Hello, and welcome…
Rick’s Daily Tech Tips Update for Saturday, March 5, 2022
Topics covered in this issue…
• Q&A: What is a Zero-Day Vulnerability”?
• How to turn an old smartphone into a metal detector
• How to add a folder to ‘File Explorer’ in Windows
• Never Broken: The Navajo Code Talkers
• Info about my photo / file recovery service
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Today’s Quick Tip….
Q&A: What is a Zero-Day Vulnerability”?
Question from Marsha: I’ve been seeing warnings online about something called “Zero-Day Vulnerabilities”.
What are they and what can you do about them?
Rick’s answer: Marsha, a “Zero-Day Vulnerability” is a dangerous bug or security flaw in an operating system, a computer program or any other type of software that hackers discover and start exploiting before the company behind the software finds out about it themselves.
Many times the companies don’t find out about these flaws until they have already been used by hackers to break into users’ machines and wreak havoc with the software and/or steal their personal and financial information.
The bad news is the average user has no way to find out that a flaw exists on their own, so there’s really nothing you can do to prevent an attack on your system if it’s affected by a flaw.
The good news is the software companies usually find out there’s a problem pretty quickly and rush out updates to patch the flaws (hopefully) before all that many people have been affected by them.
You can increase the security of your computer or mobile device as much as possible by practicing safe computing practices (not falling for phishing attempts and being careful about the links you click) and keeping your devices malware-free.
Just be aware that you can never be fully safe against Zero-Day Vulnerabilities due to the nature of those threats.
The latest from Rick’s Daily Tips Tech Blog…
• How to turn an old smartphone into a metal detector
There are a thousand and one uses for unused smartphones. Here’s one that really came in handy for me a few days ago.
• How to add a folder to ‘File Explorer’ in Windows
This post explains how to add a frequently used folder right to the File Explorer dialog on your Windows machine.
• Click here to see today’s ‘Picture of the Day’.
Every morning I post a new photo that I find inspiring, intriguing, or just plain beautiful to look at. Jumpstart your day by checking it out.
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Rick’s Daily Pick…
iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit (#ad)
Interesting in upgrading your laptop or fixing your broken smartphone yourself?
Plenty of folks getting in to DIY repairs and upgrades these days thanks to the vast library of video tutorials on sites like YouTube and iFixit.
If you’d like to give it a try yourself you’re going to need a really good tech toolkit. This is one of the best around.
Today’s post from ‘My Daily Smile’…
Never Broken: The Navajo Code Talkers
This post and video discuss the amazing men who became known as World War II’s “Code Talkers”.
Tech news that caught my eye…
• Samsung to release update to address app throttling issues
• iOS 15.4: Get ready for next week’s iPhone upgrades
• Ransomware group threatens to release Nvidia’s ‘most closely guarded secrets’
• FTC takes action against Weight Watchers for collecting children’s health data
• Opinion: Tech’s cult of thinness needs to come to an end
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Rick’s Photo / File Recovery Service…
Do you have precious photos and/or other irreplaceable files that you’d like to recover from a non-working computer?
Chances are I’ll be able to recover them for you, even if the machine won’t turn on or start up correctly.
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Thanks so much, and have an amazing day.
Your tech buddy,
Rick Rouse
https://www.ricksdailytips.com