The IT Difference

The IT Difference Local business helping business' to move forward with technology while keeping you and your employees safe from online issues.

05/04/2026

Is your google Chrome browser (aka Chrome) running slow? Taking longer to load a web page? Here are some quick tips that just might help you:

• Enable Memory Saver: Go to Settings > Performance and toggle on "Memory Saver" to free up resources from inactive tabs.
• Disable Hardware Acceleration:
Go to Settings > System and turn off "Use graphics acceleration when available." This often fixes freezing issues caused by GPU driver conflicts with Windows 11.
• Manage Extensions: Type chrome://extensions in the address bar and disable or remove extensions, as they can cause significant slowdowns.
• Clear Cache and Cookies: Navigate to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data to remove accumulated data.
• Turn Off Background Apps: Go to Settings > System and turn off "Continue running background apps when Chrome is closed".

Hope you found these helpful and easy to apply. As always, this is Rich form Ridgefield your local IT Professional here to serve you.

ITDifference.com

04/29/2026

Lets talk Scammers again: Here are 5 signs of a scam:
1) They contact you.
2) They dangle bait - usually money or some great benefit to you.
3) They want your personal information.
4) You need to pay them first.
5) You have to wire money or send gift cards.

On way to protect yourself is to have a code word with your family. This way if you get a call and the caller claims to be a family member you will be able to verify it before you get to deep with them. Remember you can always hang up. They might call back but you will be all the wiser and richer for it.

This is Rich from Ridgefield you local IT Professional here to keep you safe from the bad guys out there.

Are you tired of all the phone and email scams that infiltrate your day on a daily basis? Here are a few quick tips to ...
04/27/2026

Are you tired of all the phone and email scams that infiltrate your day on a daily basis? Here are a few quick tips to help you out:
1) Microsoft, or any other company, are not going to reach out to your phone/email to tell you that there is a problem with your computer!
2) Your grandchild, Nephew, Niece is not over seas and in deep trouble. Especially if they say that they are your favorite.
3) If your computer is blaring loud sound(s) saying you are compromised, just turn off your computer normally or hold down the power button for 8 seconds and leave it off for 1 minute.

These are all just some simple signs that it is a scam.

NEVER give your Credit Card over the Internet to a person that made you click on a link either.

Just some simple guides lines from Rich from Ridgefield your local IT professional to help you stay safe.

Through the years the computer world has stated that you must have anti-virus (AV) software on your computer and if you ...
03/21/2023

Through the years the computer world has stated that you must have anti-virus (AV) software on your computer and if you don't, you will get infected! This is a true statement for approx. 90% of the computer users. Before I go on, Yes Mac's do get infected, it is not just a Windows thing.

Not all AV software is created equally. Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, Webroot etc. are very common versions and found on many personal systems. Which is the best and how much should I pay for protection? Very common question. If best means most popular, then anyone of the above would win. If best means protection and least intrusive on your system then some of the above should NOT be on your short list! Surprised?

For us, best means protection that was verified by a 3rd Party and tested against other systems for detection, speed, and lack of false positives. What do you want protecting your system a popular name or one that gets the job done?

Top AV software which you should be looking at are (according to the 12/22 test results): Bitdefender Internet Security, Avast One Essential, AVG Internet Security, Avira Internet Security, Norton 360. To see the full list you can go to https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/ and for MAC https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-macos/

Pricing you should not pay more than $10/license!!!

03/17/2023

PASSWORD GAME TIME Answer:

"The number one sports team, at least for the English-language world, seems to be the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, followed by the superior Miami Heat.... Third up is the MLB’s Cincinnati Reds. Of course, since these are generic terms, there’s a possibility that some of these terms aren’t sports-related – but that’s essentially the risk with all the terms in these statistics. (per the report). European soccer (football clubs) come in three times in the top ten, with Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal taking the #5, #6 and #8 spots, respectively."

03/15/2023

PASSWORD GAME TIME:

Sports teams are a part of many peoples lives around the globe. So much so that they found themselves in our password lists. What is very interesting is that in English speaking countries the most popular sport was .... the NBA! They held 3 of the top 4 spots. European football (soccer) came in 5th!!!!🤯

What do you think the top 2 NBA teams were on out list?

The past few days I showed you some common things which go into passwords from the 15 Billion that were compromised. I...
03/14/2023

The past few days I showed you some common things which go into passwords from the 15 Billion that were compromised. I will go into more like sports, seasons and dates at a latter time. For now lets talk complexity.

One of the key elements of a strong password is its uniqueness. But some passwords are anything but that ( as seen in the past few days). One way is length of your password. Look at the graph below. Any security professional will tell you that your password needs to be greater than 8 characters. Now you see why. People also believe that using the "3" instead of an "e" or a "1" instead of an "i" or "l" is a good idea. It isn't!! When using a special character try using the "^". This is one of the least used symbols.

Always use a phrase to help you get that long password. Remember 2010 and Eva?

GAME TIME Password Answer from Friday:What is the most popular name used in our 15 Billion pool of compromised passwords...
03/13/2023

GAME TIME Password Answer from Friday:

What is the most popular name used in our 15 Billion pool of compromised passwords world wide? By the way, this was most used in comparison to all other catagories.

3) Anna (6.5 Million)
2) Alex (7.1 Million)
1) Eva (7.16 Million)

So there you have it, Eva and Alex is the top two most popular names used in password. Two at the bottom of the list is Darcie and Darcey.

GAME TIME Password Question:We all have that special name that means so much to ourselves that we use it in our password...
03/10/2023

GAME TIME Password Question:

We all have that special name that means so much to ourselves that we use it in our password. Out of our 15 Billion, what were the top 3? This just might shock you.

For you expecting parents, this could be a naming list or not!

GAME TIME Answer:3) 1991 (8.3 Million)2) 1987 (8.4 Million)1) 2010 (nearly 10 Million)So this begs to ask, What were you...
03/10/2023

GAME TIME Answer:

3) 1991 (8.3 Million)
2) 1987 (8.4 Million)
1) 2010 (nearly 10 Million)

So this begs to ask, What were you doing in 2010 that was so memorable??

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