It’s happening

No more “password1”: Move random characters at the beginning or end of your password into the password itself. Ideas: Replace the letter “O” with a zero, like this: k0mand0_scholar. Or sub in a character for a letter it resembles (e.g., f@nt@syFormer).

Zillow’s Zestimate guesses how much your house (or any other house) is worth. How many data points does Zillow factor in? Is it close to … A.) 100, B.) 500, C.) 7.5 million or D.) 20 million?

Find the answer here →

Ding-ding-ding! Sign up for text and email alerts from your bank. I do, and, yes, it’s a bit annoying to approve purchases I’ve made, but it’s also notified me a few times someone got their hands on my card. In your banking app, go into Settings and look for Alerts or Notifications.

More life out of your dying phone: On an iPhone, enable Low Power mode. Open Settings, scroll and tap Battery, then toggle on Low Power Mode. On Android, it’s called Battery Saver. Open Settings, then tap Battery > Battery Saver and turn it on.

Get smart(er): Look for the new Matter or Thread standards when you buy smart-home tech. These give you spy-worthy security. Just keep an eye out for one of those words on the box or online product listing.

Protect your docs: Medical identity theft is scary, and victims often don’t realize something is wrong until it’s too late. Store hard copies of medical records and documents with personal identification information in a safe or lockbox.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.