New federal law allows you to freeze your credit reports for free

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that Americans nationwide can now freeze their credit reports for free. More information about credit freezes is at the FTC credit freeze FAQ page.  The FTC also requires that credit reporting agencies give consumers a free credit report once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com

You may also set up a security freeze at ChexSystems to prevent the opening of unauthorized bank accounts.  The National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) will allow you to set up a security freeze as well.  Innovis is another credit agency that also allows freezes.

Excel XLSX files and Word DOCX files are Zip files of XML data

Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint create files in Open XML formats by default.   The file extensions for OpenXML format include XLSX (Excel), DOCX (Word), and PPTX (PowerPoint).

Files with names that end with “.xlsx” ,”.docx” or “.pptx” can be renamed to “.zip”.  These ZIP files can be uncompressed to reveal multiple files and folders.

FEMA app for iPhone and Android

 The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) app for iPhone, iPad, and Android is free and includes weather alerts, emergency shelter information, preparation tips, and disaster resource information.  This app may be downloaded from the Apple App Store or from the Google Play Store.

Finding and locking a Windows 10 device remotely

Windows 10 Find My Device allows you to find the approximate location of your device if this option is enabled.  To turn this feature on or off, select Settings > Update & Security > Find My Device.

To lock a missing Windows 10 computer, log into account.microsoft.com/devices with your Windows account.  Select Find my Device, then click the Lock button.

Microsoft recommends removing devices that you no longer own or use from your Windows account.