Our government is about to launch “The Emergency Broadband Benefit” to help struggling families afford internet access. On May 12, 2021, people who qualify for this program can apply to receive up to $50/mo off of their internet expenses. And eligible households may also get a $100 discount towards the purchase of a new computer! … Read more
Data breaches are so frequent, that it’s quite likely your email or phone number has been involved in one. It’s usually not your fault. When hackers get through a big company’s security, they may take a copy of whatever valuable account data they can. That can include your name, email, phone number, password… Even worse, … Read more
Last month, I posted the basics about Private Browsing, but I skipped mentioning one of its important uses: Bypassing paywalls. When a website insists that you pay for access, Private Browsing can sometimes get you in without payment or logging in. This most commonly works for news websites and other pages that offer you “5 … Read more
The Federal Communications Commission offers a broadband map website, where you can research internet offerings in your region. But there’s a problem with it. It’s based only on self-reported ISP data. This government tool is only as good as what the ISPs tell the feds about themselves. To improve the situation, the FCC has just … Read more
These days, all web browsers offer a function called Private Browsing. Let’s go over what this is and isn’t. Private Browsing allows you to use the internet so that no traces of your surfing are saved or left behind on that computer. Whatever you do in this mode disappears from that computer as soon as … Read more
A common scammer tactic is to create an impostor account on Facebook. They snag a copy of your profile picture, use your name and pretend to be you as they sign up on the Facebook site. Their FB profile will look a whole lot like yours, and then they will attempt to fool people with … Read more
If your email gets hijacked, you’ll figure it out quickly enough. People will start calling you to ask why you sent those out-of-character messages… Scammers steal their way into email accounts every day. If your email gets stolen, the first and best thing to do is: Reset your email password. But that may not be … Read more
We are finally done with Flash Player, and Adobe has announced that they will block Flash content from running later this month. That’s OK, because the web has largely moved on from Flash to more modern tools. Shutting down Flash content is more of a formality and an extra way to protect everyone’s computers. But … Read more
I get this question all the time. Someone surveys themselves and sees nothing “worth hacking”. Because they just send a few innocuous emails a week, they do a little Facebooking with family, they play some solitaire. What could be worth a hacker’s time with their modest computer usage? What makes them (or you) worth hacking … Read more
If you’re an Xfinity Internet customer, this is your heads-up for changes coming soon! Starting in 2021, your pricing will go up and your internet will have a monthly data cap. Some Xfinity customers may already be held to the 1.2TB Data Cap, but next year, Xfinity is leveling that threshold against all of its … Read more