Guests staying with you? Keep ‘em from prying

March 4, 2024

A spouse, roommate or friend can’t snoop on your phone if there’s no opportunity to do so. Here are a couple of simple precautions you can take.

Lock it down — Just like with your computer, you need to set a password. You may choose to use a passcode, a fingerprint, a pattern or your Face ID. The key is to actually use them. Touch and Face ID are great ways to boost security, as they can’t be guessed. They’re easy to enable, too, so you won’t feel like you’re stuck entering a code all day long.

Hide your notifications — Notifications are tempting to read and can reveal a whole lot. You can hide them from your lock screen.

For Android: Head to Settings > Notifications, then tap on the gear icon and select On the lock screen. You’ll have the options here to not show any notifications, show all notifications or hide just sensitive notifications.
For iPhone: Open Settings > Notifications, and select Show Previews. Here, you can choose to show them always, when the phone is unlocked or never.

Tags: Apple iPhone, security

Printer friendly

1-minute tech changes for more privacy

You’re shopping for a gift or doing something personal, and oops! Someone waltzes into the room. No problem — just hit Command + M on a Mac or Windows + M on a Windows PC to instantly minimize the program you have open.

Continue reading →

You could be sitting on a goldmine of old tech and toys

Gadgets have a set shelf life — which is why we’re not all still using huge, bulging monitors and portable CD players. You might have cupboards or even an entire basement packed with outdated tech you keep meaning to get rid of. Hang on, though, before you send it all to the trash. Vintage tech — and even toys — can make you some serious cash as collectors’ items.

Continue reading →

Skip the webcam upgrade: An update coming to Windows will let you easily use your Android phone or tablet as a webcam with any video app. You’ll even be able to switch between the front and back cams. Great news if your laptop’s built-in cam makes you look like a blurry potato.

Heads up, Windows 11 users: The “Moment 5” update is rolling out for versions 23H2 and 22H2. It brings an expansion for Microsoft Copilot, AI-boosted ClipChamp and Photos editing, better Snap suggestions and Widgets, and improved accessibility with Voice Access and Narrator. Go to Settings and hit Check for Updates.

In a flash: iPhone always on silent? Stop missing important notifications, and get your camera to flash whenever an alert comes in. Open Settings and tap Accessibility > Audio & Visual > LED Flash for Alerts.

Roll it back: Three people and 12 versions later, you’re totally lost editing a Google Doc. Pro move: Retrace your steps by opening the File menu > Version history > See version history. Choose a time on the right, and you’ll see who did what (and when!).

AI is here to stay: If you run a business and need help getting your AI capabilities off the ground, head to oracle.com/kim. They shell out for the best gear in the biz, like NVIDIA GPUs, so you don’t have to. Take a free test drive!

AI hack: ChatGPT can spit out info in just about any format you want. For a table, use a prompt like this: “Create a table for the top AI tools. Include the following columns: Name, category and description. Here are the tools I want to summarize: [list of tools].”

Small-biz tip: Getting the right domain is an important part of settling on a name. Check for a site name across different top-level domains (think .com, .net., .biz) and see how much they cost at iwantmyname.com.

Look out for your kids: Criminals are stealing little ones’ Social Security numbers to take out loans. It’s a clever (albeit awful) ploy because it’ll be years before the victims realize their credit is ruined. Stop cyberthieves in their tracks by using Experian’s minor request form to see if there’s a credit report in your child’s name.