Felicia writes, “I read a news article that said hackers could infect my computer through Flash. How do I know if I have Flash? And how can I get rid of it?”

Image credit: Adobe Systems

You have really been paying attention, Felicia! Earlier this year there was a big scare when researchers discovered that there were three big security holes in Flash. These vulnerabilities would have allowed hackers to do very bad things if you visited the wrong websites.

Adobe, the company that makes Flash, has since patched all three of those security holes, but we feel that it’s really hard to trust that there aren’t more issues that we don?t know about. Plus, Flash is an outdated technology that most people don?t need. So we say it’s time to get rid of it.

Flash is installed on most browsers on desktops and laptops, so you most likely do have it. To find out for sure if you have it follow the “Check my Flash” link below. If the page asks you to install Flash, you don’t have it installed on the browser you are using. Otherwise, you do.

Check My Flash

Flash is everywhere because it used to be the piece of technology that allowed websites to show fun animations and play videos. Now, though, there’s an advanced technology called HTML5 that lets you do that kind of stuff much more safely and without being constantly bugged to download updates. Flash is also slow and clunky to use. iPhones have never supported it because of this, which is one of the reasons that the rest of the internet has gradually moved away from it.

So, basically, it’s not that great, it’s kind of clunky, it’s not 100 percent safe, and you don’t need it. Like we said, it’s time to get rid of it!

Uninstalling it is easy to do. Just follow the steps on Adobe’s site for removing Flash from Windows and Mac OS.

Now, we should note that some people might actually need Flash on their computers. For instance, some corporate intranet sites require it, which means uninstalling it entirely is not a good option if you have to use one of those sites. However, even if you have to keep Flash around, there are ways to make it safer for you to use.

One very easy way is to use Google’s Chrome browser. Chrome runs Flash inside what is called a “sandbox,” which means it is isolated from the rest of the computer.

If that isn’t safe enough for you, there is a free browser plugin for both Firefox and Chrome called FlashBlock. FlashBlock, as the name implies, blocks all Flash on a web page by default, leaving only a small icon. You have to right-click that icon and tell it you want to enable that piece of Flash in order to view it.

If you’re not sure if you need Flash or not, try uninstalling it and see if you can get along without it! After all, you can reinstall it any time you want. In the meantime, you’ll probably see a lot fewer of those auto-playing ad videos when you visit websites. We bet you won’t miss those at all!

Image credit: Facebook

Karen writes, “I met someone for the first time in a meeting the other day. A few hours later, she showed up on my Facebook page as ‘someone I might know.’ I’ve also noticed that people sometimes pop up in this feed shortly after sending me emails. How does Facebook know about these interactions? Or am I just being paranoid?”

You’re not being paranoid, Karen. From what we can tell, Facebook has someone spying on you at all times. That secret spy is [insert dramatic music here]: your smartphone!

We would bet dollars to donuts that you not only have an iPhone or an Android phone, but that you also have the Facebook app installed and that you have location services enabled on your phone. If that is the case, your phone is allowing the Facebook app to occasionally check your location, which the app does to see if you?re near any other Facebook users. This is one way Facebook knows to suggest people you’ve come into contact with.

However, this doesn?t mean that the app will suggest you be friends with every random person you pass on the street. Facebook is smarter than that. Even though you met this person for the first time the other day, the two of you presumably have things in common: you have similar jobs, you work in the same industry, you know some of the same people, etc. You are in what Facebook considers to be a “network.”

Your colleague probably also had the app installed on her smartphone. When Facebook saw that the two of you, who are in the same network, spent an hour in the same location, it thought, “These people know each other! They should be Facebook friends!” And so she popped us as “someone you may know.”

You mentioned that Facebook also seems to know when you’ve emailed someone, and will suggest that you be friends with that person. You’ll be happy to know that Facebook isn’t reading your emails. What it is reading is your smartphone’s contact list, another thing the app has access to. You most likely have your contacts synced with your email, so when you email a new person they are added to your phone’s list. Facebook sees this, and again thinks that person is “someone you may know.”

These aren’t the only methods Facebook uses to suggest new friends. According to Facebook’s website, they “show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you’re part of, contacts you’ve imported and many other factors.”

If you don’t want Facebook to have access to this information on your smartphone, your best bet is to just uninstall the app. In fact, that is your only option if you have an Android phone. If you have an iPhone, though, you can change what the Facebook app has permission to see.

Here’s how you can revoke Facebook’s permissions on iOs:

• Open the Settings app

• Scroll down to the Facebook app

• Tap the toggle next to Contacts to turn that permission on or off

• Tap Settings

• Tap Location, and choose “Never”

Now the Facebook app should not have access to your phone’s contact list or location.

Credit: Google

Lori asks, “I have found a beautiful picture of an old barn that I would like to use for my website but the picture is too small. Is there such a thing as a website that will help you find a larger size of image?”

As a matter of fact there is, Lori. It’s called Google!

You probably already know that you can use Google to search for images through their Google Images site, but there is a function of it that a lot of people miss. On the right side of that search bar is a camera icon which opens Google?s “Search by Image” page. This is commonly called “reverse image searching.”

Click that icon and a pop-up will appear. In that window you will have a few options:

1. You can drag an image to it from your computer;
2. Browse to an image on your hard drive;
3. Or paste the web address of an image you found on the internet into it.

Once you’ve done one of those things, Google will search for other similar images. It is actually pretty good at finding different sizes of the same image, so you are in luck. It will also show you what Google calls “visually similar images,” so you might see other pictures of old barns in addition to the one you were looking for.

Speaking of similar images, when you do a regular Google Image search, it’s going to show you a page with dozens of images on it as a result. You can actually use this page to do even more image searching. Click on any of the resulting, pictures and you’ll see some related images plus a link above them that says “search by image.” You can actually click that and launch a new search based on the image you just expanded.

That should help you find the image you’re looking for, Lori, but there is something else you need to think about before you put it on your site: who took the picture that you like so much, and is it free for you to use?

People often assume that just because you found an image on the internet it is free for anyone to use. However, this is not the case. Most images have owners, and unless those images are specifically licensed under Creative Commons or are in the public domain, you need to obtain written permission to use them. The only exception to this rule is if you’re using them for educational purposes or some other very specific reasons. That’s known as “fair use.” What counts as fair use can get complicated, so you should always just try emailing the person that originally took the picture and asking them if you can use it. If you found the picture on an image sharing social media site like Flickr, the photographer usually isn’t hard to find.

There are also lots of websites offering Creative Commons images, which are basically totally free to use as long as you credit them properly. The easiest way to find them is to use the Creative Commons search engine at search.creativecommons.org. It can search both Flickr and Google Image Search, as well as several other sites.

It’s always good to make sure you have the latest version of iOS that your Apple device can run. iOS updates include bug fixes and security fixes that keep your smartphone and tablet running fresh and safe. Here’s how to update your iPhone to the latest version, iOS 8.1.3.

Image credit: John Britton / Flickr

Q: Here’s a question about a lower-tech gadget. I have a Panasonic cordless telephone with a digital answering machine. Over the years, it has collected several messages that I’d like to archive. I don’t see any inputs or outputs for doing this. Is there a way to permanently store the messages on this answering machine digitally?

A: Your question would be a lot easier to answer if your phone wasn’t cordless. If your phone had a cord on it, you would only have to buy a mini recorder control from RadioShack to connect it directly to your computer or recorder so that you could record from it. But, there are three different ways that you can extract the voicemails from the answering machine.

The Caveman Way (or The Obvious Way)

Since it is cordless, you’ll have to transfer the messages wirelessly, using the oldest form of wireless communication: sound. Hold a the microphone of a recorder up to speaker of your answering machine. Press Record on the recorder, and press Play on the answering machine. Ta da! You have a mildly listenable digital recording.

The MacGyver Way (or The Hacker Way)

If you’re feeling a little handy, there is a another method that will give you a higher quality recording. (Disclaimer: This will destroy your answering machine. It will never function in the way it was intended to function again. You could also lose all of your voicemails in the process. Proceed with caution. Also, you may want to try recording them “The Caveman Way” first, just in case.)

First, you’ll need to get a speaker cable with a ? inch plug on one side and two bare wires on the other end. You need it to be long enough to reach from your answering machine to the back of your computer or to your recorder.

Once you have the wire, you’ll need to open the answering machine case. It usually only takes a few screws to open the case.

Now, look for the speaker. You may be able to see where the speaker before you open the case. It’s where the sound is coming out of the case.

Now that you have the case open, and you have found the speaker, you should see two wires connected to the speaker. Cut or remove them from the speaker.

Splice the wires from the answering machine together with the speaker cable. Never spliced wires before? Check out the previous link for a guide from Instructables.

Finally, plug the ? plug into the microphone port on your computer or recording device.

Now, if you are recording on your computer, fire up recording software like Audacity or GarageBand and press record. If you’re using a recording device, just press record. Then, press Play on the answering machine.

If you did everything right, you should be getting a digital recording of your voicemails that sounds better than anything you could have recorded “The Caveman Way.”

If you didn’t do everything right, then you have a useless pile of plastic and circuit board. Sorry about that!

The Safer Way (or The Nerdy Way)

Since your answering machine is a digital machine, it likely has a remote access feature. Find the manual for your answering machine, (Yeah, right. You can look up the manual for your answering machine on Panasonic’s website.) and find the instructions on how to access your answering machine remotely.

Once you know how to access it remotely, use a service like Google Voice to record the call.

Image credit Google

Isabel writes, “I have an iPhone and an iPad. Is it possible to message or text someone who does not have an Apple product? And, if that?s too easy for you guys, how about this: is there any way to do it for free without a texting plan?”

It?s totally possible. The simplest way is if both you and the person you are trying to message are using a cross-platform messaging app (one that works on both Android and iOS). There are several apps that you can use to send short text messages over Wi-Fi like Kik, WhatsApp and even Facebook Messenger. The two major problems with all of them is that you can only send messages to people who are also on the same service, and you cannot use them to send regular old SMS text messages.

The best app that we have found that actually sends real text messages is Google Voice. With Google Voice, you can send text messages from the app on your iDevice or from the Google Voice website. It takes a little while to setup, but it?s completely free.

The main catch is that Google Voice gives you a new phone number for your Google Voice account for free. Once you pick it out, you can use that number to make phone calls, send text messages, and receive them too ? as long as you?re on Wi-Fi or cellular data. You can text anyone in the U.S. and Canada, and you can receive texts from anywhere in the world.

The simplest way to get started is to go to the Google voice website. Login with your Google email address if you have one, and then click ?Get a voice number? on the left and follow the instructions. When it asks you to ?add a forwarding phone? you will need to tell it the phone number of your existing cell phone. Google will actually make a robo-call to your phone and give you an activation code to verify that your number belongs to you. Once that is all set up, download the Google Voice app and start texting.

We should once again note that Google Voice is not a cellular service. If you don?t have an internet connect through Wi-Fi or a wireless provider you will not be able to use it.

Q: I am giving my old phone to a friend. How do I make sure I’ve gotten all my private data off it first?

A: That’s a great question, Trent, and one that everyone who owns a smartphone probably needs to know the answer to. Our smartphones hold all kinds of personal data, like our contact list, browser history and even our credit card information. Before you give your phone to someone, exchange it for a different model or even throw it away, you need to make sure you wipe all of this information off of it first.

Image credit: Josh Miller / CNET

Fortunately, every smartphone comes with the ability to reset it to what the manufacturers refer to as “factory settings”. This wipes the device completely, and turns it into a blank slate just like the day you bought it. Of course, you need to make sure you perform a full backup of your phone before you even think about wiping it.

To do a factory reset on an iPhone, you’ll need to open the “Settings” app, tap “General” and find the “Reset” button at the bottom of that screen. Tap this and you’ll see a few options including “Erase All Content and Settings,” which is the one you want. If you tap this, a message will pop up asking you to confirm that you really want to do this because it will erase everything. Hit yes and the reset begins.

The process for resetting Android phones can differ from model to model, but most of them are pretty similar. For example, to wipe a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you would just go to the “Settings” menu, tap “Backup and Reset” and hit the “Factory Data Reset” option. Be sure to read through the manual of your specific smartphone to find the directions.

Your phone will take a minute or two to reset to factory settings. Once it’s done, it should be just like you’re turning it on for the first time. Now you can give away your phone without worrying about your private information falling into the wrong hands.

There’s one more thing we should mention if your smartphone has a removable SD card. Resetting the phone to factory settings will not erase the data on that card, so you’ll need to erase the files off of it separately. If your phone comes with a file manager app, you can do it through that. You can also connect your phone to your computer, open the SD card and drag the files to the trash. Or you can keep it simple and just remove the SD card from the phone.

Every once in a while we like to cover something everyone should know, and this time we wanted to talk about securing your personal information – on your smartphone.

Image credit: Kelvinsong / Wikimedia

If you own a smartphone, you probably keep tons of personal information on it: your address book, emails, passwords, maybe even credit card data. Your phone knows where you work and where you live and who is texting you. It’s a gold mine for everyone from phone thieves to advertisers to hackers.

Many smartphone owners would be surprised at how easy it is to learn some basic hacks which allow you to extract data from someone else’s smartphone. But there are a few simple steps that they can take to make it much harder.

We want to emphasize that it’s probably impossible to completely hacker-proof your phone. If government spies are trying to break into your phone, they are probably going to get in. But you can stop your run of the mill identity thieves.

Tip #1: Lock your smartphone!

It’s so simple, and yet so effective! Why should someone bother hacking into your phone when they can just pick it up and see everything on it? You need a lockscreen with a password or an unlock pattern or a fingerprint scanner. Using a password is the most secure technique, and the more characters you have to enter, the better. But even a simple pin code or unlock pattern is better than nothing.

Most Android phones support unlock patterns. If you use one, though, you should take one extra step for security: wipe down your phone?s screen frequently! This way a thief can’t simply follow the smudged fingerprints on the screen to determine your unlock pattern.

Here’s another lock screen tip for those of you with iPhones: by default, iPhones allow you to do a few things without unlocking your phone, like voice dialing and previewing texts. You can disable this, though, and you should. Unless you like the idea of a stranger at the coffee shop reading your texts!

Tip #3: Don’t connect to open Wi-Fi networks!

Avoid that free coffee shop Wi-Fi if it doesn’t have a password! Any device, whether it?s a phone or a tablet or a laptop, which is connected to an open Wi-Fi is a hacker?s dream. With some basic software installed, a hacker can see almost everything anyone on the Wi-Fi network is doing – sending emails, logging into Facebook, etc.

The good news is, people are wising up to the fact that having unsecured Wi-Fi is not a good idea. Some places still offer it, though. If you don?t have to ask for a password to get in, it?s probably not a good idea to use that Wi-Fi.

Speaking of Wi-Fi: if you got your iPhone from AT&T it has an interesting extra feature. Any time an AT&T iPhone detects a Wi-Fi network called attwifi, it will automatically try to connect to it. That’s a problem, to put it bluntly. A hacker could just setup a network, call it attwifi, and wait for people?s phones to automatically connect to it so they can extract information. The good news is, this is a feature you can turn off on your iPhone, and you should. Just open the Settings app, tap Wi-Fi, and tap the check box next to ?Ask to join networks?. And contact AT&T customer support and tell them that you don’t approve of them making their customers’ phones vulnerable in this way.

Tip #4: Turn off location tagging on your smartphone’s camera

When you take a picture with your smartphone, it adds the GPS coordinates of the place where you took the picture to the image file. Later on, that can help you remember where you took the picture at. That’s convenient, but many times when you upload that picture to a website or email it to a friend, the GPS coordinates remain embedded in the file. Anyone who has that picture can figure out where you took it. And if it’s your house, well, now they know where you live. And that?s no good.

You can turn this feature off on Android phones, although the details depend on what phone you have. You should be able to find instructions with a Google search. On an iPhone, go to Settings, and then privacy, and then Location services and then you should see an option for the camera. Switch that to off.

Tip #5: Require a password for purchases

This is something we’ve talked about before, but it?s worth repeating: both Android and iPhone allow you to set a password on the phone that must be entered before you can make purchases on the phone. Stopping kids or others from running up charges on your phone is always a great idea.

Tip #6: Disable third party cookies

Everybody likes cookies, right? Well, maybe not if they are cookies on your computer which can allow advertisers to track what websites you visit. For those readers who don?t know, a cookie is a small text file that a website places on your computer or smartphone. They can be used to help websites remember to automatically log you in, which is great. But they can also help advertisers to track you which not everybody likes.

On the iPhone’s Safari browser you can stop this. Safari lets you disable ‘third party cookies’, which are the kind of cookies that many people don’t want, the kind that help advertisers offer targeted ads. Most browsers now offer a ‘DO NOT TRACK’ option as well. It’s a good idea to turn this on. Now here?s the thing, the ‘do not track’ option is not universally respected. There are some advertisers that will ignore it and track you anyway. But it can?t hurt to have it turned on.

Tip #7: Wipe your personal data before you return your phone to the store

Occasionally you may need to take your smartphone somewhere to get it repaired or to swap it for a working model. Before you do this, it’s a really good idea to wipe all of your personal data from your phone! What you need to do is reset your phone to factory defaults. Your smartphone should come with instructions on how to do this. Of course you should backup all your personal data before you do this as it WILL be erased!

So these are just a few tips that will help you keep the personal data on your smartphone more secure from thieves, from hackers and even from advertisers. And if nothing else, you should always, always –

LOCK YOUR PHONE.

Q: How do I switch my iTunes account from an old computer, which is broken, to my new computer? I’ve downloaded iTunes onto the new computer, but, of course, it doesn’t recognize my account. The real problem is my iPod. I have all my music on it, but now I am not able to add to it to iTunes.

A: Well, first of all, Phil, your new computer should recognize your iTunes account. If it doesn’t, you have a problem that you need to contact Apple about. You may have to reset your iTunes password. Hopefully you still have access to the e-mail address you gave Apple for your account. Once iTunes does recognize your account, you need to authorize your computer. Sign into iTunes, then click the Store tab at the top and click “authorize this computer.” You should now be able to re-download any songs you purchased through iTunes. However, any songs that you ripped from CDs, or acquired through other questionable methods, are still trapped on your iPod. Apple made it this way so people couldn?t use their iPods to transfer illegally shared music between computers. But in this situation, their safeguard is a real hassle for you.

Regardless of how you acquired your music, and we are not here to judge, your music isn’t trapped on your iPod forever. You can transfer it to your computer, but it takes a little work, unless you are willing to pay for an app. We’ll show you how to do it the hard way first, then if you decide that’s not for you, we’ll include a link to the app at the bottom. Here’s how to do it if you have a Windows PC.

Transferring your iTunes library from an iPod to a new Windows PC

When you plug your iPod into your PC, you need to stop it from auto-syncing. To do this, hold down Shift and Ctrl while you plug in your iPod. Then, you can open your iPod like an external hard drive, by going to My Computer and double-clicking the iPod.

However, if you double-click on the iPod and you get an error message asking you to format your iPod, stop! Your iPod was formatted for a Mac. If this is the case, you’ll need a program called MacDrive to see your Mac formatted iPod on your Windows computer. But hopefully this won’t happen to you.

Once you get it open, you need to reveal your hidden files. Each version of Windows has a slightly different way to do it, so if you’ve never revealed your hidden files before, just search Google or Bing for “Show Hidden Files Windows” and whatever version of Windows you have “XP, 7 or 8” Click on the first search results that are from Microsoft. Follow those directions, and you’ll be able to see your hidden files on your iPod.

Now, once you have your iPod open, look for a folder called “iPod-Control.” In there, you’ll find another folder labeled “Music.” Copy that folder to your computer. Now, open iTunes, and click File and Add to Library. Navigate to the Music folder you copied to your desktop, and iTunes will import everything. Your files will have random four letter names, but as soon as they are imported to iTunes, the song titles and artists will be restored.

Transferring your iTunes library from an iPod to a new Mac

If you have a Mac, it’s a little more complicated, but you’ll do basically the same thing. However,  unless you buy an app, you will have to go into the Terminal. Hold down Command and Option while you plug in the iPod. Then you will launch Terminal, and enter “defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE” and then enter “killall Finder” Now you’ll click on the iPod in iTunes, click the Summary tab and check box next to Enable Disc Use.

Now, open Finder, open the iPod, open the folder iPod-Control and copy the Music folder to your Desktop. Then, open iTunes, and click File and Add to Library. Navigate to the Music folder you copied to your desktop, and iTunes will import everything.

Transferring your iTunes library from an iPod with an app

If you’ve read the instructions above, and you are completely overwhelmed, there are two other options. First, you could buy an app that will do most of the heavy lifting for you. If you have an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad, DiskAid will do the trick. With DiskAid you can copy music, video, text messages and your contacts from your iOS device. If you have a iPod classic or Nano, PodTrans Pro will do the job for you. PodTrans Pro will also convert incompatible file formats for you so you can watch Windows Media files on your iPod. Both DiskAid and PodTrans Pro work on Windows and Mac. If the only thing concerning you is diving into the Terminal on your Mac is concerning you, you can download Houdini for Mac which will make your hidden files and folders visible.

The other option is to have someone do it for you. Most IT service companies can transfer the music files for you, and they usually won’t charge too much for the job. Check out our business directory for some good companies that should be able to help you out.

Spring semester is in full swing for college students around the world and the Class of 2014 will be entering the job market in mere months. Unemployment rates are still scary at 6.7% but there are ways to improve the likelihood of landing an interview. If you are planning to enter the job market in the coming months, here’s how to position yourself on LinkedIn:

Create a profile.

Use a permanent personal email account. You can add your work or school email after you’ve set up your profile. LinkedIn will suggest you import your email contacts each time you add an email address. Be aware if you do import your contacts, LinkedIn may send them a connection request. This can be a problem if you do not update your contact list. It’s better to connect with people on an individual basis rather than en masse.

Upload a headshot.

A picture is worth a thousand words and yours should express your personality while appealing to employers in your industry. You can improve your personal brand by using the same picture across your social media accounts. Your Twitter account with thoughtful posts about industry trends can confirm to potential employers that they’ve found the right person.

Craft an SEO-approved headline. 

LinkedIn gives you 120 characters to sell yourself. Use that space to squeeze in some industry keywords. Are you actively seeking employment? Consider starting your headline with “Seeking Employment As [Insert Job Title].”Now that you have started setting up your LinkedIn profile, adjust your privacy settings. Turn off broadcast of your activity while making frequent changes to your profile. You can turn this feature on again when you are ready to announce new positions or skills.

Explain your personal brand in the Summary.

Use this space to introduce yourself to future employers or clients. You have 2,000 characters to present your story. Keep it professional and remember to use keywords common to your desired profession.

Add current and previous positions.

LinkedIn allows you to add as much of your work history as you desire. Focus on the jobs you enjoyed most and the ones that showcase skills you want to utilize in the future.

Now you’re ready to start adding connections. Not sure how to build a strong network? Check back for Part 2: Building a Solid LinkedIn Network.

Q: What is the best way to hook my laptop up to my TV?

Image Credit: Alan Levine / Flickr

A: Thinking of cutting the cord, Aaron? With Netflix and Hulu Plus you can get most of the shows you watch on TV without cable. Or maybe you want to use your TV to show the baby videos stored on your laptop? Either way there are a few options.

If you have an HDMI port on both your laptop and your TV, the simplest approach may be to connect them using an HDMI cable. Most, but not all, laptops now support HDMI and virtually every modern TV does. A word of caution: don’t go to your local big box store to buy HDMI cables – they are way overpriced! You can find them online for literally a quarter of the price (we’re talking $10 vs. $40).

Once you have a cable connecting both the laptop and the TV, you need to select the HDMI input on your television. Then, if you are using a PC, you may have to tell your laptop to send the signal to the TV. This is usually accomplished by pressing the “function” or “FN” key and one of the F keys at the top of the keyboard.

Now, if you don’t want to cover your living room with HDMI cables, there are also a lot of wireless solutions out there. However, your choices depend on what kind of laptop you have and what you want to do with it. For instance, Intel has a very nice bit of technology to mirror your PC or Mac called WiDi (which stands for “Wireless Display”). Unfortunately it is not very widely available, and typically you’ll only find it on high-end Intel laptops.

Several manufacturers also make small boxes which enable wireless streaming from your laptop to your television. Apple TV and Roku are two of the most widely known. Either one can stream from a Mac or PC, and from Netflix, Hulu Plus and a variety of other services. They each cost around $100 (depending on which version of the Roku you buy). If we were answering your question six months ago, we would tell you to get one of these.

You see, there’s now another solution that’s a lot cheaper. Google sells a small gadget called the Chromecast which plugs into the HDMI port on your TV. It then connects to your home WiFi network. Once it’s set up, you can stream video from your laptop through the Google Chrome browser (it supports YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Pandora), and it will mirror any page you have open in the browser. And here’s kicker: it’s only $30.

However, you should know that there are some limitations. Since the Chromecast only streams what you can view through the Chrome browser, it most likely won’t work with video you have stored locally on your hard drive. So, it may not be the best solution if you are looking to show off your baby videos.

But, again, for $30 it may be worth a shot. If it doesn’t work out, there’s always the HDMI cable.

Q: I recently started experiencing random pop-up ads on my computer even when I was on websites that don’t have popups. Downloading a malware removal program didn’t fix the problem. Eventually I had to roll back to a clean install of Windows. How did my computer get infected, and how can I avoid this in the future?

You may see warnings like this if you attempt to visit a malicious website.
Image Credit: Google

A: Getting infected with malware and pop-ups is no fun. Even though there are lots of software programs out there to clean this junk off your hard drive, these kinds of malware programs are designed to be a pain to remove.

The key is to avoid getting infected in the first place. People know that it’s not a good idea to walk down a dark street in the middle of the night, and the Internet is pretty similar. It has some bad neighborhoods, and you just need to know to avoid them.

First off, you want to be careful with what you search for. Unscrupulous spammers and hackers tend to stake out popular Google searches, and they especially love celebrities. In fact, anti-virus company McAfee published a list of 2013’s most dangerous celebrities to search for. The #1 most dangerous person to search for is Lily Collins – one in seven of the results will land you on a malicious web site! Others dangerous celeb searches include Katy Perry, Sandra Bullock, and Britney Spears.

Celebrity searches aren?t the only searches that can get you in trouble, though. There are plenty of seemingly safe, regular search terms that can yield dangerous results, including:

• “lyrics”
• “free music”
• “game cheats”
• “free ringtones”
• “solitaire”
• “make money”
• “work from home”
• “free downloads”

Now, a few different things can happen when you visit an unsafe website. The most common is that you’ll be hit with a pop-up asking you to download some “helpful” program. Never agree to this! Running strange programs from unknown sources is extremely dangerous. If a website asks you to download something and you weren’t expecting to download it, say no.

In some cases it’s possible for a website to load a malicious program onto your computer secretly. Avoid this by upgrading to the latest version of your web browser. Still running Internet Explorer 7? Go download version 10 immediately. Having the latest and greatest makes sure you’ve also got the most recent security updates.

You also need to be smart about email. It’s a bad idea to open a program or file that’s been emailed to you if you weren’t expecting it, even if it’s from someone you know. That person could be infected with a virus, many of which love to spread themselves through email attachments. If you’re not sure, email the person back and ask, “Did you mean to send this?”

Follow these steps and you’ll be pretty safe. But accidents do happen, so know that if you do get infected with malware, there’s help. Google keeps a list of safe, useful malware removal programs at google.com/goodtoknow. Just click on the “keep your device clean” link.

Q: I have a number of important files and folders on an 8 GB USB drive, but now I can’t open the files and I get error messages instead. I think the drive is corrupted or damaged. I really need these files! Help!

Image Credit: USBMemoryDirect.com / Flickr

A: Take a deep breath, Prem, we’re going to steer you in the right direction. This is not a fun situation to be in, though. There’s no way to guarantee that you can recover your files. This is why it is so important to keep your files in a safe place and back them up.

For starters, never keep the only copy of your files on a USB drive! They’re cheap and can be corrupted easily, and they can also easily get lost, dropped and stepped on.

We always recommend keeping three copies of important files: one on your computer’s hard drive; one on a backup external drive; and one more in The Cloud.

Backing up to The Cloud basically means backing up your data online. This is actually very simple to do. You just need to download and install a cloud storage program like DropBox, Google Drive or PogoPlug. All of these programs give you some storage (usually about 5 GB) for free. You can then pay a yearly subscription fee to get more.

For our money, DropBox is the best and the easiest Cloud backup and storage solution. With DropBox installed, you don’t even need a program to store your files on the Cloud ? DropBox simply creates a DropBox folder on your computer. Drag your files into that folder, and they will be uploaded to the DropBox Cloud. It doesn’t get easier than that! And there’s nothing to stop you from starting to save your important files online today.

But let’s get back to your situation, Prem. The good news is that since your computer can still see the USB drive, the drive is most likely only logically corrupted. In other words, the data has gotten scrambled somehow but there is nothing physically wrong with the drive. With any luck, a good recovery program can get most of the data back.

There are numerous free data recovery programs available online, and there’s even one built right into your computer. Windows PCs have a built in Check Disk utility that will analyze and attempt to repair your USB drive. You can learn more about using it on the Microsoft site.

If that doesn’t work, the next step is to try a free third party recovery program. TestDisk is a well-regarded program, but it is somewhat advanced and must be run from the command line. Other good ones are Recuva, Disk Digger, PC Inspector and Restoration.

Sadly, there is no perfect recovery program, which means you may need to download a few and try them. After each pass be sure to check your data and copy anything that has become usable to your hard drive. By doing so, you can hopefully retrieve most of the vital data on your USB drive.

If that still doesn’t get the job done, there are paid services that specialize in data recovery. You can find them online by doing a search for “USB data recovery”. Good luck! And remember: Backup! Backup! Backup!

This week on Deemable Tech Tom and Ray answered questions about what to do if your Windows is upside down, how to delete multiple emails on your iPhone, how to print from your tablet, what to do if you have a corrupted USB drive, and more.

#52 Spin The Battery

TRANSCRIPT

RAY: From WJCT studios in Jacksonville, Florida, I’m Ray Hollister,

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and this is Deemable Tech. This week’s episode of the Deemable Tech Podcast is brought to you by A Small Orange, Homegrown Hosting. A refreshingly different approach to web hosting. On the web at a small orange dot com.

TOM: Got a question about your computer, smart phone, tablet or the Internet? You can give us a call us at One Eight Eight Eight, Nine Seven Two, Nine Eight Six Eight, or send us an email to questions@deemable.com.

TOM: Today on the show we’re going to answer your questions about what to do if your Windows is upside down,

RAY: How to delete multiple emails on your iPhone,

TOM: How to print from your tablet,

RAY: And what to do if you have a corrupted USB drive. But first –

TOM: Ray, have you been to the Google homepage recently?

RAY: Sure?

TOM: Have you by chance noticed the blue bar across the top? Actually it’s been across the top of Google+, Google Drive, Google Play and several other Google sites.

RAY: Yeah, I’ve seen it, but I just clicked OK or dismissed it or whatever.

TOM: That’s exactly what they want you to do.

RAY: So what have they changed?

TOM: Basically, Google wants to do what Facebook did a couple years ago and show ads to your friends based on things you’ve +1’d or rated highly. So if I bought the new Daft Punk album on Google Play Music, you might see an ad that says “Tom Braun recommends Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories.” Or something like that.

RAY: Oh wonderful. So now anything I plus can be advertised to other people on Google?

TOM: Well, there is a way out. Next time you see that blue bar, actually click on the link to see the new terms and conditions. Or you can go to http://www.google.com/settings/ads. Then select the option to ?opt out’ of Google’s so-called ?interest based ads’. There will be a pop-up that tries to talk you out of it, but persevere.

RAY: Why would anyone want to be part of Google’s ad program?

TOM: Well they’re counting on people to just not care enough to opt out. And if you don’t, then don’t. But folks should be aware that it’s happening and no how to get out of it.

RAY: Absolutely. Alright, let’s take some questions. What’s our first question, Tom?

Prem writes, one of my 8 GB USB drive (with about 4 GB, very important data files in many folders) is corrupted or damaged. I can see all the folders but soon the computer goes to non-responding mode and cannot open any folder or files. What is the best data recovery software one can download and use or is there software i can purchase to recover the data from this USB drive? I do not want to send it outside for data recovery. Please help. Please note the types of files in folders are: word files, pdf files, images of checks, and saved e-files. Looking forward for your response.

TOM: Hi Prem, thanks for your question. Having corrupted or inaccessible data is not a fun situation to be in. We can give you a couple of suggestions, but there’s no guarantee that you will be able to get your data back. I know you don’t want to send the drive out for data recovery services, but that is the #1 best way to make sure that you can salvage whatever you can from the drive. It’s not as expensive as you might think, either. There are places that will do a basic recovery for as little as $60.

RAY: The good news is, your computer can still see the USB drive. If you couldn’t access the drive at all you would be out of luck.

TOM: Right, most likely the drive is only logically corrupted. In other words, the data has gotten scrambled somehow but there is nothing physically wrong with the drive.

Now, I hate to say this because it’s like telling you to close the barn door after the horse has escaped, but backup, backup, backup! Always keep your important files in at least two places.

RAY: In fact, keep them in three places. One on your USB drive, one on your hard drive, and one in the cloud. You definitely don’t want to keep something only on a flash memory drive, though.

Those little USB flash drives are not very reliable. They use the cheapest memory possible to keep the price down. Additionally, even if the drive doesn’t become corrupted, it’s very easy to lose or damage! I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve been unable to find a USB drive, and then later it turned up at the bottom of some drawer. Those things are easy to lose. You could leave it at the coffee shop. It could fall out of your pocket. It could get stepped on.

You should never rely on a USB drive as the sole copy of your files.

Anyway, enough lecturing. Tom, how can we help Prem recover those files?

TOM: First things first, just in case, try plugging your USB drive into another computer. I have personally encountered cases before where one computer could read a drive but another couldn’t. That probably won’t solve your problem in this case, but it’s worth trying.

Also, make sure that you do not attempt to update files on the USB drive, delete them, or add them. Doing any of these things will make changes to the drive. This is known as ?writing’ to the drive. At this point every ?write’ to the drive pushes it further towards irrecoverable oblivion!

Before we dive into the recovery tools that are available, let’s use the ones you already have. You didn’t specify but I assume you’re using Windows. Windows actually has its own, fairly powerful recovery tool. But you’ll need to run it from the command line.

Click the start button and then search for ?cmd’ and hit enter. This will bring up a black box with white text. Do you know the letter of your USB drive? It’s probably something like D, E or F.

At the command line, type CHKDSK and the letter of your drive followed by /r. So for example, CHKDSK d /r. CHKDSK is a windows utility that will scan your damaged drive and attempt to figure out what’s wrong. The /r option tells it to attempt to repair any problems it finds. Run that and then check your drive and see if it’s recovered any files. If it has, be sure to immediately copy them to your hard drive!

If you still don’t have all your files, there are several free recovery programs out there. You might as well try as many as you can. Get everything you can from one program and then try the next.

The first program we found was TestDisk. TestDisk is an open-source program, so it’s not extremely user-friendly. In fact you will have to run it from the Windows command prompt. But it’s pretty good according to LifeHacker. There is documentation at the link in the show notes.

Another program is iCare Data Recovery Free. It’s got some positive reviews. You’ll want to use the Format Recovery option. The user interface is barebones, but there is a tutorial. We will provide a link to it in the show notes.

There are lots of other recovery programs. Three others that we found are Disk Digger, PC Inspector and Restoration.

Again, you can try more than one. Bear in mind, though, that as these programs have to ?write’ to the drive that as you continue to use them the drive will become increasingly unusable.

When you’ve recovered your files, you may be able to recover the USB drive too. Try formatting it. If the problem is merely some corrupt data, this will wipe it clean and you’ll have a usable drive once more. Be sure not to keep the only copy of important files on it in the future, though!

Okay, Prem. Hopefully some of these programs work for you. Good luck!

Jan wrote in: I purchased my iPhone this year but have years’ worth of previous emails stored. How can I delete without having to delete one at a time? How can I sync my iPhone email and my computer email so that I don’t have to delete on both? How can I store photos sent via text messaging? Thanks!

Morgan writes, Hi, I have been having something really strange happen to my Galaxy S3. I will be using it and suddenly the screen will flicker and then it will shut down. It won’t turn back on until I plug it in, even if it was charged very recently. I am worried that something is very wrong with my phone. Help!

RAY: That’s scary!

TOM: Yeah, it is a scary-sounding problem. In fact I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on, and it’s a good-news-bad-news type of situation.

RAY: OK, what’s the bad news?

TOM: The bad news is that it is almost certainly a hardware problem. Something is physically wrong with Morgan’s phone.

RAY: Well that sucks! I hope the good news is really good!

TOM: It’s pretty good. The part of your phone that has probably gone bad is the easiest part to replace, and relatively inexpensive. I’m talking about the battery. My guess is that Morgan needs a new battery. And there’s an easy way to test that.

Okay Morgan, here’s what I want you to do: peel the back plate off of your phone and dig out that battery. Set it on a flat surface in front of you, like a table or desk.

RAY: Okay?

TOM: Now, spin it!

RAY: What?

TOM: Batteries are flat, or at least they are supposed to be. A good battery won’t spin. However when a battery goes bad, at least in the case of the Galaxy S3, it may develop a slight bulge. If your battery spins on one side or the other, that means that side is now curved. You’ve got a bulgy battery. Time for a new one!

Fortunately, replacement batteries start for as low as $9.99 on Amazon.com. If you’re still under warranty, you can take the phone to the store you bought it at, show them your cool battery trick, and they’ll probably replace it for free.

Morton asks: I recently bought an ASUS Transformer Pad (tablet), model #TF300T. I use it in conjunction with Wi-Fi connections to the internet.

I would like to know if there is any SIMPLE printer on the market which I can use with this Tablet (Made in Taiwan). Right now the only access to printing is a friend’s Wi-Fi-enabled Lap Top which has a printer attached.

My tablet is an ANDROID-based tablet, and all printers I see are only compatible with WINDOWS or MAC.

RAY: Go to https://www.google.com/cloudprint/learn/ or just look for the Cloud Print Ready. Or if you want to buy an AirPrint ready printer that isn’t Cloud Print Ready, there is an app called PrintBot which will let you print from an Android device to an AirPrint ready printer.

Susanna wrote in: I have a new laptop, and I am planning on selling my old laptop. I have Adobe Creative Suite for on my old Mac laptop and I want to move it to my new Mac. Is there anything I need to do to put it on my new laptop or can I just install it?

Adobe only lets you activate the software on as many computers as you have paid for; with a single license for Adobe software you may install it on two computers. So, if you do not deactivate it on the first computer and you only have paid for one license, you will not be able to install it on any other computers.

To deactivate the software from your computer:

Make sure the computer that has the software installed is connected to the Internet.
Choose Help > Deactivate in the product you wish to deactivate. If you have a suite then choosing one of the products will Deactivate the entire suite.
Select Deactivate Permanently

If you unfortunately already sold your old laptop, you’re not out of luck, but you will have to contact Adobe directly to deactivate it so that you can activate it on another computer.

http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/activation-deactivation-products.html

Richard writes, My cats walked on my computer one day and now my Dell laptop boots up upside down and to get it right I have to press the windows key and the p button, then when I stop duplicate screen mode, the screen reverts to normal. How can I get it to boot up right?
TOM: Geez, and I thought my cat was bad because he gets on top of the bookshelf.
RAY: Like any cat, this cat knows a good prank when he sees it.
TOM: Hahahah! Not to worry Richard, this is a very easy fix. On some versions of Windows some genius at Microsoft thought it was a good idea to have a hot-key combination that changes the orientation of your screen.
Now I can see why very occasionally you might want to flip your screen 90 degrees, but I can’t imagine doing it often enough that you would need a short sequence of keystrokes to do it. Basically, Microsoft created the ultimate hotkey shortcut for pranksters.
RAY: Or cats.
TOM: Right. To change the orientation of your screen, once you’ve logged in upside-down, hold down CTRL+ALT+UP ARROW and that ought to right your screen. CTRL+ALT+ANY ARROW KEY will change your screen so it’s facing the direction of the arrow.
Now you know, so do us a favor: once you change your screen back, don’t use this knowledge for evil.
RAY: If that doesn’t work, you can also do it manually through the Control Panel.

• Click the Start menu and open “Control Panel.”
• Click “Adjust Screen Resolution”
• Click to open the “Orientation” menu.
• Choose from : “Landscape,” “Portrait,” “Landscape (Flipped)” and “Portrait (Flipped)” Click your desired orientation option to have Windows display a thumbnail preview of what it will look like.
• Click “Apply,” then click “Keep Changes” or “Revert” to revert to the original orientation.

Thanks for all your questions, and keep them coming. Call us at our toll-free number, 1-888-972-9868 or you can send us an email at questions@deemable.com. Also, subscribe to the show! Search for Deemable Tech on iTunes, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and follow us or subscribe.

Our producer is Sean Birch. I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

Q: The other day I received a direct message on Twitter from a colleague of mine that said, ‘Is this what you were talking about?’ and a link to a web page. Like a dummy, I clicked the link. It took me to some random web page that didn’t have anything to do with me. I messaged him back, and he had no idea what I was talking about. Then, I started getting messages from other friends on Twitter asking what I was talking about. Somebody hacked our Twitter accounts! What can we do to fix it?

A: Ouch! You’re not alone though. In fact, Amanda Bynes, Britney Spears, Justin Beiber, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Donald Trump, Burger King, Jeep, NBC News, the Associated Press, the New York Times, and even President Obama have all had their Twitter accounts hacked. Anthony Weiner, MTV, BET and Chipotle all lied about their Twitter accounts being hacked, each for their own reasons, but let’s not get into all that.

So, how do you fix it? There’s a lot to do, but we’ll help you get your Twitter account straightened out and secure.

The first things you need to do are log into your Twitter account and change your Twitter password. In case you may have downloaded a virus, you may want to do that from a different computer than the one you normally use. Make sure to pick a strong password, and make sure you change your password in your password management system (like Lastpass, Dashlane or 1Password) too. Also, in case you did download a virus, make sure to update your virus software and run a full scan.

If you can’t log into your Twitter account because the hacker changed the password, submit a password reset request. You should receive an email with a link to change your password. If you don’t, it’s because the hacker also changed the email address associated with your Twitter account. Now you’ll have to contact Twitter with a support ticket to get access to your account.

Once you’ve gotten into your account and changed your password, you want to revoke the access of any and all third party applications that have permissions on your Twitter account. Go to Settings and click Apps. You should find a list of all of the applications that you and the hackers have given access to your account. You could just revoke the permission of the applications that you don’t recognize, but the smartest thing to do is revoke all of them and then add them back one by one.

Now that you’re finished revoking your apps’ access to your Twitter account, start adding them back. You’ll need to go into each app and sign into Twitter again. Make sure that you change your password on any apps that have it saved. You will get locked out of Twitter for too many failed attempts to login if you don’t.

Finally, be a friend, and make sure to delete the direct messages that your account sent out while it was compromised. Also, make sure to send another direct message letting the person know that if they clicked the link they’ll need to get their account straightened out too. You might want to post something publicly on your Twitter feed as well.

Q: My son recently gave his mother an iPad as a birthday gift. He bought it earlier this year, but he decided he wanted an iPad mini instead. What’s the best way to delete all of his data and accounts on the iPad, and get him moved over to the iPad Mini without losing all of his emails, contacts, music and apps?

Image Credit: Ben Miller / Flickr

A: It is really important to clear your iPad out before you give it to someone else. You don’t want to hand out your personal information when you sell or give someone your iPad or iPhone. But, it’s also good to do, even if the only reason is so that the other person has more room for their own stuff. So, here’s what you do on your iPad to clear it out.

First, you want to back it up and sync it with his computer before you do anything to it. Backing it up saves his settings, Messages, photos in his Camera Roll, documents, saved games, and other data. Syncing his iPad saves all of his downloadable purchased content such as movies, music, podcasts, and apps.

In general, you should sync and back up any iOS device, like an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch once a day, but if you only back it up once every couple of weeks, or even once a month, it’s OK. I won’t tell on you. Just keep in mind, you could lose anything that’s on your iPad at any time since the last time you backed up and synced your iPad. So, the more often you back it up and sync it, the better.

Just plug his iPad into his computer, and you’ll be able to back it up and sync it in iTunes. Once you’re done with that you can take his iPad Mini and plug it into his computer, and restore it using the backup you just made of his old iPad. Just plug it in, and tap Restore iPad. If it asks you which backup to use, make sure to choose the most recent backup. Once iTunes is done restoring and syncing his content, he should have everything back and it should look just like his old iPad. Of course, it will look a little smaller since it is an iPad mini.

Now, the next step is to wipe the old iPad. Now, don’t take this step lightly. Once you’ve done it it cannot be undone. His iPad will be completely wiped clean, and it will look brand new like the day he bought it. Well, except for those scratches and the ding on the corner.

To wipe his iPad, open the Settings app and tap General, then tap Reset, then tap Erase All Content and Settings. The iPad will give you one warning to try to pull you to your senses. If you’re sure you want to do it, pull the trigger and tap Erase iPad. It will take a few minutes to do it’s magic, but once it’s done, it will reboot, and you’ll be greeted with the setup greeting screen, just like he was when he first got the iPad.

Sounds easy, right?

Well, it is easy, if it works. I’ll be honest, this is the one area where Apple to this day has still dropped the ball when it comes to the iPhone and iPad. If it works, it’s seamless and polished. But, a lot of times, it just doesn’t work, and it is very complicated to make sure you have all of your files from your old iOS device on your new iOS device. So, if you try it and it doesn’t work, you may want to contact a professional before you wipe the old iPad.

If you were wondering, yes, this is exactly how it works to move from an old iPhone to a new iPhone as well.

Q: I was letting my 3-year-old play with my iPhone when she spit up all over it. Eww. I need to get it clean. Like, really clean, not just ‘dab-it-with-a-lint-free-cloth clean’. It’s a phone, you put it up to your face! And I just know it’s crawling with germs now. How can I disinfect my iPhone?

Your smart phone is full of germs. How can you disinfect it?

A: Oh, that is gross! However, even if your kid hadn’t aimed for your iPhone, a couple of recent studies have shown that even cell phones that haven’t been victims of 3-year-olds are “veritable reservoirs of pathogens.” A sample of smart phones showed abnormally high numbers of coliforms, a bacteria indicating fecal contamination. So, with that in mind you’ll definitely want to clean your phone. A lint-free cloth and some alcohol should kill 99% of bacteria.

However, certain touch-screen smart phones, including the iPhone, have an oleophobic coating on them to protect them from smudges and fingerprints. Apple specifically warns not to use any product with alcohol in it to clean the iPhone or iPad screens, because using cleaners with alcohol will wear down that coating.

Now, anecdotal evidence indicates that an occasional light cleaning with alcohol doesn’t seem to have much ill effect on an iPhone, but you use it against the manufacturer’s recommendations and at your own risk. Be sure to test any cleaner you try before use. Dab a small amount of it on the corner of your phone’s screen. It’s better to damage a small piece of your screen than the entire thing.

However, most phones can be cleansed with just a small amount of mild soap and a little bit of water. Make sure that the rag is just a little wet (don’t use one that’s so wet that it’s dripping water). That will get rid of most germs. It won’t kill the germs, but it will get them off your phone, which is all that really matters, right? You’ll have a phone with hardly any germs on it. Of course, you’ll want to consult the manual for your device before trying this at home.

If you’re truly obsessed with keeping your touch-screen germ-free, and you don’t want to abrade or damage the finish in any way, you can always try UV light. The VIOLIGHT UV Cell Phone Sanitizer claims that it will not only charge your cell phone, but destroy 99% of all bacteria in the process. It’s $49.99.

Or, you could just save some money and head to the beach. Good old-fashioned sunshine also produces UV rays. Normally we would tell you to keep your smart phone out of the sun, but if you want to disinfect it, try leaving it in the sunshine for a few hours. Just make sure that it doesn’t overheat. The UV rays will kill just about anything that’s still left on it. Plus, you can work on your tan while you wait.

Q: A classmate came over to my house recently to work on a project with me. She brought her laptop. When it came time to print, we had to print from her laptop, which meant I had to find the printer disk, hook her laptop up to the printer, and install it, just to print one thing. Is there a better way to do this?

A: Thank you for your question, Parker! This is a problem we probably have all faced at one time or another. The good news is that there is actually a pretty easy way to remedy this situation, and it involves one of our favorite things: The Cloud! Specifically, Google’s Cloud Print service.

Image Credit: Google

The idea behind Google Cloud Print is that you can print from any computer to any printer without having to connect the two physically or install a bunch of drivers. As long as both the computer and the printer have an Internet connection, you can print. For example, if your work printer was connected to Cloud Print, you could print to it from home. If your home printer was connected to Cloud Print, you could print to it from work. And if your friend is at your house and needs to print, you can just share your Cloud Print connected printer with them , no printer connection required.

Another cool thing about Google Cloud Print is that you control who gets to see your printer. You specify the email addresses of people you want to share your printer with, and only they are allowed to print to it. You can also revoke access to your shared printer at any time.

Now, how do you start using Cloud Print? Well, you may have noticed that many new printers are labeled as being “Google Cloud Print Ready”. That means that once you have them turned on and connected to a network, you can share them through Google Cloud Print quickly and easily. If you don’t have a “Google Cloud Print Ready” printer, don’t worry! You can still use what Google calls “classic printers” with Cloud Print, with the only extra requirement being that the printer must be hooked up to a computer with Google Chrome installed on it.

Open up the settings in Google Chrome on that computer, search for “cloud printer”, and you’ll see options to add your printer to Cloud Print. Once your printer is connected, it’s simple to print from Google Docs, your Chrome browser, or from a Google app.

Yes, you read that correctly: you can print from Google apps. Most Google apps on iOS and Android let you use Cloud Print by default. For example, you could open the Gmail app, tap print and print away! For other apps on iOS, you can download the PrintCentral Pro app to connect your device to Google Cloud Print (this app costs $4.99 for iPhone, and $7.99 for iPad). Many apps on Android have this function built in.

So, Parker, try out Google Cloud Print, and see how it works for you. That way if you’re ever in that predicament again, you can simply share your printer without all of the extra work.

Q: I’m taking a trip to Costa Rica soon, and I need a simple phone to use while I’m there. I know very little about cell phones. What sort of phone should I buy for international travel, and what do I need to know to make sure it will work before the trip?

A: Finding the right phone for international travel can get complicated and expensive in a hurry. Whatever you do, don’t just take your normal phone to Central America and start racking up roaming charges. They start at ridiculous and go up from there. If your phone even works there, that is.

You’ve got your passport and your traveler’s cheques packed, but what about your phone?Image credit: Andrew Catellier / Flickr

You see, there are two main types of cell networks worldwide: GSM and CDMA. GSM is the worldwide standard while CDMA is most common in the US. So you really want a GSM phone, specifically a “quad band” GSM phone. A “quad band” GSM phone will work on just about any cell network in any country. One such phone is the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 also supports quad band… providing you bought yours in Europe.

The type of network your phone is compatible with is determined by the carrier you bought it for. The US carriers that use GSM are AT&T and T-Mobile. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA. LTE networks are basically all completely incompatible with each other (which is why American iPhone 5’s will most likely not work in another country). Once you have a quad-band GSM phone, you will need to buy an international SIM card so you can make calls without racking up astronomical roaming charges.

Now, if this all sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Don’t fret, though, because there’s a simple trick to finding a phone that is guaranteed to work cheaply in the country you are visiting: wait until you get to Costa Rica, and buy a phone there. When you arrive in Costa Rica, go to the local mobile store and buy the cheapest prepaid cell phone you can find. We be there will be one you can buy for under $30 (US dollars). Whatever you do, don’t buy a phone or SIM card at or near the airport, because prices are almost always much higher there. Once you get out of the airport, ask a local to point you to a good, cheap store.

Of course, you won’t be able to call your folks in Sarasota on your el cheapo Costa Rican prepaid phone, Ric. But there’s an easy solution for that, too. You can use the popular Internet telephony software Skype to call real phone numbers, anywhere in the world. It’s not free, but it’s very cheap. Before you leave, buy some Skype credit, download the Skype app for your smartphone, and take it with you to Costa Rica. Then when you’re on Wi-Fi, just log in to Skype and call home like normal!

In general, buying a cheap phone in the country you will be visiting is a good plan, and pretty foolproof. However if you expect to be traveling to multiple countries, or you need to call other countries while you’re there and you won’t have consistent access to Wi-Fi, you need an unlocked, quad-band GSM phone and an international SIM card. You can buy prepaid international SIM cards from companies like Telestial and OneSimCard for under $50. Just remember, you’ll need a phone to match.

To sum up, if you absolutely have to make a lot of international calls while you’re there, you’ll need an unlocked, quad-band GSM phone such as the iPhone 4S and an international SIM card. If not, you can just buy a cheap prepaid phone once you land.

Q: Is there any way to completely block pop-up ads while running Chrome or Internet Explorer? I have turned on the built-in pop-up blocker on both, but that doesn’t stop them on many of the sites I visit. What is up with that? I have to wonder what the point of blocking pop-ups is when so many get through anyway, slowing down the page loading to the point that it reminds me of being on dial-up.

A: To be honest, Bill, it’s been so long since we have dealt with a pop-up that we had forgotten Chrome and Internet Explorer even had settings to block them. To turn on the pop-up blocker in Chrome, click the button at the top right of the screen that has three horizontal lines. Then click on “Settings,” and search for “pop-ups” in the search box. In Internet Explorer, click on “Tools” and then go to “Internet Options.” There you can find the setting under the “Privacy” tab. Recent versions of Firefox have this option too, and you can find it under the Firefox settings.

Ah, the good ole days! Fortunately pop-up ads are much fewer and farther between now, but how do you make them go away completely?
Image credit: Minesweeper / Wikipedia

But as you say, Bill, these settings don’t always work. Why is that? Well, you have to understand that pop-up blocking is like an arms race. Every time there’s some new advance in pop-up blocker technology, the people making the pop-up ads just get smarter.

To make things even more complicated, browser-makers can’t simply ban all pop-ups. There are lots of legitimate uses for pop-ups – in fact, half of the websites on the Internet would stop working without them.

Now, the other way to deal with pop-up ads is with what Firefox calls “extensions”. Extensions are small programs you can download which add features to your browser, including more effective pop-up blocking. Extensions also work for Chrome and Internet Explorer, where they’re known as “plug-ins” and “add-ons”, respectively.

One of the most popular ones is Ad Block Plus, which is available for both Firefox and Chrome. It’s an industrial strength pop-up killer, and we’ve found it effectively blocks most pop-ups. Another good plug-in we’ve found for Chrome is called Better Pop-Up Blocker. You can find either one of these by just searching for it in Google. Try keywords like “Chrome pop-up blocker”, and you should get some very helpful results.

Your options are more limited on Internet Explorer, but there is an add-on called Smart Pop-up Blocker that will block most pop-ups. It’s not 100%, but it’s the best that we could find.

Regardless of what your favorite browser is, if you’re getting fed-up with annoying ads on the websites you frequent, there are tools out there that can make your web-browsing experience a little smoother.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time for a friendly little PSA about pop-up blocking. Many of your favorite free websites are ad-supported, so when you visit one of those sites and you’ve got a pop-up blocker running, you may avoid seeing that annoying pop-up ad but you’ve also cost that site some ad revenue. So be sure to deploy your pop-up blocker judiciously.

This is such a big issue that the ever-popular Ad Block Plus actually has a setting called “allow non-intrusive advertising” which is on by default. As the name suggest, this allows many of the less annoying ads through. But keep in mind that the ones that it does block – the really annoying ones – may be real money makers for small, independent websites. Ad Block Plus gives you the option to allow pop-ups for certain websites to remedy this. Other pop-up blockers should, at minimum, allow you to turn them on and off.

Please pop-up block responsibly! Ads may be annoying, but they help keep the web free.

Image Credit: Chris Owens / Flickr

Q: I use two desktop computers at work, and I’m starting to feel like having two keyboards and mice is taking up too much space on my desk. Is there any way I can use one keyboard and one mouse for both computers? Also, is there any app I can use to control my computer from my iPad?

A: Thanks for your question, Mike. There are a couple of methods to control two different computers from one keyboard and mouse: either with a cable or with software.

First, there is a cable called a KVM switch, which is short for “keyboard, video and mouse” switch. These let you share one mouse, keyboard and monitor between two computers. There are also KM switch cables that allow you to share just a keyboard and mouse with two computers that have two separate monitors. If you are using the two different computers at the same time, that second one might be the best option for you.

Either way, they both run between $20 and $100. The great thing about using a physical cable is that the connection is really fast, and you’ll never have any lag. The down side is that you are limited by the length of the cable. Also, you’ll need to press a button, or turn a switch, to go back and forth between the two computers.

If you want to go the software route, there are two great programs that do the same thing as a KM switch, but over your network instead of a cable. One is called ShareMouse. It is super easy to use, and isn’t too difficult to set up. However, it normally costs $30 per computer!

Another option is a program called Synergy (this is the one we prefer). It’s a tiny bit harder to set up than ShareMouse, but it starts at only $10 and it’s open-source, so there’s an entire community constantly working on it to make it better! On both programs you don’t have to press a button to switch computers – it’s as simple as sliding your mouse off the edge of one screen, and it will appear on the other screen. Also, both programs support clipboard sharing, which allows you to copy text on one computer and paste it on the other.

Both programs are relatively small ones that don’t use up a lot of resources on your computers or bandwidth on your network. One potential downside of using one of these programs is that if your network is bogged down (for example if you are running streaming video or downloading a lot), you might notice a slight lag in reaction time. Also, neither program supports sharing a monitor between the two computers.

If you are trying to do that with software, you’ll have to try Remote Desktop or a Virtual Network Computing program. That’s a little bit more complicated, and probably isn’t worth it if you have both computers in the same room.

If each computer does have its own monitor, we recommend starting out by trying Synergy. That will probably be the best solution for your problem. If that doesn’t work, then try ShareMouse or a hardware KM or KVM switch.

To answer your second question about controlling your computers from your iPad, we recommend Mobile Mouse Pro. You can get it in the App Store for $2.99 (it’s also available for the same price in Google Play for Android users). You have to install a small server app on your desktop, but once you do and open the app, your phone or tablet turns into a multitouch trackpad, remote keyboard, and music and presentation remote. If you just want to try out Mobile Mouse before you buy it, there is a free version called Mobile Mouse Lite in the App Store and Google Play.

Hopefully one of these options will help you out, Mike. Try them out, and clear off that desk!

Image Credit: Niki Odolphie / Flickr

Q: I keep deleting apps off of my iPod Touch, but they keep reinstalling whenever the apps are updated. Why is it doing this? It’s driving me crazy. I want to be able to delete apps and for them to stay deleted. I am running iOS 6.1.3. My iPod syncs with iTunes on my laptop over Wi-Fi.

A: Great question, Lynda, and thanks for giving us specific details. It really helped us figure out what was going on here. We did a little research, and we found out what is most likely causing your headache.

Here’s what we think is happening. First, you installed an app on your iPod. Then, you decided you didn’t want the app anymore, and you deleted it before you synced your iPod with your laptop again. Now, the next time you synced your iPod with your laptop, iTunes saw that you didn’t have that new app on your iPod. So, in trying to be helpful, it reinstalled it on your iPod for you.

Now, what’s causing that to happen? Well, it sounds like you have iTunes on your laptop set to automatically download any new apps that you buy on your iPod. This is designed to make syncing your iPod Touch faster, but it can cause a problem like this to happen as well.

Lynda, it sounds like you’re going to have to decide which is more important to you: faster syncing with iTunes, or occasionally having an app come back from the grave. If it were us, we would prefer that our apps stay deleted when we deleted them. The only time where faster syncing would probably be important is if you were syncing your iPod Touch with a cable. Since you’re syncing over Wi-Fi, it’s doing it when you aren’t using the iPod Touch and it’s plugged in.

To fix this, all you have to do is open iTunes on your laptop, open the preferences menu, and click the “Store” tab. Then just unclick the check mark next to “Apps” under the heading “Automatic Downloads”.

If you weren’t aware of it, from this menu you can control automatic downloads of apps, music and books. So, if you want the music and books that you purchase on your iPod Touch to be automatically downloaded to your laptop, make sure to mark those checkboxes.

On your iPod Touch there’s a similar menu under “Settings”, then “iTunes and App Stores”. Play with the settings until you find an automatic download that works best for you. Hopefully that will take care of your zombie apps.

You: “I’d really like to learn Photoshop. Ugh! There aren’t any classes when I am not at work. Private tutoring is so expensive, I guess I’ll just have to get a book and learn it on my own.”

Later, at the store…

You: “Man, there are so many books on Photoshop! I had no idea! I guess I will just get the book labeled “FOR DUMMIES” because I want to start from the beginning.”

Does that scenario describe your own experience? If so, you are reading the right post. Many people choose to buy a book when they want to teach themselves something on the computer. This works wonders if you are technically minded, a self starter, and extremely disciplined. The worst offenders are the “For Dummies” books. Have you even read one of them, actually read one? They may work for some people, but for most, they are too wordy and more technical than us “dummies” need. Their counter parts are the “Missing Manuals“. There was a reason they were missing. They come across as the bible of whatever subject their title boasts. However, upon further examination, they fall into the same mindset that anyone reading a technical book must be technically minded.

But, you are reading this to find out which books are the good ones.

The “Teach Yourself Visually” series is one of the better ones. They give you lots and lots pictures. There are some step-by-step instructions, but mostly pictures. I recommend this to my clients who are visual learners and those who learn by doing. The “Simplified” series come in a close second. Another great series for someone new to a certain subject is the “Plain & Simple” series. It is a great short book to get your feet wet in any subject.

“Visual Quick Tips” series is always a great reference. “Sam’s Teach Yourself” is good if you are attending a class where someone can explain what Sam fails to explain. It is a great supplemental read.

Portable Genius is a great series of how to and quick reference guides for anyone with an iPhone or iPad only. (Your parents, grandparents, etc.) It is a great series for those who just want to learn the basics and not be bogged down with too much outside info. Que came out with a “My…” series that rivals the “Portable Genius”. The “My…” Series covers all types of tablets, computers, phones. They even have a book on the Chromebook.

“In Easy Steps” and “In Easy Steps For Seniors” are two amazing series out of England. They are some of the best step-by-step and easiest to understand for seniors. I recommend both of these series to all seniors. The books are light, uncluttered, and a larger print; perfect for the Greatest Generation.

As you excel in your studies, “Digital Classroom” and Adobe’s “Classroom in a Book” series takes you to the next level. “Step by Step” is another series that can bring your skills from a 3 to a 7 in a matter of hours. They can be wordy, but they are easy to understand.

The O’Reilly books are not to be topped when it comes to the best in the business. If you are at a higher level and need that extra push or want to learn something new, O’Reilly is for you. They are comprehensive and serve as great desk references as well as paperweights when needed. They are worth every penny, and now available in non-paperweight edition (eBook).

When purchasing a book, Rule #1 is to always make sure you are getting the book that is right for you. If you have Mac OSX Lion, but the book you have in your hand is Mountain Lion, put it back. You should be getting the exact book for your exact program. If you have MS Word 2013, an MS Word 2010 book will not be kind to you. Close enough only works in horseshoes and hand grenades. Now that we know to match our book to our program, what about when the book was written? Was the program updated since the book was written? Take Facebook for example. People buy a book about Facebook, get it home and realize that nothing looks the same. Facebook doesn’t have a new “edition” out, but the program has been updated.

Rule #2 is always check the copyright! If a book was not published in the current year (ie: 2013), it is not worth looking at. When it comes to technology, everything changes so fast. It can take up to one year to bring a book to press and distribute it to the stores. If you have a book in your hand that says it was copyrighted in 2011, the info could be up to 3 years old!

For those of you on a budget, the library is a great resource, but remember to check on Rule #2! Many public libraries also now offer eBooks that can be “checked out” on a tablet or computer with an Internet connection. It takes a bit of time to figure it out, but it is a great alternative to the $60+ some books can run.

Another alternative is used bookstores. Sometimes, if you are trying to learn a program that is 1-2 versions back, the regular stores do not carry books on that software anymore. (See Rule #1.) Another option is a nifty little website called ALLBookstores.com. They have a one stop shopping approach to book buying. The site compares all other bookstore sites to find you the best price on any given book. They compile a list of well-known sites like Amazon, eBay, and Half.com, as well as the little guys like WonderBooks, and Textbookx.

If you still can’t find the right book, try this tried and true test. Grab three books off the shelf on your subject. Open each one into the middle. If you can comprehend and understand what they are asking you to do, and it makes some sense, it is the book for you! Not all writers write books for everyone. Find one that has a writing style you can learn from, hence the test.

Happy Hunting!

Q: I have a laptop that is about 10 years old, and it is completely beyond repair. What can I do with it? Is it OK to just throw it in the trash?

Image Credit: David Morris / Flickr

A: NO! Stop! If you’ve already put it out for the trash, stop reading this right now, and go bring it back inside! Never, ever, throw computers, or almost any electronics, in the trash.

First of all, you need to protect yourself and clear any personal data off of that thing before you release it into the wild. I’m not talking about a simple, quick re-formatting. I mean such a thorough scrubbing of your data that it would take the entire cast of CSI to recreate it. When you delete something from your hard drive, it isn’t really erased. The computer just pretends it’s not there.

To really delete a file from your computer’s hard drive, you have to write something over that file. There are a few programs that will securely delete your files for you. If it’s a Windows PC you’re getting rid of, use a program like Eraser or the Drive Wiper in CCleaner to completely eradicate your data. If you’re tossing out a Mac, there’s a program called Permanent Eraser.

Once you’ve taken care of protecting yourself, you need to protect the environment. Computers are loaded with toxic metals and materials that are dangerous to the environment and need to be handled appropriately. Some cities and counties have curbside pickup of e-waste, but you should never just toss your computer in with the regular trash.

Check with your municipality’s website to find out where you can drop off your computer so that it is disposed of properly. Here in Jacksonville e-waste can be dropped off Tuesday through Saturday at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility located at 2675 Commonwealth Ave.

Of course as they say, one man’s toxic trash is another man’s treasure. There are companies that will take computers and monitors apart and extract the metals out of them to sell as scrap. So before you just throw that old junker away, you might be able to get a few bucks out of it, even if it is beyond all hope of repair.

You do have to be careful though. There are several companies that will ship your computer and monitor overseas where they will be melted down to get the metals out. This is very dangerous and very unsafe for the workers. Make sure that the company you are dealing with is handling your e-waste responsibly.

On this week’s episode of Deemable Tech, Ray and Tom help a few listeners out with their trust issues. They help one listener trust LastPass and/or Dashlane to store their passwords, another to trust Nextdoor to find out what’s happening in their neighborhood. Another listener’s trust was broken by a bad batch of malware.

#42 Trust Issues

DRAFT TRANSCRIPT

RAY: From WJCT studios in Jacksonville, Florida, I’m Ray Hollister,

TOM: I’m Tom Braun,

RAY: and this is Deemable Tech, tech help worth listening to.

RAY: This week’s episode of the Deemable Tech podcast is brought to you by A Small Orange, Homegrown Hosting. A refreshingly different approach to web hosting. On the web at a small orange dot com.

TOM: And, by audible.com – Deemable Tech listeners can get a FREE audiobook download at audibletrial.com/Deemable Over 100,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

RAY: And, from All Florida Insurance Options, an authorized Progressive agency, helping people shop for insurance at 904-757-3288 or at their office in Highland Square on Dunn Avenue in North Jacksonville.

TOM: Got a question about your computer, smart phone, tablet or the Internet? Give us a call us at One Eight Eight Eight, Nine Seven Two, Nine Eight Six Eight, or send us an email at questions@deemable.com.

RAY: Today on Deemable Tech, we’re answering your questions about how to throw away your computer, and

TOM: whether or not you can trust LastPass, and how Nextdoor.com can make your neighborhood better.

RAY: But first, we have a voicemail from a listener named Felicia.

Hi Deemable Tech my name is Felicia and I saw you OneSpark and I still have your card and I’m hi thing problems with the condo with it I have a … dell laptop and 2 days ago I start getting con do it kept coming up whenever … I’ve browse on internet explorer work for … because I’ve browse on both of them because I’m old and so I did internet explorer … I was I went on the online and I was able to get rid of it sort of in that it doesn’t come up anymore but my computer is like running really slow and so it makes me think that it’s still floating around in there somewhere so how can I get rid of it completely and speed things back up again

Oh, that’s a pain, Felicia. Well, sounds like you have unwittingly installed Conduit Search. But don’t worry, you’re not alone: this annoying piece of software piggy-backs on legitimate downloads and installs itself on the computers of thousands of unsuspecting users.

As you surmised, there is a conduit search plug-in which you need to uninstall from each of your infected browsers. The really annoying thing about Conduit Search is that it doesn’t just install a browser plug-in, it also installs software and changes your search provider. So you have to fix each of these problems separately.

How to Remove Search Conduit Toolbar and Add-ons on Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. On top menu, select Tools. Choose Manage Add-ons from the drop-down list.

3. A new window to manage current add-ons will open. On Add-on Types pane, select Toolbars and Extensions. Look for ?Conduit? items on right pane. You cannot delete the toolbar and extensions from this process. But you must disable it to stop working. You may jump to tips below to uninstall the Conduit Toolbar.

4. One at a time, select ?Conduit? item and click on Disable button to stop the service.

How to Remove Conduit Search Provider on Internet Explorer

1. On the same window, click on Search Providers on Add-on Types pane.

2. You cannot remove Conduit Web Search if it is on default stage. On right pane, select your desired search engine (Google or Bing) and set it as default. Hover your mouse on the desired service and click on Set as default button.

3. You can now highlight Conduit Web Search. Click on Remove button to delete the service.

Other Things:

1. Uninstall Conduit software by going to Control Panel. Click on Uninstall a program. Look for Toolbar or any phrase relevant to Conduit Search. Highlight the program and click the Uninstall button at the top of the screen.

2. Set Internet Explorer homepage to default by going to Tools menu. On General tab, click on Use default or replace the address with your desired home page URL. Click on Apply to save the settings.

Alternatively, some mal-ware programs may be able to eradicate Search Conduit for you. Either way, make sure that you uninstall the software. If any slow-downs are being caused by Search Conduit, uninstalling the software should help.

I’m not entirely sure that Search Conduit is the problem here. Although it’s an annoying little piece of malware, it doesn’t seem to be particularly malicious. Download a good virus and malware scanner and run it. Where there’s one piece of malware, there could be more.

Kim K. writes, There was a break in at my neighbor’s house last night. If I hadn’t seen the cops pull up as I was leaving for work, I wouldn’t even had known about it. It made me realize just how few of my neighbors I actually know. Is there was a website or some other way I can get to know my neighbors that doesn’t require going door to door and meeting my neighbors in person?

A: It is ironic that with Facebook and Twitter we can know what a random acquaintance from high school had for lunch, but we still might not know the name of three of our neighbors. There is a new social network called Nextdoor that is trying to fix that. Nextdoor is a private social network that only connects you to people who live in your neighborhood. To join, you have to prove where you live. To verify where you live, you can provide a credit or debit card to verify your street address, choose to have Nextdoor sent a postcard in the mail with a security code, or in some areas you can have Nextdoor call your landline telephone. Otherwise, you’ll have to be verified by the Founding Member or a Lead Neighbor.

Once you’ve been verified, you can sign into the website or the iPhone app to find out about all of the yard sales, missing puppies, and fun events in your neighborhood. In my neighborhood, folks are giving stuff away, having garage sales, posting information about church and theatre events, and talking about the car smash and grabs that happened last year.

Now, you can even share and talk with folks in nearby neighborhoods, so you won’t be limited to just your community. You can choose if you want your information and posts just shared with your neighborhood and/or with nearby neighborhoods. Also, like any self respecting social network, Nextdoor has an iPhone app, and is developing an Android app, so you can post and read others posts on the go.

To sign up for Nextdoor, go to Nextdoor.com. If your neighborhood is already added to Nextdoor, you’ll be able to join it. If it isn’t in Nextdoor yet, you can become a founding member and start a community on Nextdoor for your neighborhood. If you click on the link we’ve created for our readers, http://dmbl.co/nextdoor, and add your neighborhood, Nextdoor will give you a $50 Starbucks gift card.

So, if you would like to be social with your neighbors without, you know, being social, check out Nextdoor.

For the listeners of the Deemable Tech podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

Even New York Times best sellers like

Fiction: Inferno by Dan Brown

Non Fiction: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Not in Audible yet: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

But from the same publisher, there is Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

To download your free audiobook today go to audibletrial.com/Deemable. Again, that’s audibletrial.com/Deemable for your free audiobook!

Julie writes, I’ve been hesitant to use a service like LastPass because if it is hacked then all of my accounts would be compromised.

I first listened to your segment on radio and then downloaded your podcast. I’m an elementary school Instructional Tech Teacher and have learned a lot. Thanks!

A: LastPass and Dashlane both provide an incredible service: remembering the dozens upon dozens of passwords and logins that people have to use on a daily basis. Both LastPass and Dashlane use AES-256 encryption, the same encryption your bank uses to keep your account information safe. On top of that, Dashlane and Lastpass encrypt your information one more time using SSL when it is transmitted across the Internet. Also, your master password is not stored anywhere. What does this all mean to you? IF, someone is able to hack into Dashlane’s or LastPass’ database, they will pretty much have useless information. It will take the hackers a very long time to decrypt it, many months to several years. You’ll have plenty of time to change your passwords.

TOM: Greg asked: I have a laptop that is about 10 years old, and it is completely beyond repair. What can I do with it? Is it OK to just throw it in the trash?
RAY: NO! Stop! If you’ve already put it out for the trash, stop listening right now, and go bring it back inside! Never, ever, throw computers or almost any electronics in the trash.
TOM: First of all, you need to protect yourself and clear any personal data off of that thing before you release it into the wild. I’m not talking about a simple, quick re-formatting. I mean such a thorough scrubbing of your data that it would take the entire cast of CSI to recreate it.
RAY: Right, because when you delete something from your hard drive, it isn’t really erased. The computer just pretends it’s not there. To really delete a file from your computer’s hard drive, you have to write something over that file. There are a few programs that will securely delete your files.
TOM: If it’s a Windows PC you’re getting rid of, use a program like Eraser or the Drive Wiper in CCleaner to completely eradicate your data. If you’re tossing out a Mac, there’s a program called Permanent Eraser.
RAY: Once you’ve taken care of protecting yourself, you need to protect the environment. Computers are loaded with toxic metals and materials that are dangerous to the environment and need to be handled appropriately. Some cities and counties have curbside pickup of e-waste, but you should never just toss your computer in with the regular trash.
Check with your municipality’s website to find out where you can drop off your computer so that it is disposed of properly. Here in Jacksonville e-waste can be dropped off Tuesday through Saturday at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility located at 2675 Commonwealth Ave.
TOM: What kind of chemicals are there in your computer, Ray?
RAY: Oh man, it’s like a chemistry lab in there. Circuit boards contain Cadmium and Beryllium, which are carcinogens. The steel inside your computer likely has hexavalent chromium baked into it, which is bad for your lungs. The LCDs in your PC contain mercury. And then of course there’s the plastic parts, all of which are non bio-degradable.
And in a laptop, you have the most toxic culprit of all, the battery. It contains lead and, even worse, battery acid.
TOM: Wow, that’s kind of a scary list of chemicals. Is there any chance those toxins could pose a threat to the person using the computer?
RAY: Well, most likely not. For one thing, the case of your computer shields you from direct contact with any of these chemicals. More importantly, though, all of these toxins are found in trace amounts that would most likely be harmless to a human. The problem is that when everybody tosses their electronics into the landfill, all of these toxins can start to build up and pose a threat to the environment.
TOM: We definitely don’t want to do that.
Of course as they say, one man’s toxic trash is another man’s treasure. There are companies that will take computers and monitors apart and extract the metals out of them to sell as scrap. So before you just throw that old junker away, you might be able to get a few bucks out of it, even if it is beyond all hope of repair.
You do have to be careful though. There are several companies that will ship your computer and monitor overseas where they will be melted down to get the metals out. This is very dangerous and very unsafe for the workers. Make sure that the company you are dealing with is handling your e-waste responsibly.

Thanks for all your questions, and keep them coming. Call us at our toll-free number, 1-888-972-9868 or you can send us an email at questions@deemable.com. Also, subscribe to the show! Search for Deemable Tech on iTunes or point your favorite podcast app to dmbl.co/pod.

Our producer is Sean Birch. I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech.

Thanks for listening. Have a great week.