If your pics or music are on a hard drive

September 14, 2024

If your pics or music are on a hard drive: Data company Iron Mountain says 20% of the hard drives they get from the ‘90s are dead on arrival. Even when stored in perfect conditions, these drives deteriorate; most last only three to five years. Don’t let this happen to you. Use an adapter to transfer your files to a new external drive.

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Tags: company, data, files, hard drives, Music

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How to spot an AI-generated image: Tips, tricks and pro tools

Forget trying to spot if a pic of a model was photoshopped. (It was.) Now we can’t even trust if the person we see in a photo or video is real.

Fear not, I’m here to help you navigate the pixelated wilderness. Let’s look at the seven telltale signs an image is AI-generated.

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Small-biz tip: Don't overlook this digital danger

Are you the type of business owner who forgets about ex-employees as soon as they’re gone? Failing to remove former employees’ access to your systems and data could lead to security breaches. Don’t let poor offboarding practices be the weak link in your cybersecurity chain.

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Redacted: If you ever send a password to a colleague, family member or friend in a chat or text, delete the message after they’ve copied it. There are more secure ways to share a password, but let’s be honest: Everyone shares them this way (even me!).

🍎 Three shortcuts for Macs:

Ctrl + Cmd + spacebar: Opens the emoji picker.
Cmd + Shift + 5: Opens the screenshot tool for capturing the entire screen, a window or a selected portion. You can also record your screen from this menu.
Cmd + Opt + Esc: Opens the force-quit menu.

🪟 Three shortcuts for PCs:

Windows key + . (period) or ; (semicolon): Opens the emoji picker.
Windows key + Shift + S: Opens the Snip & Sketch tool for capturing (and editing) screenshots.
Alt + F6: Allows you to switch between multiple windows of the same application (e.g., different browser windows).

Kindle upgrade: KTool lets you use your Kindle for more than books by easily sending articles, X threads and newsletters (like mine!) right to it.

Small-biz tip: Getting the right domain is an important part of settling on your business name. Check for a site name across different top-level domains (think .com, .net. and .biz), and see how much they cost at iwantmyname.com.

Deal or no deal? CamelCamelCamel is an awesome tool if you shop on Amazon. It tracks prices, shows you a product’s price history and lets you set price-drop alerts for something you have your eye on.

Pro printer tip: If you run out of black ink right before you need to print a doc, change the font color to dark gray or blue. You probably won’t even be able to tell! OK, now order some ink.

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

I want to help you Excel at work: Hit Ctrl + [ to view where the contents of a cell came from, like a formula or reference. Sweet. A ton more Excel shortcuts here.