Slow Domain Name System (DNS) lookups can affect your apparent internet speed. Your ISP should provide fast DNS, but there are alternatives.

Using a different password for every login is crucial -- and it doesn't have to be difficult.

Free software exists for reasons ranging from pure altruism to pure deceit.

Email viruses come from many sources, and it's not easy to trace them.

It's easy to search for files on your machine. Learn about the settings that dictate which parts of your machine get searched.

Dropbox has several file sharing options, but knowing which one does what can be a little confusing. I'll lay 'em out.

Cloud service providers often give us lots of storage we can use for cloud backup. How to use it safely, however, isn't always obvious.

Don't send anonymous email from work or home. It takes extra steps to keep from being traced.

It's a good idea to test backups before disaster strikes. Unfortunately, a complete test can be risky. I'll look at some alternatives.

Some hackers go for the low-hanging fruit and try the most common passwords, but there is one scenario where brute force works very well.