Claims that you've been recorded watching porn.

Threats that include one of your actual passwords

Demands that you pay up -- usually in Bitcoin -- or the salacious video will be released, or your account further compromised, or worse.

This week's featured article Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account? is an article published late last year that addresses these cases, and more. I'm including this again so soon because these scams -- and they are indeed scams, every one of them -- are more prevalent than ever. They, and their variations, are showing up in mailboxes everywhere, every day, and people are being unduly frightened by the threats.

They're scams. Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account? will show you what, if anything, you need to do, and how you can otherwise ignore them with confidence.

Also this week:

If you use a mobile data provider, they are your ISP, and as a result, yes, they can see everything you do.

I get to rant a little about one of my pet-peeves: there's no legitimate reason you should have to re-enter an email address after clicking on an unsubscribe link.

It's not the answer people really want, but I can offer some guidance towards a faster start up by managing start-up entries in Windows Task Manager.

As a side node, askleo.com had a bit of a technology change over the weekend. The goal is a cleaner, faster site. If you notice any hiccups, feel free to let me know. I think things went well, but ... well, you know how computers can be.

Thanks, as always, for being here!

Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account?

Today, I received this lovely email. While I think it is complete BS and I certainly have no intention on taking any action on it, it *does* look like it was sent from my account, i.e., it appears that someone can send emails impersonating me. Do you have any advice what I should do about this?

Nothing.

The questionable email message that this person was reporting describes how this person's account had been hacked, how changing the password wouldn't help, and that it was being held for ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. And, indeed, it appeared to be “From:” this person's email address.

Variations of this scam even include a password — a password that you've actually used.

Even so, “complete BS” is very accurate.

Though, if there is a password, then there is one thing you should do.

Continue Reading: Has a Hacker Really Hacked My Email Account?
https://askleo.com/65875

Can My Mobile Provider Track What I Do Online?

Can your mobile data service provider keep track of your online browsing history and activities?

Yes.

Whether or not they do is a different and perhaps even more important question. Exactly how much they might track is also at play.

Naturally, the next question is what to do about it.

Continue Reading: Can My Mobile Provider Track What I Do Online?
https://askleo.com/76656

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Why Must I Re-enter my Email to Unsubscribe?

Why do some websites have you re-enter your email when you click on “unsubscribe”? Don't they already know who I am?

At best, it's because they're lazy.

At worst, it's because they want to make it more difficult to unsubscribe.

I suppose there's an even worse case: it's spam and you never subscribed to begin with.

There's simply no excuse these days for any of those possibilities.

Continue Reading: Why Must I Re-enter my Email to Unsubscribe?
https://askleo.com/76661

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What Can I Disable in Task Manager's Startup List?

When I look at Task Manager's Startup tab I get a really long list of things I don't understand. What's what? How can I find out which ones are safe to turn off? Here's the list of what it shows right now. Maybe you can tell me?

The problem, of course, is that everyone's Startup list is different.

Which programs start automatically depends on your computer, the hardware installed, the software installed, the programs you run, and the features you enable.

It can get really confusing really fast. It can also impact your computer's performance.

Continue Reading: What Can I Disable in Task Manager's Startup List?
https://askleo.com/2633

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