Alaina Yee

3 weeks ago | pcworld.com | Alaina Yee

By now, you’ve heard of the U.S.’s decision to levy tariffs on imports—all goods made in China, as well as select materials worldwide, like steel and aluminum. At the time of this article’s publishing, taxes on products coming from Canada and Mexico also were likely to begin early April, with additional tariffs proposed for more materials and products worldwide. I covered the details about these tariffs in a FAQ, as well as a set of highlights for a shorter way to get up to speed on the situation.

3 weeks ago | pcworld.com | Alaina Yee

If you live in a more populated area, you likely check your doors before bed to make sure they’re locked. The same idea is worthwhile to apply to your vital online accounts, too—verifying that they’re secure. In that vein, a periodic review of devices logged into your Google account is a good idea. If someone’s stolen your password, you should be aware of that unauthorized access to all your email, photos, videos, and other files. A hacker isn’t the only person to be worried about, either.

3 weeks ago | pcworld.com | Alaina Yee

You probably use text message, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or even Instagram to chat with others. And while those messaging apps work fine, some still seek out alternatives that lean hard into a promise of security and privacy—like Signal. Signal is an end-to-end encrypted app (E2EE), which means it encrypts every message before it leaves your device, and that message can only be read after it arrives on a recipient’s device and gets decrypted.

3 weeks ago | pcworld.com | Alaina Yee

You know you should use random passwords. A lot of people don’t, though. So if you’re already on board this train, that’s fantastic. But you could be doing more and you probably should given how online security is evolving. If you reuse the same username across all sites, someone can more easily try to hack your accounts. And if it’s your email address? Now they know what account to attack if they want to try to gain full control over your online life.

4 weeks ago | pcworld.com | Alaina Yee

Malware can take sneaky forms—including software that performs the job advertised. These seemingly legitimate apps and browser extensions behave like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Install one, and it might steal your identity. Or lock up your PC with ransomware. This dangerous software is bad enough to have earned an alert from the FBI’s Denver field office earlier this month.