ODDS and ENDS
Assorted Defensive Computing Topics that did not fit well into another topic.
- What To Do if You Were Scammed from the FTC
- How to remove your info from data brokers by Mark Hurst for Good Reports.
Last updated: January 13, 2022
- Credit cards: Privacy.com has been recommended by many. The service creates virtual credit cards that are inked to either a debit card or a bank account. This not only hides your real credit card number, but the virtual cards can do much more than a real credit card. For example, they can be configured to only work with one vendor. Or, you can limit the amount that can be charged on a virtual card. Or, you can suspend the card. Or, use it just once and then delete it. Like real credit cards you can be alerted to every new charge on a virtual card. Sounds great, but giving this company access to my bank account is not great Defensive Computing. I suggest opening a new bank account for use with the service and keeping only a small amount of money in this new account.
- If you have a Lenovo laptop that will not turn on, see No power or the system does not run on battery power - ThinkPad Last modified
March 2026 and Troubleshooting No Power Issues Last Modified
February 2026.
- YouTube: Privacy and safety center from Google
- Snapchat: Privacy settings from Snapchat Tech Support. Undated.
- The Eizo Monitor Tests are all done on web pages, no software to install.
- Safe Spaces: Transacting in Person with Strangers from the Internet by Brian Krebs (Sept 2022). When buying/selling things with strangers, there is always a risk that they are an axe murderer. Nearly all U.S. states now have designated safe trading stations - mostly at local police departments - which ensure that all transactions are handled in plain view of both the authorities and security cameras. Three websites have lists of these Safe Spaces: safetradespots.com,
safetradestations.com and safeexchangepoint.com
- UPS When shipping a box via United Parcel, take a picture, with your phone, of the label they create and put on the box. Maybe also take a picture of the box before bringing it to their office. At my local UPS office their printer is miserable and the tracking number is all but impossible to read.
- Uber customers can not trust any email that appears to come from Uber. See this January 2, 2022 article for details: Uber ignores vulnerability that lets you send any email from Uber.com by Ax Sharma.
- For home security cameras I suggest the $15 eBook Take Control of Home Security Cameras. I have not read the book but I know the author, Glenn Fleishman, is excellent. As of March 10, 2021, the last update was February 23, 2021.
- Concerned your phone has been hacked? Civilsphere, from the Stratosphere Laboratory and the Czech Technical University, offers a great public service: an Emergency VPN. If they accept your application, they will install a VPN on your phone and monitor the data coming/going for up to three days. Then they do a security assessment of what they captured.
- Increase the security of Proton Mail: ProtonMail Five Years Later, Part III: Security Features by Justin Carroll (Nov 2019). Note that the webmail user interface has changed since 2019.
- Chase Bank has security tips.
- Erasing storage by Royce Williams is for techies and includes an option many other articles omit - setting a hard disk password