The Tech Guy Blog

Putting a Freeze on Credit Files

In the wake of the Equifax breach, many people have explored options on additional security and damage control. Putting a security freeze is a step above fraud alerts and can prevent thieves from getting credit in a victim's name, even if they have their social security number. For those under 65 years of age, putting a credit freeze costs $10 (so a total of $30 for all three major credit bureaus). Freezes can be requested by mail or online, and the bureaus must place the freeze within three business days of receiving the message.

How to Use Facebook Safety Check

Facebook's Safety Check feature is a good way to tell your friends and family that you're alright if you're in the midst of a disaster like Hurricane Harvey. You can find the Safety Check in the "Explore" section of the mobile app. You can get to it by tapping the hamburger menu on the bottom right corner. Once you tap into Safety Check, you'll see the current Safety Checks around the world or you can create a Safety Check. Then you can see people that are marked safe, and mark yourself safe if you're in an affected area.

Clean Up Google Chrome

One of the best web browsers available right now is Chrome, which comes from Google. It’s fast and secure, and Google does a good job of keeping it up to date as well. But even Chrome can slow down and have issues after awhile. If you’ve had problems with Chrome, here are some things to try to get it back to its typical performance.

Prevent Your Accounts From Being Hacked

Securing your online accounts is vitally important. The consequences of being hacked can be great — someone could lock you out of your email account. If that account is used for password recovery for your other accounts, then a hacker could get access to all of those as well. There are a few basic things that you should make sure you do to protect your email account:

1. Provide a secondary email address for recovery.
2. Provide a phone number for password recovery.
3. Turn on 2 Factor Authentication.

Take Screenshots in Windows and Mac

Taking screenshots used to be something that would require a third party program. This was especially true if you wanted more sophisticated capabilities, like the ability to annotate screenshots. While there are still third party programs for doing this, many of these features have been integrated right into the Windows and Mac operating system. Here's how to make use of the screenshot features in Windows and Mac.

Log into Facebook with a One-Time Password

Using Facebook on a public computer, or even on a friend's computer, can be risky. Facebook stores a cookie in the browser that enables the user to get into the site without actually logging in. This would make it possible for someone else to easily gain access to your account. Instead of avoiding Facebook entirely, there is a way you can still use it and prevent someone else from being able to get in — by using a one-time password.

Manage Your Apple ID Online

On Sunday's Tech Guy show, Jason Snell of SixColors.com was filling in for Leo Laporte and shared a tip about managing your Apple ID. Not many people are aware that Apple has a page for doing this at appleid.apple.com. You can change the email addresses and phone numbers associated with your account, add/change your trusted phone number for two factor authentication, change your Apple ID password, change payment and shipping info, and more.

Toggle High Contrast Mode in Windows

Modern website design may look pretty, but it often comes at the cost of readability. Many websites have light colored text on a light background, such as light grey text on white. If you're frustrated by this new trend, there is something you can do about it on your end to make things easier. Microsoft Windows has a "high contrast" mode, and you can either turn it on permanently in the settings, or you can just toggle it on and off as needed.

Change the Default Apps on Android

On Android, if you have more than one app installed that does the same thing, you'll be given an option of which app to launch whenever you try to perform that task. For instance, if you want to ask Google Assistant to navigate you somewhere, by default it will open Google Maps. If you have Waze installed, it may ask you what maps app to use first. Once you tap "always" when opening one of those apps, however, it will use that app and won't ask you in the future. But that doesn't mean you're stuck using that app as the default forever — there is a way to change this later.

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