by Dave Moore, 12-30-18 More and more often I find myself being asked an odd, but innocent, question: “Do I need a cloud?” It's been a while since I've seen a more over-hyped, yet lesser-understood term in the world of computing than "cloud." What is "the cloud,"...

by Dave Moore, 12-23-18 How did Mary and Joseph know Jesus' weight when he was born? They had a weigh in a manger... What goes, "Oh, oh, oh?" Santa walking backwards. How will Christmas dinner be different after Brexit? No Brussels. Who is a Christmas tree's favorite...

by Dave Moore, 12-16-18 I received an unusual email today, one I was glad to see. The email's subject line said, "Holiday fraud alert." Usually, when I see "alert" messages in my Inbox, they turn out to be based on a hoax. These messages often start when somebody's...

by Dave Moore, 12-9-18 If you installed new windows in your house, would you install windows that couldn't be closed or locked? That would be crazy, wouldn't it? Yet, that's what millions of less-than astute consumers will do this holiday season as they submit to the...

by Dave Moore, 12-2-18 Every year about this time I have to reassess the Internet Christmas shopping situation. Billions of dollars in electronic form are flying down wires, bouncing to and from orbiting satellites, through the air and across the Internet, more this...

by Dave Moore, 11-18-18 “You may be eligible to receive some of the education stimulus bill!” “Did you suffer a Gallbladder injury while using Birth Control?” “We want to buy your home for Christmas! Sell Your Home Today!” “Make $10000 for Christmas!” “Bounci36D sent...

by Dave Moore, 11-11-18 Wow, if there has ever been a story of Internet company craziness, the story of Yahoo! has to be in the top 10. Hacking, breaches, excuses, investigations, fines and CEO golden parachutes have shown Yahoo! to be one of the Internet's biggest...

by Dave Moore, 11-4-18 In 2004, while attending the Defcon computer security conference in Las Vegas, I attended a meeting where the subject of "e-voting" was discussed. The "e-voting" concept includes the use of computerized, paperless electronic voting machines, as...

by Dave Moore, The Internet Safety Group October 25, 2018 "At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. And so much of your personal information - information you have a right to keep private - lives on your Apple devices. Your heart rate after a run....

by Dave Moore, 10-21-18 Most of us are usually able to mindlessly click our way around the Internet without considering the potential hazards behind every click. That’s a good thing; if every click on the Internet meant a virus would infect your computer, nobody would...

by Dave Moore, 10-14-18 Although not an official part of the holiday season, having October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) is a good thing. If people can have an awareness of cyber security and stay safe, maybe the good guys can win the war for the...

by Dave Moore, 10-7-18 In Part One of this series, we looked at using the settings in Mozilla's Firefox browser to defeat Internet tracking cookies, those little surveillance files injected into our devices by websites, and used against us to report our every move to...

by Dave Moore, 9-30-18 Email anti-spam filters are often pretty bad at protecting email users. They let bad email through and block good messages with such regularity that I don't really include them as part of my overall Internet safety strategy. The spam filters...

by Dave Moore, 9-23-18 Last week we looked at Internet tracking cookies, those little surveillance files injected into our devices by websites, used against us to report our every move to faceless data brokers, invasive government agencies, and Internet criminals. Not...

by Dave Moore, 9-16-18 Imagine if, as soon as you entered your favorite big box store to do some shopping, a small drone robot started flying around your head, following you everywhere you went. Up and down every aisle, around every corner, its tiny cameras zooming in...

by Dave Moore, 9-9-18 The war against computer viruses is a multi-billion dollar industry, with no clear end or victory in sight. Billions of dollars are spent every year defending against malicious computer software (malware) and even more money is lost to the damage...

by Dave Moore, 9-2-18 Next to surfing websites, email still remains the second most popular Internet function. While it may soon be eclipsed by social networking forums offering instant messaging, people still love their email. All that’s left is for folks to...

by Dave Moore, 8-26-18 There you are, ready to get to it. You've turned on your computer, the desktop is up, all the icons and startup programs are loaded and you're ready for action. You run your browser to visit your favorite website, but to your horror, a...

by Dave Moore, 8-19-18 What are computer viruses, and where do they come from? Is online banking safe? What makes a good password, and why should you care? How do you tell a safe website from one that's dangerous? Why do you have to keep "updating" things? How do you...

by Dave Moore, 8-12-18 I’ll never forget one of my early computer repair jobs, one which involved much attention to passwords. My customer, a fellow named Bob, had one of the slowest computers I’d ever seen. He was stuck in endless cycles of click, and then, wait,...