What incognito mode actually does
At its core, incognito mode is really just about local privacy. When you open a private window, your browser stops saving your browsing history, cookies, site data, and form inputs for that session. Once you close it, that data is wiped from your device, so the next person who uses your computer can’t see what you were doing or stay logged into your accounts.
That’s basically the whole job. It doesn’t block websites from tracking you while you’re actively browsing, and it doesn’t stop your internet provider, employer, or the sites themselves from seeing your activity. It just keeps your browser from remembering anything after the fact, which is useful, but a lot more limited than most people assume.
What incognito mode doesn’t hide
This is where most of the confusion comes in. Incognito mode doesn’t hide your activity from the outside world. The websites you visit can still see you, track you, and log what you’re doing. Your internet provider can still see the domains you’re connecting to. And if you’re on a work or school network, there’s a good chance your activity can still be monitored. This confusion isn’t accidental either. Even browsers like Chrome have faced legal scrutiny over how private “incognito” really is, which helps explain why so many people assume it does more than it actually does.
It also doesn’t make you anonymous or mask your identity. Your IP address is still visible, and if you sign into an account like Google, Amazon, or Facebook, you’re right back to being fully identifiable. Incognito mode just means your browser forgets what you did after the session ends. It doesn’t mean anyone else does.
When private browsing makes sense
Once you understand those limits, it becomes a lot clearer where private browsing actually makes sense, like when you’re trying to keep things off your own device, not hide from the internet. The most obvious example is using a computer that isn’t yours. If I’m on a hotel lobby PC or even a friend’s laptop, I’ll open a private window so I don’t leave behind logins, search history, or anything tied to my accounts. Close the window, and it’s like I was never there. It’s also useful for quick, routine tasks where you don’t want your regular browser session getting cluttered or affected. Logging into a second account or checking a site without existing cookies interfering are both solid use cases. It’s not a privacy tool in the big-picture sense, but for keeping your local browsing clean and separate, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
What to use if you actually want real privacy
If you’re looking for real privacy, incognito mode isn’t the tool you’re looking for. It’s a convenience feature, not a security feature. If you want to limit who can see your activity online, you need to start thinking about masking your identity and encrypting your traffic, not just clearing your local history.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by HowtoGeek.
]]>The first big addition is Ask Maps. Instead of typing a search query and scrolling through results, you can now ask Google Maps a full question like you would ask an AI assistant. You can ask for something like a quiet cafe nearby where you can get some work done, or a playground that’s not too far and has shade. Maps will then give you recommendations based on its massive catalogue of 300 million places, and these recommendations draw on reviews from more than 500 million contributors. Not only that, but it also personalizes these results using your Maps history, like your saved places, cuisines you tend to search for, and other relevant details.
This is one of those AI use cases that actually makes sense. It makes planning outings easier by taking care of much of the legwork. You can use it to plan your trips as well. For example, you could ask it for good stops along a road trip route, and Maps will get you directions, ETAs, and tips pulled from real reviews. Once you pick a place, you can reserve it, save it to a list, or share it with friends right from the conversation. Ask Maps is rolling out now in the U.S. and India on Android and iOS, with desktop coming soon.
The other half is a navigation overhaul
The navigation side of Maps is also getting a full visual refresh. You’ll now see your route in a 3D view that reflects the actual buildings, overpasses, and terrain around you, similar to Apple Maps. Maps will also highlight lane markings, crosswalks, traffic lights, and stop signs to help you merge or turn with more confidence. Google is again using Gemini models here to analyze fresh Street View and aerial imagery data to make sure you see an accurate 3D interpretation. It’s a big upgrade over the existing navigation UI, which I never really found to be lacking by any means, but these upgrades sure are nice.
Although the visuals are great, the functionality is where it gets interesting for me. You now get a broader view of your route with smart zooms and transparent buildings, so you’ll be able to see the tricky turns well in advance. Voice guidance has gotten an upgrade as well, sounding more natural like a friend giving you directions than a GPS barking robot-like commands at you. Maps will also show you tradeoffs for alternate routes, like whether a longer route has less traffic or a faster one has a toll. That kind of route context is something I always felt was missing from Google Maps. I frequently take longer routes to avoid traffic, so if you’re like me, you’ll find this feature pretty useful.
Google is overhauling even the final stretch of your drive. You can preview your destination with Street View before heading out, get parking recommendations, and see which side of the street the entrance is on as you approach. If you have parking anxiety, this feature will save you a few trips around the block.
This update is a bunch of exactly the right changes that Maps could use. Immersive Navigation is rolling out across the U.S. on iOS and Android, with CarPlay, Android Auto, and cars with Google built-in getting support over the coming months.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by HowTechlicious.
]]>First, Chrome is getting a split view mode, allowing you to have two web pages open at the same time in a shared window. It splits a browser tab into two panels, as an alternative to placing Chrome windows together with your operating system’s window snapping. When the feature is active, a new menu in the toolbar allows you to swap the panels or move them to separate tabs.
Google said in a blog post, “Our work with early testers has shown that split view is already helping people multi-task and get more done on the web. One teacher told us they use split view to more easily grade papers in the classroom, others love using it to take notes on YouTube videos, and developers are even using it to reference documentation while they code.”
Microsoft Edge has offered a split screen mode for a while, and Vivaldi’s Tab Tiling can create multiple page views in a grid with no maximum limit. Mozilla is also testing a similar feature for Firefox.
I’ve tried the split screen feature in Edge a few times, but it was always more steps than just snapping two windows together and dragging tabs between them as needed. Google’s implementation works about the same, but with a few options missing, like the ability to open links from one panel in the other panel.
Next, Chrome’s PDF viewer is adding the ability to highlight text and add notes to a document. Again, this is something that Microsoft Edge and Firefox already supported, but it’s great to see it come to Chrome as well. If you have Chrome as your usual web browser, you won’t need to switch applications anymore just to sign a form.
Finally, you can now save PDFs directly to Google Drive, even if you don’t have the Drive desktop client set up on your computer. The PDF viewer now has a Google Drive button at the top-right corner, and clicking it allows you to save the current document to a ‘Saved from Chrome’ folder in your Drive. Handy.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by HowtoGeek.
]]>Other than the freezing, the bug can also prevent sent emails from showing up in your Sent Items folder. You might also see emails randomly redownloading, which is pretty frustrating.
When you break down Microsoft’s official guidance, it becomes clear the company is struggling to manage its own ecosystem. The official workaround for the Outlook issue is just to move those PST files out of OneDrive entirely. While putting large PST files in OneDrive is often discouraged unless you are strictly using it for backup, changing a functional workflow because of a mandatory security update is a big adjustment. To me, it looks like Microsoft is having issues with basic integration testing between its flagship operating system and its core productivity suite. This cloud storage bug, tracked under KB5074109, is not confined to just one version of Windows. It affects users across Windows 11 versions, including 25H2, 24H2, and 23H2, as well as Windows 10 versions like 22H2 and older LTSC editions.
This freezing issue is just the newest problem stemming from that same January patch. Just days before Microsoft acknowledged the cloud storage issue, it had to release an emergency out-of-band fix, KB5077744, to fix widespread connection failures. That earlier bug blocked users from logging in to remote connection applications, specifically affecting Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365.
We recently reported on how the January update caused some Windows 11 23H2 devices to refuse to shut down or hibernate, forcing another round of troubleshooting by system administrators. If you are struggling with the freezing apps, Microsoft has offered some obvious advice. The company’s official suggestion is to ‘contact the application developer’ to find other ways to open your data.
Since the application developer is often Microsoft itself, that advice feels a bit circular. If Outlook is locked up, the advice is to use webmail if your email provider supports it, which is the definition of avoiding the problem rather than solving it.
Microsoft says it is actively working on releasing a resolution for this issue as soon as possible and will provide an update when more information is available. Given the sheer number of critical issues that have appeared shortly after this patch release, it feels like Microsoft needs to take a serious look at its update quality control before rolling out mandatory security fixes.
This is a good time to bring up that Microsoft’s CEO claimed that 30% of its code was written by AI. While we can’t strictly blame AI for this specific bug, it is worth noting that quality control issues have become more common in the year since that claim was made.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by HowtoGeek.
]]>What matters is not so much the magnitude of passwords captured by crooks and sold to other crooks trying to break into accounts. This is the biggest list Hunt has analyzed, but it aggregates multiple leaks that have already happened. More important is what Hunt’s conversations with a handful of individuals reveal about how people use and reuse these passwords, sometimes over decades.
Hunt’s blog post about the investigation contains powerful anecdotes from some of the 5.9 million people who subscribe to his free security breach monitoring service, Have I Been Pwned. (This includes 2.9 million whose data has been leaked.) One subscriber said that they were no longer using a six-character password on the list but were still using another, eight-character item. As Hunt reports, “#2 referred to above was just #1 with two exclamation marks at the end!!”.
Even with just that first, six-character password, hackers probably would have arrived at the second one pretty quickly. They use automated tools that generate oodles of new passwords to try on sites. Hunt gives a real-world example of another password, “Fido123!”, which has already been exposed to hackers. It’s a bad password, writes Hunt, “because it’s named after your dog followed by a very predictable pattern.” Hunt doesn’t speculate more on this particular example, but I wonder how many “Rover123!”, “Kitty123!”, “Mommy123!”, etc., are out there.
That’s dangerous because many of the passwords were also paired with email addresses, and some addresses were paired with multiple passwords. (A few are nonsensical, though, such as the pairing of one of Hunt’s own emails with an IP address, rather than a password.) Hunt doesn’t reveal the exact number of pairings, in part because he stores passwords and emails separately so as not to create another target for hackers. But even just an email is vulnerable if the owner’s logins used passwords that are easily guessable (using powerful hacking software).
And how often are those passwords reused – allowing one leaked login to unlock multiple accounts? Another subscriber whose password was in the breached list told Hunt, “Yes that was a password I used for many years for what I would call throw-away or unimportant accounts between 20 and 10 years ago.” Do even unimportant accounts still have sensitive information, even 10 years later? Possibly. And might that password also have slipped into an “important” account login?
How to Find and Kill Bad Passwords
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to root out your lousy logins, if they are stored in a password manager. And they may be, even if you don’t realize it. If you don’t have to enter your username and password every time you log into a site, it’s probably because they have been automatically stored in your web browser or operating system. (Google Chrome, for instance, incorporates the Google Password Manager.) Those are as much password managers as the third-party apps such as 1Password, Bitwarden, or Dashlane that security purists set up. Many also have tools to check your stored logins against databases of known leaked email addresses, such as Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned. Subscription-based 1Password connects to Hunt’s databases for a feature called Watchtower, which he recommends. (Hunt does disclose that he has a business partnership with the company.) Watchtower has other features, such as identifying weak passwords and passwords you have reused. There are also similar free tools built into web browsers. Google’s Chrome on desktop, for instance, click the three dots in the upper right of the window and go to Settings > Privacy and security > Safety Check. In Microsoft Edge, click the three dots and go to Passwords > Password security check. In Safari on macOS, go to Settings > Passwords > Open Passwords > Security. These steps may vary a bit depending on your software version.
Begin your efforts with the most important sites, such as Google, Apple, your financial institution, e-commerce sites that store your payment information, and any health or government benefits accounts. Absolutely change any passwords that have been leaked or duplicated on other sites. Also, to beef up ones that are weak: few characters with those predictable patterns a la “Fido123!”.
Once again, your password manager can help. It will offer to create a strong password (such as “cFW2HKpshj.aWn”, which Chrome just made for me) for you or save any one you want to enter. The best way to go is what’s called a passphrase – a nonsensical expression such as “Unclip-Parlor3-Doze”. They’re very long and therefore very hard for hackers to guess. But they are easier to type in than something like “cFW2HKpshj.aWn”. (Browsers don’t tend to generate passphrases for you; but third-party apps do, including the free version of Bitwarden.)
Now you can also go one step farther, replacing passwords with a login method called passkeys. The tech uses encryption technology to generate two related values, called keys – one residing with a website or app, the other in your password manager. (See our passkeys explainer to learn more.) Passkeys are gradually rolling out across the biggest sites on the Internet, including those sensitive sites like Amazon, eBay, Google, Microsoft, Target, Walmart, and Wells Fargo.
For all the other sites that don’t yet support passkeys, there is two-factor authentication. Yes, it’s tedious to copy-paste or type in those 2FA codes you get via text message. But this process vastly reduces the chance of someone getting into your account – even if you have a leaked email address and a pathetically poor password (which is still not an excuse for poor passwords).
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by Techlicious.
]]>Clear the Temporary Files Cache with Disk Cleanup
To clear the temporary files cache, search Disk Cleanup in the Start Menu search bar. Select the “Disk Cleanup” app, which will appear in the search results. Once selected, Disk Cleanup will start calculating how much space you can free up on the operating system drive (C:), or whichever drive you select. On a modern SSD, the window will probably be fast enough that you barely see it. The Disk Cleanup for OS (C:) will now appear. Scroll down and check the box next to “Temporary Files.” You can also choose to delete files from other locations, such as Recycle Bin or Downloads.
Once you’ve selected what you’d like to clear, click “Clean Up System Files.” Once Windows calculates the amount of storage space that will be freed up, you’ll be brought to the same page again. This time, select the files and locations a second time that you’d like to delete and then click “OK.” A warning will appear, prompting you to confirm you are sure you want to permanently delete the files. Select “Delete Files.” Disk Cleanup will now clean up unnecessary files on your machine. This process could take several minutes.
Clear DNS Cache
If you want to clear your Windows 10 PC’s DNS cache, open Command Prompt as an admin. To do this, click the Start button, then type “Command Prompt” in the search bar. The “Command Prompt” app will appear in the search results. Right-click it and select “Run As Administrator” from the menu, or click “Run as Administrator” on the side. Next, run the following command: ipconfig /flushDNS You’ll receive a message letting you know you’ve successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
Clear Windows Store Cache
To clear the Windows Store cache, open Run by pressing Windows+R on your keyboard. The Run window will appear. In the text box next to Open, type wsreset.exe and then click “OK.” Once selected, a black window will very briefly appear. There’s nothing you can do here, so just wait a few moments while it clears the cache. You will then see the Windows Store with a blank screen and a loading sign. Once the window closes, the cache is cleared, and Windows Store will launch. You can close the Windows Store app if you like.
Clear Location Cache
To clear the location cache, click the “Windows” icon in the bottom-left corner of your desktop to open the Start Menu. From there, select the Gear icon to open Windows settings. Alternatively, press Windows+i to open the Settings app. The Settings window will appear. Scroll down and select the “Privacy” option. You’ll now be in the Privacy group of the settings. In the left-hand pane, select “Location,” found in the App Permissions section. In the next window, scroll down until you find the “Location” group. Here, select “Clear” under the Location History On This Device heading.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by HowtoGeek.
]]>The Risky Business: Who Protects & Who Puts You at Risk report analyzes data from over 100 organizations and challenges conventional thinking by revealing that a small portion of users, just 10 percent, are responsible for nearly 73 percent of all risky behavior in the enterprise.
“The riskiest users aren’t who and where you think,” the report notes. Surprisingly, remote and part-time workers are often less risky than full-time, in-office employees. Meanwhile, 78 percent of users help reduce cyber risk more than they contribute to it.
Beyond phishing: what human risk really looks like
The study argues that the traditional security focus on phishing is too narrow. Instead, it identifies risk signals tied to identity, access, behavior, and external threats. These include risky behaviors like poor credential hygiene, as well as external events such as being targeted by malware or phishing campaigns.
Interestingly, events beyond a user’s control, such as threat targeting, also shape their risk profile. That’s why the report insists that reducing human risk requires more than just better training. It demands broader visibility and smarter mitigation strategies.
Visibility is the missing piece
One of the most alarming findings is how little visibility organizations have into human risk. On average, firms detect just 43 percent of potential risky behaviors and events. For those relying solely on Security Awareness Training (SAT), that figure plummets to 12 percent.
The report ties visibility directly to integration maturity. But, even with available visibility, most organizations detect only 19 percent of all human risk events in practice, suggesting a critical detection gap.
Risk is unevenly distributed
The majority of employees are classified as “vigilant.” Using a Dungeons & Dragons-style alignment grid, the report groups users by both intent (risky vs. vigilant) and consistency (lawful vs. chaotic). It finds that 78 percent of users reduce risk, with many consistently practicing good security hygiene, such as reporting phishing, using MFA, and resetting compromised credentials. The truly concerning group is the “chaotic risky” 8 percent. These are employees whose unpredictable behaviors and threat exposure make them difficult to manage. These users are a primary target for action plans and enhanced controls.
Myths about risky workers
Contrary to common assumptions, the report finds that contractors and remote workers are generally less risky than average. In fact, executives and tenured employees, while often acting as security champions, also show elevated levels of chaotic risky behavior.
Industry differences also emerge. Business services organizations have the highest rate of chaotic risky users and the lowest visibility into human risk. In contrast, highly regulated sectors like finance and healthcare show better visibility and stronger employee vigilance.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by Helpnet Security.
]]>But the nature of small business means that the information could be held less securely than it is within a large organisation, particularly if there isn’t a specialist information security employee on staff. Small businesses can also prove tempting to hackers looking to gain access to a bigger company as part of a supply chain attack – by compromising a small business that might be a supplier to a larger organisation, the attacker could use that access to help infiltrate the network of a larger business partner.
No matter what kind of cyberattack a small business falls victim to, whether that’s phishing, ransomware, malware or any other kind of malicious activity where attackers can access and tamper with data, the results can potentially be devastating. In some cases, the cost of falling victim to a cyberattack has even forced organisations to close permanently.
Fortunately, it’s possible to help keep your business and employees secure online. Here are some basic cybersecurity pitfalls that you should try to avoid.
Don’t use weak passwords to secure online accounts
Cyber criminals don’t need to be super-skilled to break into business email accounts and other applications. In many cases, they’re able to get in because the account owner is using a weak or easy-to-guess password.
The shift towards cloud-based office applications and remote working has also provided cyber criminals with additional opportunities for attacks.
Remembering many different passwords can be difficult, which can lead to people using simple passwords across multiple accounts. This leaves accounts and businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks, particularly if cyber criminals can use brute-force attacks to quickly run through a list of commonly used or simple passwords.
You should also never base your passwords around easy-to-discover information, such as your favourite sports team or your pet’s name, because clues on your public social media profiles could give this information away.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) suggests using a password made up of three random words, a tactic that should make passwords difficult to guess.
A different password should be used to secure each account – a password manager can help users by removing the need to remember every password.
Don’t ignore multi-factor authentication
It’s not impossible that even a strong password can end up in the wrong hands. Cyber criminals can use tricks, such as phishing attacks, to steal login details from users.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides an additional barrier to account compromise, by requiring the user to respond to an alert – often via a specially designed MFA application – to confirm that it really is them attempting to log in to the account.
That extra layer means that, even if a cyber criminal has the correct password, they can’t use the account without the account owner approving access. If a user gets an unexpected alert saying they’ve attempted to log in to their account, they should report it to their IT or security team and reset their password immediately, so cyber criminals can’t continue attempts to abuse a stolen password.
Despite calls for the use of multi-factor authentication – also known as two-factor authentication (2FA) – being among the most commonly issued cybersecurity advice, many businesses still aren’t using the technique – and that’s something that needs to change.
Don’t put off applying security patches and updates
One of the most common techniques cyber criminals use to breach and move around networks is taking advantage of cybersecurity vulnerabilities in applications and software. When these security vulnerabilities are disclosed, the vendors who make operating systems will usually release a security update to fix them.
The security patch will fix the flaw, thus protecting the system from cyber criminals attempting to exploit it – but only if the update is applied.
Unfortunately, many businesses are slow to roll out security patches and updates, leaving their networks and systems vulnerable to hackers. Sometimes, these vulnerabilities can be left unpatched for years, putting the business – and potentially their customers – at risk from cyber incidents that could easily have been prevented.
Therefore, one of the key things a small business can do to improve cybersecurity is to set out a strategy for applying critical security updates as quickly as possible.
This approach can be achieved by setting up the network so that software updates are applied automatically, or they can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. However, what’s vital to recognise is that critical security updates – often detailed by cybersecurity agencies like CISA – should be applied as soon as possible.
Don’t forget about antivirus software or firewalls
Antivirus software is there to help protect computers – and people – from cyber threats including malware and ransomware, but these tools can’t help anyone if they’re not installed or active. To improve cybersecurity, small businesses should install antivirus software across all computers and laptops on the network.
Nowadays, antivirus software is often bundled for free within popular operating systems, but there’s also the option of installing a product from a dedicated antivirus software vendor.
However, you can’t just ignore antivirus software after installing it. As with other software, it’s important to prevent antivirus tools from becoming obsolete against evolving cyber threats, so you’ll need to install updates and patches as required.
Installing spam filters and firewalls can also help employees stay protected against cyberattacks – and like antivirus, it’s important to have these tools turned on and kept updated in order for them to be effective.
Don’t leave employees without cybersecurity training
Even if your small business only has a handful of employees, it’s important to provide tools and training around cybersecurity awareness, because all it can take to provide malicious hackers with a way into the network is one person inadvertently making an error.
For example, they could mistakenly click on a link in a phishing email and install malware on the network, or they could fall victim to a business email compromise scam and transfer a large sum of money to someone claiming to be a business partner – or even their boss.
Therefore, providing education and advice to employees on how to recognise phishing emails, suspicious links and other potential methods of attack is vital for helping to keep data, money, personnel and customers secure. It’s also important that employees know who they should report potential suspicious activity to, so suspected cybersecurity incidents can be prevented.
Don’t ignore backups
Even if there’s only a handful of computers on your network, one of the key things you should be doing to make systems more resilient to cyberattacks is producing regular backups of your data.
This strategy means that in the event of an incident encrypting, wiping or otherwise bringing the network down, there will be a recent copy of all of your data that can be restored – and that means a relatively quick return to normal.
The backups should be updated regularly, so that the data stored within them is as recent as possible, and the backups should be stored offline, preventing any attackers who get in the network from accessing and wiping them.
Don’t leave your network unmonitored
Setting up the network with controls to help prevent cyberattacks is useful, but small businesses shouldn’t install tools and then just ignore them and hope for the best. Someone in your business should have responsibility for monitoring activity on the network for potential harmful behavior.
This approach starts with knowing what computers and other internet-connected devices actually make up your network – because you can’t defend what you don’t know about. Then, you’ll need to ensure these devices are protected with the right updates.
Identifying internet-connected devices on the network might sound like a simple task, but it can get complicated quickly. These devices don’t just include computers: there’s also IoT devices, point-of-sale machines, security cameras, and potentially much more. All these devices could potentially be exploited and abused by cyber criminals if they are not managed correctly.
Therefore, taking the time to audit your network and fully understand what’s on it is vital. It’s also important to be aware of what consists of regular behaviour on the network and what could count as suspicious or irregular. If your small business is suddenly seeing logins from the other side of the world, for example, then that could be a sign that something is wrong and needs investigating.
Don’t end up facing a cybersecurity incident without a plan
Even if you have a solid cybersecurity strategy, there’s still a chance that cyber criminals could breach the network and use their access for nefarious means, whether that’s installing ransomware, conducting espionage, stealing credit card information or focusing on countless other malicious attacks.
In the event of one of these events happening, it’s helpful to have a plan that can be put in place – and it should be accessible even if the network ends up offline.
Having a plan in place – around how the business will respond to a cyberattack, how it could continue operating and which cybersecurity agencies and investigators should be contacted – will help your business to deal with a stressful situation with some semblance of strategy and calm.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by ZDNet.
]]>According to the Q1/2025 Threat Report by Gen (parent company of Norton, Avast, and Lifelock ), Fake Update scams surged 1,711% last quarter. This new wave of attacks hit users across Europe especially hard, with hotspots in Belgium, Poland, Italy, Germany, and the UK, but Americans are at risk, too. The hook is simple but effective: you’re browsing a site, and a warning flashes that your Chrome or Opera browser is outdated. The message looks convincing – often using familiar logos, fonts, and language – and it urges you to download the latest version right away. But instead of a legitimate update, you’re downloading malware like the Lumma Stealer, a powerful info-stealing tool that can exfiltrate passwords, crypto wallet data, and two-factor authentication tokens.
What makes these scams so effective is that they exploit a habit that we are encouraged to practice: staying up to date. Fake Update campaigns tap into that trust, using realistic visuals and urgency to override skepticism. Once the malware is installed, there’s no “undo.” Attackers have full access to sensitive data, and in some cases, can use that to gain entrance to your other accounts and devices. The best protection is knowing how real browser updates work. Chrome, for instance, updates automatically in the background. You never need to manually download anything from a pop-up or third-party site. If you’re ever unsure, go to Menu > Settings > About Chrome (or Menu > Update & Recovery for Opera) in your browser to initiate the update. Never click “update” on a random page. This applies to both PC and Mac users, especially as attackers increasingly blur the lines between platforms.
Fake Update scams are a perfect example of a broader shift in cybercrime: attackers no longer rely on brute force; they rely on you. With AI-generated pages and social engineering techniques improving rapidly, even tech-savvy people are falling for it.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by Techlicious.
]]>Regular computer usage results in stored cache files that can become corrupted and outdated, leading to operational quirks and slower boot times. Clearing this cache and other temporary files can improve performance and keep things running optimally. Here’s how.
How to use the Windows Cleanup recommendations
Windows 11 can identify large files, unused apps, and system files that can be safely deleted. This is a good place to start when optimizing your disk space. Here’s how to access these tools:
This will bring up temporary files in your Downloads folder and the Recycle Bin. Nuking these files can free up several GB of disk space. Before you do, ensure you don’t need anything in your Downloads folder, as it could contain necessary files.
Other recommendations for removal will appear on this screen, including large or unused files, which Windows will bring to your attention. Many of the large files it will suggest will be video clips or large image files, which you might want to review before deleting.
At the bottom, Windows will identify apps you rarely (or have never used) to consider for deletion. If you don’t need an app, you can remove it and reclaim the disk space.
How to use the Windows Disk Cleanup utility
Disk Cleanup is another utility that is accessible regardless of your Windows version. The easiest way to open it is to search for “Disk Cleanup” in the search bar and bring up the window. The utility will then identify temporary internet files, setup log files, and various cache files that can be safely deleted to reclaim a few GB of storage space (hey, every little bit helps). Check the boxes of the file types you’re ready to delete and click OK. It’s that easy.
How to clear your PC’s location cache
Some data will be created when your PC syncs in a new location. You can safely clear your device’s location cache in Windows to free up more space. Here’s how:
How to flush the DNS cache
If your internet browsing speeds aren’t what they used to be, one thing that could help speed things up is a flush of the DNS cache. This task is easy enough to do with one command. Here’s how:
Optimizing Windows requires good file management habits, and monitoring file creep is crucial. These cleanup utilities might seem small in impact, but they add up over time to keep things running smoothly.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
This was originally posted by ZDNet.
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