How to recover deleted files on Windows 11

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To protect your privacy online the most impactful thing you can do is use a password manager. Most people reuse passwords across sites, which means one breach exposes everything. Bitwarden is excellent and free. 1Password is worth paying for. Enable two-factor authentication everywhere you can, especially email, banking, and social media. Use an authenticator app (Google Authenticator or Authy) rather than SMS, since SMS can be intercepted. For browsing, use Firefox or Brave instead of Chrome. Install uBlock Origin as an ad blocker — it blocks trackers, not just ads. Use DuckDuckGo instead of Google if privacy matters to you. Be careful what you share on social media. Your date of birth, phone number, home city, and workplace are enough for identity theft. Review your privacy settings on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter regularly. For sensitive communications, Signal is the gold standard for encrypted messaging.

by charleshughes · 64 upvotes

To speed up a slow Windows computer without spending money, start with these free steps: Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and check what's using your CPU and RAM. If one application is consuming everything, that's your culprit. Right-click and end task to test if it's the cause. Disable startup programs. In Task Manager click the Startup tab. Disable anything that doesn't need to launch with Windows. This alone can dramatically speed up boot time. Clear your temp files. Press Windows key + R, type %temp% and press Enter. Select all files and delete them. Empty the Recycle Bin after. If you have a traditional HDD rather than SSD, run Defragment and Optimize Drives from the Start menu. SSDs don't need this. Finally, check if your storage drive is nearly full. Windows needs at least 15% free space to operate well. Delete old files or move them to external storage if needed.

by kwameagyei

Slow wifi is usually either a distance problem, a congestion problem, or a hardware problem. Let me break these down. Distance: wifi signal degrades fast through walls. If you're more than two rooms away from your router, consider a wifi extender or mesh system. Mesh systems like Google Wifi or TP-Link Deco are worth it for larger homes. Congestion: if everyone in your area uses 2.4GHz wifi, you'll experience interference. Switch to 5GHz if your router supports it — it's faster and less congested in apartment buildings. Hardware: routers older than 4-5 years often struggle with modern demands. If your router is that old, it may be time to upgrade. Look for WiFi 6 routers — they handle multiple devices much better than older standards. Also check how many devices are connected to your network. Every device sharing bandwidth reduces your speed. Disconnect devices you're not using.

by isabellawilliams6981