Zinc Blog

This is the final part in our 5-part series. You are on the last leg of the journey, and just a few steps away from drastically improving your overall cybersecurity. We wanted to thank you in advance for going through these steps, and if you are finding this article for the first time, be sure to click on #Password Guide at the bottom of this page to see all of the other posts in the series.

This is part 4 of our 5-part series on getting your digital life in order! So far, we’ve discussed the importance of using strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts, how to establish a primary email address so all of your accounts are tied to a single inbox, how to set up MFA to secure that email and your other accounts, and finally, we’re going to discuss setting up a password manager and going through the process of logging all of your accounts into that password manager.

In the last two parts, we walked you through the importance of strong, unique passwords, as well as establishing a primary email address that you will use for controlling and managing your accounts. Having everything in one secure place can make things a whole lot easier. Now we’re going to cover setting up Multi-Factor Authentication to add an extra layer of security to your primary email and your other accounts.

Previously, we covered why it’s important to protect your online accounts and why it’s critical that you use strong passwords. We also provided some good tips for creating unique, strong passwords that are easier to remember. You’ll be using that method to create a couple of strong passwords, but ultimately, you’ll be using a password manager by the time you are done with this 5-part guide.

In this part, we’re going to do some housekeeping to make sure that all of your important online accounts are tied to a single email address, and we’re going to walk you through steps to secure that email account.

We’re doing something a little different this time around. Normally, we try to keep the focus on business technology, but this article is geared towards the typical low-tech home user.

These days, nearly all human beings are wrapped up in a little technology, and there isn’t a huge divide between protecting yourself as an employee at a company versus protecting yourself as an individual—at least as far as cybersecurity habits go. Even if you feel like you are pretty low-tech, you still have to worry about protecting your identity, financial information, and personally identifiable information online.

We encourage you to share this article around with everyone you can, from students to those enjoying their retirement. We all have family or friends who have a loose ream of paper they scrawl their passwords onto, or might even have worse habits that they think are perfectly healthy that are putting them at risk. This article might help them reduce the risk of expensive, frustrating problems.

If you were sent this article, hello! There is someone who cares about your safety online and wants to try to make your digital life a little easier. We hope you find this guide useful, and we’d love to get feedback from you if you have any!

If you’ve ever used Google Lens on a mobile device, you know it’s a pretty impressive little tool for contextual searches. However, you can also use these capabilities in the Chrome browser., searching for anything visible in the browser—from text to images, even one captured from a video.

Let’s go over how.

Summer is a time for fun and relaxation, not tech-related stress. To ensure your devices are safe from cybersecurity threats and weather-related issues, we’ve compiled some essential tips.

Passwords are the main line of defense between your data and the myriad of people who want to use it for their own benefit. Knowing the major threats is important with so much pressure on your passwords. Today, we’d like to provide a cheat sheet to help you manage your passwords more effectively. 

Are you finding that some of your younger hires aren’t sticking around nearly as long as you’d prefer them to? There’s a good chance that these employees are experiencing a relatively recent phenomenon called “shift shock,” the latest workplace trend focusing on employee engagement and satisfaction. Let’s examine shift shock and how to avoid its impacts in your business.

In business, email is one of the tried and true methods of communication. Unfortunately, there are many out there searching to breach a network, whether it be to deploy malware or lie in wait until they have access and cause havoc from within. Regardless of what strategy hackers and scammers use, it is important that users understand what to do to protect themselves and their organizations’ email. Here are some tips to keep in mind. 

The out-of-office email is a great tool…provided, that is, that it is used to its full potential. Let’s talk about a simple adjustment you can make to the ones you send to ensure they are much more effective, and much less likely to be ignored as a result.

Microsoft Excel is a really useful tool for organizing data. Using something called a heat map strategy can help you get more out of the solution. If you actively use spreadsheets in your business to contextualize data, you will find this easy-to-use tip for using heat maps really useful.

When you’re using the Internet, how often do you find yourself using so many bookmarks that the bar simply cannot display what you want it to? You can make things a bit easier by saving some space on your bookmark or favorite bar by only showing the sites’ favicons. Don’t know what a favicon is? We’ll cover that too!

If we asked you to identify the one hour of your day when you get the most done, would you be able to tell us? Even more interestingly, do you know how to get the most out of your so-called “power hour?” Let’s take a look at some of the theories about how you can make the most out of your most productive time in the workplace.

Have you ever thought about password protecting a zipped folder so that only authorized individuals and users can access it? While Windows might not have built-in functionality for this type of protection, a free app called 7-Zip gives you the power to do so. Let’s go over how you can use 7-Zip to password protect a ZIP file on your Windows PC.

Sometimes you will find something on the Internet and think, “Wow, I’d love to save this, but I also love PDFs.” Well, for instances like this, there are features built into your web browser that allow you to do just that! Let’s go over how you can save a web page or image as a PDF directly from your browser.

Standing desks have become quite popular, especially as people grow more health-conscious post-pandemic. These desks are a little on the pricey side, so you might be wondering if they are really worth the investment. Can the benefits make implementation worthwhile for standing desks? The answer might surprise you.

Have you ever thought about protecting a specific file or folder on your computer? You could always hide the file, but this isn’t doing much to protect it from anyone who has access to your computer and its settings. Sometimes it takes a stronger approach. Windows has some basic file encryption functionality built into it, so let’s go over how you can use it to protect a specific file or folder on your computer!

Is your desktop littered with random files or folders that need to be organized? Do you have a handful of folders that you absolutely need but would prefer if they weren’t out in the open all the time? Windows has built-in functionality that lets you hide certain folders from view, if you want, and it’s a great way to clean up your desktop. Let’s get into how you can hide these folders from your desktop or Documents view.

Managing your email can be challenging, especially if you are a business owner. We’re sure you get countless emails on a day-to-day basis, and it can be difficult to assign them priority or triage them accordingly. All of this leads to one messy inbox that can get in the way when you need simplicity most. How can you make sure your inbox’s organization is not holding you back from achieving maximum productivity?