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PCM 29: Now You Have to Worry About Ransomware!
Digital thieves can lock you out from your own computer and demand a ransom to get it and your files back. It’s called ransomware and it’s one of the most insidious schemes on the Internet. And authorities seem absolutely helpless to do anything about it. If it happens to you – and it is to a lot of people everyday – you are on your own. So listen up to this episode of the podcast as we expose the way this happens and what you can do about it. Youll learn first hand from a victim of ransomware. The first clue is a warning screen saying “this ocmuter is blocked.” The hackers…
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PCM28: Your Internet Use May Be a Form of Mental Illness
More and more of us just can’t put our Internet devices down. It’s time to get a grip on the growing and very real problem of Internet addiction. Many mental health experts, in fact, now think compulsive Internet use is a form of mental illness. In this week’s episode of the PC Mike podcast, we give you some very helpful tools that will help you find out if you have a problem with the way you use the Internet and technology. Also this week, we talk about college and pro football apps you need to get set up with now, news on new iPhones, why you should never LOL, what…
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PCM27: Five Things to Know About Windows 10 Now
PC users have been abuzz over the release of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 10 – either they’ve downloaded it already, are in queue to, or are still waiting to see how it performs before making the tech leap. Regardless of where you fit in that scenario, chances are you have some questions – you may wonder if you’re going to have to relearn how to use a PC (you definitely don’t), for instance, if it will look completely different from what you’re using, and what this thing called “Cortana” is all about. On this week’s show, we welcome Sean Michael, an editor/writer at WinBeta.org, founded in 1998 and one…
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PCM26 Screen Time for Kids: How Much is Too Much?
The effects of too much screen time on kids can be serious: lost sleep, poor grades, social maladjustment, behavior problems, obesity. This list goes on and on. Then again, what are we supposed to do? Cut kids off completely? The answer, of course, is no. Rather, finding a healthy balance is more appropriate says Dr.Dimitri A. Christakis of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, a leading expert on the effects of screen time and media on young people. Instead of cutting kids off, he says, parents and grandparents need to be smart about how they allow youngsters to use tech. And you can hear on this show just how important kids consider tech when PC Mike…
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PCM25: Are We Making Ourselves Too Vulnerable Through Tech?
Sometimes the tech that makes our lives so much better can also lead us to a place of extreme vulnerability. That’s the running theme of episode 25 of the PC Mike podcast, where so much of the tech news these days seems to deal with other people trying to mess with the lives of other people – be it looking at highly personal photos and videos captured and stored on our devices to hijacking our actual cars and trucks. Take, for instance, the Jeep that was hacked as part of a story Wired magazine did this week. A couple of hackers were able to use the Jeep’s WiFi to gain complete…
