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Hey there listeners. It’s Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. So this is it. This is the final episode for now. I’m going to leave the door open, maybe a tiny crack. I’ll explain more of that in a bit, but for now, if you haven’t heard from earlier episodes of this podcast, Talking Tech is going to take a hiatus. I’m not going to call it a permanent hiatus. There is a possibility that we come back in some form. I can’t guarantee anything, but again, like I said, I’ll leave the door open just a little crack. Maybe we come back. I don’t know, but for right now, the Talking Tech podcast is going to go on hiatus. And I figured what better way to wrap this up then to share some of my personal tech tips, things that I try to do every day. I’m not always successful, but I try to do a lot of this stuff all the time.
And I think it’s important that you do too. And if there’s any lessons to take away from this podcast, I’m hoping it’s these. So I’ll share some of these tips right now. The first one, this is at the very top of my list, because I feel like it’s one of the most important. Turn on two factor authentication. If you’re not exactly sure what that is, if you’re still in the dark about it, basically, the way it works is when you sign up for an account, you can have this extra layer security when you log in. So let’s say you log in. Right after that, you’ll get a prompt that says we’re going to send you a code to your smartphone or wherever. And you have to type that in too. So it’s on top of your password. I love it. It’s super helpful if you’re trying to keep your account extra secure.
If you’re worried about just getting spam with text all the time, every time you log in, you can save your details on your browser. So that way you can just log in, you don’t have to do it every single time. Also, if you’re tired of typing in the codes, a lot of apps now have been really good at allowing you to just open up your smartphone app and clicking a yes or no. Did you log in here? And then you’re set. But I highly recommend turning it on. It’s super helpful, super useful. You never know what could happen. And the last thing you want is someone to get into your account. It’s a nice little buffer that can protect you and protect your stuff.
The next one I would say is passwords. If you haven’t tried it yet, use a password manager. If you’re not sure about password managers, figure out those critical accounts that you know that, hey, if it gets compromised, that’s going to ruin your day. If you have accounts like that, make sure those have unique passwords. I get it. There’s some sites where you’re just plugging in a password to get on an account. And it really doesn’t matter to you. If you want to plug in a password that you’re sure about, fine. But the important thing is those critical accounts. Just make sure that you have unique passwords for each. And again, ideally password manager. That’s the best way to go. It’s one sign in, one login. It generates your own passwords randomly. It’s a great tool if you haven’t used them yet.
The third one, I fail at this a lot. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I’m perfect at this. Never put off the software update. I do it all the time. I admit it. But again, don’t put off the software update. It is so important, especially if you’re trying to protect yourself. If you’re trying to make sure that your phone, your laptop, everything is secure and safe, always update. Even if you’re in the middle of something and it’s a giant pain, do it anyway.
The last one, and this is another one I violate too sometimes, but it’s good. Never charge your devices to 100%. A lot of batteries now are newer. They work a lot better and they don’t need to be fully charged to operate properly. It’s not like the days where you go from zero to a hundred. Keep your stuff charged like between 20% to 80% or so. And you’re in good shape. You’ll take care of your battery. You’ll take care of your devices. It’s all beautiful. So that’s it.
Again, if you want to read any of my coverage, you can go to tech.USAtoday.com. I think right now, I just want to say thanks. I want to say thank you to all my editors. My editor, Michelle, who has been so supportive of this podcast and has really been a champion and someone that has really helped allow me to bring this to you. So I want to thank her. I want to thank Mike Snyder, who was co-hosting with me on this podcast for quite a while. And we worked so great together and it is always fun to work with Mike. And I really appreciate being able to work with him and help keep this going. I want to thank Jeff Graham, who was the original host of Talking Tech and started this whole podcast. Thanks for trusting me with this opportunity. Thank you for just helping me get on my way with this endeavor.
And I mean, you put together a podcast that has stood for a really long time. So again, thank you for that chance. And lastly, I want to thank all the listeners. Obviously, there’s no podcast without listeners, so I really appreciate it that you came in and listened and hopefully you’re able to take away some good guidance and good advice on your tech and how to best use it. I’m still going to be writing about tech. We still have a Talking Tech newsletter. So if you want to keep up with any tech news throughout the week, go to newsletters.USAtoday.com. Hit subscribe on Talking Tech. You’ll get tech news delivered right to your inbox every Thursday.
I’m also available on Twitter. If you need to get ahold of me, ask questions, story ideas, whatever it is, I’m @BrettMolina23. So please don’t hesitate to reach out. You’ve been listening to Talking Tech. Normally this is where I say we’ll be back tomorrow, but maybe I’ll say we’ll be back soon someday. I don’t know. Again, I’m leaving the door open a little bit, but thank you. Don’t forget, newsletters.USAtoday.com for the Talking Tech newsletter. And we’ll be back soon. Maybe. Goodbye.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Talking Tech says goodbye (for now): Talking Tech podcast
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