Protecting your computer and yourself, with common sense.

In my last post, I explained how to update Windows and Mac OS X, and other programs, to install security updates. I also mentioned some free antivirus and antispyware software that do the job quite well. But even after that, there's still one thing that software can't necessarily protect you from...

Keeping your system patched up and protected

Computers aren't perfect. In fact, they're really stupid and will do exactly what you tell them. If you tell them to make a pizza, they'd do it if they had arms and legs. But, if you tell them to wipe a hard drive, they'll do it. If you tell it to turn off, it'll do it. If you give it some really complicated instructions where you confuse the computer so bad that you've made it through its security checks and can now run whatever code you want, that's an exploit. That's why you need to update your system with the latest security updates and keep it protected against viruses when necessary.

My Firefox Add-ons

Firefox and Chrome are pretty awesome internet browsers. They're both pretty snappy, and they're very good at supporting web standards. But what really increases their functionality is the add-ons that are available for them. Here are the add-ons that I use with Firefox.

Protecting your privacy online - Facebook Edition

I was looking through my Facebook settings, and there's lots of privacy settings in there. And every couple of months, they add new ones, and they're almost always set to public by default. So I figured I'll write a bit about changing the Facebook settings so that your info isn't public.

Internet in Canada just isn't what it used to be

The internet in Canada. About 10-15 years back when we used to use dial-up, there was a 5-15 hour limit on how much you can use the internet. When DSL and cable internet came along, limits were scrapped and you could use the internet as much as you want. But then our major cable and phone companies put usage limits on their internet services, bringing us backwards...

The UBB sitch (or why we will pay up to 300% more for internet access)

Before I go on, it stands for Usage Based Billing, because I'm sure many of you were confused by the acronym.

Chances are, some of you may read the title, and think it doesn't affect you. If you're Canadian, give it a chance and read this. If you're American, I don't think this is much of a problem now, but may be in the future.

The New App Store

It offers easy access to thousands of free applications. It offers the ability to purchase applications. It launched in October 2010. It's...