Author: Summer Powell

Are you considering selling, donating, or disposing of a computer? Here are some crucial details to keep in mind: Even if you think you’ve deleted all of your personal and private data from your computer, there’s still a good chance it can be recovered. This is because of how data is stored by Windows on your hard drive. When Windows deletes a file it’s really only deleting the location of the data on the hard drive. This makes deleting fast, but it also means that deleted files can be recovered unless something has overwritten them. If you only need to…

If you primarily use Internet Explorer as your web browser, it is likely that you have accidentally picked up a toolbar or browser add-on while surfing the web. While toolbars and browser addons aren’t as bad as viruses and other malware, they can still be an annoyance, invade your privacy, and be a total pain to remove if you’re not sure how. What I’m about to show you is the easy way to remove any toolbars and unwanted browser junk thats causing problems in Internet Explorer on your computer. We’re going to just remove everything from internet explorer and reset…

When I first started using a Windows PC (around the time Windows 98 was newly launched), the two most popular antivirus programs known to most computer users were Norton and McAfee. While some users chose not to use any antivirus software, it was already seen as a risky choice even back then. Now 15 years later (give or take) there are literally hundreds of antivirus programs fighting malicious software, and each other, for the title of best antivirus software. Last month AV-Test.org conducted a test of all the top antivirus software currently available for Windows 8. Each program was tested…

So you’re going about your business, happily browsing eBay in search of fine Victorian polished brass door knockers or assorted 1800th century cast-iron crockery when you notice near the bottom of the screen an icon alerting you to a new message. That could be important. Quick, better click it! Or maybe you shouldn’t. Just looking at the image to right, you can probably tell it’s an advertisement. The little “i” symbol in the top right corner and the words “AdChoice” at the bottom right make it pretty clear that this is an ad. Then again, look at all that empty…

CryptoLocker User Interface. Image courtesy of Dell SecureWorks. Since its introduction in early September of this year CryptoLocker has made headlines by preventing its victims from accessing their own files. According to analysis by Dell SecureWorks the number of CryptoLocker victims has grown into the hundreds of thousands, with the exact number likely to be above 250,000. All of these infected computers add up. While not everyone pays to ransom demanded by CryptoLocker the small percentage that do have made cybercrime a very profitable endeavor for the group behind the malware. Current estimates suggest that in Bitcoin payments alone the…

Image of the National Security Operations Center provided by Wikipedia.org. News broke on Friday that security company RSA Security LLC was reportedly paid $10,000,000 in a deal with the National Security Administration to use a compromised algorithm as the default for generating random numbers in some of its software. The algorithm, known as”Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator” or “Dual_EC_DRBG”, has been championed by the NSA since its release.  But security experts have been suspicious about Dual_EC_DRBG since at least 2006 when it was found that the random numbers produced by Dual_EC_DRBG had a slight non-random bias. In 2007 two…

Accidents happen. Maybe you deleted the wrong file by mistake or a software program on your computer malfunctioned. Maybe a malware infection deleted your files. Maybe your kids/parents/pets/crazy-cat-lady-next-door have somehow managed to destroy your data despite your best precautions. Fear not! You may still be able to recover your deleted files. The first place to check, if you haven’t already, is in the Recycle Bin. If you’re somehow lucky enough that the file(s) you were looking for are there, all you need to do to recover them is Right-Click on them and choose “Restore” from the menu that pops up.…

We all know that you should never enter your credit card details online unless the webpage you’re on is secure. This knowledge has been drilled into our heads constantly by security people over the past decade or so. Even my Grandma knows it. Before she gives her credit card number to Amazon.com or Ebay or wherever she goes to buy ugly thoughtful Christmas sweaters, she checks to make sure there is a little lock icon and the letters “https” at the start of her address bar. But your credit card data isn’t the only information you want to keep secure online,…

Uninstalling a program is commonly considered basic computer knowledge, but it can be puzzling if you are not familiar with the procedure. Here’s a short guide, complete with pictures, to help get you uninstall any program you don’t want anymore. First, click the start button at the bottom left of your screen, if you have one. From the menu that pops up, click on “Control Panel”. If you’re using Windows 8, move your mouse all the way to the bottom left of your screen and right click. This should bring up a little menu that you can select “Control Panel”…

A YouTube video with all the features. It’s quite remarkable, isn’t it? In the early days of YouTube, before it was assumed that everyone in the world has a broadband internet connection, it was possible to simply pause a YouTube video and let it continue loading while paused. This was great for people with slow or unreliable internet connections. If the video wasn’t buffering fast enough to keep up with playback you could just pause the video and let the whole thing load while you went to the kitchen to make a sandwich or a cup of tea or whatever…