How to protect your data and avoid being hacked

AP 

LAST UPDATED: APR 07, 2016

The government hack of an iPhoneused by a San Bernardino killer serves as a reminder that phones and other electronic devices aren't impenetrable vaults.

While most people aren't targets of the NSA, FBI or a foreign government, hackers are looking to steal the financial and personal information of ordinary people. Your phone stores more than just selfies. Your email account on the phone, for instance, is a gateway to resetting banking and other sensitive passwords.

Like washing your hands and brushing your teeth, a little "cyber hygiene" can go a long way toward preventing disaster.

Lock you phone with a passcode

Failing to do so is like leaving your front door unlocked.

A four-digit passcode - and an accompanying self-destruct feature that might wipe a phone's data after too many wrong guesses - stumped the FBI for weeks and forced them to bring in outside help. Using six digits makes a passcode 100 times harder to guess. And if you want to make it even harder, you can add letters and other characters to further increase the number of possible combinations. These are options on both iPhones and Android.

The iPhone's self-destruct feature is something you must turn on in the settings, under Touch ID & Passcode. Do so, and the phone wipes itself clean after 10 failed attempts. But the 10 attempts apply to your guesses, too, if you forget your passcode, or if your kids start randomly punching in numbers. Android has a similar feature.

Both systems will also introduce waiting periods after several wrong guesses to make it tough to try all combos.

Biometrics, such as fingerprint scanners, can act as a shortcut and make complex passcodes less of a pain.

Use encryption

Much to the FBI's displeasure, iPhones running at least iOS 8 offer full-disk encryption by default. That means that the information stored on the phone can't be extracted - by authorities or by hackers - and read on another computer. If the phone isn't unlocked first, any information obtained would be scrambled and unreadable.

With Android, however, you typically have to turn that on in the settings. Google's policy requires many phones with the latest version of Android, including its own Nexus phones, to offer encryption by default. But, according to Google, only 2.3 per cent of active Android devices currently are running that version.

Set up device finders

Find My iPhone isn't just for finding your phone in the couch cushions.

If your device disappears, you can put it in Lost Mode. That locks your screen with a passcode, if it isn't already, and lets you display a custom message with a phone number to help you get it back.

The app comes with iPhones, but you need to set it up before you lose your phone. Look for the Find iPhone app in the Extras folder.

Meanwhile, Activation Lock makes it harder for thieves to sell your device. The phone becomes unusable - it can't be reactivated - without knowing its Apple ID. The feature kicks in automatically on phones running at least iOS 7.

If all else fails, you can remotely wipe the phone's data. While your information will be lost, at least it won't end up in the hands of a nefarious person.

There isn't anything comparable built into Android phones, but Google's Android Device Manager app, along with a handful of others made by third parties, can be downloaded for free from the Google Play app store.

Back up your phone

If you do have to remotely wipe the phone's data, it's comforting to know that you won't lose all your photos and other important data. It's helpful, too, if your toddler dunks your phone in a glass of water.

As mentioned before, apps such as Find My iPhone and Android Device Manager will allow you to do this, provided you set them up ahead of time.

Keep your software up to date

Software updates often contain fixes to known flaws that might give hackers a way into your device.

On iPhones, Apple prompts you to get the update.

It's more complicated with Android because updates need to go through various phone manufacturers and wireless carriers first. But do install updates when asked.

10 quick fixes to make Android phone fast again

Phone slow? 10 quick fixes to make Android phone fast again

All computing devices slow down with the use. No, it has nothing to with the wear and tear. There is no such thing in the world of software and the in most cases the electronic components are very resilient. If they work well, they tend to keep on working. The computers, laptops, phones, tablets etc slow down with the use because they accumulate data and junk. They also slow down because when there are too many apps, which you will have on your phone after you have used for a year or two, the computing resources like RAM and internal storage becomes scarce.

This is the reason why six months after you bought your shiny new phone you start feeling that it has become very slow. When the phone was new, it was very fast. But now you start perceiving lag, start seeing apps load slowly. What is the solution?

We tell you 10 quick fixes that would make your phone fast again, almost as fast as it was when you had bought it.

1- Get rid of launchers: If you have installed any custom launchers on your phone, you should get rid of them. Launchers, even the best ones often slow down the phone. The only acceptable reason to use launchers is when the stock launcher is not good and is slow, which can be the case if you have a phone made by Chinese or Indian companies like Gionee and Karbonn etc. On some occasions the software that these companies put in their phones is not optimised well enough and in that case it is a good idea to use a third-party launcher.

But be careful if you are going to use a third-party launcher. Don't go overbroad and just stick to one launcher. If you don't like the one you are using, uninstall it before installing the other one.

2- Get rid of security apps: It's true that Android may have some security related bugs, just like any other operating system. But you don't need to use security app. And this is something we aren't saying. Google has said this in the past. In most cases, the security apps don't do anything. They just eat the precious RAM and slow down the phone. If you want to keep your phone safe, follow safe practices -- like not installing an app from a shoddy looking web page -- and you will be fine.

3- Get rid of apps that optimise: The Nexus phones don't come with any optimising app and yet they are the fastest Android devices you can get. Moral of the lesson? You don't need an optimising app for your Android phone. Android has in-built mechanism to optimise itself. So if you have any such app on your phone, get rid of it.

4- Remove unwanted apps: Go to Settings > Apps and scroll through the list. We don't realise but as we use the phone we often install apps that we don't need, or may be not even use, and then forget to uninstall them. Clean the list now and remove any apps that you don't need.

5- Free up storage: When internal storage is full in a phone it can have significant effect on the phone's performance because fuller disks have slow read and write data speed. This introduces lag into the phone. Delete the unwanted data (apps, videos, photos) from your phone or copy the data into a computer to free up space on your phone's storage.

6- Make apps behave: Some apps are necessary but they can also be annoying. For example, an e-retail app. You need it. But don't need it daily and you definitely don't want it to always run in the background. Go to the Settings > Apps and force stop the app you don't want to run in the background. Don't worry, when you need the app you can just tap on its icon and open it. It will again start functioning.

7- Clear app cache: Apps like the Facebook tend to collect and store a lot of data in their cache. Over a period of time, this can start overwhelming phone's hardware. If you see the apps that are crashing again and again and have become particularly slow, clear their cache and stored data. To clear cache, go to Settings > Apps. Once you clear the cache, you may have to log into the said apps again and you will lose data (like WhatsApp images) stored by these apps on your phone. But clearing this cache can often speed up the phone.

8- Reboot it: Within the IT department, it is easy to hear "have you tried turning it off and on again". The reason is that this often works. So if you haven't switched off your phone in months and if you are finding that it has become slow, turn it off for a few minutes and then turn on again. Turning the phone off clears its RAM and shuts down unnecessary apps running in the background.

9- Clear the phone's cache: This is different from clearing the cache of apps. It is also an option we suggest you try only if you have exhausted other options. By clearing the system-wide cache, you can fresh the whole phone. To do this, you will have to go into the recovery mode, which is most of time different for different phones. But usually it involves pressing a few buttons -- volume and power -- in a particular method. Once you enter the recovery mode, go to Wipe Cache Partition option and wipe it. This will delete temporary system files and junk etc that your may have accumulated.

10- Do the factory reset: Once again, you should exercise this as the last option. Doing a factory reset means deleting everything you have done on the phone since you bought it and resorting it to its original software. This clears all the data on the phone and gives you a device that would feel refreshingly new even if its body bears marks of overuse. While factory reset is a fairly good solution to a phone that has become unbearably slow, it also means that you will have to install all your apps again and set up the whole phone again. You can reset a phone by navigating to Settings > Backup And Reset. 

Make your iPhone 6 battery charge faster, last longer

The iPhone 6 offers a whole new deal to Apple users in terms of power, performance, design and upgrades. One department where old standards continue is battery. The iPhone 6 comes with a battery rated with pretty much the same life as the iPhone 5S. But there are a few things that can ensure your phone gives you the most from its battery pack.

Read on to find a new trick to charge the iPhone 6 faster.

Check battery usage

With iOS 8 iPhone users will now have access to a long standard Android feature -battery usage data. No more worrying about your battery draining away with no clue about what's causing it. 

Head to Settings> General>  Usage> Battery Usage and get a comprehensive list of app-wise battery usage divided into daily, weekly segments. 

Stop background battery drainage

A major leech to battery is app activity in the background when you're not using it. Usually, apps run in the background to stay updated or provide real time data, but if you're more concerned about your phone listing as far into the day as it can then it's better to just turn background activity off when it's not needed. The app updates when you open it anyway.

Go to Settings> General> Background App Refresh and choose what apps you'd like to turn the setting off for.  Apps that aren't used frequently should be the first to go.

Charge faster than ever before

Here's a new one for you. If you're impatient like us and can't wait for the battery to take hours on end for a single charge there's a new hidden feature in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The iPad's stronger 12 watt power adapter is supported by the iPhone 6 which comes with a 5 watt standard.

Chargers from iPads worked earlier as well with the iPhone but now the battery can take full advantage of the higher input and takes a couple of hours to charge back to full.