USB sticks are convenient gadgets for transferring files. You've probably got a bunch of them in your desk drawer, in your bags, plugged into TVs—and they're all putting your data at risk. Here's why. Cheap USB sticks are notoriously unreliableWhen was the last time you actually purchased a USB stick?...
Windows 11 Was Barely Usable Until I Changed These 6 Default Settings
Windows defaults are a mess. Out of the box, it's barely usable because it feels more like a billboard than an operating system. I change these settings right away to make it calmer, more private, and more usable. Rip out CopilotThe Copilot app is always running in the background and...
How to Prevent Windows Disk Encryption from Locking You Out of Your PC
With so much hacking, scamming, theft, and spying in the digital world, encryption is becoming more popular. You see it in messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp, in secure connections to websites that start with "https," and on computer hard drives. Both Apple and Microsoft enable hard drive encryption to...
You’ve Been Deleting Files the Wrong Way in Windows
Most people assume that deleting files and emptying the Recycle Bin permanently removes them—but that’s not true. Those “deleted” files still sit on your drive and can be restored with recovery tools. So how do you securely erase sensitive data? You can use sDelete, Microsoft’s tool to wipe data. Why...
Your Weak, Old, Reused Passwords Are All Over the Internet
One leaked password to a critical account is a tragedy; 1.3 billion may just seem like a statistic. But security expert Troy Hunt's herculean task of combing through a massive roster of stolen logins provides some very practical insights for all of us. What matters is not so much the...