Let’s talk about cookies — not the kind you eat, but the ones that hold all the information your browser saves from websites you visit. Cookies are tiny files that contain your logins, user names, passwords and ads you’ve seen. Basically, they’re little trackers that follow you around the web, which means they have a ton of data on you and your browsing habits.
There are good things about them, though: One of the biggest benefits is keeping you logged into those websites you visit. You don’t have to enter your username and password each time you go to the site. After all, who wants to deal with entering more credentials during the day?
Here’s another example. Say you put items in your Amazon shopping cart, but you don’t check out. A cookie sends that information back to Amazon, so when you return to the site later, all your stuff is still in your shopping cart.
There are also third-party tracking cookies that follow you around the internet. They collect your every move, bundle up that data and report back to marketing companies. Now, advertisers can reel you in by sending personalized ads based on websites you’ve looked at.
If you’ve been a Komando fan for a while, you’ve probably heard me say it’s good to remove your cookies from time to time. Scrub these tasty little trackers from your computers, laptop and even your phone. I mean, the less tracking, the better, right?
But there is one cookie you may not have heard of. It’s the supercookie. You’ll want to know more about this one.
Regular cookies are simple to remove. Just click a setting and your browsing data and cookies are gone into the intergalactic bitbucket.
Not so with supercookies. These are trackers you can’t remove.
That’s because your internet service provider inserts a supercookie into your connection. It tracks every single thing you do online, plus every website that you visit.
Think about every site you went to in the last month, from online stores to social media apps. You’ve probably Googled some phrases you wouldn’t want to explain. I’m willing to bet there are a few websites you’ve been to that would you’d prefer to keep private.
Are you searching for a new job right now? Job hunting can be pretty stressful in normal times, but a lot of people are out of work right now thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, making job competition stiff.
As of September, a whopping 12.6 million people were unemployed in the U.S. Another 4.6 million Americans were on temporary layoff status. There’s a ton of competition for each job opening, and it can be tough finding a position that fits your criteria. There are also these job-related scams to contend with.
Open/download audioFacebook had a major outage that was believed to be a server error. But when you think about it, servers can’t be so easily misconfigured, which leads me to wonder, could it have been a hack?
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Data is the lifeblood of every business. From your clients’ contact information to your internal documents, proper storage, backups and security is key.
You need a place to store all that data, and the cloud might not cut it. You may need to upgrade to a physical server.
Are you waiting on a package delivery right now? So are thousands of other Americans — and thanks to delivery services like Amazon and package trackers, we have a pretty good idea of when our goods will arrive.
That’s the reason scammers are changing tactics towards delivery notifications. By making you think a text is related to something you ordered, scammers can easily trick you into opening phishing messages and other nasty surprises. Tap or click here to see how to tell if your delivery notifications are real.
There are two kinds of people: Those who keep their inbox at zero and those floating around 14,503. All right, some live in the space in between, but the point is if you don’t keep careful control of your emails, your inbox can become unmanageable before you know it.
Google has just announced that it’s enabling a range of new settings that users can easily adjust on the fly. Dubbed “Quick Settings,” these options let you adjust the look and feel of your inbox without ever needing to leave or hunt through sub-menus.
Feel like your internet is lagging? If more people are home than normal and using it constantly, that might be the problem. The good news is, you can probably fix it.
First, check your internet speed. Click or tap here for ways to check your internet speed. Does it match the service you pay for each month? If not, try resetting your modem or router, and see if that improves things.
Imagine checking your email and getting a message saying your account has been hacked. You never contacted the sender, have no idea what they’re talking about and don’t know why your account would be compromised. Yet somehow, the email arrived — which points to one probable cause: your address was leaked.
It’s bad enough to see one website get hacked, but how about thousands of websites at once? That’s what happened when a popular e-commerce platform was targeted by hackers — putting the financial information of millions of shoppers in harm’s way. If you visited any of these compromised websites, you may want to think about calling your bank.
As a small business owner for over 20 years, Kim has partnered with a few hardware and software vendors and companies. These companies may sponsor The Kim Komando Show and Komando.com, but she honestly trusts their time-saving tools, security features and money-saving innovations.
The ongoing scourge of data breaches doesn’t seem like it’s ending any time soon. The attacks are getting more sophisticated, and people caught in the crosshairs are suffering massive financial and social repercussions in the aftermath of each event. This latest major cyberattack, however, significantly raises the stakes for all parties involved — which include some of the biggest names in the corporate world.
We’ve been touting the great benefits of RemotePC for years, because we know how important it is to be able to access your home and business computers when you’re away. Still, we get questions from time to time like, “What else can I do with RemotePC software?” Here are 6 FAQs and our answers.
Don’t put up with battery breakdown if you don’t have to. Sometimes there is a physical issue with the battery itself, but sometimes there’s a setting buried in Android that is draining your battery life without you even knowing it. Just adjust a few things and you’ll find a lot fewer of the frustrating black screens and a lot more of the information and communication you rely on. Read more.
Our phones are microcomputers that are constantly using applications in the background, which zaps battery life. They never stay charged as long as manufacturers say they will, either. Here are three things you can do right now that will make your iPhone last longer between charges.
We all know phishing scams have become a large part of today’s internet culture. You receive an email and you are not sure whether or not you should open it. Well, what you might now know is there is a way to see where that email was sent from and even what server it came from. This can help you establish if the email is dangerous or not. Now, it might take a little leg work, but that’s why I am here to walk you through the steps.
You may not know it, but you might be vulnerable to being hacked right now. And it might not just be your computer. If hackers get into this one device they can virtually get into every other device in your home. Even your home security system. I’m talking about your router. Most people don’t realize just how vulnerable the typical router is. The larger problem is that many popular router brands have a gaping security hole and it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything about it.
The world today can seem like a scary place. Hackers and scammers seem to be everywhere just trying to steal our money, identities, medical information, or just use our computer for other malicious intentions. Sometimes I know it’s hard to believe, but there is still light in the world and I can prove it. Recently, it was discovered that a Russian hacker was breaking into people’s routers, but not to do anything awful, but to do good. His selfless actions actually made people safer, and you won’t believe how.
A recent Bloomberg report has stated that their might be evidence that some Chinese computer manufacturers may be putting a spy chip within the servers that could give Chinese hackers a backdoor.
Do you love buying your clothes online? Online shopping can be convenient and fun, but there’s a downside — with the frequency of data breaches occurring these days, your information is at constant risk from hackers and identity thieves.
