Tiffany has a government issue Kyocera Smartphone and all she can do is use it for phone calls. Leo says it's likely a carrier issue. The basic service is free, but she probably has to pay for the extras.
Karen is looking for a good backup solution and Google Drive has been a bit of a headache for her. She has several terabytes of data. Leo says that's the problem right there. Backing up data takes a long time and we have to be reasonable on what we can store online.
After the recent iCloud security breach that released private celebrity photos, you may be wondering what you can do to protect your data in the cloud. Apple has released a statement saying that it was not a failure of iCloud or Find My iPhone that resulted in these photos getting out -- it was a deliberate and targeted attack. That being said, here are a few ways you can keep your data more secure online:
Use Strong Passwords
Karen wants to know how much data she uses on Comcast because she's thinking of switching to cellular data only. Karen can log into her Comcast account online and it should tell her how much data she uses.
Whenever you're traveling to another country, it's essential to plan for how you will stay connected. Simply using your phone overseas will result in a bill that could reach into the thousands of dollars. Here's a breakdown of the options you have:
Use Wi-Fi Only
Leo says that just videos, images and MP3s can't fill up that much space all by itself. There has to be something else on the drive. Leo advises using a program called SpaceSniffer. It's free. Another is called WinderStat and TreeSize. Leo also thinks that Diane has backups on it.
Nick is heading to Paris and he wants to know if he can bring his T-Mobile flip phone. Leo says it would be a good idea to contact T-Mobile and get an international calling plan. He's also planning on bringing his laptop, but he's worried about Wi-Fi security. Leo says it's about as safe there as it is here, meaning that it's best to use encryption if he's visiting any sites that are public. He should avoid banking online if he can. Banks will encrypt his traffic, though. The greater risk is his email and logging in, so that's where he'll want to be encrypted.
When selling or disposing of a computer, the conventional advice has been to securely erase all of your personal data first. With traditional spinning hard drives, it's common practice to completely and securely format the drive so data cannot be recovered. This isn't the case with Solid State Drives, however.
Lisa get a new Dell computer with a 256GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive. Lately, it's been slowing down and she discovered that all the data has been written to the SSD and not the hard drive. Leo says that Lisa should make her spinning drive the "D" drive and then direct Windows to put all her data onto that D drive. She can move all her data over to it and then remove it from her C drive.
She'll need to right-click on my documents, click on "properties," then "location," then tell Windows where she wants the data to go. In this case, that will be the "D" drive.
Bernie has a MacBook Air and iMac and he uses FileVault for encryption. But after hearing that it isn't very safe, he's looking to go to TrueCrypt to encrypt his data. Leo says that is a great idea, especially when traveling. And while both Apple and Microsoft offer solutions built into their OS, an open source is better because it's likely that the NSA and other law enforcement officials may have forced a back door into encryption, and there's no way of knowing if they have or not since the Patiot Act prevents them from saying.
