"How to Create Good Passwords" articles abound, but I believe strongly in the method detailed below. Once your base password is created, it is easy to make a unique password for each of your online accounts.
1) Think of an easy phrase to remember - e.g., my car is fast and sleek
2) Remove the spaces in the phrase: mycarisfastandsleek
3) Capitalize the first letter of the second word: myCarisfastandsleek
4) Replace the letter "a" (all or some) with the @ symbol: myC@risf@st@ndsleek
5) Replace the letter "s" with the $ symbol: myC@ri$f@$t@nd$leek
6) Use that password as your base and then add on the first three letters of the website or account to make each password unique. For example, if I was using the above password for Facebook, it would look like this: myc@ri$f@$t@nd$leekfac and for Gmail it would look like this: myC@ri$f@$t@nd$leekgma
At first, you may be slow entering all of the characters, but with practice, it should become automatic and much easier.
Happy New Year! May 2020 be your most safe, secure online year ever!! :-)
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
YouTube - an excellent resource
Don't remember how to set Time Bake on your oven? Can't remember how to add items to your digital calendar? Need help setting up your new home security system? Want to start yoga at home? YouTube can be a wonderful tool to help you with all of these tasks and much much more!
Most of us know we can find the answer to almost any question online, but YouTube is one of the first places I look when trying to figure out how to do something. I love being able to watch a couple of quick videos to help me conquer my task.
EVERYTHING, absolutely EVERYTHING has been recorded on YouTube video, so do a search there before looking online for instruction manuals for your item or task. A word of CAUTION: Since anyone can publish on YouTube, some videos are much better (and more accurate) than others. It's always wise to watch at least 2 videos on a topic before following their advice.
And, if you are the lucky recipient of a new piece of technology for Christmas, remember that someone has already recorded a video online to help you learn how to use it!
Happy Holidays! Tech Tip Tuesday will not be published on December 24. If you are with friends and family over the holidays who may enjoy receiving weekly technology tips, feel free to share this subscribe link: http://eepurl.com/co9Hdn
Most of us know we can find the answer to almost any question online, but YouTube is one of the first places I look when trying to figure out how to do something. I love being able to watch a couple of quick videos to help me conquer my task.
EVERYTHING, absolutely EVERYTHING has been recorded on YouTube video, so do a search there before looking online for instruction manuals for your item or task. A word of CAUTION: Since anyone can publish on YouTube, some videos are much better (and more accurate) than others. It's always wise to watch at least 2 videos on a topic before following their advice.
And, if you are the lucky recipient of a new piece of technology for Christmas, remember that someone has already recorded a video online to help you learn how to use it!
Happy Holidays! Tech Tip Tuesday will not be published on December 24. If you are with friends and family over the holidays who may enjoy receiving weekly technology tips, feel free to share this subscribe link: http://eepurl.com/co9Hdn
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Don't tell the world you are traveling over the holidays!
Have you read something like this post on Facebook?
"Jamaica bound! See you all in 7 days #HoneyMoon 🇯🇲🍻🍴"
Holidays and vacations provide fun times with family and friends that are worth sharing with others, but doing so on Facebook or other social media is not a good idea until you return home.
Social media has made it easy for you to share your activities with others but if you are out-of-town, it also alerts others to your empty house making it an easy target for break-ins.
Even if you have your Privacy settings set to "Friends", how do you know that they won't share with their Friends? Are all of their Friends trustworthy? This may seem a bit far-fetched but burglars use the information shared on Facebook every single day and the numbers are increasing.
Be safe this holiday season: feel free to share memories and photos AFTER you return home.
"Jamaica bound! See you all in 7 days #HoneyMoon 🇯🇲🍻🍴"
Holidays and vacations provide fun times with family and friends that are worth sharing with others, but doing so on Facebook or other social media is not a good idea until you return home.
Social media has made it easy for you to share your activities with others but if you are out-of-town, it also alerts others to your empty house making it an easy target for break-ins.
Even if you have your Privacy settings set to "Friends", how do you know that they won't share with their Friends? Are all of their Friends trustworthy? This may seem a bit far-fetched but burglars use the information shared on Facebook every single day and the numbers are increasing.
Be safe this holiday season: feel free to share memories and photos AFTER you return home.
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Check out suspicious links with Norton Safe Web
Occasionally, a friend will send a link via Messenger , Messages or email for me to peruse. I never click on these links because I'm very wary of items being shared or forwarded, particularly on Facebook or via unsolicited emails.
I always wonder if the link is from a real website or will clicking it open my device to malware or a virus? Although I work primarily on Mac and Apple devices which usually aren't susceptible, I still don't feel comfortable clicking on a link I don't know anything about.
However, I always feel a little guilty not checking the website because it is being shared by a friend. So, I read with interest recently about a resource that will allow me to check those links, instead of just ignoring them:
Norton Safe Web - https://safeweb.norton.com - is a website that allows you to copy and paste a URL (link) to check its safety. It is a free online resource I'd encourage you to look at and then bookmark so you'll be able to find it when you need it.
Note: What if you only see the link and not the web address in the email or message? To be able to copy/paste the URL into Norton Safe Web, you will need to do a right-click (on a PC) or Control - click (on a Mac) on the link in order to Copy the Link address.
As always, I hope you have a terrific Tech Tuesday!
Jeline
All of my previous weekly tips can be found here: http://tuesdaytechtidbit.blogspot.com
I always wonder if the link is from a real website or will clicking it open my device to malware or a virus? Although I work primarily on Mac and Apple devices which usually aren't susceptible, I still don't feel comfortable clicking on a link I don't know anything about.
However, I always feel a little guilty not checking the website because it is being shared by a friend. So, I read with interest recently about a resource that will allow me to check those links, instead of just ignoring them:
Norton Safe Web - https://safeweb.norton.com - is a website that allows you to copy and paste a URL (link) to check its safety. It is a free online resource I'd encourage you to look at and then bookmark so you'll be able to find it when you need it.
Note: What if you only see the link and not the web address in the email or message? To be able to copy/paste the URL into Norton Safe Web, you will need to do a right-click (on a PC) or Control - click (on a Mac) on the link in order to Copy the Link address.
As always, I hope you have a terrific Tech Tuesday!
Jeline
All of my previous weekly tips can be found here: http://tuesdaytechtidbit.blogspot.com