AdBlock

I discovered the extension a year or so ago, and there is not much to say. It blocks ads. Pretty much everywhere. Yeah. Awesome right? Correct me in the comments if I am wrong, but I think it may even block video ads? Yeah, it is that awesome. Check it out
Don't have chrome? Then read my post on browsers.
Or, get it for Firefox
Or... *struggles to make out so foul of a word* Safari
NOT FOR IE!!! NEVER!!!!


Comment and suggest ideas!,

Oh yeah! Down here! 
The whole reason I posted this was to remind you to please turn off your ad blockers when visiting this site. It is (of course) optional, but it makes me feel happy and it pays for bacon (and donuts). To do this in Ad-Bloker for Chrome:

1. Click on the icon
2. Click on "Don't run on this page"
3. You are done! It does the scripting in the background so you don't have to worry about. (If someone wants to know how to do this manually, comment and state so. I will either post a reply or update this post)

Creating (and remembering) a strong password

In order to create a strong password, it is important that it be at-least 15 characters long, or else someone could brute force attack your password and get into your account in a matter of minutes. It is important to throw in random characters to make your password harder to guess. Switch cases, add numbers, and make words out of symbols. Do you really hate inventing a password? Do you have a great memory (or have a great spot to write passwords down)? Use a password creator, you can edit setting for the number of digits, characters, and toggle case. http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/ is a good exmaple.
Do you want to be more secure with your random passwords but can't remember them all? Use lastpass, which allows for one master password for all of your sites. It also syncs across computers and devices, so you can use it on your smartphone.

Browser Wars

Here is basic article about which browser you should use and why.
I realize everyone has their preference, and I am not going to try to change that preference using this article alone (you should like the browser you use, otherwise you will not use it correctly) but using a secure browser is VERY important.
IE9
Some people say that they prefer Internet Explorer, claiming that the new version 9 is faster and more secure. And they are absolutely correct! It is faster and more secure than IE 6. Which is not much of an improvement at all. IE has multiple security flaws, refuses to be deleted, slows down your computer and browsing speed, clutters your space, and lacks many features that Firefox and Chrome both have in abundance.
Firefox
Firefox, in general, is a great browser. It is sleek, can be fast, and is powerful. It is fully customizable and open-source. However, you should wait before getting Firefox, or updating to the newest one. The newest version, although more sleek, is buggy and does not run cleanly with https.
Safari
I am going to be completely honest, I have never used Safari. Therefore, I can not write about something I do no know of. Please comment your personal thoughts if you would like for me to add them.
Google Chrome (Chromium)
Saving the best for last. Google chrome is not only fast, secure, and user friendly, but it is also open source (like firefox). Not only is it a pro-active browser, and stops threats and loading malicious software before it happens, but it does all of this in the background. It automatically updates when you open chrome, it keeps apps on the cloud, and synchronizes your data with your Google account. Apps, bookmarks, recently opened pages, and even your theme is available from anywhere you sign in to chrome.You can even set up cloud print and print on your home computer while you are at school! Chrome is packed with features, which are used but mostly unnoticed.
Final Verdict
Google Chrome is by far the best browser out there, for now. And probably for a long time. However, it does not mean you should at-least give the others a try. Firefox is powerful, but you should wait till the next update. IE, well... yeah. Wait a cough long cough cough time.
Oh yeah, Safari.... Hmmm.... Edit: Going back to write brief review on Safari

A fantastically amazing extension for Chrome (and Firefox) is WOT (Web of Trust) which allows users to rate sites, and tells you if a site has been rated bad by other people. It even shows red/yellow/green circles next to Google search results, telling you before you even click on a site!
Leave a comment and tell me how you like the article, and if you agree with the content.

SSL Encryption and why you should use it.

SSL encryption, signified by https:// in the beginning url, is a way to encrypt your data so packet sniffers can not steal your data. (It is still possible for them to do so, but it is much harder and not worth the effort to them)
Wikipedia article
Sites like twitter do not use https:// by default and this can be a major problem. However, instead of typing in https://twitter.com all the time, which can be a pain, you can get an extension for your browser that automatically redirects you to the secure version of a site.
For Chrome, there is https everywhere (what I am using).
For Firefox, you can get Force TLS, which does the same thing as the one for Chrome.
For IE, well... yeah. Nothing. Not really anyways. Even if there was some toolbar from yahoo with free smileys that did use https for everything, it would probably do a lot more things that you would want it to. If you do have a good extension that does this, leave a comment.

Some great sites like gmail, set the login page to be https by default, so you never even have to worry about it.
More notes on https:
You probably noticed that Chrome had https everywhere while Firefox had Force TLS. However, https, SSL encryption, and TLS are all synonymous.

• The 's' in https stand for secure
• TLS stands for Transport Layer Security
• SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer
• SSL was originally developed by Netscape.
• SSL 1.0 was never released to the public

Important facts:

1. People can steal your password if you are not using any encryption
2. People can steal your password in seconds if you are on the same network as them and do not use https
3. Even if you use https, people can get your password through other means. Get a strong password.

Leave a comment! (Did you already know about this, do you have better extensions you would like to share, was my short article understandable?)

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Word is one of the leading word processing programs. Available for Windows and Mac it started out as a program in MS-DOS. But has progressed onto a sleek looking program with many capabilities. Wikipedia Article
You can buy it, along with Power Point, Excel, and OneNote here.
Notice I said buy.
Most people, when they think of computer software, think of buying it right?
Now, before you click the exit button and report me for pirating software, you have to understand Open Source.
A great Open Source program that is just like Microsoft Office is LibreOffice.
Another great free Office Suite is OpenOffice.
Now, why would you use OpenOffice or LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office? Well, first of all its free. Second, if you are technologically adapt enough, you can download the source and make your own version. Third, because of the compatibility. Because it is cross platform and is Open Source, it can open and save in MS Office file types, ODF file type, .txt, .html, etc. They also have all the tools and abilities as the $100+ alternative.