For those who are more my age (suffice it to say, I'm still in my 50s...just!), and took to computing back in our 20s, we remember having to configure EVERYTHING! "Plug-n-play" wasn't even thought of back then, let alone dreamed about. But it did give those of us with some skills the chance to tweak and fiddle. While I, mostly, welcome the new age in computing where things just work (unless they don't!), these advances have made us lazy and un-attuned to potential threats to security. Most of us don't want to spend time setting up a piece of equipment or a software program, we demand that it works "Straight-out-of-the-box" without any intervention by us. I certainly like that for almost all equipment, but for software, that's a different matter. 

Why "out-of-the-box" settings can be bad

While this post can be related to any sort of software, it really references web design extensions. Apart from the fact that we're web designers, these extensions present hackers with their best opportunities for data theft. While doing updates on one of the sites we manage this week, the backup extension we use (for obvious reasons we aren't going to name it!) gave us a

Yes, I confess, the title is a little melodramatic! However, when it comes to your online and IT security, a little paranoia is a good thing! The truth is, there are people out there just waiting to get you. There's an Alan Parson's Project song "The Voice" that sums it up well in one line... "He's gonna get you!"

(As an aside, Alan Parsons was the sound engineer on Pink Floyd's record breaking album "Dark Side of the Moon".)

Good security protocols are your first line of defense. Make strong passwords and don't leave them lying around. If you're really paranoid, change them regularly. Don't use the same password over multiple sites. 

But good passwords is only part of the solution. With the technology available to hackers today, even the best passwords and security protocols are vulnerable. The second string to your online safety is maintaining good backups. Your backups should be both local and remote for good safety.

Making solid local backups 

Your first step in a solid backup regime is saving locally. This doesn't mean just to your hard drive. Those are day to day use files. I think of backups are archives - most of the time, these

 Remember what (hopefully) your parents taught you? "Don't sign anything till you've read it through!" Totally brilliant advice, but, let's face it, how many of us do? When you signed that life insurance, or car insurance application, did you read ALL the fine print? How about a mortgage or loan doc? You did? Wow, high fives and mega-kudos to you. The fact is, most of us ever read any of the fine print beyond maybe a line or two.

But, if you're signing a loan doc, or, as you will soon learn what prompted this post, a Merchant Services Agreement, you do look at the dollars and cents part of it, yes? And the term? And the penalties (if any) for breaking the agreement early? I think we all do (hopefully!!). But, 1 month, 6 months, 12 months down the track, do we remember what we signed? Perhaps you get the idea where this post may be going....

PayPal is good when you're starting out 

PayPal gets a lot of flak about their "high" fees, and, it's true, their fees are up there with the "best" of them. But they're no worse than most other "convenience" providers such as Square,

I'm pretty sure we've all had times we've said we hated Microsoft, or Google, or some other company whose product of service really ticked us off. It happens. But when it happens SO often that there are multiple court cases against a company whose practices seem "unfair", and there's even a Facebook Page dedicated to how much people hate them, you have to wonder.... 

Yelp, the name invokes different feelings depending on whether you're a consumer (in which case you likely love the helpful reviews), or you're a business owner (which usually bring feelings of hate. loathing and mistrust). True, I have talked to some business owners who seem to have a happy relationship with Yelp, but I honestly feel they're a very small minority... or they're paying for the privilege.

But hang on. Haven't many people tried to sue Yelp over its supposed bad practices? And lost? Yep, 100% of suits against Yelp have failed. So that makes them innocent, right? Yeah, well, the charges against Justin Smollett got dropped too, but what did the prosecutor who dropped those charges say? "We believe he did what he was charged with doing," he said. "This was not an exoneration. To say he