PC Matic University PC Matic University (PCMU) has been in development for over a year now. The quizzes, videos, and tutorials are meant to give you a better understanding of how your computer runs. We also show you how PC Matic protects and optimizes your device. All of this is free to you. Cybersecurity is […]
Trouble With Coverage? Let me start off by saying my mom has the worst Wi-Fi. I’m not going to call out her provider, but it’s awful. There are dead spots and it’s incredibly slow. Even after paying for higher bandwidth, she barely gets coverage. Her Wi-Fi devices (like the Fire Stick and Alexa) have to […]
We Asked, You Answered We like to ask the public from time to time about habits they have pertaining to certain activities. We’ve dug into work habits during the pandemic, RDP awareness, and now holiday shopping habits. Over 5000 people answered our shopping survey. With 53% stating that their shopping habits have changed due to […]
Cookies and Trackers and Ads, Oh My! We’ve been talking a lot recently about cookies, trackers, and ads. We know that social media is selling our data. We also know that cookies and trackers are watching what we’re doing. This is something we accept even though we don’t have to like it. But what if […]
The CMMC and The CDM Under the Trump administration, new security measures came out to help strengthen the US government’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program is a new set of cybersecurity standards developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to protect defense contractors from cyber attacks. Additionally, the Continuous Diagnostics and […]
Watch What You Share We spent a lot of time talking in November about online privacy and security. I know people aren’t going to delete their Facebooks, but there are ways to make it more secure. In addition to the security measures below, there are some basic common sense tips. Watch what you share. When […]
Am I Getting Hacked Have you ever been scrolling the internet and clicked on a site that you’ve been to many times before only to receive an error message like the ones below? This can be unnerving. But what are these warnings? Is the site really unsecure? Well, maybe, but not always. This usually happens […]
What Are They Ad blockers are a great way to declutter webpages. Have you ever clicked on a Pinterest recipe or a sports headline only to have to scroll through endless ads to get to the content you want? An ad blocker clears all of those for you. There’s another advantage to using ad blockers. […]
If You Didn’t Know If you hadn’t heard, Chinese based app TikTok was on a time crunch. The US government, citing the app as a security risk, gave the owners an ultimatum; sell to a US company or get banned. Even though the date for this ultimatum kept getting pushed back, the demand still stood. […]
A New Frontier For Ransomware Die hard MAC and Linux users have always had one thing in common, they’ve enjoyed the ability to skirt ransomware in ways Windows users have not. That is, until recently. 2020 has certainly been the year of things changing. While ransomware attacks are through the roof, we’ve heard increasingly about […]
An FTC Warning The Federal Trade Commission takes pride in their mission to “champion the interests of American consumers.” While they track and monitor retailers, they also do the same with our spending habits. This leads to a comprehensive ability to identify trends or concerns. Recently, they’ve issued a warning regarding online shopping. In the […]
Are You Ready? We are inundated with advertisements this time of year. Retailers across the globe are trying to get our attention (and our money) by offering deals on items they think we may gift. There are the brands we all know and use, but then there are the smaller niche items that also may […]
Second Largest Laptop Manufacturer In The World Compal is huge. They build laptops for Apple, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, HP, and Fujitsu. This makes it even more worrisome that the Taiwanese manufacturer was reportedly hit by ransomware. The leak was reported on Sunday. Subsequently, employees returning to work Monday were instructed to check their machines […]
Creators Strike Back Last week I wrote about the documentary The Great Hack that followed the company Cambridge Analytica. This week it was suggested I also watch The Social Dilemma. This documentary interviews a series of tech professionals who were part of the early days of the internet. The documentary introduces us to a dozen […]
It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year (for Retailers) This year has certainly been interesting. As we near the end, we also get closer to a time honored American tradition; holiday shopping. I’m not sure about you, but I’ve already begun receiving Black Friday shopping campaigns. Personally, I gave up Black Friday shopping a […]
A Federal Warning On October 28th, the Federal agency, CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency), issued a warning about ransomware targeting the Healthcare and Public Health Sector. Among the specific strains mentioned, Ryuk and Trickbot were two that PC Matic effectively identified and blocked on October 26th. Typically, ransomware strains like Ryuk are sent via […]
Microsoft 10 Version 1089 Microsoft sent out a reminder this week that version 1089 of Microsoft 10 will reach end of service next week. This means they’ll stop providing technical support, as well as bug and security fixes for newly discovered issues and vulnerabilities. They’re encouraging anyone still using this version to update. Originally the […]
How It Started On June 28th, 2018, then Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) into law after it passed the state legislature. On July 1st of this year, it went into effect. While it only holds jurisdiction in California, the law forced sweeping national changes. The intentions of the Act are […]