Chris Pirillo

It is not good enough simply to say that you have a firewall. Not all firewalls are the same. Qualities — and functions — differ.
In very simple terms, you want a firewall that protects your computer in two directions. You want to stop unwanted traffic from reaching your computer. In addition, you want to [...]

There are daily items in the news about identity theft. The obvious consequence is an unexpected financial disaster. However, it can be worse. There can be crimes committed under a stolen identity and warrants issued for the person who has had his/her identity used. And yet, it can be worse.
Identity theft can be a matter [...]

Identity theft has been tagged as being the fastest growing crime in America. Your private information is a commodity that some criminals harvest and resell. It is a whole subculture. The people stealing the personal information may not bother with committing the actual identity theft, but there are buyers for your personal information.
One of the [...]

There are some things that you want to keep private. It may be financial information, sensitive data like your passwords, proprietary information, or other such confidential material. You simply don’t want friends, colleagues, roommates, family, or repair people to have access to that information. Not only is that information private, but you want to secure [...]

One of the absurdities that is circulating is that even hackers are suffering in this economy. With the tough economic situation, supposedly hackers are having more competition. This is just one of the theories to explain why there is a steady increase in malware and criminal activity such as phishing and identity theft.
Whether it is [...]

If you are working with text material frequently on the computer, you really should consider a text editing program. One that we recommend is created by a long-time supporter of Lockergnome. It is an award-winning software program from Eric Fookes called NoteTab. This program has won numerous awards and it is recognized as one of [...]

It should be a simple rule that every computer user should follow: back up your data. It is not a matter of “if” your computer will give you problems. It is a matter of “when.” This applies to everyone. Students, for example, should back up regularly. Your whole academic year, with notes, papers, presentation, lecture [...]

At this time of year, some of our readers who are back to university and colleges have set up new email accounts. Some educational institutions require this in order to broadcast messages to its students. Unfortunately, this is just another avenue that hackers / criminals can use to access the computer. Spam is not only [...]

I’ve talked several times about GoToAssist Express. We’ve even done several videos in the past months where we featured the product. However, I realized today that I’ve not sat down and written a post about this excellent piece of software from my own point of view.
If you are a tech or small business owner, you [...]

Gnomie Chris Papaioannou writes:
Hey, Chris!
Was wondering if you could help me with something, I’ve tried searching but can’t find a certain answer.
I’m going to University on the 20th and moving house in the UK. They only provide you with one RJ45 socket in the room, which is a bit of a pain for most geeks. [...]

Some of our regular readers are students and are starting their new academic year. Whether for academics or for entertainment, these readers will be increasing their downloading and their time online. If you download, share files with friends and classmates or, for that matter, just go online, you need to protect the investment in your [...]

The number of malware sites are increasing. IBM has reported an increased sophistication with attempts to infect computers. The frightening thing is that some malware is being pushed unknowingly by legitimate sites.
This is a danger to all computer users. However, there is one segment of our readers who are going back to school in a [...]

Gnomie Jonathan Vasquez (FearedBliss from our chatroom) writes:
Hey, Chris.
I was just wondering something and I wanted to ask you your opinion on an Open Source Religion. I’m hoping to get a good response from you since your Facebook’s religion status gives me the feeling that you aren’t religious. Anyhow, let me explain.
Nowadays I believe that [...]

Students returning to school at colleges and universities need to be concerned about their security online. However, the same security measures should apply to ALL Internet users. For students, they will be using new Web sites, and setting up new accounts via the school. As such, they are prime targets for hackers and criminals who [...]

Gnomie Rafael Ramirez writes:
Hey, Chris. Lately I made up my mind on getting an Solid State Drive, but today I heard something that’s making me have a change of heart and I think it would make a great discussion video. I own a Mac Pro; obviously I would want an SSD for speed, but I [...]

For some of our readers, the new year starts very soon — it’s school time again. And with school, in spite of the economy, there will be purchases of new laptops and desktops. On those laptops and desktops will go some very important files — like lectures, papers, music, pictures, and other personal “stuff” — [...]

Gnomie Paul Bolduc writes:
Hi, Chris Pirillo!
I came across this program called Recuva.
“Recuva (pronounced “recover”) is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera [...]

It is surprising how strongly some people feel about the issue of partitioning or not. Voices are raised — faces become a bit redder — language becomes a bit more colorful. If you are from the school of thought that partitioning is absolutely not necessary, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. [...]

The Windows 7 Professional Upgrade will not be available until October 22, 2009. However, if you want to pre-order now, Amazon has a great deal, which saves you a hundred dollars.
Amazon even gives a price guarantee:

if the Amazon price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, [...]

The unfortunate deaths of a number of celebrities recently has generated an increase in spam. Add political scandals to the news, and the junk mail really spikes upward. There has been (and will continue to be) a significantly higher volume of this junk email directed at your inbox. Not only is this spam a waste [...]