How to delete your Twitter account

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100056057 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/make_it_stahp-100056057-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.techhive.com/category/web-social" style="color:rgb(215,114,39);float:left;font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">There are a number of reasons why you might want to delete your Twitter account. Maybe you don't use it. Maybe you can't stand another hashtag. Maybe you</span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38036833/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/top-twitter-meltdowns-tirades-tantrums/#.UkXVx5Uhu5Y" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(37,167,215)"> said something stupid</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">and have half the Internet mad at you ("Come on, it was only satire!"). Whatever the reason, nuking your Twitter account is an easy process that takes only a few mouse clicks.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To start, visit <a href="https://twitter.com/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Twitter.com</a> and log in to your account. Once you're signed in, locate the settings menu—represented by a gear icon—and click it. Next, choose <em style>Settings</em> from the menu, and on the resulting page scroll to the bottom and select<em style>Deactivate my account</em>. Twitter will ask you to confirm that you really want to deactivate your account. If you do, click the <em style>Deactivate</em> button, and don't ever return to Twitter again.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="399" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/twitter_deactivation-100056056-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Twitter will ask you to confirm that you want to deactivate your account before you do the deed.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> What exactly does this action accomplish? Twitter will remove your profile and tweets from the site, and if someone tries to view your profile page, they'll get a message saying that your account doesn't exist. The company warns that "some content may be viewable ... for a few days after deactivation." Also, tweets and other content you posted to Twitter might still show up in search engines. As the saying goes, you can't ever really remove anything from the Internet.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If you feel remorse after nuking your account, though, you have 30 days to change your mind: Twitter will retain your account and user data for that period, and all you need to do to reactivate your account is to visit Twitter.com and log in with your username and password</p> </span>

How to delete your Twitter account

There are a number of reasons why you might want to delete your Twitter account. Maybe you don't use it. Maybe you can't stand ano...

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How to delete your Twitter account

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100056057 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/make_it_stahp-100056057-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.techhive.com/category/web-social" style="color:rgb(215,114,39);float:left;font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">There are a number of reasons why you might want to delete your Twitter account. Maybe you don't use it. Maybe you can't stand another hashtag. Maybe you</span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38036833/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/top-twitter-meltdowns-tirades-tantrums/#.UkXVx5Uhu5Y" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(37,167,215)"> said something stupid</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">and have half the Internet mad at you ("Come on, it was only satire!"). Whatever the reason, nuking your Twitter account is an easy process that takes only a few mouse clicks.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To start, visit <a href="https://twitter.com/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Twitter.com</a> and log in to your account. Once you're signed in, locate the settings menu—represented by a gear icon—and click it. Next, choose <em style>Settings</em> from the menu, and on the resulting page scroll to the bottom and select<em style>Deactivate my account</em>. Twitter will ask you to confirm that you really want to deactivate your account. If you do, click the <em style>Deactivate</em> button, and don't ever return to Twitter again.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="399" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/twitter_deactivation-100056056-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Twitter will ask you to confirm that you want to deactivate your account before you do the deed.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> What exactly does this action accomplish? Twitter will remove your profile and tweets from the site, and if someone tries to view your profile page, they'll get a message saying that your account doesn't exist. The company warns that "some content may be viewable ... for a few days after deactivation." Also, tweets and other content you posted to Twitter might still show up in search engines. As the saying goes, you can't ever really remove anything from the Internet.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If you feel remorse after nuking your account, though, you have 30 days to change your mind: Twitter will retain your account and user data for that period, and all you need to do to reactivate your account is to visit Twitter.com and log in with your username and password</p> </span>

How to delete your Twitter account

There are a number of reasons why you might want to delete your Twitter account. Maybe you don't use it. Maybe you can't stand ano...

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How to delete or disable your Facebook account

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100056164 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate_my_account-100056164-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.techhive.com/category/web-social" style="color:rgb(215,114,39);float:left;font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">Privacy concerns surrounding Facebook have been well documented, but you may have other reasons for wanting to walk away from the social network. Perhaps you don't find it all that useful, or you've received one too many FarmVille requests. If this sounds like you, consider deactivating or outright deleting your Facebook account.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><h2 style="font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Deactivate your account</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Deactivating your Facebook account puts it on hiatus: Your profile will be removed from the site, as will most of what you posted to Facebook (though messages and other things will stick around), but Facebook will retain your data in case you decide to come back. You can always reactivate your account later by logging in to Facebook.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To deactivate your account, log in to Facebook, and select the settings menu in the upper-right corner (represented by a gear icon). Choose<em style>Account Settings</em> from the menu, and then on the next screen select<em style>Security</em> from the list along the left side of the window.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once there, click <em style>Deactivate your account</em> toward the bottom of the page. Facebook will try to guilt you into staying by showing you photos of your Facebook friends, and then ask you why you want to deactivate your account. Once you tell Facebook why you don't want to be friends anymore, click the <em style>Confirm</em>button, and Facebook will proceed to deactivate your account.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate-100056161-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="278" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate-100056161-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a><strong style>Was it something I said?</strong> When you deactivate your account, Facebook will ask you why you don't love it anymore.<h2 style="font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Kill your account altogether</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Deleting your account, on the other hand, kills it completely: You won't be able to log back in to retrieve or view anything you've posted to Facebook, and if you want to use Facebook again, you'll have to start from scratch.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Facebook recommends that you download a copy of the data you've published to the site before you delete your account. Open the settings menu on Facebook while logged in to your account by clicking the gear icon at the upper left. Next, select <em style>Account Settings,</em> and on the General Account Settings page, look for<em style> Download a copy of your Facebook data</em> and click the link. The service will then guide you through the process of downloading an archive of all your Facebook data.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The company doesn't make it immediately obvious as to how to delete your Facebook account, but to do so, log in to Facebook with your account, and then visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Facebook's account deletion form</a> to carry out the process.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Keep in mind that once your Facebook account is gone, it's gone, so you should delete your account only if you're really, really sure that you won't use Facebook again</p> </span>

How to delete or disable your Facebook account

Privacy concerns surrounding Facebook have been well documented, but you may have other reasons for wanting to walk away from the social n...

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How to delete or disable your Facebook account

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100056164 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate_my_account-100056164-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.techhive.com/category/web-social" style="color:rgb(215,114,39);float:left;font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif">Privacy concerns surrounding Facebook have been well documented, but you may have other reasons for wanting to walk away from the social network. Perhaps you don't find it all that useful, or you've received one too many FarmVille requests. If this sounds like you, consider deactivating or outright deleting your Facebook account.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><h2 style="font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Deactivate your account</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Deactivating your Facebook account puts it on hiatus: Your profile will be removed from the site, as will most of what you posted to Facebook (though messages and other things will stick around), but Facebook will retain your data in case you decide to come back. You can always reactivate your account later by logging in to Facebook.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To deactivate your account, log in to Facebook, and select the settings menu in the upper-right corner (represented by a gear icon). Choose<em style>Account Settings</em> from the menu, and then on the next screen select<em style>Security</em> from the list along the left side of the window.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once there, click <em style>Deactivate your account</em> toward the bottom of the page. Facebook will try to guilt you into staying by showing you photos of your Facebook friends, and then ask you why you want to deactivate your account. Once you tell Facebook why you don't want to be friends anymore, click the <em style>Confirm</em>button, and Facebook will proceed to deactivate your account.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate-100056161-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="278" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/fb_deactivate-100056161-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a><strong style>Was it something I said?</strong> When you deactivate your account, Facebook will ask you why you don't love it anymore.<h2 style="font-family:ff-enzo-web,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Kill your account altogether</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Deleting your account, on the other hand, kills it completely: You won't be able to log back in to retrieve or view anything you've posted to Facebook, and if you want to use Facebook again, you'll have to start from scratch.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Facebook recommends that you download a copy of the data you've published to the site before you delete your account. Open the settings menu on Facebook while logged in to your account by clicking the gear icon at the upper left. Next, select <em style>Account Settings,</em> and on the General Account Settings page, look for<em style> Download a copy of your Facebook data</em> and click the link. The service will then guide you through the process of downloading an archive of all your Facebook data.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The company doesn't make it immediately obvious as to how to delete your Facebook account, but to do so, log in to Facebook with your account, and then visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Facebook's account deletion form</a> to carry out the process.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Keep in mind that once your Facebook account is gone, it's gone, so you should delete your account only if you're really, really sure that you won't use Facebook again</p> </span>

How to delete or disable your Facebook account

Privacy concerns surrounding Facebook have been well documented, but you may have other reasons for wanting to walk away from the social n...

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How to choose a USB hub

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100057228 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/anker-branded-7-port-usb-hub-100057228-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/components" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">If you purchased a new laptop recently, especially an Ultrabook, you may have noticed a certain dearth of USB ports. Indeed, my Samsung Series 9 has just two of them. Two! A mouse here and an external hard drive there, and bam, no more ports.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Fortunately, it's a simple matter to add extras. In fact, you can daisy-chain something like 67 million USB ports off of just one, so your expansion options are fairly endless.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And if you've shopped around, you've no doubt seen USB hubs in all shapes, sizes, and prices. How do you know what kind to buy?</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> There's one important rule of thumb when shopping for any USB hub: make sure it's a <em style>powered</em> hub. That'll cost you a bit more, and add the hassles of an extra cord snaking across your desk and an extra device to keep plugged in, but it's worth it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">You see, the USB ports in your PC produce a small amount of power. If you "split" a port (by plugging in a hub), that power likewise gets split between the additional ports. And depending on what kinds of devices you're plugging into the hub, there might not be enough juice for everything.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">That's why it's essential to choose a powered hub, one with its own AC adapter. You can occupy every port with power-sucking devices and not have to worry about limited amps leading to operational issues.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">I can't tell you which powered hub is best, but one of the most popular options is made by Anker: it's a 7-port USB 3.0 hub that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-7-Port-Adapter-High-Capacity-Chipset/dp/B006TT91TW/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Amazon currently sells for $34.99 shipped</a>. If you've found a hub that's better and/or cheaper, tell me about it in the comments</p> </span>

How to choose a USB hub

If you purchased a new laptop recently, especially an Ultrabook, you may have noticed a certain dearth of USB ports. Indeed, my Samsung Se...

Read more »

How to choose a USB hub

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100057228 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/anker-branded-7-port-usb-hub-100057228-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/components" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">If you purchased a new laptop recently, especially an Ultrabook, you may have noticed a certain dearth of USB ports. Indeed, my Samsung Series 9 has just two of them. Two! A mouse here and an external hard drive there, and bam, no more ports.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Fortunately, it's a simple matter to add extras. In fact, you can daisy-chain something like 67 million USB ports off of just one, so your expansion options are fairly endless.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And if you've shopped around, you've no doubt seen USB hubs in all shapes, sizes, and prices. How do you know what kind to buy?</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> There's one important rule of thumb when shopping for any USB hub: make sure it's a <em style>powered</em> hub. That'll cost you a bit more, and add the hassles of an extra cord snaking across your desk and an extra device to keep plugged in, but it's worth it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">You see, the USB ports in your PC produce a small amount of power. If you "split" a port (by plugging in a hub), that power likewise gets split between the additional ports. And depending on what kinds of devices you're plugging into the hub, there might not be enough juice for everything.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">That's why it's essential to choose a powered hub, one with its own AC adapter. You can occupy every port with power-sucking devices and not have to worry about limited amps leading to operational issues.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">I can't tell you which powered hub is best, but one of the most popular options is made by Anker: it's a 7-port USB 3.0 hub that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-7-Port-Adapter-High-Capacity-Chipset/dp/B006TT91TW/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Amazon currently sells for $34.99 shipped</a>. If you've found a hub that's better and/or cheaper, tell me about it in the comments</p> </span>

How to choose a USB hub

If you purchased a new laptop recently, especially an Ultrabook, you may have noticed a certain dearth of USB ports. Indeed, my Samsung Se...

Read more »

Lockdown: How to secure your PC without going crazy

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100056712 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt2.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/securepc_primary-100056712-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/encryption" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Good digital security inevitably requires some hassle, but the size of that headache is really up to you. If you're someone who wants to go all out with 64-character passwords, no Facebook account, and a second laptop that never connects to the Internet, because it houses all your deep, dark secrets, well, this guide is not for you.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This is a guide for practical folks. People who want a healthy amount of PC security (perhaps motivated by ongoing revelations about the <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048248/heres-how-to-best-secure-your-data-now-that-the-nsa-can-crack-almost-any-encryption.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">National Security Agency</a> and its surveillance activities), but with a minimum of hassles such as dealing with key fobs for two-factor authentication, juggling complicated passwords, and setting up email encryption. We can't promise you a completely pain-free experience, but we will show you how to get up and running with a pretty good security setup that keeps your passwords, email, hard drive and sensitive USB drives as secure as possible without going overboard.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">A strong password is the first, best line of defense</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Good computer security and privacy begins with strong passwords. Sure, there are serious criticisms about how<a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/all/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">online services use passwords</a>, and Apple may be trying to take biometrics mainstream with <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2049274/apples-touch-id-may-not-be-bulletproof-but-its-still-useful.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">TouchID on the iPhone 5s</a>, but for now passwords are <em style>still</em> the best solution we have for keeping third parties away from our data.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/01/keepass-100023309-orig.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="454" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/01/keepass-100023309-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>KeePass is a great, free option for desktop-based password management.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> The problem with passwords is that they should really be random, unique, and relatively long to be of any use. That's where password managers come in: These programs help you generate random passwords and store them securely, allowing you to remember just a handful of gnarly 10-character random passphrases instead of 15 or 20.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026547/review-keepass-makes-strong-passwords-and-keeps-them-safe.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">KeePass</a> and LastPass are both good, free password managers that are worth your time. KeePass is popular because it's open-source, and it has a few nice features, like keylogging obfuscation and secure notes.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The problem with KeePass, however, is that it doesn't have an online component to sync passwords across devices. That means you'd have to create a cloud sync setup yourself using Dropbox or another cloud storage service. You can read more about how to do that with our look at the third-party utility <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032284/synchronize-any-windows-folder-on-your-pc-with-dropbox-folder-sync.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Dropbox Folder Sync</a>, or by perusing the <a href="http://keepass.info/plugins.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">KeePass plugins library</a>.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/lastpass-100056558-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="289" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/lastpass-100056558-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>LastPass encrypts your password database before sending it to the cloud.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Another good alternative—and my personal favorite—is LastPass. Like KeePass, LastPass offers password generation and encrypted notes, but it also syncs your encrypted password database to the cloud so you can access it across multiple devices.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">LastPass is available as a free browser plug-in, and you can also use the LastPass mobile app for $12 per year. Read all the technical details on the<a href="https://lastpass.com/whylastpass_technology.php" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">LastPass website</a>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Password managers are a relatively personal choice and will depend largely on your own needs and what level of trust you're willing to put in a commercial company like LastPass or newcomer <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043301/review-dashlane-is-a-robust-password-manager-with-a-gorgeous-interface.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Dashlane</a>.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Encrypting Mail</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Most of us prefer to use Web-based email apps like Gmail, because it's faster and much easier to open a Web page than to fire up a desktop app. But when you need to keep your email private from prying eyes, an old-fashioned email desktop client combined with OpenPGP public-private key encryption is the way to go.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Email travels across the Internet as plain text by default, which means a determined snooper could intercept and read your message. Encryption helps combat this by making it nearly impossible for anyone but the recipient to decode your message. OpenPGP is an excellent open-source encryption system you can use to send encrypted email. Problem is, you can only encrypt email to people who are also using an implementation of OpenPGP. So if you plan on swapping ciphered mail with someone, make sure they are set up for this as well.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Encryption is also only as secure as the people using it. If someone decrypts your mail, copies it as plain text and forwards it on to someone else, the effectiveness of your encryption is broken. Malware can also ruin encryption by snatching data in a decrypted state. So remember that while encryption is definitely more secure than plain old email, it is <em style="line-height:1.45em">not</em>foolproof.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Finally, keep in mind that <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2042096/does-encryption-really-shield-you-from-governments-prying-eyes.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">email metadata is never encrypted</a>. So you won't be able to hide the subject line or the email address of the person you're corresponding with.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The first step is to download and install the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Mozilla Thunderbird email client</a> for the account you want to use for encryption and email signing. Thunderbird has a plug-in that makes it particularly easy to set up OpenPGP. (PGP's inventor also recommends<a href="http://philzimmermann.com/EN/findpgp/index.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">HushMail</a>.)  Next, download and install the OpenPGP key management software <a href="http://www.gpg4win.org/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Gpg4win</a>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>Creating your own key pair</strong></p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Start Thunderbird, click the menu icon in the far right corner, and select <em style>Add-ons</em>. In the next window that opens, search for <code style="font-family:monospace,serif;font-size:1em">Enigmail</code> and click <em style>Install</em>. After Enigmail installation is complete, shut down Thunderbird and then open the program again.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Now you've got all the tools you'll need to create your own key pair. Go back to the menu icon in the far right corner and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">OpenPGP > Key Management</em>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When the Key Management window opens, select <em style>Generate > New Key Pair.</em></p><em style><a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/newkeypair-100056563-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="375" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/newkeypair-100056563-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a></em>Enigmail's Key Management window lets you create and revoke new key pairs for your account.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Now we're just about to generate our first encryption key pair. Most of the default settings in this window should be fine. However, I would highly recommend creating a passphrase for your keys. If you don't and one day Thunderbird decides to ask you for a password even though you don't have one (it happened to me), you'll be heading for a world of frustration.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When you're ready to enter the fabulous world of OpenPGP email, click the <em style>Generate key</em> button. After a few minutes, your key pair will be ready.</p><a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/generatekey-100056565-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="469" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/generatekey-100056565-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Save yourself some trouble and create a password.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Once your key pair is done, Enigmail will suggest you create a revocation certificate. This is an extremely important step that I suggest you take: A revocation certificate is a simple file with the .ASC extension that you can use to invalidate your keys, should you forget your password or lose control of your computer.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Best practices say you should save the certificate to a USB thumb drive and then keep that thumb drive in a safe place.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Go public</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Now that your key pair and revocation certificate are ready, you need to let the world know you're accepting encrypted email. The best way to do that is to upload your public key to a keyserver where other users can find it—it's sort of like a phone book for security-minded people.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/uploadpublickeys2-100056568-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="373" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/uploadpublickeys2-100056568-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Uploading your public key to a keyserver is a good way to get the news out.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> To do this, open the Key Management window again—if it isn't already open—and select <em style>Keyserver > Upload Public Keys</em>.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">By default, Enigmail will suggest you upload your key to "pool.sks-keyservers.net." That should be fine, since this isn't actually a keyserver at all, but a hub that pools its database with multiple keyservers.You can change this by clicking on the drop-down menu. Another option, for example, is to upload directly to MIT's keyserver.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">You could also publish your public key on a personal website, Tumblr, or blog. To copy your public key, go back to the Key Management window, make sure the <em style>Display All Keys by Default</em>checkbox is marked, and then highlight your email account once it appears. Next, right-click and select <em style>Copy Public Keys to Clipboard</em>.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Testing, testing</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">So you've generated a new key pair and published your public key. Now it's time for a test run by sending a signed email to Adele, the friendly OpenPGP email robot.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Hold down the shift button on your keyboard and then click on the <em style>Write</em>button in the top left side of Thunderbird. This will open a new message window without any HTML formatting. Adele can only handle plain text, so bold headlines, italics, and embedded links are out. In fact, for simplicity's sake, it's always easier to create encrypted email as plain text.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/attachmypublickey-100056564-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="536" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/attachmypublickey-100056564-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Send a test message to Adele the email bot to make sure your settings are working correctly.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Next, fill out Adele's email address, which is <a href="mailto:adele-en@gnupp.de" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">adele-en@gnupp.de</a>. Create a subject line and message body with whatever you'd like to say. Then click the <em style>OpenPGP</em> menu option, and make sure that only the "Sign Message" and "Attach My Public Key" options are selected. Hit S<em style>end</em>, enter your password, and you're done. In a few minutes, Adele should send you a reply to confirm whether your signing was successful.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once Adele gives you the okay, you are ready for the world of encrypted email</p></span>

Lockdown: How to secure your PC without going crazy

Good digital security inevitably requires some hassle, but the size of that headache is really up to you. If you're someone who wants ...

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Lockdown: How to secure your PC without going crazy

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100056712 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt2.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/securepc_primary-100056712-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/encryption" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Good digital security inevitably requires some hassle, but the size of that headache is really up to you. If you're someone who wants to go all out with 64-character passwords, no Facebook account, and a second laptop that never connects to the Internet, because it houses all your deep, dark secrets, well, this guide is not for you.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This is a guide for practical folks. People who want a healthy amount of PC security (perhaps motivated by ongoing revelations about the <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048248/heres-how-to-best-secure-your-data-now-that-the-nsa-can-crack-almost-any-encryption.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">National Security Agency</a> and its surveillance activities), but with a minimum of hassles such as dealing with key fobs for two-factor authentication, juggling complicated passwords, and setting up email encryption. We can't promise you a completely pain-free experience, but we will show you how to get up and running with a pretty good security setup that keeps your passwords, email, hard drive and sensitive USB drives as secure as possible without going overboard.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">A strong password is the first, best line of defense</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Good computer security and privacy begins with strong passwords. Sure, there are serious criticisms about how<a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/all/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">online services use passwords</a>, and Apple may be trying to take biometrics mainstream with <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2049274/apples-touch-id-may-not-be-bulletproof-but-its-still-useful.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">TouchID on the iPhone 5s</a>, but for now passwords are <em style>still</em> the best solution we have for keeping third parties away from our data.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/01/keepass-100023309-orig.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="454" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/01/keepass-100023309-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>KeePass is a great, free option for desktop-based password management.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> The problem with passwords is that they should really be random, unique, and relatively long to be of any use. That's where password managers come in: These programs help you generate random passwords and store them securely, allowing you to remember just a handful of gnarly 10-character random passphrases instead of 15 or 20.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026547/review-keepass-makes-strong-passwords-and-keeps-them-safe.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">KeePass</a> and LastPass are both good, free password managers that are worth your time. KeePass is popular because it's open-source, and it has a few nice features, like keylogging obfuscation and secure notes.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The problem with KeePass, however, is that it doesn't have an online component to sync passwords across devices. That means you'd have to create a cloud sync setup yourself using Dropbox or another cloud storage service. You can read more about how to do that with our look at the third-party utility <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032284/synchronize-any-windows-folder-on-your-pc-with-dropbox-folder-sync.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Dropbox Folder Sync</a>, or by perusing the <a href="http://keepass.info/plugins.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">KeePass plugins library</a>.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/lastpass-100056558-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="289" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/lastpass-100056558-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>LastPass encrypts your password database before sending it to the cloud.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Another good alternative—and my personal favorite—is LastPass. Like KeePass, LastPass offers password generation and encrypted notes, but it also syncs your encrypted password database to the cloud so you can access it across multiple devices.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">LastPass is available as a free browser plug-in, and you can also use the LastPass mobile app for $12 per year. Read all the technical details on the<a href="https://lastpass.com/whylastpass_technology.php" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">LastPass website</a>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Password managers are a relatively personal choice and will depend largely on your own needs and what level of trust you're willing to put in a commercial company like LastPass or newcomer <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043301/review-dashlane-is-a-robust-password-manager-with-a-gorgeous-interface.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Dashlane</a>.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Encrypting Mail</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Most of us prefer to use Web-based email apps like Gmail, because it's faster and much easier to open a Web page than to fire up a desktop app. But when you need to keep your email private from prying eyes, an old-fashioned email desktop client combined with OpenPGP public-private key encryption is the way to go.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Email travels across the Internet as plain text by default, which means a determined snooper could intercept and read your message. Encryption helps combat this by making it nearly impossible for anyone but the recipient to decode your message. OpenPGP is an excellent open-source encryption system you can use to send encrypted email. Problem is, you can only encrypt email to people who are also using an implementation of OpenPGP. So if you plan on swapping ciphered mail with someone, make sure they are set up for this as well.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Encryption is also only as secure as the people using it. If someone decrypts your mail, copies it as plain text and forwards it on to someone else, the effectiveness of your encryption is broken. Malware can also ruin encryption by snatching data in a decrypted state. So remember that while encryption is definitely more secure than plain old email, it is <em style="line-height:1.45em">not</em>foolproof.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Finally, keep in mind that <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2042096/does-encryption-really-shield-you-from-governments-prying-eyes.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">email metadata is never encrypted</a>. So you won't be able to hide the subject line or the email address of the person you're corresponding with.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The first step is to download and install the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Mozilla Thunderbird email client</a> for the account you want to use for encryption and email signing. Thunderbird has a plug-in that makes it particularly easy to set up OpenPGP. (PGP's inventor also recommends<a href="http://philzimmermann.com/EN/findpgp/index.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">HushMail</a>.)  Next, download and install the OpenPGP key management software <a href="http://www.gpg4win.org/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Gpg4win</a>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>Creating your own key pair</strong></p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Start Thunderbird, click the menu icon in the far right corner, and select <em style>Add-ons</em>. In the next window that opens, search for <code style="font-family:monospace,serif;font-size:1em">Enigmail</code> and click <em style>Install</em>. After Enigmail installation is complete, shut down Thunderbird and then open the program again.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Now you've got all the tools you'll need to create your own key pair. Go back to the menu icon in the far right corner and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">OpenPGP > Key Management</em>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When the Key Management window opens, select <em style>Generate > New Key Pair.</em></p><em style><a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/newkeypair-100056563-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="375" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/newkeypair-100056563-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a></em>Enigmail's Key Management window lets you create and revoke new key pairs for your account.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Now we're just about to generate our first encryption key pair. Most of the default settings in this window should be fine. However, I would highly recommend creating a passphrase for your keys. If you don't and one day Thunderbird decides to ask you for a password even though you don't have one (it happened to me), you'll be heading for a world of frustration.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When you're ready to enter the fabulous world of OpenPGP email, click the <em style>Generate key</em> button. After a few minutes, your key pair will be ready.</p><a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/generatekey-100056565-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="469" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/generatekey-100056565-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Save yourself some trouble and create a password.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Once your key pair is done, Enigmail will suggest you create a revocation certificate. This is an extremely important step that I suggest you take: A revocation certificate is a simple file with the .ASC extension that you can use to invalidate your keys, should you forget your password or lose control of your computer.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Best practices say you should save the certificate to a USB thumb drive and then keep that thumb drive in a safe place.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Go public</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Now that your key pair and revocation certificate are ready, you need to let the world know you're accepting encrypted email. The best way to do that is to upload your public key to a keyserver where other users can find it—it's sort of like a phone book for security-minded people.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/uploadpublickeys2-100056568-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="373" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/uploadpublickeys2-100056568-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Uploading your public key to a keyserver is a good way to get the news out.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> To do this, open the Key Management window again—if it isn't already open—and select <em style>Keyserver > Upload Public Keys</em>.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">By default, Enigmail will suggest you upload your key to "pool.sks-keyservers.net." That should be fine, since this isn't actually a keyserver at all, but a hub that pools its database with multiple keyservers.You can change this by clicking on the drop-down menu. Another option, for example, is to upload directly to MIT's keyserver.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">You could also publish your public key on a personal website, Tumblr, or blog. To copy your public key, go back to the Key Management window, make sure the <em style>Display All Keys by Default</em>checkbox is marked, and then highlight your email account once it appears. Next, right-click and select <em style>Copy Public Keys to Clipboard</em>.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Testing, testing</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">So you've generated a new key pair and published your public key. Now it's time for a test run by sending a signed email to Adele, the friendly OpenPGP email robot.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Hold down the shift button on your keyboard and then click on the <em style>Write</em>button in the top left side of Thunderbird. This will open a new message window without any HTML formatting. Adele can only handle plain text, so bold headlines, italics, and embedded links are out. In fact, for simplicity's sake, it's always easier to create encrypted email as plain text.</p> <a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/attachmypublickey-100056564-orig.png" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="536" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/attachmypublickey-100056564-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"></a>Send a test message to Adele the email bot to make sure your settings are working correctly.<p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Next, fill out Adele's email address, which is <a href="mailto:adele-en@gnupp.de" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">adele-en@gnupp.de</a>. Create a subject line and message body with whatever you'd like to say. Then click the <em style>OpenPGP</em> menu option, and make sure that only the "Sign Message" and "Attach My Public Key" options are selected. Hit S<em style>end</em>, enter your password, and you're done. In a few minutes, Adele should send you a reply to confirm whether your signing was successful.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once Adele gives you the okay, you are ready for the world of encrypted email</p></span>

Lockdown: How to secure your PC without going crazy

Good digital security inevitably requires some hassle, but the size of that headache is really up to you. If you're someone who wants ...

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What to do if your PC shuts down and automatically reboots

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100056053 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/1003-boot-thumb-100056053-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><span style="font-size:14px">Mr. Reddy's </span><em style="line-height:1.45em;font-size:14px"> PC is "stuck in a boot loop." When he tries to start it, it continually reboots and starts over.</em><br> </div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Something in the boot process is crashing the PC. Then Windows reacts to the crash by rebooting.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> You need to do three things: stop the rebooting, figure out what's causing the crash, and fix it.</p><br><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">First, stop the reboots:</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Boot your PC, and before the Windows logo comes on, repeatedly press and release <strong style>F8 </strong>until the boot menu appears. Select <em style>Safe Mode.</em></p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Once Windows is running in Safe Mode, click <em style>Start </em>(In XP, click <em style>Start>Run; </em>in Windows 8, use the Search charm)<em style>,</em>type <strong style><code style="font-family:monospace,serif;font-size:1em">sysdm.cpl</code></strong> and select <em style>sysdm.cpl</em>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Click the <em style>Advanced </em>tab, and then click the <em style>Settings</em> button under 'Startup and Recovery' (as opposed to the dialog box's other two "Settings" buttons). Uncheck <em style>Automatically restart.</em></p> <em style><img alt="" border="0" height="562" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/1003-turn-off-reboot-100056055-orig.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="771"></em><em style></em><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Then click <em style>OK </em>and reboot.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Your computer will almost certainly crash, but in doing so, it will probably offer a clue or two about what's wrong.</p><a class="zoom cboxElement" href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/1003-bsod-100056054-orig.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)"><img alt="" border="0" height="105" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/1003-bsod-100056054-small.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="140"></a><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> There's a good chance you'll get a blue screen covered with white text--the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). For details with this problem, see <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/258876/attack_of_the_blue_screen_of_death.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Attack of the Blue Screen of Death</a>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If you're not getting a BSoD, perhaps another type of error message appears. On another Internet-capable device, search for the words in that error message and see if you can find a solution.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Another suggestion: Since the crashes happen at boot time, they could be caused by a bad autoloader. Boot into Safe Mode as described above, launch Windows' MSConfig program, click the<em style="line-height:1.45em">Startup </em>tab, and uncheck all programs that load automatically when you boot. If you can successfully boot after that, try experimenting with rechecking some autoloaders but not others until you have found the culprit.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="391" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/1003-msconfig-100056052-orig.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="585"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> <br></p></span>

What to do if your PC shuts down and automatically reboots

Mr. Reddy's  PC is "stuck in a boot loop." When he tries to start it, it continually reboots and starts over. Something i...

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