WHAT IS A SOLID-STATE DRIVE? In order to get a handle on what a Solid-State Drive is, we need to sort of understand what the term “solid state” means. In short, when we say “solid state,” we mean electronic circuitry that is built entirely of semiconductors. It may help to understand what NOT “solid state” would be. Older televisions and […]
Should You Buy a Solid-State Drive?
URGENT update for HP networked printers
Back in April, a vulnerability was discovered in HP network-connected printers. That means if you have a wireless HP printer, yours is one of them. A patch to the firmware of the printer was developed, but HP printers have automatic updates turned off by default. That’s a problem You need to go to HP’s website and find a patch for […]
Test 1
I’m just trying out the podcasting process. So far so good, it published to the blog. Now what?
Increase Your Facebook Security: 5 Ways to Be Safe
Embed from Getty Images I love Facebook! I enjoy keeping in touch with people I served in the Army with, far-flung family members, co-workers past and present. Additionally, I’ve found several groups that feed my hobby interests and several that provide professional information. All in all, I find it a useful platform. Unfortunately, wherever there is a good thing going […]
6 Things You Should Know About Flash Drives
These little gizmos are fabulous, aren’t they? They make it so easy to carry around everything you could ever need, in some cases even a whole operating system! I have some very geeky friends who have some distribution of Linux on a flash drive, and all they have to do is plug it into some computer somewhere and they have […]
The Top Things to Do To Avoid Malware
As a tech professional, it’s my job to clean up after computer “accidents.” But a more important aspect of my job is keeping them from happening. There is a lot of information on the web directed at cyber safety, and most of it is good. But there is one thing that you can do more to keep you safe than any other […]
Critical Information on New Ransomware
Embed from Getty Images Hot off the press, there’s a new version on ransomware that is cheaper to unlock, and there’s bad news and more bad news. Yes, they charge only a portion of a bitcoin to get the key to unlock the files they’ve encrypted. Except that they haven’t encrypted them. They’ve actually deleted the files. So if you […]
Coming Soon! Cybersafety Ebook
I haven’t been putting a lot of material up lately because I’ve been working on getting a book ready for publishing. Coming to an e-reader or computer or smartphone near you, Digital Safety for the Digitally Naive: Every User’s Guide to Staying CyberSafe. This book is a comprehensive advisory and tutorial to help you avoid losing your data, your identity, […]
A Better Way to Manage Your Passwords
The Problem: It doesn’t take long to accumulate a mass of passwords throughout the Web. You have one for email, one for each of several (or multitudinous) websites, shopping sites, your bank, retirement accounts, education…how do we remember them all? Unfortunately, our methods for keeping track of our logins and passwords usually entails one of the following: 1. Pick something […]
The Math Behind a Good Password
Embed from Getty Images This post is actually a preface to another one I’m in the middle of right now, on password managers. But I wanted to take a minute and explain why your workplace insists on bizarre passwords, and how you can capitalize on that in your personal life. Why are there password requirements? When you have to change […]