15 June 2021 | Computers, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Networking, Video |
Even if you don’t know the term ‘phishing scam’, chances are you’ve already been targeted by many of them.
A phishing scam is when someone uses a genuine-looking e-mail, login page, SMS, or whatever to fool you into giving up personal data – like logins, passwords, card and banking info, etc.
They often involve some kind of ‘hook’ that makes you worried or scared. When that happens, you stop thinking and fall into the trap.
But these scams are very easy to avoid with a bit of extra attention. I’ll show an example of a phishing scam I received recently and then take it apart piece by piece so that next time, you’ll know exactly what to look for to protect yourself!
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1 June 2021 | How to, Programming, Video |
For reasons unknown to me, other people are always asking me how to learn programming.
Well, there’s the traditional route: go to school, become a coder. Done!
But as we all know, many of the best and most famous programmers were those who dropped out of school and were essentially self-taught.
Are they onto something?
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18 May 2021 | How Does it Work?, Video, Wireless Wonderland |
Most people probably don’t even notice the actual speed of their internet connection. If it ‘goes fast’, they’re happy.
What many folks don’t realize is that they may be wasting a large chunk of their very high speed net connection.
If you use even newer flavors of WiFi, chances are you aren’t taking full advantage of the connection you’re paying for! Heck, even with Ethernet, your download speeds may be lower than you think.
So, how do you tell?
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11 May 2021 | Computers, How to, Networking, Video |
Ah, the internet!
It’s so incredibly useful, and at the same time you won’t find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Well, technically, it’s more useful than villain-y.
Still, it’s good to be careful!
So what’s the best way to stay safe when using the internet? Strong passwords? Antivirus? Browser add-ons? Privacy enhancers? VPNs?!
That’s all well and good, but there’s one trick that will never let you down…
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4 May 2021 | How to, Video |
This one is fun:
One day, your thumbnail preview icons turn into black squares instead of showing a preview of the file’s contents as usual.
You may even find that the usual methods to fix the problem simply don’t work.
Fear not! With a few easy tricks, you can get your black icons displaying previews again…
And you just might discover something new along the way!
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27 April 2021 | How to, Video |
Every now and then, you need to make a snapshot of what’s on your screen – or maybe just the content of a single application window.
Most people think you need some kind of special software to take screenshots, but the truth is that it’s actually a whole lot easier – and cheaper!
Windows 10 has five simple ways to take screenshots.
That means you’re literally a keystroke away from taking as many screen captures as you want!
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20 April 2021 | How Does it Work?, Networking, Video |
When it comes to privacy on the internet, the new word on the street is ‘FLoC’.
Led by Google, a group of businesses and advertisers is pushing a new standard that would have your browser identifying your particular group of interests by a unique ID number.
This number will be sent to all sites you visit. VOILA! No more 3rd party cookies, and supposedly more privacy!
Of course, there’s the marketing mumbo jumbo and then there’s the reality of the situation.
So: What is FLoC? How does it work? And most importantly: Will it improve your privacy??
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6 April 2021 | Energy, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
Microwave ovens that you use to cook food operate at a frequency of 2.45 GHz.
This is the same radio band where one finds WiFi, Bluetooth, and so on.
So, why is everything lumped into this one chunk of the frequency spectrum? Is there something particularly magical about 2.4 GHz?
It turns out that there is a common misconception about this frequency and water.
The truth, however, is far more mundane…
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30 March 2021 | Computers, How to, Video |
These days, you might not want too many Windows 10 updates given all the problems they tend to cause.
But the fact remains that if you can’t update Windows at all due to some cryptic error message, you’re still in trouble.
You’re missing out on security and reliability updates that you obviously need!
What to do when Windows Update keeps giving you the dreaded ‘Retry’ button along with an obscure error message that it can’t update??
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23 March 2021 | How Does it Work?, Video |
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are all the rage these days.
All we hear is how Bitcoin has smashed another record high, cryptos are the future, don’t miss this train, etc.
The question is: How do you know what you’re getting yourself into? Many people are talking of using their stimulus check to buy into Bitcoin, for example.
While there is a lot of talk about blockchains and cryptos, actual simple explanations of what they are and how they work are hard to come by.
How do you understand this stuff WITHOUT getting lost in a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo?
Well, it’s really not that complicated in the end…
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Even if you don’t know the term ‘phishing scam’, chances are you’ve already been targeted by many of them.
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