PC Memoirs

Have you ever wondered how Internet use spread to every country in the world, and how data is able to travel between continents? Contrary to what many believe, the majority of data exchange doesn’t happen via satellites or some powerful antennas, but through undersea cables. Yes, humans have actually connected all continents with powerful submarine cables, which have been used for communication purposes for over a century.

The first cable was laid on the sea bed in the 1850s when the only way to communicate instantly between continents was via telegraph. A few decades later, beginning in the 1940s, the cables were used for telephone connections, and eventually in the late 20th century, new generation of cables began transferring digital Internet data across the sea. Specially equipped ships, like the one in the picture are commonly used to lower cables into the water.

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It’s official: “password” is not the most frequently used bad password any more. “123456” has taken over. Yes, as it turns out, millions of people use 123456 as their password for online services. I’m shocked! Each year, the security company Splashdata publishes a list of 25 worst passwords, or in other words, passwords that should never be used! If you’re using one of the passwords that you’re about to read, I suggest you change it immediately. These are too easy to hack!

In case you’re wondering how this information is available publicly, here is an explanation: The list is based on passwords from Adobe users that were published by hackers following Adobe’s recent security breach.

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Hard drives, the major sources of memory (i.e. space for data storage) on computers, are capable of storing many GBs of data. As you know that apart from the internal ones, the hard drives are also available as external and portable sources of memory. However, you cannot be reliant on them always in order to keep your data protected, no matter how much space for storage they are capable of providing. In fact, even the hard drives sometimes become corrupt due to random causes or when they tend to get too old. A number of computer users around the globe have reported such issues  while upgrading to Mavericks – the latest version of Mac OS X.

Western Digital (WD) – the famous hard drives manufacturer, recently notified all its registered users of external hard drive products about this issue, and now has released a software update to fix it in an efficient manner. According to a report from WD, the latest release of WD SmartWare version 1.3.6 is for Mac OS X and is compatible with Mac OS v10.9, Mavericks.

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These days a phone is used for a lot more than just making phone calls. People keep sensitive data like passwords, bank account information and personal photos on their devices. Simply put, losing a smartphone is more than just losing a phone book.

There are numerous apps users can download in order to protect the sensitive information on their phones. After all, even the best smartphones, like those offered by T-Mobile, can fall into the hands of the wrong person.

Lookout

One of the best apps for protecting your smartphone is Lookout. The app, which is available for Androids and iPhones, keeps your phone safe from spyware and malware. One of the best features is that Lookout allows you to track your phone in the event that it is lost or stolen. A step better than that is the ability to re-export important data from your Lookout backup account if your phone can’t be retrieved.

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Everyone understands the need for privacy in modern times, why it cannot be compromised and what the consequences are should that happen. This goes a lot more in the cyber world, where privacy is being intruded upon right and left. Your personal information and data is very important and should not be shared without your permission.

How then, can one protect one’s computer from hackers, knowing that they are usually professionals who are bent on breaking through your system’s security in order to access your personal data?

Know that without taking any security measures, your computer is open and at risk of being hacked into, regardless of the operating system you are using. There are a number of steps you can take to ensure that your system stays safe from foreign attempts to compromise its security.

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