Well, it’s that time of year again: tax time. And today I have a simple tip for you: how to find the real Free File version of all the popular tax software. It’s not as easy as you’d think – and that’s no accident. A Brief History of Free File Back in the early 2000’s
If you’re still running Windows 7 on your PC, it’s time to bump up to Windows 10. As of January 14th, Windows 7 will no longer receive software updates. It has reached the end of extended support from Microsoft. That means that when the next Windows bugs are found, your PC will be forever vulnerable.
[Note: See the latest list for 2021 here.] 2019 is almost gone and 2020 is upon us. You know what that means: New Year’s Resolutions! I’ll let you worry about signing up for a gym membership or quitting smoking or whatever… I’m here to give you concrete steps you can take next year that will
While online data theft has gotten the lion’s share of the attention lately, snail mail information theft has had a recent resurgence. Thieves can find all sorts of interesting information in your utility and medical bills, insurance and financial statements, and credit offers. All the bad guys need is enough information to convince someone else
[Updated: Nov 30, 2019.] The holiday shopping season is once again upon us! And that means it’s time to update my annual gift guide. Unlike other guides, I’m not here to tell you about the hottest Black Friday deals or how to get free overnight shipping on Dec 23rd. My naughty and nice list is
(This is a guest post by Chad Warner, Internet safety enthusiast at Defending Digital.)
You shouldn't know any of your passwords! You should leave this to a password manager, like LastPass. Here's how to get that set up.
October is National Cyber-Security Awareness Month. So now would be a great time to get off your butt and implement some of the security tips that I’ve recommended over the years! If you think you’re in pretty good shape, then maybe this would be a good time to help your loved ones get secure. Here
A recent study found that most people aren’t taking the time to properly wipe data off their hard drives before they resell them. The researchers bought 200 used hard drives and found that a whopping 59% of the drives still had data that was accessible, including “employment and payroll records, family and holiday photos (along
Our mobile phone numbers today have become our unique identifiers, even more so than our full names. While you’ve probably run across at least one other person who shares your name, our mobile numbers are guaranteed to be globally unique. And since we can port these numbers to any service, we tend to keep these
[This article is part of a Beginners Week blog series from my publisher, Apress.] While humans have had several millennia to adapt to the dangers of the natural world and many decades to react to the advancements of the modern age, the virtual world of the internet is relatively new. The risks of the physical
