Paypal’s New Security Card Fits Inside Wallet – The Consumerist.
Like the idea of the Paypal security key fob, which auto-generates a 6-digit code that must be entered every time you use your Paypal account, but not so hot on its bulky shape? This year Paypal introduced a credit-card sized design that fits inside your wallet.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal – How-To Geek.
If you live in an apartment complex you’ve probably noticed more than just the passive-aggressive network IDs that your neighbors use—very likely you’ve had problems with your wireless connections dropping out, or just not being as fast as you’d like. Here’s a quick fix.
Of course, this isn’t the only thing you need to do to make sure your wireless network is running at maximum speed, but for today’s lesson we’ll show you how to pick the right channel to make sure you can stream the new Futurama episode to your laptop without skipping.
Note: if your Wireless network is working fine, please don’t mess with it. Or at least, don’t blame us if you break it.
» Read more: Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal – How-To Geek
Popularity: 26% [?]
SSDownloader fetches popular antivirus, antimalware, and firewall apps.
If you’re constantly being called on by friends and family to provide tech support, troubleshooting, and computer advice, you’ve probably had to install security applications on other people’s computers more than once. Heck, you may do it just about every day. If so, you might want to grab SSDownloader — an open source app which makes downloading current versions of popular antivirus, antimalware, firewall, and utility software a snap.
When you launch the portable app, it automatically refreshes its database and presents an excellent selection of free security apps for Windows computers. Included are popular free apps like Avast!, Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, HiJack This, Comodo Firewall, CCleaner, AutoRuns, and Process Explorer — as well as loads more.
Trial versions of programs like Nortonare also provided in case you’re trying to appease someone who demands “name brand” protection (yes, there are still people like that — and they’re not all familiar with our go-to apps).
SSDownloader is an excellent way to make sure you’ve always got up-to-date installers at the ready. Need something with more options? Check out Anti-Malware Toolkit — or Ketarin, if you’d rather go the DIY route.
Popularity: 4% [?]
With Family Safety, you decide how your kids experience the Internet. Limit searches, monitor and block or allow websites, and decide who your kids can communicate with in Windows Live Spaces, Messenger, or Hotmail.*
Family Safety is part of Windows Live Essentials, which includes free programs for photos, movies, instant messaging, e‑mail, blogging, family safety, and more. Get Family Safety or get them all—they’re free!
* The Family Safety Filter must be installed on each computer your children use. If the Filter isn’t installed, the safety settings can’t be enforced.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Most people realize that some passwords are harder to guess than others. But a new online tool allows you to see just how much variation there is.
The appropriately named www.howsecureismypassword.net has a single, simple purpose: you type in your password and the site tells you how long it would take a desktop PC to crack it, presumably by a brute force attack (that is, literally trying out every possible combination of characters.)
It should be noted the site promises that “no data is stored or transferred anywhere.” If you are still a little paranoid, it might be worth typing in a dummy password of the same construction. So, for example, if your password was smith1952, try something like jones1948 instead.
The mathematics of the calculation seems simple enough: as best I can tell it works on the basis that longer passwords take longer to crack, adding numbers as well as letters increases the difficulty, and adding other characters such as punctuation marks adds even more.
The tool does note when you type in one of 500 most popular passwords, but otherwise doesn’t seem to distinguish between dictionary words and random strings of characters. In reality, actual words are usually considered less secure as they can be cracked using the much quicker technique of running through all the words in the dictionary.
Even with these limitations, and bearing in mind that the results should only be taken as comparatives rather than absolutes, the results are staggering. To give one example, a password I use for discussion forums would apparently take 13 minutes to crack, while a longer one I use for my webmail access would take 138 million years!
» Read more: How Secure is your Password?
Popularity: 2% [?]
How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi Networks.
Starbucks is offering free Wi-Fi to all customers, at every location, starting today. Whether you’re clicking connect on Starbucks’ Wi-Fi or some other unsecured, public Wi-Fi network, here’s how to stay safe and secure while surfing a public hotspot.
Just because most wireless routers have a firewall to protect you from the internet doesn’t mean you’re protected from others connected to the same network. Lots of wireless hotspots these days are completely unencrypted, usually so they’re easier to connect to (baristas don’t need to be giving out the internet password to everyone that walks in). However, this leaves you unprotected against malicious users in the same coffee shop, so there are a few settings you should always make sure to tweak when you’re connected to a public network. We’re going to show you which settings are the most important ones, as well as how to automatically change your settings to the appropriate level of security every time you connect to a public network.
» Read more: How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi Networks
Popularity: 2% [?]
The Geek “Must Do Before You Die” Checklist | Daily Cup of Tech.
The “Official” Geek “Must Do Before You Die” Checklist:
I have also created a handy PDF version that you can download.
The list can be summed up as follows:
Popularity: 9% [?]
Customize MediaWiki into Your Ultimate Collaborative Web Site – Wikipedia – Lifehacker.
The free MediaWiki software is best known for powering Wikipedia, but you don’t have to be writing an encyclopedia to put it to good use. Extend, skin, and customize MediaWiki to create any kind of easy-to-update, collaborative web site.
MediaWiki is arguably the most advanced, install-it-yourself, free wiki package available. A wiki is an editable web site; you can change each page’s content without having to log into a content management system like WordPress or access the server via FTP or other means—you just hit the edit button. While MediaWiki is built for public web sites that anyone can update, like Wikipedia, you can customize it to limit access to certain users. Like WordPress and Firefox, MediaWiki is extendable via plug-ins that add functionality. MediaWiki is also skinnable, which means your wiki can sport a custom theme so it doesn’t look just like Wikipedia.
MediaWiki’s greatest strengths are that it makes web site pages extremely easy to update, and itmakes managing page changes by multiple users very easy as well. So, while you could use MediaWiki to publish your own personal web site where you’re the only author, MediaWiki really shines when you’re co-authoring with another person or group, or if you have an editor reviewing text on a site who needs to make quick corrections and changes. MediaWiki is also very good at structuring large amounts of text with simple markup. For example, MediaWiki automatically creates on-page, hierarchical outlines based on page sections (shown here) with links that point directly to those sections (even if they’re midway down the page). Whether you’re co-writing your NaNoWriMo novel, setting up a company intranet, or just want an easy-to-update web site, MediaWiki fits the bill.
Recently, Adam and I used MediaWiki to write, publish, and expand a book-in-progress using MediaWiki. Check it out to get a feel for what a non-Wikipedia web site using MediaWiki can look like.
» Read more: Customize MediaWiki into Your Ultimate Collaborative Web Site – Wikipedia – Lifehacker
Popularity: 19% [?]
Google’s Free Airport Wi-Fi: Five Ways to Protect Yourself – PC World.
Free Wi-Fi while you’re waiting for your flight? Sounds like a great way to save money, and kudos to Google for offering it at many U.S. airports during the holidays. Unfortunately, Google’s generosity may also lure identity thieves and nefarious hackers to the nation’s terminals to prey on clueless travelers.
Public hotspots, which by nature are open and unencrypted, are notoriously insecure. Information you transmit via laptop, smartphone, or gaming device may very well fall into the wrong hands. There are ways to stay safe, however. We asked Edgar Figueroa, executive director of industry trade group the Wi-Fi Alliance, for some hotspot safety tips. They are:
1) Configure your Wi-Fi device to not automatically connect to an open network without your approval. By doing so, you’ll be aware when you’re connecting to an open Wi-Fi hotspot. “Many devices either come out of the box or are later configured to automatically accept any available Wi-Fi connection,” Figueroa says. Auto-configuration is most popular on handsets and some consumer electronics products like gaming devices.
2) If there’s a storage device or another PC on your home network, you may have sharing enabled on the laptop you’ve brought to the airport. “When you’re connecting to a public hotspot, make sure that you disable sharing,” says Figueroa.
3) If you’re conducting business or sharing sensitive information, it’s best to use a virtual private network (VPN), which creates an encrypted, private link across a public network.
4) Use a personal firewall, either the one that came with your Mac or Windows PC, or a third-party app from a reputable security vendor like Symantec. Firewalls come with a range of configurations. “You can configure a firewall that is somewhat impermeable, and then there are times you can have it pretty open,” Figueroa says. “At a minimum, you’ll want to know when an incoming connection is attempting to gain access to your system.”
5) Should you pay bills and shop online at a hotspot? Well, it’s probably not the smartest idea. If you must, however, “it would be best to do these types of transactions over a VPN connection,” Figueroa says. At the very least, use a hotspot that has WPA2 security. Not every public hotspot offers WPA2, though.
For more safety tips, check out the Wi-Fi Alliance’s security page.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Protect Your Wi-Fi Connection at Airport Hotspots – Wi-Fi – Lifehacker.
Enticed by Google’s free airport Wi-Fi to lug along a laptop this holiday season? PC World reminds us that taking a few precautions in how you connect is a very wise move.
Photo by Mr.Thomas.
Google’s Wi-Fi hotspots will probably be fairly well-marked, or at least under a partner name like Boingo. Those might not have tight WPA2-level security, however, and other hotspots might be even less secure. PC World suggests ensuring that your system has automatic Wi-Fi connections turned off, device or media sharing disabled, and, unless you’re just reading articles and surfing around, using a VPN connection for anything involving accounts and passwords.
How to create a VPN in a public space? Web Worker Daily and eHow both have fairly good tutorials. If you’ve got your own tips on safe public browsing, share them in the comments.
Popularity: 9% [?]
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