user

Wed
18
Mar
John Lister's picture

New Yahoo Login System Uses No Password

Yahoo has introduced an option to log in without needing to remember a password. It requires a cellphone and may trade security for convenience. Under the new system, which is optional, users can choose not to use a standard passwords for future ... log-ins. Once activated, the system will mean a button appears on Yahoo's site when the user is ready to log in to the account. When the user clicks this button, Yahoo sends a one-time only, four character password to the user's cellphone. Once the user logs in, the password field becomes inactive. The process is then repeated the next time ... (view more)

Wed
18
Feb
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Cloud Gets Data Privacy Promise

Microsoft has signed up to an international standard for protecting customer privacy with online data. Among other measures, Microsoft promises to tell customers when the government demands access to their data. The company has followed ISO standard ... number 27018, which are guidelines set forth by the International Organization for Standardization. It's an attempt to set internationally recognized rules and regulations for the way "personally identifiable information" is handled in cloud services, and where data is stored or processed online rather than on the user's own computer ... (view more)

Fri
13
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Reset Admin Password (Windows XP)?

Infopackets Reader Bill F. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your article on how to reset the admin password for Windows 7 and 8 . I have an old Windows XP machine and can't login because I lost my password. Do you have similar steps on how to reset ... the admin password for Windows XP? " My response: The steps to reset the administrator password for Windows XP is different than what what was previously described in the article for Windows 7 and 8. Note that if you can login as the "Administrator" user, you can also use this account to reset any user password on the system. So, the steps below ... (view more)

Wed
04
Feb
John Lister's picture

New Wi-Fi Router Promises Entire Home Coverage

The makers of a new wireless router system claim it will offer guaranteed high-speed Wi-Fi connections throughout large homes. But at a minimum of $299 to take advantage, it's a costly solution. The Eero system is aimed at people who have an ... Internet connection and wireless router but struggle to get a good signal -- or any signal -- throughout their entire home. Wi-Fi signals can be weakened by structural issues such as in multi-storey houses, or by interference from wireless networks run by neighbors. The makers say this will become an increasingly frustrating problem as people make ... (view more)

Fri
14
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Should I Delete my Web Browser Cookies?

Infopackets Reader 'r clee' writes: " Dear Dennis, Every web browser I've used has the option to 'disable third party cookies'. Most articles I've read on privacy say not to allow third party cookies; however, recently, I visited tripadvisor.com to ... read a post, but found my comment wouldn't be accepted unless I enabled third-party cookies. Now, Google is telling me that my Firefox is 'outdated'. When I click the link to find out more detail, it says if I don't enable third party cookies, my email interface will switch to the plain vanilla HTML format ... [Is this] a stab at deeper data mining ... (view more)

Mon
09
Jun
Brandon Dimmel's picture

'Creepy' Facebook Feature Listens to Your Activity

Facebook is facing a serious backlash over a new feature that allows it to listen in on its smartphone users. When activated, the feature uses the device's microphone to detect a user's activity and automatically updates their "status" accordingly. ... For example, if a user is listening to a new U2 album on their stereo in the background, Facebook will use a smartphone's microphone to update a user's status to "Listening to U2". It can also detect movies and television shows and update a user's status to read "Watching Iron Man" or "Watching ... (view more)

Tue
18
Feb
John Lister's picture

New Tech Pairs Cellphone, Sound for Secure Logins

If Google's latest acquisition is any indication, sound could be the key to enhanced login security. Set up by former members of the Israeli military, SlickLogin is based around high-frequency tones, virtually inaudible to the human ear. In theory ... the system could be used as the main way to log in to a site, but Google seems more likely to use it for two-factor authentication. The idea of two-factor authentication is to combine two different types of security measure: something you know, and something you have. With the system Google already uses, the 'something you know' is your ... (view more)

Tue
17
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft Joins Group Determined to Kill Passwords

Microsoft has joined a group determined to ditch the traditional password as a security measure. The group wants to develop alternatives that are more capable of protecting our favorite devices and most sensitive data. The group is called the FIDO ... (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, which is based around the idea that passwords, although widely used and easy to understand, are an inherently flawed security measure because they can be guessed or stolen. Although many new authentication measures -- such as fingerprint scans -- have emerged and are more secure from a technical perspective, FIDO ... (view more)

Fri
22
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Google Fined For Misleading Safari Users

Google has agreed to pay a $17 million penalty for cheating a privacy system in Apple's Safari browser. Google was fined because it effectively lied to customers about its privacy policy. The case involves cookies, small text files placed in a ... user's web browser so that websites can quickly get information about the user. In some cases this can be beneficial; for example, a movie listing site can make a note about a user's ZIP code so that they immediately receive localized listings when they visit the site. In some cases, though, advertisers will use cookies to track which sites a user ... (view more)

Wed
13
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Google Cracks Down On Rogue Browser Extensions

Google says it plans to change the way users install add-on tools (known as "extensions") for its Chrome web browser. It's expected the changes will make the browser more secure. A Chrome extension is the same thing as an "add on" in Internet ... Explorer. It's a tool made by an independent developer that adds new functionality to the browser. For example, Amazon has released a Chrome extension that adds a button to the top of the browser screen. When you are reading a lengthy web page, such as a newspaper article, you can click the button to have a copy of the page sent to your Kindle device in ... (view more)

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