Learn how to cancel your online accounts

Have you ever tried to cancel, say, your Pandora account? Then you know what a hassle it can be. First you have find the cancellation page, which isn’t exactly easy, then fill out an email form.

This is standard practice with a lot of Web services, which work hard to get you signed up and are understandably reluctant to see you go. Though some make it easier than others to cancel an account, it can definitely be a time-consuming process.

JustDelete.me provides links to the cancellation pages for hundreds of services, from Adobe to Zoho. And it color-codes each listing so you know at a glance whether it's easy, medium, hard, or even impossible to cancel.

All you do is click the name of any service you want to leave; that'll immediately take you to the corresponding cancellation page. Before you do so, however, you may want to click Show Info, which provides a brief overview of the requirements and/or policy for that service.

The info for Pandora (rating: hard), for example, reads as follows:

You have to email support from the email associated with your account. If you do not have access to that, you need to provide the email address, birth year, and zip code on the account.

JustDelete.me is handy not only for canceling accounts you already have, but also for investigating services before you sign up for them. A Pinterest account, for example, can be deactivated, but your profile and pins live on indefinitely. Who knew?

Now you do.

Even when you know it's bad, you still open it!

In a study conducted by TNS Global for Halon, an email security service, 30 percent of those surveyed admitted they would open an email, even if they were aware that it contained a virus or was otherwise suspicious.

The study included only 1000 adults within the U.S., so this isn't a national index by any means. But of those surveyed, one in 11 admitted to having infected their system after they opened a malicious email attachment. Given the fact that email is still an easy way for attackers to gain access to the network, often via social engineering (phishing/spear phishing), the survey's results are somewhat alarming.

The reasons given for accessing the messages are telling: For women, the survey results marked messages containing invitations from social networks as the most alluring, while men were tempted messages with the time-tested suggestions of money, power, and sex. More often than not, the malicious messages claimed to be from banking institutions (15.9 percent), social media sites like Facebook or Twitter (15.2 percent), and online payment services, like PayPal (12.8 percent).

According to the stats form the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), in its 2013 First Quarter report, there were more than 74,000 unique phishing campaigns discovered during the reporting period, leveraging over 110,000 hijacked domains and targeting more than 1100 brands.

Based on the data reported by the APWG and various security vendors, Phishing kits are rather inexpensive and the time to develop a workable campaign is rarely longer than a few hours. So the numbers mean that the attack surface is large, and the pool of potential victims is rather full. Combine this with a reported 30 percent success rate, and the criminals behind these campaigns are more than likely pleased with their return on investment.

Back to School Security tip #12

12. Cut Your Losses. I learned a handy trick from a friend of mine who just adored the club scene. Before she headed out to party, she'd lock away her smartphone and bring a cheap burner phone instead. If the phone took a dive while a friend was holding her hair, it wouldn't be a great loss. For those who like to party hearty after a week of grueling study, this tip can be a lifesaver.  This would apply for your wallet/purse as well.  Leave it at home!

Easily Hide Your Sensitive Files In A Password-Protected Hidden Folder With Sneaksy

Personal privacy is considered one of the basic human rights, and has been an important concern in pretty much every walk of life. Whether you are sharing a computer or are concerned about people who occasionally have access to your machine, you may want to store your sensitive information in a safe place so nobody can mess with it. If you’re looking for a freeware solution for Windows that can help you easily hide such data from prying eyes and don’t want to have to deal with complex encryption methods, Sneaksy might be something you’re looking for. There can be numerous situations where this little software can prove to be really handy. For instance, you can use it to hide your username and password lists, your financial information and the like from anyone who uses your computer.  Click here to go and download

Back to School Security tip #11

11. Secure Your Phone. That smartphone you carry around in your pocket is a more powerful computer than early-generation PCs, and it's just crammed with contacts, photos, and other personal data. You absolutely must set up a lock screen using a PIN, swipe code, facial recognition, or whatever your particular phone supports. Other security measures such as password management, VPN connection, and anti-theft are just as important for your phone as for a laptop.

How Apple's New Trade In Program works

The rumored Apple trade-in program has gone live. Now you can take your old and tired iPhone and trade it in for a new iPhone. But you have to actually make it to an Apple Store.

Here’s how the program works:

Go to an Apple Store
Flag down one of the wandering Apple employees and tell them you want to purchase one of their shiny new phones and trade in your old one. He or she will be able to determine if you are eligible for an upgrade or not. (You can trade in on-contract iPhones, but you’ll still have to deal with whatever cost the carrier assigns the new iPhone based on where you are in your contract.)

Get a quote
The trade-in, refurbishing, and resale of the iPhones is all being conducted by BrightStar. The company is able to offer Apple real-time pricing information for trade-ins on the Apple Store EasyPay devices.

The employee helping you will enter all your old iPhone’s details into the system to determine how much it’s worth. Currently, BrightStar is offering $253 for a 16GB iPhone 5 on AT&T in good condition, and $279 for the same device unlocked, according to 9to5Mac. The phone must obviously power on and be free of water damage. Apple’s program will, however, accept iPhones with a busted display. Just expect to get less money. The trade-in program accepts all generations of iPhones. Even the original iPhone.

Accept or walk
After the value of the phone is determined, you can either accept the deal or walk. If you accept, the phone will be wiped right in front of you and whisked off to the land of refurbs. This means you should definitely backup your iPhone before heading to the Apple Store.

Take home your new iPhone!
Finally, you’ll be presented with your new iPhone. It’s been reported elsewhere that Apple will issue credits or gift cards for new phones. That’s incorrect. If the iPhone you want is out of stock or unavailable, you will not be able to trade-in your old iPhone. The whole process has to happen at the same time. You go in with a phone and walk out with a phone. The employee will offer to set up the new iPhone with you at the store. Or you have the option of taking it home and setting it up there.