Came to say this exact thing.

FFS I have 100's of passwords saved in my keepass DB, they are all different.

Passwords will only autofill on the correct site, so look alike sites are captured by that simple bit of security.

I keep trying to convince my parents. Then they say but what if I forget the master password? I say they won't with a passphrase but they don't believe me.

Also I don't have experience with PW managers other than 1Password, Bitwarden and Roboform. I personally didn't like Bitwarden. I think it's UI is janky and oldschool. Roboform is so bad I don't even know where to start complaining. So I keep using 1Password even though the UI has been getting worse but it still works for me because of the good integration into the Apple ecosystem. But it's rather expensive for managing the 20 something passwords my parents have. I read about breaches on other PWMs sometimes so I don't really know what to trust and recommend.

I keep telling myself I need to start using a password manager but I'm worried I won't be able to log into things on my phone or other devices like my work computer when I need to because I don't know the password. Is that a legitimate worry or is there a solution for this? How do you sync passwords between computer and phone?

Eh, I don't trust any 3rd party enough to give them all my passwords and I don't trust myself enough to secure a server for self hosting a password manager.

I know all my passwords, can't forget em, no paper or notes, no repeat passwords.

Hold shift while you click start and shutdown (or reboot) when necessary. This will have windows do a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown.

Press windows D to go to desktop and press alt F4 until you get the shutdown menu.

Here's an even easier hack than all of that :effort:

Just hold the power button down for about 10 seconds, ez-pz

"correct horse battery staple" remains firm in my memory

I agree but I think the problem is that some apps/sites have strict password requirements, which usually includes adding upper-case, symbols, numbers, and then limits the length even sometimes...

the SSID is a better password than the WPA key

This is an insult I am definitely saving for later

Here’s what I’ve shared with my company.

margretthatcheris110%SEXY

I agree - I do use passphrases in some critical cases which I don't want to store in a password manager.

However, I believe passphrases are theoretically more susceptible to sophisticated dictionary type attacks, but you can easily mitigate it by using some less-common 1337speak character replacements.

Highly recommend a password manager though - it's much easier to remember one or two complex master keyring passwords & the random generated passwords will easily satisfy any application's complexity requirements.

People have a fantastically high resistance to change

I think this happens because people believe that ad blockers are "too good to be true". That was what I first thought when first getting an ad blocker, that there was going to be some kind of "catch" like slowing down websites, making them less functional or being malicious. But it turns out they actually improve performance, rarely affect functionality and are even recommended by the FBI because they protect against malicious advertising.

I just install it for them or tell them to use Brave (don't down vote me, these people aren't going out of their way to use firefox and download all the needed extensions)

I hate the ad blocker argument for youtube. How am i supposed to do that on my tv or my phone?

Likewise, as the old rule goes, if you don't have a secondary backup, then you don't have a backup.

The other day, I was chatting on a Discord server about how people manage their photos, which keep piling up each year. I asked which cloud service they use, and one person replied, 'Save them offline.' That really struck me because I haven't invested in offline storage devices in years, and I realized I wasn't storing anything offline.

This touched me deep

But that extremely expensive NFT I bought has my name on it, not yours. Therefore it is owned by me and nobody else.

No I won't show it to you.

There's a hidden skill in there that allows you to filter out the bullshit/scam/unhelpful solutions and zero in on the helpful, legitimate stuff.

My colleague (we work in web dev) will literally sit there staring at an error message but apparently not reading it, and then he'll open ChatGPT and start asking it what to do. The fucker never even Googles error messages, it's an absolute nightmare.

Unless it's Windows giving you some long hexadecimal number. Those never return any results.

I had a chat with someone that is a Senior Staff Engineer at a huge company a while ago, on what I'd say is a pretty big service that millions use.

They don't write much code any more, but they debug a lot of issues. The way they described the workflow to mastery is:

• If you know nothing, ask someone that knows something
• If you know something, Google, and there will be answer from an expert
• If you're an expert and Google doesn't work, read the docs and specs from the masters
• If you're a master, start writing the specs, and offer addendums for when the spec needs to change.

IMO, Googling gets you 99% of the way there in many situations, but if you know nothing the answer might be in front of you and you wouldn't know it.

It's not a question of googling, it's about recognising bullshit answers and skipping them

Nah. People are using you and too lazy to care. They pretend it’s magic cause it’ll get you to continue being their gateway to laziness.

And please just enable blocking cookies and annoyances in unlock origin. It has filters that can be enabled, and you'll never see a cookie banner again.

I set up my Pi-Hole years ago and haven’t touched it since. Maybe I should update it.

It's simple enough to just cover a camera. I'd be far more worried about the always listening microphones.

I agree with everything except a wireless mouse. I have a magnetic usb “nub” that plugs into the mouse so when I need to charge it every couple of weeks it’s as simple as moving the mouse near enough the magnetic cable and it pops into place.

For me, the benefits of a wireless mouse far outweigh the imperceptible-to-me lag from the 2.4ghz dongle 10cm away in clear view. The only downside I can see is the weight of the battery, but I’m not a competitive FPS player so I’m good.

Ethernet over WiFi for non portable desktops

Wi-Fi basically is wireless Ethernet, so I don’t know what “Ethernet over WiFi” is supposed to mean, and I don’t know what problem is being solved nor what solution is being proposed.

I have Bluetooth earbuds that crack open when they hit a hard surface (have surviveed so far) and the battery is a little Li-Ion pouch on soldered wires. They probably don't last as long as sealed ones of the same size but it's very easy to find and install a replacement battery. Just check disassembly guides before buying.

I second all of your statements. I don’t care if my Apple TV is on WiFi, but my gaming desktop is most definitely hooked to an Ethernet cable. I also use a wired keyboard and mouse on it, but I’ll admit I have a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse for my work laptop because I didn’t want to deal with another set of cables on the same desk, and I can’t think of a good solution for both machines to share the same keyboard and mouse without having to switch the cables between them all the time.

While not at ALL repairable, I’ve been using my AirBudz for over five years, for 50+ hours every week and the batteries still last for hours. I have my cans for FLACs, but no complaints for the price wirh AirBudz.

The fuck is "Ethernet over WiFi". Isn't ethernet by definition wired? If it's x over WiFi, isn't that just WiFi with extra steps?

Edit: I see from other comments they mean "preferable compared to", not "used atop of".

And if that doesn't work check the physical connection by unplugging it and plugging it back in.

That, and most people don't know how to disable the device from their device manager.

Is it a monitor provided by your workplace? If not, well, it's not that hard to find a monitor without a built-in camera. I found one easily enough for my gaming desktop... Unless the monitor market has dramatically changed since 2019-ish...

You might have a different type of person in mind than other commenters. Most commenters had such people in mind who won't install a password manager or an ad-blocker, or won't hard reboot their Windows unless supervised. Having said that, I don't think that even if you had technical people in mind this fits the question. They tend to take substantial more effort to learn and use effectively than the scope set by the original question. I thought this question was for little things that have a quick, lasting, and substantial effect. Learning awk and sed is a different thing entirely, I think of those more as productivity tools you can invest in mastering, and pay off in the long run.

mind expanding on what these solve?

I've been helping my parents renovate their house recently, and I'm trying to get them to understand this. Just watch a video, it instantly gives you context for commonly agreed upon solutions. You don't have to reinvent solutions to solved problems.

For example, my mom decided to refinish her cabinets doors. They were painted with one layer of a typical latex house paint you could even still see the original finish in the brush strokes. I sanded the paint and the original varnished finish off the interiors in just a few minutes with an orbital sander.

She decided that because she saw that her aunt use a paint stripper on Facebook, that she should do that. So instead of sanding it down to wood in a few minutes, she'll coat the doors with stripper, scrape the paint off, clean the caustic paint stripper off, and then sand the varnish/wood at the end anyway. I tried to explain this, and pull up a video showing how messy and overkill the paint strippers were, and she got mad that I played a video.

Meanwhile, my step dad was helping me install quarter round over their baseboards, I showed him 3 options to finish the ends. A simple 90° cut, a standard 45° bevel, and another mitre with a tiny triangle to round over the end. I explained that the mitre looks the nicest, but it takes twice as long to do.

He proceeded to freehand two bevels for half an hour with a dull chipped chisel. They were completely uneven and jagged. Then I explained he had to repeat that work 18 more times in the hallway alone, assuming he was happy with his.. handiwork.

They have been trying to finish renovating this house for 20 years. Now I see why it is taking so long.

I have done stuff by myself they in anybtime before yt would need someone to show me.

Whem car mechanic tells me I have problem on my car I can find yt on how to detect it and how to solve it. I don't get knowledge to do it, but I can definitely appreciate their work more and not think they are just ripping me off.

It is amazing what we have and take for granted.

Youtube has helped me save on so many home repairs. 400 service calls become a 30 part and an afternoon of taking the dryer apart with video guides.

The generated password lenghts can be set in the UI at least. It's worse when the password form accepts only SOME special symbols (looking at you bank)

Well yes but overleaf makes it possible to work on it with a mate, on any device without having to install anything, and it also saves your progress online so you don't lose it or forget you document at home.

If your not seeing were i'm going it's perfect for school project. Through high school and college i've done all my projects with it... I think that's where it shines.

Hmmm... I must say, I tried to get back into LaTeX and I got broken packages after broken packages.

Really pushing for Typst adoption now. Works perfectly. Fast as hell. Bye technical debt.

My recommendation is using typst instead. It's basically the modern version of latex. And it has a good online collab platform too.

They often come equipped with a privacy slider to cover the lens. Or you can just put a sticker on them.

Eneloop batteries (the white ones, not the black ones) are the best AA and AAA batteries out there for sure. Panasonic sells a package of Eneloops with a charging device that accepts both AA and AAA batteries, it's very good. Can be charged via USB and can also charge other devices, it's the kind of device I dreamed about in the 90s.

It's a bit late to worry about internal mics when everyone has their phone on them at all times.

I work in a remote first company. We are spread across the whole country. To manage things we do daily meetings. Every single time my camera is covered and nobody has any issues with that. However, when I'm interviewing a potential employee I turn on my camera.

Anyone with root (or equivalent) access to your pc could easily undo that though.

Some laptops now have physical privacy shutters for that - and for those that don't, you can get one that you can stick on top.

That's what tape is for