Software

Friday the 13th may just be another day, but for many of us it's a reminder of some of those moments where luck failed us.  And as we depend more and more on technology, tech failures have loomed larger and larger in the bad luck department.

Technology is supposed to make life easier. But sometimes, it's a bit of an albatross. When tech goes wrong, it can get expensive, and complicate our lives more than it helps.

Just like us, our kids are voracious consumers of culture. It's just that they do it a little differently than we did when we were their age.  We used to make mix tapes; they share playlists.  We got together to watch TV or movies; they watch together and talk over the Internet, using XBox Live or Skype to editorialize over the Netflix stream.

While putting together a pile to take to e-recycling earlier, I was reminded of how many gadgets I've ended up with that ended up being wrong turns on the information highway. Many of them were expensive, and a few of them were just downright misguided. Could I have avoided those unnecessary technology trips in the first place?

Every day, criminals are finding new ways to take over computers in homes and businesses. They're even selling each other software designed to make it easier to break into computer systems, attack Internet servers, and use email to fool people into schemes that steal their money and personal information.

Fortunately, there are material things you can do today to help protect yourself from cyber crime. And many of them won't cost you a dime.