If you’re like me, and indeed most people, you tend to have a bit of trouble remembering passwords for your different online accounts. At the very least, you may remember the passwords themselves, but not what they go to. What’s worse is that many account-connected services will auto-lockout when hit with too many wrong passwords. It’s almost like having a lock that breaks and becomes unusable after you try the wrong key.
Thankfully, as many companies and developers have become aware of this common problem, a good number of tools, features, and programs have cropped up over the years to help. We’ll be looking at some of these solutions, from built in features to standalone programs, and comparing the capabilities and convenience of everything from the basic to the advanced.
The most basic form of password management is the built-in password autofill option incorporated into most modern web browsers.
Now, for the most commonly used browsers out there, any new webpage or account that is signed into with a username and password will prompt the browser in question to ask if the user wishes to save that information for easy access later. If the user chooses to accept the prompt, then the browser will automatically enter the correct information to log in to a webpage every time the user accesses said webpage. In addition to this convenience, most browsers also have synchronizing capabilities to some extent, and as such can log a user in and provide usernames and passwords for the user’s accounts, even on a computer that wasn’t originally used to save the password, so long as the user is logged into the browser itself.
However, this method has its disadvantages. First off, the very fact that the information is not itself password protected means that anyone with access to your computer, or one of the computers you are signed into with that browser, can access any of your accounts without having to directly know the information required to do so. Besides this, the feature itself is usually not very easy to control. Once a password is saved, some browsers require you to go through a mess of menus and interfaces to manage or remove this type of saved information, and some don’t let you pick and choose, requiring you to remove all of the browser’s data, even down to your history and your bookmarks, in order to get rid of a saved password. For another thing, the browser’s password saving is obviously limited to only things you can open in said browser, and will not be effective on applications loaded onto your computer such as Adobe Creative Cloud, QuickBooks, ACT!, etc.
The next step up from this form of credential management are tools like Norton’s Identity Safe.
Identity Safe is a free program provided by Norton, and is frequently bundled with their antivirus package, making it one of the more commonly seen options on this list. Although it has some of the same limitations as the browsers’ integrated options, it definitely surpasses them in a few key areas. For one thing, it protects your many passwords with a master password, which is immediately more secure than browser-stored passwords. It still stays synchronized across different computers and devices since it is cloud based, meaning wherever you go, your passwords are just a log in away. It has an account and password manager for deleting or altering login data for different websites and specific accounts should they change or become out of date. It can also conveniently import existing passwords and account information from a web browser of your choice, so upon setting it up it is not necessary to go through and re-enter every piece of information you already have stored. It can also remember multiple logins for the same site, should you have multiple accounts.
Unfortunately, it still faces certain disadvantages, just like the options listed above. For one thing, Identity Safe only works, once again, on webpages. It has no support for logging into applications outside of a web browser. It also is not as secure as many would like, as all those passwords you have stored could be the most secure in the world, but that wouldn’t protect you if someone were to guess your master password. Beyond this, it also reportedly has trouble with identifying certain web pages that it should save the passwords for, but doesn’t. All in all, it’s a good option for the fact that it’s free, and it’s more secure than not, but it still has its disadvantages.
If you are looking for essentially the last word in secure passwords, look no further than products such as LastPass and Roboform.
Both programs rectify every weakness seen in the previous options, and include every feature already seen. However, both add the ability to generate large, randomized, and complex passwords. Both also work on external applications as well as webpages. both allow for numerous different form autofills and account logins for as many websites and applications as you wish as well. Security wise, both are heavily encrypted and virtually impossible to breach, as well as having the capability to set up a two step-authentication, which is a method of logging in that requires more than one password or method. In fact, the user has a good deal of options for authentication methods, even down to their fingerprints if the device has a fingerprint reader.
All in all, you cannot get more secure than these. Their convenience parallels their effectiveness, removing any real difficulty in choosing or managing what information is to be protected by these applications. In this day of identity theft and cyber crime, it is all the more important to remain vigilant and well guarded online.
Back in February, Microsoft announced it would be resetting Windows 10’s status from an “Optional Update” to a “Recommended” one. While this might not seem to be a big deal, it has become a potential problem for millions of unwary Windows 7 and Windows 8 users out there. You see, by default, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are set to automatically install Recommended updates. Now, we’ve spoken before about what a Windows 10 upgrade could mean for a lot of people, and it’s safe to say that an unexpected or ill-prepared-for upgrade could even be dangerous to a computer or its data. Thankfully, it’s not a difficult process to prevent the upgrade from occurring automatically, and there are only a few steps required.
Step 1
First off, clicking the start button in the bottom left of the screen will bring up the start menu. Besides containing a number of options for viewing files, opening programs, and shutting down the computer, there is also a search box at the bottom for finding specific options. You’ll want to use it to find the “Windows Update” option. (Windows 8.1 users should still be able to perform these actions. However, when the Start Screen opens, either starting to type or clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right should allow you to search.)
Step 2
The Windows Update control panel will open, which is used for managing and choosing updates to be installed on your computer. In this case, the order of business is to keep Windows from installing “Recommended” updates automatically, so click on the “Change Settings” option.
Step 3
On the following screen, the option to “Install Updates Automatically” should be selected and changed to “Download updates but let me choose whether to install them” instead. This will keep Windows 10 from being unintentionally installed unless you are ready and willing to make the switch.
Earlier last month, Google announced it would discontinue its photo manager, Picasa, in exchange for a heavier focus on its cloud-based Google Photos service. For many people who have used Picasa for organizing and editing their pictures for many years, this represents a big change in the way they will accomplish this task in the future.
Making the Shift
For many out there, this change will not be an easy one – often times, people who see the need for a photo manager will have quite a sizable collection stored up, and to migrate to a new service will not be an easy proposition. However, there is hope for a relatively painless transition for some. At the moment, Picasa allows the back up of pictures and videos to its online storage service, “Picasa Web Albums”, which is Google Photos’ predecessor.
One of the good things about the similarity of these two online services is that, as part of its migration, users who log in to Google Photos with the same Google account as their Picasa Web Albums will notice that their new Photos service has all the pictures and videos from their Web Albums account already synchronized. For those that don’t use the service, Google has also provided a small application that uploads image and video files automatically, from sources of your choice, called “Google Photos Backup”. It can even detect when a camera memory card is inserted or an external drive is plugged in, pulling the pictures up as soon as it is connected.
The service also has the benefit of being cloud-based, which we’ve gone over in previous articles, but it’s worth mentioning again that often these files will be kept considerably safer online where failures, accidents, or acts of god are far less likely to occur. As far as how much storage you get for all your pictures and videos, the amount is virtually unlimited.* (More on this below)
Functionality
Picasa is more than just an organizer of sorts, and this is reflected as well in Google Photos – filtering, recoloring, cropping, and many other functions are still present, albeit in different varieties and configurations from its predecessor. As far as its overall capability goes, it should be relatively similar to Picasa in function, although we did notice certain options were absent or had been replaced by different ones. When it comes down to it though, it’s truly up to you whether the changes made on that front are worthwhile or detrimental.
Unfortunately, not every part of this change has been a rosy one. While a lot of the editing functions are still intact, many of Picasa’s more discrete functions have been lost, and while some of these features, such as collage and poster work or custom screensavers weren’t particularly widely used, it is still a shame to see an objective step back in functionality. Some of the options for sharing photos have also been removed, such as attaching files straight to emails. However, with the files living online now, the option to get a link to specific images which anyone can view has been added, and can be useful for sharing the files via email.
On the subject of sharing, Photos also introduces a handy feature for family and friends to enjoy, which is known as “Shared Albums”. Shared albums allow for multiple people to have access to a specific album of sorts, which can be added to and commented on by people of your choosing.
All in all, this migration will be a difficult one for some, and an easy one for others. There will be some adjustment, but this change is not without its advantages.
Storage Settings
Regarding the unlimited storage of pictures and videos, especially for those photography enthusiasts out there, there are two settings for saving files: “High Quality” and “Original”.
Only files saved under the High Quality settings are given unlimited space, and they are restricted to a maximum of 16 MP for photos, and 1080p for videos. What this means is that, for any picture shot at a resolution beyond 16 Megapixels, Google will downsample uploads to that size. Likewise, for videos shot beyond 1080p (Full HD), such as 1440p (Quad HD) and 2160p (Ultra HD), the versions stored online are downsampled to meet the restriction. Storing files using the “Original” setting will save the files at their original qualities, but these files will count against your Google Drive storage. For most people, however, using inexpensive digital cameras or smartphones, qualities will be within the acceptable range.
For many parents out there, keeping a watchful eye on the types of content their children are exposed to online is an order of high priority. To reflect the importance of this task, both Microsoft and Apple have stepped up to the plate with their own parental controls systems built right into the latest versions of Windows and Mac OS.
In the case of Microsoft, the parental control system for Windows 10 has been improved and revised somewhat from previous iterations, and is now controlled primarily through the Microsoft Accounts. Parents will set up an account for their children, and add it to their “Family”, which is a sort of administered account group. Special steps are taken to ensure the account is properly classified, allowing parents to provide the right level of protection based on the child’s age range, among other factors.
The “Child” account, once set up, is registered under the “Parent” account’s contact information for recovery purposes, just in case the account gets hacked or the password is forgotten. The parent also has the option to receive weekly activity reports regarding what the child has been up to, what sites they’ve visited, etc.
By selecting the “Manage Family Settings Online” option under the “Accounts” and “Family” settings menu, parents will be redirected to a webpage that will allow them to disallow access to inappropriate websites, as well as restricting specific undesirable, but not explicitly “Inappropriate”, websites from access. Beyond websites, the control system can also limit applications and games to specific age ranges and rating levels, or similarly, on a subject by subject basis.
In addition to Application access controls, the control panel also has the capability of limiting access to the computers during specific times, and even has functionality for restricting the total time on the computer for a given day to a specific number of hours. These types of settings are geared toward enforcing bed times and keeping kids from spending too long on the computer on school days and the like.
For Apple, setting parental controls is similarly simple, but there are a few differences. To start parental controls, the parent must obviously choose or add a child account. However, in this case, the “Managed” account does not necessarily have to be an online account, but can instead be localized to only that computer in particular.
Once the parental control system is enabled and one or more managed accounts are chosen, parents have control over many of the factors their Windows counterparts do. These include setting which applications can be used, what websites can be accessed, and the time during which that user can log in.
Beyond a blanket filter of websites the computer deems objectionable, the parent can customize what they don’t want the child to see, allowing certain websites to be blocked or allowed in particular. Alternatively, it can act with a whitelist instead, blocking every website except the websites provided on the list.
In addition to this, Mac users can also affect control over what items can be purchased in the different app stores available, as well as who the user can email or have contact with.
All in all, both systems have their merits, and with keeping children safe on the internet, parental controls have come a long way.
For many years, the vast majority of users on the internet have mostly used one or two internet browsers: Internet Explorer or Safari. Those options were always laid out as plainly as the platform they were built on, being Windows or Mac OS, respectively. However, around 2010, that started to change. With the major performance issues of the now-defunct Internet Explorer 10, and the lack of features or real change presented by Safari, more and more users began looking toward alternative web browsers.
We’ll be going over some of those options, and why you should (or shouldn’t!) make a switch, depending on your tastes.
Mainstream Web Browsers
Microsoft Internet Explorer
First off, we have the most historically widely-used internet browser, the mainstay of Windows, and probably one of the longest-running ones on this list, Internet Explorer 11. Because of its long history, it also tends to be compatible with a lot of commercial sites, which tend to be slow to change or update. This makes it a very important asset for corporations and enterprises, especially those whose size make major system changes cost or time prohibitive.
However, Internet Explorer still suffers from a bit of instability when viewing certain content, and has been known to become sluggish or unresponsive in some situations. Also, being one of the historically most popular browsers has made it a target, in the past and present, of malware and adware attacks. Older versions are probably the most vulnerable, so especially for those running 10 and prior, which are no longer supported by Microsoft, it becomes very important to upgrade or, barring that, switch to another alternative.
Apple Safari
Next up, we have Safari. Apple’s mainstay internet browser has shown a long history, and like IE has shown considerably wide compatibility with many websites, whether they were made yesterday or fifteen years ago. Safari has also been shown to be more stable than Internet Explorer, and barring the occasional mishap, has had a very strong record of good performance and good security. With the recent integration of Siri, it has also entered the same smart browsing space as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Its exclusive presence on the Mac and iOS operating systems makes obtaining and using it prohibitive to anyone not owning an Apple-branded product, but for those that do, it remains a good option.
Naturally though, there’s no such thing as a perfect product, and in a number of places Apple’s Safari web browser falls short. For example, synchronizing settings, bookmarks, and the like is not possible, except between Apple devices. Being so restricted to exactly one brand of products means cross-compatibility is non-existent, and if you find yourself using a Windows, Android, or Chrome OS device (which tend to be far more commonly available), you will have no access to the data on your Safari browser. This was somewhat excusable in the case of Internet Explorer due to its widespread availability, as well as the ability of most other browsers to import settings and favorites from it on request. Even Mac users have the capability of running Internet Explorer via Bootcamp or Virtual Machine software like Parallels, but on such a closed platform, having no presence on other systems is inconvenient.
As far as both Microsoft and Apple’s original offerings go, both offer strong compatibility, good performance, and a simple interface. However, the lack of any real customization or the lack of a centralized location to get a decent selection of addons or extensions leaves them feeling bland and somewhat limited. As mentioned before as well, being the “original” essentially paints a target on your back in regards to security breaches and annoying or less than useful toolbars and hijackers looking to hit the widest number of potential victims.
Alternative Web Browsers
Google Chrome
Chrome has a lot of things going for it, and a lot of the changes Google has made have been pretty beneficial. First off, Chrome, especially when it first came out, was the fastest web browser around. Since its inception, it has also expanded to every platform imaginable, and can be used on Windows, Android, Mac OS, iOS, and even Linux. It also takes advantage of its cross-compatibility with its synchronizing capabilities. If you are reading an article on your Android phone, you can pick it up on your iPad or Windows PC, or any other device for that matter, right where you were. If you save a bookmark, add an extension, or save login details for a website, you will find that Chrome will have them handy on whatever device you use. Its connection to everything Google also gives it the interesting ability to allow for voice searches using “Google Now”, in which users can actually talk to the web browser to get answers on different subjects and perform searches. Chrome also has a massive library of extensions, from ad blockers to productivity tools, as well as a huge selection of themes, designs, and other tweaks to personalize it how you see fit.
Once again however, this is not to say Chrome is perfect. Unfortunately, since its now been on top in popularity for a few years, it suffers from the same targeted bloat and malicious software that the previous options have, and its extensibility has also amplified the problem to a degree, causing many Chrome users to unwittingly install such software alongside seemingly benign programs. It also seems that every piece of adware these days has some sort of hijacker or toolbar forcing victims to be annoyingly revisited by such content. Besides this, Chrome has also started picking up a bit of a flaw in its design in more recent versions. It has become very memory demanding, and although it still runs well on higher-end systems, lower-end or older hardware will suffer considerably from its hunger for more and more resources.
Whereas Google Chrome is something of a newcomer to the field of alternative web browsers, there are a couple that have persisted for much longer. One such example is Mozilla’s Firefox web browser.
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is a rather interesting animal in that it stands out from the pack when it comes to a different emphasis on a few of its key features, and has historically been one of the first to develop or adopt a lot of capabilities we take for granted today. Every browser worth its bits these days has tabbed browsing, which is the ability to have multiple pages open simultaneously within the same web browser. Although so many use this feature in the present day, Firefox was the first, and it still has the most refined tab experience. It allows users to efficiently group multiple tabs into organized groups relating to certain subjects, almost akin to how one might organize a set of paper documents in a file folder. Another development is the smart location bar, which allows users to find webpages and information they frequently access or have recently visited simply by typing a related term or even a few letters into the address bar. Besides it features, however, Firefox has probably the greatest emphasis in the group on privacy and security, and tends to be the least vulnerable to phishing attacks looking to steal user information, and even goes so far as to actively block sites that it detects are dangerous or misleading. Firefox seems to focus a lot in areas different from the other browsers here, and to further fill that idea, it has shown to be the most lightweight web browser around – using about half the average memory of Chrome and significantly less than any of the aforementioned options.
Where Firefox excels in some ways over other options, it also has some weaknesses in comparison. Partially as a caveat to its low memory usage, Firefox has one of the slowest startup times on this list, and does not reload recently closed pages or tabs nearly as quickly as some others. In addition to this, with how its (admittedly plentiful) addons work, running multiple instances of Firefox or mutliple addons can cause a significant slowdown or instability. Finally, it is still somewhat less compatible with some websites than other options, and it can be almost overprotective in some cases, occasionally blocking perfectly legitimate websites or services it believes are harmful in some way.
Opera Chromium
Over the years, Opera has accumulated quite a troupe of interesting capabilities, most of which have remained to the present day. First and foremost, there’s Opera Turbo: a function that compresses website data before sending it, decompressing it on arrival. This provides the benefit of loading pages more quickly on a slow internet connection, as well as saving data on a metered or limited internet connection, for example on airline flights or with mobile hotspots and smartphone networks. Furthering the idea of getting to the pages you want quickly, Opera also has a feature called “Speed Dial”, which, in the same vein as a telephone, is a fully customizable menu which Opera opens to by default that can store links to frequently used or important websites.
There are also a variety of other handy features built right into the web browser, many of which often exist as dedicated programs elsewhere. For example, it has a built in Email client which can handle multiple accounts, an RSS reader, a note manager similar to Evernote, and even a Torrent downloading client. Other minor features involve the ability to preview tabs by hovering over them, reload webpages automatically on a set schedule (for those bloggers and bidders out there), and control common browser functions (Back, Forward, Refresh, New Tab, Etc.) with mouse gestures. It’s also built on Chromium just like Google Chrome, but it lacks a lot of the vulnerability to bloat with a tighter sense of security and, partially thanks to its uncommonness, much less of a focus by malicious software writers. It also manages to be one of the lightest on memory usage, trailing only behind Firefox on its lack of resource demand.
Opera is an interesting project in that it rectifies a lot of the flaws in some of the other browsers on this list, but it doesn’t particularly excel at any one thing. It’s features are numerous and different, and it comes with a lot of capabilities pre-packaged, but also because of its uncommonness, it doesn’t have a strong following in the extension development community. On the performance side, it doesn’t really stand out from the others either. It’s not the fastest, nor the lightest-weight, nor the most secure, nor the most extensible, nor even the most widely compatible browser on this list. It gets good scores on average where a lot of the others will flop in at least one area, but it never tops the charts. As they say: jack of all trades, master of none.
Microsoft Edge
But wait! You didn’t mention this browser under the mainstream browsers section. It’s a Microsoft product, and it’s meant to replace Internet Explorer! Doesn’t that automatically make it a mainstream browser?
Well… Not quite. Microsoft Edge may be the “powerful new web browser” built from the ground up to serve as the heir apparent to Internet Explorer, but it’s not quite mainstream yet. For one thing, Edge was in experimental stages as early as six months ago. All things considered, it’s very young. Secondly, it is not backwards compatible with versions of Windows before Windows 10. That’s right, it’s a Windows 10 exclusive. However, that doesn’t mean it should be discounted. In fact, if you’ve bought a computer in the last few months, you more than likely have Edge already, and if your current computer is from within the last six years, you probably have the chance to get Windows 10 for free. But this isn’t news, as everyone has seen the upgrade option at some point or another.
Regarding Edge though, it definitely lives up to the hype regarding its performance over Internet Explorer. Pages load faster, its more secure, it launches more quickly, and it is designed more intelligently. From my article regarding changes in Windows 10, “It has a very clean aesthetic, and most of the menus and settings are laid out in a very straight forward manner. In terms of integration, it works quite well with Cortana, allowing her to learn about the user’s needs over time, as well as allowing her to assist you and carry out functions within the browser.” It also has the unique feature of allowing users to capture entire web pages, even space outside the boundary of the screen (which alone functions better than any screenshot software I’ve ever seen), and write on them or edit them for collaborative projects or presentations. It also appears to be far less vulnerable to intrusion or exploitation than most browsers currently, and it has solid security.
It uses a good deal of memory, but it actually relinquishes it when closing tabs much better than Google Chrome seems to want to, and that’s alright with it being part of only the latest iteration of Windows. It doesn’t have support for extensions at the present time, but it’s planning on having them in the future. It’s still somewhat buggy, though, and that’s its greatest weakness: its age. Tabs don’t always close, some websites don’t display completely, and occasionally it lags for a second or so when loading new webpages. However, it’s solid otherwise and should improve on its deficiencies in time. Remember when I said that Microsoft Edge is Internet Explorer’s “heir apparent”? It hasn’t deposed Internet Explorer or anything. IE is still present, even in Windows 10, for “compatibility purposes”. This simply means that Microsoft acknowledges that Edge is not yet fully matured, and some things might not yet work with it. For those things that don’t, users have something to fall back on.
We’ve spoken on the subject of data backups and how important they are in the past, but we’ve never really explored the different options available in some of the categories of backup methods.
In recent years especially, one of those backup methods has gone from trendy idea to industry standard, and many users find that, for better or for worse, their data is always kept safe in the cloud.
Now, as mentioned before, there are different options available for cloud storage intended for different purposes and users. In fact, with how trendy this type of service has become, every other tech company under the sun wants to get in on the business. At this point, there are probably more clouds on the internet than clouds in the sky!
We’ll be going over some of the most prevalent and popular platforms, as well as the more specialized file hosters, especially those for photos.
PROVIDERS:
Thanks to their significant marketing power, and their advantages when it comes to tying into their other products and services, the most widely used cloud storage providers tend to be, unsuprisingly, the largest players in the tech community already. However, despite the unlevel playing field, alot of smaller services have cropped up over time and, through either unique features, value, or persistence, have managed to grow considerably since their creations.
First off, we have Dropbox. Dropbox is one of the more independent ones here, and was one of the first cloud services to really make it big in the industry. They give users 2 GB of storage for free, and basic plans start at $10 per month for 1 Terabyte of storage. This amount of space is typically more than enough for the average user, and they offer more advanced features like file sharing with special links, recovery of deleted files, viewing of older versions of modified documents, among others. They have even higher plans for business and enterprise customers with more storage and features available.
Next, there’s Google Drive. To be frank, if you’re on the internet frequently, you probably use at least one Google service or another. Between Gmail, Youtube, Google Chrome, Google Earth, Google Search and so many others, it’s kind of hard to avoid at least part of their reach. Also, most of the smartphones in the world run Google’s Android OS. To tie a lot of it together, google provides Google Drive users with 15 GB of free space, which is shared between Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Docs (Google’s free online office productivity suite) as well. Plans start at $2 a month for 100 GB of storage and $10 a month for 1 TB of storage. Storage options extend to a whopping 30 TB if desired, and several amounts in between.
If you own any iDevices or Mac computers from Apple’s venerable lines, there’s a good chance you have run into or had experience with Apple’s own cloud storage, aptly named “iCloud”. iCloud is very well integrated into Apple’s devices, and allows you to store complete backups of said devices online, which can then be accessed from other apps or even used to migrate seamlessly to a newer device if, for example, you were to upgrade to the next iPhone. Larger storage options are available, and to a degree, necessary if you wish to make use of this function, however. Apple starts users off with 5 GB of free storage, and for only $0.99 a month, will give you 50 GB of storage. Plenty for the average iPhone or iPad user. Plans also come in 200 GB and 1 TB flavors for those wishing to back up their Macs or multiple iOS devices for $2.99 and $9.99, respectively.
On the subject of large companies and their cloud storage, Windows 8 and Windows 10 users have probably noticed over the past couple of years an increasing involvement in Microsoft’s productivity tools and, indeed, Windows itself’s affairs by Onedrive, Microsoft’s latest evolution of its cloud service. Fueled by its specialties in productivity, especially in educational and business fields, Microsoft has always understood the importance of the data their software is used to create, and has had cloud service for years now. Onedrive, however, takes things a step further beyond its predecessors such as skydrive et cetera, and, as mentioned before, has become a major component in the Office suite. Users start off with 5 GB of storage for free, with a 50 GB plan for $2 a month, and a 1 TB plan for $6.99 a month which includes Skype minutes and a subscription to Office 365, providing constant access to the latest version of Microsoft Office and all of its components, with updates and upgrades to newer versions as long as the subscription is active. There is also a premium plan for $9.99 a month that includes 1 TB in addition to Microsoft Office per person for up to 5 users, and further business options are available.
Whereas most of our previous entries have been focused on productivity specifically, with the one exception potentially being iCloud, it’s definitely worth mentioning that there are some Cloud service companies that take a more broad and automatic approach. Whereas services like Dropbox, Onedrive, and Google Drive require you to be manually placing files into their folders in order for them to be backed up and synchronized, a service like Carbonite automatically backs up the folders and files that you select without any further intervention required. Like some of the others on this list, it also provides a sort of “backup of previous backups”, in which you can see older versions of files and folders from previous backups, just in case you delete something you didn’t want to, or if you make a change that you want to revert. Carbonite’s encryption is also rock-solid, so any files saved through their service are very secure, which can be very important for business owners. However, as mentioned before, Carbonite is not as focused as other Cloud services, and lacks a lot of the file sharing and collaboration features that others on this list provide. However, in the interest of security alone, Carbonite is one of the best. Carbonite bills yearly instead of monthly. For unlimited storage for one user, it charges $59.99 per year, with a $99.99 option for backing up external drives and devices, should you require more than one storage device backed up.
As many people would agree, the most important files for most are photos. Especially with the proliferation of smartphones and relatively low-cost cameras, it seems that everyone has their own digital photo album, filled with memories they would like to protect. As a result, a good number of file hosting services similar to the previously mentioned cloud storage drives have begun cropping up. These, however, are specialized almost entirely in picture and video media. Storage amounts and features vary. While a host like Yahoo’s Flickr offers up to 1 TB of space for free and focuses on the professional and amateur photography communities, that’s what they’re most focused in. On the other hand. services like Photobucket, Shutterfly, and Snapfish have focuses ranging anywhere from custom designs to photo printing and creative use. In the sense of creative use, these companies may offer anything from custom calendars to coffee mugs and greeting cards, from canvas tote bags to mouse pads, and that’s only to name some of the possibilities that can be worked with the photos of your choosing. Of course, while the safekeeping of their users’ photos is still paramount, providing the ability to express some creativity while doing so is a convenient option for many looking to back up.
The advent of cloud storage and file hosting services has really changed the ways in which we can keep our files with us, and keep our files safe. However, cloud storage is not always the best option for long-term backups, and, like any backup method for important files, should never be counted on alone. Subscription costs can really stack up over the course of the year, and while most services provide the capability to retrieve deleted files within a time period, if you end up needing anything that you deleted to free up space later down the line, recovery will be impossible.
Too often I encounter people who have lost important files or pictures that they will never be able to replace, and even more often I hear the reasoning that there’s “never been a need for a backup”, or that “nothing’s ever gone wrong in the past”. Remember, folks: it only needs to happen once, and that once is too many. Statistically speaking, it’s unlikely that you won’t be afflicted with some form of data loss in your life; from dead hard drives and scratched disks, to dropped laptops or smashed phones, technology can be a delicate thing, so why play that game of Russian Roulette? Backing up your data is something that you will never regret until you don’t do it.
A lot of Microsoft’s talk about Windows 10 has been dedicated to its enhanced security features and has even gone so far as to make the claim that a third party antivirus is no longer necessary for Windows users. Windows Defender was originally provided as a free download from Microsoft for the Windows XP platform, but it has recently been completely rebuilt and overhauled for Windows 10.
Now, it is true that the effectiveness of Windows Defender has been improved dramatically over previous versions, and the platform has a lot of advantages over other mainstream antivirus products, especially among its free peers. In addition to this, its actual effectiveness at stopping malware in its tracks is good, too. It will nab the vast majority of dangers on the web, and it gets a lot of help being the native favorite of Windows. However, the bottom line is, among the top performing paid antivirus products on the market, Windows Defender does fall somewhat short of some of the others. Is it bad? Not by a long shot. But does it still have room for improvement? Definitely.
As we’ve already established its performance as being sufficient for most potential threats, albeit not to the same degree as some higher-end products out there, it’s important to mention its advantages and its potential improvements over other products.
For one thing, it doesn’t bother you and ask you for money on a regular basis. It’s free. That alone is enough for many people. Not only that, but it’s “free” in the literal sense, and not in just the “doesn’t cost money” sense. Many other “free” antivirus programs out there, while not actually charging you for money, will often do everything from continuously harassing you to buy their premium editions, or even installing junk software and useless or annoying programs on your computer in addition to themselves.
Secondly, it ships with Windows. Every new Windows machine has it pre-installed. This saves users the hassle of even having to make a decision or go looking in the first place. And in this day and age of look-a-like knockoffs, trojan horses, and misleading website adverts, not having to go looking for this piece can save you a lot more trouble than just finding the website download page.
Thirdly and lastly, it’s built to fit into Windows 10 rather well. It does not take up much space, it does not use many resources, and it does not constantly pop up asking to be updated to the latest version. It updates automatically and quietly, just like Windows itself does these days, and that’s a good thing. The less direction you have to give it, the better. And as it stands, no antivirus is as silent a protector as Windows Defender.
So, if you prefer a quiet, lightweight, well integrated, and free antivirus, give Windows Defender a try. It might not be the best out there, but at its huge price tag of $0 (both in terms of your money and your trouble), it’s definitely a tough one to beat.
For the past 20 years or so, websites and applications across the world have relied on platforms such as Shockwave, Java, Flash, and Silverlight to show everything from video games to interactive graphics and financial graphs. Although many have declined in use over the past decade, most of the computers in the world still run Java or Flash Player, but the vast majority of people don’t know what either of them are for, only that they might be “important”. For this reason, it is important to understand more about Flash and Java updates.
Unfortunately, the almost universal adoption of these two programs opens up an easy target for scammers looking to steal user information or fool people into installing less than legitimate programs on their computers. The weakness comes from both sides in the form of updates for Flash,
as well as Java.
As far as the first group is concerned, their objective is to hit people who have not updated in a while, and who still have outdated versions of either program, in attempts to exploit glitches or chinks in the program to their advantage. This is usually with the intention of stealing valuable information such as credit card or social security numbers, online banking logins, et cetera. For this group the best defense is to always stay up to date and never open any emails from senders you don’t recognize. Frequently, links or attachments to any such exploits are sent via email in a message that may seem completely innocuous.
Now, this brings us to group two. Group two relies on the fact that most people have Flash and Java, and most people wish to keep them up to date, and so disguises their malicious or unwanted software as Flash or Java in order to trick people into downloading them. This method is typically more prevalent than the first, and ironically takes advantage of people’s fears concerning not being up to date and protected. More often than not, these types of illegitimate “updates” are shoehorned over webpages in the form of popups such as the one below.
The average person might see this and choose to download the “update”, believing it to be to their benefit. However, at the very least, the resulting program will be annoying, and at the very worst, dangerous to your security. The best defense against these types of attacks is to never download anything from a popup, and to always take careful notice of details in the popup itself. Ask yourself, “does this look legitimate?” Comparing the two Flash “updates” above, we see that the bottom one has several tells that indicate it’s not what it says it is. For example, the bottom one lacks any sort of officially licensed Adobe markings or insignias, is filled with jargon intending to sell itself rather than inform users of improvements, has no option to install the update later, and it possesses no End User License Agreement.
All the same, it’s usually best to avoid any sort of popups claiming to be updates or “free downloads” if possible. When you see a popup, even one that seems legitimate, there’s a fool-proof way of telling. Go straight to the developer’s website for the product, whether it be Flash or Java, and you can get the latest version from adobe.com and java.com, respectively.
In our previous article, we discussed some of the new features for those looking to make the switch to Windows 10. One of those features was a particularly interesting one – a virtual assistant for Windows. Now, virtual assistants aren’t a new concept – some cars provided such technologies with limited capabilities some time ago as a luxury feature, and more recent examples can be found in Google’s “Google Now”, as well as Apple’s “Siri.”
However, Cortana is the first fully integrated virtual assistant for the Windows platform, and she has a plethora of abilities that even some of the most advanced virtual assistants to date find it difficult to or are simply unable to follow.
First off, Cortana’s search capabilities are essentially unrivaled, given her ability to not only answer questions intuitively, perform searches for inquiries for which she cannot provide answers, and also getting directions and maps for locations. Beyond even this however, she can even perform more advanced functions such as searching for files by their content or creation date, or even being able to identify songs and lyrics in musical pieces.
In addition to this, Cortana can also perform more actions suitable to an assistant, with her ability to give reminders to her users based on time or location, set alarms, add events to the calendar, send emails, perform measurement conversions, and allow dictation with her voice recognition.
Most significantly, however, is Cortana’s ability to learn new things about her users over time, as well as her level of awareness in the operating system. She will proactively provide information that seems relevant to users, such as traffic conditions for a frequent commute, as well as weather conditions for oft-visited locations. She will provide news articles on topics, people, or places of interest based on previous searches or views as well. She knows how to launch programs on command, and she can even track flights or packages that her user has ordered, based on searches and the content of tracking or flight numbers.
Beside all this, Cortana’s got a personality. She can just chat with people, or provide clever responses to certain questions, tell jokes and stories, or even sing songs.
All in all, she’s probably one of the most unique and interesting additions to an iteration of Windows in a long time. Her level of integration with Windows’ services is very well thought out, and she is a very useful addition overall.
In the previous article, I spoke some about the subject of upgrading to Windows 10, in which I outlined some of the potential problems a user making the switch from an earlier version might experience. However, I also went on to say that Windows 10 has many advantages over the older Windows 7 or Windows 8. For those interested in making the switch, it’s beneficial to know exactly what you have to look forward to.
First of all, Windows 10 has lighter requirements than its predecessors, and as a result can even be run on older, less powerful systems with relative ease. This is a welcome improvement, one that’s been built on similar such improvements from Windows 7 onwards. This is not to belittle its significance, as just a few versions ago it seemed that every new Windows release required more and more robust technology to power it. This improvement in efficiency is also obviously due, in part, to Microsoft’s focus on touch-based devices such as hybrid 2 in 1 computers, tablets, and phones.
As far as actual features go, Windows 10 introduces a few major ones. Not to mention the triumphant return of one key feature… After all, the star of the show for a lot of Windows 8 and 8.1 users is the return of the Start Menu.
Windows 10’s start menu is a nice blend of Windows 7’s familiarity with Windows 8’s flair and functionality, with a user interface design that can be traced all the way back to the earliest days of Windows, while still incorporating the versatility and information-at-a-glance mentality of Windows 8’s tiles. Windows 8 and 8.1 apps (such as weather, mail, etc.) still work under Windows 10, and on the other side of the spectrum, most programs that worked under Windows 7, including even older legacy programs, still work under Windows 10.
As a welcome new neighbor to the Start Menu, Microsoft also introduced their latest project, Cortana.
Similar to the earlier Siri and Google Now, Cortana is a virtual assistant capable of understanding speech and verbal requests, providing information on demand, and allowing dictation of speech to text. However, she has a good deal of functionality beyond that as well.
Drawing from the user’s interests, search history, requests, and application usage, she can proactively provide relevant information to the user, such as local news, traffic information for frequently traveled routes, weather and flight information for upcoming vacations the user may have planned, scores for sports teams, and many other possibilities. Not only that, but she can remind you of events, plans, and, should you have a portable Windows device handy, provide directions or location sensitive reminders. Even those with thick accents have nothing to fear, as she can actually learn her user’s vocal patterns over time. She’s been designed to such a fine point that she even has time to tell jokes or answer existential questions about herself.
Tying a lot of it together, you have Microsoft’s new web browser, Microsoft Edge, the heir apparent to Internet Explorer. This new web browser, under the codename “Project Spartan”, was built from the ground up, both in appearance and functionality.
It has a very clean aesthetic, and most of the menus and settings are laid out in a very straight forward manner. In terms of integration, it works quite well with Cortana, allowing her to learn about the user’s needs over time, as well as allowing her to assist you and carry out functions within the browser. In addition to this, Microsoft OneNote has been integrated as well, allowing users to literally write on webpages and share them with others for collaborative projects or simply to share their opinions or thoughts.
Microsoft Edge also has a huge advantage over Internet Explorer from a performance standpoint. Everything from starting the browser, to loading web pages, to the overall responsiveness of high-stress, media-packed pages has improved dramatically, and the classic “Internet Explorer Freeze” is delightfully absent. It’s also a good deal more secure than IE, and is on the by-and-large a lot less vulnerable to intrusion or exploitation.
There are even more features on Windows 10 beyond what’s mentioned here, and as Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows, it shall continue to be updated with new features as time goes on.
