padlock, a folder. Bright primary colors, circus-tent stripes in the background. A Corgi looks on from below.

What Is Your Most Trusted Method of Backing Up?

Trust in your backup is critical; so critical that I don’t fully trust any single approach. Instead, I layer backup types so that losing something important is nearly impossible. I’ll describe my system works and why the key step is simply starting.