Why Is My Internet Suddenly So Slow? by Adam Dachis

Dear Lifehacker,
I have a fast internet connection, but it doesn't always earn the title. Sometimes I get half the speed I pay for during certain times of the day. Other times my upstream connection barely works. I've done all the usual modem resetting tech support always requires but I still have the problem. Any ideas?

Sincerely,
Sporadically Sluggish

Dear SS,
Yes, I have a lot of ideas! Internet connections slow down for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the fault belongs to your internet service provider (ISP) and sometimes you're the culprit. It may be a little bit of both. Let's take a look at some common causes of internet slowdown and get to the bottom of this.

It's Not Your Connection, It's Your Wi-Fi

You have a fast connection, but Wi-Fi can degrade that speed in all sorts of ways. Most people won't enjoy all their bandwidth because Wi-Fi reception usually sucks. There are numerous ways to improve it, but they'll only take you so far. When using the internet wirelessly, you often have to lower your expectations a little bit.

Let's take a look at what you can expect under ideal circumstances (not the maximum theoretical speeds each wireless technology can provide):

• Using 802.11ac: Around 50-80mbps (downstream), depending on the quality of your reception. Unless you have an internet connection capable of exceeding those speeds, you probably don't have to worry about slowness.
• Using 802.11n: Around 25-30mbps (downstream), and much less if you have poor reception. Although 802.11n theoretically can handle faster speeds, and certain routers can boost your bandwidth a bit using technologies like MIMO, speeds in this range are pretty common.
• Using 802.11g: Around 5-15mbps (downstream). It's probably time to upgrade your router if you have a faster connection.

Before you assume you aren't getting the speeds you pay for, make sure your expectations are correct. Try the same, slow download or run a speed test from a computer that's hard-wired (via gigabit ethernet, preferably) and compare the results. If that machine provides the speeds you expect, you have a Wi-Fi problem. If that's happening in a part of your home prone to bad reception, move somewhere else. If you want to try and improve your Wi-Fi reception to avoid these sorts of issues, however, try these tips.

It's Not Your Connection, It's Someone Else's

Just because a speed test reveals your connection is capable of certain data rates doesn't mean you'll always get them. For example, if your connection provides 25mbps downstream, the server you're connecting to has to provide the same speed upstream just to you. You're not the only one connecting, so that's a lot of bandwidth. Major sites do have crazy amounts of bandwidth and can match your speeds on numerous occasions, but many will not. This doesn't mean there's something wrong with your connection, but that the server you're connecting to cannot match your speeds.

How can you tell? If your speed test looks good that's one sign. Personally, I like to have a reliable server I can connect to and download from at a specific rate. I test those speeds to find out if I can max out my connection or not. Web hosts tend to work well. So does Usenet. If you don't have a good place to check outside of a speed test, keep an eye out for generally reliable sites with downloadable content. When you come across one that provides consistently fast downloads, just give it a try when you think your connection isn't performing at its peak.

Um...You Left BitTorrent On (or Other Downloads)

If you have multiple computers (or a NAS) in the house, you might forget you've left a bandwidth hog like BitTorrent running. BitTorrent seeds (uploads) files you've finished downloading to a potentially unlimited number of people for an indefinite amount of time. Downloading, at least, will stop when the file arrives. In the event you don't have files adding themselves regularly through automation, you don't have to worry about a drain on your downstream connection. Uploading, however, can take a big hit if you forget to turn BitTorrent off.

You can solve this problem simply by checking anytime your connection seems slow, but if you regularly forget that won't help much. Fortunately, most BitTorrent clients—like our favorites for Windows, OS X, and Linux—provide bandwidth caps and scheduling. Using caps allow you to always limit the amount of your upstream and downstream connection that BitTorrent can use. Just give your client a number—say 100kbps—and it won't exceed that amount. Scheduling takes that a step further by applying those caps or stopping all traffic at specific times during the day. If you only want BitTorrent running while you're at work, you can limit its activity (or stop it altogether) by setting a bandwidth schedule in your client's preferences. Using either method, you'll avoid surprise drains on your internet connection.

Of course, BitTorrent isn't the only thing that bogs down your connection. Lots of other apps can run in the background and slow things down, either briefly or for quite awhile. Apps often automatically update themselves. App Stores and programs like Steam can causes a big bandwidth drain when downloading several updates, for example. Be sure to check on everything capable of utilizing your connection in the event a slowdown occurs. And if you want to learn to impose some limits, read the next section.

Your Router Isn't Doing Its Job

Routers are tiny little computers that manage your network. Sometimes they require a bit too much of themselves and cause problems. That's why many routers require a regular restart. Sometimes you can easily fix this problem, but other times you may just have a bad router. Unfortunately, routers often don't fail by completely dying. Rather, they'll stop working well and you won't notice immediately. If your router turns into a declining dud, you'll probably want to get a new one.

A good router also has Quality of Service (QoS) settings, which can prevent bandwidth hogs from, well, hogging bandwidth. If people in your household tend to slow down a connection for any reason, you can cap their usage based on their IP address. You can also limit bandwidth based specific applications. To learn how to use QoS, read our networking night school lesson.

There's a Problem With Your Line or Modem

Let's not forget one of the most common issues: your ISP. When you rent a modem from them, you usually end up with crappy, used hardware. Additionally, they provide the line to your home that gets you the internet, whether by phone, fiber, or cable. That line has to go outdoors where you'll find bugs, wild animals, hostile weather conditions, and more fun stuff. I've had a number of strange issues, including a gopher dig up and eat through a cable line. I've also had normal ones where equipment failed or a technician did a poor job of connecting the line to my building. Lots can happen, so if you've ruled everything else you should call your ISP.

Most ISPs won't want to send someone to your home without a little technical support, so pick a time where you can spare 30 minutes to unplug your modem, wait with them on the phone while they ask you about the weather, plug it back in again, and repeat the process another six times. Once you've indulged them, make it clear you want someone to come to your home and look at the issue.

When the technician comes, if they can't fix the problem outright you want to ask to have the line monitored as well. They may suggest this themselves, but if not you should ask for it. This way they can see if anything strange happens over the next few days and come back to replace the line if it does. Of course, the problem could be so many different things. Just make sure you keep your ISP looking into the issue until they solve it.

Love,
Lifehacker

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How to Speed Up a Slow iPhoto Library by Christopher Breen

Reader Marty Schettler is unimpressed with iPhoto’s speed. He writes:

I am a casual photographer who has amassed about 10,000 pictures in my iPhoto library. iPhoto now runs so slowly that it is essentially unusable (and occasionally tells me that my Library has been corrupted). I’ve heard a few people recommend switching to Aperture, adding iPhoto Library Manager, or jumping to an Adobe or Google product. I just want something where I can organize my photos by date/event and do very light editing. What do you recommend?

Given that the vast majority of us have been filmless for a decade or more, it does seem odd that iPhoto chokes on just 10,000 images. But you’re right, it can and does. Poky performance with largish libraries has been a feature of iPhoto for years and the latest edition is no exception.

And yes, there are several alternatives. Thankfully you’ve provided me with enough information that I can eliminate some of them.

If you’re really just interested in organizing and lightly editing your photos, the higher-priced spread will be overkill. Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop offer more features (and complexity) than you need. Even Photoshop Elements 12 may be a longer leap than you wish to make.

While you could look at some less-expensive (and less complicated) applications such as the $20 Lyn or $30 Pixa or even the free Picasa (which I find kind of clumsy and ugly) I might suggest that you stay right where you are—with iPhoto.

“Gee,” I can hear you say, “I’m so glad I took the time to get in touch with you just to learn that I should do absolutely nothing.”

Ah but no. I suggest you do something, but that something is acquire and use the iPhoto enhancement you’ve mentioned—Fat Cat Software’s $30 iPhoto Library Manager.
I suggest iPLM because you seem to be familiar with iPhoto and, I presume, you’ve organized your photos in a way that pleases you. Why start over with another application? Where iPhoto fails is in the speed department. With iPhoto Library Manager you can continue to run iPhoto just as you have, but you can use it to create multiple smaller libraries, which takes care of the speed issue. Here’s how I’d go about it.

Think long and hard about how you’d like to split up your existing library. For example, you might wish to gang together all the images from particular years or by the camera you used or by face or location. Once you’ve made that decision, launch iPhoto and choose File > New Smart Album. In the sheet that appears configure the conditions to match your organizational strategy. So, for example, Date is in the range 1/1/2010 to 12/31/2010 to gather together all the images created in 2010. Assign a name to your smart album and click OK to create it.

Create a smart album to organize your library.

Now launch iPhoto Library Manager and click the Create Library button in the top-left corner of the window. Give the album a descriptive name—2010 Photos, for example—and click Create.

Select the iPhoto Library entry (this reflects your current iPhoto library along with all the events, albums, projects, and slideshows it contains) and then locate the smart album you just created. Drag this album to the album you made in iPhoto Library Manager. It will then set about copying those images to a new album (this can take a long time and tie up your Mac if you’re moving a lot of images). Repeat the process if you want to create additional libraries.

If you’d simply like to browse your images you can do that directly within iPLM. Just launch it and select an album. The images it contains will appear as thumbnails to the right.

Hold down Option while launching iPhoto to choose your library.

When you want to work with one of these libraries in iPhoto you have two options for doing so. You can launch iPhoto Library Manager and double-click on the library you want to view. It will open in iPhoto. Alternatively, you can hold down the Option key while launching iPhoto. Do so and you’ll be prompted to choose a library.

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How to tell if any of your accounts have been hacked by BGR

Internet users have obviously known for some time that hackers pose a serious threat, but we all got a shocking reminder when security researchers revealed the massive Heartbleed bug earlier this month. The OpenSSL security flaw affected an estimated 66% of the entire Internet at the time of its discovery, and it may have exposed usernames and passwords on any number of popular websites. Big companies were quick to address the bug but as we learned recently, Heartbleed was around for years before companies started patching it earlier this month. As such, hackers had plenty of time to exploit the flaw and steal your login details.

Have any of your online accounts been hacked because of Heartbleed? Have hackers breached your accounts using other means? Thanks to a few free websites, it’s remarkably easy to tell if your data might be at risk.


Forbes contributor Adam Tanner recently put together a simple piece listing three websites that will inform users of whether or not their accounts have been hacked.
The first is haveibeenpwned.com and as the name might suggest, it serves a single purpose: it tells you if any of your online accounts have been “pwned,” or breached by hackers. Using the site takes just a few seconds — simply enter an email address and the site will check to see if associated accounts have been compromised in any one of thousands of known breaches.

Two other services listed by Forbes, PwnedList and Shouldichangemypassword.com, work the same way but may have access to slightly different data, so it’s not a bad idea to use all three free sites.

Also, you can sign up on any of these sites to be notified in the future if any of your accounts are breached. Just like the initial checks, the monitoring services offered by these sites are also free.

Steve Thomas, a co-founder of PwnedList, says that his site learns of about a dozen different breaches and data leaks each day, in which anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 accounts are compromised. As we showed you recently in a terrifying interactive map of real-time cyberattacks, the threat is huge and ongoing… and the Internet will never be 100% safe.

What should you do if any of these services find that your accounts may have been exposed? First and foremost, change your password immediately and make sure you choose a password that is unique and complex. As always, we recommend using a password management solution such as 1password.

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Step-by-step guide to lock down your Facebook profile by Kim Komando

It's a well-known fact that having a Facebook account isn't great for your privacy. If you aren't careful, you could post the wrong thing to the world and get in trouble at work, school, with family or even the law.

Naturally, hackers and identity thieves are also watching to pick up tidbits they can use against you. Burglars even use Facebook to pick targets to rob - make sure you know how to stay off their list.

So, it should come as no surprise when I say that having the right Facebook privacy settings is critical. It keeps the wrong people from seeing what you post.

Even if you think you already have them set correctly, Facebook changes its settings and where they're located frequently so you should double-check regularly. Don't forget to share this tip with your friends and family so they can be safe, too!

Start by logging in to your Facebook account. Then click the downward arrow in the upper-right corner and choose Settings.

General

You'll start on the General settings page. This is where you adjust your name, username, email, password, networks and language.

Your name and username are visible to anyone who searches for you, although you can minimize this in later settings. If you don't want people to find you easily, don't use the same username you use for other social media or as your email address. Make sure your password follows my rules for a secure, easy-to-remember password.

Security

Let's move to the Security tab by clicking the Security link in the left column. The Security tab is where you set up login security, trusted contacts and browser, manage your sessions and deactivate your account.

Make sure you turn on "Login Notifications." This alerts you when someone logs in to your account from an unfamiliar gadget.

"Login Approvals" means you can only log in on a new computer or gadget if you have your phone with you to receive a special code. Even if a hacker gets your information, they'd need your phone as well to get in to your account. It's a little annoying at times, but the extra security is worth it.

Review your "Trusted Browsers." You might have logged in on a computer in the past - belonging to a friend or ex, for example - that you no longer want to have easy access. Similarly, check "Where You're Logged In" to make sure you didn't leave a computer or gadget logged in that you didn't mean to, or that someone isn't logged in without your knowledge.

Privacy

The Privacy tab controls who can see what you post and who can contact and find you. If you only change the settings in one place, this should be it (but you really should change all the settings I'm mentioning here).

In the "Who can see my stuff?" menu, set "Who can see your future posts?" to Friends. Then click the "Limit Past Posts" link and then the "Limit Old Posts" button. This changes any old posts you marked as Public to Friends.

In "Who can contact me?" change "Who can send you friend requests?" to Friends of Friends. This keeps strangers from sending you friend invites you don't want. The exception is if you want old friends from school to be able to send you friend requests. You can also switch from Basic Filtering to Strict Filtering to weed out a lot of the messages you receive.

Under "Who can look me up?" you want to change the settings to "Friends," "Friends" and "No." This makes it much harder for strangers or stalkers to find you if they just have a phone number, email address or know your name. Keep in mind, this will also stop old friends from easily finding you.

Timeline and Tagging

We've already limited who can see your posts, but the Timeline and Tagging tab has a few privacy loopholes you need to close.

In "Who can add things to my timeline?" you definitely want to limit who can post on your timeline to just "Friends." If you really want to make sure you control everything people see on your timeline, you can change that to "Only Me."

I would also set "Review posts..." to "On." That way if a friend posts you in something you don't necessarily agree with or would make you look bad to your friends, you can stop it before it appears.

In "Who can see things on my timeline?" you can leave "Who can see posts you've been tagged in..." to "Friends of Friends," since they'll be able to see the post on your friend's timeline anyway. If you want to be extra cautious though, set it to "Friends." You do, however, want "Who can see what others post on your timeline?" set to "Friends."

Bonus Tip: Click the "View As..." link to see what your timeline looks like to friends and strangers. This will quickly reveal if there's something showing that shouldn't be.

In "How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?" you can set the settings to "On," "Only Me," and "No One." This keeps things you're tagged in, like photos, from automatically being visible to all your friends. It also keeps you from being tagged in photos you don't control, which can give away your face and name to people you don't know.

Followers

You can allow people who aren't your friends to see your posts in their News Feed. This is handy if you're an aspiring writer or artists looking to get a wider audience. But for most people, you want to make sure "Who Can Follow Me" is set to "Friends."

Apps

The Apps is more important than controlling what Facebook apps you have linked to your account. It has a few settings that are serious privacy problems if they aren't changed.

"Apps you use" allows you to control what apps are connected to your account. Click the X next to any apps you don't use to delete them. Or you can change "Use apps, plugins, games and websites on Facebook and elsewhere?" to "Off" if you don't want any apps getting your personal information.

A huge hidden privacy danger is "Apps others use." This controls what information about YOU apps your friends install can share with the app developer. Edit this and uncheck every box.

"Instant personalization" means that Facebook can share your information with select third-party sites to give you a better experience when you visit. I've never seen that it does anything interesting, and it is a privacy risk, so set it to "Off."

Ads

Ads controls how Facebook can use your information in ads.

"Third Party Sites" controls whether or not Facebook can share use your information in ads on third-party sites in the future. Click "Edit" and set "If we allow this in the future..." to "No one."

"Ads and Friends" sets whether or not your name can appear in ads that your friends see. Again, click "Edit" and change "Pair my social actions with ads for" to "No one."
Finally, under "Website and Mobile App Custom Audiences," You can click the "Opt out" link if you don't want Facebook showing you targeted ads.

That wraps up your privacy and security settings on Facebook. That is, until Facebook decides it has to change everything all over again!

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Ten rules for great iPhone photography by Lauren Crabbe

The big challenge when you shoot images with an iPhone is to successfully capture great-looking photos from a gadget that’s primarily designed for chatting. If you keep these tips in mind as you shoot, however, you can take some pretty sharp pictures.

1. Get a Head Start

It’s a good idea to get in the habit of accessing the camera from the lock screen on your iPhone. Press the Home button to wake up the screen, and slide the camera icon to the top of your display. This way, you can take a shot without having to enter your passcode or using Touch ID.

Keep the Camera app at the ready by putting it in the Dock at the bottom of the screen, or by swiping up to access the Camera shortcut in Control Center.

Another way to ensure that you’re always ready to take a shot is to stick the Camera app on your first home screen, or even in the Dock at the bottom of the screen.
In iOS 7, you can also quickly access the camera in the Control Center. Just swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see your Control Center. The Camera app is in the bottom right corner.

2. Compose Your Photograph With Care

Capturing a good photo isn’t just a matter of knowing the right settings. Compose your photos as the pros do. Use the iPhone’s Grid feature to divide the frame into horizontal thirds, and put your subject on one of those lines, rather than in the middle of the screen.
Be careful to keep the camera level, too; nothing ruins a photo like a tilted horizon. Also, keep an eye on the background to make sure that you don’t see anything “growing” out of the top of someone’s head.

3. Keep Your iPhone Steady

One reason you may tend to get blurry photos with your iPhone is that it’s light and thin, and hence rather awkward to hold compared to a full-size camera. Hold the phone as still as you can, using both hands, and keep your elbows tucked into your sides for support.
Take a deep breath and let out a slow, steady exhale as you gently tap the shutter release button. You can also use the Volume Up button on your phone or headphone cord to trigger the shutter rather than relying on the on-screen shutter button, to keep from jostling your iPhone too much.

4. Know How Long the Shutter Takes

Since your iPhone’s shutter controls are digital, you’ll run into software-based shutter lag—the time between when you take the picture and the when the sensor actually records the picture. Also note that the on-screen shutter button trips after you lift your finger, not when you press it.

When you take a shot using the touchscreen’s shutter button, tap it lightly to avoid shaking the camera and blurring the image.

To compensate for this lag, hold the camera steady and count how long your shutter takes. And if you use the touch- screen button, tap it lightly to avoid blurring your photo.
If you are taking an action shot with an iPhone 5s, try holding down the shutter button to use that model’s Burst mode. When you do this, the camera takes up to ten photos a second. When you’re done, the iPhone will pick the shot it thinks is best, though you can manually review all of the photos in the series.

5. Let the Sun Shine

Your phone can handle a lot of situations with aplomb, but it can’t shoot every scene you encounter. Your teeny image sensor craves light and does best outdoors in daylight. For the best exposures, keep in mind the advice that photographers have followed for many decades: Try to position yourself so that the sun is behind you or over one of your shoulders.
Avoid shooting directly into the sun, or you’ll radically underexpose your subject. If you’re shooting indoors, position your back to the window and turn on the lights.

6. Use the Flash to Reveal Daytime Details

It may sound counterintuitive, but when you’re shooting in daylight, a fill flash is your secret weapon. It produces a quick burst of light to reduce the shadows that bright sunlight can causes. A fill flash provides pleasant, even lighting on your subject’s face to fill most of the shadows.
Of course, the tiny LED flash works only at very close range, so don’t expect it to help unless you’re within a few feet of your subject.

7. Use HDR Over the Flash

Ever since the iPhone 4, you’ve been able to use an HDR mode that melds several exposures to create a single picture with an impressive amount of detail and a broad range of tones and colors. Try using it instead of the flash when you’re faced with tricky lighting conditions.

8. Don’t Use Digital Zoom

Your iPhone can’t magnify the image by using an optical zoom, the way many compact or professional cameras can. Instead, it uses a digital zoom, which merely makes the pixels big and blocky, obliterating fine detail. Zooming in digitally also makes it even harder to take a steady photo.

Whenever possible, eschew digital zoom in favor of actually getting closer to your subject.

Want to fill the frame? Then move closer to your subject. If you really need to zoom in, you can get the same digital effect with an image editor later.

9. Stock Up on Software

Pick up some third-party photography software to enhance your images further.

One of the biggest benefits of carrying an iPhone is that you can install scores of apps. Check out the iTunes App Store to find programs that improve the way the camera works, as well image-editing apps that let you enhance your photos after the fact.

10. Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

After you snap your photo, you can use the Photos app, iPhoto, and third-party apps to make tweaks. You can wield most of these controls as if you were adding spices to a soup: Experiment and apply them “to taste.” The saturation controls, for example, adjust the intensity of colors. It’s usually best to stick with low or medium levels, since high levels tend to make everyone look like an overcooked turkey. Effects such as negative, sepia, and black-and-white can also help you take charming photos.

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Save Files to Dropbox (and Other Cloud Services) by Default in Windows by Mark Wilson

Saving your files in the cloud has lots of advantages, but most applications still save files to your Documents folder by default. You can, of course, manually select a folder that syncs to the cloud, but why not take out the extra step and automatically save those files to Dropbox or Google Drive?

Our friends at the How-To Geek offer some solutions to this problem, and while they're all a little workaround-y, they do work. Your options are:

• Moving Windows' default folders (Documents, Music, etc.) into your Dropbox or Google Drive folder
• Add your Dropbox or Google Drive folder to Windows' libraries
• Change the default save location in programs that support it (like Office 2013)

In some of these cases (like with Office 2013), you may have to do less work if OneDrive is your cloud storage of choice, since it's neatly integrated by default. But with the others, all it takes is a little work. Hit the link for the full guide.

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Is your cable modem the fastest money can buy? by Kim Komando

I'll be honest: Cable modems aren't glamorous technology. A technician probably set it up for you when you started your cable plan and you haven't thought about it since.

It's easy to forget how important, and impressive, your cable modem actually is. It handles your Internet traffic 24/7 for years, usually without a hiccup. Some modems even pull double duty as your wireless router.

Beyond that, there is another good reason to occasionally think about your cable modem. If it's more than a few years old, you might not be getting the Internet download speeds you're paying for. Check your Internet speed on this website.

Cable companies have been busy upgrading their networks for faster speeds. These faster speeds require faster cable modems.

The newest standard for cable modems is DOCSIS 3 - although DOCSIS 3.1 is coming soon. DOCSIS 3 can achieve download data rates of 160 Mbps or better - four times faster than DOCSIS 2.

Before you run out and grab a new modem, check with your cable provider to see if it has upgraded your network to the DOCSIS 3 standard. If it hasn't gotten around to your neighborhood yet, there's no urgency to upgrade.

There's also no rush to upgrade if you're happy with a basic low-speed plan. If you have an old DOCSIS 1.1 modem, however, there's a good chance that it may be throttling your Internet connection speed.

In addition to boosting your transfer rates, a newer modem could clear up any connection issues you've been experiencing. Most cable companies are phasing out DOCSIS 1.1 modems anyway.

To find out what kind of a modem you have, visit the support pages of the manufacturer's website and look up your model number. The manufacturer name will be printed on the bottom or back of the modem - it isn't the same company as your Internet service provider.
Once you've determined that upgrading to a DOCSIS 3 modem is the right move for you, should you buy your own or lease one from the cable company?

Both strategies have their pros and cons.
The major cable providers tack on a monthly fee of $3, $4 or more for renting a modem. If anything goes wrong with it, the company will usually fix it or replace it for no charge.

Replacing your modem is the perfect chance to reorganize your computer cables. Click here for organization secrets that you need to know.

Whenever a performance-enhancing firmware update comes along, most cable companies push it to the modem without you having to worry about it.

Call your provider and see if it will upgrade you to a free DOCSIS 3 modem to keep you a happy customer. Some people have even gotten the monthly rental fee waived by asking.
On the other hand, you can buy an excellent DOCSIS 3 modem for $85-$100. Let's say it gives you four good years of service. At $4 per month, you'll pay $192 to lease a modem over the same period.

The downside is that you're on the hook if something goes wrong with it, and you're responsible for staying current on firmware updates.

If you decide to buy, check out your service provider's support pages for recommended DOCSIS 3 routers. If you stick with top brands such as Motorola, Zoom, Linksys and D-Link, you'll get reliability and a good warranty.

You should also be able to use it with another provider in case you move.
When shopping, you'll notice some modems with built-in wireless routers; these are often called gateways. While a gateway is convenient space-wise, it has disadvantages compared to a standalone router.

Stand-alone wireless routers are more powerful and have more features. While a gateway is tethered to the wall with a short coaxial cable, you have more freedom to place a standalone router, which can mean a better signal.

If one part of a gateway goes kaput, you'll lose your Internet service, or your network, until you can get a new gateway. When a stand-alone router goes down, you can at least get a computer on the Internet by plugging it into the cable modem with an Ethernet cable.
Plus, with 802.11ac wireless gaining popularity, you'll probably be upgrading your router in a few years. That's well before you want to upgrade your cable modem again.

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10 Facebook tips and tricks you're not using by Kim Komando

When it comes right down to it, Facebook is actually a fairly basic website. Yes, it makes
some things harder than they need to be, and it does like to change the look around.

Still, the basics of sharing updates, photos and videos with friends stays the same. And if that's all you ever use it for, that's perfectly OK. That simplicity is one of the reasons it's so popular.

That's also why Facebook has a habit of adding new features without really making a big deal about it. Sure, you can find announcements on Facebook's press pages, but who goes there - besides me, of course?

It is a bit of a shame because sometimes Facebook really does have good ideas. And I'm about to share 10 of them with you so you don't have to miss out.

1. Save interesting Facebook items

Do you every find yourself endlessly scrolling through a friend's Facebook news feed for a link to that interesting story you didn't have time to read before? Well, now you can save links, places and entertainment pages for later.

Note: This is a brand new feature, so it might not be available in your account yet. If not, try it again in a few days. Also, it's only for shared links - it won't work for photo, video and status update posts.

Just hit the download arrow at the upper right of a post and select the Save option. Or on a place or entertainment page, hit the Save option next to Like.

You can look at your saved content later in the "Saved" area. It's in the left column along with News Feed, Messages and Events. Once you click it you'll get the Saved screen.

Your friends won't be notified if you've saved something; it's just for you to know about later.

2. Hide your online status

If you're getting unwanted messages through Facebook's Messenger chat system, there's an easy fix. Load your Facebook page, then take a look at the Messenger list on the right side. If you don't see it, click where it says Chat in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Click the gear at the bottom of the list, then click the "Advanced Settings" link. From there, you can turn off chat for everyone or choose which friends can and can't see when you're online. It's a low-effort way to politely keep people from bothering you.

3. Block status updates from over-sharers

Have you ever had a friend who just posts too many cat pictures? Hard to imagine, I know, but it's tough to tell someone that their cats aren't quite as cute as they imagine.
Don't unfriend them just yet, though. All you have to do to stop receiving updates from a social media over-sharer is click the down arrow on the upper-right hand side of one of their status updates.

Then click the "Unfollow" button to stop receiving updates from that person. You can turn their updates back on by going to their profile and refollowing them. Simple!

4. Sync Facebook's calendar with Google Calendar

If you've signed up for an event on Facebook, or just want to keep track of everyone's birthdays, syncing your Facebook calendar to your Google Calendar is easier than you'd think.

First, log in to Facebook and click on the "Events" link in the left column. At the bottom of the right column, you'll see links for Upcoming Events and Birthdays. Right-click on the link you want and choose Copy Link Location.

Then open your Google Calendar. In the left column, find Other Calendars. Click the down arrow in the Other Calendars page, and then click "add by URL." Paste the link that you copied from Facebook, and click Add Calendar.

After a few seconds a new calendar option will appear. It will update automatically, however Google says that it might take a few hours sometimes.

5. Stop Facebook from tracking you

Facebook makes its money by figuring out what you're doing on and off of the website. The company tracks almost everything that its users do in an effort to understand them.
If you'd rather not be turned into a statistic for Facebook to sell on the open market, a browser extension can stop all of Facebook's tracking attempts.

Facebook Disconnect is a browser extension that's available for both Firefox and Chrome. Install it in your browser and it blocks Facebook from getting information about what websites you're visiting.

6. Make Facebook talk like a pirate

Have you ever wanted Facebook to automatically translate all of your friend's posts into pirate slang? No? Well, you can do it anyway.

Click the upside down triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the Facebook page, then click the "Settings" link. Where it says "Language" click the Edit button, then navigate to the "English (Pirate)" option. Now, enjoy the results!

You can switch it back to regular English by doing the same thing except picking the "English (U.S.)" option instead. There are a couple of other funny languages you can set, but I'll let you explore those on your own.

7. Turn off Facebook's notification sounds

Tired of having Facebook notify you every time someone likes a post that you've made? You can turn off Facebook's notification sounds.

Click the upside down triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the Facebook page, then click the "Settings" link. In the left column select Notifications.

Where it says "On Facebook," click the "View" link and uncheck "Play a sound." Then click the "Save Changes" button.

8. Combine your profile picture and cover photo

Have you ever seen a Facebook page where the cover photo and profile picture look like a seamless photo? It takes some graphics skill to pull it off.

Or you can use Tricked Out Timeline. This Web tool lets you upload an image and turn it into a cover photo and profile picture combo that looks really slick.

9. How to access Facebook chat from your desktop

Facebook's built-in Messenger is a fun way to chat with friends, but tying up your browser with it is a little annoying. Fortunately, you have the option of using a regular chat program instead.

First, you'll need an IM client that supports Jabber/XMPP messaging. iChat, Pidgin, and Adium will all work.

Fire up your chat program of choice. Find the "Accounts" option, then click "Manage" and create a new account.

If you're using Pidgin or iChat, you'll have to select either Jabber or XMPP as the account type. Adium users can just pick "Facebook."

Type your Facebook profile ID and password. To get the profile ID, open your Facebook page and click the Home button at the top. Then look at the Web address. The profile ID is whatever comes after "www.facebook.com/".

For example, mine would be "kim.komando". If you never set your name, it might say, "profile.php?id=123456". You want to use the number that comes after "id=".

If you're using Pidgin, there's a few extra steps to take. Where it says "domain" type in "chat.facebook.com" and for "local alias" type in your name as it appears in your Facebook profile. Now click the Advanced tab and for "port" enter 5222 and for "connect server" type in "chat.facebook.com". You should be set.

10. Find hidden unread messages

Not many people know this but you might be getting messages from people and don't know it. If someone sends you a message and you have no mutual friends, Facebook automatically filters their message into the "Other" message folder.

To find the "Other" folder, click the word bubble icon at the top of the page. Then next to where it says "Inbox" click "Other." Click here to see this in action.

You might see a surprising amount of messages piled up in here, because Facebook never notifies you about any messages received from people who aren't in your network.
In fact, when I originally told my listeners this tip, one girl tried it found a message her birth mother had sent her a few years before. Who knows what you'll find!

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Dropping Dropbox: Exploring alternatives by Christopher Breen

For purely personal reasons I’ve chosen to abandon Dropbox. But that doesn’t mean my
desire to share files with others has likewise vanished. I need an alternative that includes many of the things offered by Dropbox.

Of course that includes free storage as well as the ability to share files with others. And then there’s the extent to which the service is supported by apps and platforms. One of Dropbox’s clear advantages is that a large number of iOS apps hook directly into it. If an app has file sharing capabilities, there’s a good chance that Dropbox is one of its share options.

Thankfully, Dropbox, though popular, isn’t the only game in town. Microsoft’s OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), Google Drive, SugarSync, and Box.com also offer free storage and file sharing features. I took a gander at each one to compare not only the kind of storage offered for free, but the ease with which you can share files with others. This is the story of my search for a replacement.

Is OneDrive enough?

A free OneDrive account provides you with 15 GB of storage (13 GB more than Dropbox’s free account). As with Dropbox you can add more free storage by automatically syncing your photos with the service and referring others to it. If you’d like to add even more storage, prices are a great deal less than what Dropbox charges—an additional 100 GB for $25, or 200 GB for $50 per year. If you subscribe to an Office 365 plan, you get 1 TB of storage with your account at no additional charge. You do have a limit on the size of files that you can send, but at 2 GB per file, that limit is hardly onerous.

Regrettably, unlike with Dropbox, Google Drive, SugarSync, and Box.com you don’t have the option to create a sharing link directly within the Finder. Instead, after moving items into your local OneDrive folder you must log into your account via a web browser, select files or a folder, and then right-click on an item and choose a Share command. You can then choose who you’d like to share with via an email address or ask OneDrive to generate a link to the file for you, which you can then pass along to those you want to share the item with. Dropbox does the same kind of thing when you access it from a browser, but the ability to instead generate a link within the Finder is far easier.

OneDrive also goes beyond mere file previewing. With it you, and the people you share editable Office files with, can edit those files using the free Office Online web apps (you can also open files in local versions of the Office apps if you have them). While they may not be full-blown copies of desktop Office apps, they offer a lot of editing power.

OneDrive allows you to edit Office documents within your web browser.

OneDrive is left wanting in its support within other apps. Good.iWare’s GoodReader and Readdle’s Documents 5 allow importing and exporting files with OneDrive but many other apps don’t. Microsoft lags in security as well. In July the company intends to encrypt files on its servers (termed “at rest”) for those accounts enrolled in its business plans but there’s been no word of how the data for free accounts will be treated. Other services encrypt data in transit and at rest.

Google Drive: So much storage

Before Microsoft lowered its OneDrive prices and increased its free storage limit, Google Drive was the original low-cost leader in terms of free and paid storage. Currently, Google Drive provides you with 15 GB of storage for free. though this storage is shared among Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos. You can purchase an additional 100 GB for $25 a year and a terabyte of storage costs $120 a year.

Unlike with OneDrive you can open the Google Drive folder on your Mac and, with a command from the contextual menu, share a file or folder. To do so, just add email addresses to the Invite People field and click Send. By default those you share with can edit items, but you can restrict their interaction with them to viewing only.

You can't argue with the convenience of sharing Google Drive files in the Finder.

As with other services, when the recipient receives a message indicating that they’ve been added to a shared item, they click on the link to the item, their default web browser opens, and they can then download the item. If the file is compatible with Google Docs the recipient can open and edit it within their browser. Support for native editing of Microsoft Office documents within Google Drive is being rolled out, but that feature hasn’t been rolled my way yet.

Attractive though Google’s offering may be, when considering any of the company’s services you must give a thought to privacy. Google’s existence relies on advertising, and the more it knows about you (and the contents of your data) the more valuable your information is to the advertisers that are its primary customers. You can take steps to encrypt your data before trusting it to Google Drive, but doing so can be a cumbersome process.

SugarSync can be sweet—for a price

At one time SugarSync was another “me too” cloud service. Sign on and you could have 5 GB of cloud storage for free. Those days are now over. (SugarSync offers a 5 GB trial, but it’s good only for 90 days.) To use the service today you must pay a minimum of $7.50 a month (or $75 a year) for 60 GB of storage. 100 GB costs $10 a month or $100 a year and storage amounts and prices go up from there.

SugarSync is very flexible in regard to the folders you share.

SugarSync’s main claim to fame is that it allows you to sync any folders on your computer. Other services create folders that you’re asked to move your stuff into when you want to back it up or sync it. This can be a more convenient way to organize files that you want to share with others—create one folder to share with your friends and another for your workmates, for example.

The SugarSync app is nicely laid out and easy to work with. And you can select files within one of your folders and share them via a contextual menu or share the entire folder, publicly or privately. But, like OneDrive, it’s not as widely supported as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box.com.

Boxed in by Box.com

Box.com’s free plan, at 10 GB, provides five times the storage of Dropbox but with that free plan comes a file size limitation—you’re restricted to sharing files no larger than 250 MB. For many tasks this isn’t a terrible burden, but if you attempt to share lengthy uncompressed audio files or even a shortish movie with decent resolution, you’ll find your way barred. That said, the free plan does let you share files via a Finder contextual menu command and the preview services on Box’s website are good.

Box.com has a lot of attractive options, but oh, that file size limit.

If you want more from Box, its prices are, again, better than Dropbox’s. For $5 a month/$60 a year you can have 100 GB of storage and a file size limit of 2 GB. The business plan at $15 a month offers unlimited storage and a limit of 5 GB per file. Box.com encrypts data in transit and at rest.

And the winner is…

At the end of my investigation it dawned on me that I’d stuck with Dropbox largely out of habit. In truth, it’s one of the worst storage values around—every other service I looked at provides greater storage for less (or no) money. But none of them precisely match Dropbox’s offerings.

OneDrive is attractive for its free storage and integration with Microsoft Office but it needs to be integrated into more apps and it should offer encryption to all of its customers—even freeloaders like me. Google offers the same amount of free storage and better encryption. However, oversensitive to privacy though I may be, I simply don’t trust Google to keep its nose out of my data. SugarSync can’t be had for free and, like OneDrive, is under-supported in apps. And Box.com has the file-size limitation.

And so, for me, there is no single winner. Rather, I’ve chosen a Solomon-like solution. For most of my file sharing needs I use Box.com, as I rarely need to share files over 250 MB. It’s supported by a lot of apps so I know that people I share files with can access them (and they can just as easily share their files with me).

In those cases where I do have large files—and I’m not sharing government secrets—I turn to OneDrive. It’s tough to argue with a free 15 GB of storage (though, apparently it is for me when that 15 GB is Google’s and I’m suspicious of its motives). While file sharing from the Finder would be welcome, sending a share link from my web browser isn’t a terrible inconvenience.

Although I’m mostly comfortable with this compromise, I dearly wish that Apple would jump into online storage with both feet and make all of these services unnecessary. The ability to share large files via email in Yosemite is attractive, but why not take the next step and let me use a method other than Mail to share large files with others? As do other people I respect, I believe Apple holds the high ground when it comes to privacy, thus taking care of my I-don’t-trust-Google problem. If Apple were to provide me with a reasonable amount of free storage (and that means double-digit gigabyte storage versus today’s miserly 5 GB limit) and tools that make it easy for me to share files within the Finder, from iOS devices, and in a web browser, any vestigial regrets I may have had about dropping Dropbox would vanish in an instant.

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Apple to replace some MacBook Air flash drives by Serenity Caldwell

Is your 2012 MacBook Air’s drive on the fritz? You may be eligible to have it exchanged under Apple’s new Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program.

According to Apple’s support document, if you own a previous-generation MacBook Air (sold from June 2012 through June 2013) with a 64GB or 128GB solid-state drive, you may have received a faulty storage unit. Thankfully, you don’t have to trek down to an Apple Store to have your drive tested—you can do it right from your computer.

If you have a potentially-affected device, visit the Mac App Store’s Updates pane and download MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.1. That will run a test of your drive; if it comes up faulty, then it’s time to make an appointment with your resident Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider, or call Technical Support.

If you don’t have time to do this right away, don’t panic: The program currently covers faulty MacBook Air drives for up to three years after date of purchase. But given that your Mac may potentially have problems with its drive—where you likely store most of your important information—you may want to check sooner rather than later. If your drive is affected, but you can’t have it fixed immediately, Apple recommends holding off on installing any software updates and making sure that your backups are up-to-date.

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How I Android by Android Guys

The beauty of Android is in the ability to customize it, do whatever you like and use it as
such. In other words you’re not nearly as limited as you are in other mobile platforms. Of course there are some limitations on Android as well, but even those disappear once you root the device. I haven’t rooted the devices I use for a long time now, I just don’t feel the need to although I can get numerous advantages by doing that. EIther way, we’re not here to talk about rooting or anything of the sort.

I am however going to talk about the way I use my device(s) and what my current setup looks like, who knows, maybe I give you an idea or two and you do the same in return via comments down below.

In general
I’ve used tons of launchers, widgets, icons, wallpapers and general customization-oriented apps for tweaking every certain part of my device(s). I used to have 5+ home screens full of widgets out of which every one of them served a specific purpose. As time passed by I got bored by all that and have used all sorts of launchers which don’t support widgets (or didn’t at the time), at least not regular ones, like Smart Launcher and WIndows Phone-like Launcher 7 and 8. Those lacked productivity, at least for my taste, so I got back to Nova Launcher Prime along with some others, I just can’t seem to stick with one. Considering I didn’t want to go back to using a bunch of home screens I found a way to use just one and keep the productivity in place. Which brings me to my current setup(s)…

Home screen
I currently use Action Launcher Pro on my smartphone even though I always go back to Nova Launcher Prime (my setup is rather similar though and I constantly switch between the two), I just wanted to change things up a bit. Anyhow, as I said, my setup looks rather simple, even though there’s lots of productivity hiding behind this screen. Starting from the bottom you can see I use a dock similar to basically every other Android layout, this is where some of Action Launcher’s features come in handy. You might notice that three icons (1st, 3rd and 5th) have a little transparent square in the bottom right corner, Chomp SMS, Chrome and Phone. This is symbolizing one of Action Launcher’s features called “Covers”. These are basically folders which offer more functionality, instead of sticking a bunch of icons inside and taping on the folder to open them, you swipe the icon up to open it and if you tap it the 1st icon inside a folder will launch. So you can basically place whatever you want inside a folder first and not only will that open if you tap on the folder but the folder icon will look like the 1st icon inside of it. So let us take Chrome for example, you can see Chrome folder (or “Cover” if you will) opened in the image below. First place in that folder is Chrome app icon and everything else are bookmarks. I’ve done that very same thing with my SMS contacts (hiding in the Chomp SMS folder/Cover) and my Phone contacts (Phone folder/Cover). So all I have to do in order to send a direct SMS to someone for example is swipe up Chomp SMS folder/Cover and tap who I want to send it to, same goes for a direct call. The widget containing Wi-Fi, data connection, bluetooth, flashlight, screen rotation lock, sound toggle and sound settings comes from an app called Power Toggles which lets you add lots of things here and make it suit your needs, it’s also easy to use. One more thing to note is that I also use gestures, swipe up for recent apps and double tap in order to turn off the screen.

Side-screens, Action Launcher style
Now that we’ve covered the home screen looks and functionality we can jump in the rest of it. As I already mentioned, I like to have only 1 Android home screen when using my device, that doesn’t mean I can’t have side-screens though. Those of you who haven’t used Action Launcher might be a bit confused, let me explain.

In Action Launcher, when you’re on your home screen and swipe from left to right you get a list of your apps (you can of course hide the ones you don’t want there) and widgets, what is called a “Quickdrawer”. When you do the opposite, swipe from right to left you get what the developer calls a “Quickpage”. This is basically additional space or an additional screen in which you can place your icons/widgets in. The functionality is basically the same as if you have an extra screen on the side. Now you probably wonder why don’t I just add an extra screen instead of this, well… it looks better and I like it this way. Kind of a stupid reason, I know, but hey, to each its own. You can however get some extra use out of this if you enable a feature which lets you call upon this screen from wherever you are on your phone, but I opted not to use this.

As you can see in the right image below, I use four widgets on my “Quickpage”. From top to bottom: Google Keep, Play Music, Cal (calendar) and Pocketcasts widgets. I can live without the “Quickpage” screen though, I actually do that rather often when I switch to Nova Launcher Prime.


Notification tray and icons
I use a few apps on top of my vanilla 4.4.4 KitKat notification tray (first image below). From top to bottom: Lux, Weather and a persistent Facebook Messenger widget which makes it possible to call on Messenger chats in a pop-up window (Chat Heads) overlaying whatever I’m currently on. You may also notice my Google Now cards pop-up there from time to time, so I have 2 weather notifications there at times. I used only Google Now for weather for a long time but it was inaccurate a few times on my location recently so I decided to search for an alternative. Weather is working just fine for now and I really like the design of the app. Lux is probably one of the most useful apps I’ve purchased, that one thin line in the notification tray helps a lot when it comes to tweaking your screen’s brightness and what not. I’m not going to go in too much detail here, though I might do a “What’s on my Android” or something like that in order to show you all the apps I’m currently using.

As far as icons go I used to switch between different icon packs a lot. Lately however, I’m using only two, Stark and Aloha icons. Both of these icons are flat in design and I really dig both of them. You can check out Aloha icons on the second image below this paragraph, and Stark in all the images above. Regarding wallpapers, I choose the one I like and I tend to stick with it for a long time. Like the one I’m using now for example, blurred rain drops, fits me perfectly. It’s pretty and easy on the eyes, I generally tend to pick blurred wallpapers or blur them myself.


Conclusion
In short, this is how I use my device. I could of course go step-by-step and tell you about my usual day and usage scenarios, but we’ll leave that for some other time. I just wanted to show you how my smartphone looks and functions for me on a daily basis. Other than my Nexus 4, I also use a Nexus 7 (2012) tablet. My launcher of choice over there is Nova Launcher Prime and the setup is pretty much the same as it is here, except there are no Action Launcher features over there. I did however set up the folders to act the same way as they do here and I take advantage of Nova Launcher’s gestures while still using one home screen.

There you have it, that’s basically it. From heavy customizations and root to simple but productive ones. How about you? What does your phone/tablet looks like? How do you use it?

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Apple releases iCloud Drive for Windows PCs by Ian Paul

Mac users are better off waiting for OS X Yosemite to drop before upgrading to iCloud Drive, but iOS 8-toting Windows users are cleared for takeoff. Apple recently released an upgraded version of iCloud for Windows loaded with iCloud Drive.

Apple has added iCloud Drive to iCloud for Windows.

To enable the feature, just grab and install iCloud for Windows from Apple's support page. After a reboot, you'll see the option to enable Cloud Drive by marking a check box on the iCloud control panel.

Once that's done, you'll see a new entry for iCloud Drive under Favorites in File Explorer, similar to other cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive.

By default, iCloud Drive comes with three app-specific folders for Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. You can also drag-and-drop files and create folders of your choosing just as with other syncing services.

While it's nice to upgrade early, your iPhone and/or iPad will have to be running iOS 8, released on Wednesday, for iCloud Drive to be of any use on mobile devices.
Apple's answer to Dropbox was first introduced during the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

Windows users are the first to get a taste of full iCloud Drive support, as Mac users have to wait for Apple to release OS X Yosemite sometime this fall.

iCloud Drive on Windows.

Beyond file syncing, iCloud Drive also offers a feature that lets you sync your bookmarks in Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome with Safari for iOS. You can also integrate iCloud mail, contacts, calendars, and tasks with Outlook 2007 or later.

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Last chance: Watch these Netflix movies while they last by Kim Komando

Ever log in to Netflix to watch one of your favorites only to find out that it is no longer
available for streaming? I know, it annoys me, too.


The reason is simple enough though. As Netflix's licenses for individual movies expire, it has to remove those titles from the rotation.

Luckily, the streaming video service also regularly adds news films as well.

There are some good titles coming, like new seasons of "Parks and Recreation" and "How I Met Your Mother." There are also some titles you may not want to miss before they are removed, like "Battlestar Galactica" and "Code Monkeys."

Get your sweatpants on, fire up the popcorn, grab a blanket, and enjoy! It's binge-watching time! 

What's going - Last chance to watch!

Note: Click on the title to see the program's description from Netflix.

September 19

• "Another Country" (1984)
• "Breaker Morant" (1980)
• "Death of a Salesman" (1985)
• "Dawson's Creek" (1998-2002)
• "Dreamscape" (1984)
• "Hoop Dreams" (1994)
• "Hopscotch" (1980)
• "My Brilliant Career" (1979)
• "A Night in Casablanca" (1946)
• "The Official Story" (1985)
• "A Room with a View" (1986)

September 21

• "Three Men and a Baby" (1987)

September 23

• "Devils on the Doorstep" (2002)

September 24

• "Klown" (2010)

September 25

-advertisement-

• "Bachelorette" (2012)
• "Nowhere in Africa" (2001)

September 26

• "L'Amour Fou" (2010)

September 29

• "Prime Suspect" (1991-2004)
• "Upstairs, Downstairs" (1971-1975)

September 30

• "Battlestar Galactica" (2003-2009)
• "The Cape" (2011)
• "Code Monkeys" (2007)
• "Law & Order" (1990-1997)
• "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2006-2011)
• "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2006-2010)

What's new

September 16

• "Beginners" (2011)
• "Bones: Season 9" (2013)
• "New Girl: Season 3" (2013)
• "One Day" (2011)
• "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012)

September 22

• "Revolution: Season 2" (2013)

September 25

• "The Double" (2013)

September 26

• "How I Met Your Mother: Season 9" (2013)
• "Parks and Recreation: Season 6" (2013)

September 29

• "The Walking Dead: Season 4" (2013)

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What's really going to happen if I unplug that flash drive? by Kim Komand

I regularly get questions from listeners about unplugging USB drives.

There's a lot of confusion about the best way to disconnect a drive from your computer.
I'm not talking about how to actually physically unplug it - I know you've got that down. I'm talking the steps to take before you yank it out.

Windows users have the Safely Remove Hardware feature in the lower-right notification area of the desktop. It looks like a USB plug with a green check mark. You're supposed to click it and select the drive you want to eject. After a few seconds, you will get a message saying you can unplug it safely.

For Mac users, you have to click the Eject icon next to the drive in the Finder or drag the drive icon down to the Eject icon on the Dock (it shows up where the Trash usually sits). Once the drive icon disappears, you can unplug.

But do you really need to do this every time? Plenty of people just yank out the drive and nothing bad happens to them, right? Let's take a look at why these features exist in the first place.

Both Windows and Mac use something called "caching" when dealing with removable drives. Information you send to the drive isn't always put on the drive right away, but sticks around in your computer's memory for a while first.

That's because writing and reading from a removable drive is slow and your computer's memory is fast. Caching lets you work at full speed. Here's an example.

Imagine you open a Word document from a USB drive. As you're typing, you save it regularly - as you should.

Instead of taking a full second to write to the drive every time you save, it temporarily saves it to your computer in a few milliseconds. When you're done with the file, the computer moves the final version over to the drive.

This means you aren't sitting around waiting every time you hit the Save button - click here to learn a much faster way to save. For editing larger files like photos and videos, caching makes even more sense.

When you use Windows' "Safely Remove Hardware" feature or Eject on a Mac, you're telling the system that you're done with the files and the drive. That's its cue to move everything to the drive that it hasn't moved yet. The computer also checks to make sure no programs are still using the files.

But what happens if you unplug the drive before the files are moved, or while the file is still open in a program? Unfortunately, I've seen the answer firsthand.

I once had to try and recover a final paper for a college student who unplugged her USB drive without ejecting on a Mac. Short story: It didn't end well.

There is an exception, of course. For the latest versions of Windows, Microsoft disabled caching on USB flash drives because too many people were just pulling them out anyway. So in Windows, as long as you wait for the activity light on a flash drive to stop flashing for a few seconds - and the file isn't open - you're OK to pull it out.

However, this doesn't work for external hard drives or memory cards, and it certainly doesn't work on Macs. That's why it's a good idea to be in the habit of ejecting all your drives on Windows and Mac before unplugging. It helps to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Now, sometimes in Windows you'll try to eject a drive and it will say that it can't. That usually means a file from the drive is still open in a program. Until the program is closed, you're stuck.

You can try hunting through your open programs for the culprit, or you can grab a program like Unlocker. It will tell you what program is keeping you from ejecting the drive so you can go close it.

In the worst case, you might have to restart your computer to fix this problem. It's inconvenient, but if you had just yanked out the USB cord, you might have lost the file entirely. That makes it worth the little extra effort.

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