When you buy software digitally, there’s always a license agreement that you have to accept to complete the purchase. You don’t really have a choice if you want to use the software, but it’s worth looking at key details; for example, search for the word “sold” to determine if the product is merely being licensed […]

When you delete something on your computer hard drive, it’s not really gone, just inaccessible through the normal user interface. To really get rid of it, you’ll need specialized software that overwrites the deleted data multiple times. Alternatively, keeping your old drives in storage instead of throwing or giving them away will also lower your […]

Set up individual accounts that allow only the access and permissions needed by each user. When you need to grant daily use accounts administrative permissions, do so only temporarily. This precaution reduces the impact of poor choices, such as clicking on phishing emails or visiting malicious websites.

When you use a PC or Mac, you might have multiple user accounts set up. Try to use a normal non-admin account for your day-to-day activities. That way, it’s harder for anyone to do lasting harm to your system if it’s stolen or infected while logged in to an admin account with extensive permissions.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) websites are fraught with risk. While you’re searching for links to torrents, you might see thumbnails for stories that seem oddly relevant or interesting, with titles like “New rule in [your location].” A lot of these links lead to malware, so don’t click them or, better yet, don’t visit P2P sites to begin […]

A lot of websites contain large “Install” buttons all but begging you to click them. You shouldn’t. They will usually give you adware or spyware instead of what you wanted or, worse, they’ll redirect you to a compromised website.