passwords

Mike resurrected an old computer to look through some old floppies, but they're password protected and he can't remember the password. Leo says that if Mike can figure out how he password protected it, that could give him a clue. But floppy disks weren't normally password protected. So it's an odd thing for a password pop up to happen. It may be possible to examine the disk using a Linux computer. That could lead to being able to read it. But not for very much longer, as Linux will not support floppies moving forward.

Mark got a 2017 iPad Pro from a pawn shop for about $300, which Leo says that's a pretty good deal. Should he get an iPencil for the iPad Pro? He also wants to know how to wipe out the keychain password file. Leo says that he has an iPencil for his and he rarely uses it. If you sketch or annotate notes, then it's a good option. But if you don't, save yourself $100. Also, wipe the iPad completely so there will be nothing in the keychain. Turn on Keychain syncing and it'll sync to your Mac. Can he view his password list in the iPad?

Pria has her cell service with Verizon and she is having issues connecting to WiFi in her apartment building. Leo says that in her iPhone settings, check the WiFi connection and look for the name of the network. Click on the "i" and look at the network. Make sure there's an IP address in there, starting with either 192 or 10.  If it's anything else, she is not getting an internet connection. That would indicate the network is misconfigured. Try to unplug the router and plug it back in to reboot.

Nathan wants to know if there's any recourse if a company isn't protecting his passwords. Leo says in Europe they have the GDPR, but in the US the only real protection is through HIPPA in the medical field. Leo recommends talking to Brian Krebbs at Krebbs on Security and asking him how he should write a letter to warn them of their liability.

Bruce wants to know why he's being asked for his iCloud password all the time on his iPhone 8. Leo isn't sure why this happens, but it's happened to him as well. It does go away eventually. Leo thinks it's just a bug. Leo suggests going into settings, and re-entering his passwords there.

Jane has a ton of passwords and needs a password vault to keep them all straight. She was looking at LastPass and wants to know if that's the best one. Leo loves LastPass, and they are a sponsor on the show. He has been using it for ten years and it's very secure. But it's not the only option. There's also 1Password, KeePass, and DashLane.

Mike is having issues logging into Yahoo at home. It says he's using the wrong password at home, but it takes it at work. Leo says one way to test it is to type out the password in notepad and then copy and paste it in. If that works, then he'll know it's not a problem on his end. It could also be a corrupted cookie in his browser. He should try using another browser, or clear the cookies in his browser and try again.

Mike also wants to disable the password challenge on his phone. Leo says that is dangerous to do, but he can turn it off in the phone's security settings.

Robert has a low budget Alcatel smartphone, but he forgot the password to access it. How can he recover it? Leo says on those older Android phones, the easiest thing is to erase it and start over. Most Android phones have a way to get into recovery mode. But if he can't, then he'll have to do a hard reset by pressing the power button and the volume up button at the same time, and hold it there. That should put it in recovery mode. It's a text based menu that he can navigate with the volume buttons until he reaches "reset." Then he can press the home button and that should reset the phone.