If you're planning to commit a crime, you might want to leave your phone at home because Google's Sensorvault knows where you are, where you were, and how long it took you to get from there to here. Sensorvault has data going back several years and, in some situations, police can access it. In Short Circuits: Internet crimes cost individuals and companies nearly $3 billion last year and that's just the crimes that were reported. Changing passwords frequently has been promoted as a good security measure, but that's no longer considered to be correct. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Turtle Beach has released a moderately priced set of headphones for gamers and they include a feature that's been available only in high-priced headphones until now. • Geometiles represent an attempt to make math concepts interesting and fun for students. • Creative Technology's updated Pebble Plus speakers will be of interest to those who want good computer sound but have a limited budget.

Carrying important information around on an unencrypted phone, computer, or thumb drive is dangerous, but you might think that encrypting important files is difficult. It's not. In Short Circuits: The prices for solid state disk drives continue to drop and 2TB SSDs are now available for about $100. If you've ever had to deal with a stubborn Windows update that simply will not install, you might find the process I used this month to be helpful. Adobe is working on a new feature for Illustrator -- one that may seem more than a bit odd to you, but I think digital artists will like it. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The on-line reservation service OpenTable is promoting the use of "Dining Mode" for Mothers Day (and maybe other important and not-so-important occasions). It involves ignoring your phone. • A company has released a system that can generate up to 70 trillion passwords per second. Does that make you nervous?

Look up tables, LUTs, are an important new feature for Alien Skin's Exposure X4.5. LUTs are used in the creation of motion pictures, but they can also be used to great advantage by still photographers. In Short Circuits: Now is the time to get rid of Internet Explorer. The first step involves installing a more modern browser and making it your default, then you can remove IE entirely. The latest version of the Android operating system, Pie, has been pushed out to nearly all models of most manufacturer's phones and there are lots of worthwhile features. The US House has passed a bill to restore internet neutrality, but it's being blocked in the Senate. For the second time in a month, Facebook suffered a worldwide outage. This week's was much shorter, but Facebook managers refuse to say what happened. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Artificial intelligence is being used to hire healthcare professionals. • Some physicians' offices are being equipped with software that monitors patients in what the developers are calling a holistic manner. • SiriusXM and Pandora are adding podcasts to their existing mix of entertainment programs.

Windows 10 shares information about your computer with Microsoft. There are good reasons for Microsoft to want the data and good reasons for you to allow it, but maybe you don't want to share the information. It's possible to disable the sharing if you know where to look and a small utility provides an easy way to review and change the settings. In Short Circuits: Some tech writers advise against using password managers, but I see them as the best way to create and maintain passwords that are unique and complex. Let's consider the opposing points of view. Most Windows 10 computers have "Fast Start" enabled. You might want to turn that feature off. I'll explain why and how. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A Chinese woman who was detained at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club was found to have lots of electronic gear and malware on a thumb drive. She'll be arraigned on Monday. • Like drones or not, they're here to stay and public safety agencies -- fire and police departments -- are finding good ways to use them. • An on-line service says it can help people deal with anxiety, eating disorders, and smoking.

Which is better: Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop? The answer to that question is "it depends." Mainly it depends on what you need to do, but that's not all. We'll try to sort out which is the right option to use and when. In Short Circuits: The operators of the electric grid and other utilities are under nearly constant attack. So far, most of the attacks have been limited to the IT network, but critical infrastructure is at risk. If you've noticed that sometimes the Windows File Explorer takes far too much time to reveal all of the files in a folder, let's find out why and what can be done to fix the problem. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The time is coming when you'll approach a fast-food restaurant's drive-up window and be greeted by name. • A company that helps people find lower-cost auto insurance on-line has used their technology to create a list of the 25 cities that have the highest rates of drivers with drunk driving convictions.

Removing unwanted key functions from the keyboard can be accomplished with a Registry Edit, but there's a better option for those who fear touching the Registry. And for those who do edit the Registry, there's a non-Microsoft editor with some clever tricks. In Short Circuits: Asus has moved to correct a problem with their Live Update application that was used to push malware to hundreds of thousands of computers. We'll take a look at some of the most persistent high-tech myths. Artists who use a sketch pad to start a project and then have to transfer the art manually to a computer will be happy with a paper notebook that connects to Adobe Illustrator. In Spare Parts (only on the website): If you'd like to share less information on-line when you're shopping or sending emails, a service called Blur may help. • The Information Security Forum releases an assessment each year; the latest edition predicts some serious problems in the next 2 years.

You've doubtless heard of the dark web and may consider it to be a place to avoid because illegal activity takes place there, but there's good to be found, too. After all, The Onion Router was a project undertaken by the US Navy in the 1990s. In Short Circuits: Merchants of angst are predicting that GPS systems will fail on 6 April. They will do no such thing, but older GPS devices might be a bit confused on that day. What happens if a Windows update causes problems for your computer? Uninstalling the update is relatively easy, but you'll want to avoid having it be reinstalled. That's relatively easy, too. In Spare Parts (only on the website): IBM owns The Weather Company and says that system updates will lead to more accurate and faster reporting of conditions as well as more reliable forecasts. • Facial recognition is a big deal, but one British company is using machine learning to obscure faces in videos.

If your computer is a few years old and you'd like it to be faster, the right change may no longer be to add RAM. Instead, maybe it's time to consider a solid-state disk drive. In Short Circuits: Now would be a really good time to confirm that your browser is fully up to date. That's true for any browser, but this week it's particularly true for Chrome. Microsoft is beginning to bad-mouth its own Office suite in an attempt to convert users to Office 365. The scourge of Robocalls continues to worsen, primarily because of inaction by the Federal Communications Commission, so we have to be vigilant about calls we receive. In most cases, it's not difficult to identify scam calls. In Spare Parts (only on the website): When you need to share a file, Firefox Share from Mozilla is ready to help even if you don't use Firefox. • Avast says your computer is in danger and, although they overstate the threat, a threat does exist. • Adobe's update to its experience design application (XD) this month includes a lot of worthwhile features.

Brave is a browser that promises faster and more secure operation. It seems to follow through on both promises, but there are some features that infuriate newspaper and magazine publishers. In Short Circuits: Flat maps have been lying to us and technology can be used to eliminate the lies by more accurately representing the land masses of the globe on flat monitor surfaces. Microsoft wants to get rid of passwords and has taken some steps toward doing that, but it won't happen soon. The National League of Cities says that more than 40 cities in the United States have pilot projects or are considering pilot projects for self-driving vehicles so that they can evaluate positive and negative outcomes. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Kroger says that a second of its divisions will stop accepting Visa credit cards. • The federal government has lots of websites with millions of users even though they receive barely passing grades for usability.

In podcast 631, we took a look at some blunt changes to the "toast" notifications that Windows 10 serves. If you'd like finer-grained control, I'll explain how to get it this week, along with some other tips and tweaks that can change how Windows works. In Short Circuits: It's been 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee proposed what would become the WorldWide Web (now just "web") and the European Organization for Nuclear Research has made it possible to see what the work-in-process looked like. Fenando Stalin says I should open a file that explains how $1850 for "my uncle" will be delivered. Do you think I opened that message? A day later, several scam messages appeared and they all seemed to use the same goofy template. This makes spotting phonies easier. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Those who once owned high-end audio gear may have had VU meters on their amps. Now you can add some old-school VU meters to your computer. • IBM and SEAT have announced an application that will help city dwellers know about their daily transportation options: From cars and scooters to bikes and public transit.