Women can be targets of cybercriminals, cyberstalking, cyberbullying and much more. We’ve covered some basic digital crimes you should know about and what proactive ways to take charge of your online life.

Read More: New Empowering Female Emojis Coming to Your Android

How Does Cyberstalking Affect Women?
Internet users have been targeting women in defamatory and humiliating ways since the inception of the web, and social media has only made things worse in recent years. There are many cyberstalkers out there who constantly monitor what a woman is doing, while also contacting them frequently in the hopes of initiating a relationship or in vain hope of trying to keep a dead one going. Sometimes these situations turn into full-blown harassment, with lewd, offensive, or threatening comments being leveled at women.

There are also online predators who seek out ways to exploit women, including those who share vulnerable images or videos of women online with the intent of causing them harm. Such a crime is punishable by law, but even bringing justice to these perpetrators is often not enough to heal the pain that it causes women who deserve to have a harassment-free digital life like they do in their physical surroundings.

Cyberbullying and Phishing Scams Are Real Problems
A group of seven adults between the ages of 21 and 25 went undercover to a high school to discover what teenagers are like these days. One common problem that they discovered is cyberbullying and the pain it causes the victims. While bullying has always existed, the presence of the Internet makes it easy for cyberbullying to exist around the clock. Some teenage girls who’ve been victims of cyberbullying have succumbed to depression or worse.  

Another common issue is phishing scams that target women, some of which are romance scams where a website lists women as being a 100% match of a potential partner. After talking to the person for a while, the prospective partner will then ask for a large sum of money as a loan to get out of a difficult situation. Avoid these scams at all costs.

How Can You Protect Yourself?
For cyberbullying, parents and teachers have developed programs to mitigate this problem but responsibility also lies in empowering young women to be strong, confident and practice self-love throughout those difficult years.

Protection can be a frustrating exercise for women who are stalked online. But a good rule is to shut down sharing settings on your social accounts, never engage with a cyberstalker, and keep detailed records of any stalking incidents to share with the authorities.

Since phishing or malware attacks are a reality, women are encouraged to keep a close eye on their security features in apps, and then employ something like dfndr security which can scan your Android phone for viruses and malware, or detect malicious links with advanced anti-hacking technology before you even click on one.

Thankfully, some developers have created apps that help women protect themselves from being the victims of physical attacks. One such app is Lifeline Response, which tracks a woman’s movements and calls the police instantly if something happens. Users place their thumb on the screen while using it, and if they take their thumb off, an alarm sounds.

In some cases, the app can ensure that police respond in just over a minute. Lifeline Response costs about $5 a month and it is available on Android.

Contact the Authorities After a Cyberattack
One way you can report an online criminal act is through Homeland Security’s ‘Report Cyber Incidents’ page. You can also use the Law Enforcement Cyber Center to report cyber attacks, in addition to contacting your local authorities and launching an investigative case.

With the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, women’s voices have never been stronger. Right now is the time to take a stake in your physical and online worlds by making sweeping changes that will reverberate for future generations of young girls and women worldwide.

O post Celebrate Your Own Cybersecurity Women’s Day! apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

When to Draw the Line
When it comes to a personal caller such as an ex, even weekly calls can be painful so draw a firm line with them. For your sanity, block him or her if they continue contacting you and making things awkward.

Spam calls continue to increase year by year. If you’re getting bombarded by marketers, warn them to no longer call or you’ll report them. If they persist, report them or simply block them to gain some peace and a quiet phone.

The Do Not Call Registry
If you’re constantly being harassed by marketers, sign up with the National Do Not Call Registry. On DoNotCall.gov, you can register up to three numbers or check if your number is already there.

Doing so will give you an increased sense of privacy as continuous calls from marketers and scammers can be reported. You can also sign up by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to register.

How to Block Someone on Android
Blocking someone on an Android device is much tougher because you have to go through different procedures based on your phone. We recommend you Google the steps, or search on YouTube depending on the device you own.

There are some devices such as the Google Pixel and Pixel XL that run Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later that has clear instructions on blocking calls. When in the Phone app, go to the more options icon next to the icon. Then go to Settings, Call Blocking and tap the number you want to block. You can also ‘Report’ call as spam.

The bottomline is to remain safe from an aggressive caller so with these handy tips, hopefully, the confusion on who to block or when is much clearer for you to determine.

O post When to Block a Number and How to Do It apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

According to the FBI, healthcare organizations have been made aware of increasing data hostage situations backed by phishing emails and malware. A specific type of malware known as ‘ransomware’ is especially widespread, making up for 72% of all healthcare attacks.

Read More: 17MM Phishing Scams Blocked in 2017: DFNDR Security Revolutionizes Protection

What is Ransomware?
Ransomware focuses on capturing sensitive information and then holding it until payment is received from the targeted organization. If organizations refuse to pay, hackers will generally sell off the data or destroy it altogether.

According to Verizon’s 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, holding your healthcare data ransom can be particularly lucrative:

“For the attacker, holding files for ransom is fast, low risk, and easily monetize less – especially with Bitcoin to collect anonymous payments.” – Verizon Report authors.

While some of these attacks are on the healthcare infrastructure itself, others are targeted at individuals through phishing efforts; these can easily be avoided with standard safe practices.

Watch Those Passwords!
Be conscious when creating passwords for online medical services. Design passwords that are random and complex, featuring numbers, letters, and symbols. Avoid dictionary words or phrases that a hacker can easily attempt to decode. If your passwords are getting out of hand, try a secure password management solution such as 1Password or LastPass.

Most importantly don’t give out your password or other sensitive information if asked. Healthcare companies will never send you unsolicited emails asking for passwords, social security information, or other private details. If you receive an email from a healthcare provider, avoiding click the links and instead, visit the official site by typing in the provider’s address manually into your web browser.

Medical Phone Calls Are Legitimate, Yes or No?
The same general information applies if you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be your healthcare provider, and making claims that your rates have increased or are on the financial hook for a medical procedure..Hang up the phone and call the company directly using the number provided on their website or the back of your insurance card.

We can’t do everything to stop hackers hacking from attacking our healthcare data, much of our protection is based upon the health IT infrastructure. However, following the above best practices are an excellent way to keep your sensitive information as it should be – private.

O post Are Your Healthcare Files at Risk of Being Hacked? apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: Here Are a Smartphone Thief’s 3 Dirty Secrets

How Hackers Guess Your Passwords
Often, hackers will look for some key information on you and your past history, and they will be able to combine that information to come up with your password. Many people combine elements of their history to create a password, which may seem tricky, but it is actually easy for a hacker to guess. Since social media is very easy to hack, a hacker can easily have access to all of your personal information on your background and family. One example of this is that a hacker may go to your Facebook account and find your birth year and your mom’s maiden name. By combining this information, the hacker may be able to guess your password.

Create an Alter Ego and Keep Your Private Data Safe
One of the best news ways to prevent hackers from guessing your password is to create an alter ego. Maybe this alter ego was born in a different place than you and has a different last name and birthday. By creating a password or login information based on this alter ego, hackers cannot simply guess the password by analyzing your social media accounts. Your password would only be available to you since you’re the only one who knows about this alter ego. As silly as this may sound, it can be a great way to keep your personal information safe from hackers and malware. An alter ego with a different history will be sure to keep hackers from obtaining your private data.

O post Are You Fictionalizing Your Past to Thwart Hackers? apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

But, for all that you share and enjoy, there are bits of information that you probably want to keep private. Apps like dfndr vault are a good start to prevent prying eyes from seeing you’re embarrassing party photos and videos. Let’s be honest, you probably also want to keep what you do with your friends hidden from curious parents.

February 6th is Safer Internet Day, which is all about being aware of protecting your information – here are 5 more security tips to keep you safe on campus.

Create Complex Passwords
While it can be tempting to use the same password for every website and service that you use, be sure to keep them different and complex. Avoid using full words, names, or other obvious options, such as the name of your pet or favorite sports team to stay safe online. Create passwords with a random combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, then keep track of them all with a trusted password manager. Using the same password for every account is like using a single key for everything you own – one breach and everything is compromised. Suddenly those cool snaps aren’t so private.

Read More: How to Protect Yourself from Potential Catfishers

Be Aware of What You Click On
Awareness is the number one defense against phishing and malware attacks, to create a safer internet you need to begin with yourself. If you aren’t fully aware of where a random web link will take you, then consider avoiding it. Unknown apps or links can introduce malware and viruses to your device, even gaining access to resources such as your camera or microphone. Stay safe online by know what you are clicking on.

Use Safe Payment Options
It is nearly impossible to not be drawn into shopping online; after all, you need to buy that latest game for your smartphone. Make sure you’re using trusted websites when making purchases and don’t save your credit card info if you can avoid it. One thing you could do is utilize an online payment system such as PayPal in place of your credit card to try and stay safe online.

Consider What You’re Sharing
You love to share your status with your crew (or family), but take a moment to consider what you may be revealing.  Don’t tweet details of huge purchases or post pics of new jewelry as that can draw the campus thief to your door. Sharing your location for your next party? Probably not a good idea to share with people you don’t know. To keep safe online turn on off location sharing whenever possible or choose to share your location with a select group.

Try a VPN
While we often recommend staying away from public WiFi as a secure practice, it isn’t exactly practical. Whether you are hanging out on campus or the local coffee shop, many of us need internet access to get school work done. Utilize a secure VPN, such as dfndr vpn, to keep your data private and encrypted from those snooping on the network or bypass annoying content filters. If you’re a gamer, you can enjoy the possibility of a reduced ping time if the VPN’s server has a quicker route to your game host – reduced ping means less lag and more responsiveness in online multiplayer games.

O post Celebrate Safer Internet Day with These 5 Security Tips apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

How Many Apps Are on Your Phone?
Odds are, you’ve downloaded a lot of applications since you first pulled your new phone out of the box. Consider all of the social media applications, games, and all of the applications like Netflix and Uber that most users can’t go without, and the average smartphone user has 32 applications installed. Chances are, you may not be using some of them, or some of them may serve the same function, like Lyft and Uber. Users can thus take steps to consolidate their applications.

Read More: Does It Matter If You Leave Your Phone to Charge Overnight?

Take an Inventory of Your Apps
Users can manually go through all of their applications and not only delete unused apps, but also manage data preferences. They can also configure what information is shared through applications, and if those applications are allowed to store information on the device itself. Many applications like Facebook ask to track location or save cookies on your device, and these can eat up huge chunks of memory without users knowing why. While manually going through these applications can be tedious and thankless, many users have reported that it is an effective way to increase device speeds and return the device to normal. Try all these tips to bring your beloved phone back to life and remember you can always add back an app at a later date.

O post Why You Should Take an Inventory of Your Apps apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Delete Duplicate Photos and Videos
We said it before, but it is worth repeating – remove any duplicates photos and videos that you no longer need on your device. We all know the scenario, at a party or gathering, hitting the photo button half a dozen times to capture the perfect shot. These duplicate shots quickly pile up, draining your smartphone’s storage. Clean out what you no longer need with a duplicate photo cleaner and your smartphone will thank you.

If you are completely drained of storage, consider a solution such as a Google Photos to keep your memories in the cloud for no cost. Do the same for your computer, clean out duplicate photos, or old ones and store them in an encrypted external hard drive.

Read More: Follow These Tips When You Run Out of Storage Space

Uninstall Apps You Don’t Use
What’s more significant than a photograph and more resource intensive? Hint: It’s your unused apps. Consider the last time you opened that obscure app for celebrity gossip or that app you used to gain entry for a limited time event last year. Apps can take up large amounts of space, quickly diminishing storage. These unused applications may be running in the background, slowly destroying your phone’s efficiency.

Clean Out Facebook Messenger
If you’re chatting with your friends and family via Facebook Messenger, there’s a good chance that you might need to clean out your device. dfndr security’s facebook messenger cleaner feature allows you to remove old, unwanted files that the messenger app may be leaving behind. You could gain extra storage and clean your smartphone by removing old videos, audio messages, and photos still lurking on your device.

Have a mobile device? Be sure to blow out the headphone jack (if your phone still has one), along with any other ports where your pocket lint may decide to hang out. These simple steps can help you easily avoid problems down the road.

O post The Essential Guide for Clean Your Computer Day apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

You May Have Too Many Apps Open at Once
If you aren’t good about closing out apps from time to time, it could mean trouble with how seamlessly your phone runs. While killing your apps isn’t something that you need to do all too often, leaving numerous apps running in the background of your phone — i.e., if they’re not being used but are still open and active — for an extended amount of time can cause problems. This ranges from draining your battery to causing those pesky app crashes.

Read More: Why Does Your Phone Notify You When It’s Fully Charged?

There May be an Issue With Your Software
Something more serious that may be at the root of your repeated app crashes is a problem with the software development of your phone. From time to time, updates to Android software may come out that then prove to operate in a suboptimal way with third-party applications. This means that bugs — such as repeated app crashes — can occur, causing frustration and prohibiting you from using your device the way it’s intended to be used. When you notice these performance problems, report the issue and make sure that you’re completing additional software updates that come out, as they could have useful bug fixes.

It May Be a Data Issue
If you don’t have a lot of extra storage space left on your phone, this could be the culprit behind app crashing, too. If you’re experiencing this crashing, try looking at your available storage and making space if you don’t have much left. You are likely to find that this will help to resolve this issue quickly.

You want to make sure that these issues are not compromising the safety of your digital device and try to be aware when your phone acts sluggish because the last thing you want is to have an infected device!

O post Why It’s a Bad Sign if Your Apps Keep Crashing apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: Google Play Protect Fails Again, Says Latest AV-TEST

Malware and Your Email Account
Email providers can take some steps to curb malware. They can flag spam emails and reject security certifications. They can also make money without anonymously selling the individual’s data like Google does. Individuals can take their own steps to make email less susceptible to malware. One step is to reduce the number of emails that an individual signs up for. This effort reduces the possibility that a person will be sent a compromised email. You also need to be vigilant about the emails they receive and the ones they send out. Try to avoid emails with suspicious headlines or ones that do not seem legitimate for any reason. However, these efforts are far from foolproof.

Since no malware protection plan can be perfect, anybody using email should take a number of basic steps in order to protect their device and their information, first being to have a solid antivirus app installed and taking precautions mentioned here.

O post How Vulnerable Is Your Email Account to Malware apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

But have you ever wondered how the perpetrators behind those hacks and programs make their money? By understanding what they do to extort information and earn their money, you can better prepare yourself against future attacks, and know the warning signs to watch out for.

Read More: The Net Neutrality Battle Could Affect Your Access to Netflix

Step 1: Hacking Into the Device
The first step for any hacker is to get access to your device or your information. This can be done through software or through a tracker that has been installed on a sketchy website. It can come from a variety of programs or apps that may be vulnerable — which is one reason to make sure that you constantly update your devices. Once that area has been exposed, it can be identified and targeted for installing the ransomware onto your computer or phone.

Step 2: Extort the Device Back to the Owner
Once installed or hacked, hackers and ransomware criminals will try to extort your information for money, likely by emailing you or demanding a form of payment from you, if you want your data kept safe and restored. An example is a famous case involving the HBO hackers, who demanded money from HBO to prevent them from releasing new Game of Thrones episodes.

Oftentimes, criminals will demand payment in the form of Bitcoin, a digital currency that can’t be tracked, so their information won’t be revealed. This form or ransom payment allows cybercriminals to continue doing this to other unsuspecting victims. If you refuse to pay, oftentimes it isn’t worth it for the criminals to continue extorting.

With the knowledge of how ransomware hackers make their money, you can take better steps to prepare yourself against attacks and prevent your information and devices from being compromised. Make sure to be aware of how ransomware attacks work and to report to the authorities when you’re being extorted. More importantly, make sure that you browse safely to ensure that you won’t get a virus or malware to begin with by downloading a reliably performing antivirus app. You can have peace of mind knowing that the security of your device has safeguards in place.

O post How Do Ransomware Criminals Make Their Money apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Net Neutrality, the Cliff Notes Version
AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and other providers of fixed and mobile internet access have morphed into full-service broadband providers with their own content networks that compete directly with Netflix, Amazon and other internet companies that likewise offer programming but don’t have their own means to distribute it. Internet companies and their consumers are concerned that broadband companies might promote their own programs by charging additional fees to access Netflix or Amazon programs, for example. Such tiered pricing would also have the effect of discouraging startups that don’t have the resources to pay for faster internet speeds.

The FCC passed its Open Internet Order in 2015 in an effort to prevent those scenarios from playing out. With a new administration in the White House, however, the FCC has now decided to reverse that order and let broadband companies, content providers, and consumers figure all of this out for themselves.

What Does This Mean For You?
That ongoing uncertainty is a problem because, as the net neutrality drama drags on and ISPs battle it out, access to your favorite content could be in jeopardy. This is why more people are turning to a VPN to cloak their identity online and access restricted content. A VPN stands for virtual private network and most apps are easy to install and activate.

Our dfndr vpn app, for example, hides your IP address from ISPs, allowing you to use the internet at home, work or on public Wi-Fi so you can access games or stream content. And the other benefit? Our free app protects you from hackers too, by blocking any suspicious links that appear in your browser.

The Sky Isn’t Falling
Things aren’t as dire as they might seem. This month’s vote boils down to this: the FCC will essentially hand internet regulation over to Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the legal system. The thinking is that Congress should pass legislation that would define the terms of net neutrality rather than having the rules change every time a new administration takes over the White House. The courts would also likely take up the issue as companies sue one another whenever the new law is violated. The FTC, meanwhile, would monitor internet access to make sure that neither broadband companies nor content providers are engaging in any practices that are anticompetitive. Let’s hope this new approach falls in the consumer’s favor. Meanwhile, consider using a VPN to access content you enjoy watching and interacting with.

O post The Net Neutrality Battle Could Affect Your Access to Netflix apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: Why You Should Care About Your Phone’s RAM

It Has Stopped Charging
Many people may not know that your phone will stop charging once it reaches full battery. Once your battery is fully charged on your smartphone, the charging circuit will disconnect. This means that the charging circuit will not reconnect until the battery level on your phone has dropped to 95% or lower. This happens to prevent phones from charging once they’re at full battery. Your phone will issue a notification that it has reached full charging so that you know that your phone will no longer be charging.

However, with some phones, there isn’t a risk of leaving your phone on the charger once it’s reached full battery. The phone will simply stop charging until the battery lifes begins to dip down and then once it’s low enough, it will begin charging again.

So You Know When It’s Done
This one is the most obvious, but your phone notifies you so that you know when to unplug it. If your phone didn’t notify you when it reaches full battery, you might not know when to unplug it and use your phone. It simply makes things much easier. You can also use Total Charge to monitor your phone’s charging process and alert you when it’s done:

It Could Overheat
Some people have noticed that their phone tends to get hot while it’s on the charger. In order to prevent your processor from running overtime and heating up, you may want to take your phone off the charger. This is why your phone notifies you when your battery is fully charged. It’s difficult to tell if your phone’s battery or your charger is the reason your phone is overheating so if you notice your phone gets hot when charging, unplug it and take it to get looked at by a professional.

O post Why Does Your Phone Notify You When It’s Fully Charged apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Ease of Access
This one goes both ways. While it may be easy to store your information online in order to have it wherever you end up going, it also means that it’s easier for hackers and other individuals to access that information if you forget to log off of a public computer or if someone whom you’ve shared a file with fails to practice online safety etiquette.

Read More: Can’t Stop Clickbaiting? Anti-Hacking Will Protect You

It’s Out of Your Hands
What can be frustrating about cloud storage is that the data and files are often out of your hands. A personal hard drive enables you to better protect your information, and it gives you a physical copy that you can see. But keeping the information online means that you aren’t the one with control over your information. Should Google Drive be down, or hacked, the information you have stored in the cloud isn’t in your control. You’re only as strong as the companies your information is kept with.

Even If You Don’t Lose Your Information, It Can Be Viewed
As previously discussed, if your information is at risk of being out of your hands, and if the files that you have stored in the cloud are unavailable, what many consumers fail to understand is how your files can be viewed — and at risk — without being downloaded or stored anywhere else. Oftentimes, it’s possible for hackers to view files stored in the cloud, and copy down the information on their own, or make their own copy to have and keep. It is another subtle way that hackers can manipulate the cloud to get their hands on your information.

While storing your information on the cloud may be incredibly easy and allow you to share information readily, it can also be a tremendously risky endeavor. Make sure that, before you store sensitive information online, that you know the risk you’re taking and are prepared to suffer the consequences (if and when they should happen).

O post Why You Shouldn’t Store Data on the Cloud apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

The following gets to the root of why your phone’s performance may not be up to snuff after you’ve used it for a while. These problems can be frustrating, but they’re not the end-all-be-all of a smoothly running device. Follow the below advice and you should be better equipped for a quick and smooth Android experience.

Read More: Why You Should Care About Your Phone’s RAM

Bloated Apps
After continued use, apps are some of the worst offenders for affecting the performance of our Android devices. This is because of something called “feature creep,” where new features are continuously added to your individual apps via updates. This leads to apps eventually using up more RAM and CPU, as your phone hardware stays the same. That means a slower performance that you may even be able to notice over time. To reduce the lag that bloated apps can cause, you can start by replacing some of them with more “lightweight” apps like Facebook Lite. Since the most frequent offenders are social media apps, note-taking apps, and so on, this is a great place to start.

Background Apps
Even if you don’t realize it, apps may be running in the background of your device when you’re not actively using them, resulting in a slower or poorer performance on your phone. For example, your email app is checking for new messages even if you don’t physically have the app open. Even things like home screen widgets and animated wallpapers are culprits of these crimes. To help minimize this issue, check your device settings for which apps are using the most battery. From there, change the app’s individual settings so that they’re not refreshing in the background.

Operating System Upgrades
When you first bought your phone, it undoubtedly came with a specific operating system that has perhaps been upgraded time and time again since you first purchased the device. While these operating systems are certainly an upgrade, they were designed with the newer model phones in mind. Newer operating systems are likely to perform better with more advanced hardware. Thus, installing newer software on an older phone can result in a poorer performance.

O post The Top 3 Causes of Bad Phone Performance apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

What is Lazy Loading?
So, what happened when you clicked on the link? Did you load the whole site that you never ended up looking at? If the site uses “lazy loading,” then no, you didn’t. Sites that eat up a lot of data — photo galleries being a good example — enable lazy loading so that they load more quickly and don’t blow all of your data if you end up not looking at them.

Read More: The Cities to Travel to with the Fastest Internet

How Does Lazy Loading Work?
Instead of downloading the entire site in one go, which would take a long time for larger sites, your device downloads a series of placeholders that correspond to the actual information on the page. The browser caches all of the site’s resources, but doesn’t actually load them; it simply knows where each one goes. If you end up scrolling through the page, the browser will begin to plug things in right before you get to them. If you’re nearing a placeholder for a picture, the browser finds that picture in its cache and slides it into place. But, if you glance at a page and decide you don’t want to read it, no harm, no foul: you’ve actually only loaded the very top of that page, the part you’ve laid eyes on.

You’ve probably seen this while online. Google’s image search, for example, uses lazy loading, with the thumbnails replacing placeholders as you scroll down the page. Scroll fast enough and you’ll see it in practice.

Lazy Loading Works for Sites and You
So, are websites just being generous, looking out for you, your data, and your time? Not exactly. While lazy loading is actually beneficial to you, it helps the sites out, too. Sites load much faster using lazy loading, which drives traffic. People will give up on a site if it takes forever to appear. If the site can entice the user quickly with the top loaded section, the user is more likely to stick around and allow the rest of the site to load. Ultimately it’s a win-win situation, and an innovative solution to sites with a lot of information.

O post What is Lazy Loading and What Does it Do? apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: The 5 Best Apps to Filter Photos on an Android

Focus
You can focus your Android camera by simply tapping the screen. Focus on the subject you want to stand out, or tap near the bottom of the screen to light up the picture. It may take a while to focus on a subject that is close up, so patience and timing is key.

Tweak the Exposure
You can also change the camera’s exposure in your phone’s settings. Longer exposure times let more light into the lens, which is great for dim settings, but photographing moving things with a long exposure time can result in a streaky photo. For moving subjects, lower exposure times are ideal.

Get Perspective
The rule of thirds is well-known among photographers. If your picture is divided into nine equally sized squares, the photo’s subject should be located in an intersection or on a line. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry; you can make a grid appear on your screen to help you perfectly align your photo. Also, if you’re photographing a horizon, aim to make it straight across. However, you can always adjust this later.

Use an App
There are plenty of apps you can use to improve your photo quality, both before and after the picture is taken. Some apps give you more control over your camera’s settings, while others are geared towards editing. Many are free, so be sure to experiment.

Hold Still
A still camera produces sharper images. If you can, support the device or your arms on a sturdy surface while you’re shooting. Better yet, invest in a tripod.

Know When to Flash
It’s generally not a great idea to use flash (except in really dim environments), as it tends to produce overly harsh light. To make an image taken with flash less harsh-looking and more attractive, put a piece of semi-translucent white tape over the lens.

Even if you don’t become an expert Android photographer, it’s fun to play around with your camera’s features and aim for high-quality pictures. Not only is this getting the most out of your device, but it’s also a great creative outlet.

O post Tips for Taking the Best Photos on Your Android apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

So while you may have unlimited data, you may not have unlimited tethering. Be sure to check your plan before turning your phone into a hotspot so you have all the information you need. Turning your phone into a hotspot will also eat your battery life quickly. These points aren’t to suggest that hotspots aren’t useful — they’re a major part of what your phone can do!

Read More: How Your Search History Could Get You Investigated

How to Set Up a Hotspot
On your phone, click on your settings app and find the “wireless & networks” menu. Under that, you’ll need to find the “tethering and mobile hotspot” menu (you may need to press “more” within “wireless & networks” before finding your tethering menu). Your mobile hotspot will be “off” and you’ll want to, naturally, flip it to “on.” Make sure you create a secure password so that you don’t have hogs in the nearby area using up your tethering data.

From there, your work with your phone is done. On your laptop or other devices, connect to Wi-Fi and your phone should show up as an option. Enter your password and then you’ll be connected to Wi-Fi. When you’re finished with whatever you need to do, turn off your hotspot and you’re good to go.

As always, you’ll want to keep an eye on how much data you’re using. Under “wireless & networks” you’ll also be able to see a “data usage” menu, which should list both your mobile data and your tethering data.

O post How to Use Your Android as a Wi-Fi Hotspot apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

What Is Lag?
Lag is generally considered to be slowed computer or smartphone response time. If your device has slow application response time, that’s considered lag. This lag can be especially bad for gamers because it can be the difference between winning and losing. If you press a button to make your character jump to avoid danger, and your device lags so he jumps too late, lag is essentially what killed your character.

Read More: How to Test the Speed of Your Wi-Fi Network

Lag can even cause the game to briefly pause, and when it unfreezes, your character will be in an entirely different place, causing you confusion. This also could be frustrating because your character could move to a dangerous spot after it unfreezes, which could cause death.

Some people would argue that every game you play has lag because your character doesn’t immediately perform the action right when you hit the button. There is always a fraction of a second of delay between the action and you pressing the button.

What Causes Lag?
Lag is usually caused by a slow cellular or Wi-Fi connection, or having too many apps downloaded on your computer or smartphone. If your device has a lot running in the background, then it will slow down all of your apps, including your gaming apps. Lag can even cause the game to slow to a stop, which causes many avid gamers to go crazy and become very upset.

In addition to using Game Booster to improve your gameplay, if you want to prevent lag when playing games, try finding a better Internet connection or else clearing any unused apps from your device with the App Manager feature. Click here to quickly remove unwanted apps in one screen:

O post Why Lagging Can Make or Break Your Gameplay apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: All About RAM Speed and How it Affects Your Gameplay

Occasionally it lays dormant, waiting to be activated. These are things your phone remembers how to do, but it’s not the sort of memory RAM is concerned with. That’s “hard drive” data — things like documents, apps, photos, etc. — that are stored there, and they’ll be there every time you turn your phone off and back on.

RAM is concerned with active memory. The second you open Instagram is the second RAM kicks it, and it’s the reason you don’t have to reopen Instagram if you close the window briefly to make a phone call. When you open Instagram again, it doesn’t have to reload the whole app because RAM remembered it was running Instagram and continued to run the program even while you made your call.

RAM is short-term memory, and it stops remembering the second you definitively close the app (instead of just minimizing the window) as well as every time you turn your phone off and back on. Your RAM dictates how fast your phone runs, and it’s the reason your phone slows down the more apps you have open: it’s got a lot on its mind, all of a sudden, and has to split its attention.

What does that mean for you? Essentially, if you’re the type of person who has a lot of apps open at once, you’re going to want to make sure your RAM is powerful enough to match. Apps such as games, which have a lot of things happening at once while they’re open, eat up a lot of RAM. So, be careful about eating it up.

O post Why You Should Care About Your Phone’s RAM apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Mysterious Data Usage
When you’re trying to take a video or download a new app, and your phone tells you it can’t do this because the data has been used up, it’s a frustrating experience. Fine, you think to yourself, you’ll just go delete something you don’t use as often or photos you’ve already backed up elsewhere. But when you try to investigate the breakdown of your documents and apps, you find something strange: the cumulative data you seem to be using doesn’t actually exceed the amount of data you have on your phone. In fact, it’s far below what you were told your limits were. So what gives?

Read More: How to Clean up and Speed up Your Android Phone

The Issue with Ghost Data
Ghost data is the culprit, and, aptly named, it’s data that’s there while appearing invisible. How do you pick up ghost data? Lots of ways, actually. Partitioning your memory for different apps and photos, for example, takes up a large amount of data (because each new partition needs to be labeled). It isn’t something your phone clumps with the actual data of the file or app. There are various other culprits, too, such as temporary files, log files, caches, leftover data from uninstalled apps, and core dumps. They can all add up to be a lot of data that isn’t specifically tethered to a particular file, and so it will not appear anywhere, much like a ghost.

How to Get Rid of Ghost Data
That’s a little trickier. You’ll essentially have to root your phone and then track down individual files to ensure they are files that will be safe to delete. It can be a bit of a process, but depending on the amount of ghost data you’ve accumulated, you may be surprised by how much room you end up freeing up. Of course, if you don’t have to time to do the manual work, or if you don’t feel comfortable rooting your phone, the quick cleanup feature is a great start.

O post Boo! Clear Up Space on Your Phone by Removing Ghost Data apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Read More: How Much Space Does Music Downloaded from Spotify Take Up?

Another way these apps drain your battery is through the notifications they send you. When your phone is sleeping it is conserving power, but when these notifications “wake it up” they prevent that process and make your battery drain. Finally, apps that use your location, GPS, or camera are major drains on your battery because they require a lot of processing power.

Which Apps Waste the Most Battery Life?
Unsurprisingly, most of the apps that use the most battery are the apps that you use on a daily basis or even open multiple times a day. Snapchat is one of the worst battery-draining apps because it is constantly running in the background, using your camera, and sending you notifications.

Another popular battery-wasting app is Netflix. Every time you binge-watch a new series on your phone it uses your phone’s display, which uses the majority of your battery life. If you want to try to cut back on how much of your battery Netflix uses, try turning down the brightness; doing so will help to conserve a lot of battery life.

Email servers like Outlook or Gmail also use a lot of your phone’s battery. People tend to check their email very often or have their email set to constantly refresh so that they don’t miss a thing. But in reality, all of that syncing is wasting your battery life even when you’re not using your email.

Finally, another big battery waste is news apps like BBC News, CNN, or Fox News. People spend a lot of time reading these articles, which use the phone’s display. Another problem with these apps is that they send push notifications, which also contribute to draining your battery.

O post Which Popular Apps Use Your Battery the Most? apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

What Can Cause Your Phone to Overheat?
The most likely reason that your phone is overheating that you left it on the charger for too long. There’s a reason that the message “Phone sufficiently charged please unplug” pops up when your phone reaches 100%. While your phone is charging for that long, it can become hotter and hotter which can wreak havoc on your smartphone.

Read More: How Can You Boost Your Wi-Fi Connectivity?

Certain Apps Drain Your Battery More
Another problem that can cause phones to overheat is through playing certain battery-draining games. These games tend to use a lot of battery and have a lot running in the background so that the gameplay is fast and exciting. You may notice that your phone tends to get warm when you’ve been playing your favorite game for a while. That may be a sign for you to stop playing and give your phone a break before it overheats.

Close Apps Running in the Background
Finally, if you’re running applications that have many background tasks, these can heat up your phone without you even using it. The apps become great at multitasking and running many programs at once, but that can be extremely detrimental to your phone.

How to Prevent Your Phone From Overheating
One easy way is to unplug your phone from the charger whenever it gets close to 100%. A good rule of thumb is to unplug your phone when it gets around to a 95% charge before you go to bed. Having your phone charge all night can really cause it to overheat.

Another solution is to stop playing games once your phone starts to heat up. This will give your battery a break and prevent your phone from breaking due to overheating. Finally, the best solution is to use cpu cooler. This app will help close any unused, battery-draining apps in order to decrease the temperature of your smartphone and speed up your phone.

O post What Causes Android Overheating, and How to Stop It apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Ever wonder why premier online marketplaces (such as Amazon) are safer to use when it comes to using your credit card than weird vendor websites? The premier marketplaces have something that the sketchy sites do not: a strong SSL certificate. The presence or absence of one of these security layers is all that stands between your credit card info and a hacker.

Read More: Security Risks of Apps Sharing Data with Advertisers

What is an SSL certificate?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are paid security systems that protect sensitive websites from exposing your Social Security number and credit card information from being exposed as you type it. You know if an SSL certificate is protecting your webpage if you see a padlock in the URL bar at the top of your browser.

Not all SSL certificates are the same, however. The more expensive they are, the more complicated and secure they are. Weak SSL certificates are dangerous, causing the entire webpage to be vulnerable to phishing and malware. Sometimes, weak SSL certificates are not easily advertised, so it is difficult to spot a dangerous and unsecured website.

Websites with weak SSL certificates allow hackers to copy and replicate your credit card, bank, and Social Security numbers. By going on a bad website, you risk losing your finances and identity without even knowing it. By clicking on a bad ad link, a hacker could copy your credit card and use it to withdraw your money before you log off. That’s why it’s important to use anti-hacking so that you never enter your personal information on an insecure site.

There are many ways to identify how strong a website’s SSL certificate is. The first is obvious — just look for the padlock icon in the address bar before typing in your personal information. If the padlock is unlocked or missing, it would not be wise to share your private information on that site. Depending on the type of browser you use, it may also notify you when your connection to a website is not secure, to further protect you online.

O post What You Should Know About SSL Certificates apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

The Virginia-based security researchers discovered that the risk of privacy exposure for users significantly increased when apps shared information in pairs. Hackers can uncover highly sensitive information about users by combining the data from a navigation app with that of an itinerary, thanks to this flaw.

Read More: Do Yourself a Favor: Lock Your Smartphone

Privilege Escalation
Privilege escalation is a technique utilized by apps and developers to gain deeper access to data and secure information. Apps are able to do this by exploiting a gap within the system such as a bug or a design flaw. Once apps are able to escalate their privileges through this technique, they can perform unauthorized actions. A significant portion of the apps identified in the study relies on privilege escalation to leak and pair data. While such apps would normally never be granted access to sensitive information, the exploitation of bugs and design flaws allows them to expand their reach and potential actions.

Malicious or Not?
When looking at the app pairings uncovered by security researchers, it is hard to pinpoint which specific pairings are intentionally engineered for the purpose of stealing data. Often, only one of the paired apps is malicious. Other times, both of the apps are simply poorly designed. Regardless, the pairing of this data can prove useful to hackers who can access their app log files, regardless of whether or not the flaw was maliciously constructed.

Information at Risk
When relying on calendar, online shopping, and communication apps, beware of the data privileges assigned to such services. App pairings can result in the leaking of user contacts and geolocation, and can even allow access to the web. The apps most susceptible to such dangers are often free since developers are trying to entice users, but the app could also contain several design flaws.

Moving forward, Android mobile users should be aware of the security levels of their apps, both new and old. Users should also be cognizant of the permissions granted to each application, should always read the terms of service, and should never trust apps to have access to information beyond what is strictly necessary.

O post Apps Stealing from Other Apps Can Compromise Your Security apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.

Anti-hacking will protect you against phishing attempts and malicious websites that are designed to steal your personal information. Once activated, you’ll be automatically blocked from unsafe websites so that you can browse the web worry-free. Still, there are other ways you can protect yourself against identity theft online.

Read More: How to Use dfndr’s anti-hacking Feature

Watch Out for Phishing Sites and Attempts
Phishing attempts present themselves in the form of a website that looks like a legitimate business, however, they’re really looking for your sensitive information. For instance, they may be asking for a username and password, or even an address, social security number, credit card number, driver’s license number, or bank account number. Don’t enter information if anything about the site seems suspicious, and don’t hesitate to do research on the site to make sure it’s safe. Avoid this from happening altogether by using Anti-Hacking and only shopping on sites that you know to be secure.

Create Unique Passwords for Every Site
Using unique passwords for each login will make it less likely that you’ll suffer from identity theft. This is because hackers who gain access to one account could easily get into another if you use the same password for multiple sites. Use complex and unique passwords for each site so that you are completely protected. You may even want to consider using a secure password generator to ensure that your key is as safe as possible.

Secure Your Wireless Network
Securing your wireless network is another great way to protect yourself against the possibility of identity theft. Leaving your network open by not securing it with WPA encryption can allow an attacker to use your network without your knowledge, and also see what you’re doing on the web. Then, hackers can build a profile of you and your entire family, as well as of the websites you visit. This could allow malicious individuals access to items like your social security number or your credit card number. Add a password to your wireless network to protect against this, and change it periodically.

O post How to Prevent Identity Theft When You’re Online apareceu primeiro em PSafe Blog.