Rick's Daily Tips

Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!

Scam alert: Beware hackers stealing Facebook passwords via malicious video links in IMs

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If you use Facebook you’re probably used to receiving cute and funny videos in instant messages (IMs).

And of course there are political videos and a wide variety of other types of videos being shared via IMs as well.

Truth be told, we all get them on a regular basis.

Dozens of videos land in my IM inbox every day, but I never click on any of them. And I strongly recommend that you avoid clicking on them as well.

Many of these seemingly harmless videos are actually quite dangerous because they have viruses attached to them. If you take the bait and attempt to watch one of them, your computer or Android device could become infected. And that could easily ruin your entire day. [Read more…]

How to make sure a file is safe before you open it

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Do you ever receive files in your email inbox that you’re pretty sure are legit, but you’re still leery about opening them?

Well, with all the hacking, spoofing, phishing and malware distribution going on these days, you should be!

Folks send files to me all the time via email (after we discuss it in advance), but even if I trust the sender completely I still check the files out to make sure they’re safe and malware-free. [Read more…]

How to create (and use) an emergency virus removal flash drive

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Let’s face it, computer viruses, trojans and other forms of malware are a fact of life.

Regardless of how carefully you try to avoid it there’s a good chance that your PC will become infected sooner or later.

Most pieces of malicious code can be quickly removed with a normal virus scan and cleanup, but some infections are so insidious that they are difficult to detect and remove with a regular scan.

Even worse, some strains of malware can even render your PC incapable of connecting to the Internet in order to download an updated virus definition file.

Others still will prevent your PC’s installed antivirus program from loading at all.

This is why you need a plan “B” –  an emergency virus removal USB flash drive. [Read more…]

How to avoid losing your data to a ransomware attack

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If you’ve been paying attention to the news of late, you probably know that the number of successful ransomware attacks on computers and mobile devices are increasing by the day.

Ransomware is a particularly insidious form of malware that encrypts all the files on your computer or mobile device, then holds your precious data hostage until you pony up and pay a monetary ransom to the hackers.

Once ransomware has locked up your machine, you’ll have no choice except to pay the ransom or you’ll have to say goodbye to your data forever. But…  [Read more…]

Yes, free antivirus apps really are just as good as the ‘paid’ ones

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I’m often asked if free antivirus apps are as effective at protecting a Windows PC from virus infections as their “paid” counterparts.

And I must say, that’s an excellent question.

Back in the early days of home computing my answer would have been a huge NO because the free antivirus programs available at the time were indeed inferior to the commercial programs.

But that has changed over the years…

[Read more…]

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