Battle Born Tech

Don't Ask Don't Tell | Battle Born Tech · May 19, 2026

"There is no undo on log-off."

This week on Battle Born Tech, Christy consoles the callers while Joe — hair somewhere between Scorched and Torched — warns listeners about AI that knows exactly how to get what it wants from you. Unusual offers. Fake urgency. Age restrictions. Sound familiar? Joe breaks down the signs before the scams break down your wallet.

Speaking of things that want something from you — your laptop might be next.

Bill calls in wondering why his computer has suddenly turned into a nag and a scold. Turns out Windows has been asking — and Bill has been told — one too many times. We walk him through silencing the noise and setting things to the only sensible option: Don't Ask, Don't Tell. (We adjust from Windows 11 Edge to Windows 10 Edge along the way — "Okay, let's start over.")

Steve brings a warning for anyone still on Windows 10: that free update extension? It expires if Microsoft doesn't hear from you every 60 days. "Got to say HELLO every 60 days" — or as Christy puts it, "Let Microsoft know you are alive and well and using Windows 10."

Jeff gets cut off — but not before revealing his laptop has a work-life balance problem. Personal life? Creeping right into the workspace.

And Facebook is firing employees and moving engineers to AI. "How else will they stuff AI down your throat."

"We probably shouldn't say that over the air."

Probably not. But we did.

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · bbtl.ink/stats · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571

Tap, Talk, & Transfer | Battle Born Tech · May 12, 2026

This week it's all about the callers. Char is on a mission to tame her desktop — we walk her through clicking that tiny URL icon in the browser bar, hunting through the bowels of Windows for the perfect shortcut icon, and making her computer finally work the way she wants. Bruce faces a tough decision about his Samsung Galaxy Tab A11 — not all tablets are created equal, and whether his can hit the cellular airwaves comes down to one critical question: which version did he buy? We help him sleuth out the answer. And Dee is going full origami, carefully folding her digital life from one phone into a brand new Samsung foldable using Smart Switch — we make sure nothing gets lost in the crease. Plus a quick look at the ShinyHunters hack that crashed Canvas for nearly 9,000 schools right in the middle of finals week. Tech help, real people, Battle Born style.

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · bbtl.ink/stats · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571

Trash Bubbles | Battle Born Tech · May 5, 2026

Everything is going to trash this week on Battle Born Tech — and we mean that in the best possible way.

First, Linux drops a vulnerability so severe we blew past "hair on fire" and "pants on fire" and went straight to human torch. CVE-2026-31431 (or "Copy Fail" to its friends) is the kind of security story that ends with one piece of advice: update your servers. Yes, all of them. Now.

Then Nora joins us with an inbox with only junk. We dig through Thunderbird and webmail spam filters hunting for the culprit — and when we finally sort out what is the problem, you'll be as surprised as us. She stumped us on the call, we'll admit it. The good news? We got her sorted. The bad news? She'll be getting emails again.

And Robert takes us on a journey where the trash doesn't stay in the trash. Scammers came calling — twice — with the kind of slick, friendly opener that almost makes you forget they're scammers. ("They have great customer service at the beginning.") A smart call to his bank and a visit to his local tech shop kept his computer clean and his wallet intact. A cautionary tale with a happy ending, and a reminder that just because someone's polite doesn't mean they have any business being on your computer.

It's all bubbling up this week: spam, scams, and a Linux CVE that wants to ruin your Saturday.

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · bbtl.ink/stats · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571 Ask for Bubbles.

Call the Graybeard | Battle Born Tech · April 28, 2026

Dennis has a Linux printer that won't cooperate. Robert wants to send a fax — yes, a fax, in 2026 — and nobody's judging... much. Brian got quietly dumped by eBay and isn't sure what he did wrong. This week on Battle Born Tech, we're reconnecting everything from print drivers to phone lines to broken marketplace relationships. Hair on fire optional.

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · bbtl.ink/stats · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571

Getting Fancy with Stupid Pop-ups | Battle Born Tech · April 21, 2026

Your browser's been hijacked. Your new laptop won't let you leave the Microsoft Store. And one caller just wants his apps to stop wandering around his screen. This week on Battle Born Tech, we're getting fancy with stupid pop-ups.

Diane's computer is buried under a avalanche of fake McAfee warnings. Joan is trapped in Windows S mode — and we go through every letter S could possibly stand for. And Esteban gets his windows organized once and for all with FancyZones from Microsoft's PowerToys.

"It's a little geeky — not too much. You can handle it."

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · bbtl.ink/stats · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571

Bright Lights, Old Mac | Battle Born Tech · March 14, 2026

Your iPhone thinks it's the sun. A wireless mouse is lost without its tiny USB soulmate. And a dusty old Mac emerges from the closet — ready to work, but the web has moved on without it. Christy and Joe dig into accessibility settings, Logitech's Unifying lineup, and the honest truth about dancing with the one who brought you. Battle Born Tech on KNVC 95.1 — real tech help from real callers, every Tuesday at 8 PM Pacific.

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571

Battle Born Tech — "Losing Face"

Broadcast April 7, 2026 | KNVC FM 95.1

Tax season brings out the scammers, and Christy and Joe are on it — starting with a firm reminder: "The IRS does NOT take gift cards for payments." If someone's telling you otherwise, hang up.

Lee calls in with a facial recognition puzzle — his face won't unlock his iPhone. Christy's sympathy has limits: "You don't see the cracks over the radio." Turns out the Apple Genius Bar exam is harder than it looks, and "the cutting of the fingers is not good."

Steve wants to know where all the old Battle Born Tech episodes went — good news, they're not gone forever. Christy and Joe dig into how archived shows work and where to find them.

Keith is running out of hard drive space right at tax crunch time and needs relief fast. Teresa, meanwhile, has spotted something wrong on the internet — and Christy and Joe tackle the uncomfortable truth: "What the web gives...the web can take away."

Plus — how do you update the internet? Joe weighs in with context and follow-up, and nobody leaves without a reminder: "Don't forget the treat!" for the tech!

Battle Born Tech "Your Windows Roots Are Showing"

Broadcast March 31, 2026 | KNVC FM 95.1

Christy and the crew tackle three real-world tech puzzles. Lee's barcode scanner gun has an identity crisis — it doesn't know it's a keyboard. Donna can't figure out why her WordPress homepage keeps changing on her. And Lee discovers the hard way that downloading a Linux .tar.gz file is usually the long way around — when sudo apt install or your desktop package manager will do the job in seconds.

Call in Saturdays 9–11am Pacific at 775-241-3571, or call anytime to schedule your own tech battle.

"Your Windows roots are showing — we can help you get those touched up."

The FCC just banned new foreign-made routers — what does that mean for your next upgrade? Mitch needs home internet and weighs his options from cable to Starlink. Steve schools us on MoCA ethernet over coax and drops a warning for DirecTV users. Donna tries to fix her email and sends us deep into Outlook's Credential Manager. Real tech battles, real solutions — Battle Born Tech airing Tuesdays 8PM Pacific on KNVC FM 95.1. Call Christy at 775-241-3571 Saturdays between 9-11 am Pacific

Uninvited Guests | Battle Born Tech · March 10, 2026

This week, every caller's computer is hosting something it never invited in. Tom suspects a rootkit is hiding deep in his system — we pull out the eviction tools, including Malwarebytes (with rootkit scanning switched ON — it's off by default) and the legendary Kaspersky TDSSKiller. Jackson's Bluetooth speaker has a codec mismatch nobody warned him about, and Joe explains why aptX Adaptive, LC3, LE Audio, and Bluetooth 5.2+ are today's gold standard — but only if both devices speak the same language. Brian goes hunting in Windows Security settings and finds OneDrive ads squatting in his security panel, uncovers the ghost of Windows S Mode still haunting fresh Windows 11 installs as Smart App Control, and learns that ransomware protection through version history is already built into Windows if you know where to look.

In Battle Plans: we sort out MoCA internet over coax versus the old Token Ring network, explain the ClickFix scam where pressing Windows+R and Ctrl+V hands your computer to a criminal, and spotlight Agent Charley from Charlemagne Labs — a privacy-first, on-device AI watchdog using a Small Language Model that catches phishing and lookalike sites before you click, with everything running locally and nothing going to the cloud.

"Anti-virus doesn't protect you from being tricked by the tricksters."

Battle Born Tech airs Tuesdays at 8 PM Pacific on FM 95.1 · Stream live at KNVC.org · battleborn.tech · Call the studio Saturdays 9–11 AM Pacific: 775-241-3571