Halton Tech For Teens

05/12/2026

I started using Linux Mint in 2018, a bit late to the party, but it is an amazing operating system. Not only is it free, but there's an entire ecosystem of dedicated users and developers updating it almost daily, and nowadays, there's almost no excuse not switching.

There are Linux programs for virtually everything in the Microsoft Office package, video editors, image editors and productivity tools, and best of all, it will work on virtually any hardware platform, including, devices from 2015!

Serious Linux vulnerabilities, like Copy Fail and Dirty Frag, are becoming more common. Here's why, and how the Linux development community is responding.

05/01/2026

What a great way to finish up the week!! Today, a single mother, new to Canada, picked up 2 devices for her family, a larger screen for her to do her online classes and a smaller one for her kids to do their school assignments.

As always, thanks to our friends at Outsource IT for a few spare parts, and Cogeco Ontario and CHCH TV for their past support, and of course my friend Nancy Salmon for the large Dell Technologies laptop!

04/29/2026

Wow...so apparently cloud storage (that i don't have) has been disabled!! Apparently it's the FINAL NOTICE too...

Anybody ever heard of GOOVELIST Cloud Storage??

04/29/2026

This is a very big deal!! These devices are smaller than suitcases, have a wide range, are very effective and are shockingly cheap to purchase!

Remember what Stop Scamming Canadians says about every text, email, pop-up ad or phone call you get, SUSPECT EVERYTHING AND TRUST NO ONE!!

Three men face 44 charges after a rogue fake-tower device silently hijacked tens of thousands of GTA phones and sent convincing bank and government impersonation texts. Here's what to do

04/29/2026

Yesterday was a good day at Halton Tech For Teens, a Lenovo device was delivered to a young man changing careers after arriving in Canada, massive shoutout to my friend Nancy for the donation, it is a few years old but a solid machine!!

04/13/2026

With the data plans in todays common cellular having such massive data limits, there is really no reason to use any public wifi networks anymore, 100GB plans are the norm...

I always use a VPN (virtual private network) when I travel, I prefer an extra layer of security, butn if you are only updating Facebook or catching up on the news, you should be okay, but remember never to do any banking or login to CRA or use a credit card.

Your phone might be telling hackers more than you think. A Toronto expert breaks down the "Evil Twin" networks lurking in airports.

04/11/2026

France moving away from Windows isn't going to have any real impact on the financials of Microsoft and is mostly symbolic, they are less than 1% of the world's population, but they are a member of the European Union and that makes that public defection a lot more impactful.

Linux Mint is my personal favourite version of Linux, it is fast, safe, can run on any age of hardware and free!! LibreOffice can easily replace your MS Office 365 and Clickup or Thunderbird can replace Outlook. All of them are free and have a small learning curve, it might be time to look for other options...

France's move to ditch Windows for Linux is its latest effort to reduce its reliance on American tech giants.

04/09/2026

With the size of modern data plans, there is virtually no reason to connect to public Wi-Fi systems anymore, the security issues override the convienience.

I use a VPN relatively rarely, I have a paid service that we've used for almost a decade that was part of our business, but since I retired, I don't really have a need for it, but this is something to consider and it's free!

Windows had a free VPN hiding all along.

04/01/2026

We see a dozen of these every month, we fill them out almost by habit. REMEMBER: If you are asked to take ANY action outside of the CAPTCHA window, it's FAKE!!!!

CAPTCHAs… we’ve all done them. They feel routine, harmless, and easy to click through, but that’s exactly what scammers are counting on.

We’re seeing a resurgence of something called ClickFix, a tactic that disguises itself as a harmless CAPTCHA or verification step but is actually designed to trick you into installing malware.

These fake prompts can show up in phishing emails, malicious ads, compromised websites, or even fake job listings. They look like familiar verification screens, sometimes mimicking services like Cloudflare.

But instead of verifying anything, clicking the button silently copies a malicious command to your clipboard.

The page then changes and prompts you to paste and run it, giving attackers access to your device and your data.

What makes this so dangerous is that there’s no obvious download button, just a familiar task we’ve been conditioned to click through without even thinking.

If a “verification” ever asks you to copy, paste, or run a command, that’s a major red flag.

Learn more about ClickFix in the first comment.

03/31/2026

I don't even remember some of these products, but I loved my Motorola ROKR!!! It was unique and different and let my only carry 1 device for both tunes and phone calls!

I used mine for 2 years, and loved it, despite the limitations...

Not every product can be a Mac or iPod. As Apple turns 50, let's take a look back at its most memorable failures.