security

Sam has worked hard to minimize his bandwidth by turning off images in his email account. But it the image still flashes briefly, what gives? Leo says that what Sam has discovered is that while the email account isn't displaying the image, it's set to display your email as HTML, and that means it's still downloading them, and that can trigger a virus or exploit. What you need to do is use an email client that only downloads the ASCII text email and not display emails in HTML. That will prevent it. Thunderbird is free and is very good. Turn off HTML and image loading.

Chuck is using Firefox and recently he's been getting error messages. Leo says that may be due to keeping a lot of tabs open. Should he go back to Safari? Leo says that it's about as good, privacy-wise, as Firefox. But for search, he's currently using StartPage.com for searching anonymously. Use that, and it's just as private as Firefox.

Tucker wants to use a captive portal wifi hotspot, but is it secure? Some are poorly made and can leak your data, others can sell data or even input advertising into it. Is Opera a good one? Leo says it's not exactly a VPN, and by giving away the service, that costs money. So they have to be making money somehow. Also, it's not strictly a VPN, it's a proxy service. One thing that Leo recommends is the Tiny Hardware Firewall. It has a built-in webserver, dual wifi radios, and a built-in hardware firewall.

Don wants to use a Yubikey to keep his computer safe online. Leo says that the Yubikey is serious two-factor authentication that enables users to generate a code to offer an extra level of security. It's a physical USB device that spits out a code with a one time password. Leo uses it for his email, Twitter, and a host of other sites online. He wishes his bank would support it. He keeps it on his keychain, using a Type C connector. But he can get a Type A adapter as well.

There's even an open source version called SOLOKEYS, which Leo says is every bit as good.

Jim ran GRC Shields Up scanner on his router and he discovered that port 443 was open, not stealth. Is he vulnerable? Leo says you have to have port 443 to run on the internet, but it should be in "stealth mode." You'll also want to find out what's using it. NetStat will help you determine that. Wireshark will also do that. His fan is also running a lot. Leo says that may mean your computer is getting hotter. Probably needs to have the dust cleaned out of it.

Veronica wants to know if her Chromebook works on a home network. Leo says if you have internet access, you will. Are they secure? Leo says absolutely. The thing is, a Chromebook uses ChromeOS, which uses a browser-based interface. This makes it far more secure. And if it does get infected you can simply use the "power wash" feature to start over. But it stores all your data in the cloud, which is far more secure than a hard drive on your laptop.

Frank's grandkids are coming over for Father's Day and he's worried that his internet is too slow. What does he need for on-demand streaming? Leo says that Netflix has a standard of 25MB down. But Leo says its best to have twice that. 

Mike watches YouTube off his laptop and he keeps getting popups requiring him to log into his Google account to watch videos. What gives? Leo says that Google is starting to get restrictive on some content, and it may be that you have to log into YouTube in order to view sensitive or explicit videos. That doesn't mean anything other than topics that aren't advertiser-friendly. Leo also says it enables Google to collect data on you, so they can monetize it. Get ready, that's the future.