What stupidly easy tech solution do people gloss over all of the time?
For me it's the paranoia surrounding webcams. People outright refuse to own one and I understand, until they go on and on about how they're being spied. Here's the secret - unplug the damn thing when you think you won't use it or haven't used it in a while.
They, whoever it is, can't really spy on you on something that's already off and unplugged!
Password managers. People will use anything but that: paper, notes app (without any security), using the same password everywhere...
Came to say this exact thing.
FFS I have 100's of passwords saved in my keepass DB, they are all different.
Passwords will only autofill on the correct site, so look alike sites are captured by that simple bit of security.
I keep trying to convince my parents. Then they say but what if I forget the master password? I say they won't with a passphrase but they don't believe me.
Also I don't have experience with PW managers other than 1Password, Bitwarden and Roboform. I personally didn't like Bitwarden. I think it's UI is janky and oldschool. Roboform is so bad I don't even know where to start complaining. So I keep using 1Password even though the UI has been getting worse but it still works for me because of the good integration into the Apple ecosystem. But it's rather expensive for managing the 20 something passwords my parents have. I read about breaches on other PWMs sometimes so I don't really know what to trust and recommend.
Set my family up with Bitwarden. Had them think up good passwords, told them not to tell me, etc. etc. they went and promptly forgot it.
One of these days I'm going to set them up again but this time I'm going to have to save their master passwords on my account.
Show them you can export the passwords and print them. It will help them to make the switch to know they cannot lose everything because it is on paper. It is what helped my parents
Keepassxc works fairly well for me, with a few quirks. Don't know how it is on apple though.
I keep telling myself I need to start using a password manager but I'm worried I won't be able to log into things on my phone or other devices like my work computer when I need to because I don't know the password. Is that a legitimate worry or is there a solution for this? How do you sync passwords between computer and phone?
I hse keepassxc and store my password database in onedrive. My phone has an app keepass2android which can read the database in onedrive.
Eh, I don't trust any 3rd party enough to give them all my passwords and I don't trust myself enough to secure a server for self hosting a password manager.
I know all my passwords, can't forget em, no paper or notes, no repeat passwords.
Fucking THANK YOU.
A very good friend of mine doesn't use any password manager. I've often in the past told them why don't they? They argue that then all their passwords would be gone if they forget that one master password. Okay, I say, how the fuck is having to remember 1 password harder than having to remember 20 passwords?
Rebooting your PC really does fix a lot of issues.
But in Windows, you have to go to a sub-sub-sub-menu of the old control panel, click on a button called "choose what closing the lid does", then on "change settings that are currently unavailable" and then disable "fast startup (recommended)", just to get your pc to reboot properly.
Hold shift while you click start and shutdown (or reboot) when necessary. This will have windows do a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown.
Thank you, this will save my monday morning restart after a weekend of off 'hibernation'
Press windows D to go to desktop and press alt F4 until you get the shutdown menu.
Here's an even easier hack than all of that :effort:
Just hold the power button down for about 10 seconds, ez-pz
I call this one forbidden knowledge because I see it so little in public, but I'm sure it's well known in privacy communities: A password like "I have this really secure password that I type into computers sometimes" is a much stronger and easier to memorize password than "aB69$@m". It seems more often than not I find networks where the SSID is a better password than the WPA key.
I agree but I think the problem is that some apps/sites have strict password requirements, which usually includes adding upper-case, symbols, numbers, and then limits the length even sometimes...
the SSID is a better password than the WPA key
This is an insult I am definitely saving for later
Here’s what I’ve shared with my company.
I agree - I do use passphrases in some critical cases which I don't want to store in a password manager.
However, I believe passphrases are theoretically more susceptible to sophisticated dictionary type attacks, but you can easily mitigate it by using some less-common 1337speak character replacements.
Highly recommend a password manager though - it's much easier to remember one or two complex master keyring passwords & the random generated passwords will easily satisfy any application's complexity requirements.
Yeah that's basically what I do, I know the passphrase to decrypt my drive, and the one to open Bitwarden and then I basically let that just handle everything else.
Oh and the sudo one I guess.
If you don't have your files on another physical location you can show me, you don't have a backup, you don't own your files, you basically give your "digital life" to someone else.
The other day, I was chatting on a Discord server about how people manage their photos, which keep piling up each year. I asked which cloud service they use, and one person replied, 'Save them offline.' That really struck me because I haven't invested in offline storage devices in years, and I realized I wasn't storing anything offline.
This touched me deep
But that extremely expensive NFT I bought has my name on it, not yours. Therefore it is owned by me and nobody else.
No I won't show it to you.
People still complaining about ads on YouTube. I tell them about ads blockers and they always go "Huh, you sure it works? Sounds good, I might try that" and then proceed to forget about it and complain about ads in a few months time...
I'm pretty positive by this point that people love to removed about ads for the sake of removed about ads. They bring this onto themselves.
Same goes for them going onto sites without ad blockers. Then when you tell them, it's either "OHHH THANKS!" or "Uhhhh, I cAn't" for no reason.
Or people, like my mom, who are were relatively educated about technology and don't want to learn new technologies/tools under the pretense of security (even if the software is foss, like again most adblockers.
Edit: Whenever I use a browser without an adblocker, I remember how shitty the web is without them.
People have a fantastically high resistance to change
I think this happens because people believe that ad blockers are "too good to be true". That was what I first thought when first getting an ad blocker, that there was going to be some kind of "catch" like slowing down websites, making them less functional or being malicious. But it turns out they actually improve performance, rarely affect functionality and are even recommended by the FBI because they protect against malicious advertising.
I hate the ad blocker argument for youtube. How am i supposed to do that on my tv or my phone?
The first two have web pages and phone apps. You can find the phone apps on F-droid.
Fun fact: did you know that the youtube app on your TV is just a no-effort web browser with a URL fixed to a web page, which you could even use on your PC?
I literally just use normal Firefox with normal ublock origin on my phone
I mean, don't you want less ads anyways?
I just install it for them or tell them to use Brave (don't down vote me, these people aren't going out of their way to use firefox and download all the needed extensions)
😤 how dare you make reconsider my absolutist views
Honestly, just Googling (or DuckDuckGo-ing) things. I tend to be the "tech person" that people ask about their computer problems quite often, and 9/10 times I just copy-paste the error code into the search bar and it tells me what to do. I'm not secret about it either, I'm like you can literally just Google it and it'll usually work. But people still seem to think it's magic lol.
My colleague (we work in web dev) will literally sit there staring at an error message but apparently not reading it, and then he'll open ChatGPT and start asking it what to do. The fucker never even Googles error messages, it's an absolute nightmare.
ChatGPT can be super useful, but I'm kind of worried about people learning to use it exclusively.
I tried helping a PhD student assemble a set up for measuring transistors. He used ChatGPT to do all the code for the software control (python), which is fine, even if he relied on it to fix every single part of his code when a quick trip to the reference manuals of the equipments would solve the problem instantly.
At a certain point I realized I maybe had misunderstood his set up design and asked him "wait, which device do you want to connect to your gate? Which terminal even is the gate?"
And I kid you not, the dude asked ChatGPT which terminal in his device was the gate
(he also reeked of weed so there's that)
I had a chat with someone that is a Senior Staff Engineer at a huge company a while ago, on what I'd say is a pretty big service that millions use.
They don't write much code any more, but they debug a lot of issues. The way they described the workflow to mastery is:
IMO, Googling gets you 99% of the way there in many situations, but if you know nothing the answer might be in front of you and you wouldn't know it.
Unless it's Windows giving you some long hexadecimal number. Those never return any results.
And the solutions to Windows problems are almost always ludicrously esoteric and stupid anyway lol. It always turns out to be something like "the CPU usage went up because the clock in the taskbar on this specific version of Windows syncs to a different server that closed down so it tries to ping it 400 times a second for some unknown reason and that's why you get a 78-character hexadecimal error code and all your USB devices disconnect whenever you render a video."
If it's not a crash it's probably an ntstatus and if it shows during a bsod then it's a bughcheck code. That said the most common ntstatus I see is the very unhelpful 0xC0000001 - status unsuccessful.
It's not a question of googling, it's about recognising bullshit answers and skipping them
Nah. People are using you and too lazy to care. They pretend it’s magic cause it’ll get you to continue being their gateway to laziness.
I think you're underestimating peoples' ability to filter out the massive amount of garbage results/astroturfed reviews/posts/websites out there.
As a similar “tech person,” me googling tech problems is exactly as lazy as the person asking me.
Their solution is “ask someone” and our solution is also “ask someone.”
An ad blocker, on desktop and phone.
It blocks annoying ads and also protects you against malware (malvertisement).
And please just enable blocking cookies and annoyances in unlock origin. It has filters that can be enabled, and you'll never see a cookie banner again.
I set up my Pi-Hole years ago and haven’t touched it since. Maybe I should update it.
Wires:
I agree with everything except a wireless mouse. I have a magnetic usb “nub” that plugs into the mouse so when I need to charge it every couple of weeks it’s as simple as moving the mouse near enough the magnetic cable and it pops into place.
For me, the benefits of a wireless mouse far outweigh the imperceptible-to-me lag from the 2.4ghz dongle 10cm away in clear view. The only downside I can see is the weight of the battery, but I’m not a competitive FPS player so I’m good.
But what are the benefits of a wireless mouse? You don't have to string the cable from the back of your PC to the mousepad, sure, but that's something you do once a blue moon (unless you often go to LAN partys (which, in itself, are probably not a thing anymore)). At work, okay, I sometimes get up off my chair and have my company-provided wireless mouse on my leg to keep scrolling while I read through legal documents, but that's a rare use case, too, no?
Ethernet over WiFi for non portable desktops
Wi-Fi basically is wireless Ethernet, so I don’t know what “Ethernet over WiFi” is supposed to mean, and I don’t know what problem is being solved nor what solution is being proposed.
I have Bluetooth earbuds that crack open when they hit a hard surface (have surviveed so far) and the battery is a little Li-Ion pouch on soldered wires. They probably don't last as long as sealed ones of the same size but it's very easy to find and install a replacement battery. Just check disassembly guides before buying.
While I’ve only used one or two types of bluetooth headphones, i’ve never hand any trouble replacing the battery with them. The cups just snap out and then you unplug the lithium cell and plug a new one it, at least in my experience, so that may just have been a thing with the model you got.
I second all of your statements. I don’t care if my Apple TV is on WiFi, but my gaming desktop is most definitely hooked to an Ethernet cable. I also use a wired keyboard and mouse on it, but I’ll admit I have a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse for my work laptop because I didn’t want to deal with another set of cables on the same desk, and I can’t think of a good solution for both machines to share the same keyboard and mouse without having to switch the cables between them all the time.
While not at ALL repairable, I’ve been using my AirBudz for over five years, for 50+ hours every week and the batteries still last for hours. I have my cans for FLACs, but no complaints for the price wirh AirBudz.
The fuck is "Ethernet over WiFi". Isn't ethernet by definition wired? If it's x over WiFi, isn't that just WiFi with extra steps?
Edit: I see from other comments they mean "preferable compared to", not "used atop of".
What annoys me about webcams is that they could have easily used the power line to the camera to light the LED. Then if the camera was on the light would be on.
But for some reason the LED is enabled separately from the camera, so it can be hacked through software that the camera is on but LED is off. Leading to a lot of paranoia. It’s just a non sensical design choice.
Awk, sed, and grep.
You might have a different type of person in mind than other commenters. Most commenters had such people in mind who won't install a password manager or an ad-blocker, or won't hard reboot their Windows unless supervised. Having said that, I don't think that even if you had technical people in mind this fits the question. They tend to take substantial more effort to learn and use effectively than the scope set by the original question. I thought this question was for little things that have a quick, lasting, and substantial effect. Learning awk and sed is a different thing entirely, I think of those more as productivity tools you can invest in mastering, and pay off in the long run.
mind expanding on what these solve?
Awk is a helps you do any kind of processing of semi structured text data.
Sed is a stream editor which lets you edit a file using commands. Which is tedious until you need to replace something in a bunch if files or make very specific edits across a large number of files.
Grep is just find pattern in text file.
That assumes you can unplug it. Most devices I own have the camera built right into the device, and it can sometimes be hard to find an option that doesn't include it. I have a Webcam cover on my desktop and laptop.
I haven't seen one that would work for my phone, but if someone has hacked my phone, I probably have bigger issues.
Is it a monitor provided by your workplace? If not, well, it's not that hard to find a monitor without a built-in camera. I found one easily enough for my gaming desktop... Unless the monitor market has dramatically changed since 2019-ish...
I've been helping my parents renovate their house recently, and I'm trying to get them to understand this. Just watch a video, it instantly gives you context for commonly agreed upon solutions. You don't have to reinvent solutions to solved problems.
For example, my mom decided to refinish her cabinets doors. They were painted with one layer of a typical latex house paint you could even still see the original finish in the brush strokes. I sanded the paint and the original varnished finish off the interiors in just a few minutes with an orbital sander.
She decided that because she saw that her aunt use a paint stripper on Facebook, that she should do that. So instead of sanding it down to wood in a few minutes, she'll coat the doors with stripper, scrape the paint off, clean the caustic paint stripper off, and then sand the varnish/wood at the end anyway. I tried to explain this, and pull up a video showing how messy and overkill the paint strippers were, and she got mad that I played a video.
Meanwhile, my step dad was helping me install quarter round over their baseboards, I showed him 3 options to finish the ends. A simple 90° cut, a standard 45° bevel, and another mitre with a tiny triangle to round over the end. I explained that the mitre looks the nicest, but it takes twice as long to do.
He proceeded to freehand two bevels for half an hour with a dull chipped chisel. They were completely uneven and jagged. Then I explained he had to repeat that work 18 more times in the hallway alone, assuming he was happy with his.. handiwork.
They have been trying to finish renovating this house for 20 years. Now I see why it is taking so long.
I have done stuff by myself they in anybtime before yt would need someone to show me.
Whem car mechanic tells me I have problem on my car I can find yt on how to detect it and how to solve it. I don't get knowledge to do it, but I can definitely appreciate their work more and not think they are just ripping me off.
It is amazing what we have and take for granted.
Youtube has helped me save on so many home repairs. 400 service calls become a 30 part and an afternoon of taking the dryer apart with video guides.
Even if you don't use it as a password manager, bitwarden has an excellent pass phrase generator. The only annoyance is when I run into maximum password lengths at times.
The generated password lenghts can be set in the UI at least. It's worse when the password form accepts only SOME special symbols (looking at you bank)
I'm surprised by how many people use Overleaf for writing LaTeX instead of installing something locally. It's not that hard, guys. And the experience can be infinitely better as you can actually customize it however you want.
Well yes but overleaf makes it possible to work on it with a mate, on any device without having to install anything, and it also saves your progress online so you don't lose it or forget you document at home.
If your not seeing were i'm going it's perfect for school project. Through high school and college i've done all my projects with it... I think that's where it shines.
I understand using it for collaboration. But I see people write their homework in it. They're not collaborating with anyone.
Also, these people use it all the time. I understand using Overleaf if you only use LaTeX rarely, since you don't need to set anything up.
I personally edit offline, and copy to Overleaf if I need to collaborate.
Hmmm... I must say, I tried to get back into LaTeX and I got broken packages after broken packages.
Really pushing for Typst adoption now. Works perfectly. Fast as hell. Bye technical debt.
I've heard about Typst, never really tried it. I don't think I'll completely be able to switch anytime soon since no journal accepts it afaik. But maybe I can try it out for personal stuff.
I'll try out Typst. If it works well, I'll definitely switch from LaTeX.
My recommendation is using typst instead. It's basically the modern version of latex. And it has a good online collab platform too.
You don't need a fancy computer. There's endless amazing games and they run on a potato. I was just starting Bayonetta and my machine doesn't even spin up. But it does when I open Firefox or my note taking program 🤷🏻♀️
Just keep it away from unsafe networks cuz it'll have vulnerabilities.
Majority of "webcam" use is in laptops, tablets and phones, grandpa... No "unplug the damn thing" to be found?
They often come equipped with a privacy slider to cover the lens. Or you can just put a sticker on them.
They don't "often come with" I'd say it's fairly rare, and especially in the last generation of computers that most have now.
Also, what you mention are all steps above and beyond OP's direction to "just unplug it" and they come with compromises - I.e. A shutter cover isn't a HW disconnect, two very different things. And, a sticker isn't really removable temporarily when you actually do need the camera deliberately. Certain high end laptops have a purported physical HW disconnect toggle or even some "flip around" cameras that are only deployed when needed, but again, few and far between.
Always get the version of the gadget with replaceable batteries unless you want a brick in 3-10 years. Additionally, prefer 18650, AA, AAA batteries, and keep some rechargeable ones around.
Eneloop batteries (the white ones, not the black ones) are the best AA and AAA batteries out there for sure. Panasonic sells a package of Eneloops with a charging device that accepts both AA and AAA batteries, it's very good. Can be charged via USB and can also charge other devices, it's the kind of device I dreamed about in the 90s.
I feel the same way about webcams. I'm paranoid about them too, but you know what's an easy solution? Buy a desktop monitor without one and then buy a USB webcam.
If you're on a laptop, then for the camera just tape a piece of paper over it. As for the internal mic, you might be fucked lol cause I got nothing.
It's a bit late to worry about internal mics when everyone has their phone on them at all times.
You can take care of privacy on your personal hardware, but with work issued devices, you can't.
The need for a solution regarding one angle of a problem does not invalidate the need for a solution regarding another.
Ok, I hear you. But here's the secret: I don't want to use a webcam at all. If you want to see me, agree to a physical meetup. Obviously that's not the only reason.
I work in a remote first company. We are spread across the whole country. To manage things we do daily meetings. Every single time my camera is covered and nobody has any issues with that. However, when I'm interviewing a potential employee I turn on my camera.
It's good to hear that there are companies that are accepting this. Interviewing is a little different, yeah, that's probably understandable when done remotely
SFTP file transfers, I'm guilty of forgetting about it myself sometimes.
Whether it's Syncthing for keeping device data synced and backed up, or just wanting to get a file from point A to point B and using your preferred SFTP client like FileZilla, it can be really easy to forget just how easy these are.
I'm currently trying sync thing. It gets the job done but it confuses me a lot. Like you say sftp is just so much more straight forward.
And you can probably hook that up into your file system, making it super convenient.
Saving a picture and posting it somewhere.
I see people making screenshots of their whole phone's screen and posting them just to show a picture. In reality, maybe 90% of the time, if you see a picture on the screen of your phone, you can save that picture, with no pointless information around it, no black bars and so on. Even if that's not possible, Android for example has been doing something from the recent apps screen that lets you extract a picture from an app's screen - and that's arguably even easier than doing a screenshot.
RTFM
I have a webcam that we use when we're not home for longish periods. It's unplugged when we're here. Also, it is connected to my own server, not some corporate cloud crap.
Unplug your inbuilt webcam?
Some laptops now have physical privacy shutters for that - and for those that don't, you can get one that you can stick on top.
That still leaves the microphone.
The actual simple and sane solution would just be to require indicator leds hardwired to the literal power supply lines of the camera chip/microphone, so they're physically impossible top turn off while recording.
But that would require US or EU legislation.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
This is exactly what I do with my tobii eye tracker. I'm a bit paranoid about what it can see so I have it plugged into a USB hub with power buttons that I just disable when I'm not using it.
What about laptop webcams on work/school issued hardware?
That's what tape is for
Which does not solve the webcam's mic, which (to me) is a bigger issue because it does not only record who's in the from of the machine, but also the whole surrounding area.