There was a time when BSOD was an acronym almost everyone was familiar with. You couldn’t look at Windows 3.1 the wrong way without having it crash on you. When Windows 95 came out, it was more or less in tandem with USB connectivity, which back in the day was jokingly called “Plug and Pray” technology because more than half the time, you plugged in your device and it either didn’t work, or you got treated to another Blue Screen of Death.

Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, it can happen. You keep your system up to date, apply all security patches as they come out, you’ve got a good virus scanner installed, and you’re careful with what emails you open and what links you click on.

You hear your IT guys toss these terms around all the time. It can be dizzying. They all amount to the same thing, don’t they? The answer to that question is both yes and no.

Broadly speaking, yes; they all infect your computer and cause damage in various forms, but there are subtle differences that make each of these unique.

We hear a lot of talk about internet neutrality, but what does that really mean? Once we come to some understanding of the term, the next question that naturally follows is, is it applicable? Does it actually apply to the internet we have today?

The Roots Of Internet Neutrality

To understand what internet neutrality actually means, we’ve got to look at the earliest days of the internet.

As the number of hacking attacks and identity theft attempts continues to increase, people around the world are gaining a greater and greater appreciation for, and understanding of, the need for privacy. In addition to that, with the NSA making the headlines on an almost daily basis recently for spying on ordinary citizens who have done nothing to warrant it, people are beginning to feel increasingly uneasy.

Let’s face it, meetings can be boring sometimes, but you’re supposed to be paying attention, right? Here are some useful tips to help you stay sharp when the meeting seems to be droning on forever.

Leave Your Smartphone Behind

The first thing you’re apt to do when you start drifting and getting fidgety is to reach for your trusty smartphone.

The signs are everywhere, and they are disturbing. Now more than ever before in history, everything you do is being watched, recorded and stored for later. It seems that not a week goes by that some new affront is revealed. The attacks on privacy are constant and unrelenting, and worse, they are being carried out by an agency that has virtually unlimited resources.

You’ve probably heard the term before. Such and so company got hit with a Denial of Service (DOS) attack, but do you know what that actually means? If not, this will give you a quick overview.

First, The Bad News

There’s no defense against a Denial of Service attack.

Sooner or later it will happen to you, no matter how careful you try to be. You, or someone using your computer, will wind up deleting that uber-important file you’ve just got to have. The good news is, there’s at least a chance to get your badly needed data back.

If you hear the phrase ‘Two-Step Verification’ and roll your eyes, thinking to yourself that someone has just figured out yet another way to waste your time and make it harder than ever to get into your accounts, think again. There are some really good reasons for adopting that approach to account security.