Recently in Computers Category
Have you fallen prey to common PC privacy myths? Check and see.
Even this deep into the Information Age, most people are still plagued by certain PC privacy myths. For example: if you think deleting a file erases it from your computer, then you've fallen for one of the most prevalent myths. As any hacker could tell you, a file remains in memory, somewhere, until it's actively overwritten.
Even then, it may still be recoverable. Back in the old days, if you wanted to be rid of a document, you could tear it up and burn it, and it would be gone for good. With computers, a document might linger, at least in fragmentary form, for years...and that's the least of your PC privacy worries.
While you can expect a legal right to privacy in regards to your snail mail, email privacy is another thing altogether.
Email privacy myths are among the most persistent of the Information Age. They tend to linger, even as more people come to realize that, given the insecurity of the World Wide Web and other forms of electronic information exchange, very little of our personal information is truly confidential anymore.
We Americans expect that our postal mail will remain absolutely private, because that's a right guaranteed by the Constitution. We tend to extend that assumption to electronic mail, too; but the fact is, you just can't have the same expectation of privacy with email as you do with "snail" mail. In this article, we'll explain why.
Be careful when posting your pictures on photo sharing sites -- they all have subtly different privacy policies, which you can run afoul of if you're not careful.
In Part I of this article, we provided an example of how the differences in the privacy policies maintained by various photo sharing sites can trip up the unwary. In our case, we were surprised to discover the SmugMug account for our new site, Photo Sharing Nuggets, indexed on Google; we'd thought it was private.
Other sites handle the privacy issue differently, and there's enough variation from one to another that you have to tread very carefully. In this half of the article, we'll briefly discuss the privacy policies of other popular photo sharing sites.
Have you looked carefully at the privacy policies on your favorite photo sharing sites? They may not exactly be what you'd expect.
Privacy policies are an accepted part of the Internet experience these days. Of course, there are those who believe you shouldn't be uptight about privacy if you're willing to participate in something as public as the World Wide Web, especially if you're going to post photographs. We happen to disagree.
Just because you're willing to share your artistry with the world doesn't mean you should be fair game for every scammer and marketer out there. In this two-part article, we'll offer some advice on the current state of photo sharing privacy on the Web, and how to maintain yours -- starting with a personal example.
While some malicious freaks enjoy sending viruses across the Internet to eat other people's files, you shouldn't believe everything you hear. Here's the actual data on four computer virus myths.
We've all fallen for the occasional computer virus myth, because the reality is so scary. Since most of us aren't computer experts, we depend on our machines to work the way we need them to; it's infuriating to think that some script kiddie out there would deliberately -- and randomly -- try to sabotage us.
But all is not as bad as it might seem. Gather 'round, and take a close look as we explode a few myths about those nasty computer viruses.
Nearly everybody has allergies, and they seem to come with a whole crop of allergy myths, too. In this article, we'll take a look at a few common ones, and bust each with a quick shot of truth.
Most of us think we know a lot about allergies, but a good portion of the "facts" we know are, in fact, allergy myths. For example: about a third of us believe we have food allergies, but true food allergies are limited to about two percent of the population. The top culprits? Nuts, soy, dairy, fish, shellfish, wheat, and eggs.
The truth is, most food-related illnesses that we mistake for allergies are caused by food poisoning and other factors. Similarly, many of us have other beliefs about allergies that could benefit from the cold light of reality. So step right up with that myth: is it folklore, or is it science?
Protect your music: don't fall for these iPod myths!
You don't think of iPod myths as a big worry, but with any successful product comes angry competitors. Apple trumped the world when it produced the most successful mp3 player available, and ever since, competitors have searched diligently for flaws in Apple's sleek design. Of course, no product is perfect, and the iPod is no exception. Still, it's important to know the truth before you fall for myths created to keep you from buying an iPod!
