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Linux Mint is insecure, according to a Canonical-employed Ubuntu developer who says he wouldn’t do his online banking on a Linux Mint PC. The developer alleges that Linux Mint “hacks out” important updates. Is this a real problem or just fear-mongering? The Ubuntu developer involved has gotten certain facts wrong and damaged his own case, but there’s still a real argument to be had here. Ubuntu and Linux Mint deal with updates in different ways, and each has its own trade-offs....

Browser plug-ins are the biggest target on your computer. Java is a gaping security hole, but Flash has seen a stream of 0-day attacks recently. There’s even been an increase in attacks against Silverlight. These plug-ins have also become less necessary over time. For example, YouTube recently dumped Flash, and Netflix has dumped silverlight. Your browser is capable of doing this stuff on its own — as long as websites cooperate....

What Is Catfishing? Catfishing is the act of deceiving another person online with a fake account, identity, photos, and other details about their life. It is most commonly found on social networking sites and dating sites. A “catfish” refers to the person performing the deception. Because of the widespread popularity of the term, catfishing has also become synonymous with simple acts of misrepresentation or deception. Why Do People Catfish? The most common reason to catfish someone is for wish fulfillment....

If you suddenly unplug a removable drive from your Mac, you’ll see this message in the upper-right corner of your screen: “Disk Not Ejected Properly.” But what does it mean, and why do you need to eject before unplugging a drive? Let’s explain. You Need to Eject Before You Unplug Seeing the “Disk Not Ejected Properly” message means that you unplugged a removable drive before using macOS’s software “eject” process....

NFT Avatars in a Nutshell Before we can even touch what the whole Bored Ape thing is about, you need to know a few fundamental things about NFTs or Non-fungible Tokens. We’ll go over the least you need to know for it all to make sense, but you can check out our NFT explainer for the complete rundown. NFTs are cryptographic tokens on a blockchain. A blockchain is a public record of transactions that can’t be altered....

Being able to find your favorite applications using substrings makes your workload just a bit easier to deal with, but what do you do when this useful search feature stops working? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to solve a reader’s ‘broken’ search feature problem. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader Rich wants to know why the application search feature in Windows 8 no longer matches substrings:...

With all the trouble one can run into on the Internet, it is always a good idea to have as secure of a connection as possible. But what do you do when your browser says a secure website is not fully secure? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a worried reader’s question. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites....

What Are Razer’s New Finger Sleeves? These Razer Gaming Finger Sleeves are designed to go over your thumb or forefinger (whichever is making contact with the screen). They’re built to absorb sweat and help your fingers slide more smoothly across the screen while playing mobile games like PUBG, Fortnite, or Call of Duty Mobile. RELATED: Before Fortnite, There Was ZZT: Meet Epic’s First Game They’re made with thin materials that aim to let your fingers breathe while being absorbent enough to keep them dry....

Some utilities have a “secure delete” option that promises to securely erase a file from your hard drive, removing all traces of it. Older versions of Mac OS X have a “Secure Empty Trash” option that tries to do something similar. Apple removed this feature recently because it just doesn’t work reliably on modern drives. The problem with “secure delete” and “secure empty trash” is that it provides a false sense of security....

When it comes to securing your Wi-Fi network, we always recommend WPA2-PSK encryption. It’s the only really effective way to restrict access to your home Wi-Fi network. But WPA2 encryption can be cracked, too — here’s how. As usual, this isn’t a guide to cracking someone’s WPA2 encryption. It’s an explanation of how your encryption could be cracked and what you can do to better protect yourself. It works even if you’re using WPA2-PSK security with strong AES encryption....

Slack is a popular communication service primarily used in workplace environments. The defaults are sensible, and it looks pretty. However, you can personalize your Slack account, so it looks and acts the way you want it to. Add a Photo or Avatar Being able to see what someone looks like is very useful, especially for remote teams. You can add a photo or avatar to help people get to know you....

Whether you’re using a Chromebook or you’re just interested in switching from installed desktop apps to browser-based ones, web-based software can replace many of the programs people use on their computers — and can often improve on them. One advantage to using web-based apps is that they’ll natively sync across you devices — for example, to your smartphone. Your data will always be backed up and accessible away from your computer....

Apple’s Photos app saw some changes in iOS 8, and more changes are coming when iCloud Photo Library launches soon. Did you know that your photos app keeps copies of photos you’ve deleted? The Photos app isn’t as complex as Apple’s new Health app, but it still has some features you might not discover unless you go looking for them. For example, it can hide your private photos. It Keeps Your Deleted Photos For 30 Days RELATED: What You Can Do With Your iPhone’s Health App...

Ubuntu Linux is feature rich and comes with a curated selection of preinstalled software. Dig just a little bit deeper though, and you’ll find some features you ought to be using. The Ubuntu Experience Ubuntu needs no introduction. It’s the most popular Linux distribution for home users, hands down. It’s the distribution many Linux users cut their teeth on. Regardless of what distribution people might be using nowadays, chances are they started on Ubuntu, or at least detoured onto Ubuntu at some point in the Linux explorations....

No matter how hard you try to keep your kids safe from undesirable websites on the Internet, it seems like there is always some method of circumventing any protection you set up. Today’s SuperUser Q&A post discusses the possibility of using a virtual OS to access websites blocked in the host OS’s hosts file. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites....

Do you struggle to play your Nintendo Switch in handheld mode? Perhaps the Joy-Cons are a bit small for your larger hands, or maybe you simply prefer the feel of a full-sized Switch Pro controller. A better experience is only one accessory away. Get Yourself a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller is one of the most comfortable full-sized game controllers on the market today. It features the same “HD Rumble” haptic feedback found in the Joy-Con with full-sized analog sticks, spaced-out face buttons, and a proper D-pad....

In 2012, Google’s Dianne Hackborn threatened to revoke CyanogenMod’s access to the Android Market if they moved forward with adding “Cornerstone” multitasking to their custom ROM. Samsung has since created their own multi-window multitasking feature. Dianne Hackborn said this “is something that needs to be done at the mainline platform level” so apps wouldn’t break. She was right — Android needs this as a standard feature and it’s time for Google to provide it....

Thanks to bad design decisions, AutoRun was once a huge security problem on Windows. AutoRun helpfully allowed malicious software to launch as soon as you inserted discs and USB drives into your computer. This flaw wasn’t only exploited by malware authors. It was famously used by Sony BMG to hide a rootkit on music CDs. Windows would automatically run and install the rootkit when you inserted a malicious Sony audio CD into your computer....

You have a pile of DVDs with sensitive information on them and you need to safely and effectively dispose of them so no data recovery is possible. What’s the most safe and efficient way to get the job done? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader HaLaBi wants to know how he can safely destroy CDs and DVDs with personal data on them:...

You can adjust the screen brightness from the Control Center (the quickest way) or the Settings app. To adjust it via the Control Center, swipe down from the top right of the screen on your iPhone or iPad. If your iPhone has a Home button, swipe up from the bottom. Next to the Sound icon/Volume slider, you’ll see the Sun icon/Brightness slider. Swipe up or down on the slider to increase or decrease the brightness....