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Updated : Equifax’s  “security incident” earlier this week  affected 143 million Americans. That’s a huge number of people, which means that the chances that either you or someone you know being affected are pretty high. Equifax’s site was even providing positive results for fake social security numbers at one point. If you were one of the millions affected by the attack, then you have to figure out what to do next. CNET put together  a pretty good step by step  for people. Here are a few of its suggestions: Enroll in TrustedID Equifax is offering  a free year of TrustedID to everyone. The credit monitoring service “includes 3-Bureau credit monitoring of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit reports; copies of Equifax credit reports; the ability to lock and unlock Equifax credit reports; identity theft insurance; and Internet scanning for Social Security numbers.” Equifax faced a bit of backlash via social media when it made the offer, one because you h...

Now that you know  how credit works , you probably want to know how to make it work  better . While nothing is better for your credit than paying your bills in full and on time, there are ways to give it a boost. Like it or not,  credit matters . It’s also complicated. In our “Everything You Need to Know About Credit” series, we’re breaking down the basics. When a lender or landlord looks at your credit, they’re not just looking for a three digit number, they want to know how you actually handle credit. That’s why your credit report is more important than your score. That said, your score matters, too, and the good news is, there are shortcuts for boosting it in a relatively short amount of time. And if you don’t have credit at all — let’s say you’re a teenager about to start college — your biggest focus should be on building up a credit history. That way you can apply for student loans, apartments, and make sure you  aren’t gouged on bills . Here are some options...

    PROGRAMMING You've always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time. Since the invention of the internet, programmers have been using it to discuss software development techniques, publish tutorials, and share code samples for others to learn from and use online. If you're curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources. First Things First: Don't Get Hung Up on Choosing a Language A common pitfall for beginners is getting stuck figuring out which programming language is best to learn first. There are a lot of opinions out there, but there's no one "best" language. Here's the thing: In the end, language doesn't matter THAT much. Understanding data and control structures and design patterns does ma...

Google Wifi If you use a modern home Wi-Fi solution like the  Google Wifi  or our favorite mesh system, the  AmpliFi HD , you’re undoubtedly enjoying lightning fast internet all over your home. It’s great for phones, tablet, and other light-duty devices, but we have a better recommendation for your PC, streaming devices, or anything else that needs the fastest and most reliable connection possible. Wiring your house for Ethernet is a pain in the neck, which is why devices like the  TP-Link AV200 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit  are so fantastic. You get the same reliability and sustained speeds as you would with cat5, but you don’t need to install anything at all. Plug one box in near your router, another box near your PC, and you’re done! Here are the highlights from the product page: Up to 200Mbps speed for seamless HD video streaming and online gaming300-meter range over electrical circuitry for better performance through walls and floorsMiniature desi...

Here’s a DEF CON talk that uses tools you likely have and it should be your next hacking adventure. In their  Saturday morning talk  [Mark Williams] and [Rob Stanely] walked through the process of adding their own custom code to a gaming mouse. The process is a crash course in altering a stock firmware binary while still retaining the original functionality. The jumping off point for their work is the esports industry. The scope of esporting events has blown up in recent years.  The International 2016 tournament  drew 17,000 attendees with 5 million watching online. The prize pool of $20 million ($19 million of that crowdfunded through in-game purchases) is a big incentive to gain a competitive edge to win. Contestants are allowed to bring their own peripherals which begs the questions: can you alter a stock gaming mouse to do interesting things? The  steelseries Sensei  mouse was selected for the hack because it has an overpowered mircocontroller:...

Inevitably your computer slows down. You try to open a website and it grinds to a halt, or read an email and it churns along sluggishly. A slow computer, in many ways, is worse than a broken one—or at least infinitely more frustrating. If you’re going to have any chance of reversing the serious slowdown that’s affected your computer, you’re going to have to work out what’s at the root cause of the sluggishness. Don your detective’s hat and identify the source of the problem with the help of these tools and tricks. Tidy up your start up items and OS A good place to start is with the apps currently running on your machine and the ones that try and load themselves at the same time as your operating system. For that we need Task Manager on Windows or Activity Monitor on macOS. Task Manager, which has gotten a lot more user-friendly and useful over the years, can be found by right-clicking on a blank part of the taskbar and choosing  Task Manager . Over on macOS, launch Spotlight...

Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo It’s time to replace your computer. Maybe it was purchased during the last Republican administration, or you ruined it was a spilled drink, or maybe you’ve just got some money to burn and you’d like to blow it on Intel’s  new Kaby Lake microarchitecture . Whatever the reason, you’re ready to upgrade your computer, and you’re going to be left with a big choice. Do you spend the extra cash for the categorically faster i7 processor, or do you pinch a few pennies and go with the i5. After running both processors (the 4.5GHz i7-7700K and the 4.2GHz i5-7600K) through the ringer in a computer that was otherwise the exact same, we can say, without a doubt, that you should save your money. For most people the i7 just isn’t worth it. Intel introduced the i7 and i5 brands back in 2007 as a way of guiding customers. The i5 was for “mainstream” use and the i7 was for “high-end” and business use. Spend...

Ever have a hard time understanding a road sign in another country? Computer vision startup Mapillary thinks it has a solution. You know how Google hopes to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful?” Swedish startup Mapillary wants to do the same thing with the world’s road signs. As it turns out, from warnings about polar bears to alerts concerning “ invisible cows ,” there are some pretty darn unusual roadside messages you’ll come across as you travel the globe. But if you’re only used to the regular old boring signs found in your neighborhood, being expected to understand all of them from behind the wheel is a tall order. Throw self-driving cars — which need to understand this stuff to get you safely from point A to point B — into the mix and things become even more confusing. Computer vision company  Mapillary  has spent the past several years working on just this p...