Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
Regular readers of this blog know I’m a huge fan of free software because I routinely recommend the use of freeware whenever possible to accomplish whatever the task at hand may be.
But as you probably also know there can be hidden dangers lurking behind the scenes every time you install a piece of free software.
The dangers range all the way from the installation of unwanted add-on software to installing viruses and other forms of malware right along with the programs themselves.
Question from Kellie T.: I was messing around with the network settings on my Windows 10 laptop last night and noticed that my Wi-Fi network is set to “Public” instead of “Private”.
I’ve always heard that public networks are dangerous.
Is that true? And if it is, how can I change it to private?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
With all the hackers out there trying to break into secure Wi-Fi networks, steal personal and financial information and generally wreak havoc on our lives, it only makes sense to do everything possible to protect ourselves while we’re using the Internet.
Short of becoming a hermit and moving into a cave, there’s really nothing we can do to ensure that we never have our privacy compromised in today’s ultra-connected world.
But we can take steps to minimize the risks associated with being online as much as possible. Here are just a few of them: [Read more…]
Do you always get a warm, fuzzy feeling after your latest malware scan responds with “Scan complete. No malware found!“?
Most folks do, and I must admit that I feel pretty good about those kinds of reports myself.
But I’m going to share a little secret with you…
No anti-virus program is perfect. They all have the potential to miss certain strains of malware, especially new ones that were released “into the wild” after the latest antivirus definitions update.
Consider this: If your body is clearly exhibiting the symptoms of a dreaded disease, wouldn’t you seek a second opinion if your test results come back negative?
I believe it’s wise to always seek a second opinion after a malware scan “comes back negative” as well. After all, it only takes one virus slipping through your anti-virus program’s defenses to ruin you entire day.
Luckily, there are several great free malware scans that you can run as often as you like. And since they only run on demand they won’t interfere with your full-time antivirus program.
Here is a short list of the “second opinion” malware scans that I currently use and recommend, listed in order of how effective I believe them to be: [Read more…]
As you probably know, Facebook gives us two ways to view posts in our Newsfeeds:
Selecting “Top Stories” will place the posts that have received the most user engagement at the top of the Newsfeed.
And as you know, selecting “Most Recent” will display the Newsfeed posts in order of newest to oldest.
You probably also know that Facebook changed the location of the setting that toggles between “Top Stories” and “Most Recent” a while back. [Read more…]
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