Open to the World, Part 2

Last week we started looking at securing your home network.  Today we will finish our walk-through.  There are other settings for your router I have not mentioned but with instructions in hand you can experiment.  Just be very careful and (maybe) check with a geek friend first. In review: Open your browser and go to…

P@55w0rd Keepers

I wrote a column last year about passwords.  Gee, don’t our digital worlds revolve around them?  If you work with computers on a regular basis you may have a million of them.  You may have them for logging onto your computer, websites, email, bank accounts, online stores, etc.  As I stated last year, “I do…

File Encryption

I have had many emails over time about security of thumb drives.  For instance, I sometimes think about what would happen if I accidentally left my thumb drive lying around somewhere. The finder could open my private files on that drive. That used to be a concern, but for many years I have been using…

Filename Color Enigma

Several weeks ago I got an interesting email from Pat in Port Republic, about something I thought may affect many of my readers.  It also affects all Windows users at some time or another. Pat essentially said that, "…in an attempt to speed-up my computer I ran the Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter programs."  So…

Tech Bargain Finders

I get quite a few emails about where the best places online to buy tech "stuff" are.  For instance, portable hard drives, thumb drives, and memory sticks seem to be some of the most popular right now.  I always suggest shopping in your local "brick and mortar" shops.  It really does help the local economy…

Excel Formula Auditing, Part 2

Last week we covered the first three items in Excel’s “Formula Auditing” tools: Tracing Precedents, Dependents, Remove Arrows and Show Formulas in Excel’s “Formula Auditing” tools. Today we will wrap up the last three features. I am sure you have never seen an “Error” popup box in Excel. That’s not true, unless you are an…