Doubting yourself at work

Windows 10’s integrated Windows Defender antivirus has some “cloud” features, like other modern antivirus applications. By default, Windows automatically uploads some suspicious-looking files and reports data about suspicious activity so new threats can be detected and blocked as quickly as possible. RELATED: What's the Best Antivirus for Windows 10? (Is Windows Defender Good Enough?) These features are part of Windows Defender, the antivirus tool included with Windows 10 . Windows Defender is always running unless you’ve installed a third-party antivirus application tool to replace it. These two features are enabled by default. You can view whether they’re currently enabled by launching the Windows Defender Security Center. You can find it by searching for “Windows Defender” in your Start menu, or by locating “Windows Defender Security Center” in the list of apps. Navigate to Virus & threat protection > Virus & threat protection settings. Both Cloud-based … [Read more...] about How Do Windows Defender’s “Automatic Sample Submission” and “Cloud-Based Protection” Work?

Mozilla Thunderbird recently integrated OpenPGP right into the main application. No add-ons are needed for email privacy. OpenPGP’s world-class encryption is easy to set up and use without additional software. Thunderbird and OpenPGP Version 78.2.1 of the Thunderbird email client has support for end-to-end encryption (e2ee) built right in. This integration means you no longer need add-ons like Enigmail . Thunderbird uses OpenPGP for encryption, which is a free, nonproprietary protocol. Based on the freeware versions of Phil Zimmerman’s Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), it’s now very much its own thing. Thunderbird’s OpenPGP integration allows you to encrypt a message. Then, only the people you want to read your message will be able to do so. It also lets you digitally sign a message so your recipient can be confident the message hasn’t been altered in transit. OpenPGP uses the principle of pairs of public and private (or “secret”) encryption keys. To use OpenPGP, you … [Read more...] about How to Use OpenPGP Encryption for Emails in Thunderbird

There’s more than one Ubuntu. You can download Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or Lubuntu: But what’s the difference, and which should you choose? The answer depends on what you’re looking for: Linux is all about choice. What’s the Difference? To pick properly, you’ll need to understand the strengths of each “flavor.” That might be the bling and polish of Kubuntu, the “set it up and forget about it” of Ubuntu, the retro simplicity and stability of Xubuntu, or the ability of Lubuntu to run on older and less powerful hardware. Despite the different names, all of these are based on the same underlying Ubuntu software. They include the same Linux kernel and low-level system utilities. However, each has different desktop and flavor-specific applications. That means that some are more full-featured, while others are more lightweight—so each feels a little different. Since these flavors are built to make Linux more accessible, they’re not necessarily going to score upvotes in a geeky … [Read more...] about How to Choose Between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu

Sometimes, you just don’t feel like reading. It can be an article, a Wikipedia entry, or a research paper for school. Instead of searching for a YouTube video, listen to articles using Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud feature. Microsoft Edge has a pretty stellar built-in reader mode . It removes all the stuff from the web page (including ads and extra content) and presents it in a customizable text format. RELATED: How To Use Reading View In Microsoft Edge The reader mode also has a Read Aloud feature (similar to Siri’s feature on Mac ). In the past few years, text-to-speech has come a long way. When you use Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud feature, you don’t feel like a robot is talking to you. In fact, there are a couple of voices that almost sound human, with variable pitch, appropriate pauses, and stellar pronunciation for complex words. To get there, first, open the article that you want Microsoft Edge to read out loud on your Windows 10 PC or Mac. Then, from the … [Read more...] about How to Have Microsoft Edge Read You Articles Aloud

Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest Mini can make life easier, but they also present some privacy concerns. Doesn’t a device that responds to voice commands need to be listening all the time ? Let’s talk about that. If you think about how a smart speaker or smart display works, logic would tell you that they need to be constantly listening. After all, how can your device hear your “Alexa” or “Hey Google” command if it’s not listening? Well, you’re right. These devices are always listening, but it’s not as scary as it sounds. Listening vs. Recording When people hear that smart speakers are always listening, what they’re really afraid of is the possibility that the smart speaker is always recording them. That’s how humans listen, but that’s not what’s happening with smart speakers. This is an important distinction to make. When you listen to someone talk, you are essentially making a recording of the information in your brain. You remember what the … [Read more...] about Is My Smart Speaker Always Listening to Me?