Computer Support, Design, Print and Business Telecoms - ABC Service, Tavistock, Devon

The April Newsletter – Passwords, WiFi Driver Issues and the Social Media Craze

Apr 1, 2024

Passwords, WiFi Driver Issues and the Social Media Craze – Oh yes, we are talking about passwords in this article. We see a LOT of people and it is surprising how many don’t know their login credentials. 70% of our time on jobs that require data transfer and setup have been involving password recovery issues because people don’t know them and the account recovery information isn’t up to date.

Now first off if your email account is signed into an app you are unlikely to be using a password to get into your emails. However, I promise you when it comes to putting your emails onto another device you definitely will need a password. Being told “I don’t have a password and never have” would indicate that ‘any man and his dog’ could access them and we don’t want that.

Quick Answer:
Managing passwords, WiFi driver issues and the social media craze is essential for modern digital life. Use strong unique passwords, enable two-factor authentication, fix broken WiFi drivers by reinstalling them in Device Manager, and avoid panic actions when social media platforms experience outages. These simple steps can save you time, frustration, and protect your online security.

With everything going crazy in the IT world at the minute and big corporations being the target of cyber attacks and data breaches, we highly recommend that you:

  • Update your password to something new and secure (some of the requirements 10 years ago were very basic)

  • Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) so a verification code has to be sent to your phone (preferably mobile as there have been a number of issues sending codes to a landline)

  • Don’t forget to update your contact details in your accounts i.e. ensure your mobile number is up to date and a recovery email is up to date too and accessible!

This includes email accounts, social media accounts, Microsoft Accounts, Apple Accounts AND it’s worth checking your contact details are fully up to date for your bank too. All the above a large number of people have struggled with because they don’t know the password nor can they recover their accounts because of redundant information.

Read More On: How to protect your online accounts from being breached?

Dealing with Passwords, WiFi Driver Issues and the Social Media Craze

WIFI DRIVER ISSUES

There have been a spate of laptops (a few desktops have been affected too) whereby the WiFi has dropped off the earth after an update or Windows update.

  • Click on Start (Windows Icon)
  • Start Typing “Device Manager” (there isn’t anything to click into just start typing)
  • A box appears, look for “Network Adapters” and expand it by clicking on the tiny arrow pointing to the right
  • In the list there should be a mention of “WiFi” or “Wireless”
  • Example only “Intel Dual Band Wireless Adapter” or “Realtek WiFi adapter”
  • Right Click on the Wireless adapter in the list and Choose “Uninstall”
  • Restart your Laptop/PC and the WiFi driver will automatically Re-install
  • Now reconnect to your home WiFi network by choosing it in the list and popping in your WiFi password.

If this doesn’t work then it could be something more and therefore we recommend popping it into us. You are also welcome to give us a call for us to talk you through the above.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Oh wow, Social Media, what a minefield and a lot of people lost their minds over it when it went down for 10 minutes.

Don’t panic! Most of you who read this article lived before social media platforms and you will be fine.

We are expecting to see more of this in the future. When your social media goes down and you panic and start changing passwords etc it actually could cause more issues than good. We’ve seen it first hand! When the system isn’t functioning correctly and you start making changes during a service outage it might confuse communications and could even cause further issues for yourself i.e. even more problems trying to get back in.

Some people were kicked out of their social media accounts. Try logging in, if that fails, leave it and try again later.

Social Media Down? STOP! Please place your device down, watch a movie, go for a walk or the park and come back to it.

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