Everybody knows they should use different passwords for every site, but hardly anybody actually does. Data breaches, where people's email address and passwords are stolen, happen all the time, affecting businesses both big and small. You might not think that someone accessing one account you rarely use can cause you harm, but the truth is that it can, if you reuse passwords, because of something called credential stuffing.

So what is credential stuffing? After a data breach, huge lists of stolen email addresses and passwords (credentials) for that site are sold on the "dark web". Hackers can then use simple programs that take each email address and password pair, and automatically try them at hundreds of other websites, to see if they have a match. When they get a match, they have access to that account. So, for example, if your LinkedIn credentials were stolen in a data breach, even if you changed your password (the right thing to do), you also have to worry about any other site that might use the same email address and password, and change those passwords as well.

So, what should you do to protect yourself? The first step is to check your email address at  have i been pwned, a trustworthy, free site that tracks compromised email addresses throughout the web. If your email address comes up as "pwned", you need to take action by changing any shared passwords.

Creating and keeping track of passwords is hard. Most experts recommend using password management software to generate and store strong and unique passwords. I personally use a popular free one called LastPass, and there are other good password managers, such as DashLane, Keeper, and 1Password. If you find you have been "pwned", or you would like some help changing passwords or setting yourself up with a password manager, please give me a call.

You've all seen the warning at one time or another - this drive was not ejected properly. Drives need to be ejected properly to avoid damage to your data, caused by disconnecting a drive while the computer is trying to read or write to it. Even though damage rarely happens, it's definitely better to be safe than sorry!

To properly eject a drive on a Mac, follow one of these three procedures:

• Drag the icon for the drive into the Trash
• Right-click on the drive icon and choose "eject"
• Open finder, find the drive in the sidebar, and click on the eject button icon next to to the drive

To properly eject a drive on a PC, follow one of these steps:

• Look for the USB icon in the systray near the date and time. Click on it and choose "eject (drive name)". 
• Open Windows Explorer. Click on This PC. Right-click on the drive and choose "eject"
• If the system says it can't safely remove the hardware, check if you have any open windows for the drive and close them. Wait a minute, then try again.

Since the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft has issued major "features updates" twice a year, automatically rolling them out to all users when ready. That's going to change with the May 2019 version. Microsoft will continue to install security updates automatically, but features updates will be optional. You will be reminded that they are there, and prompted to install them, but they will no longer install without your consent. Your current version of Windows 10 will be safe to use until it reaches end of life, at which point you must upgrade to get security updates.

The next major release of Windows 10 will require at least 32GB of free hard drive space to install. Most computers I see have plenty of free space, but there is a population of inexpensive laptops out there with 32GB drives . If you have one of those, you will not be able to install this, or future, release of Windows 10. There are also some very expensive systems with 128GB SSDs, including the Microsoft Surface Pro and the Dell XPS13. If you have a system with a 128GB SSD, you will want to make sure to keep your system lean and clean. Give me a call if you need any help determining the size of your hard drive and the free space available..